philthegeek
Well-Known Member
Day 1: 
Hi all!
Was going to wait a while for the weather here to cool down, but think i have my venting better sorted and am going to crank up. Have travel plans mid year, want this one done and harvested in time for that but with no pressure to harvest early. Here, i just have to accept that i will get temps in there around 30-38 C until end March.
Anyhow, being a tinkering type person have rebuilt the watering......again.........based on experience with my last grow and the DWC experiment i did at the same time. Neater setup. The polystyrene i used last time is messy and i got quite a bit of algae growth.
Anyway, photos of the watering set up:
Autopot Smartvalve based, from a 20l jerry can on the shelf. Bricks are to reduce the standing volume to get faster flood and drain cycle. Lead dive weight is to make sure the Smartvalve doesn't float and is NOT in the water. Bottom up watering system. The Smartvalves are actually attached with a couple of screws to the grey platstic 3 sided box. However, have tested to make sure the moving parts of the Smartvalve (float) moves freely.
Set this up last night and put the pots in without any top down water applied. By this morning the top of the pot is still dry, but about 30mm under the surface starts to feel damp which is what i want ongoing. This kind of system really does need a top down soaking to get it properly started for capillary action in the soil, and here, because we have pretty salty tap water a top down flush every 4 / 8 weeks or so.
I have put 16 female seeds, dipped in "Great White" bacteria / mycorrhizal additive, into 8 jiffy pots to germinate today. Will pick the best 4 of those, put them in the pots, and thin them down to 1 plant per pot. Will need to top down water for the first couple of weeks, but once the seedlings have roots and take off will only top down every week or 10 days with 1/2 strength Thrive and Neem.
Have done a bit of reading as to whether the Neem will affect the Great White mycorrhizae. I suspect not, but if anyone has advice opinions on this would appreciate it. They wont get anything but water for the next 3-4 weeks anyway.
Also, got some Fulvic for free. Anyone advice or opinions on that?? Am thinking of adding it to the weekly nutes??
So, all in a 1.2x1.2 tent, 1000W HPS dimmed down to 60% for veg.
Soil mix is what i have used before. Coarse river sand, some coco peat, pine bark fines, a little CaCO3, Dolomite, "Growers Blue" NPK fertiliser, and a little Osmocote slow release. That then mixed 50/50 with coarse Perlite. I have found this mix wicks up the water from the bottom well, is nice and "fluffy" with the Perlite so i have a healthy, aerated root zone even though the pot spends most of its time with the bottom 25mm flooded. With this kind of mix it is REALLY hard to over-water. There is enough in the way of nutes in there to keep the plants happy without burning them in the establishment phase. Later will add Thrive, trace element, neem mix @ about 200ml / pot / week and see how things go.
Oh have also added an air-pump with an airstone into each bin just to ensure nuthin goes anaerobic in the bins. Probably not really needed but i had the kit anyway.
The black nally bins with black lids gives be a dark root zone. All good. But........under the light, the black nally bin lids get pretty warm. So I added a layer of some insulation i had left over from a 74 Beddy camper van renovation (work in progress, belongs to my ex but have usage rights, be wary of introducing a "classic" vehicle into your life... doGs above finding parts......
).
Anyhow, all set and ready to roll once the seeds pop. Seeyahs!
Hi all!
Was going to wait a while for the weather here to cool down, but think i have my venting better sorted and am going to crank up. Have travel plans mid year, want this one done and harvested in time for that but with no pressure to harvest early. Here, i just have to accept that i will get temps in there around 30-38 C until end March.
Anyhow, being a tinkering type person have rebuilt the watering......again.........based on experience with my last grow and the DWC experiment i did at the same time. Neater setup. The polystyrene i used last time is messy and i got quite a bit of algae growth.
Anyway, photos of the watering set up:
Autopot Smartvalve based, from a 20l jerry can on the shelf. Bricks are to reduce the standing volume to get faster flood and drain cycle. Lead dive weight is to make sure the Smartvalve doesn't float and is NOT in the water. Bottom up watering system. The Smartvalves are actually attached with a couple of screws to the grey platstic 3 sided box. However, have tested to make sure the moving parts of the Smartvalve (float) moves freely.
Set this up last night and put the pots in without any top down water applied. By this morning the top of the pot is still dry, but about 30mm under the surface starts to feel damp which is what i want ongoing. This kind of system really does need a top down soaking to get it properly started for capillary action in the soil, and here, because we have pretty salty tap water a top down flush every 4 / 8 weeks or so.
I have put 16 female seeds, dipped in "Great White" bacteria / mycorrhizal additive, into 8 jiffy pots to germinate today. Will pick the best 4 of those, put them in the pots, and thin them down to 1 plant per pot. Will need to top down water for the first couple of weeks, but once the seedlings have roots and take off will only top down every week or 10 days with 1/2 strength Thrive and Neem.
Have done a bit of reading as to whether the Neem will affect the Great White mycorrhizae. I suspect not, but if anyone has advice opinions on this would appreciate it. They wont get anything but water for the next 3-4 weeks anyway.
Also, got some Fulvic for free. Anyone advice or opinions on that?? Am thinking of adding it to the weekly nutes??
So, all in a 1.2x1.2 tent, 1000W HPS dimmed down to 60% for veg.
Soil mix is what i have used before. Coarse river sand, some coco peat, pine bark fines, a little CaCO3, Dolomite, "Growers Blue" NPK fertiliser, and a little Osmocote slow release. That then mixed 50/50 with coarse Perlite. I have found this mix wicks up the water from the bottom well, is nice and "fluffy" with the Perlite so i have a healthy, aerated root zone even though the pot spends most of its time with the bottom 25mm flooded. With this kind of mix it is REALLY hard to over-water. There is enough in the way of nutes in there to keep the plants happy without burning them in the establishment phase. Later will add Thrive, trace element, neem mix @ about 200ml / pot / week and see how things go.
Oh have also added an air-pump with an airstone into each bin just to ensure nuthin goes anaerobic in the bins. Probably not really needed but i had the kit anyway.
The black nally bins with black lids gives be a dark root zone. All good. But........under the light, the black nally bin lids get pretty warm. So I added a layer of some insulation i had left over from a 74 Beddy camper van renovation (work in progress, belongs to my ex but have usage rights, be wary of introducing a "classic" vehicle into your life... doGs above finding parts......
).Anyhow, all set and ready to roll once the seeds pop. Seeyahs!
