- Thread starter
- #261
Re: 2014 HeavyWeights Duke it out for the Silver Coin with Rock Nutrients
Hi gang, I hope you all are enjoying the fight. Hiker, thanks for stopping in, and I'll comment on your post shortly.
I upgraded to the #3 pot yesterday.
Here it is in the new #3 pot. I didn't take a measurement, but to get an idea, that tray is 36", inside dimension. Two weeks ago I tied down the outer branches and it looked a little scarce in the middle. Now, that has all filled in. A week later I took off several tops, and it has bushed up nicely now. Since we have about 2 weeks to go before flower, I'll top again in a few days, and then I won't take off any more.
There has been some talk about feeding, so I'd like to talk about this is more detail. This deserves a blog post but for now I'll talk here.
A few pages ago, I wrote this about pot sizing:
"I was watering an entire pitcher into the #1 pot, (with tons of run off) and by the next day the pots were VERY light in weight. When that happens, you know it's time to move up. More media, holds more water. Don't cram your roots, or your plant will slow down. However, your pot SHOULD feel noticeably lighter after 24 hours."
Important: If your pot still weighs a ton after 24 hours, your pot is too big. NO, you're not watering too much (I see this mistake way too often). I see people use a giant pot, on a little plant, and then they water it a LITTLE bit. This is so WRONG! This is how salt builds up, PH swings, and roots can drown. I don't care if you're in dirt, coco, rockwool, whatever: You will get the maximum growth rate when you flood the roots with nutrients (with generous run off), then let the plant go until the medium is slightly dry (pot is noticeably lighter). The more often you can do this, the better. That's why Capn Style growing, or rock wool in general, works so well. We can flood them often and generously. By flooding them, we wash out any salt build ups, ph stays more stable inside the root zone.
I've been having some conversations with Sling and Greenthumb. I want to reiterate the importance of pot size and feeding.
If your pot is NOT noticeably lighter after 24 hours, your pot is too big.
Over the last 6 months I have been focusing on my veg game. The bigger, bushy-er and stronger you can get your plant in veg, the bigger harvest you will have in the end. Here are the things I've been doing:
1. In veg, I hand water to waste, daily. I use a one quart pitcher, scoop up nutrients from a 5 gal bucket, and pour it on. I keep pouring until a see generous run off. If you're not allowing generous run off, then you're not watering enough. Remember, in rockwool, it is nearly impossible to water too much at one time (it is possible to water too frequently). I use my run off water for my outdoor banana trees, my grass, my house plants, whatever. If you don't want to waste so much, you can recirculate (even better) just be sure to monitor PH and PPM in your reservoir daily.
Don't make the mistake of having a plant in a pot that is too big for it, and then skimping on the watering because your pot is too heavy. If you want white roots like you see above, this advice should not be overlooked.
Try this experiment. Take a pitcher of your nutrient water and sit it in the corner for a week. Then smell it. It's funky, especially if you're using florablend or licious. Then pour out the water and notice of film on the bottom. Now, imagine that water sitting in your roots for days at a time. That's what happens if your pot size it too big. When we use lots of water and allow lots of run off, we keep flushing out anything funky, we keep the PH and PPM constant in the root zone. This makes big plants!
2. Lighting: A week ago, I moved my plant out of my regular veg closet where I had it under 600W MH. Now it is only under T5 lighting in my tent. It is using considerably less water and growing slower.
Two weeks until flower!
Hi gang, I hope you all are enjoying the fight. Hiker, thanks for stopping in, and I'll comment on your post shortly.
I upgraded to the #3 pot yesterday.
Here it is in the new #3 pot. I didn't take a measurement, but to get an idea, that tray is 36", inside dimension. Two weeks ago I tied down the outer branches and it looked a little scarce in the middle. Now, that has all filled in. A week later I took off several tops, and it has bushed up nicely now. Since we have about 2 weeks to go before flower, I'll top again in a few days, and then I won't take off any more.
There has been some talk about feeding, so I'd like to talk about this is more detail. This deserves a blog post but for now I'll talk here.
A few pages ago, I wrote this about pot sizing:
"I was watering an entire pitcher into the #1 pot, (with tons of run off) and by the next day the pots were VERY light in weight. When that happens, you know it's time to move up. More media, holds more water. Don't cram your roots, or your plant will slow down. However, your pot SHOULD feel noticeably lighter after 24 hours."
Important: If your pot still weighs a ton after 24 hours, your pot is too big. NO, you're not watering too much (I see this mistake way too often). I see people use a giant pot, on a little plant, and then they water it a LITTLE bit. This is so WRONG! This is how salt builds up, PH swings, and roots can drown. I don't care if you're in dirt, coco, rockwool, whatever: You will get the maximum growth rate when you flood the roots with nutrients (with generous run off), then let the plant go until the medium is slightly dry (pot is noticeably lighter). The more often you can do this, the better. That's why Capn Style growing, or rock wool in general, works so well. We can flood them often and generously. By flooding them, we wash out any salt build ups, ph stays more stable inside the root zone.
I've been having some conversations with Sling and Greenthumb. I want to reiterate the importance of pot size and feeding.
If your pot is NOT noticeably lighter after 24 hours, your pot is too big.
Over the last 6 months I have been focusing on my veg game. The bigger, bushy-er and stronger you can get your plant in veg, the bigger harvest you will have in the end. Here are the things I've been doing:
1. In veg, I hand water to waste, daily. I use a one quart pitcher, scoop up nutrients from a 5 gal bucket, and pour it on. I keep pouring until a see generous run off. If you're not allowing generous run off, then you're not watering enough. Remember, in rockwool, it is nearly impossible to water too much at one time (it is possible to water too frequently). I use my run off water for my outdoor banana trees, my grass, my house plants, whatever. If you don't want to waste so much, you can recirculate (even better) just be sure to monitor PH and PPM in your reservoir daily.
Don't make the mistake of having a plant in a pot that is too big for it, and then skimping on the watering because your pot is too heavy. If you want white roots like you see above, this advice should not be overlooked.
Try this experiment. Take a pitcher of your nutrient water and sit it in the corner for a week. Then smell it. It's funky, especially if you're using florablend or licious. Then pour out the water and notice of film on the bottom. Now, imagine that water sitting in your roots for days at a time. That's what happens if your pot size it too big. When we use lots of water and allow lots of run off, we keep flushing out anything funky, we keep the PH and PPM constant in the root zone. This makes big plants!
2. Lighting: A week ago, I moved my plant out of my regular veg closet where I had it under 600W MH. Now it is only under T5 lighting in my tent. It is using considerably less water and growing slower.
Two weeks until flower!
