one of the guys over on icmag that helped me a ton when i moved to flood and drain said he uses a watering wand and just runs water through them during maintenance.
here is what he said when i asked about buildup and flushing.
“Yes I do. I use a hose and plain water to rinse out the pots every 2 weeks when I do a nute change. Not that it’s really needed but it’s a habit I started years ago. I used to only flush once a month but figured since I’m cleaning the table and res I might as well flush out the pots too. Then when plants are done I flush for 5 to 7 days or until my ph and ppm stay the same as what I started with.”
he uses fabric pots as well and said he gets the outside of the pots as well to ensure the salts are being washed away.
as i said before i do it a few times/run. maybe monthly as he mentions. in my garden with my nutrients and situation, i wouldn’t do it any less frequent than that or i get issues. tbh, if i didn’t have to drive across 2 cities to get to my room, i would do it weekly. i think if you do it every week or two, you will not need nearly as much water as you had to use this first time because you won’t be letting much build up between flushes.
i hope things work out and i will definitely be watching.
yeah, i would probably use RO. i am lucky enough to have 16-18ppm water out of the tap where i live.
also, when he mentions the hose, i believe he just means he has a pump in his RO barrel with a hose and wand attached. he’s mentioned in the past that his tap water isn’t good either.
Ya, I was kind of in a panic in this last episode so I’ll definitely be watching it next time and will be able to anticipate when a flush is needed. At that point I can fill one of my 27gal totes with RO and get a small pump/wand setup to flush them. What a learning experience!
I just had a good look through your grow diary mate…love the automation setup. Pretty keen on setting up one myself after another cycle or two. And it will be interesting to compare yeilds and quality, although the systems are vastly different. I’m keen to hear your thoughts on the led setup your running. And also what the sour diesel is like to grow/smoke. Chat to you later mate
Last post for at least 7-10 days. Did the chop this weekend on my first-ever run. Pretty happy with results but lots of lessons learned. While taking the bigger stems, I noticed lots of larf underneath that may have been provided more light with more pruning. Lost opportunities. My setup didn’t allow me to get in there as much as needed, so next run will have four plants instead of six and no overall SCROG net. The net prevented me from being able to move the plants at all, so the back ones were basically inaccessible.
Anyways, the drying nets were sagging pretty well, so I’ll keep them at 60’F and 50%RH and get ready for the trim!
Looks good mate…I know how you feel with some being out of reach. I had a 2 inch gap either side of a 4x4 tray. With the unappealing buds included I’ll max out at approximately 1.5lb, which is poor for the amount of light I ran. But as you said, it was a steep learning curve. I’m keen as mustard to get into the next run but, as I bet you are aswell! Cheers
Last update on this one. Final tally is 20 oz (560g) for all six plants which turns out to 0.87 grams/watt. SolStix X3 are the real deal! Not bad for my first run! Can only improve on the next one. Can’t thank the team OG enough for all the help and encouragement through the process.
Time to practice making edibles for the holidays and get ready for the next run after the 1st of the year. Planning to go with some Yeti OG clones my nephew has. We’ll see.
A small checklist of things that will be changing:
Downsize to 4 plants instead of 6 plants. Make it easier to prune/maintain.
No SCROG net. I need to be able to move the plants independently for pruning and maintenance. Will do LST another way.
Install counterweights to rise/lower lights with ease (no ratchet hangers)
Recirc top feed instead of flood/drain. Easier to flush periodically.
Im curious what you intend to do to replace the scrog. I agree its tough when you cant move plants around, but I run hydro, so you cant really move plants anyway. Other than that, I love scrog.
I want to do a top drip or feed system that I could disconnect/reconnect as needed and be setup to flush my pots with RO without changing anything. We’ll see, but definitely on the search for ideas. I think I need a bigger charcoal filter. My house stayed odorless but the exhaust made the outside of my house a bit stinky during flower.
You up and running again mate? I’m a month since germination but they were under fluros for first 3 weeks so bit smaller than I’d like at week 4. Just starting full feeds under 2x600w so fun times ahead!
Ozzie! Not yet. I’m waiting on some MOAB clones from my nephew. Hopefully in a couple weeks we’ll be running again. I was going to shift gears and try a top feed, but I’m going to keep everything the same. I have been playing with counterweights for my light rack so I could raise and lower it with one hand. Not perfected yet but making good progress. Looking forward to comparing runs again! Happy 2019 bro!
Looking forward to it aswell mate…all the best for 2019. And a one handed light mover sounds like a treat…I could put 6 hands to use if I had them to raise or lower mine haha
