COCO DTW Multi-Feed White Widow GH Maxi CFL

[BluePhoric]

Healthy looking happy girls

Yeah I like it when the leaves are praying to the sky like that ;-)

 

[BluePhoric]

13 days since flip to 13/11...

The plant has stretched the most last night. Lights (CFL's) were touching the tops.

I have only 1 foot left of vertical space ;-(
I may have to do some major changes; Drop the plant on the ground elsewhere and find another way to suspend lights...
Or I could "rebuild" the table to make it lower... I hope I wont have to, but I think she'll stretch the most in the coming week.

I mixed a new reservoir this morning. Only 1 ml/gal CalMag. Mixed 50%/50% Gro/Bloom nutes.
I went a whole week with the last reservoir. Topped it a couple of times and added H2O2 (hydrogen peroxyde) a couple of times to keep bacteria at bay. Worked ok, but I think the nute mix was getting old. Had to add PH-down quite a few times too. (Phosphoric acid). Some say it's not the best acid to use in coco, because it's based on phosphorous and messes PH more than some other acids... Dunno.

Runoff EC is now at a 0 +/- difference of what is going IN. I increased the gro/bloom nutes; Water should be around 700-750 ppms total. I'll see after a few waterings if that seems enough. WW looks very hungry right now !

Good day !
BP

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

got any new pics ?

 

[BluePhoric]

Nothing really new since yesterday, but if I must...

This one shows one of the tops I "FIMmed" instead of topping. Not on purpose, a real f.I.Missed... Some leaves are amputated (on the left) and it made a couple of weird little new tops.

 

[AngryBird]

I'm sure you'll find the best solution for them.

 

[BluePhoric]

I replaced my nutrient reservoir.

I was using some gray Walmart rectangular container. Worked fine, but I was using it half full and I was losing about 6L on the bottom (because of the height of the pump). I Had to add some nutes/water a couple of times over a week.

I'm now using one of those 18.9L pails...

I filled it almost to the rim with my fresh nute mix. I'll purchase another one of those pails, so I can prepare a new mix in advance and do a quick switch and disinfect the old one. I'll loose much less nutes at the bottom.

 

[Pennywise]

Bigger Rez is usually more stable as well.

 

[BluePhoric]

Bigger Rez is usually more stable as well.

Well, the new res is smaller than the previous one.

Instead of trying to run a big res for long while, I'll try using two smaller ones. Run one until almost empty and replace with the other one already prepared with fresh nutes. Everything will be fresher.

BP

 

[Pennywise]

Ahh ok, I always tried for a Rez big enough to last a week.

 

[BluePhoric]

PW... after a few days, my res smells (bacteria). And PH starts climbing more.
I did add a bit of H2O2 in the mix and it worked ok to make the rez last more days.
But overall, PH kept climbing and I needed to add PH-Down too often for my taste.

If I bubble my tap water a while and then the same with the nutes mixed in, then PH-Down...
It seems to hold its PH for a couple of days. Tried an airstone on a timer, to aerate every 3 hours... Airstone makes PH climb too I found.

That's why I'm trying this new approach...
- without any air-stone.
- smaller rez that I'll replace in probably 3-4 days.
- hoping not to PH down as much.
- when auto-watering, there's a secondary tube that agitates my mix, every 4 hours... so it should be ok for a non-stagnant water, I guess.

I dont mind changing rez even every 3 days. What I would like is not to have to go check the PH of the rez before every single watering (4hrs)... because sometimes it drifted fast.

You may ask if I clean my rez properly...
I use a dilution of 35% H2O2. Clean/scrub the rez and other parts (airstone, water pump). I also run the water pump on its own in a small container, with H2O2 water to get cleaning solution inside the pump and lower tube.

Thanks,
BP

 

[Pennywise]

Try an enzymatic cleaner like Z7 or Sensizyme, it sounds like bacteria may be the culprit. A good enzyme cleaner will work wonders

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

I find my rez moved also from 5.8to 6.0 if I check it 20 minutes later but what has worked for me at least is I don't ph it right away after putting the nutes in and waiting a couple of hrs and let the 2 air stones and my recirculating pump run just to give it a really good mixing to have a lot more accurate ph reading (35 gallon rez )and then I ph adjust the water and it remains stable for about 4 days .I think in that much r.o.water ,the nutes don't get a really good mixing if you don't wait the couple of hrs to ph adjust .

 

[BluePhoric]

Thanks PW, Z7 looks interesting. Could do wonders to my tap water.

Thanks Nooobienot, that's pretty much my experience too with the PH staying stable for some initial period. Then it climbs. I can play with O2E2 and get it stabilized again for a while, but not long. It's a shure thing that my tap water makes things a bit more difficult than RO.

 

[BluePhoric]

Gradually augmenting the nutes...
Like Billy Idol said... She wants more, more, more-o-re... more! more! moo-ore! ;-)

This morning, EC-out is about the same as EC-in.

After the next watering (12:00), if EC-out is going up, I'll stay at 730 ppm, else I will augment to 800 ppm.

WW is still loosing 1 or 2 leaves per day. Looks like N deficiency, but not quite like usual.
Affecting the oldest leaves, but not the bigger ones. Oldest-smaller ones. The most useless ones I suppose.
They dont really have time to get yellow. They become pale green, shrivel, and then fall-off.

Oldest leaves, so it's a mobile nutrient (N, P, K, Zinc, Molybdenum).
- No spotting or speckles on the leaves.
- Not much purple stems, so not Phosphorous
- A few leaf tips are curling up, so maybe a little Potassium (K) def.

The plant is stretching more than ever, so she must need a lot of N.
She's flowering, so she must want more of everything ;-)

BP

 

[BluePhoric]

Enzymes : Expensive in Canada... 1L bottle would last probably 8-10 weeks.

Cannazym 1L : 43$
SensiZym 1L : 45$
Grozyme (hygrozyme) 1L : 42$
Flying skull Z7 (Z9 in Canada) 1L : 140$+

Cannazym : Ok with tap-water
SensiSym : unknown
hygrozyme : reverse osmosis or filtered water
Z9 : too expensive

BP

 

[BluePhoric]

A few leaves, very few (one in fact)... show what I think is P def.

Pretty shure I'm running into a little N-P-K def right now.

 

[BluePhoric]

12:00 watering :

EC in = 736
EC out = 715 (I had a lot of runoff...)

I adjusted the mix to 800ppm for the next watering.
Next Watering at 16h00 ; runoff will not be reliable.
Next Watering at 20h00 should be 800 IN and 8xx out.

BP

 

[BluePhoric]

WW is on the 14th day of flowering.

I'm feeding 50%/50% Grow/Bloom nutes. Considering 100% bloom nutes after this Rez is empty. Maybe wait after stretch ?

Considering things are different in soil vs coco or hydro. Soil holds on to the nutes longer... coco, not so.
I often see an N deficiency if cutting Grow nutes too soon even in soil/organic...

What do you all do after switching to 12/12 ? Keep Grow nutes for a while, mix the two, or go straight to Bloom nutes ? How do you transition and how does it affect your plants ?

Thanks,
BP

 

[Pennywise]

I feed grow until I see pistils then switch to bloom. I want considerable stretch though.

 

[BluePhoric]

Most manufacturers feedcharts don't suggest a transition...

GH Maxi series (what I use) suggests a small transition : first week : 2/3 grow 1/3 bloom, then all bloom.
That's what I did, but then transitioned one other week at 50/50...