Time for a little update. Plants are 38 days old today and are doing very good - happy and healthy. FC #2 is still in her 1 gallon pot, she likes having the whole microtent to herself. I pruned her a bit from bottom up as she was getting leafy and I still don’t have proper ventilation in there.
I don’t really know what to do with her at this point. I am considering taking clones and scrapping her, but it’s tough to do since she is so beautiful and finally doing good. I could try vegging her for 2 more months and really training her hard. But I doubt she will stay happy in the little container for so long, she would probably get crazy rootbound and sick.
FC #1 is getting close to flip. She is drinking around 10 L every 3 days now. I will have to start mixing larger batches now as I’d like my res to last close to one week. She had some serious stress in the past couple days. First I had to lift her up to remove the tray for cleaning, and the next day I cut the plastic cords and replaced them with new twine. The plastic just wasn’t working - fraying all over, stretching, useless… As you can imagine, removing a plant from scrog and then re-scrogging it is not easy and quite stresfull. Besides, French Cookies just isn’t a strain well-suited to scrog. The sctructure is too thick and the nodes too close together.
Which reminds me why I stopped doing scrog in the first place. I just hate not being able to move plants for whatever reason - foliars, inspections, defoliation, cleaning… Once I’m done with this grow I’ll go back to other forms of training.
Anywayyyyyy, a few more days and it’s flowering time finally. Getting excited
Respect for putting in the work, I couldn’t do it that way, I’d go crazy . And I had a fair share of burnt out timers when I was using HPS. Scary times, but nothing a properly rated contactor couldn’t handle!
The initial exaggerated surge in power when lights first come on / ignition ( hps mainly magnetic I think , light sabre sound lol ) fries the contacts on the mechanical timer keeping it on constant
like @Orloff says , one of these is a great safety feature , and your timer won’t ever fail again : )
Been using same cheap mechanical timers for yeeeeeeears and have never had to replace contractor relay either
This will give you some freedom back @dequilo
Buy once and forget : )
@Orloff great thread
As for The crap in your rez can you run your system dry between fill up instead of topping them off
I do this with my Octopots and I find no issues with the Rez ?
Your set up is very nicely done and clean outstanding
Hey Papa thanks for stopping by and dropping your wisdom. And kind words ! I’m wary of letting them dry out. Considering my medium and salt-based nutrients, I’m always aware of the possibility of salt buildup. Flushing a plant under scrog would be a huge pain that I’m trying to avoid.
Anyway, I have some ATA Clean on the way, it should help with the buildups that are occuring in my system. I think that my hard tap water is one of the big reasons for my problems. I’ll be content if I can make the res last a week without needing to clean it. Rinsing a reservoir once a week before I mix a fresh batch shouldn’t be too hard .
The net step if ATA Clean doesn’t work is H2O2, I have some 3.5% on hand (sadly I can’t buy higher concentrations here). Then if even that is not enough, I guess it’s time to introduce a mixing pump. Or rethink my whole method, maybe move back to organic soil and have just water in Autopots, similar to @TerpSneeze.
@Orloff Looks to me like the mineral/nutrient build-up for sure. From my armchair perspective, the easiest solution is to add a small flow pump to the bottom of your res and a small easily serviceable filter downstream of the res and a valve, all of course after a res change.
As the res feeds the solution remaining nutes/minerals are settling and getting more concentrated as you use more feed. Without things circulating your dissolved oxygen is plummeting as the concentration of your solution creeps up as well not a good situ.
My suggestion: buy a $10 2w flow pump, attach a few inches of line to the exit port and run another line out to air. The venturi effect will draw air from outside your res and mix it in with the circulating fluid. Taking surface EC and PH readings without having the nutrient homogeneously mixed or circulating is often misleading and often why you take measurements at the feed outlet side of the system.
The filter (think that foam fish filter material, you don’t want to really actively filter your nutrient but you want to provide a catchment in a specific spot to grow gunk for lack of an easier way of describing it where you can quickly grab it) and valve downstream mean only cleaning the filter every so often versus the res. This also doubles as an EC/PH measurement point. Turn the valve to the off position, remove the filter to do your rinse with water, open the valve a crack over a small clean cup, take your readings from the cup, reinstall your filter and open the valve. This could be accomplished in mere minutes and would ensure your system doesn’t go anaerobic.
Edit: clarification on my definition of filter in this case
Looks like my summoning rituals were succesfull . Thanks for stopping by and checking my grow, and for your thoughts, it means a lot. I am trying to figure this system out and you are using it on scale, so your experience is invaluable to me.
I am pretty sure I’m dealing with mineral buildup as well, even after dropping regulator I can see some buildup both in trays/valves and in reservoir itself. I finally received ATA Clean, it should help a lot in that regard. I will let this res run out, then clean and mix new one with ATA Clean and observe. I might even be able to add Regulator back if ATA Clean fixes my problems…
I am looking into pumps as well, althought it’s really my last resort. I really don’t want to introduce another electrical device on a timer in my system. Good suggestion about the filter, the one included with the kit (small “golf” type with a piece of blue open cell foam) probably isn’t doing much.
Thanks much for your remarks about EC/PH parameters being different in different points of non-mixed res. It makes perfect sense!
Good thing there’s no microbes/fungi in my system , at least none introduced by me. That’s another layer of complexity that I don’t want to deal with atm, maybe once I fully figure things out in a sterile environment.
I wouldn’t be afraid of running a small submersible flow pumps, they are cheap, run on low power (2-5W)and you can just plug it in and let it run 24/7, this will help with settling but also help a bit with Dissolve oxygen in the res (very important). I run various flow pumps in my systems for these reasons even though I run only water in my feed lines.
Filter wise, your local pet shop will have foam pre-filters that will not change your PH, the material you have in place might be a bit small meaning it will need cleaning regularly if it was to act as a catchment. I have used water fuel separators in the past, but they do sell barrel style filters for this purpose. If you search barrel style filters you will find that they are many levels of filtration, what you are looking for is a pre-filter that has enough area in it to start collecting not so much filtering much in like the small one that came with your res. Having more surface area means more growth in the catchment and less likely to clog before you get the chance to clean it.
Yeah the more I look into it, the more it seems that a pump is in my future if I want it or not . I was looking into H2O2 as an oxidizing agent, but after reading up on some things (this is a great article: https://manicbotanix.com/disinfection-in-hydroponics-root-disease-prevention/) it doesn’t quite work like that. Things are more complicated once you get into the chemistry of it all…
I am also looking into a proper inline filter. Maybe I will get the Autopot one and increase the reservoir tap, or just mount something meant for aquariums. Either way, should be much better than the toy thing that was included in my kit.
Last day of vegetation for my main tent today! Once FC #1 goes to sleep, she will wake up in fall season ;). I’m very excited, the plant is ready and has a pronounced smell even in veg - I mostly smell pepper and something dank-sweet that I just can’t put words on.
I voiced my dislike about scrogging this particular plant and the feeling hasn’t changed at all. French Cookies just aren’t suitable or maybe my skills aren’t up to par. Every day it feels like I am trying to make grapevines out of cabbage . I even managed to break one of the 4 man tops while bending it below screen (even with “massage” of the stem)… Anyway, this is as good as it will get veg-wise:
BTW, the copper root control disc included in my autopot kit has serious trouble with this particular beastie. I will manually prune the roots every week when I change the res, I don’t want the valve clogging.
The vegging plant in my little tent is quickly overgrowing her space as well. I will take the 4 main tops off tomorrow when I clone FC #1. I don’t think it will stop her for long, but I just can’t bring myself to compost her. Such a beautiful and lush plant! Happy to see here turn around after the problems she was facing in early veg.
There’s a sock around my pot, but it doesn’t look like it’s doing much . Maybe I will get another one, try to put one inside the pot and one outside. The instructions say to put it outside, so I did it like that.
The tent is a small one, 70x70x180cm. My vertical situation is not great, but I should be able to handle 2-2.5x stretch. Anything more than that and I will have to get funky with direct mounting the LED. In the worst case, I will have to figure out an outside placement of filter and extractor. Fingers crossed!
I’ve never had roots break free when I put mine in the inside… but im in the plastic pots.
I do have socks somewhere that I’m trying to locate…they are all yours if you want. After 6months of trying to get 2 more flood tables…I finally have them.
my lights were on in flower for an extra 12 hours 
. And I had a fair share of burnt out timers when I was using HPS. Scary times, but nothing a properly rated contactor couldn’t handle!
but no need I have timers and never had them fail
so turn off and on is what I do
! I’m wary of letting them dry out. Considering my medium and salt-based nutrients, I’m always aware of the possibility of salt buildup. Flushing a plant under scrog would be a huge pain that I’m trying to avoid.
.
. Thanks for stopping by and checking my grow, and for your thoughts, it means a lot. I am trying to figure this system out and you are using it on scale, so your experience is invaluable to me.
, at least none introduced by me. That’s another layer of complexity that I don’t want to deal with atm, maybe once I fully figure things out in a sterile environment.
