PK Perpetual Grow Journal 2020

[MrSauga]

@The Phantom you took the liberty to write me tsp to g in one of the treads. I been trying to find it and havn't. do you recall that

It seems your scale weighs everything at 3g. Below are examples of why measuring by volume is not the best way of going about feeding MC

1 teaspoon (tsp) MC - 5.5 grams

6.5 tsp - 35.4 grams

If 1tsp = 5.5 logically 6.5tsp would equal 35.75g, so about 1/4g difference.

1 Tablespoon (tbsp) - 14.6 grams

6.5 tbsp - 93.2 grams

Again, 6.5tbsp would equal 94.9g, over 1.5g differernt.

The GLN website says I US tsp = 6g. Who is right? Nobody, because you are measuring by volume. My tsp may not be the same as your tsp.
My suggestion to anyone is to weigh MC by weight and not by volume. PK, you have been feeding at over 6g/gal based on what I see.

 

[PK]

Thank you for the detailed explanation @MrSauga
at the moment i am not sure what the proper count is except for what i have. I have ordered a scale from amazon and this will be resulted once and for all The scale reads two numbers after the decimal.
I only have one questions though, wouldn't the plant be fried if it was getting 6g of MC at this stage?

here are this morning pictures after feeding them yesterday with 1tsp+1/4+1/4tsp of mc

 

[PK]

update on the hydro-clone

Not much to report. Water temp seems to be stable at 70f and the ph keeps rising to around 7. I adjust the ph everyday to 5.7 No ice in the bucket yet and i spray it with tap water every morning.

 

[MrSauga]

I only have one questions though, wouldn't the plant be fried if it was getting 6g of MC at this stage?

Not at the stage yours are at. The plants only use what they need right now when feeding megacrop. What it doesn't use just sits there. As soon as the plant demands more of another nutrient it may not be able to uptake it due to the excess nutes sitting in the soil.
Right now the plant isn't looking for a lot of K, but when you flip, it will. Then your plant can't access the K because all that extra stuff like N, P, Ca, and Mg has been sitting there and caused your roots to lockout that nutrient. Too much megacrop goes unnoticed and is the reason why many growers think they can keep adding more. For the most part it isn't until flower when you see the problems unless you have a really messed up substrate.

 

[The Phantom]

My suggestion to anyone is to weigh MC by weight and not by volume.

This works until MC does what it does best and absorbs moisture. Now 6 grams of MC isn't the same as when it was fresh and didn't have a higher moisture content. It's then best to go based off of a known volume to weight ratio (unless the MC granuals swell and increase in volume) or by TDS.

If @PK1 had recorded the weights of different volumes (1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1 tsp, etc.) when he first opened his bag of MC, measuring by volume now shouldn't be an issue but that's isn't the case.

MC seems to have a threshold of ±0.25 grams per gallon without much affect, from my experience and observations. I think reading your plants is more important, as long as you are within the ballpark with the amount of MC, although consistency makes it all that much easier.

I am curious to see what PK is dosing at once he receives his new scale.

 

[PK]

Not at the stage yours are at. The plants only use what they need right now when feeding megacrop. What it doesn't use just sits there. As soon as the plant demands more of another nutrient it may not be able to uptake it due to the excess nutes sitting in the soil.
Right now the plant isn't looking for a lot of K, but when you flip, it will. Then your plant can't access the K because all that extra stuff like N, P, Ca, and Mg has been sitting there and caused your roots to lockout that nutrient. Too much megacrop goes unnoticed and is the reason why many growers think they can keep adding more. For the most part it isn't until flower when you see the problems unless you have a really messed up substrate.

would you say a couple of tap water feed would be good before going into bloom?

I am curious to see what PK is dosing at once he receives his new scale.

at this point me too

 

[MrSauga]

This works until MC does what it does best and absorbs moisture. Now 6 grams of MC isn't the same as when it was fresh and didn't have a higher moisture content. It's then best to go based off of a known volume to weight ratio (unless the MC granuals swell and increase in volume) or by TDS.

I keep mine in an airtight bucket and take out what I need for a month in a mason jar. If you have product that has absorbed moisture then you need to measure by EC, not by weight or by volume.

 

[MrSauga]

would you say a couple of tap water feed would be good before going into bloom?

No. As long as you get back within range then you'll be fine. If you plan on flipping soon then you can reset your media by rinsing 2-3 times the pot size of water and coming back with a nuted mix on your last gallon. Personally I don't but I'm not ever passed 5g of MC through harvest.

 

[PK]

@mr sauga i am flipping the lights soon, so i decided to go with your recommendation.
i just gave each plant 2 gallons of tap water. While i was at it i also rinsed all the leaves.
I will do another 2gallon per plant in an hour.

 

[StoneOtter]

Flip it, flip it good!

 

[The Phantom]

Background song for the next video update.

 

[MrSauga]

@mr sauga i am flipping the lights soon, so i decided to go with your recommendation.
i just gave each plant 2 gallons of tap water. While i was at it i also rinsed all the leaves.
I will do another 2gallon per plant in an hour.

I posted the same thing in your other journal. Make sure to come back with some nutes on the final watering after the rinse. The plant will need some food so 4 or 4.5g/gal will work fine.

Let them recover for a week before flipping. They'll be stressed from the rinsing.

 

[PK]

Background song for the next video update.

got any suggestions

I posted the same thing in your other journal. Make sure to come back with some nutes on the final watering after the rinse. The plant will need some food so 4 or 4.5g/gal will work fine.

Let them recover for a week before flipping. They'll be stressed from the rinsing.

i am getting the scale tomorrow and will feed them with 4.5g

 

[The Phantom]

got any suggestions

The PK version of Devo's Whip It called Flip It.

 

[PK]

The PK version of Devo's Whip It called Flip It.

 

[PK]

Moment of truth. Today amazon delivered my order which was a scale and a ec reader.
my measuring spoon of 1tsp equals to 4.60g. now that i know the exact measurements i finally grabbed my 1 gallon and measured 3.5g and mixed it with tap water.

All the plants are now feed with 3.5g of MC. I also didn't notice any signs that the plants are hungry. I thought after giving each plant 7 gallon of water that it would show something after two days.

 

[Pennywise]

It may take a few days to see any big difference

 

[PK]

at least i got the delivery on time so they don't have to go hungry than.

 

[Pennywise]

Weighing your MC is a good habit too get into

 

[PK]

that is a easy habit to get into now that i've got the proper scale. I always had a feeling the other scale was out of calibration.