Dookie69

I don’t work in “feeds” since from around 2 weeks the Autopot reservoir is turned on and becomes responsible for making the nutes available to the plants, and the plants in theory regulate their nute use individually. So if one plant is very thirsty, it will consume feed from the tray quicker than another plant, and this tray’s valve will cycle more frequently than the less thirsty plant. Of course if there is insufficient EC for the plant, it will draw nutrients faster in order to get what it needs. A bit like getting drunk on a 2% beer - you need a whole six pack to get the same effect as two Black Labels. Regarding CalMag. I use 1g of granular CalMag (bought from GrowGuru if I recall) per 10 litres of res water. I mix in 20 litre containers at a time, so just 2 grams per bucket, dissolved before the GHE goes in. Now my GHE is the “soft water” version which actually has extra Calcium anyway, but I find just adding a maintenance (1g/10l) amount keeps things happy. I’m just getting confident now with figuring out which stage the plants are at, because with GHE at least, you need to change the NER (Nutrient Element Ratio) between stages. When does seedling stop and veg begin? And veg to pre-flower? And pre flower to flower? What signs do you look for? Do you introduce the new NER when the first plant shows, or the last? This is the “green thumb” knowledge you gain through experience alone, no amount of study and YouTube can teach this. Added to this is the complex combinations of each grow which make them unique eco systems. For example the main variables for indoor growing seem to be: 1. Photo vs Auto 2. Hydro vs amended soil vs living soil vs Coco hybrid 3. Hand Feed vs Wick feed vs drip feed vs DWC 4. CO2 supplementation vs not 5. Light cycle variances 6. Variances in supplements and amendments (brands and application) 7. Different municipal water quality 8. Salts vs Dry vs Organic nutes 9. Outside conditions and their influence on the grow space (Heat, light, humidity, stealth) 10. Tent / Room 11. Following VPD or not? In other words there are probably very few grows which have the same or even a similar bundle of executions as mine (Coco, Autopot, Auto’s, 20/4, GHE nutes, sealed room CO2, low EC tap water, grow room.) So each person’s grow will be unique and when it comes to the fine details there will be considerable variances in opinion and experience, and this is the stuff you need to go through to learn the actual plant itself, to tune into the plant.

Happy to announce that my plant has recovered but I do t know which of the following helped: dropped light to 20/4; gave a “deficiency dose” via autopots at 3g per 10litres, upped my EC on average by 0,5. I suspect it was me starving the plant during a stretch period from Veg to PreFlower.

Side note: drawback with Auto pots is that one res feeds all plants. It makes sorting out individual plants a bit of a toil. If you have a few different types in the grow then again, toughies if one flowers early or whatever. And it’s not practical to have a res for each pot.

Yeah it’s not really a warranty as such, it’s more like a bad batch which has had so many failures that the manufacturer is happy to just swap out till all the bad ones are out of the system.

Sorry. My mistake, my tap water is also 0.1. So in the interim I added a “deficiency” amount of CalMag (3g per 10l) to the next feed and then reverted back to 1g/10l for the next two feeds (my feeds are 40l at a time in a res which feeds 8 plants via auto pots). I also gave a weak foliar feed with Epsom salts. On average they are collectively sucking up 40l in 2 or 3 days. I’ve also switched to 20/4 now that they are in “pre-flower” and increased my EC to 1,6 consistently. Running GHE / TA at 80%, the balance coming from CalMag or Epsom salts etc. Last night I trimmed off around 10 leaves which were affected. I’ll see how it goes over the next 2 days and if it continues on this plant I’ll give it a good old flush and give her a fresh start.

Hi Prom, I use TA tri part, Soft water version. Freedom Farms F1. Autopot with air dome. 24/0 light in 1,5m x 1,5m tent. 720w Full spectrum Plus far red. CO2 in sealed room. This is one of 8 plants, the others are ok. This plant only has a few leaves showing this. The affected leaves are in the upper half of the plant. Current NER is for “Growing” and I’ve just today switched to “Pre-flower”. I have found in the past I add 1g CalMag / 10l (which is a maintenance amount) to every nutrient mix. So I might typically mix 40l starting with Si, then it stands for an hour, then CalMag then TA then either Biodyne 401 or H2O2. My EC is always around 1.2 to 1.6. PH ranges between 5.7 and 6.0. My tap water has very low EC, like 1.0. I have heard that powerful LED lights can cause Cal deficiency when coupled with Coco. Not sure of the bro science behind this or the chain of events bringing this about.

Any takers to offer an observation? I think it’s a Calcium deficiency, in spite of adding CalMag to each feed…

These readings are at canopy height around my 5x5 tent. I’m using my iPhone and a piece of paper over the front camera to get the readings. Its an app that Shane from MIGRO recommended for iPhones as a cheap PPFD meter, called “Photone”. Anyway taking an average of 575 PPFD, over 24hrs of light, and applying the formula above, I come up with a DLI of 49,68 which is quite high however I am running 1200ppm CO2. My lights in this tent are in 3 rows rear to front, each row on it’s own meanwell driver (I haven’t tried to meticulously even them out yet, they are running approx 65 to 70% power) Any comments from the growing gods out there will be appreciated. Remember these are Autoflowers.

H

David666 if you want to grow Auto’s, go for it. I started with auto’s in July last year and haven’t changed. I’ll probably take flack for my opinion but auto’s are kind of the future. Breeders are putting a lot of effort into developing auto’s, getting them closer to the yield of photo’s (especially indoors). Already the terps and THC is comparable, although the pheno’s can vary from seed to seed in the same batch. Why are some breeders concentrating on Auto’s? Seed sales. If you develop a killer photo, you sell one seed and it gets cloned for 10 years. With Autos you keep selling seeds.

Thanks PsyCLown I’ll check it out. So many factors in play. The one thing I can get within an acceptable variance is the VPD. The speculative variables are DLI, Light cycle, Nute strength and CO2 PPM. At the moment I’m running 24/0 as an experiment.

I’m surprised it doesn’t check its schedule before deciding what to do next….

I’ve had non stop issues with a certain brand of small oscillating fans, however the supplier has always swapped them out which is a good thing. But for reliability I go for box fans now.

I read one of Prom’s other comments about hanging box fans (to blow directly down). That’s my go-to now. Great idea Prom.

You can specify the Power on state of the Sonoff, however I don’t know if it will help with lights in terms of timing. I have a few Sonoffs deployed here and there, on my dehumidifier it is set to “on” state. My light are also on one, set to return to “off” when power is restored. (But they stay on, here is why) The Sonoff runs a 100w grow light which is powered via an inverter while the other lights in the tent are on mains. So when load shedding hits, at least there is a decent light to carry on while the power is out. Same inverter runs extraction and circulation fans.

He’s running auto’s…. Are they really that affected by light cycle? I’m mean I see they are flowering… early…. I worry about that builders soil, and notice humidity at 10% (?!) on the hygrometer. My guess is stressed plants due to improper EC / PH, possible over watering or / and over feeding at seedling stage. Possibly that 450w light was too bright early on? So many variables, but this is how we learn. Myself I dig the tech side of growing but I’m still learning the plant man. It’s that green thumb which some people just have and others like myself have to learn. Honestly 2 years ago I couldn’t even grow mould on old bread without killing it. Good luck!

Another point regarding light- if I’m running 24/0 then my DLI will need to still be an ideal for the plant, in other words less intensity (dimmed). So I’m running my lights at 75% and getting between 550 and 650 ppfd at canopy height. Does anyone know how to calculate DLI? And then to know if it’s too much for autos on 24/0? As I said I’m on day 33 from imbibition and around day 28 from sprout.

I’m busy now with some auto’s under 24/0. I’ve been wanting to try this for some time to see how they turn out. So far at 32 days from imbibition they are short and bushy, however I think I might have stunted them a bit with salt build up in the coco. I did a flush after seeing what I thought was nitrogen toxicity and the runoff was ph6 but EC5 (!). I am running the feed EC around 1.1 to 1.3 and have done 2 x big defoliations plus LST. Growing in 3 Gallon autopots with F1, TA nutrients and CO2 at 1200 ppm. The Jack Herer Autos were a disaster with only 1 out of 5 seeds germinating. All the rest look ok, if a bit small. I’m considering changing the light to 20/4 once flowering starts (if it starts [emoji1787]). I’d like opinions on that.

For small measurements I prefer using a syringe. I pour some nutes into a clean shallow cap / container (usually the nute lid or a 100ml measuring jug), take what I need then pour back the balance.

I fitted an inverter and 2 x 200A/h batteries. All run on extension cords. It runs 1/3 of the lights in two tents plus the extractors and oscillating fans. It can also run a dehumidifier but that reduces the battery life a bit quicker. It’s fine for 2hrs or much more if the lights are off obviously. I have a generator which re charges the batteries if needed.

Keep on keeping on. Great work.

I got the seeds from a local distributor / breeder / seed bank. They were not branded but came in small plastic vials (?) with a bit of (that shit that sucks moisture out of the air) in each. Now I bought at least 15 seeds and got a few free thrown in. I have only germinated 6 of those seeds, and four are looking awesome, maybe 2 or 3 weeks to go. The other two have got stuck. I haven’t pictured the second “bad” one; it is stuck on the “plenty white pistols” stage. Now the one I pictured above, which seemed stuck in Veg, has spent 2 days in isolation on 12/12. I’ll try that on the other “bad” plant, seeing as it is all alone in a. 4x4.

Do you import directly from the States?

I’m going to stick that plant in its own 12/12 and see what happens.

This is the question, who is the breeder? Up to now I’ve only purchased branded seeds, like Dutch Passion, Dinafem, Humboldt Seed Co and Divine Seeds, all through local seed banks.