Wonder Woman Grow Journal 2016

[Papageno]

You can't overdose Cal / Mag. It wont hurt but also wont help much since you are in hydro.

1) hydro will respond darn near instantly so once you got it right you are good.
2) That deficiency among many others doesn't repair. don't expect those leave to ever look much better.


I say go for it but it probably wont make a difference.

 

[Papageno]

Sorry I was off the grid and didn't see your posts.

The foaming is good. It means you have a real problem in there.

After you do this regularly it wont foam.

The foaming is what I was describing as may look like fermenting. That is the good bacteria breeding and taking over. You got about 24 hours or so of heavy breading then it will come back in line.

Good job! That means you have fixed something.


Next time it wont be so bad. After about 3 or 4 it wont foam much if at all.

 

[Papageno]

Ah... The Vortex...Looks like a newbs attempt. Better than mine though... I f'd it up bad.

Lots to talk about there. There are a bunch of not so subtle things. I screwed up mine trying to dial in the things I didn't understand.

For one the "lift" of the air pump is not much. So you can't have the return line going way over the top of the bucket. Your water has to clear almost 2 inches or so above the water line. Look on the videos and you will see the return line is actually cut into the bucket on those water jug ones to get it inside the spray line but not above the water.

This one is super bad to the bone and you see the return lines are inside. This one here is a home made one big enough to run a pro brew.

Poseidon 4 compost tea vortex style hurricane brewer 32 gallon. - YouTube

Another thing is the size of the return line. I think a smaller one works better but I am not certain. I have seen them all use big ones.

Use air stones. It is all about surface area of the air bubbles. More bubbles means more lift.

This is a fun project my man!

 

[Papageno]

Of the many people I have had use this on here there is a guy who is very active in his journal here who has used it in multiple types of Hydro now. PM Far East Buds if you want some advice from someone else on this. I aint around much anymore...I will be in about a year when I finish my move. FE is a good guy. Hez got yer back if I aint around.

Tea it up a couple of times a grow is always good.

Perpetual Grow Among Other Things!

 

[Papageno]

I just watched the video an it needs to be full. You need the water pressure to help the pump so it isn't lifting much. Fill it with water and it should work better.

 

[Papageno]

And for some peace of mind...


I have had the same response where it looks like the res is fermenting not from my tea but from using Advanced Nutrients Voodoo Juice.

You had something in your pump or lines. Now the good bacteria are eating it up. When they are done there will be no food left for the bad bacteria.

Problem solved.

Peace brutha.

 

[Papageno]

I have a few moments (as you can tell) and went back and read something that totally made sense unless I am just stoned and misunderstanding.

So the last time before you used my tea you did a res change like 2 days ago or something right? And you use AN pH perfect stuff and the pH went straight to 6.4 right?

Please clarify that. If so then yes you have an infection.

The 2 ways out of infection is extreme sterilization which commonly fails...or what you are doing.

This is about your 5th or so real hydro run? That is about normal for when someone does this.

 

[closetcase420]

I did a res change and added the AN nutrients which made the PH around 6.4 like you said. I noticed the "foam" inside the res after adding the AN nutrients. Then the next day I added the tea which created more of the "foam" and raised PH up over 7. You think there was just some crap in the res or lines or air stones before I started? The air lines are all new as I generally replace them each grow. The bucket was scrubbed clean but just with water, no H2O2 or anything..

As for the vortex brewer, put about 4 gallons of water and she works like a champ. Problem is I don't want to brew 4 gallons of tea each time.. I wonder if I lower the lift height and go through the side of the jug if that will allow me to use less water for the mixture.

 

[closetcase420]

I just took a reading..

7.3 / 880 and 68 degrees, yesterday was 7.1 / 830 so I'm still heading in the wrong direction.

Still lots of foaming going on, maybe not as much as last night.

It could all be in my head and just be hopeful but I think the plant looks better today?

 

[redmud]

Not sure if it's been mentioned but when we tea the res, after we find a root problem we give the affected plants less light intensity by turning off every other light and raising them up.

.........

 

[closetcase420]

Thanks.. I have dropped the light intensity down to 1/4 strength so I'm assuming around 150-200 watts and raised them up as high as I can. Been running like this for a couple weeks now..

 

[Papageno]

I may be wrong but you might be able to fill a lot of the bucket with some river rock and it may still work... You can do a lot to resize the available space int there I bet and it still works. That may be a stupid solution.

So (I have other things I would say about this just not for you)

The 5 gallons is a lot but you can use it over a long time. The microbes die off but the black gold may settle into a beautiful yellow gold tea. Most people would jar it and place in fridge and use for up to a week I think. (Or so I have read) You could probably use this straight for a week then go back to AN for a while and not waste it. Probably cuts your costs down dramatically. I haven't tried going full out on this like so many others have. I know it works and can be done. I am telling you (a few pages back) this guy I know runs a flood and drain system where he floods off to different reservoirs. One is a vortex brewer and another is a normal nute tank. He alternates his floods. I like to filter it out.

I just do it by hand once in a while. Just over a weekend so it aint to big a deal. I make my small 1.5 gallons every few weeks and dump it in. Nuf said.

 

[closetcase420]

Yea, my impulsive side kicked in. Couldn't stop thinking about it until I built it. I'll lower the arm first and see if I can get away with less water otherwise I'll just brew 3-4 gallons at a time. Right now it won't do me much good but over the summer I'll use it on the flowers outside.

 

[Papageno]

I don't think you are heading in the wrong direction.

Those readings mean the plant is thirsty not hungry which totally makes sense. By the physiology of the plant it should be on about 300-500 ppm.

You just keep topping off with clean fresh water and if you really want to keep them breeding strong add some sugar to the res. I wouldn't... I would ride it out topping off with what it asks for.

You are doing fine... it is doing as expected.

 

[Papageno]

Also what a lot of people don't understand is lockout and pH and what is really happening.


Don't be fooled by post truth!


pH of 7.0 is neutral and does not harm a thing. A pH of 7.0 +- 1 is basically neutral and doesn't hurt a thing.


pH of 5.8 is a decent middle that allows for a fairly even uptake so it is more easy to dial in a program. But all it means is the absorption rate of certain chemicals is at certain levels.

That means it is up to the companies to overdose the under performers and under-dose the over performers in their soup to make it all go in at the right ratio.

AN adds buffers that last up to 6 days that help to make sure you keep the pH where they want it for their ratio. But you have seen the charts there is all kinds of absorption rates all over the map.

Now Lock out is a troubling thing but you are in hydro where it doesn't matter. In soil when you cause lock out you have to work hard to fix it. In hydro you do a res change.

But lockout is also redeemable. In soil this is how you really fix it.

Those microbes now have an eco system down there that is symbiotic with the plant and things are different now. Buffered uptake and microbes breaking down locked up salts.

Smoke some weed and be cool. The worst is you res change if it don't calm down. Wait till the microbes all die off and see how she is.

 

[closetcase420]

Forgot to post yesterday's update.. 6.9 / 870

Still foaming pretty good..

I added 4 more cups of tea, new growth is looking better.

Happy New Year

 

[Papageno]

Are you topping off with just filtered H2O or a solution? You should be topping off with just clean water to drive the PPM down to the desired location since the plant is small.

Are you saying it is not taking on water and just idling still? That alone isn't too bad but I would have hoped by now you had been topping with fresh water and the res would be down closer to normal. Not a big deal just curious about what has been going in there.


You said you added some more tea. Not sure if that was before or after your reading.

So if you had a near 840 situation and dumped in a bunch of tea and some water then yeah I can see it going up if we are in a nice place.

But inherently that plant is so small it will be okay on much less (which will help it thrive in reality).

I would be topping with water at about 6.2-6.4 and let things come in to a nice gentle landing.


But I am unclear really with what the regimen exactly was.

If the pH stays where the aerobic microbes like it and you see them working then you are still fine. 48 hours is probably the max I have seen it really go but you did add more. It all depends how much food is available for them.

The roots and plant will be fine in any case.

Just use some common sense on the PPM monitoring and get that right with the top off like we talked about many times and the rest will work itself out.

 

[closetcase420]

I have not had to top off at all since the res change. I have added a few cups of tea a couple times, not because the res was low but in hopes of boosting the plants development. She still is not really consuming much or at least not that I can tell.

The reading yesterday was prior to adding tea. It was 6.9 / 870, then I added a few cups of tea. The current reading I took just now is 6.5 / 930. So PH is coming back down but PPMs are still rising. I haven't had a chance to dilute it at all since I haven't had to add back any water yet.

She really is looking better, look at the difference between the new growth and the barely hanging in there set of leaves below.

There is also still a lot of foaming going on in the res. I want so badly to come down and see half the res drank up, just not happening yet.

 

[Papageno]

You should probably stop adding the tea for a week or so and let it settle down. I don't think it will hurt to keep adding it but I never done that myself.

It is fine to let it run its coarse then do it again later. That is how I roll...every 2 weeks a few cups each.

Your plant is responding and will be fine.

I say just let it be and if it shoots up in pH then you may have an issue...but again unless you can get at the problem and get it out a microbial process is the answer.

Your girl should drink up and then you can dilute. If she wont drink up then you may want to manually dilute it. You may want to dump some of the res to dilute it. Get it right. Do it slow...you know how it goes.

I never heard or had a plant just not drink...I bet you are just a few hours away from them bacteria pulling back and the plant takes off. If tomorrow it is still just lagging maybe manually dilute like I suggested.

I bet you just over did it adding more and that wont hurt...just extend the process.

The plant has access to the nutes, they are not locked out. Things are fine just keep monitoring. I seen plants take off and not really use much of the res in the beginning coming out of this crap. It is like they were being strangled and you released them. They should respond soon.

 

[closetcase420]

Your posts are always so helpful, just wanted to say thanks VI.

Today's reading, 6.2 / 980. Yesterday was 6.5 / 930 so PH is coming back but PPMs are still on the rise.

The foaming is still occurring however it is much less today than previous days and it does appear she drank a little bit of the res last night. I took a few pictures.

After taking the pictures I went ahead and added 1 1/2 gallons of tap water plus a few ml of CalMag. The water was 6.1 / 280. Will be interesting to see if the plant drinks up a bunch tomorrow since this should bring the ppm of the res down to a more suitable range.