Ready to rock and roll...just need the plants!
Dusted’s Traditional Hydroponic Grows
- Thread starter Dusted
- Start date
Happy New Year Dusted! All the best to you and yours in 2021.
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- #483
Dusted
Well-Known Member
Thanks Mr.S. I hope your 2021 is happy and prosperous.
Don’t rub it in.
Just joking.
Looks like at least two of the Do-Si-Dos will make. I corrected the pH in the system today. It has been running high while I rot dead organic material in the grow media. I left mosquito dunk water in the system since I removed most of the root mass and add hydrated spores every few days. I have fed the bugs with molasses instead of citric acid since harvest. The chiller has also been off to increase the temperature. It took several mL of 75% H3PO4 to drop it from 7.8 to 5.8.
Happy New Year
Fredwak
Well-Known Member
Happy new year! Smile and stay stoneder
Hello @Dusted and Happy New Year!
Love your journal and methods.
Mind if I tag along? I used GW in my last grow (didn't journal) and also found it worked great in hydro.
I'm currently doing a sterile run, but am thinking of trying the Orca out.
Love your journal and methods.
Mind if I tag along? I used GW in my last grow (didn't journal) and also found it worked great in hydro.
I'm currently doing a sterile run, but am thinking of trying the Orca out.
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- #486
Dusted
Well-Known Member
Hey Rexer. Happy New Year. Glad to have you here.
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- #487
Dusted
Well-Known Member
All 8 of the GG4 seeds germinated and had very long tap roots this morning. I only had 3 empty spots in the hydro grow so the remaining five went into soil. First time growing in soil for 30 years. The soil grow is upstairs under the new light. We shall see how much better the blue spectrum is for vegetative growth, but I'm not sure it will be a fair comparison since the soil grow should be quicker off the start than hydro.
Nice tails! Looking forward to see what you remember after 30 years. 
They all look very healthy. Keep an eye on them as they sprout. There's a tendency for them to get knotted up the longer they are. Have fun playing in the dirt!
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- #490
Dusted
Well-Known Member
Crap. I didn’t consider that and I’m pretty sure there are some loops in the roots because they were so long. This dirt farming is different
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- #491
Dusted
Well-Known Member
I spent the last two days carefully removing seed casings from the sprouts. The hydro ones I ran under a stream of nutrients for a while to soften them up. Those ones are tricky since it is so easy to pull the whole seedling out of the rocks. One of them had the membrane left for 12 hrs until I noticed. I have a set of ultra fine SS forceps (electron microscopy days) that come in really handy for that kind of work.
The dirt farm goes well. Three are up and hale after casing removal. One that had a good tap root still had the seed casing too well attached so I buried it and have wet it down. I see it is rising again. The fifth had a small tap root after germination so I buried it quite deep. No sign yet. Had to turn up the dirt grow light since those seedlings were stretching a bit too much. Gotta love high power dimmable Budget LED’s
Maybe pictures tomorrow
The dirt farm goes well. Three are up and hale after casing removal. One that had a good tap root still had the seed casing too well attached so I buried it and have wet it down. I see it is rising again. The fifth had a small tap root after germination so I buried it quite deep. No sign yet. Had to turn up the dirt grow light since those seedlings were stretching a bit too much. Gotta love high power dimmable Budget LED’s
Maybe pictures tomorrow
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- #492
Dusted
Well-Known Member
The dirt farm is having mixed results. The seedling that surfaced still had the casing firmly attached. I wet it down and managed to get it off but the membrane was stuck. Ended up pulling the head off the seedling leaving behind two tiny nubs. I doubt it will make it. Still no sign of the buried seedling. Three plants is probably a better number for that grow area anyway.
The hydro is going well. A couple of plants look a bit weird but they will grow out of it. I'm slowly moving the drip area away from the plants as their roots reach down to the nutrient film. It took me a long time to figure out what was causing all my plants to develop stem rot several years ago. If the stem is in contact with nutrient it will rot. Oops. Forgot to take a picture of one of the hydro gals. Oh well, one seedling looks pretty much like another.
The hydro is going well. A couple of plants look a bit weird but they will grow out of it. I'm slowly moving the drip area away from the plants as their roots reach down to the nutrient film. It took me a long time to figure out what was causing all my plants to develop stem rot several years ago. If the stem is in contact with nutrient it will rot. Oops. Forgot to take a picture of one of the hydro gals. Oh well, one seedling looks pretty much like another.
Three can take up as much room as four if you let 'em! 
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- #494
Dusted
Well-Known Member
I’m planning on topping the hydro girls, after watching all of you guys doing it. I usually just grow Christmas trees. The soil grow was an unplanned pregnancyThree can take up as much room as four if you let 'em!
I've never understood the Christmas tree indoor grow theory. Top and train or LST should give you much higher yields and more even light distribution.
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- #496
Dusted
Well-Known Member
When I grew in a closet for a few years, I topped. I get lots of side branches growing as tall as the main cola, so the yields are OK. With HID lighting I was able to grow up beside the bulb but with the new Budget LED‘s, I will have to change my ways.
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- #497
Dusted
Well-Known Member
I PM’d Sierra Natural, a sponsor here, inquiring about fungus gnat control. They have a product which sounds promising but it isn’t availability in Canada. Sigh. My Bacillus isn’t working this time. I read up on nematodes and decided I might as well give them a try. I don’t want to add oils or diatomaceous earth to my rocks. Sterilization with a strong hydrogen peroxide solution acidified with acetic acid didn’t touch them at the end of a grow a couple of years ago. The only way is to dry the system long enough that the eggs don’t survive. I do want to keep the microbiome of the rocks active. Unfortunately that involves fungus, which the gnats eat. Here’s hoping nematodes and yellow sticky traps will work.
Bobrown always said to aim a fan at the bottom of the plants to keep them from landing back in the same spot to breed. That was for soil but might work for hydro as well.
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- #499
Dusted
Well-Known Member
I’ve tried a fan to no avail. It never seems to affect the plants but irritates me.
DutchinAB
Well-Known Member
That is unfortunate. Their products do look good and I was thinking of picking some up for our veggie garden. Are they just not willing to ship up here, or is there red tape?
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