Luxx's 2nd Grow Perpetual Closet and Cab Setup

[Lil Neutrino]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

Yeah luxx...moms looks noticeably better. If you're right next door to where you were before your water should be fine..

 

[luxx]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

Well the water in my rez is 7.4, i just read that it needs to be mid 5, gonna be a week till my ph up and down get here, any quick fixes? The seedlings are starting to hatch.

 

[OldMedUser]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

You can use vinegar or lemon juice for a quick fix. Just add a little at a time and wait 10 min between additions to let the acid react and the pH to stay steady. Leave the bubbles going or stir a few times between additions to mix it in well. Check it after an hour of getting it down as if your water is hard it could head back up pretty quick.

The minerals in most tap water act like a buffer and will keep pushing the pH up until it gets all neutralized bt the acid. Then the pH will tank fast with just a little more acid. If you go too low let it sit for a while and test again as the minerals will likely push the pH back up on it's own. If it doesn't just remove some of the nute sol'n and add some tap water for pH up.

 

[LiveTour]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

Hummm, are you sure she's not root bound?

 

[ChicagoJoe]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

The light that gets through won't hurt after filtering through the plastic.

+Rep for being observant!

I'm doing the +Rep happy dance.
Thanks for the good info.

 

[luxx]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

shes is showing a few roots in the drains, although the watering spruced her right up. Looks like she wants more water than my last grow did, every day... the soil is my problem, i will go get some perlite and transplant into a 40pct perlite mix with topsoil.

Pics for the hell of it..

We have plenty of lemon juice at work, ill get a bottle tomorrow night.

 

[luxx]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

sorry guys, i am lacking on catching up with most of your journals, I have been incredibly busy these past days. Ill go through all of them tonight at work.

MD is starting to slightly droop again already, i watered it yesterday morn, sprayed the top of the soil with a good bit of water last night. Already signs of needing water. She is going to keep me busy..

later

 

[bongtastic]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

Just my $0.02 on your dieing sprouts...

I see you planted into dixie cups. I didn't share my first germination/sprouting experience with you out of embarassment! My first 6 seeds germinated, sprouted and then promptly died.

I believe the reason is thus: I planted directly into dixie cups. Every single time i picked up one of the cups, I slightly squeezed it as the walls of the cups aren't very rigid. Every time I squeezed the cup, i was affecting the roots and what not.

I am almost 100% confident that this killed my seedlings.

The two reasons are
A) because I duplicated the process to a T the second time, only I used huge pots that I couldn't disturb.
B) all of my seeds come from the exact same place, a seed bank... so the possibility that my first batch was 0% and my second batch was 100% is very very slim


Just my $0.02, could be an issue of too much handling?

 

[bongtastic]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

At first I thought your cloner was a DIY aeroponics. You should look into it, very similar design to your cloner, only a bit bigger and it sprays water upwards, obviously.


Can I post a link to another MJ site? We'll sneak it in here ;-)

 

[luxx]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

well i am also guilty of handling the cups roughly. Note to self, NO CUPS. Only use planters MADE for plants. :X

if that was the problem then i think i am going to scrap those plants for room..

wanna get another cloner in there, or build a big one and take out the shelf. Gotta do some measuring...

later

 

[Lil Neutrino]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

Man I feel like shit this morning (afternoon? lol)...can't decide if I'm hungover or if it's my sinuses, or both (likeliest). With that said...

sorry guys, i am lacking on catching up with most of your journals, I have been incredibly busy these past days. Ill go through all of them tonight at work.

While you're at work? lol, nice. No rush man, gotta take care of number one first! Nothing new to really report in mine anyway, just a photo update and some rambling

MD is starting to slightly droop again already, i watered it yesterday morn, sprayed the top of the soil with a good bit of water last night. Already signs of needing water. She is going to keep me busy..

Sounds like MD is probably due for a transplant...shouldn't need to be watered that often in that size container and looking at the pics you recently posted I'd say that judging from plant size vs container you're definitely getting close.

I believe the reason is thus: I planted directly into dixie cups. Every single time i picked up one of the cups, I slightly squeezed it as the walls of the cups aren't very rigid. Every time I squeezed the cup, i was affecting the roots and what not.

I am almost 100% confident that this killed my seedlings.

Possible but his are triple walled so they're going to be a little bit stiffer than a single cup. Picking them up by the lip offers more support (I use the thin, red tall plastic cups myself) than grabbing them by the sides. I definitely see your point, it's possible...I'm having a similar issue with my clones and the Rapid Rooters when I squeeze water out of them from being oversaturated. Squeeze the plug and you squeeze everything else in it

 

[luxx]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

lil, i take the cups out of the cups when watering, since the other have no holes, and let drain on top of a mason jar catching the run off.

the seedlings that i germed on the 1st are showing their leaves. So far so good, still need to ph down that water, ill get it tonight.

I am a cook, got my laptop there, so i can browse in between orders. Makes the day go by a little quicker.

 

[Lil Neutrino]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

Oh ok...I was picturing you on the company computer checking out your grow and commenting on other peoples' lol.

Watch those acids, sometimes it doesn't take much to make a big change...about a teaspoon at a time ime, sometimes not even that. Depends...concentrated lime juice is potent! lol

 

[luxx]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

Its called Ruby Kist Lemon Juice Reconstituted, from what i read, reconstituted means that it is the opposite of concentrated. I will still add a teaspoon at a time.

 

[luxx]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

So, i tested my ph of the tapwater today, 7.8. Soooo i put two capfulls of lemon juice in it to bring it down to 5. Watered one of the stuntlings and got enough run off for a ph reading...... 7.0. So that means that it WAS coming out at 9?

So i watered each one(almost a flush), all came out around 7.0

I phed my bubbler and it was 7.5. So i added 2 cap fulls of lemon juice, right down to 5. Went to work. Came home and checked, 7.6. Another capfull, 5.2.


On Momdukes, some of her older leaves have what looks to be a N deficiency. Most likely caused my nute-lockout. Lets hope i solved that mystery.

astalavista

 

[luxx]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

got home and there is new growth on all of the stuntlings, and momdukes looks like she is recovering well.

Checked ph of bubbler, 8.9

Added two more caps of lemon juice.. will check ph in a few after it stirs up a little.
roots are in the water on all eight.

decided to split my veg chamber from my clone/seedling area.. gives me a little more room and allows me to utilize this dual 2ft light fixture plus around 4 cfls... (looking at a 150mh for it)

i will do that project tomorrow... .. . ... . pics tomorrow too.

 

[OldMedUser]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

got home and there is new growth on all of the stuntlings, and momdukes looks like she is recovering well.

Checked ph of bubbler, 8.9

Added two more caps of lemon juice.. will check ph in a few after it stirs up a little.
roots are in the water on all eight.

decided to split my veg chamber from my clone/seedling area.. gives me a little more room and allows me to utilize this dual 2ft light fixture plus around 4 cfls... (looking at a 150mh for it)

i will do that project tomorrow... .. . ... . pics tomorrow too.

That pH fluctuation is just nuts Luxx. I don't have time right now to read back but what the heck are you using for water and nutes. If my pH makes it up to 6.2 I start wondering what's going on.

If you have to keep screwing with your pH like that, even when you get the proper pH UP, you're going to end up with messed up or dead plants.

We gotta determine the root cause of these wild fluctuations and take care of that. Have you checked the calibration of your pen? Does it dry out between uses? Nutes? Water?

This is not good. Not good at all. Just like when a diabetic doesn't maintain his blood sugar in a certain range, this pH up and down is very stressful on the plants and can shock them severely.

 

[luxx]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

I am waiting on the proper ph up/down. should be here by now. People were saying that whatever is in my water is causing the ph to jump back because thats what it was designed to do. Thinking of using distilled water.

water is tap, nutes are none right now. They dont look stressed at all, ill wait till lights come back on and take photos.

how do i calibrate the pen? i have the stuff they sent with it.. the tag that was hand written said that it was calibrated in jan 010.

 

[Lil Neutrino]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

I always use distilled water as it gives me a constant pH to work with and I know exactly what's in it (nothing)...but then again I'm only messing with one plant for the time being. But heck, at under $1/gallon it's not really gonna break the bank and it won't raise any eyebrows if you ask someone if you can bum a dollar off them for some water! lol

how do i calibrate the pen?

Very simple Take your packet of calibration solution that is pH'd to 7 (+/- a few hundredths depending on the temp, nothing to worry about) and pour it in to as narrow a container as you can find that will also fit the entire end of your pen. Reason being is that the fluid needs to be a certain depth to get an accurate reading.

Now the "hard" part, you may recall me bitching about mine when I first got it, you need to use one hand to slide the "on" switch to the "on" position to get a reading while you hold the little flathead screwdriver in the other. Stick the end down in the container of the calibration solution and let it steady out. Then while continuing to hold the switch on watch the display use the screwdriver to S-L-O-W-L-Y turn the calibration screw on the back of the pen towards the top. It's the only other part of the pen you can mess with on the back side, hard to miss. It doesn't take but an almost imperceptible turn to change the output reading a few tenths so again, go slow.

Anyway, just adjust the screw on the back until the pH is dialed in to whatever you're calibrating it in...in this case their calibration solution. You can use distilled water in a pinch if you run out but distilled water can still vary a little bit in it's actual pH ime. I went ahead and ordered the bottle of calibration fluid...I think it'll last me a few years, easily, as I always pour the calibration fluid back in to the container so long as it's clean. I also put a few drops in the cap of the pen sometimes to help keep it hydrated but I haven't noticed any ill effects from it drying out.

 

[DroJo]

Re: luxx's 2nd grow perpetual closet and cab setup.

Awesome help Lil N! Everytime this thread is updated, as i scroll down and prepare to help i discover you've done it already, and added stuff i prolly woulda left out carelessly. What a class act