Muffy D's Turbogarden Afghani/Strawberry Cough

Muffy D

Muffy D

Well-Known Member
Starting over again! There is nothing worse than killing your babies but now that I have new ones I feel so much better. I went and bought a new system called the Turbogarden from Botanicare. The system came with a cornucopia of crap including :

Tray
25gal res
Pump
Fittings
Timer
Triflex:Base/Grow/Bloom
Sweet & Liquid Karma
3 Bags of ReadyGrow Mix (Coir fiber and Pearlite)
14 5" Square Pots
16 ReadyGrow Plugs (They come moist)
Power PH Low & High

It came to about $220 which I think was well worth the no-hassle and professional quality.


 
Muffy D

Muffy D

Well-Known Member
The reason I went for the ebb and flow system was to avoid the horrors of DWC. I had a very hard time with PH and root rot. Want to see the healthiest roots ever? Mmmmmm like they were dipped in pudding!!!


Well the past is the past so now Im setting up my new system.




Im using the Triflex in the suggested amount (dont feel like writing out all the measurements).

I am adding just a little bit of liquid Karma (Only got that tiny bottle) and Hygrozyme. The hygrozyme I must say is amazing. The root rot was completely wiped out by it.

Im using 15 gallons instead of 25 (Trying to get through a whole cycle with the triflex). I have a 400W HPS/MH Switchable ballast but am only using the HPS (I had really fluffy buds with the MH so Im experimenting).

Oh did I mention that gnats laid eggs in my roots? Yes, maggots infested everything and a few weeks later there were hundreds of flies in my closet....so heres some advice...get a fly strip.
 
Muffy D

Muffy D

Well-Known Member
Ok now for the plants. Im putting in 9 plants and growing a 10th in soil, just in curiosity. I have 5 afghanis that I cloned from my old plants and 5 strawberry coughs grown from seed. It was amazing that the plants grown from seed actually caught up and passed the clones in only a week. What is really interesting is that the Cough in soil was gigantic compared to all the others.


Here is the Strawberry Cough in soil, the same age as the others....look at the difference.


Ok, now notice the leaf structure of this plant and the bottom middle one in the pic, they are unlike the other Coughs. They are have much broader and kind of...bulky I guess you would say.
 
Muffy D

Muffy D

Well-Known Member
Something Interesting happened. The two Coughs that I said look a lot different from the others couldnt stand the heat and wilted.


I learned in plant biology that desert climates have thinner leaves (Less surface area=less heat, The afghanis show this) while cooler climates have plants with large broad leaves. This proved to be true becuase my other plant are lovin' life right now while these two are pissed off. I like how they are in two completely different systems (Soil and I know the other looks like soil, but its coir fiber) and showed how big a role genetics plays.
 
Muffy D

Muffy D

Well-Known Member
Heres the girls in for about a week now.




I have the wilted one under a cool flouro thats why there is only eight. You can see significant growth in the Coughs. They are the ones with the large distinguished leaves. The afghanis are in the back and are the left 2 in the middle row. They are really bushy and full. It was really strange there for a while because the afghanis's leaves were completey mutated and didnt even look like pot.
 
Muffy D

Muffy D

Well-Known Member
Ok heres the girls exactly two weeks in.








Notice the puny Cough in the front right corner. Thats the Cough-in-soil's weird sister and they both did something strange. When I up'd the nutes they both burnt to a crisp. All the other plants boosted while they got crispy and almost died. I guess whatever strain is coming out in those two plant does not like the environment I have provided. Ungrateful mothers....


On a side note, I am 100% satisfied with this system. I was spent over 150$ on ph down last time around, using almost a whole bottle a day. Now I check it every 2 days and it maybe changes .01. I have a feeling this is going to be a good harvest. I havn't sexed the coughs yet, Im going to do that in a seperate room, just in case they want to get down with my girls. My DWC kicked my ass and taught me so much and now this is so easy that I could do it with my eyes closed. I love it.
 
Muffy D

Muffy D

Well-Known Member
FaCultGen said:
whats the teps like in there? how big is your box?
Click to expand...

It isnt a box, its kind of complicated to explain. I used pvc pipe and stuck it in between the bar you hang clothes on and the shelf just an inch above it. I uses 2 like that, then connected it with a third piece. In the corner of the closet it looks like and acts as a box. I then used a sheet (fed the pipes through the edge liner) and made the walls of it. I lined the inside (Using a stapler) with mylar. Then I just made a slit down the middle and stuck paper clips through the sheet to act as buttons for when i want to keep it closed. The mylar, when stapled (like in the corners) keeps its shape so it looks like it is actually a solid box. It actually worked out pretty well seeing how all I have to do is twist the clothes bar to raise or lower the light...niiiiiiiiice. I can also roll back the mylar on top to let heat escape if it gets too hot.





Oh and as for the temps...no idea. I just know too hot is too hot, and too cold is too cold. I have sweated my ass off in there before and I have never had the afghanis complain about it one bit. The coughs dont like it though, but I don't like them either so its all good. The dimensions are like 3 1/2' long, 2 1/2' wide, and 6' tall. What I like too is that I can expand my setup by just putting a bigger peice of pvc pipe in. And the whole thing only weighs a few pounds.
 
Muffy D

Muffy D

Well-Known Member
Well today I have decided to get my trim on. I need to keep the plants nice and slim in order to fit them in the small tray. I have room for 5 more pots so I am taking clones today. Here's the plants before.







And after...






They fit well and now I have room for my soon-to-be-seedlings. I have cut 6 Cough clones just in case they turn out to be female, if not oh well no big deal. I have always had almost 100% cloning rate when I cut small clones but I wanted to try bigger sizes. I did some medium sizes about 5 inches and some that are about 7-8 inches. I used the ReadyGro Plugs that came with the system for half, and pre-soaked rockwool for the other half. (Botanicare says the Plugs are better than rockwool, we'll find out soon). Im hoping that the big ones will root so I can throw them directly into the system and start flowering (SOG is my goal right now but I don't have a big mama)

 
Muffy D

Muffy D

Well-Known Member
Holding hands with my seven-fingered friends....







This pic was on my camera....I sow seeds of all varieties.
 
Muffy D

Muffy D

Well-Known Member
Day 23-

I changed the res today. I noticed some little creatures floating on the water. They looked like when you see microscopic organisms through a microscope. They looked like long ovals that would jump about a centimeter every few seconds. I looked at them under my microscope and they resembled potatoe bugs, but they are way to small. Anyways, I am trying something different this time around. I mixed up the proper solution for the transitional stage, but I am keeping the light 24/0 for a week, then changing it 12/12 the next week. My plants before had a little shock and I think it stunted their growth.



 
Muffy D

Muffy D

Well-Known Member
Im not sure but I think I was seeing some nute burn. Two of my afghani's top leaves folded up and are turning yellow. I read somewhere about how when the leaves fold up they are "Praying for magnesium". I think it was just because I let my res get too low (they drink a gallon a day) and the solution got too strong and burned my babies.



 
Muffy D

Muffy D

Well-Known Member
And I must say the nutes I use now are amazing(Triflex). After adding the hygrozyme, triflex, sweet, and karma, guess what the ph is?....A perfect 6.2 down from 7.9, which is where my tap water is at. And when I check it three days later, guess what its at? Thats right, a perfect 6.2. Im cruisin...
 
Muffy D

Muffy D

Well-Known Member
They are about 13-15 inches tall right now. Another 6-7 days until I start flowering! Look at those stems...

 
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