narnia

Whoa, that's pretty weird. Wouldn't think it would be wet due to the air pressure, so not sure how air passing over metal would effect pH but who cares if it worked. Nice find and fix! Girls are looking healthier, particularly the one White Rhino is well chuffed. Res. temps a bit lower it seems with water pumps out?

Shit, round the ringer. Q1: Verify your readings with drops or another meter, given one res shows stable pH can probably rule out readings. Provided the res, stayed stable and you did not add or change anything (if you did, look there first). Some semi-prioritized guesses: 1.Do you regularly check EC/TDS of the res. any changes? 2.Don't need to fondle them, but really look over the roots to be hundreds there's no damage, growth, jelly, discoloration, etc. 3.Have you cleaned / checked your water pump recently? They can get really funky inside. 4.Is there anything noticeable in the res.? - foam, froth on top - cloudiness of solution - grains / crystals / something at the bottom of the res? Q2 I do not *think* that is indicative of deficiency or toxicity on the leaves, but goes back to root health, again- perhaps someone else has other ideas to add. The spotting is quite close to some images of septoria, but not close enough. The wilting / overwatered look coupled with knowing you've had root issues, points to root zone. -------- Right now (excluding pH, rot, etc. as looked at that above) they have that overwatered wilted look. Increasing oxygen in water (more airstones, temps down) and bringing water level a little further below net pots, to expose more roots to air, will help that. Again though, gotta be sure root health is good. I would again suggest pulling your water pump and drippers, and just have air stones + pump(s). Monitor water level in res. to find right height perhaps light hand feed with some water from res. if needed as girls adjust. The popping bubbles mist the area that the drippers were feeding in any case. I only saw improvement once I removed my water pump and drippers in early growth. I, too, had that droopy overwatered look. After playing around with many different cycle times opted to hand water small amounts as needed (which wasn't often) until roots hit res. Your roots are huge for relative plant size. Your res. temps should come way down, the pumps create heat, which will increase dissolved oxygen and therefore a less hospitable environment for baddies. Nevermind how siff some water pumps can get.

Not-so-pro-tip: might want to remove the labels that say 'Nutes 1' and 'Nutes 2' off your bottles when you fill

When I do get water from the spring it is: 0.1mS (EC - so TDS is x700 right? ppm x500? Therefore 70ppm on TDS meter?) pH 6.2 - 6.5 That is from the SAB point, so perhaps there could be mild fluctuation on Springs rd. pH readings may fluctuate from temp / oxygenation, or merely my pH pen.

Ha, how'd my cat end up in your tent? What a man-ho! Looking good. Nice lateral / hair growth coming and new hairy roots popping out of the hydroton, no bounce back effect of baddies in res. good stuff, well done m8.

@Trickerst It's *maybe* buffered already, can ask them. Otherwise they have bankies of Cal-Mag nitrate for buffering. Charging and buffering are often used interchangeably, but in some instances charging may refer to running a mild nute solution through. Flushing the balls out of it will wash away some goodness, as will the use of salts (nutes) over time, depending, deplete the microlife. Having run into the 'timebomb' Mg and Ca deficiencies before, from either improper washing or improper buffering, I would be a lot more concerned about ensuring the coco was buffered and [light] flush after to rinse. One can always try add amendments back in, but it's far more difficult to correct Ca and Mg lockup from unbuffered coco let alone identifying that as the issue once it occurs. TL;DR: Paranoid. I'd buffer it anyway, even if they told me it was buffered. Paranoia from past experience and elimination of variables should defs. occur.

LUDICROUS SPEED. Given the size of your box, 0.24m^2, the PPFD will always be real high. How that equates to real use, is beyond me.... The diminishing returns graph virtually maxes out at around 1200umol/s/m2 . Robin's optics thread(s) have PAR readings on individual COBs at different heights which you could fudgingly overlay to figure out spread, but again, it's over a very small area, so I can't see it yielding any valuable info other than perhaps confirming/reducing hot spots with 90deg reflectors. But ya, going on our dodgy data and math; it is enough light to cover 1m x 1m area @ ~900umol/s plus which would be the tits before you're hitting diminishing returns. Perhaps you just never exceed a certain dimming % ....or sell me half, cos I'm such a cool guy . I'm really keen to see pics of this beast of a box. Get building yo!

New growth is coming in well! How's the root zone after prior issues? When you top or FIM, I'd suggest leaving some more fan leaves going (you can clip the ends to stop growth if like) for photosynthesis. Can still pinch any new shoots below new tops, or any which you don't want for that matter. Just two more fan leaves, on a young lady with only two fan leaves is providing twice the surface area for your girls' photosynthesis. You're also given a little more of a buffer for mobile nute deficiencies, or other issues which may arise, which is an added bonus.

The PLC 6 (Greengenes - pacificlights) has sphere data; the chips are, however, B series driven at 1800mA. Conveniently though, comparing to Vero spec. sheets, efficacy is the same: B series @ 1800mA = 160lm/W SE D series @ 2100mA = 159lm/W The sphere data has 1.91umol/J (with the fixture listed as 1.97umol/J on pacificlights), this I believe is based on 110/120V vs 220/240V vs 277V - driver losses are less on 240V. For lack of other data to draw from, I would think you could fudge from 1.91 ~ 1.97 umol/J in some fudgy calculations. 474W @ 1.91 = 905 umol/s @ 1.97 = 933 umol/s Punch that into your square meter area for ridiculous PPFD that's best illustrated by Lord Helmet

What happened to voting? FB page, or Editors choice?

@420SA On the live stream chat: "The judge will give an answer on live streaming at 2pm. "

Live feed if/when https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQJ1CohzkYs

@420SA @CerealKilla Thanks peeps. Yep, have tried a few Builders and many different nurseries. Much like Cerealkilla says, most don't know what you're talking about. Have seen one of the spiral type (Stark Ayres) but didn't look like it would be that useful. @Thatoneguy Thanks bud, looks like China shipment though... perhaps should just knuckle down and import; there must be a local option other than finding your neighbourhood smithy.

Anyone know where one can buy tomato rings (cages)? Searched online and many nurseries, a while ago, before giving up. Ya- fairly simple to DIY, but I'd like something more solid without too much effort. [edited to add image]

Live twitter feed at bottom of either homepage: https://fieldsofgreenforall.org.za/ https://daggacouple.co.za/ Live stream of 5th Aug Clinical Cannabis Convention: https://fieldsofgreenforall.org.za/sas-first-clinical-cannabis-convention-we-are-streaming-live/ I'm guessing a live stream of the entire case may not be available and the two were mixed up?

You doubled down on the COBs. Noiiiiiice were the prior 3 also D series, and a full double, or were they higher voltage series and a bit less than doubling up? All 3500K? And are these all going in the same spec. cab. ? Holy shieet. Interesting idea with the hydroton as it may help wick moisture from the fabric pots, but it will hold water as well. Also, could this be an area for nasties (pests / fungi / etc.) to grow? I'm using cheap plebeian plastic mat things from Mambos, cut to size - see pic. - works alright, but always interested in other options.

From the GT Hydro homepage: ETA of Products: Nutriplex nutrients, CalMag , pH up/down, Fulvic and Humic acid: mid August

More ramblings: Took a couple of clones (near lights out). Silica added in res. change couple days prior. - No seepage at all, over around an 1 - 1.5 hrs ± 10hrs later, seeping at the cutting points. Checked res. - 0.1 reduction in solution EC Notes: - I have only once seen an EC decrease (or increase for that matter) on res. maintenance checks, and that was after correcting minor Ca def. moving from virtually no feed as just popped seedling, to light feed- which I attributed to the supplemented calcium being gobbled up a couple of days after adding chelated Ca to correct minor def. Blind luck, but nonetheless the point being res levels drop, girls drink+eat, res stays stable. - 0.1 EC flux is nominal and possibly not even within the accuracy tolerance My understanding of silica "plants mobilize silica to point of damage/infection to crystallize cells around site of attack"or something to that extent. These were big cuts which did not seep during the ±1.5hrs I was able to see before coming back ±10hrs later. - No seeping at cut - Noticeable reduction (but somewhat nominal) in res. EC - Seeping later, after reduction in EC While any required nute could've been gobbled up to account for the reduction and may not be related, still nonetheless quite interesting.

@Duracell Awesome, glad your girls are on the mend, nicely done. Adding on to what Totemic has said; if your water / nutes have sat for a long time prior to res. change, also account for oxygenation altering pH slightly. Adjust existing res incrementally, I've seen 0.2 increments thrown around as a number to aim ait, but seen nothing concrete. Stands to reason you do not want big fluctuations in short spaces of time. With the algae/growth managed, your pH should be a lot more stable. Consider wrapping the res. in something reflective, as it's black it will heat up. A panda film curtain is easy enough, or whatever floats your goat. Well worth it. Insulating is an add-on option as well, provided air temps are actually higher than res. temps. I also began with mainlining my DWC girl, but opted to FIM once had decent structure after first top. Worked quite well, though one side took longer to recover and lagged, but not proper mainlining.

Sorry for the threadjack. A surfactant / spreading agent, yes. Am using the G49 stuff, link below, which is to my assumption the same/similar to dish soap, but at least without perfumes, antibacterial, etc.etc. but this is purely assumption. The warnings are scary af. http://www.efekto.co.za/shop/protection/garden-protection/garden-protection-insecticides/g49-wetter-benatter/

Sweet, thanks! I think one can grab agar-agar from health shops. Will do some research on it for foliar application. Any experience?

@GreenBeard Did you end up finding anything to wet your soul Still looking for a surfactant and cringe every time I use that G49 soapy stuff.

I've been using a similar Kill A Watt meter, also from the same store. Couldn't speak for accuracy as have never tested it with another meter, generally matches up with the rating of whatever I'm plugging in / adding on, but that's based on the appliance's rating and no other data.\ I'm happy with it. As far as I recall that store is about the only place I was able to locate a meter.

Thanks for your post @WalterW bro! How'd it work out with customs, any issues? Did you ship/receive all items together? New build is looking kick ass, will be keen to see what you can pull with 4x + the output. Noted addition of 3500K, is this for varied flowering spectrum, or are you using them to veg as well?

Thanks Admin. Buffering coco is chill with the high N as N flushes out easily, supplementing for Mg and Ca is tricky with the extra N. Know / use a nute calculator? Hydrobuddy is hella complicated.