What's up dudes!

[KaktusBoer]

Howsit guys. I've been a long time lurker and thought it's about time that I introduce myself and start being more active on the forums. Your grows look awesome! I'm an indoor grower from Mpumalanga. I keep the outdoors for my Trichocereus cacti, another passion of mine. I love getting stoned! I've been growing for just about a year now and loving every moment of it.
 

I really look forward to properly being apart of this community. Happy growing!

 

[CreX]

Welcome welcome!! Hit us up with some pics and deets about your grow! 

We love new guys coming inboard strutting their stuff

 

[KaktusBoer]

Thank you! I'm a lover of coco/hydro and indoor. At the moment I have 2 plants in a 4x4ft tent with a 480watt Quantum Board. Harvest is in 18 days. I can't wait!

This closeup is my Banana Kush, and the other plant is Good Wild Shark. Some of the nicest and fattest buds I've ever grown. Well this is only my 2nd grow but still haha. As soon as I harvest this batch, I'm popping a feminized Banana Hammock by Ethos. I plan on documenting that whole grow on here to show my methods.

[PsyCLown]

Welcome and enjoy your stay!

 

Do you let your pots sit in the runoff water?

[KaktusBoer]

Thanks PsyClown!
No, not at all. I'm running a drain to waste system. My pots are on upside down 25L containers , with trays draining into another container. I feed 3 times a day and empty the runoff about every 2 days. I go through 20L of nute water every 2 days. I have a black 25L bucket outside the tent with an airpump, and waiter pump feeding for 5min, 3 times a day

You probably know this, but with coco/hydro, if done right, you can't really overwater your plants. Every feeding replaces the previous feeding with fresh, oxygen rich Nutrient water. I aim for 10-20% runoff every time.

 

[THCSA]

High and welcome

[GGG]

Hi, interesting setup
Welcome

Sent from my F5321 using Tapatalk

[KaktusBoer]

Thanks man! Been working quite well for me so far. I use Hortimix from Hydroponic.co.za to keep the nutes on the cheaper side. That way, extra runoff doesn't hurt the pocket as much.

[CreX]

Yea man! Looking good! 

I didn't see your light though? Did you raise it to take some pics? 

[KaktusBoer]

32 minutes ago, CreX said:

Yea man! Looking good! 

I didn't see your light though? Did you raise it to take some pics? 

Thanks man! I've attached another pic showing my light. The quantum boards are so powerful that I get bleached tips if it's any lower than it is now. Luckily with the thin aluminium passive heatsink, it allows enough space to grow decently tall plants.

[CreX]

Really? Maybe try running them a little cooler if you can and drop them a bit. 

I have similar qbs, and can comfortably keep the light at a few cm(10~15) above the canopy

In flower, my cellphone lux app hits over 70k-100k lux intensity which is pretty decent. My aim is for 50k minimum a cross the whole canopy

Otherwise I'm super keen to see your grow yo!! 

 

[KaktusBoer]

2 minutes ago, CreX said:

Really? Maybe try running them a little cooler if you can and drop them a bit. 

I have similar qbs, and can comfortably keep the light at a few cm(10~15) above the canopy

In flower, my cellphone lux app hits over 70k-100k lux intensity which is pretty decent. My aim is for 50k minimum a cross the whole canopy

Otherwise I'm super keen to see your grow yo!! 

 

Awesome, thanks for the tip man! I start mine with my Meanwell driver dimmed to minimum when germinating my seeds. Then I slowly up the power until I run them full blast in flower. Recommended height from what I can gather is around 21 to 24 inches from the canopy. I try to run it as close as possible until seeing bleached tips then raise it until I feel comfortable. The bleaching only happens right in the centre where there's a hotspot from the light. I'll try running them a bit cooller and closer thanks man!

[CreX]

Download a lux app on your phone... It will take a lot of the guess work out of it

[KaktusBoer]

Haha I just noticed that I already have it installed. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I'm using a Huawei P30 Pro with great quality censors. The center of my canopy reads in at 123000 Lux at the current height I'm running the light.

32 minutes ago, CreX said:

Download a lux app on your phone... It will take a lot of the guess work out of it

 

[Ill_Evan]

1 hour ago, CreX said:

Really? Maybe try running them a little cooler if you can and drop them a bit. 

I have similar qbs, and can comfortably keep the light at a few cm(10~15) above the canopy

In flower, my cellphone lux app hits over 70k-100k lux intensity which is pretty decent. My aim is for 50k minimum a cross the whole canopy

Otherwise I'm super keen to see your grow yo!! 

 

I was starting to get a little bit of bleaching from my QB at 200W and a distance to canopy of about 10cm, so I can totally believe @KaktusBoer. Also ended up raising mine but not as extensively, mine is sitting about 18cm now and the plants look a bit more comfortable. 

@CreX would you say distance to canopy is more important than watts being pushed? 

[CG420za]

Hello and welcome @KaktusBoer. Your plants are looking befuck bru. I dig your system. Do you have any more details on it?

[KaktusBoer]

20 minutes ago, CG420za said:

Hello and welcome @KaktusBoer. Your plants are looking befuck bru. I dig your system. Do you have any more details on it?

Thanks dude! Anything specific you'd like to know? I'm using 10 liter pots with about 70/30 coco/perlite. 1 to 2 feedings per day in veg, and 3 feedings a day in flower. Feed until 10 to 20% runoff each time. I have a reservoir outside the tent running on a timer. Pipes going from the reservoir into the tent and then splitting into smaller tubes going to the pots. I use a 3 part nutrient pack called Hortimix, with Amino Mix and Silicon+ as additives. I use silicon in my rez for every feeding and Amino Mix about 2 or 3 times a week. I tried the mainline training method with both of these plants

[PsyCLown]

Nice man!

@KaktusBoer why the hydroton on top of your coco perlite mix?

I also run coco and perlite with fertigation, although use a different automatic watering system.

That is a lot of water and nutes to waste. I must admit, I know with coco you're meant to water until runoff to avoid a nute imbalance and high EC environment in the coco but I have been lazy and so far have not noticed any negative side effects.

 

@Ill_Evan with my QB's (well, we all have the same), when dimmed for seedlings, you can have it like 10cm away and it wont be an issue. I wouldn;t say one is more important than the other but higher up will give a better coverage and in your tent I think that is more wanted - especially with a scrog. So greater distance from the plants and then higher watts to compensate for the distance.

@KaktusBoer There is no need to run the lights at their very max, LEDs are more efficient when running them below max capacity. Running them at max will lead to increased heat and a shorter lifespan on the LEDs, higher electricity bill for not all that much more output than a few w less.

I don't see much need to run them past 90w per QB (so 360w in your case) when they're often stated as capable of 120W each.

[1000Hills Nursery]

@KaktusBoer 

Why do you fertigate that often? I know you probably getting good results but you would get that with feeding once a day with runoff. 

@PsyCLown what auto system you running? 

[KaktusBoer]

@PsyCLown the hydroton is mostly there because I've had it since my first grow and just throw it on top every time. I don't really have any reason left for using it.

With regards to runoff, with my first grow I got some nute burn closer to the end from salt buildup in my pots. I didn't have much runoff at the time, so decided to play it safe with this grow. From what I've read, it also helps replenish oxygen levels inside the rootzone. I've noticed my plants start looking droopy quickly if I don't have runoff. I have vegged a few plants without runoff without any issues though, but I like to flush out previous feedings with fresh nute water especially in flower. My wastage amounts to about 25 litres a week max, which I sometimes feed to my cacti.

With the lights I figured higher wattage = higher potential yield. I can still touch my heatsink with my palm without burning even at full blast. But I'll totally try it out on my next run thanks man. Great to hear from experienced hydro growers!

[KaktusBoer]

13 minutes ago, 1000Hills Nursery said:

@KaktusBoer 

Why do you fertigate that often? I know you probably getting good results but you would get that with feeding once a day with runoff. 

@PsyCLown what auto system you running? 

@1000Hills Nursery my pots are filled to the max with roots, so they drink it up really quickly. In veg I can get away with feeding every 2 days, but the extra growth from daily feeding is fantastic. With hydro, pot size doesn't matter as much as with organic. You can get away with smaller pots completely filled with roots, as long as you feed regularly. From what I've read online, it's pretty common practice to feed more than once a day if your roots fill the whole pot. I have root tips pushing out the bottom and side of my pots.

This happened to me after skipping 2 days when I had a hangover from my brother's bachelor's party. So I play it safe now and do regular feedings. Luckily they bounced right back within a few hours and have been going strong eversince. This eas the closest to a heart attack I've ever been haha.

Edited May 8, 2020 by KaktusBoer
Added extra info

[KaktusBoer]

I based a lot of my methods on the info this dude provides in his video. It comes down to lower EC feedings, multiple times a day, works better than stronger EC feedings once a day. So I try to be conservative with the strength of my feedings, while feeding more regularly.

 

[PsyCLown]

@KaktusBoer 
Why do you fertigate that often? I know you probably getting good results but you would get that with feeding once a day with runoff. 
@PsyCLown what auto system you running? 

I use the Blumat Tropf system, so a drip system controlled by how dry the medium is.
This is done per pot basically, currently I'm using 2 carrots per pot and seeing how it goes.

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[1000Hills Nursery]

@KaktusBoer 

Messed around a lot with coco/perlite mixes in the past. Great combo, easy to flush amongst other benefits. Eventually found plain coco to be best suited to our style. Just way cheaper and alot more forgiving from drying out. But anyways respect on running your system like that.

@PsyCLown

Nice. I checked some of their stuff in the hydro shops. I didn't look too deep... Stopped at the price

[KaktusBoer]

@1000Hills Nursery I'm still a novice at growing cannabis, so I'm always happy to learn from more experienced growers. I'll try my next run with just pure coco and see how it goes. Thanks for the info.