Tunes420 Try at Hydro 3rd Grow CFL

[Tunes420]

fineas hehe I love to stumble into a project and have it make me think...
but when people help before i run into a hudge problem...ya got to love that tyty
i keep mine in gallon jug and always shake it before i give it to them...so maybe that is enough
Ya i read that gnats love organic stuff so figured it was the blood meal.
:thank: for following along and staying tuned in and since these things grow so fast i already have
a update and more lst for all interested and for those who asked for it step by step.
OK update all .... they grow a little faster than i am used to...
What usually takes a few days only take a day or two in hydro

they have grown the few inches ya need to take side ways twist, so here we go

I pick way to go (right or left) and put my wire in at slight angle way i will be training

Then gentaly push the stem under hook in wire ...usually under or between nodes

now push on wire where it goes into medium and at same time place finger top of wire (hook) and gentaly work it into medium...great thing about wire is if you need to bend it to fit between nodes or close to where you are training down you can just bend wire to fit better

i had put wire in couple inches away from where stem ended up so bent wire to fit without having to pull out wire and stab roots again

And same with other plant

In a few hours these sould be turned up to light again...and you will notice stem doing the twist and as they grow continue to train around pot

This one could go to edge more before turning so i just moved wire without pulling out all the way by giving it some slack and placed it closer to end of plant and push wire back down to where plant will live

nice thing about these party pails is they are easy to move around

Below is plant i plan on super cloning...it is the best out of 3 bag seed strains ...It grows thick compact buds and is short
other strain grows too tall for me and last strain has thick leaves and my light just can't give enough to them to get any decent yield

 

[KannabisKid]

Looking good Tunes. I was wondering if anybody was gonna do the LST around the pot method. That's the only diagrammed method I found on the web but mostly seen other methods by others on here. I am planning on drilling some holes around the Waterfarms to give it a shot with them.

 

[LiveTour]

They look bigger and better everyday, keep it up Tunes!

 

[fineas]

Looky your purty bushy little babies!!! They look really nice.. I'll bet your try at hydro will give you some awesome results with your training techniques.
fin
swimming in sweat at the bodacious heat in this neck of the woods

 

[Setting Sun]

Your plants are looking beautiful!

How often are you having to water the perlite party buckets?

I tried pure perlite a while back and the top layer turned green from moss because I over-watered.

Did you fill your buckets with dry perlite or did you rinse it or wet it down first?



ss

 

[Tunes420]

KannabisKid good idea drill holes for some training
will be super and your hudge lady is looking awesome


DeadTour09


fineas

setting sun yes i rinse it and vermiculite very good
cause it is dusty in sink with strainer. and the mix is 1/3 vermiculite
just that top layer is perlite only for looks been watering every two days now
will watch for signs of green...what would clear it up if it happened? And is over watering why it appears?

 

[Gordon d'Angelo]

your doin a great job these plants grow like weeds ain t it great lol well done mate keep up the good work!

 

[borntorun]

wow tunes those are some seriously healthy looking plants!

 

[Siscokid]

Hey Tunes, Soiless huh? Sounds good to me, you just need to add nukes and water huh? I see... Passive feeding is it? I must look into this, how about a feeding step by step pictorial too... I am locked in browski. +rep for the great how to so far.
Sorry man they won't let me rep ya, I gotta spread the love.

 

[Setting Sun]

setting sun yes i rinse it and vermiculite very good
cause it is dusty in sink with strainer. and the mix is 1/3 vermiculite
just that top layer is perlite only for looks been watering every two days now
will watch for signs of green...what would clear it up if it happened? And is over watering why it appears?

The green moss that forms if you over-water isn't harmful, but if someone is watering enough to cause moss to grow, they're probably severely over-watering, and that's what will stunt and kill the plant. If you get a little green forming, it's no big deal. You can make the perlite/vermiculite mix look nice again by stirring it a bit.

One thing to be aware of is that while perlite may be PH neutral, vermiculite is not PH neutral. When it's mined it can already have different PH, and its PH can change over time also.

With 30% vermiculite, I thought I would give you a heads-up if you start having any problems.

Here's something on vermiculite and PH:

__________________________________________________

"There often has been confusion about the pH of vermiculite---is it neutral or alkaline, is it constant or does it change, and do some vermiculite deposits have higher pH's than others do.

Essentially the pH of vermiculite can be close to neutral but usually because of the presence of associated carbonate compounds, the reaction often is alkaline. As such, the pH of vermiculite does change, and can range from 6 to above 9.5, and the vermiculites from some mines tend to be more neutral while other mines will tend to have higher pH's. Also, depending on how vermiculite is processed (exfoliated or expanded), the pH of the expanded particles can change. After being processed, vermiculite can become more alkaline as it slowly absorbs more atmospheric moisture.

Unfortunately most of the literature and reference books available to growers and professionals is based on vermiculite that was mined in Libby, Montana by the Zonolite Company and later by W.R. Grace and Company. This mine was one of the two largest deposits in the world, and was the largest in North America until it closed in the late 1980's.

Contrary to what many thought and to some of the sales literature which had been distributed over the years, even vermiculite from the Libby deposit could and did have broad pH ranges. In one former product guide of the W.R. Grace Company, vermiculite was given a range of from 3-11 (based on intentional changes in processing characteristics.) And in third party testing by the Department of Agriculture in Maryland, there were years when this vermiculite was tested to be in the 7.6 to 8.3 range.

The problem, of course, is that many horticultural articles and reference books describe vermiculite as being "neutral" or as having a neutral pH; and growers can be confused or can make mistakes if they are unaware of the pH changes possible with vermiculite. The literature now distributed by organizations like The Vermiculite Association (TVA - The Vermiculite Association - International vermiculite trade association) and current manufacturers state that vermiculite has a pH range of from 6 to 9.5, but none of this information seems to be getting into the hands of the writers, teachers, and growers who need to know.

The vermiculite being processed in the United States today comes from mines in South Africa, China, Brazil, Zimbabwe, and the states of South Carolina and Virginia. The pH of vermiculite from each of these mines can be slightly different, and the amount of water retained and strength of the particles can also vary. Nevertheless, once these differences are noted, they can be used successfully and easily, and have been for years and years in both this country and abroad.

To be sure, vermiculite should be checked whenever pH and changes in pH are critical. And growers should not assume the pH of vermiculite coming from the same supplier or the same source necessarily will remain constant. Just as the pH and other characteristics of peat moss can change dramatically from deposit to deposit, and from year to year, and just as water can affect pH significantly and needs to be tested regularly for both pH and alkalinity, vermiculite too should be among those ingredients for which some testing needs to be done.

Its many beneficial properties in helping to buffer mixes and in helping cation exchange capacities make vermiculite an excellent soil amendment in almost any mix. But its variations in pH need to be taken into consideration, and adjustments have to be made---especially if changes in pH and especially higher pH values would be detrimental to the plants being grown in a media!"

_______________________________________________________

sorry for the long post, but vermiculite is so widely used and assumed to be PH neutral, that I thought it important.

ss

 

[InhaledFreq]

One thing to be aware of is that while perlite may be PH neutral, vermiculite is not PH neutral. When it's mined it can already have different PH, and its PH can change over time also.

With 30% vermiculite, I thought I would give you a heads-up if you start having any problems.

Here's something on vermiculite and PH:

__________________________________________________

"There often has been confusion about the pH of vermiculite---is it neutral or alkaline, is it constant or does it change, and do some vermiculite deposits have higher pH's than others do...

I didn't know any of that... Thanks for sharing the great info, I bookmarked that post! It wont let me +reps but hopefully someone else will!

 

[Setting Sun]

I didn't know any of that... Thanks for sharing the great info, I bookmarked that post! It wont let me +reps but hopefully someone else will!

You're welcome brother.

I'm glad I can bring something helpful to the table. We all bring different gifts, skills and knowledge, and that's one of the coolest things about communities like this.

It's especially important to know about the vermiculite PH issue in passive hydro grows, because we assume the medium is completely neutral and should only be affected PH-wise by the nutes we use.

ss

 

[Tunes420]

weedtastic yes they do lol.... for stopping back


borntorun


siscokid will do next update my friend

for stopping back InhaledFreq

setting sun just checked my run off and i will be damed if it isn't 2 points higher than i thought....I knew perlite was neutral and assumed vermiculite was a s well....well mine is not it runs higher....OK so now to adjust i dropped ph on ingoing to 3-4 ...Will this work or do i split the difference in my high run off? (is run off number one i want to shot for?)
Run off after i adjusted for non neutral vermiculite is 5.5 ruffly
and yes this community and helpful people having input makes for a successful grow tyvm!

 

[Setting Sun]

just checked my run off and i will be damed if it isn't 2 points higher than i thought....I knew perlite was neutral and assumed vermiculite was a s well....well mine is not it runs higher....OK so now to adjust i dropped ph on ingoing to 3-4 ...Will this work or do i split the difference in my high run off? (is run off number one i want to shot for?)
Run off after i adjusted for non neutral vermiculite is 5.5 ruffly
and yes this community and helpful people having input makes for a successful grow tyvm!

I'm going to let someone with more experience at juggling PH levels answer that question.

Since your plants aren't dying or anything like that, you can probably gently bring it back into range so that you don't stress them too much.

I do know that with soil grows, your runoff is not an accurate way to judge the PH of your soil, but passive hydro is the same as active hydro as far as checking PH, so runoff PH levels should be accurate.


ss

 

[Tunes420]

setting sun

green acres i had been feeding and watering at 5.or so for ph but run off showed 7 or so
on the pink side.
Going in it is yellow on ph meter about 5 or so ...got one of those pool testers
probably not right one for hydro but was what i was able to find local
Ok so i am shooting for 6.5 on run out ....ty. Am new to ph cause had soil tester that read 7 no matter what pot/soil i stuck it in. Told my girl either everything is perfect or meter is junk....well meter was junk all those grows i thought everything was perfect.....my soil run off was what i put into it 5-8 ph. 5 ph when i hit water with nukes and like 7.8 ph straight water from tap....which i thought was at 7.....so it's all new to me
So now that i know i adjust ph low cause of vermiculite bringing ph up 1.5 to 2 .....so high 4 low 5 is my number to shoot for now .... 4.5 going in gave me 6.5 coming out (fresh run off) Just re water all

 

[borntorun]

It sure doesn't look like you have any PH issues and I doubt you ever will. I wouldn't focus to much on it. Typically things will tend to get acidic over time. You'll know fairly fast when you do have a problem. Most things will show up at the very tips of the leaves or leaf curl and those can be corrected fast.

 

[Setting Sun]

what??? dont worry about ph. its probably the most important thing to know and watch for to have a good healthy plant. things should not get acidic at all if your doing it correctly.
not to sound rude but that has to be the worst advice ive seen in a long time

Hold on bros,

I think what borntorun is saying isn't that PH isn't important, but rather that Tunes's plants are looking fairly good, so he probably shouldn't do anything drastic until he is more certain that he actually has an issue.

If you can afford it, Tunes, see if you can get some other test kit or meter and confirm your PH levels. That would give you a lot more confidence that you actually have a problem.

I've seen a lot of very nice passive hydro grows using 4/1 perlite/vermiculite, because this dude that thinks that he invented this method of growing recommends that ratio. A lot of those grows were completed by beginners who didn't even have a clue about PH issues, so yeah, before you acidify anything, check it by another test/method.

We can keep this civil, friendly and constructive.

It's often hard to communicate clearly when all we got is the written word and emoticons, and I'm sure that's what happened.

ss

 

[Setting Sun]

i was going to mention i see a ph issue here. it needs to be at the lowest 6.5 for a run off.
only test the first bit that comes out the bottom or it will not be accurate, it will give more a reading of what was just poured into the pots and not what the medium is at.
what ph do you feed at. with water or nutes.
if it gets green cover the tops to prevent it. o2 and moisture will create algae
everything looks nice and white and clean, i like that

Thanks for the tips on checking PH!

Can you describe the PH issue you're seeing in the pics?

thanks bro,

ss

btw, check the time of day on these two last posts

 

[sillyolpun]

keep up the great work!

Pun


Question:

How often do you water with this kind of medium?

Considering soilless first grow.

 

[Setting Sun]

Oh yeah, one more thing about passive hydro.

If you need to, it's very easy and effective to flush the medium with water if you need to get back to baseline, or at least close to baseline.

If you want to avoid leaf droop after flushing, with any medium, you can hold your pots up and tilt them towards one of the drainage holes. You would be amazed how much more water you can drain out if you do that. I used to see stress in my plants before I started tilting and draining.

That's with regular pots with bottom drainage, with your hole being up a bit on the side, I don't think it's that much of an issue, especially since the hole is there so that the bottom res *doesn't* drain.

ss