welp. after lengthy discussions with myself, the internet, and the local hydro guy, i am and have been overfeeding. and feeding crap too. now i knew that, but didnt think it would be so...idk subtle. also havent checked the waters pH but its a solid bet that the water is around 7. WHO KNOWS what pH my nutes turn the water...so all my claw is from some sort of feeding problem. time to pick up real nutrients. the local hydro shop has, well everything. im thinking of just going with the classic fox farm loadout. there are a couple brands they carry that are completely organic as well, but im not sold on buying liquid organics when it sounds like i could make my own. and other reasons, but whatever. i will be buying nutes today or tomorrow, soon. feeding time soon. going to start at recommended dosage for the stage they are at, both in flower and in veg cause they do need food but the right kind of food, dont want to strip the soil of nutes by doing a serious water only with lots of runoff, although maybe i WILL do that let them dry half a day, then feed with the correct amount of correct nutes...at the correct pH as well. going to have to get some pH up and down too...damn...looking at 50 for the 3 pack of FF nutes and 12 each for pH up and down...that seem reasonable to everyone?
i took 4 clones last night. trimmed off my mother, which means these 4 clones are the first to come from a plant thats in the vegetative stage of growth. meaning faster rooting. hopefully. they are in a jiffy humidity dome in 2" rockwool cubes, within the 2by cab. there are 8 - 23 watt cfls in there right now. this is probably too much yes? need one or 2 bulbs for clones? would LOVE SOME CLARIFICATION HERE. i put more bulbs on actually to raise the temp in there, down around 68 or so with only 2 bulbs running, is this ok?
anyways i am researching/planning how i will be doing hydro. i have come up with a hybrid aeroponics/bubbleponics/dwc plan that i am hoping will work. i plan to start with 3 gallon black buckets with the larger sized net pots. what i will do is this: i will plant the rooted clone in hydroton in the net pot, fill the bucket to maybe quarter to half an inch above the level of the bottom of the net pot, and then run an airstone down thru the hydroton and net pot so i dont have to drill any holes and run the airstone all the time. this way the system is modular and i can add to it as i need to. also, i will have 5 gallon buckets in the flower cab to transfer the net pot over to when its time to flower. so the idea is you check the nutrient solution's pH and ppms and top it off as needed while slowly letting the level of the nutrient solution in the bucket decrease as the root mass increases. i believe this is a hybrid bubbleponics/hempys style hydro. it should be relatively cheap, easy, and simple. which is a GREAT way to start something you know nothing about. lol. anyways the roots should be able to be immersed completely in the solution if the solution is extremely aerated. i hear that you dont necessarily want to reach supersaturation levels, but somewhere approaching, thats what the bubbleponics website says about their research and studies have shown...
excited to try it out. MORE excited about my plants coming back to full vigorous health. new nutes, here i come!
you can kill a plant overnight! but not in this situation, i'm sure this environmental, well almost positive anway, good luck man
...rw