One of the great things about short life cycle plants is that you always get to start over relatively quick, no matter what happened last time.
My first grow with the Growlink system was okay, I’d give it about 55% (props if you get that reference …) The plants were all healthy for the most part, I just made some poor choices about substrate volume and nutrients and the plants were leafier than I would’ve liked.
I took advantage of the changeover to throw away the crappy tent I was using. I also bought a new bar light for the warmer summer months. Hopefully I’m going to take what I learned and have a better run on try #2.
So I present to you, AK Bean Brains-
Left side of tent - White91xTkNl5Haze X Black AfghanxTkNl5Haze
(This is an “off menu” item but close to his Black&White so I’m just gonna call it BW)
Right side of tent - Skunk Qabbage Bx7
They are a bit droopy having just been placed onto the slabs. I’m going to run them under a screen. I’ll veg them here for another 5 days or so then flip. These are 35 days from seed and were lab tested for sex.
Yeah, I’m hopeful things are going to be much easier to control with the slabs vs. the 4” cubes.
I bought a MedicGrow Smart 8 Plus. It’s 770 watts, 8 bars, wall to wall. I’m running at 40% and getting about 700ppfd. Not super expensive for what you get and has good reviews, so we’ll see. The “plus” has the Samsung diodes, not sure it matters.
My drain hole tek plant made it to about 60 days before she gave up the ghost. I’m gonna proclaim it a failure, but she’s currently drying and it did produce bud
D41 from seed. Growlink running much smoother with an adequate moisture reserve in the substrate. EC 1.8, 75f, 55rh. I cleaned up some of the lowers this morning and will probably flip them in the next day or 2.
The Skunk Qabbage (right side) doesn’t appear that it’s going to be stretchy enough for a good scrog, time will tell. I always have to try something to make it hard …
Here’s a screenshot from Growlink’s new beta web application. Not sure what to think of it yet, I run such a minuscule part of their system that most of the app is greyed out/not applicable to my use. This is an iPad screen shot.
D7 since flip. B&W on left, Skunk Qabbage on right. We are in the bondage phase, it looks at this point that I’ve got maybe a 50/50 chance of filling the screen. It’s always a gamble with new strains from seed.
I’ve traditionally been a “hang the light up high, turn it up high, and get out of the way” kind of guy, but my electric rates increase in the summer so I’m trying to minimize some of those costs this run. It’s a new light, the Medicgrow Smart 8 plus. It runs at 760w full on, which is way too much, so I’ve got it hanging about 14” above the screen, running at 60%, and I’m getting a pretty steady 8-900 ppfd across the canopy. So far, so good.
During stretch, I irrigate in “generative” mode. So basically an hour after they wake up, they get fed up to runoff over about a 90 minute period. Then they dry back until the next morning.
I’m pounding them with the Megacrop, up to about a 2.0EC right now. Media EC is hitting up in the 4.0 range. Plants are not showing any signs of stress so I’m going to keep going …. Ph around 5.8, 80f, rh 50% day, 60% night.
I defoliated when I flipped and have been pulling some leaves daily. I’ll do another big clean up around day 21 and then let them go awhile. Thx for stopping in.
I’ve got some hope of filling the canopy, but not getting cocky yet. This picture was taken before I jammed everything back under the net, which is about a daily activity now.
Nothing really to report, 1 part Megacrop at about 2.0EC, 80f/70f, 50-65rh. Moving right along.
And in the “a fool and his money are soon parted” move, I bought some AC Infinity UV bars and hung them in there. I know there is debate about the value/effectiveness of UV. In typical AC infinity fashion, the bars do have a nifty little controller attached to them that allows dimming, basic timer function, etc. this is one of those purchases where I’ll never really know if I pissed my money away, but I’ll give it a shot.
D21 since flip. I took about 5 gallons of leaves and underbrush out a couple days ago, but it filled back in pretty quick. I’ll have to hit it hard once more around day 40, but I’ll probably have to do some defoliation every day because of the screen.
The screen. I give myself a C-. I set it too low to start, and the Skunk Qabbage especially doesn’t seem to be a strain that’s suited to this. Live and learn.
Growlink - I’m still learning and trying to learn how to control my runoff to stack EC in the rockwool. The 2 Skunk Qabbage front right have cooperated the most in this quest. My medium EC was up to about 6 this morning after dryback. My other 2 probes have seen more runoff and EC in those blocks is more in the 3.5 range. I’m not seeing much behavioral differences between these plants, so it’ll be interesting to track that as I progress. I’m moving to “vegetative” irrigation strategies today, which is a confusing way of saying watering in such a way as to encourage the plant to bulk up and gain weight. Now that buds have set, that’s the new goal.
Here’s a screenshot of the last 24 hours of Skunk Qabbage water content and EC activity. Notice the negative correlation of the two variables
Is this crop steering? Do you have any good resources to learn from? Unless you want to explain it all here
I know you wont be able to make a determination at least until after harvest, but what do you think of that new light? (the medicgrow). Sure has a ton of features for the price-range.
Well, that’s the goal at least. You basically change your irrigation and environmental conditions at various times throughout the grow to guide, or “steer” the plant into doing what you want.
It really boils down to moisture content in your substrate. Vegetative steering is designed to grow stems and leaves and buds. You try to keep everything as moist as possible, keep the plant fat and happy. You use this strategy during the veg phase and also during the middle of your flowering phase.
Generative steering is designed to tighten growth and stack bud nodes. It’s the dry phase, where you discourage the plant from making mass by giving it a bit of moisture stress. You do this during the stretch (to limit stretch) and also the last couple weeks to finish.
Here’s a good read, lots more good info on their site. thanks for following along. Oh, the light - so far so good.
D26 since flip. This is one of my favorite times of the grow as I see 100’s of “possibilities” and it’s exciting to think about the outcome. Bumped EC up to about 2.6 and added in some Bud Explosion which I’ll run for about 10 days.
Growlink - it’s working fine, but if you followed along you might remember they’ve raised their monthly price. I was hoping to be grandfathered in, but that was a stupid thought. So now the minimum monthly charge for the enhanced data and monitoring is $20/mo. There’s even some language on their web page that may indicate the free app would be limited to onsite monitoring only (I.e. no internet access) going forward. So that’s got my attention. They are introducing a lot of enhancements, but those are mostly aimed at commercial growers so I’m not feeling like I’m getting much benefit for the increased cost.
I also note that Growlink has stopped selling the Acclimate probes like they sold me, and have now introduced a Growlink branded $249 capacitance based probe. It’s cheaper, but is it better?
Day 30 since flip. Different angle with B&W in front, SQ in back.
A couple of you are watching, and I appreciate it, so how about an opinion? I’d normally thin things out in the canopy in the next week or so. Part of me wants to let it ride and see what happens. The canopy is about 10-12” deep/above the screen. 78f, 60%rh +/- 5%.
I’ve never had rot or a disease (frantically knocking on wood). I’m not really wanting to experience that, but I like to try new things. Maybe doing this (nothing) is better …
Think I can make it to a clean harvest without serious pruning?
Nobody was willing to tell me to take a chance on mold . Yeah, I don’t blame you. I did a very minor thinning of the canopy a couple days ago, I’m going to let it go from here.
Not much to report on the plants. A couple of them are barking a little at the high EC, but overall no problems.
Growlink rolled out an entirely new irrigation program yesterday, so I have to relearn that, and hope my plants don’t suffer in the process. My dryback last night was harder than I would’ve liked, so now I have to watch the field capacity of my rockwool to make sure I didn’t negatively impact that.
Hey. Didn’t realize you’d started a new thread for another grow.
Did you mean to say “generative”?
Sorry if this is lazy help on my part. But if you search youtube for “X” gardening term, say “crop steering”, and then use the filters to search only for videos 20 minutes or longer, I find many of the better videos on such topics that way. Usually webinars and the like from good sources, or maybe University “extensions”. I know I’ve got one or two on a HDD but can’t look right now. “Solventless Bake N Vape” channel is all about it, loves the crop steering, and has made quite a few videos discussing it, and tested a bunch of equipment and sensors and compared them. I think he might be developping one, too. Maybe you’ve already done this search, though.
I got an email from customhydronutrients about this: “Introducing the Sensational SenseCap 2108: Revolutionize Your Hydroponics!” Full details in the email.
To which I replied: “Can you tell me what are the other associated costs with this new Sensor? I’m talking about any other hardware, but also any software - what software is required, how much does it cost, is it subscription based or just a one time purchase, does one need this proprietary software, and what platforms does the software require or run on, please?”
They promptly replied that you need their “Outdoor Gateway”, and a software, but that the API can be used with their software, OR it’s open to use with other things like Home Assistant or Azure (never heard of Azure). You pay for the data used, it’s cheap compared to Growlink from what I gathered (hastily). then they wrote me again, unprompted to let me know that the company sent them an update. They changed their data rates or something, it’s even cheaper now I think; $11.88 USD per sensor, per year.
I didn’t wanna post the full emails and clutter up your thread too much. I know you’ve already invested in what you have, I just wanted to share this info.
And I’m curious what @FieldEffect thinks of the blog post by Daniel Fernandez, so I’m tagging him.
I didn’t look into these things in depth, no time at the moment.
Maybe go in and “rustle them up” a bit, by grabbing the stems and moving/shaking a little, or with your hand(s) shaking the upper section of the canopy and see if you uncover much “moisture”. The kind that develops when one leaf lays on top of another. On second thought, they might be too developed for that now, don’t wanna bruise the fruit. They look great!
Edit: If you want more details on that Senscap system, I can pm you the details they sent me. Or you could ask them for the full details of it. I’m curious about the Daniel Fernandez option, but am trying to being realistic about the “free” time I have right now.
No, crop steering actually suggests that you move to vegetative steering during the middle of the flower phase, as this promotes bulking of your buds.
I hate their terminology, but it is standardized so gotta get used to it.
During veg phase, use vegetative steering;
During stretch, use generative steering to promote bud set and reduce stretch:
During middle of flower, switch back to vegetative to promote bulking;
During finish (last 10 days or so) use generative steering.
Thanks for the links, I’m going to check them out. And oh, I did wussy out and thinned the canopy out some more today.
Right, thanks. I thought I read “I’m moving from vegetative to vegetative”, and that you meant one of them to say “generative” but I didn’t even see that at all. Hah.
I think I’m actually doing this by “accident” right now. Hand watering, so things are getting drier than they might other wise. I have to go in and bend pretty aggressively today/tomorrow, to be able to install the trellis. Things getting out of hand, as always. Procrastination and business.
This has actually proven to be pretty effective for me, as far as reducing stretch. In fact, almost too good. Sour Strawberry last run, and Skunk Qabbage this time - both indica dominant plants that could’ve benefitted from a little stretch. I’ve got a SQ this time that is so stacked, no internode space, I’m not sure how it’s going to turn out or if I can overcome its density. If I ever ran a strain more than once I’m sure I could dial it in, but what’s the fun in that?
Another good source of crop steering info - Aroya Office Hours podcast on YouTube. It’s mostly steering/sensor/ discussions, geared towards commercial growers but the principles are the same.
I poked around there a bit, unfortunately the “outdoor gateway “ is $400.
Regarding soil moisture sensors, it’s interesting to note that Growlink’s new irrigation module completely eliminates real time sensor data from the equation. The old way - irrigation was triggered by water content % thresholds that were triggered in real time by the sensors. For instance, you tell the system to water when moisture content drops below 40%. Or to stop watering when the moisture content reaches 60%. And then the sensors kicked your irrigation on/off.
Growlink abandoned this approach because even the $300 moisture sensors bounce around so much, as far as their readings. When blocks dry out they can get really wonky. So the old approach always had the possibility of triggering irrigations based on false sensor data.
Their new fertigation program is based 100% on timers. The system analyzes what happened yesterday (based on historical sensor data) and develops a set schedule of timed irrigation events to meet your goals. Then every day the system compares what actually happened with what you thought was gonna happen. If there are differences (I.e you didn’t meet your dryback target, or exceeded it, like I did) Growlink will provide a set of suggestions to modify your irrigation schedule to meet your goals. You can accept their suggestions with one click and then the whole process starts over.
Lengthy discussion to get to the point that it seems Growlink doesn’t really trust their sensors to make real time decisions so they’ve adopted this timer approach. I don’t think that’s unique to their sensors, I think it’s just indicative of the fact that there’s inherent problems with all of these moisture sensors, which makes me even less likely to be comfortable with some of these cheap sensors
. Yeah, I don’t blame you. I did a very minor thinning of the canopy a couple days ago, I’m going to let it go from here.