WW Autos Super Hempy - LED - HPS - Miracle Grow Experiment

[Perfect Sun LED]

Photo update.

I can't believe how much taller the auto 2 is that is growing under my cfl lamp vs auto one under the led. It's a good LED too based on the amount of lux it pumps out at a foot away. Powerful.

Soon, I will have just a 400w hps and a 600w hps in there.

Also, look at how much they have growin in 18 days. The little pic inside, is them on March 13. Autos grow so fast. It's very cool. You can get many grows under your belt quickly. I want to play two more, but I can't because I don't have the room. I need a HOUSE already. I was supposed to have found a place by now. Dang, my closet ones need to be outside already.

On the right is a Mendo Purp clone I saved. These are powerful smoke. So far this one recovered nicely. The guy fed them way too many nutes. Just like last time, I got them with bad purple stems. Anyway, it's doing good now in 100% rockwool. I've been feeding it water with a bit of vf-11, and then every week, flora grow, micro, and bloom.

The one to the left is a clone of a purple haze. It was almost black when I got it. Most of the purple is gone, but some of it is still growing out. At least it isn't student. It has grown a lot. It is in 50% coco 50% perlite.

The one on the left is a purple haze from seed, feminized. It's doing well under the t5. These all need to go OUTSIDE! I wanted them outside by mid April.

I hope I find a house soon, or douplex.

 

[Perfect Sun LED]

I think autos will be my staple, depending on how much yeild I get. I will always grow at least one large normal plant, though. Always will do experiments.

 

[KingJohnC]

do you know what your water ph is? if not pick up either liquid ph test kit or a cheap ph meter with calibration fluid. its very hard to keep guessing without eliminating ph.

 

[Perfect Sun LED]

I have a Ph pen, but I can't calibrate it. I need to get more 4.01. The stuff I have now is not working. It keeps saying wrong. My is a two part calibration 7.01 then immediately to 4.01, and that is where it says wrong. When I test that solution it says 5.5. However, even when I add a few drops of ph down, it still says like 5, so something is wrong. Hopefully, it's not broken.

My tap water is around 7.2. I tested before the meter went wonky. With the ph drops, the blue kind, it gives me a blue-green color, mostly greenish. After just 3 drops ph down per gallon, the color is almost yellow, with a tad tinge of green. 4 drops makes it yellow. Anything after that the color doesn't change.

However, the best way to test with the blue drops, is after the drop hits the test water, watch it change color. The faster it changes, the higher acidity. Also, if it turns orange at all around the blue-green swirl, then it is way acidity, like 4.

I go for a nice yellow change around the blue-green as it swirls into the test water. Then I mix it up. I try to keep a hint of green, which turns out most of the time to be 3 drops per gallon.

Anyway, the test was supposed to be Miracle Grow plus regular tap water. I decided to at least filter the water through a charcoal filter to rid it of clorine.

If it is a ph issue, it is with the medium ph, which can be very different than feeding/water ph. I haven't found a good soil/medium ph tester yet.

 

[spring2012]

Forgive me if I say anything that seems stupid! The autos should have showed flower sign weeks ago. I admire your take on autos and your growing style. That said... If I read correctly you topped an auto or two? That's your first reason why the are slow too flower. I'm curious about the 12/12 force? Autos are just that.. automatic flower. I have had autos flower at 18/6 all the way to harvest. As a matter of fact I have grown 6 separate auto strains all 18/6 to seed. I have a few colleagues that grow them 20/4 from seed to harvest. I'm hoping you know something I dot? I'm the first in line for a new way! I have noticed a few consistent traits with autos regardless of strain. They will flower quickly if left to do so, they hate to dry out even a small amount, and they can handle stronger nutes than most think.

Just a few observations. I am not an expert but after three separate auto grows with different strains I know a little. Please don't take this post negatively. There are so many experts around here that I often do not bother to share my limited experience. And its always so damn hard to convey feeling through posts unless your Hemingway!! Anyway I like what you have done and I have learned that topping is not the end of life to an auto...Just slows her down a bit.

I was lucky early on with my first 4 autos. The Highjack automatic and Auto#1 both gave me several ( 2 to 3 roughly ) good ounces. I have been able to get no less than an ounce from autos as well. Either yield for me was amateur at best. I hope to see a nice yield from my current auto mazar.
I will attach a few pics of my buddies autos. They are not mine! I feeling humble today so I wont shamelessly plug pics of my past autos!
OK the last bud on the DOI is mine!
Good job so far!!

 

[KingJohnC]

have you tried testing the ph 7.1 solution you have? it sound to me like your meter is probably shot unless your testing solution is contaminated. if your ph pen probe is replaceable order another one for your brand and model. if it is not replaceable order another ph pen
ph pen - Google Search


are you familiar with testing the runoff?
to test it
1) adjust and test water to ph 6.5
2) water the pot and measure the first runoff passing through it
3) flush the plant if your reading is not the same until it is ph 6.5
4) water with ph 6.5 and half strength nutrients until runoff is observed

 

[spring2012]

Oh and + reps for growing auto's!!!

 

[Perfect Sun LED]

Hey thx for posting. I didn't top the autos just the regular critical. No training has been done to the autos.
They have been in 18/6. Not sure where you got the 12/12 from.
These are a 75 day strain of white widow, so I imagine that is why they didn't start to flower until day 42.
They are super bushy. It must be from vegging under the t5

 

[spring2012]

I had to place the disclaimer on my last post! I was doing a nice wake and bake while on your thread! I got a bit mixed up with the posts, regs,, and autos.

 

[Pophamseasmok]

Things are lookin' good and green nice work! +reps for the hard work.

 

[miwa]

ii kept running into PH problems.when i was growing with MG..i wish you had a pen..sounds like your pen probe is shot..mine went out ..i wasn't keeping it in storage solution..runoff from MG is a lot..i mean lot different from what you put in..when checking runoff..pour water in slow and take PH reading from the first liquid that comes out..the PH changes with the more liquid that comes out..plus reading is different when speed is different pouring in..one more thing..MG will release nutes that your plant may not be ready for..all that said..your plants look good to me..i would keep doing it..

 

[Perfect Sun LED]

Miwa, yeah, based on the ingredients, MG is strong shit, plus it is a acid based nute do to the ratio and types of nitrogen in it. That is why I am going to start using non ph'd water for a while and see what happens. I watched this youtube video, where this guy fed his plant (100% coco) nothing but Miracle Grow 1/2 strength, once a week, and inbetween just tap water. Plant was bangin'

 

[miwa]

Miwa, yeah, based on the ingredients, MG is strong shit, plus it is a acid based nute do to the ratio and types of nitrogen in it. That is why I am going to start using non ph'd water for a while and see what happens. I watched this youtube video, where this guy fed his plant (100% coco) nothing but Miracle Grow 1/2 strength, once a week, and inbetween just tap water. Plant was bangin'

Yep..seen a lot of grows on yt using 1/2 strength MG...i use it on outside grows..in the ground...with tap water..just won't work in pots for me...

 

[Perfect Sun LED]

watered critical with Miracle Grow


Need to water Lady Black with Mircale Grow again

Transplanted Critical into new pot, the same type the autos are in, the hemp/dwc type, but larger. The super air hempy green bucket was a good idea, but I didn't consider that burlap would mold when wet. Live and learn.

I fed the critical with 1/2 teaspoon of Miracle Grow Tomato for 1/2 gallon of whater. From now on for the next week, I will water it with just filter water as needed. If the yellowing doesn't improve or gets worse, then I will start phing the water again.

I got new batteries and calibrated my pen again. It is now reading the 4.01 and 7.01 solution accurately. I also tested it against the red drops ph test kit. I think the red drops for swinning pool ph is more accurate than the blue drop test kit from hydro stores.

I flushed the autos with 6.5 water. Still, though, after I pour 5.5 into it, rigth away it read 6.7 runoff. Not sure if the Black Gold charchoal can raise ph or not. My carbon filter doesn't I will flush again tomorow until the run off read 6.5 when I keep putting 6.5 in.

I think that is why some leaves are slightly yellow. I am now feeding them GH three part series at 420ppm, parts 1, 1, 1. that is 2ml of each, grow, micro, bloom. Once buds are larger, I will do 1ml grow, 2ml micro, and 3ml bloom.

 

[Perfect Sun LED]

Okay decided to flush the autos now. It can't hurt as they are in pure perlite. Anyway, I flushed with vf-11 5.8 400ppm, until the run off in the dwc lid read 5.8. It took 4 gallons. I also added some florakleen while flushing.

I will see what the ph and ppms are at tomorrow. PPms should be down and ph should be up a bit.

 

[spring2012]

 

[Perfect Sun LED]

PH update
So after tripple checking my ph meter, and checking with the blue and red drop ph test, I figured out that it takes a lot more drops of PH down than I previously thought to go from 8.0 to 6.0.

The following PH test, I did several times, three to be exact, each time I got the same results. First, I put new batteries in my Ph meter. Then I calibrated it with 7.01 and 4.01. It is a two part calibration. Next, I tested it in the 7.01 and the 4.01 solutions, several times, back and forth to be sure I got precise readings, which I did.

I then tested with phenol red ph test drops. This is the red drops you get in a swimming pool kit. This is far more accurate than the bromthymol drops, which are blue. With the phenal red, you can really see the difference between 7.6, 7.8, and 8.2. The problem is it doesn't go past 6.8, but that is okay. It keeps getting yellower the lower you go. 5.5 does look different then 6.0.

Okay, everything was accurate; on with the test.

I started with tap water ran through a carbon filter. For some reason my water is high right now. 8.0. I filled up a container with exactly a half gallon of water. For the dropper, I used the same type used for eye drops, that drip out of the bottom, this way you have an idea of how big the drops are.

First test results.

8.0
add 2 drops of General Hydroponics PH down, which dropped it to
6.6

This suprised me, especially the next results.

I added two more drops and got ...
6.2
HUh? Don't worry, I did the test two more times and got the same results.
I added 3 drops and got ...
5.6
Weird, but again, I got the same results when I did the test two more times.
Added two more dops
5.2
two more drops
4.5

I got these exact same numbers three times in a row. I say that is conclusive. I am now letting the water sit out overnight. No doubt, the ph will rise, this is because of the water's ability to buffer itself, just like soil, do to the calcium and such in the water. However, R/O water when ph'd shouldn't move at all if left out overnight. That is the benefit of R/O water in hydro. I think distilled does the same, but haven't tested that.


Different water might ph differently, even if it starts at 8.0 do to what is in it and how much of what is in it, but for the most part, you should be able to rely on this. Just in case, go to Walmart or someplace and pix up a pool test kit that comes with phenol red for PH testing. It is very accurate, accurate enough that I trust it to run DWC.




OKAY

So, when I tested the water in the autos today, after sitting all night, the ph did rise, and the nutes did drop. That is a good sign. I reflushed them again with 6.0 ph. I did the same witht he critical. I will test the ph again to see if it rises. I managed to get the runoff to 6.1. That was good enough for me.

After a few hours of flushing the autos, the 6.1 ph went to 6.7. This is my water buffering. So, I have 5 gallons sitting out with nutes, drip clean, ph down etc, and an air hose. It is very low 4.5 or something. I will see how far it rises by tomorrow, then ph to 6.0 if it is higher than 6.0. I will check it through out the day. Each time it rises, I will ph it to 6.0. I will keep doing this until the water can no longer buffer it, and it remains 6.0

Now, for this reason, I want to check distilled water because I do have a distiller. It can only make like a gallon at a time, but it does so in a few hours. If distilled water, like R/O, doesn't buffer, then I might start using distilled, carbon filtered water. I don't want to keep phing water for a few days until it remains stable just to feed my plants.

 

[Perfect Sun LED]

Video Update
new grow update. WW autos, 600w and 400w hps Critical reg - YouTube

Just so you know, I am still watering Critical with Miracle Grow and Autos with General Hydroponics three part series, liquid.

Now that I know my pen is accurate again, I can only imagine how lame my PH was. I checked right after I had my pen working, and before I flushed. 7.3. No beuno.

So because I flushed the Critical with low strength 400ppm Miracle Grow, I will wait 7-10 days before feeding again. In the mean time, I will do ph water. I know I said I was going to do tap water, but I will check run-off to be sure the ph isn't going to low do to the MG in the perlite/coco.

 

[Perfect Sun LED]

Oh, one more update. I did buy another 6 inch intake fan to suck air from outside and down ducting, which then attaches to the other fan that blows air into the tent. This will not help much when it is hot outside, however. Then I might need to put the air conditioner in the window, and rig ducting to it to go inside the tent.

Arg, I can't wait to have a house. Apartments suck. I need a garage. I need a backyard for my greenhouse. I
need!!!!

For those that don't want to watch the video

NEW LIGHTS

I am now running the 400w hps and a new 600w hps, both cool tubed. The 600w is using a Maxlume. The lux isn't too bad on it. Gets to 100 lux at like 6 inches away. Can't wait to try a SUnmaster and Hortilux

 

[mountaingoat]

Lottery tickets!