Thundercat's Groooooooow

Baywatcher said:

It was a combination of the amount of ongoing daily work it takes to keep everything on-point and the fact that one bad accident can destroy an entire crop. Making dirt sucks, but after that, it doesn't take much to keep going (I probably average 30 mins/day on must-do stuff) , and it's much harder to kill everything at one time. And while I don't do it often, I *really* like being able to leave for a week and know that, barring something crazy happening with power or my water pumps, everything will be fine.

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How the hell can you leave for a week? I just got asked this question and im noobish. Is there really a way to grow in dirt and leave for a week? My baby droops after twoish days. Cant wait till next hydro season starts for me, ive got a stacked rez that im dying to try that has a float valve. All brand new. How the hell do you leave for a week though, i need this n my life

Ninjabowler said:

How the hell can you leave for a week?

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55 gallon trashcan filled with water, a pump for each chamber on a timer, and a drip irrigation system or hydro halos. Or you can do Blumats.

Just FYI... I ran hydro and I left once for 14 days. Everything was fine, overgrown, but fine. No one even opened the door to the closet that whole time. It can be done.

I know it can be done, I've left for about 4 days without anyone baby sitting. The biggest deal for me isn't actually my hydro tray, for the most part it stays pretty stable. There is alot of times I only mess with it ever other day. Its actually my clones that I'm more concerned with, and have less of a buffer with, they need to get watered pretty much every other day. Some day I'll have my clones in a flood tray too and that will speed up the whole program I think, but I don't have much space and I have zero extra outlets and power to use atm.

I'm really hoping this latest batch of clones does ok, they got a bit dry on me the other day but have all recovered it seems. It was right after I took them so hopefully it didn't do much damage since they didn't have roots yet. The new SDG wasn't above ground yet last night but maybe today. I never did make it to the hydro store yesterday like I planned but thankfully none of it was urgent.

So how do you guys all feel about testers? I've been seriously considering investing in a Bluelab continuous monitor for my room. My current tester is not working properly anymore at least the on off switch doesn't work, but that has me scared the calibration might not be working any more. I tested my calibration solution and it seemed off by about 50 ppm but it was also fluctuating all over while I was trying to test it. The solution is about 3-4 years old like the tester so its possible it may not be clean any more too. So any way I was thinking a continuous monitor might be nice. I could just walk in and look at the wall and know if II needed to F with anything. I also don't know if my current tester adjusts for temperature and my water is always well below 70 degrees so I've wondered if my tester is reading accurately for the temp of the water. We'll see I was just thinking it could be a good investment, I also considered a Hanna combo meter because hand held has advantages too. Do you guys know if I got the blue lab does it require any fooling around to test diffferent containers of solution, or can I just pull it out of one and stick it in the other and get an accurate reading?

I don't trust any of those meters. That's one of the reasons I don't use any. Not much help I know, but it's what goes on round here. pH with drops, and measure ppm by looking at plants. Water temps are never an issue, so I don't care what it is.

The water temps are never an issue here, and I currently ph with drops. Drops however are not very accurate, I've gotten by just fine with them for years, but I don't know when I do have issues if its because my eye was off when I ph'd things or for some other reason. PPM I mostly keep an eye on to try to watch how the plants are feeding. Like if I notice they are only drinking water and my ppm is rising, or vise versa and I can account for it. With my success without one its hard to swallow the price, but I feel like if in the long run it made my life easier it could be worth it. I don't know ............

I originally bought a Hanna GroChek Combo meter for $150 or something. Worked well for the first couple grows, then I just didn't trust it's numbers, even after calibrating with the $20 worth of calibrating solution. To me it's like adding co2 or something. It would make a difference having things dialed in Exactly right... but not enough difference for me to bother with. In my opinion at least.

To me, that is money spent best elsewhere... but you shouldn't scrap the idea cuz I don't like it. I will say if it makes things easier for you, then go for it. Easy is good, getting time to do other things is priceless... time is the only limited resource we have. And even 5 minutes a day more spent with your family vs. spending time in the grow room is worth the world.

I am getting 99% success with my 30-site EZ-Cloner. I'm more confident in it than I would be in my old ebb & flow cloning tray. I literally have had to do nothing to it for almost a month. I'm about to take a bunch of clones into dirt, so I'll wash it and do new water, but it's about as idiot-proof as it comes.

Thundercat said:

Whats shitty? I'm lost I think......... I'm sure this will help............

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lol sorry i was hi when i wrote u ^ the vacation factor or deal and u having to plan around

I have a HANNA Combo and a bluelab pen, They both suck! I already had to replace the hanna combo once, at least the shop I bought it from replaced it for me but it doesn't say a lot about their dependability. I haven't used the wall one but I did read some good things about it. I think SS and Old Dude over on Superstoner1 thread use those. Maybe post the question is his my three stages of flower thread.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the input guys. That was kinda the same feed back I've seen alot of places about the pens. One big reason I've considered just springing for something professional and being done with it. I feel like being dialed into my system is one of the last steps I have with mastering it. Once I buy a house and I setup there I'd like to finally build a nice permenant room, and really dial things in. Some day I guess someday, but one step at a time is how I'll get there!

WTF, I seriously still can't give you Rep+ I though I handy out plenty the other day to allow you some more today, unfortunately sometimes the deserving get left behind I am going to try and do something about that right now, looking at Ninja and Beech to get some love first if it allows me!

Apparently I love everyone in this thread to much, better spread some rep+ on other threads so I can be sure to hand it out where deserved, HERE!

Lol BG your crack me up man. I'm just glad having you guys here the rep doesn't mean much.

So I battled some "algae" again. I say it like that because I think its algae, but its almost clear which I thought could just be form the lack of much light. It wasn't nearly as bad this time, but it was still there. I realized that my cooler I'm using as a res may be holding alot more heat then my old tote did. Usually the water in my res is noticably cold to the touch, tonight it felt luke warm. Sooooo I cleaned out all the algae with a skimmer, took my pump out and stripped it down and cleaned it again cleaned the residue in the tray out, and drained half my res and refilled it. I also covered the rest of my tray that doesn't have plants in it with panda film to keep the light off it. I'm hoping the panda film helps to keep the temps lower since less heat should build up in the water without the light hitting it. I'm gonna freeze some bottles of water and try to get my temps back down. If this continues to be an issue I'll be looking for something else to use as a res, even if it means spending the money and buying a real one, and or looking into a chiller though I don't really want to run any more electric.

Well aside from that the plants look really good. The critical jack isn't stretching as much as I was expecting, but its gonna have 4 really nice buds on it I think from the node spacing. Next week I'm gonna be putting another 10 plants in I think, and perhaps 15 more 1-2 weeks later. This will have my tray FULL, and sadly I won't be harvesting the current batch till may so its gonna be full for awhile not that thats a bad thing I suppose. I can say for sure that the 4 headed WW that is still in the tray is starting to pack some weight on finally. I noticed tonight it was leaning against the stakes I have around it. It seems to be enjoying the higher ppm I'm running in the tray now. Its got another week on it, but i might leave it for 2 just for fun if there is still much of fresh growth.

Well guys I'm about to go the the local Mardi Gras celebration this town has, hope you all have a great night I'll prolly talk to you guys tomorrow!

Peace TC

Edit: Oh ya I was also pleased to say that one of the 2 SDG broke ground today so I've got at least one if I don't kill it lol.

Happy to make anyone laugh anytime I can laughter really is the best simple medicine IMHO.

Hope you have a great night on the town! Enjoy you deserve it!

Subbed finally. pologies for being so late

This threads classic like the beatles ......... Sxs

TC - I got my cloner rez temp down by putting a small buzz fan about 3" from it blowing air at the bottom (with the bottom off the ground an inch or two). It dropped my temps by 10 degrees or so in the rez.

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Hey Kite glad to have ya man!

I like that baywatcher, sadly I have no good way to raise my 40 gallon rez off the ground. On the plus side I believe me efforts have been a success. I changed the res tuesday and the water was noticably cooler from just one day with an ice bottle. Yesterday it felt great when i checked on things, and the water was still nice and clear and clean! With having all the light blocked from the tray, and the res now, and the ice just keeping it a bit cooler I think I'm gonna be golden. I check my res every day for ph and shit so tossing in a frozen 2 liter won't be a big deal. I am also thinking now that the temps are lower that the cooler may prevent me from having to do this every day and maybe on need it every other.

So I'll have to get some pics here so, but all the girls are flowering nicely. Its been about 12 days since I put them in 12/12 and it seems most of the stretch may be done but who knows they might surprise me. The next run of clones is honestly over due to go in so they will be added to the tray either tonight or tomorrow. Depending on how the tray fills up I may pull a couple of the plants I have in now to open up more room. There are a few that are bushing out more then I want which might take up to much space in a few weeks. If all the roots on the new clones are looking good enough I'll put them in to replace those.

I'm gonna be putting my Cindy clones I just took into cups tonight prolly they have some nice looking roots forming now, and I will prolly top the other Cindy that is still vegging and use that for another clone once I have room. The cindy that is flowering looks fcking awesome, the nodes on the whole plant are 1/2 to 1 inch spacing and it is only slightly branching. So the whole plant I think is going to just be one 12-15 inch cola about 2-4 inchs think from what I can tell. II took down the 4 headed WW that was about done. It had been in for 8 weeks, and I noticed a few late flower "mananas" on it so I chopped her. I considered letting it drop the pollen, but all the other plants are still a bit young for that and I don't want a fully seeded crop even if it is good genetics.

Well guys I'm off to burn one and play some video games TC

Just stopping bye,Keep em green
Beech

Hey man nice to see ya!

Water temps were cool and stable tonight, and the res was mostly clean. There was still a tiny amount of haze floating in the water, but I think its prolly just residue that washed out of my tray. I gave the res a dose of H2O2 and another ice block. Plants are looking very happy every time I look at Cindy she looks nicer and nicer. The sweet deep grapefruit is working on its second leaves, the second seed still hasn't done anything yet though atleast I got one. So all is well really, the tray will be getting some additions tomorrow and the fresh clones with roots will be going in cups. I'll get you guys some pictures while I do everything tomorrow night. Time to smoke a blunt and call it a night, hope all is well!

Peace TC