1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

[kimmy]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

Please someone comment on my handwritten blueprint plans for perpetual grow - I have not received a single comment in the other thread yet. Will one of them work? If not - why?

Have you flowered this strain in only 6 weeks in the past ? I know you say they grow very fast in your aero, but do they flower faster as well. If you vegged them for 1 and flowered for 8 that would put you on a 9 week schedule that you could break down into 3 week intervals. I can't imagine sitting down to trim so much at once is why I harvest a few every week and add a few back every week. I am staying tuned in suspense.My micro spray heads will be here any day and soon I will build a small section of Aero/nft every week for 8 weeks to replace my current setup. I can hardly wait to see the difference in growth. I may have to alter my strategy then. I may even copy you after you get it dialed in. Good luck on whatever you go with!

 

[Android]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

On the test grow I noticed that shorter plants ripen faster but the final weight was about the same - it didn't matter if plant was lean and tall or short and fat; but on the second grow I screwed up by vegging too long, so they all came out very tall and with many side branches, so it took them forever to fully ripen.

My original plan for the current grow was to go 12/12 from the start - I heard this is how you get the results FAST (plants don't waste energy on throwing side-shoots). But if I did that - the only way I could get clones off that grow, would be to top every plant right before the buds appear.

The word on the streets is that people veg their plants just for a little bit (10-14 days), so they could stretch. That's what I am planning on doing also, because vegging inevitably creates side-shoots - and they are perfect material to become clones. I will chop them off and put in plugs, leaving only the single cola, when I flip the switch from veg to flower. This should supposedly also help with the speed of ripening - single colas get done much earlier than branched-out monsters.

 

[Aardvark]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

Have you flowered this strain in only 6 weeks in the past ? I know you say they grow very fast in your aero, but do they flower faster as well. If you vegged them for 1 and flowered for 8 that would put you on a 9 week schedule that you could break down into 3 week intervals. I can't imagine sitting down to trim so much at once is why I harvest a few every week and add a few back every week. I am staying tuned in suspense.My micro spray heads will be here any day and soon I will build a small section of Aero/nft every week for 8 weeks to replace my current setup. I can hardly wait to see the difference in growth. I may have to alter my strategy then. I may even copy you after you get it dialed in. Good luck on whatever you go with!

Hey Kimmy, what kind of spray heads did you order? I have tried several different types and like to keep up with what is being used these days by our friends here. I did a brief mini-sprinkler post in my grow journal if you want to see what I have done. I actually have 200+ mini-sprinklers that I should distribute.

I look forward to seeing your grow journal and system details.

 

[kimmy]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

Hey Kimmy, what kind of spray heads did you order? I have tried several different types and like to keep up with what is being used these days by our friends here. I did a brief mini-sprinkler post in my grow journal if you want to see what I have done. I actually have 200+ mini-sprinklers that I should distribute.

I look forward to seeing your grow journal and system details.

I will have to give your journal a looksey !
I bought the blue ones because they have a less flow rate. I hope that will help keep the pressure up and make a more fine mist. I was looking at an EZ cloner at a hydro store that had a clear base to demonstrate it. It seemed like the red sprayers were not misting very well. More like streaming/squirting. I plan on making a home-made cloner before I start the aero/nft to get the feel of it.

RE: the Stinkbud system. At first I was gonna mimic the GH aeroflow system where they use pipe with small holes drilled ever so often and forego the sprayers, but the little holes may clog too easy. After seeing how cheap the blue micro sprayers were, I decided to get 100 to start with to build a cloner or 2 and my first sections of aero. They were only $20.00US with free shipping for 100 on fleabay. You can get larger quantities even cheaper, but I wanted to try a few before buying too many.

@ Android,
Do you have sprayers in your irrigation tubes or just holes in them ?

I also grow single stalk plants, but I still let them go the full 8 weeks. I am using perlite as a medium now. It would be nice if I could shorten that time when I go hydro !

 

[Android]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

I have 8 blue sprayers in each rail on this rig (for a total of 88). Had to use 1/2hp (3300gph) pump just to make them spray, so beware
Don't forget to use the in-line filter to prevent clogging. I put mine in the return line to avoid restricting the flow.
And yeah, some sprayers will inevitably clog in the very beginning due to tiny PVC burr created when drilling holes - just replace them and you'll be generally fine after that.
I test every hole in the rig before inhabiting it to make sure there's water spraying by looking down or sticking my fingers in it. What's nice about aero system is that even if you get a clogged sprayer after week two - you won't even notice it, because roots will be long enough to reach the bottom of the pole where water flows, so they would get their water, nutes and gases they need regardless if some sprayers got clogged.

 

[kimmy]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

Did you tap the holes for the sprayers ?

 

[Android]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

yup.
first you drill holes for them (quite a challenge to align all holes vertically due to the drill bit sliding around)
and then you tap them
and then you screw them in by hand to the very end and then some, so they are perpendicular to the pipe

It took me probably 8 hours to get all the pipes fitted with sprayers in all the right places at the right angle

There has been so much labor put in this rig already, so I'm really motivated to make it work its best in the very end.
Good thing I have been unemployed for a while, or I am not sure if I even taken on a big project like that - there are way too many things besides it I need to take care of

 

[Android]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

Okay I had the problem where I thought my light was hanging too low and therefore causing narrow light footprint on underlying vegetation.
To change that, I got some steel commercial building studs, and created a sturdy frame for the rail. I also reduced the distance between the light mover and the light reflector by eliminating unneeded hanging hooks.
In the end I got upto 4' distance from the "ground" to the light fixture.
This, however did not solve the problem of narrow footprint, because it is inherent in the angles in the fixture itself. I wonder if this is something worth addressing right now. Maybe get an adjustable vented fixture, or screw cooling the light and going open fixture with upside-down umbrella design reflector. Or maybe no reflector at all. I haven't decided yet. It might as well end up with me only being able to populate the most lit middle rows due to heavy losses in the clones department.

 

[Android]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

The quality of clones was sub-par, so here are the results so far:

Clones taken: 288
time passed: 15 days
Survived so far: 209 (73% of total)
RIP: 79 clones (27%)

Out of survivors:
Ready for drop-in (multiple roots): 69 (24% of total)
Showing a root or two: 38 (13% of total)
Alive, but no visible roots: 102 (38% of total)

As you can see, at this point there is about 50/50 of clones with and without roots. But waiting another week could wipe out another 37 clones (given 13% average weekly mortality rate) leaving us with no reserves and a lost week.

The full capacity is 171. I have 3 options of what to to:
a) Wait another week: less risk for empty slots in the end, but waste of time keeping clones in domes when they can be vegging already
b) Plant 108 plants (7 rails out of 11) right now. Add the remaining clones that will show roots in a week -4 rails - right in the middle under the lamp
c) Plant all plants today, selecting the most promising 72 specimens out of 102 available that show no roots yet, leaving the remaining 30 as "bench players" - even if the half of promising plants with no roots won't make it - there will be a chance that some of the leftover replacements will have roots in a week

What do you think - a, b, or c?

 

[Android]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

MrCloner420 in the other thread said option A is the answer. What is your take?

 

[Android]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

17 days passed (+2)
10 clones started showing roots and 9 clones died.
So here's the score:
I have 200 survivors total (-9)
out of which
showing roots: 117 (+10)
still no roots: 83 (29% of initial clone #)

I foliar-sprayed with some vita-blue vitamin B supplement mixed with a wetting agent today.
I am starting to lose hope about my goals on populating the whole rig

Will wait five more days unless the clones that are ready rooted start showing too many stress signals

 

[JuicySoil]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

Late but subbed now Will read up on your journal, exciting build of the aero unit. Does your ph weipro use a solenoid valve to adjust ph or does it only monitor ph?

 

[Android]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

Does your ph weipro use a solenoid valve to adjust ph or does it only monitor ph?

Ph too high triggers opening 110VAC auxilary circuit. I have a dosing pump (that would dispose acid) which I intended on using with it, but so far I had no use of the controller feature. Having sterile water and ph-stable nutes rendered the controller to be an overkill. I use it just as a meter-only now.

Thanks for the kind words. This rig hasn't yielded anything yet, so it is way too early to draw any conclusions

In Russia there is a proverb that says- One shouldn't think about splitting the bearskin between hunters, before actually killing a bear. I have to live by it

 

[JuicySoil]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

Cool cool, just what I wanted too hear; that it can be used as a monitor only..
Looking forward too see the rig produce some green
~Peace out.
P.S. I dig yo style Android, nice saying too live by!

 

[Android]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

I wouldn't buy Weipro products again. Ph meter is not any more accurate than the cheapest 6-in-1 monitor's - I calibrated both and used them side-by-side - Weipro readings deviations had much more variance in them than the cheapest thing on ebay.
I just use it because I already have it.
Bought it when had no hydro experience. I was expecting gradual increase in Ph to be a usual phenomena when plants are in flower, but from my experience so far, this was just not happening. I wouldn't buy any brand of controller again, save your money and just buy a cheapest probe-meter (non-handheld - this is too much hassle)

 

[JuicySoil]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

Thx 4 the heads up bro, it just looked so convenient, too have the numbers right there hangin by the res displayed all the time. Yeah been trough a couple of ph pen's already, gotta take care of them, handle with care if they should last.. Had a probe that where useless within two month, due too poor maintenance.
Is there any ph monitors\probes you would recommend?

My 2 cents on the ph drifting. Down instead of up would probably be caused by your girls are drinkin more water than nutes, leaving the res with more acid in the solution, and causing the ph too fall. Did you see a rise in ppm as well?
It works the other way around as well. If they're "hungry" they take in more of the nutrient than water, causing less acid in the solution, and ph climbs up.

 

[Android]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

I have a top-off valve that adds water every time the pump lowers the water level while spraying. This way the res gets gradually diluted with ppm readings being cut in half every 3-4 days

The ph remains pretty stable during the dilution - almost like magic.

The only time I have to adjust ph up is when I add nutes. I am talking just a little bit - like 30 ml of ph-up for 40 gal total to bring it up to 6.0 when flowering. I add nutes when ppm drops in half. I add some ph-up at the same time

I should not be recommending anything- I don't have much experience myself, but it looks like cheapest dual/triple/6-in-one probe meters work just as good as higher-class gear like Hanna and Milwaukee Instruments and shit. And when I had to replace mine that malfunctioned (got wet inside) last week, I chose that cheapest 6 in 1 meter off ebay again - just because it is so cheap, don't depend on batteries, saves your time compared to manual ones, and hell - if I sink another one - this won't be a huge loss moneywise.

 

[Aardvark]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

I have a top-off valve that adds water every time the pump lowers the water level while spraying. This way the res gets gradually diluted with ppm readings being cut in half every 3-4 days

The ph remains pretty stable during the dilution - almost like magic.

The only time I have to adjust ph up is when I add nutes. I am talking just a little bit - like 30 ml of ph-up for 40 gal total to bring it up to 6.0 when flowering. I add nutes when pph drops in half. I add some ph-up at the same time

I should not be recommending anything- I don't have much experience myself, but it looks like cheapest dual/triple/6-in-one probe meters work just as good as higher-class gear like Hanna and Milwaukee Instruments and shit. And when I had to replace mine that malfunctioned (got wet inside) last week, I chose that cheapest 6 in 1 meter off ebay again - just because it is so cheap, don't depend on batteries, saves your time compared to manual ones, and hell - if I sink another one - this won't be a huge loss moneywise.

Hey Android, what kind of 6:1 meter did you get? I think we need to share our collective product experience here - I don't think we have a forum for that yet. Let us know how you like it.

 

[Android]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

This is the shiznit out there:

You don't need anything better, trust me on this
For this price it beats the competition toothless

Just don't drop it in the water!

 

[Aardvark]

re: 1G/W - Aero 171 Plant SOG Under 600W w/Mover - Kandy Kush

This is the shiznit out there:

You don't need anything better, trust me on this
For this price it beats the competition toothless

Just don't drop it in the water!

SWEET!