Sediment buildup.

Yeah in post #77, in the second pic, the bubblegums are droopy looking. When was the pic taken? Do they look like that when the light's go on?

I noticed the covers, are they helping with the algea growth?

Nice grow! I realize that you've already covered most of this but thought I'd chime in since I've recently had some of the same questions come up in my grow.

I'm growing in RW slabs and like them alot - but would make certain to flush them well before growing in them again (moving to aero for next round) I dealt with ph creep - roughly 1 point a day, for about the first month because I failed to flush before starting, it gets old testing and adjusting 2x / day - fortunately that part is over now.

I also use 29% H2O2 - at a rate of 3ml/ gal - granted, I'm new to H2O2 (and this is only my second grow), but this concentration helped get rid of fungus gnats with no ill effects on the plants, so...

Last - I did not realize it with my first application of H2O2, but apparently it will destroy organic nutes. Since I'm using Botanicare Pro Grow/ Bloom this was an issue for me. Now I only use peroxide during flushes with PH'd water.

I'm currently growing White Widow too - it's a hearty, dank smelling little plant and it appears that the yield is going to be much better than my first round of bagseed.

Good luck.

Those pics were taken when the light were off. It is in the high 50's to low 60's at night. They are quite perky and are doing extremely well. The damn things were put in at 12"-14"s. Yet they are up to 26"-28"s now. WHEW!

As for the R/W, i soak them in ph adjusted solution over night. I have it down to 2 weeks between rooting and going into flower. The clones now are averaging 10"-12"s when coming out of the cloner.

As for the peroxide, i use 1 tbs per gallon every three days. So far i have seen no ill effects. But thank you for the compliment and thank you both for the input. I will have some more pix soon. And Surphin, Dude i want to see some of your pix.

1 more question. Didn't you say you were not using rocks anymore? I am thinking about doing the same thing. Would you post some of you feeding intervals and insight please? I would be very greatfull. The rocks are a bitch. And expensive too. And yes, the covers work great. Thanx again.

Oh yes, Pinned, I wanted to comment on the ph creep you mentioned. I also was experiencing that. However i am using the Blue Lab "Guardian". This thing gives you real time readouts of ph, temp and TDS. They are worth their weight in gold. I bought several. I highly recommend them!

Yes, I quit using hydroton about a year ago and switched to rockwool mini-cubes. They're okay and do work, flushing them with ph'd water is good practice. Only need to water/flood once a day until the root system gets bigger, then twice a day seem to be fine.

I got some loose rock wool. Have you ever seen it? It comes in bags. It is in pieces. I was going to put a thin bed of stones, then a cube. I was thinking about putting the shredded r/w around the sides.
As for mini cubes, Why them and not 2x2's? How big are your plants?

Mini-cubes are cheaper than blocks, and a bag of mini-cubes will fill about 35-40 five inch pots for 40 bucks.

That loose rockwool is what I used briefly before I started using the mini-cubes, worked good.

As always, thank you sir. Things are definitely moving along. The first real harvest is coming fast. Then a whirlwind will take over. LOL

Another quick question. Have you ever weighed your bud after harvest before drying to see how much you loose? If i have 12 oz's fresh, what will it dry into? Is there factors that apply? An average would be helpful. Thanx..

Nah, never bothered weighing it fresh. I wouldn't even know where to begin at even guessing how much is loss through drying. I bet at least half to as much as three-quarter's is loss. That's cool things are about to get wild for you, now you get to make yourself crazy trying to improve your numbers every go 'round.

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The stuff in the rear of this next pic is 3 weeks away. the front is almost ready.
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Here it is. 10 days away. Almost there!

Soooooo Close!

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This 1st pic is 3 weeks away, in the rear.

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This is one of the last 2 in dirt. 1 week away.

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This is the other one.

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These babies are 5 weeks out.

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The side lights in this next on sure makes a difference. Only 5 weeks.
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You can see the side lights we are adding. 10 days!

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Plants are looking sweet, the soil plants are looking good too. What's up with the side lighting, what are they, how many watts?

They are called T5's. They are a High output, energy efficient lamp. You can buy them in 4' long or 2' configurations. The 4'er setup i have has 4 florescent bulb's. I am staggering the bulbs 1 cool 1 warm 1 cool 1 warm, for a more even light spectrum. All of that wasted space on the sides that do not get light now get plenty. It is the "Sun Blaze T5 44 system. The one's i got are 20,000 lumen's.

http://www.yardlover.com/sun-blaze-t5-high-output-fluorescent-light-fixture

The above link will show you the different setups. I want 3 more.

Yep, I got a couple of T5 48's. Nothing wrong with side lighting, the plants are gonna benefit from it. That's why good vertical set-up's produce so well.

Yes indeed.
BTW. I just harvested the smaller of the two in dirt. It weighed 350 g's. I estimate 4 1/2 out of it using the conversion of losing 3/4's in weight. Not bad at all.

It'll be interesting to see the difference in weight, wet vs. dry.

I will let you know brother. I am harvesting the other real soon. Then after that i will be a trimming maniac for days!