A Tale of The Tape HPA vs 21st Century Flood and Drain

PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
Experimenting with the left overs

Notice how red the photos are. This is due to replacing one ATI Spec Blue Actinic with one UVL Aquasun (light pink hue). Interesting but the plants don't look so red to the naked eye

Where I contemplated swapping the other ATI for a Quantum Grow bulb, I am going to do so as this looks like too much red for my Sat dom strain to flower under.

FWIW: Just swapped bulbs. The reflective color in the room now looks like daylight

HPA

First 2 photos; as you can see the colas are growing toward the ATI light. Could be a sign that that much blue was sending veg signals

F & D

This plant has been through hell and back. I would pull it, but since it's under the same light I am curious to know how much it might recover. I smoked a small bud this morning and it def gets the job done.

Now that I pulled the other plant from the hpa side, the remaining plant root is getting better mist coverage. The new root growth is due to being closer to that mist head

Seems like I had more to say, but that little bud has affected my brain:weed:

Well here's one thing, the 3 clones I took in late flower have decent roots, but still no new leaf growth:sad:


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PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
Smoke Update

Only smoking small dry pop corn. Will be doing a proper cure once the branches start snapping

Interestingly, I feel as though something is going on in my right brain hemisphere and right eye- sort of like a very subtle but concentrated pressure. DODODODODODO
 
PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
It took a few days, but it finally dawned on me that since I am in a quasi reveg/flower mode, I should pull the 660 (at least for a few weeks). :wall:

That got me thinking, I had my lights on 10/14 so I need to add one hour daylight AND to increase nute strength.

Clone update:

2/3 are finally beginning to develop new leaves, and one of them does look weird, but that is how new leaves begin begins when you take late flowering clones. These are also very small, should have cut another node lower.
 
polyarcturus

polyarcturus

Well-Known Member
16-18 hours on for veg would be better or you could do the "red burst" thing if you read the links i posts in the advanced thread.
 
PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
We're going to disagree on veg time. According to SX (The Lurker) any grow/flower benefits drop off rapidly after after 14 hours. I tried it and it works for me. 14/10 veg, 10/14 flower (with a brief respite at 12/12)

Now, since I am down to basically one 9" cola (hpa) and a plant near death in my F & D, the only part worth saving is/was the 4" top cola, but the stem snapped just below the cola, I propped it up, but it just isn't getting much nutrient, SO, I decided to cut back to 4 bulbs; 2 FS + 2 AS: ASs to be replaced in ~ 10-14 days with Red Suns, then one RS replaced with 660
 
polyarcturus

polyarcturus

Well-Known Member
PetFlora said:
We're going to disagree on veg time. According to SX (The Lurker) any grow/flower benefits drop off rapidly after after 14 hours. I tried it and it works for me. 14/10 veg, 10/14 flower (with a brief respite at 12/12)
Click to expand...
your being to literal i do not believe it is going to photosynthesize at full strength or for it to be that beneficial, but rather the light itself for the extra hour will guarantee inhibition of flowering. i run my lights 24/0 for but only 12 hours are at full 6 bulb strength. the other 12 is 2 bulb florasuns.(red helps to inhibit flowering using this cycle when i was using blue bulbs plants would begin to flower)
 
polyarcturus

polyarcturus

Well-Known Member
so in other words we agree although my source was books and articles, they tell you 16 hours is the point of saturation a plant cannot use more light than what it can receive in 16 hours.
 
PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
Light is not the only cause of flowering. Another experience I had this grow was I increased nute ppms during veg (14 hrs) > 500; within 7 days the plants started sexing. I cut the ppms < 400 and they reverted to veg.

F & D Update

The plant gave it up over night. I expected this above the break, but the whole plant was wilted. Flood cycles are/were working so I don't have a clue, but as I said earlier, it had been through hell and back
 
PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
Only experienced sexing (3 plants) when I went above 400ppms of Veg+ BLOOM. I said to myself WTF? Then I recalled reading HR FAQs that higher PK will trigger sexing, so I backed it down to 400 and they stopped. Later, prior to lowering the lights to 11/13, I increased ppms to 500 and as before, they sexed. That's my story and I'm stickin to it.

I think I figured out why the plant in my F & D died. It was weak already and when I sprayed again for aphids, the runoff probably was more than the smallish root ball could handle (due to not covering the lava rock) DOH :wall:

I just hope you guys appreciate me psoting my F-UPs so you don't have to :weed:
 
PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
As I was taking the F & D plant out to chop I noticed a single seedling (~ 1") growing on the lava rock, so I decided to put it in my DIY bubbler without inserting into a grow/starter plug. ~ 1/4" tap root is sticking out. Time will tell, but I am mostly in wind down mode. Need to clean sterilize for the SM & aphids.

Since I still have the revegging plant in hpa I decided to put the 3 clones (which are basically stagnant) in there to see whether they will take off. If anything develops I will post pics.

I decided to put my cigar humidor to use for drying part of my recent harvest. It has a nice analog hygrometer and stays pretty stable at RH of ~ 57.
 
PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
I do not follow conventional 'wisdom' (not). I germ 20/4 until 3rd leaf set, then 18/6 for ~ 5 days, then 14/10. Simultaneously, I start out with 2/8 bulbs, and work my way up to 8 bulbs for the duration.

Lately, I have been thinking about how mj matures in nature.

We know that the plants spectral requirements change: more red spectrums, less blue, BUT also the amount of light (hours per day) and INTENSITY diminishes.

SO, I am thinking to reduce the number of flowering bulbs over the ~ 2 months of flower cycle.

FYI, I combine Zoomed FloraSun + UVL Red Life + Wave Tech Coral Wave + UVL 660 (last 2-3 weeks only) from 8> 6>4> 2, dropping 2/week at ~ 7 day intervals
 
G

Gravy Boat

Active Member
As a rule I do not tend to join or post on forums, but after following your adventures I have to say that your "DIY 21st Century F & D" deserves a thread of its own. I was about to build a "LPA" (flowering two plants in a 2x4 footprint) as my first step into hydroponics but now I would like to copy this system, I and perhaps many other 'lurkers' like myself would like to know further details about the type of nozzles (how many/which type per plant),the timer and the pump that you used as well as any thing that you would do differently if you were (are ?) to redesign it. I have found this thread to be incredibly informative and would like to say thanks to all who have contributed, please keep up the good work.
 
PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
SDS & Gravy, thanks. Glad I peaked your interest. I am constantly playing with the pvc position, number of mist heads...

Basically, you want enough low pressure flooding to sufficiently wet the lava rocks to stay somewhat wet between floodings (~ 4-6oz per AP). Finding the range is a combination of time and volume. The more volume the shorter the time and vice versa.

It is virtually idiot proof (which is why I like it). There are enough things to distract your attention.

The most critical component is the timer. You need one where both o/o settings are easily adjustable. Just before lights off I increase time between feedings to ~ 4-6 hours, then drop back during lights on. When plants are young I don't feed too frequently ~ 1/hr. As the plant grows so does the root system, so I increase number of feedings. During late veg every 20-30 minutes. Just just have to eyeball it watching growth

VEG+BLOOM nutes are very pH stable, and my plants love it. If you do a www search, you will see lots of people getting awesome results. A huge plus is low ppms throughout saves $$$$, + no need for $$$$ bloom boosters. Plus since feedings are 2-3xs per hour, high ppms are counterproductive.

My rez is only 2G, more than enough for 4-6 plants in 0.9G Air Pots. Once you hit mid-bloom the plants will drink a lot so make enough to replenish during the week

I learned a hard lesson disinfecting the lava rock with too much bleach- and I did rinse heavily. Good thing I checked pH after 2 days because, pH was > 10! I immediately long flushed, but the plants paid the price becoming hermies. So listen up folks. The 2 attached pics are from F & D prior to flipping

Good thing my simplified HPA came around this time. I have 3 lovely hpa girls fattening up now + still getting taller. Pic is 7 days old. Both have filled out considerably. Now that I have it dialed in, in may be even simpler than My DIY 21st Century Flood & Drain, BUT it uses considerably more nutes during flower

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stardustsailor

stardustsailor

Well-Known Member
This HPA thing is way fantastic...
Great job there,PetFlora...
Really great job ...
Most impressive root-ball ,ever seen ...
Thumbs up !
 
PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
Thanks SDS. Hope to better that one on my current grow over on IC

Gravy, I just noticed you asked about whose nozzles and what I would do different. I have a new grow thread on IC. Check it out
 
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