Harvest a Pound Every Three Weeks!

So today my Critical Kush has dark markings around the older fan leaves, not all of them. Wondering what may be going on.
-Shifty
Edit: just in case was light burn, I moved the fixture up 8-10" so now it's at about 2' above plants.

Damn Bud! The looks of that Sugar Pop bud of yours just made me hungry as hell(and made me want some Pops cereal too)! Hahaha.

Anyway, It's been quite a while since I've chimed in here on RIU, but I just found something that seems so dang helpful, that I just HAD to get on here to post it somewhere quick since it got me so excited. It may be known about already, but here it is anyway.

It's a link to a calculator for lowering the pH (or total alkalinity) of straight tap water, based ON the alkalinity level of the water, instead of going on just pH readings alone. It allows you to enter in the level of Calcium Carbonate in your water from your local water quality reports, the type and strength of acid you use, and your desired, final target pH. It will THEN tell you the amount of acid you will need to overcome the hardness of the water and stabilize the pH, and will ALSO tell you the ppm of the element from a particular acid that it will add. I'll shut up now. Here it is.

http://extension.unh.edu/Agric/AGGHFL/alk_calc.cfm

It gives me nearly the perfect amount of sulfuric acid to add to my plain tap water here to stabilize it at 5.8 without nutes. My tap starts at ~75ppm total hardness, @ 7.1 pH, and this calculator suggests ~0.5ml per Gal, which is about what I use already too! This amount will always lower my pH to 4.* to start, but once the acid reacts with the calcium, magnesium, and other grains that cause the hardness in the tap water, it comes right back up, then stabilizes and holds near 5.8, and is ready to use, without having to keep metering and adjusting it much it all.

Anyway, I'm gonna try not to be a stranger as much on here, and get back to helping all the people I can with electrical questions and what not that I can reliably, like I used to a few years back, but I just hope this is helpful somehow too. Well, time catch up on just a few pages here that I've missed in the last year or two. Later guys.

Do i need to run a higher nutrient concentration in the rails than normal? I know stinkbuds instructions say he's running around 2000ppm ( what scale?) with Bontanicare. They were in the cloner for 2+weeks, worked up to about 800ppm, roots got long so i threw in an air stone so it was a dwc/aero tub..they were doing great. Now I'm 5 days in the rails( 12/12) now and yellowing out bad, from the bottom up..running around 1200ppm@.5 with AN connoisseur A&B( mixed at 100%). I increased spray times from 1ON/4OFF to 1ON/2:30OFF and they picked up a little. I'm thinking they are transitioning from having roots suspended in solution to the wet/dry cycles of the rails..but IDK. My res's are running warm,70-75. I'm doing the frozen 2 liter thing and researching my options for cooling with either a chiller, wall A/C, mini split, portable A/C, or just spend the $$$ and get my central A/C fixed and upgraded< ideally, but I'm broke.

WeedFreak78 said:

Do i need to run a higher nutrient concentration in the rails than normal? I know stinkbuds instructions say he's running around 2000ppm ( what scale?) with Bontanicare. They were in the cloner for 2+weeks, worked up to about 800ppm, roots got long so i threw in an air stone so it was a dwc/aero tub..they were doing great. Now I'm 5 days in the rails( 12/12) now and yellowing out bad, from the bottom up..running around 1200ppm@.5 with AN connoisseur A&B( mixed at 100%). I increased spray times from 1ON/4OFF to 1ON/2:30OFF and they picked up a little. I'm thinking they are transitioning from having roots suspended in solution to the wet/dry cycles of the rails..but IDK. My res's are running warm,70-75. I'm doing the frozen 2 liter thing and researching my options for cooling with either a chiller, wall A/C, mini split, portable A/C, or just spend the $$$ and get my central A/C fixed and upgraded< ideally, but I'm broke.

Click to expand...

Yellowing out, are you using R/o water if so are you using cal mag?

Yes on RO, no on Ca/Mg. I was thinking that might be it but AN is adamant about not using it, they say it's formulated for RO, they say " it should have plenty"..., the say adding more will mess with the ph perfect balancing chemicals..they say a lot of things..I'm not really impressed with their tech help...I'm just trying to get through this run then I'm going to something else, I should probably just run the botanicare and follow SB's instructions..

95% of growing i can nail, but plant diagnosis stumps me every time.

WeedFreak78 said:

Yes on RO, no on Ca/Mg. I was thinking that might be it but AN is adamant about not using it, they say it's formulated for RO, they say " it should have plenty"..., the say adding more will mess with the ph perfect balancing chemicals..they say a lot of things..I'm not really impressed with their tech help...I'm just trying to get through this run then I'm going to something else, I should probably just run the botanicare and follow SB's instructions..

95% of growing i can nail, but plant diagnosis stumps me every time.

Click to expand...

I think some strains are Cal/Mag hogs. I had to increase my Cal/Mag 250ml per change when I was using RO water. Any of the woody stem type strains really suck up the CM!

So might seem like a silly question. Should I be running any other nutrients besides Botanicare Kind product line & Hydroguard?
-Shifty

StinkBud said:

I think some strains are Cal/Mag hogs. I had to increase my Cal/Mag 250ml per change when I was using RO water. Any of the woody stem type strains really suck up the CM!

Click to expand...

Thanks man..turns out to be root rot.. Some boxes got put in front of my room intake when some stuff was getting moved around in the basement, blocking it off almost completely, I thought i made sure other people in the house were aware of this stuff..My room temps went through the roof 85+..res were almost 78-82...probably for 2-3 days. i wasn't on top of it like i should have been, i was recovering from the weekend( major hangover)..I threw in a few frozen bottles and some air to get it under control..waiting on some hydroguard to show up..

I've whittled my cooling choices down to a res chiller or just A/C my whole basement..I need to do some calcs to see which would be more energy efficient..one big A/c or a dehumidifier and a chiller( and still not have any room cooling)..always something..

WeedFreak78 said:

Thanks man..turns out to be root rot.. Some boxes got put in front of my room intake when some stuff was getting moved around in the basement, blocking it off almost completely, I thought i made sure other people in the house were aware of this stuff..My room temps went through the roof 85+..res were almost 78-82...probably for 2-3 days. i wasn't on top of it like i should have been, i was recovering from the weekend( major hangover)..I threw in a few frozen bottles and some air to get it under control..waiting on some hydroguard to show up..

I've whittled my cooling choices down to a res chiller or just A/C my whole basement..I need to do some calcs to see which would be more energy efficient..one big A/c or a dehumidifier and a chiller( and still not have any room cooling)..always something..

Click to expand...

Hydroguard saved my grow. Whole reason I have 2 gallons sitting on hand. Expensive, but well worth every cent.
-Shifty

Realize it's been a while since I've posted pictures of the girls. So here are some that I took today. I've already been told to cut half off some of the lower leaves on the bigger plants. Give any and all advice if you have some, as it's well established this is first grow.
-Shifty

WeedFreak78 said:

Thanks man..turns out to be root rot.. Some boxes got put in front of my room intake when some stuff was getting moved around in the basement, blocking it off almost completely, I thought i made sure other people in the house were aware of this stuff..My room temps went through the roof 85+..res were almost 78-82...probably for 2-3 days. i wasn't on top of it like i should have been, i was recovering from the weekend( major hangover)..I threw in a few frozen bottles and some air to get it under control..waiting on some hydroguard to show up..

I've whittled my cooling choices down to a res chiller or just A/C my whole basement..I need to do some calcs to see which would be more energy efficient..one big A/c or a dehumidifier and a chiller( and still not have any room cooling)..always something..

Click to expand...

I built my cooling system around a larger capacity chiller- in my case, a 2 Ton window mount unit. It cooled several RDWC and a couple of rooms. I added another one and now the system keeps up with summertime temperatures and dehueys, too.

After doing some research online, I'm failing to find a good reason to cut those fan leafs. Does anyone have a logical reason as to why someone would tell me this?
-Shifty

letdown shifty said:

After doing some research online, I'm failing to find a good reason to cut those fan leafs. Does anyone have a logical reason as to why someone would tell me this?
-Shifty

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What they're talking about is clipping clones. Some people like to clip the big fan leaves on clones because the large surface area transpires too much water and can potentially make the plant wilt. I've done it before back in my rockwool days but the truth is you don't need to do it with my cloner. You'll also see people use domes for the same reason, to keep the cuttings from wilting. As soon as you take them out of the dome they wilt, I shit you not! I just stick the clones in and let the pumps run 24/7.

You're growing from seed though, right? The best advice I can give is to not fuck with your plants. Change the nutes every week, keep the room cool and you're golden.

When you are first learning how to grow you want to constantly fuck with your plants. How do I know? Fuck dude, I'm the worst! When I first started with soil I over-watered, over-fertilized, over-lollie-popped. I was always fucking with my plants! Then I harvested way too early, of the shittiest smoke you could ever imagine. It made dirt weed look like OG Kush! It took me a couple of runs to learn about plant meters and fertilizers. It took me a long time to learn that it's really all about genetics.

Thanks for the reply Stinkbud. Clipping clones is the only thing I could find where that info made sense. Also, yup I'm growing from seeds at this point in time. On that note Royal Queen seeds by far seem to be the best growers so far the plants seem so fucking healthy & happy. (Blue cheese, and Pineapple Kush)
-Shifty
Edit- being told what I was, shows that even Hydroponic/Dispensary owners spread misinformation. Best thing to do call 1-800-STINKBUD.

Wow. I thought Stink Bud wasn't posting in this thread anymore.. nice..

The inspiration for my current set up..

But right now I need help.. I went with technaflora based on a friends advice and 50% off.. everything was going fine until I trimmed them up a bit at day 21. I checked res and ppms were thru the roof..

It appears the girls are only drinking the water.. nutrient lock out?

I am using great white and was told not to adjust ph.. I am also using hydrogaurd.

ph is too high I think.. when levels are within range ph is 6.4 when levels are out of wack ph is 7.4..

so what say you Mr. Stink Bud?

Res temps are 74 , plants show no signs of distress.. no slim in res. drinking about 5 gallons a day. 12 foot 5" rails with 9 plants each and 10 spray heads. Basically just a bigger stink bud.

Any advice would be great.

Thank you.


ETA:

So after reviewing my notes this first appeared on day 20 prior to defoliation.. so who knows how long it has been going on ? I also noticed that my PH has spiked a bit from my local water department.. from 7 to 8.4 .. . .

Also noticed some gnats in one of my reservoirs .. could be from inside the house.. a lot of beer got drank on the 4th..

also noticed some browning of the roots .. minor slime feeling on them.. thinking of ditching the hydroguard and great white in lieu of some bleach..

First go at it..and I'm trying to stay on top of things.. plants all look good.. but the numbers in the res's don't make sense.. after my OP I rechecked levels in first res and now they have dropped from the raised 1400 ppm down to 800.. so things might be working themselves out.. I'm just a bit concerned about the PH levels.. but maybe with the great white and hydro guard I don't need to be concerned with it?

I shoulda just went with all bontanicare..

ttystikk said:

I built my cooling system around a larger capacity chiller- in my case, a 2 Ton window mount unit. It cooled several RDWC and a couple of rooms. I added another one and now the system keeps up with summertime temperatures and dehueys, too.

Click to expand...

Are you talking AC or do they make window mount chiller units...first i heard of that. I think our whole house central AC was something like 2 tons.. How much are you cooling? I've put the word out amongst my friends if they now anyone who installs central air..going to get a quote on having the system replaced/upgraded, kill 2 birds.

WeedFreak78 said:

Are you talking AC or do they make window mount chiller units...first i heard of that. I think our whole house central AC was something like 2 tons.. How much are you cooling? I've put the word out amongst my friends if they now anyone who installs central air..going to get a quote on having the system replaced/upgraded, kill 2 birds.

Click to expand...

The chiller was originally manufactured as a Frigidaire window mount AC unit, 2kW. Hydro Innovations (now 'Surna') pulled the evap coil/radiator and replaced it with a larger coil of copper pipe for water, with the Freon line running inside to cool it. Other than adjust the amount of Freon (r134a) in the system, that's all that's different.

Mine cools plenty and in the wintertime I pull the unit inside so it sits on a table in my office. The room serves as the air intake for the whole house, so the chiller heats the air which then passes through my place and keeps me toasty warm, much like a heat pull might. I haven't run my furnace in four winters. In Colorado.

ttystikk said:

The chiller was originally manufactured as a Frigidaire window mount AC unit, 2kW. Hydro Innovations (now 'Surna') pulled the evap coil/radiator and replaced it with a larger coil of copper pipe for water, with the Freon line running inside to cool it. Other than adjust the amount of Freon (r134a) in the system, that's all that's different.

Mine cools plenty and in the wintertime I pull the unit inside so it sits on a table in my office. The room serves as the air intake for the whole house, so the chiller heats the air which then passes through my place and keeps me toasty warm, much like a heat pull might. I haven't run my furnace in four winters. In Colorado.

Click to expand...

Thanks I'll look into those.

ttystikk said:

The chiller was originally manufactured as a Frigidaire window mount AC unit, 2kW. Hydro Innovations (now 'Surna') pulled the evap coil/radiator and replaced it with a larger coil of copper pipe for water, with the Freon line running inside to cool it. Other than adjust the amount of Freon (r134a) in the system, that's all that's different.

Mine cools plenty and in the wintertime I pull the unit inside so it sits on a table in my office. The room serves as the air intake for the whole house, so the chiller heats the air which then passes through my place and keeps me toasty warm, much like a heat pull might. I haven't run my furnace in four winters. In Colorado.

Click to expand...

How are Colorado's winters? Michigan's have sucked big balls the past few years. So much that every year I've said, 'this is my last Michigan winter', but here I am. Maybe someday I'll make a move that my body tells me is needed.
-Shifty

letdown shifty said:

How are Colorado's winters? Michigan's have sucked big balls the past few years. So much that every year I've said, 'this is my last Michigan winter', but here I am. Maybe someday I'll make a move that my body tells me is needed.
-Shifty

Click to expand...

It gets plenty cold in the mountains but thanks to global warming, it rarely falls below zero on the plains anymore.

Winters here are something of a best kept secret...