Al B. FAQt

[archie6214]

Yeah I went to my hydro store which is 1 1/2 hours away to get my ph meter a couple weeks ago and get home to find the fool gave me a ppm meter which I already have, so it's been back to the test strips until I get back up there this weekend. So you think the 850 ppm is ok for 7 weeks old or do you think I could raise it up to 1100 or so. Does 850 sound low? Also just curious what you saw in pics to mention overwatering? I thought signs of overwatering were droopy leaves? Thanks for your help btw.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

Yeah I went to my hydro store which is 1 1/2 hours away to get my ph meter a couple weeks ago and get home to find the fool gave me a ppm meter which I already have,

Tip: Don't blow cones before going to the hydro shop.

so it's been back to the test strips until I get back up there this weekend.

mmm, don't I guess good!

So you think the 850 ppm is ok for 7 weeks old or do you think I could raise it up to 1100 or so. Does 850 sound low?

850 is pretty low. 1100 would be closer to the mark, but I run my vegging plants at 1800.

Also just curious what you saw in pics to mention overwatering? I thought signs of overwatering were droopy leaves?

In addition to droopy leaves (which usually occur with overwatering but in varying degrees), other telltales are slow, stunted growth, dull colour and small fan leaves. Anything which indicates that the roots are not able to supply the foliage with enough water & nutes are indications of root problems, which are most commonly caused by overwatering.

How often are you flooding, for how long? Was I right? Is your RW cube below the flood level?

Your leaf tip burn is being caused by an excess of N in proportion to the availability of other nutes to the plant, which are getting locked out due to the pH running too low.

 

[archie6214]

Yep you were right!!! You are good, I have to give you credit for that!! I have only been watering 3x day for 8 minutes just enough to overflow. I took one of the extensions out of the overflow tube to bring flood level down. The water level only raises 1 3/8" or 34mm up the side of my pots is this enough? I'm going to go get my PH meter tomorrow!!

 

[Al B. Fuct]

Yep you were right!!! You are good, I have to give you credit for that!!

bada-bing Shoot me full o' steroids and call me Barry Bonds, I'm swingin' good today.

I have only been watering 3x day for 8 minutes just enough to overflow.

If you were wetting only the pellets, 3x/lights-on would be OK, if too few. Pellets don't hold much water. However, you have kept the RW saturated as well. That's where it's gone pear shaped.

8 mins is too long, only need to flood pellets long enough to raise to the overflow, then shut off the pump and let it drain. Probably only 2-3 mins tops. Turn on the pump & measure the time it takes to get the level to the overflow, set your timer accordingly.

Shorter duration floods, more often, are better than fewer, longer duration floods. Just the water draining out will draw quite a lot of fresh air into the pellets.

I took one of the extensions out of the overflow tube to bring flood level down. The water level only raises 1 3/8" or 34mm up the side of my pots is this enough?

Depends on how deep the pellets are. You need to flood your pellets but not your RW cubes. You can lower the flood level or deepen the pellets.

Pellets will wick a little bit of water; if you flood a 6" deep pot of pellets to 4", they will be damp at 4.5" but not wet. That's why you put the cube, when it has roots out of the bottom (not before), about 1/2" above the flood level. Any additional pellet depth can be used to stabilise the cube and hold the plant upright until its roots can do that job.

I'm going to go get my PH meter tomorrow!!

I want a time machine for poor folks like you so I could get you to the shop a few weeks ago.

 

[archie6214]

Hey Al I got another one for ya. How do I determine between nute burn and a deficiancy? I first thought the yellowing dying leaves at the bottom were from nute burn. So I backed off the PPM for a week no change so then I figured it was a deficiancy so I just up'd the PPM to 1100 just now. I guess it's all part of the learning curve that comes with experience.

 

[grandpabear3]

hey al...i just finished reading another thread you were posting in about aerocloners....learned more from you, yet again. i have built my own and run it 24/7 but after reading your posts i think i might be keeping the stems too wet and thus slowing rooting...and mine are doing the whole "roots futher up the stem" thing so i have some work to do..my fist run i got 18 out of 30 to root in 9 days. but i'm on day 17 and i've only got 13 throwin roots, and not even impressive ones. so....to wet? now what....can i put a timer on the pump and set it for ??? times a day.
i know i should go back to rw i'm just not done trying this yet and your input in all these matters is greatly appreciated

 

[Al B. Fuct]

Hey Al I got another one for ya. How do I determine between nute burn and a deficiancy?

It's not always so simple. You need to accurately know both pH & EC before you can make a call. If pH is off (gotta be 5.8 ), some nutes are unavailable to the plant and others are available in comparative abundance. Ratio of nutes, one to the others, is very important. Low pH can lock out P & Mg but not bother N, mimicking both a P & Mg deficiency and N toxicity. Result will be cooked leaf tips, slow growth, spotty/yellowing leaves and sometimes red leaf petioles/stems.

One thing you can be certain of is that you're very unlikely to get a nutrient deficiency when using standard (as opposed to organic) nutes from a reputable maker. Everything will be in there. If you have appropriate measured nute strength yet see what looks like a deficiency, chances are the pH is off, locking out some nutrients.

In addition, overwatering, problem #1 in most new grower's ops, has particular telltale symptoms which novice growers often mistake for deficiencies i.e. yellowing leaves, droopy foliage, slow growth.

i think i might be keeping the stems too wet and thus slowing rooting...and mine are doing the whole "roots futher up the stem" thing

Yep, aerocloners absolutely can do that. They can be very tricky to run. I found them to be inconsistent and finicky compared to 40mm wrapped RW cubes in a clonebox on heat mat.

If you have water dripping off the stems, it's too wet. It really only takes sustained high humidity to produce root nodes, not constant wetting from condensation.

Try adding an aquarium air line valve inline to the air stone and reduce the air flow. Alternatively, use a taller plastic box that gets the stems further from the mist.

H2O2 is very important in aerocloners. They work best with a submersible aquarium heater set for 27-28C. Unfortunately, nice warm water is a great place to grow pathogens.

Rotsaruck.

 

[hybrid]

Hey Al,

Ever seen a plant chopped for clones go all yellow green on ya? I had the opportunitiy to see one and it looks slickly unlike its roommates.

Is this somehting that happens or an oddity with cause and effect that needs to be addressed.

 

[Al B. Fuct]

Hey Al,

Ever seen a plant chopped for clones go all yellow green on ya? I had the opportunitiy to see one and it looks slickly unlike its roommates.

Is this somehting that happens or an oddity with cause and effect that needs to be addressed.

Clones which are taking a long time to set root very frequently show this problem, so do clones which have had some stem tip rot due to overwet media or a non-sterile cut.

Clones are running on nutes stored in the leaves while they were still attached to the mum. The nutes run out in about 14-16 days or so. Appears as yellowing leaves and progresses to necrosis, eventually dropping the leaf, seems to start on the lower fan leaves first.

Overwatered clones can go a sickly sallow green all over, with distortion of leaves i.e. shrivelling, twisting.

The difference between one clone and its mates can be several; the part of the mum that one clone was taken from may have stored more nutes; the media on the sickie may have been too wet.

Successful cloning processes give you a plant that looks like it was just cut off the mum yesterday.

 

[grandpabear3]

thanks for the reply al but .....

but i'm on day 17 and i've only got 13 throwin roots, and not even impressive ones. so....to wet? now what....can i put a timer on the pump and set it for ??? times a day.


i still had this in the post that i need help with. i can go out and turn it on every so often or put it on a timer but everyone says 24/7 ...but that's keeping then too wet and causing probs....stupid clones

 

[Al B. Fuct]

If you have water dripping off the stems, yes, it's too wet. Like I said, you can either valve the airline and reduce the flow, use a bigger bin or, like you said, try using a timer to reduce the amount of wetting. You might try running it every other 15 mins for starters. If you have rotted stem tips, recut them up to the living material. 24/7 isn't working, dial it back and see how you go.

 

[grandpabear3]

thank you al.....

now i just went out at 7:00 a.m. to check on the op...my 1000w comes on at 6:00a.m. and my hps light bulb was just barely flickering a light faint blue color ......?????has it blown or what!!???
now i have a little bullshit cfl hanging in the flower room....is this gonna be enough to convince my flowering babies its daylight....what effect is this going to have on .....well, everything?

what kind of time frame do i have before i cause damage i'll regret....or is it too late already???
i'm freakin' out man !!!

 

[Al B. Fuct]

thank you al.....

now i just went out at 7:00 a.m. to check on the op...my 1000w comes on at 6:00a.m. and my hps light bulb was just barely flickering a light faint blue color ......?????has it blown or what!!???

Most likely it has. It may have been cycling on and off for a week or two- that's characteristic of HPS tubes at end of life.It's also characteristic of a hot-start, where power was interrupted and re-applied before the lamp tube fully cools down. HPS lamps do not like to be hot-started. Unplug it, wait 15 mins and try to strike it. It may just start. If your lamp has been hot-started several timies, its life will be shortened.

now i have a little bullshit cfl hanging in the flower room....is this gonna be enough to convince my flowering babies its daylight....what effect is this going to have on .....well, everything?

None, if you nip out & get a new lamp tube today or tomorrow.

what kind of time frame do i have before i cause damage i'll regret....or is it too late already???
i'm freakin' out man !!!

Don't freak out, relax.

In flowering a total failure of a lamp is not a big deal. Long dark cycles hurt flowering plants less than a timer failure which leaves the lamp on too long. They can live in the dark for a couple days with no ill effect, but much longer and you'll lose some production. Running the CFL won't hurt anything but it probably won't do much bud production either.

A lamp failure in vegging plants IS a big problem. Mums, for example, could be triggered into flowering after a couple days' darkness.

My greater concern is if the lamp were cycling for a while before it failed. That may trigger some hermaphrodism.

Just get a new lamp in as soon as you can, she'll be right.

Pays to have a spare. You get spares by replacing lamps on a schedule, before they croak. I relamp every 12 mos though most HPS tubes will run 2 years. They lose a lot of output after 12 mos,so makers usually recommend yearly relamping for horticultural use of HPS. I have several old HPS tubes which have a few mos left in them for use in a pinch.

 

[BigBudBalls]

Hey Al, is there a hydro that isn't too fussy about res temp? I would think ebb-flow/flood-drain might not be fussy.

And am I off base on thinking that the res temp being too warm and getting root rot is more for systems that have the roots in water all the time?

thanks

 

[Al B. Fuct]

Hey Al, is there a hydro that isn't too fussy about res temp? I would think ebb-flow/flood-drain might not be fussy.

And am I off base on thinking that the res temp being too warm and getting root rot is more for systems that have the roots in water all the time?

You're spot-on.

Keeping tanks below 26C is necessary as above that, dissolved O2 is easily lost from the solution, but you're right, without roots in the res, it's less important.

I've never even checked the temps of my flood system tanks, not once.

 

[grandpabear3]

thanks al...i'm on my way to get a new bulb.
my power was interupted today and it has happened 15-20 times in the month it has been running.....yep brand new from hydro supply.com
i planned on gettin a replacement but thought i'd have more than a month.

thank you for your help i feel much better.kiss-ass

 

[gvega187]

Al, I noticed that you use a sulfur burner in one of your pics. I just employed one in my flowering room and my entire house is slowly starting to smell like sulfur.

The label warns against any inhalation etc. Should I get out of my house? Is it to late? AM i already dead? LOL

 

[hybrid]

Clones which are taking a long time to set root very frequently show this problem, so do clones which have had some stem tip rot due to overwet media or a non-sterile cut.

Clones are running on nutes stored in the leaves while they were still attached to the mum. The nutes run out in about 14-16 days or so. Appears as yellowing leaves and progresses to necrosis, eventually dropping the leaf, seems to start on the lower fan leaves first.

Overwatered clones can go a sickly sallow green all over, with distortion of leaves i.e. shrivelling, twisting.

The difference between one clone and its mates can be several; the part of the mum that one clone was taken from may have stored more nutes; the media on the sickie may have been too wet.

Successful cloning processes give you a plant that looks like it was just cut off the mum yesterday.

you mis-understood me, I asked about the plant (mum/mom) that unlike its siblings, turned yellow green after it had been chopped. I didnt know what to say to the poor dude, looks like the mom is going to extinct herself instead of recovering and providing more clones.

dude said he poured urine in the planter (soil) for nitrogen. I suppose its feasible but kind of akward?

 

[Al B. Fuct]

thanks al...i'm on my way to get a new bulb.
my power was interupted today and it has happened 15-20 times in the month it has been running.....yep brand new from hydro supply.com
i planned on gettin a replacement but thought i'd have more than a month.

thank you for your help i feel much better.

no worries. I would have expected more than a month out of the thing too, but 15-20 hot-starts on the tube would be enough to make it very unhappy.

Can't find one just this instant, but I think I have seen devices intended for use with aircon units which prevent power from being re-applied immediately after a power fail, rather holds power off for about 5 mins minimum when it comes back on. I'll keep an eye out for them, just for you.

Al, I noticed that you use a sulfur burner in one of your pics. I just employed one in my flowering room and my entire house is slowly starting to smell like sulfur.

The label warns against any inhalation etc. Should I get out of my house? Is it to late? AM i already dead? LOL

Here's a snip from Cornell Univ:

TOXICOLOGICAL EFFECTS

ACUTE TOXICITY

Sulfur is known to be of low toxicity, and poses very little if any risk to human and animal health (1, 8). Short-term studies show that sulfur is of very low acute oral toxicity and does not irritate the skin (it has been placed in EPA Toxicity Category IV, the least toxic category, for these effects). Sulfur also is not a skin sensitizer. However, it can cause some eye irritation, dermal toxicity and inhalation hazards (8).

In other words, excessive exposure to S vapour may irritate your eyes and give you a runny nose. It's not terribly hazardous stuff. Don't worry about it.

I am running my S 'burner' on a timer for 8 mins, 2x/day during lights-off (1 hr after lights-off & 1h before lights-on). That's plenty to keep powdery mildew totally suppressed. Might be able to go lower. If you are running yours for longer than that, back down to 8min/2x/day, see if that doesn't reduce the scent. Keep dialing it down until you see powdery mildew come back and bump it back up a little.

you mis-understood me, I asked about the plant (mum/mom) that unlike its siblings, turned yellow green after it had been chopped.

Oh, I see. Yes, I have seen that happen to older mother plants. It's been coincidental with doing a pass of cuttings, but plants which have gotten rather rootbound or perhaps have picked up some gnats in the rootball sometimes croak after doing a pass of cuts.

dude said he poured urine in the planter (soil) for nitrogen. I suppose its feasible but kind of akward?

And smelly! I suppose piss is 14% N, but I can think of much better ways to get N to my plants.. .you know, fertilisers, hydro nutes, all that...

 

[BigBudBalls]

You're spot-on.

Keeping tanks below 26C is necessary as above that, dissolved O2 is easily lost from the solution, but you're right, without roots in the res, it's less important.

I've never even checked the temps of my flood system tanks, not once.

Thanks man. I do appreciate the effort/advice!


Ok here's a newbie Q. Does the dissolved O2 concentration matter with a flood drain? The roots are not in water most of the time.

OK, I can understand the rockwool (one hellava sponge!) vs hydroton vs perlite vs etc. will factor in.

Wouldn't roots use nutes and O2 when available?

(tossing an air pump in isn't a prob in the least. Adjusting temps is a good draw on utilities. Looking for info mostly)