Zkittz Quadline Grow With Self Watering Bases And UV/IR Lighting - In Coco Coir

[Twalte]

Welcome to week 1 and 2 of my first grow using these AC Infinity self-watering bases with coco coir. I will also be testing new UV/IR lighting with these plants. Comments and recommendations are welcome….I'm always looking to improve.

I’ve used SIPs before (sub-irrigated planters), but these are my favorite type. The ones that use 5 gallon buckets are more difficult to handle and flushing is more challenging. The only downside to these self watering bases is that they needed a good flush between veg and flower due to salt buildup at the root zone. I will incorporate a few flushes into this coco grow, but I plan for all feeding to be done from the bottom watering base.

Week #3 photos to follow in the next posting

Strain/s: Ganja Farmer Zkittz (2), Seedsman LA Peyote Kush (1)
Genetic Makeup: Hybrid
Pot/Bucket Size: 5.0 gallon
Tent Size: 2’ x 4' AC Infinity
How Many Plants: 3 plus a spare seedling
Environment: Indoor
Stage: Seedling / Early Veg
Medium: 80% coco Coir / 20% Perlite. (Coco Loco brand)
Lights: 640 Watt LED (two Timber 3vl cob fixtures) PLUS Mars Hydro UV/IR lighting. (Germinated under T5 fluorescent lights)
Nutrients: General hydroponics Flora Series Nutrients and Maxicrop Seaweed Extract (1oz/g)
Room/Tent Temperature: 76 degrees
Relative Humidity: 72%
Media/Res PH: 6.0 ph / 350ppm
Pests: None
Training Plan: Quadline

Self watering bases set up and ready for transplant into the tent.

Seedlings in coco coir with reverse osmosis water used for germination

These bottom feeders moisten the bottom 1/3 of the pot with nutrients, so the plants need deep roots to use this feed. Since we need deep roots, I transplanted the seedlings to final containers early so they can start developing roots that reach the bottom of the pot.

Two spare seedlings in the event I experience a failure. In this case, I replaced the seedling on the right with another Zkittz seedling.

 

[Twalte]

Week 3 update…..

Plants have grown substantially. I modified the base containers so that i can test the ph and ppm of the nutrient solution without disasssembly of the watering bases. Here is a picture of the reservoir access before and after removing the grids.

If I top-feed, the water runoff drives up the ppm numbers in the reservoir (not good). I’ve replaced the water in the reservoirs with 600ppm and 6.0ph. No more top feeding unless a plant appears thirsty…..I want them to feed from the feeders.

Feed now includes 1ml/g of each GH Flora Series, 5ml/g of CalMag, and 28ml/g of seaweed extract. About 750 ppm feed today at 6.0 ph.

Lighting is at 9,000 lux. Working my way up to 15,000 for early veg and I will continue to increase intensity.

Plants are looking much larger otherwise. I’ll incorporate IR lighting next week.

Here is the LA Peyote Kush

The two Zkittz (not Zkittelz….i need to update the signs)

Tent conditions are maintaining a VPD under 1.0. Small heater maintains 76 degrees and my humidifier maintains humidity at 70%. The fabric pots put off so much humidity that the humidifier is almost overkill.

 

[Bill284]

Week 3 update…..

Plants have grown substantially. I modified the base containers so that i can test the ph and ppm of the nutrient solution without disasssembly of the watering bases. Here is a picture of the reservoir access before and after removing the grids.

If I top-feed, the water runoff drives up the ppm numbers in the reservoir (not good). I’ve replaced the water in the reservoirs with 600ppm and 6.0ph. No more top feeding unless a plant appears thirsty…..I want them to feed from the feeders.

Feed now includes 1ml/g of each GH Flora Series, 5ml/g of CalMag, and 28ml/g of seaweed extract. About 750 ppm feed today at 6.0 ph.

Lighting is at 9,000 lux. Working my way up to 15,000 for early veg and I will continue to increase intensity.

Plants are looking much larger otherwise. I’ll incorporate IR lighting next week.

Here is the LA Peyote Kush

The two Zkittz (not Zkittelz….i need to update the signs)

Tent conditions are maintaining a VPD under 1.0. Small heater maintains 76 degrees and my humidifier maintains humidity at 70%. The fabric pots put off so much humidity that the humidifier is almost overkill.

Love your setup , great start my friend.
Hope your weekend is going well.
Take care.




#VIVOSUN #Love What You Grow
Bill284

 

[Twalte]

Love your setup , great start my friend.
Hope your weekend is going well.
Take care.




#VIVOSUN #Love What You Grow
Bill284

Thank you Bill! Great to see you’re still around the forums. I’m back after a short growing break and will likely need advice on Quadlining this round. This is my second time with it…..I was impressed with the technique.

 

[Twalte]

Firstly, you can see the Zkittz putting on her 5th nodes. For Quadline training, I plan to top them after the 6th node, so we’re getting close to the start of training.

The plants have been under more intense lighting since yesterday and they’re responding well. I’m using a calculation called Daily Light Integral (DLI) from the Photone IPad app to dial in ideal lighting. Ideal lighting in DLI by plant age….a combination of lighting duration (20 hrs) and lighting intensity (366 ppfd) gives me a DLI of 25.7. At week 3, it recommends a DLI up to 30, so I will slowly increase the intensity this week to target 30 DLI. For today, I will leave at yesterday’s settings.

Photone is a pretty useful app, but it does require a paper filter be used over the iPad camera to diffuse the light. I happen to have a spare iPad that I can leave set up with the diffuser.

 

[Twalte]

Today I checked the reservoir ppm and ph levels…..the ppm level was high due to water runoff from top feeding. I measured the reservoirs at 1150 ppm and 1400ppm….too high. Drained reservoirs and replaced with 600ppm solution at 5.9 ph level. I also cleaned and rinsed the reservoirs and the wicks…..added two more wicks to each base too for better transfer between the 5 gallon fabric pots and the bases.

No more top feeding is planned…..the plants are expected to feed from the bases exclusively from this point forward. Roots should have reached the bottom third of the 5 gallon pot by now. The wicks in the watering bases keep the bottom third of the pot moist.

Feed consists of 2 gallons of RO water, 1 gallon of tap water, Cal Mag, Silica and 1ml/g of each of the GH Flora series nutrients. I will increase nutrients on the next replenishment.

I am also evaluating a minor foliage feed with silica in the near future. I’m doing homework to evaluate using the flora series AND silica as a foliar feed…..I don’t want to overdo it.

 

[Twalte]

Today I noticed some yellowing between the veins on the newer leaves of one plant. I’m assuming this is either a nitrogen deficiency or a sulphur deficiency. I’m new to coco, so I’m not accustomed to diagnosing deficiencies. I rarely had deficiencies when in FFOF soil.

I top fed her some RO water mixed with Epsom salt, seaweed extract, silica, CalMag and a very small dose of GH Flora Micro and Gro. Ppm under 800. Hope I don’t hurt the plant with this feed. I saw a lot of positive discussion here about epsom salts and decided to add that to the mix. Ph’d to 6.0. Only fed one plant….if she responds well I will share this nutrient mix with the other two plants.

Also installed the Mars Hydro 45 watt UV\IR bars that I ordered last week. Simple zip tie to the frame of my cob lighting. I don’t know what to expect with IR or UV….

Here is the info on the light and the benefits of each spectrum. I’m hoping that this supplements my old tech cob lighting by providing some missing spectrum.

I am running IR currently at the beginning and end of each day. UV will run once the plants are older.

 

[Twalte]

Wednesday update….Week 3

Today I removed the bottom branches (first node) for the two largest plants. I still need to remove the branches from the next node (node #2) and top above the fourth node. I’m doing it in phases to avoid shocking the plant.

Also, a side note that I added more wicks to the self watering system. See wicks below….the newer wicks that I added are whiter. Plenty of nutrient water transferring to the coco in my fabric pots. My reservoir has 600ppm and a 5.8 ph now. I intentionally lowered the ph from 6.0 to 5.8 based on advice from fellow growers.

 

[Twalte]

A little more quadline training preparation today as I removed more lower branches. I want to remove the bottom two nodes (4 branches) from each plant….then once they heal I will top them above the fourth node. That leaves four branches to train for Quadlining. Once the branches grow out, I will start staking them down in the shape of an “X”.

Also dealing with some fading between the veins of one plant. I’ve been told that I need to lower my ph from 6.0 to 5.8 and that might help….so the new reservoir water is at 5.8 ph and 800ppm. A plant problem application says that I’m experiencing an iron deficiency too. So my plan is to do a flush with a 5.8ph nutrient solution using Maxicrop Seaweed Extract plus IRON! Hopefully addressing root zone ph and adding iron will resolve this issue early.

 

[Bill284]

A little more quadline training preparation today as I removed more lower branches. I want to remove the bottom two nodes (4 branches) from each plant….then once they heal I will top them above the fourth node. That leaves four branches to train for Quadlining. Once the branches grow out, I will start staking them down in the shape of an “X”.

Also dealing with some fading between the veins of one plant. I’ve been told that I need to lower my ph from 6.0 to 5.8 and that might help….so the new reservoir water is at 5.8 ph and 800ppm. A plant problem application says that I’m experiencing an iron deficiency too. So my plan is to do a flush with a 5.8ph nutrient solution using Maxicrop Seaweed Extract plus IRON! Hopefully addressing root zone ph and adding iron will resolve this issue early.

I'd try adding cal mag to my mixture first, then nutrients in order then set ph to 5.8.
It'll drift back up probably so with it?
Girls look good though.
That's coco in your bags?

Stay safe
Bill284

 

[Twalte]

I'd try adding cal mag to my mixture first, then nutrients in order then set ph to 5.8.
It'll drift back up probably so with it?
Girls look good though.
That's coco in your bags?

Stay safe
Bill284

Hi Bill,
Yes, I am in coco. I have been adding 4-5ml/g of CalMag to RO water first then adding nutrients and seaweed extract before adjusting the ph. I lowered the ph to 5.8 in the reservoirs. I even added some Epsom salts to one feed.

I have some seaweed extract with IRON coming in the mail on Saturday which may help.

It’s not bad….just trying to prevent it from getting worse.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Roy Growin]

A little more quadline training preparation today as I removed more lower branches. I want to remove the bottom two nodes (4 branches) from each plant….then once they heal I will top them above the fourth node. That leaves four branches to train for Quadlining. Once the branches grow out, I will start staking them down in the shape of an “X”.

Also dealing with some fading between the veins of one plant. I’ve been told that I need to lower my ph from 6.0 to 5.8 and that might help….so the new reservoir water is at 5.8 ph and 800ppm. A plant problem application says that I’m experiencing an iron deficiency too. So my plan is to do a flush with a 5.8ph nutrient solution using Maxicrop Seaweed Extract plus IRON! Hopefully addressing root zone ph and adding iron will resolve this issue early.

Be interested to know what the app thinks the other four possibilities are?

 

[Twalte]

Be interested to know what the app thinks the other four possibilities are?

Hi Roy,
I can’t get it to repeat those results, but if I recall correctly, the app also suspected “ph fluctuation”, “nitrogen deficiency”, “plant mutation” or a “virus”. I think ph fluctuation is a possibility, but I am doubting the mutation or virus options.

 

[Twalte]

I’m trying to duplicate my last quadline but I’m getting significantly more stretch from the young plants (it could be due to the infrared I’m playing with). The current quadline advise is to remove nodes #1 & 2, then top above node #4. So with Zkittz #1 I have removed the side nodes and I will top this plant above the 4th node next week.

BUT THEN THERE’S THIS GIRL
The idea is to grow out four branches. I’m considering going against the guidelines and topping at the third node instead of the fourth node. I will grow out nodes #2 and #3…then top above the third node? I removed node #1 on this plant. Node #2 is three inches above the soil and seems like a good height for using stakes to train. Node #3 is 5.2 inches above the soil. My gut is saying to grow out nodes 2 and 3 so I can stake them down more easily. However, if I grow out nodes 3&4 instead (and remove node 2), that would allow better air movement under the canopy. I’m torn.

I could experiment and “just do it”….but I’m going to reach out for advise. There must be a reason for specifying nodes 3&4 in the instructions. I have the weekend to consider my next steps.

 

[Azimuth]

Emilya has a good thread Here discussing the impact of various options.

 

[Twalte]

Plants grew over 5” during week 3 of veg. Much wider node spacing than my previous grows which can probably be accounted for due to three possible factors: 1.). Addition of infrared lighting to the sunrise and sunset. 2.). Reduced intensity lighting following the Daily Light Integral and 3.). Coco might grow faster than soil. Growth is unbelievably fast compared to all of my previous grows.

Targeting a daily light integral of 30 this week.

I can’t bring myself to remove the second node, so I’m proceeding with a 6-branch quadline. Topped two of the plants above the 4th node and one plant above the 5th node.

I was experiencing some yellowing between the veins of the leaves on the Zkitzz #2. That has since corrected itself by lowering the ph from 6.0 to 5.8. I also fed some iron supplements (Maxicrop seaweed extract with iron).

Here’s all of the plants together along with my basil seedlings.

 

[Azimuth]

Coco might grow faster than soil. Growth is unbelievably fast compared to all of my previous grows.

It does indeed. Coco drains so well and maintains the correct moisture levels so that one can water and fertigate every day, thus leading to bigger plants with faster growth.

A SIP or properly calibrated Swick can get a soil grow acting like a coco grow with all of the great growth characteristics but also enabling an organic grow if desired.

 

[Twalte]

Tuesday Update

Strain: Ganja Farmer Zkitzz (2), Seedsman LA Peyote Kush (1)
Genetic Makeup: Hybrid
Pot/Bucket Size: 5.0 gallon fabric pot
Tent Size: 2’ x 4'
How Many Plants: 3 plus a spare backup seedling (and a few Basil seedlings)
Environment: Indoor
Stage: Seedling / Early Veg
Medium: 85% coco Loco / 15% Perlite
Lights: 640 Watt LED plus new Mars Hydro UV/IR 45, AC Infinity LED side light bars
Nutrients: General hydroponics Flora Series Nutrients, MaxiCrop Seaweed Extract, GH Silica supplement
Room/Tent Temperature: 76 degrees
Relative Humidity: 72%
Media/Res PH: 5.9

Turned on AC Infinity LED lamps attached to vertical poles (corners) and adjusted lighting to provide a Daily Light Integral (DLI) of 30. Raised lamps to 20” above the plant tops before setting DLI. Also installed a SCROG net, but I haven’t decided if I will use it. Since I’m using one gallon water reservoirs under each plant, it could become too difficult to remove the reservoirs once plants are woven into the trellis net. I’m struggling with how I want to train these plants to keep them short since I don’t have a lot of vertical space…but I think it will come down to aggressive low stress training. I will either do quadline training or SCROG….but I’m leaning to quadline even though 2 of the 3 plants have more than 4 branches. All plants are topped above the 4th node.

I’m considering asking Santa for a Gorilla Grow Tent 2x4 so that I can get an extra 2’ of vertical space….or else I can remove the inline filter from the ceiling of the tent for an additional foot of space. Since I do add humidity to my tent, it might make sense to run the inline filter outside of the tent away from the humidity.

I replenished the nutrient solution in each 1g reservoir yesterday and the ppm was 850 (a little high) and the ph was 5.7 ( slightly low). I added 20 oz or RO water to each reservoir today to lower the ppm and ph since I’m seeing an unhappy plant. This plant is showing some drooping leaves, so I’m hoping the lower ppm feed will allow her to recover. Now the ppm is at 780 and the ph is at 5.9.

I am doing all feeding through the bottom-feeding 1g reservoirs, but for this plant I poured a small amount of RO water with CalMag around of the plant. That might lower the ppm of the nutrients at her root zone.

Now we wait….as soon as the branches get a little longer it will be time for LST like I started here. This plant is my true Quadline (topped above 4th node, bottom 2 nodes removed)

 

[Twalte]

Week 5 update…..

Well, I’ve totally destroyed any attempt at a quadline. Between the multiple broken branches and the excessive stretch from these plants, the plant training got away from me. So I’ve topped them and let them grow to 23” tall. I removed lower branches and inward facing leaves before switching to flower. I’ve also topped them a few times. If it weren’t for the watering bases, I would convert this grow to a SCROG. However, it would be too difficult to remove and clean the watering bases with a SCROG.

The watering bases are taking .5 gallons per day of nutrient water. I am doing all feeding through the base and the wicks…..no top feeding. The plants are very healthy so far using this approach.

Flipped to flower yesterday as the plants hit 24” tall. I might run out of room once the flowering stretch hits.