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Quote: Inocuole said: I take it you're using the bricks too?
I have them laying around from mushroom substrates, so without any prior knowledge I thought it was a good idea to use it too. Luckily for me the only thing I have growing in coir is catnip.
I have read several places that although they're not ideal for growing they can be used fine with enough flushing. I assumed an hour of constant flushing with hot water would be plenty but apparently I was wrong.
Here's a couple white widows I have growing in this crap, been in it since they were clipped from their mom. They're doing great, I just transplanted out of dixie cups but they're a month old already and obviously they were growing very slow...once I finally got the water to run clear every time they started growing at a normal pace though. That's why from now on Im not going to plant anything in this stuff until it runs clear every time for several days in a row.
Brick coco works better as an additive than using it alone, it depends on how much of a coco mix you used, but if its not a shit ton then it won't be as devastating as using it as a primary medium. The organic components tend to take care of it.
I've tried feeding the clones the Canna Start solution but @4-500ppm its not strong enough. Canna is so gentle on the plant that its almost impossible to mess up with one full strength feeding.
I start the clones in coco as soon as they look like this (2-3 per clone collar since I don't let the roots tangle) so they can dig right in. They grow so fast that if they don't get fed they just yellow. In the past I've used a "seed starting mix" that was fine ground brown dust that would pool water, sit overnight and still be pooled up and bone dry 1/4" down. Impossible to use alone but mixed with the coco it works great for keeping the plant sustained for that first few days. That's just in the first container though, I try and go as much coir as possible.
I also use the 1L Airpots for the absolute fastest growth and best preparation for transplant possible. This was cut from the mother plant 27 days prior. Notice the pruned root tips at the bottom just waiting to dig into the next sized pot. You can see the leaf tips missing on the lowest branches, those were the one's that were clipped for the aerocloner, the rest of that is all fresh new growth. They're only ~$3 each for the pots but ideal for transplanting. I suggest everyone get these. The larger Airpots are comparable to the cloth, but the small one's are essential for that early development.
-------------------- Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED “Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
Two weeks of plain water is a good way to end a crop. I usually give 1-2 weeks of plain water, with a good flush a week before chopping so it can absorb the remaining non-flushed nutrients for a full week, then little to no water the last 2-3 days in order to suck out all the water in the coco (easier to reuse when dry).
Two weeks of plain water in coco and a good flush will usually let the plants yellow up quite a bit...I always harvest before the yellowing recedes into the bud. Usually by the time I'm ready to flush the plants are JUST beginning to show signs of their age with a little natural yellowing/lightening. I NEVER adjust pH when flushing, as stated, it is to aid nutrient absorption into the plant, whereas we are trying to NOT absorb the nutrients in the last few days.
It can be a couple days before the plant actually uses the nutrients that its absorbed, which is why I like to give it a flush a week prior so that it has nothing/little to build with for a whole week to ensure that there are no unused nutrients left in the plant.
not sure exactly how far from harvest this plant was, (real close) but here is the difference of a few days without nutrients at the end.
04/24 ~ 10 days till harvest
04/27 ~7 days till harvest (Flushed around this time)
05/04 ~0-2 days till harvest.
One thing I also go by when harvesting is water uptake rate, when they stop vigorously sucking up water the plant is pretty much ready to chop.
-------------------- Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED “Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein
Do you use any flushing products that supposedly leech out the nutrients? Or is this the result of just plain straight up tap water for the whole flush?
So I would put two XTE400's in a 4x4 tent and say that your pretty much maxed out on light potential. You could probably push it and do some crazy side lighting scheme to really get deep, but for the most part those ~740w will deliver as much light as you'd need. I'd love to see a side by side of two XTE400's vs a 1000w HPS. A friend has a 1000w in a 4x4 and its really pushing it on heat, in fact he can't start anything until he's solved that problem. We ran the bulb for less than 5 minutes and it was insanely hot in there.
The thing with LED's is that you want to spread the lights out as much as possible, so that one apollo for say a 4x4 area is not anywhere near ideal. Those 'COB' styles seem to be getting popular but I'm still not sold on them. I wouldn't get a light off amazon, they seem to only pass on generics or lower end stuff. Not saying you can't find one or the light is good, but its not the style I like. Its good to get it from a vendor who is developing the lights to grow bud, not just a "plant grow light."
Here's the light canopy for those plants above-- spread out to reduce shading from a single-point source. In my 4x8 I'm running 1270w utilizing a 4x6 grow area with a little overhang.
Also, because your running less wasted light, you end up running your garden a bit warmer as well.
I've derailed too many threads talking about LED's... Start a new thread if you want to talk about LED's.
-------------------- Any help given is for educational purposes only. Its your responsibility not to break any applicable laws
Bamboo Bongs I make | Perfect Dry and Cure | Grapegod under LED “Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune intoned in the distance by an invisible player.” ~ Albert Einstein