Legal Hydro's Speedy Gonzales Journal - July 2015

[CronicHempHog]

I don't use a ppm meter but I do ph checks daily and weekly res changes religiously

 

[Legal Hydro]

After looking at your plants I'm wondering if I really need this PPM meter. The plants seem healthy minus a few leaves twisting. They look healthy though.

Thanks for stopping by Chron

 

[Saylorr057]

Your prolly good then man like I said people say you gotta have em but iv had a couple successful Dwc with my only problem I ever had was root rot because I was Miss educated and Didn't know it has to be a certain degree

 

[Legal Hydro]

Your prolly good then man like I said people say you gotta have em but iv had a couple successful Dwc with my only problem I ever had was root rot because I was Miss educated and Didn't know it has to be a certain degree

Appreciate the input Richard!

 

[Pigeons420]

After looking at your plants I'm wondering if I really need this PPM meter. The plants seem healthy minus a few leaves twisting. They look healthy though.

Thanks for stopping by Chron

You could probably get away without one. But in my books the philosophy is as follows:

If I've got the equipment I'm going to use it.

Before I had a PPM meter I didn't check anything. But when I got it. I used it. And what do ya know? I've had great smoke!!

First time I really used it was when I was flushing my girls for harvest. I read that in order to have a clean smoke you want your PPM below 100. Well I flushed and flushed and my final reading was less than 60. So I was soooo satisfied with that smoke because I knew it was cleaned right out. **Maybe a mental thing** but it's gotta count for something?!?

Not to mention the times I've found my girls being a bit locked out. (I check ppm before watering and after and noticed no change in ppm. That told me that she wasn't eating, I was able to take the appropriate steps to right that wrong)

I guess I'm trying to say that even though you get by without it; imagine having all the right tools to dial in every aspect of your grow. Can you go wrong? Of course. But it adds to the adventure we call growing cannabis. And why not take control of every aspect of it?

Anyways sorry for the ramble. Just had my first rip and this was my first stop

 

[Legal Hydro]

You could probably get away without one. But in my books the philosophy is as follows:

If I've got the equipment I'm going to use it.

Before I had a PPM meter I didn't check anything. But when I got it. I used it. And what do ya know? I've had great smoke!!

First time I really used it was when I was flushing my girls for harvest. I read that in order to have a clean smoke you want your PPM below 100. Well I flushed and flushed and my final reading was less than 60. So I was soooo satisfied with that smoke because I knew it was cleaned right out. **Maybe a mental thing** but it's gotta count for something?!?

Not to mention the times I've found my girls being a bit locked out. (I check ppm before watering and after and noticed no change in ppm. That told me that she wasn't eating, I was able to take the appropriate steps to right that wrong)

I guess I'm trying to say that even though you get by without it; imagine having all the right tools to dial in every aspect of your grow. Can you go wrong? Of course. But it adds to the adventure we call growing cannabis. And why not take control of every aspect of it?

Anyways sorry for the ramble. Just had my first rip and this was my first stop

Come by and ramble away brother! I enjoy reading your post! Yea.. I am somewhat a control freak and its freaking me out not knowing this PPM. I stopped by two local hydro stores and they can take their meters and shove it up.. you know the rest. I'm ordering one right now though. Amazon or ebay?

 

[Pigeons420]

I use amazon

 

[iwltfum]

Note: I am approaching my next rez change so don't mind the salty griminess. I am doing a rez change every two weeks instead of every week because I'm running 24 gal. Should I do it every week? Also I'm wondering why some leaves are twisting... some of them have almost twisted upside down. Should I defoliate?

PH is 6.0 as of this post. Iv'e been battling to keep it down everyday. It seems to jump from 5.8 to 6.2-6.5 within a day!
Grow tank temp is 68-69F and room tempeture stays between 75f-81f and averages %40-45 humidity.

Just noticed two of my "Surprise" plants are showing. I'll showcase them babies later tonight.

Hey legalhydro! I noticed with my dwc that, if I didn't drain and change my res weekly, I would run into issues that looked like pH issues. Like the curling of leaves and the serrated tips pointing up. It makes me think that the roots emit some kind of waste product that needs to be drained out of the res on a weekly basis or even more often to get the optimal growth. Try changing your res every week and see if the twisting goes away.

Everything is looking very healthy!

 

[Legal Hydro]

Thank you both for chiming in! I'll start weekly rez changes then. But let me tell y'all! My grow room is a jungle!!! holy shnikies! Plants are responding well to the LST.. Tomorrow ill be tightening the ropes a little.. their still over lapping each other!

 

[Kushtie]

I'd go with using EC over PPM as PPM is just a number the manufacturer decides to multiply the EC by to arrive at. Different parts conduct different amount of electricity and the only thing you can measure is the EC so I don't see the point in guesstimating PPM from it when you don't know exactly what type of parts you are dealing with and in what ratios.

I use my EC meter to tell me when to feed them a nutrient solution and how strong it should be or when just to add ph'd water. Without it I reckon I'd be wasting money on nutrients and increasing the risk of creating toxic conditions that affect growth.

 

[Pigeons420]

Thank you both for chiming in! I'll start weekly rez changes then. But let me tell y'all! My grow room is a jungle!!! holy shnikies! Plants are responding well to the LST.. Tomorrow ill be tightening the ropes a little.. their still over lapping each other!

Great problem to have

 

[Legal Hydro]

iwltfum, kushtie and Master P thanks for the input fellas!

So today I start the grueling task of changing the rez. I say grueling because I have no quick water discharge connections. So therefore I pump the water out of the rez then drain the grow tank liquid back into the rez dump and repeat. Takes awhile because my 120gph pump is slow returning the water to the rez. Thinking about buying a whole new grow tank container that is all black and it's cheap. I'm striving to maintain darkness in the grow tank and would love to ditch these black plastic bags! I should also mention that I am using CLEAR hoses to transfer water between tanks. FAIL.. major fail. ALWAYS USE BLACK HOSES! Unless you want slimmed up hoses. One week after joining this site I figured out I needed black hoses and so I taped all the hoses with black tape. Although this works it only took me an hour to tape them up lol. So today I'm buying new 1/2 inch black hoses. A new black container. And i'll be drilling a hole near the bottom of the grow tank to attach a piece that has a valve and connects to a water hose so I can drain water straight from the grow tank to outside. Might take me awhile because I'll be documenting it for you all and i'll post my results. I should let y'all know that last rez change was extremely difficult due to me not being able to remove the lid in the grow tank. Ever tried cleaning a grow tank while working around roots? It's nerve racking and extremely difficult, not to mention having to spray the roots with ph'd water every 5-10 mins. Time to make this process a lot easier!

Also I'm worried about roots getting caught up in my in-tank pump in the grow tank. Some roots are well over two feet now and seem to be making their way to my pump. Never thought about this.. anybody else ever had this problem?

 

[iwltfum]

iwltfum, kushtie and Master P thanks for the input fellas!

So today I start the grueling task of changing the rez. I say grueling because I have no quick water discharge connections. So therefore I pump the water out of the rez then drain the grow tank liquid back into the rez dump and repeat. Takes awhile because my 120gph pump is slow returning the water to the rez. Thinking about buying a whole new grow tank container that is all black and it's cheap. I'm striving to maintain darkness in the grow tank and would love to ditch these black plastic bags! I should also mention that I am using CLEAR hoses to transfer water between tanks. FAIL.. major fail. ALWAYS USE BLACK HOSES! Unless you want slimmed up hoses. One week after joining this site I figured out I needed black hoses and so I taped all the hoses with black tape. Although this works it only took me an hour to tape them up lol. So today I'm buying new 1/2 inch black hoses. A new black container. And i'll be drilling a hole near the bottom of the grow tank to attach a piece that has a valve and connects to a water hose so I can drain water straight from the grow tank to outside. Might take me awhile because I'll be documenting it for you all and i'll post my results. I should let y'all know that last rez change was extremely difficult due to me not being able to remove the lid in the grow tank. Ever tried cleaning a grow tank while working around roots? It's nerve racking and extremely difficult, not to mention having to spray the roots with ph'd water every 5-10 mins. Time to make this process a lot easier!

Also I'm worried about roots getting caught up in my in-tank pump in the grow tank. Some roots are well over two feet now and seem to be making their way to my pump. Never thought about this.. anybody else ever had this problem?

Lots of lessons to learn along the way! You could use mesh filter bags (meant for paint sprayers) around your pump. I've never used pumps near the root zone so I don't know if they would definitely keep the roots out, but it's a thought. I don't think your roots would be able to take hold in your pump anyway provided it's turned on multiple times a day. I don't think they would be able to survive, but they could damage your pump over time if they get in there, so your right to be looking for solutions. When I was running DWC, my root ball got so big that the roots were traveling down the fill pipes through to the other res and creating a blockage. I had to keep a section of rigid 1/4" tubing around so I could push the encroaching roots back out of the 1/2" pipe. I'll be using 5/8" pipe next time, but I not 100% positive that it'll fix the problem.

 

[Legal Hydro]

iwltfum, Thanks for the info bro!

Just a couple of LST Pics. Am I doing this correctly?

Note: The furthest right plant (Plant C) is letting me bend her more than the others.

The new grow tank is a work in progress. This will be the last time you see this nasty setup lol.

 

[EsotericGrows]

I just finished reading this entire thread and am subbed in now. Looking good so far except for those yellowing leaves that need some attention.

I really like using pipe cleaners for LST because they're easy to adjust the tension simply by twisting them and then they can be untwisted and reused. Strings or twine would require cutting to remove them which takes more time when adjustments are required plus require disposal of materials after the string is cut off so they also generate a lot more waste.

 

[Pigeons420]

Some plants will let you bend them more than others. Your LST looks great!! You'll probably have to bend here and there a couple times per day. Those girls like to rebound quickly but bend bend bend.

It looks great! Oh yes, I also like pipe cleaners. They work well and can be bent in any direction.

 

[Legal Hydro]

I just finished reading this entire thread and am subbed in now. Looking good so far except for those yellowing leaves that need some attention.

I really like using pipe cleaners for LST because they're easy to adjust the tension simply by twisting them and then they can be untwisted and reused. Strings or twine would require cutting to remove them which takes more time when adjustments are required plus require disposal of materials after the string is cut off so they also generate a lot more waste.

Thanks for reading and subbing in Esoteric Grows!

I wish their was a way I could use pipe cleaners to LST with. I have no where to connect them unlike a soil medium. My net pots are covered to prevent light from bleeding through the hydroton so attaching them to that is out of the question. I have 300 feet plus of this twine and don't mind using it with a little bit of tape to do this LST. If I want to tighten them up all I have to do is simply pull the twine and re stick the tape. Works like a charm.

Master P,

I just tightened them down last night pretty tight and low and behold this morning they're almost fully erect again. Here's a pic

Note: I had to move the light for the pic.. it's not that dark but I have yet to place supplemental CFL's around and their only shining from the top right now. Don't fret though, the grow room is getting renovated!

 

[Saylorr057]

Looking good!

 

[SweetSue]

OK legal, I won't fret.

You should have great luck with the LST. I'll be watching. I need to try that with some of my tiny pot plants. My big ones I'm determined to learn to train like Graytail. I'm determined. I'll admit, he intimidates me just a bit.

 

[Legal Hydro]

Thanks for stopping by Richard and Sue!


Speedy G (4 weeks and 2 days from seedling)

Blueberry OG (1 week and 3 days from seedling)

Mystery Seed (4 days old)