Bean update
7 of the 8 seeds have sprouted, and are now in rockwool cubes under a CFL. They will remain there until they get some roots… and I can finish the automation software for the watering system!
Sprout Update: one of the sprouts seems to have stalled out, but I’ve still got 6 very healthy looking ones ready to go into the pots tomorrow.
Just put the finishing touches on the software that will control the whole thing (sort of. Software is never really finished)
The Bluetooth soil sensor will tell the Raspberry Pi when the moisture is too low. The pi then sends commands to switch the Wifi irrigation outlet on for 1 minute. This cycle continues until proper moisture is reached.
Tomorrow should be official start of the grow. Pics to follow.
Updates::
One of my irrigation pumps died. New one on order. But that means, for now, the 6 seedlings are all in one tent. Not ideal, but it will be fine until plants start getting bigger.
Strain:
Ultraviolet x Lowryder autoflower
Light:
Back to the white Roleadro 600 LED, so no more blurple pics.
The light is currently 26” above the seedlings.
Schedule:
Light timer set to 20-on/4-off
Medium:
Coco and perlite
Moisture:
Auto Irrigation system will keep soil moisture at 25%. Today, it is much higher (40%) so it will probably be several days before it even kicks on.
Not too obvious in the pics, but #5 and #6 noticeably ahead of the others. Bigger.
Baby plants are doing ok, but not great. I’m a little worried about them. Seems they should have more vitality at this stage…
Today was first day the irrigation kicked in. So maybe the burst of nutes will give them a boost.
#5 still the biggest. But #3 seems to have caught up to #6
@firehead I’ll def be around this one the seeds came from a single mother that was pollinated by two males so I’ve seen some variation. I’ve sprouted a whole bunch to see what kinda weirdness is in there. About 2 or 3 outta every 10 are runts but also 1 outta those 10 are nearly full sized plants the others are typical autos. But the smell is uniform across them. Stanky yet fruity thanks again to @ReikoX cuz these babies came from my first ever seeds I got here. Glad to see someone back on here growing them. Also id give “floaters” at least 3 days before tossing. Some stubborn ones out there. I’ve had winners come from late starters. It’s a survival strategy built in to them. If all the seeds sprout the same time and you get a random late frost… There goes the species . Im really liking the mini set up tho man major props
Thanks! Good info to know about what you’ve found with different runs of these seeds.
They all picked up and grew a bit yesterday. So the watering and feeding seems to have helped.
Plants #2 and #4 definitely seem to be a little runty though. Which, Im honestly ok with. Last thing I want in this super cramped grow is full size plants! Runts all around would be great!
We’ll see in the next few weeks
All the kids are still doing well.
#5 is still the leader, but #1 is the comeback kid. And #3 also catching up.
#4 is the runt.
Coming along nicely.
Huge boost in growth over the weekend!
Today, I checked the reservoir pH, and found it had climbed up to 6.3.
Wondering if the cocoa has high ph, and it leeched into the tank.
So, I reset it back to 5.9, and added a wee bit more nutrients to put the mixture up to 500ppm.
Cocoa?
Are you using chocolate as a grow medium?
yes! Am I doing it wrong?
Gotta get dat Chocolate Kush
Plants continue growing like mad.
#5 still a beast. #4 still runty. But the other 4 plants are growing fast and not far behind the leader.
However, I’m just noticing some leaf discoloration that looks like early magnesium deficiency (? Input here by coco/hydro experts appreciated)
So, today I’m going to empty and clean the reservoir and put In new water with a boost in nutes, especially the calmag.
Ok. Tank cleaned (had a bit of algae growth)
Big boost in nutes (from 450ppm last week, to 700ppm) mostly in the increase of calmag plus.
I’m a bit nervous about this jump. We’ll see what happens. It’s all about the learning.
PH adjusted to 5.8
Here’s the new formula:
And, since the tags in the pots are now hard to see, here is the numbering/id layout:
Also, when I moved everything for cleaning, some pots weighed more. So, seems they are not all getting equal watering.
Need to set for an experiment this week to measure exactly how much water comes out of each drip tube during the watering cycles.
Hoping to find a way to adjust these to within 10% accuracy of one another.
Hey dude, been following along a bit. When playing with a similar or maybe even the same irrigation set I found you need a pretty strong pump to get an even coverage and the drop adjustment sucked. I went from a 300L per hour pump (more like 30) to a 3000L per hour pump and it sorted my system right out
Ah! Good to know. Need to check the capacity of mine then. I think it’s a 240 gal/hr (basic aquarium style pump) but not so sure of that…
i run mine without dripper heads just straight open tube, but you have to run your watering duration times really short.
and no idea on the cause of the leaf color variation, but just keep up checking your pH and ec levels on res change overs of whats left and whats going in