1600Kw vertical grow tent. Hybrid Aero/RDWC build.

Jozikins

Well-Known Member
Cool dude. If you want an easy way to get the roots in the cubes, I used to just split the soaked cube open like a hot dog bun and stuck the roots in the middle, folded it back up, and put it back in it's plastic or into another cube. Roots usually show within 5 days. This is how me and a old room mate did it with an aerocloner when we were just clone farmers.
 

drekoushranada

Well-Known Member
I made a few mods in the tent. All of the males are out. The temps stay around 81-82f. The RH has been 46-55. The PPM's are at 600. Are there are things you I think I need to improve on?
 

medicine21

Active Member
Looking good, man! How are the water temps?

Your setup is cool, the only thing I don't like about it is that the plants all surround the light, thus only receiving light from one side. Unless, you are constantly rotating them, but that would be a pain...

The ideal vert setup is like this: (X=plant, O=light)

5 plants / 4 lights.
X O X
O X O
X O X

And even better is this 4 plant / 5 light configuration. All plants here get light from 3 sides.

O X O
X O X
O X O

Usually vert and setups I gave above are for growing trees, which does not seem to be the case for you? I could be wrong, but I think you would've been better off with a horizontal setup unless you got no headroom at all? How come you went vert?
 

drekoushranada

Well-Known Member
Looking good, man! How are the water temps?

Your setup is cool, the only thing I don't like about it is that the plants all surround the light, thus only receiving light from one side. Unless, you are constantly rotating them, but that would be a pain...

The ideal vert setup is like this: (X=plant, O=light)

5 plants / 4 lights.
X O X
O X O
X O X

And even better is this 4 plant / 5 light configuration. All plants here get light from 3 sides.

O X O
X O X
O X O

Usually vert and setups I gave above are for growing trees, which does not seem to be the case for you? I could be wrong, but I think you would've been better off with a horizontal setup unless you got no headroom at all? How come you went vert?
I went vert because it was cheaper and a lot simpler to design for me and im running multiple strains so the canopy height is of no concern with me with the vert set up. This is my first grow so I will most certainly learn from this grow. Trying to gain some experience. Yeah im not really growing trees yet. But I did want the plants to surround the lights. The tent is 6'6". But with the pots I would have to take off another 2 feet from that. The water temps are 75-77f. I keep a Heisenberg Microbe Tea going in the system at all times and I must say the plants love it. I check the root zone 2-4 times a week maybe more and it has not been any signs of slime. The pics may make it seem like the plants are not getting any light on the other side but my camera makes it dark like that. Trust me when I say its no shaded part in the tent. I turned the plants once the males were taken out which was a few days ago and they have already taken over that area. I did a little LST which the plants loved. +rep for stopping by. So any other advice will be very welcomed. Im new to this so im trying to grab as much knowledge as I can.
 

medicine21

Active Member
Cool, man. I hope it works out for you. You definitely will learn a lot! I would however, still suggest you go horizontal next time. Nevertheless, your plants look great and you are doing well!
 

drekoushranada

Well-Known Member
Cool, man. I hope it works out for you. You definitely will learn a lot! I would however, still suggest you go horizontal next time. Nevertheless, your plants look great and you are doing well!
I will give horizontal a try for my next run to see how it goes.
 

Ponicengineer

Well-Known Member
All you need to start is earthworm castings, molasses and mycorrhizae. Molasses you can get from any grocery store. They sell horticulture grade molasses, I have some but that is because it was gifted, but I used to use normal unsulfured molasses. Sulfur is a benefit though, it is not common to get a Sulfur deficiency, but i have experienced it in the past, with 2 strains in particular.

You can get worm castings from any good nursery, molasses you can get at the grocery store or hydro store, I know the Hi-Brix by Earth Juice is thinner and easier to pour, it is also a very reasonable 18 bucks for 1 gallon. But if you get the grocery store stuff just pop a pre measured amount into the microwave and heat it for a few seconds to soften it up. I like to use a ceramic espresso shot glass for that. Mycorrhizae you can get from a variety of hydroponic outlets and from high end nurserys. You can find it in a liquid or powdered form, but powder goes a lot further. The best part about teas is that you only need a little bit, the idea is that it breeds and multiplies in the bucket so you can make a product that is only good for 50 servings, and make 150 servings out of it.

Optional and recommended additives:
Sea Kelp extract (powdered is preferred for this application)
Guano; bat or seabird; I prefer Jamaican Bat Guano for it's high PK ratio
Fish Emulsion
Nematodes, they defend your plant from fungus gnats and root aphids!
Any product for plants that says "microbe," "bacteria," "fungi," and of course, trichoderma.
I put sulfur in my peppers when I grow them as good peppers need sulfur. Take a book of matches and cut the heads off with scissors. Position them depending on what type of system you run so the water takes the sulfur heads and dissolves them. It has worked great for me in the past.
 

Jozikins

Well-Known Member
I put sulfur in my peppers when I grow them as good peppers need sulfur. Take a book of matches and cut the heads off with scissors. Position them depending on what type of system you run so the water takes the sulfur heads and dissolves them. It has worked great for me in the past.
For reals? That is fucking ingenuity! But you can also buy pure elemental sulfer from any excellent nursery (I put stress on excellent) or any high end hydroponics shop. They sell it for both sulfur burners for rot/mildew, or as a pH amendment. It works fantastic to amend soil pH, my azalea's and camellia's will vouch for me... now I just need to get them out of the sunlight! I trimmed up the trees on my property to get more light to my cannabis, but I accidentally exposed all my shade loving parts of my garden to partial or even full sunlight now. Dammit. But I prefer the ganja to the camellias, although they both have pretty flowers :)

I also highly recommend a dry humic acid in your teas!

I bet if someone's tea was a little to alkaline they could brew it up with sulfur to fix the pH.... actually, that sounds stupid, that sounds like a recipe for fucking disaster. I would try it myself, but my tea always comes out very acidic at about 5.0, and I usually just add a little potassium silicate to my reservoir and then mix in the tea, and it all comes out to about 5.7-5.9 in the end. Love it!
 

drekoushranada

Well-Known Member
The plants in the 10" net pots dont have massive root balls like the ones in the 3" pots. It may also be because I have drip stakes feeding water from the top also. Do you think this could be a reason? It is day 12 of flower. Other than that the plants look awesome!
 

Jozikins

Well-Known Member
Drippers are why, yeah. Usually people turn them off as soon as the roots hit the drink. You can use smaller net pots next time as well. 10" pots are pretty big.
 

drekoushranada

Well-Known Member
Drippers are why, yeah. Usually people turn them off as soon as the roots hit the drink. You can use smaller net pots next time as well. 10" pots are pretty big.
So just turn off the off the other pump? Will it make a real difference if I didnt? Just trying to see if it will be best to keep the water circulation up.
 

ironheadxl

Well-Known Member
+ rep THAT! My motto,...."Less is more" ....ESPECIALLY in hydro. I use 1/3 the nutes I did in soil. I rarely break 800ppm in flower, avg 500-600 This is awesome advice that we rarely see. Many like to push ppm to the limit thinking the more food, the better. I'm not a believer. In time you will learn to listen to what the plants are saying and address what they need as they tell you.
spot fuckin' on too.
 

drekoushranada

Well-Known Member
the stout indica like leaves sure look like they want to be cloned and scrogged. Awesome first grow, bang right out of the chute.
Thanks a lot. Once I get settled I shall get into the cloning game. In still trying to figure out what plants are Sativa or Indica. Most of them look like freaking hybrids even the bagseed.
 

drekoushranada

Well-Known Member
Once roots hit the drink real good, turn off the water pump.
Ok cool. I want to make the diameter of the cage smaller but I dont think that will be a good idea. The plants are growing into it with their big fan leaves. Do the bud sites need direct light or are the size of the buds based off the amount of light the plant gets in general?
 

Jozikins

Well-Known Member
Ok cool. I want to make the diameter of the cage smaller but I dont think that will be a good idea. The plants are growing into it with their big fan leaves. Do the bud sites need direct light or are the size of the buds based off the amount of light the plant gets in general?
That question is HIGHLY debatable. But for the most part, you do need more light coming to the bud sites, though I and others argue that as long as the leaves attached the nugs are being well lit, there shouldn't be much of a difference. Only in the final week or two when the fan leaves really aren't doing anything do you want to remove some that could be blocking nugs. I would not ever recommend removing leaves before that point unless they are causing a circulation issue.

I don't see an issue caused by shrinking the screen, besides the shadows will thicken up from the chicken wire obstructing the light.
 

drekoushranada

Well-Known Member
I just dont want the plants to keep burning their leaves if I do shrink the cage. It may be best to wait until the stretch period is done huh? I will let the fan leaves be. Im about to put the other hps in the tent. I can tell that the side that gets the mh light grows alot different than the hps side. i like the hps side better. I will add the mh bach during the final weeks of flower. I may just add my cfl that I have from a reef tank for some overhead lighting. Its 48" long and about 300 true watts. Its more of a blue spectrum. Im sure the plants can figure out a way to use that extra light. I will cut the other water pump tomorrow.
 
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