Fykshun
Active Member
Hola RIU newbs (and bored pros),
Just thought I'd post a few practical newb lessons here and there. I am not a pro or even a novice, I'm a newb that has grown for a few years and I'm finally learning a thing or two and want to share my bonehead mistakes.
Firstly, I'm one of those guys that's smoked for longer than I care to admit, now have access to good cash flow, and thought that buying a plant to health was doable. I pieced together a whole setup in one shot and read the first reputable thread I could to assemble it (not that I knew a shit about anything).
First the setup, and then I'll tell you all about what I've done wrong in the past:
Simple Drain to Waste DWC in two 5gal buckets; 10" net pots with hydroton (clay balls) and rockwool cube.
Currently a pair of TGA Subcool Qrazy Train clones
Pac NW tap water is fantastic - I use it after overnight natural off-gassing of chlorine & fluoride
3 part GH Flora Series with FloraBlend, Floraliscious Plus, and Liquid KoolBloom - all measurements from GH iPhone application calculator
I no longer use H2O2
1 Secret Jardin DR120 II (Pro) - 4' X 4' X 6.5'
1 400w MH/HPS switchable digi ballast
1 6" Cooltube w/ wide reflector
1 6" CanFan (290 cfm) and rate matched carbon filter (fan on a speed controller)
1 70w air pump with 8 line splitter (4 lines per bucket; 2" blue cylinders on all)
1 smaller air pump (watts? - 30 or 40) with 6 line splitter (2 in use; 1 per bucket on tp-down drip rings - small timed cycles if plant's look like it's needed only)
1 Holmes adjustable oscillating tower fan - pointed to back of tent
A hygrometer and a portable heater (Pac NW US climates are wet and 40s / 50s in winter, 80s are high in summer)
I do use a BlueLab Truncheon to measure PPM and I use both a digital pH meter and the old fashioned liquid in a vile - digi for a week, then test with liquid to ensure the digi isn't going wonky on me - and yes, I calibrate with proper liquids, just less frequently.
My setup is in an insulated house-attached space with plenty of passive intake; my CanFan exhausts through a 6" vent to the outside - so an open system (no supplemental CO2)
So, I won't bore you death too much, so I'll start at the beginning, and trickle out the mistakes in short simple bursts:
The first mistake:
1.) I read, read, read, read, and read this damn forum, and never once listened to my plants. I got good advice, bad advice, I misinterpreted advice, I failed to pose clear questions and supply clear descriptions of my grow and grow space, but I nevertheless kept fucking with my system daily without listening to my plants and without ever letting the reservoirs just settle down.
The things I just wouldn't leave alone:
pH'ing - all the time to try and hit 5.6 or 5.7 - I never let it swing from 5.5 to 6.5, and therefor never let my roots rest in the natural swing through available nutrients, I just kept locking them up through pH fluctuation stress, which means ROOT ROT
H2O2 - I never read about it, I never understood how it interacted with organic material, i never new what a sterile versus organic DWC reservoir was, and therefor I kept killing naturally occurring good bacteria on roots and feeding the bad ones in a confused reservoir, which means ROOT ROT
Fans - I added oscillating fans, moved them daily, got a tower fan, took them all out, pointed them up, down, at, away...all the effing time - I sped up my exhaust, I slowed it down, I got HEPA covers for my passive intake, etc...BUT I never just let the damn things be
So, bottom line for this first entry of mine, is this important lesson:
HAVE PATIENCE, let your plants chill out in a steady environment that can be analyzed one component at a time, and then make small adjustments to one component at a time only after seeking solid advice from someone you trust that can show you images to compare one problem at a time.
This is only the beginning of my flaws...I will share more.
Peace
Just thought I'd post a few practical newb lessons here and there. I am not a pro or even a novice, I'm a newb that has grown for a few years and I'm finally learning a thing or two and want to share my bonehead mistakes.
Firstly, I'm one of those guys that's smoked for longer than I care to admit, now have access to good cash flow, and thought that buying a plant to health was doable. I pieced together a whole setup in one shot and read the first reputable thread I could to assemble it (not that I knew a shit about anything).
First the setup, and then I'll tell you all about what I've done wrong in the past:
Simple Drain to Waste DWC in two 5gal buckets; 10" net pots with hydroton (clay balls) and rockwool cube.
Currently a pair of TGA Subcool Qrazy Train clones
Pac NW tap water is fantastic - I use it after overnight natural off-gassing of chlorine & fluoride
3 part GH Flora Series with FloraBlend, Floraliscious Plus, and Liquid KoolBloom - all measurements from GH iPhone application calculator
I no longer use H2O2
1 Secret Jardin DR120 II (Pro) - 4' X 4' X 6.5'
1 400w MH/HPS switchable digi ballast
1 6" Cooltube w/ wide reflector
1 6" CanFan (290 cfm) and rate matched carbon filter (fan on a speed controller)
1 70w air pump with 8 line splitter (4 lines per bucket; 2" blue cylinders on all)
1 smaller air pump (watts? - 30 or 40) with 6 line splitter (2 in use; 1 per bucket on tp-down drip rings - small timed cycles if plant's look like it's needed only)
1 Holmes adjustable oscillating tower fan - pointed to back of tent
A hygrometer and a portable heater (Pac NW US climates are wet and 40s / 50s in winter, 80s are high in summer)
I do use a BlueLab Truncheon to measure PPM and I use both a digital pH meter and the old fashioned liquid in a vile - digi for a week, then test with liquid to ensure the digi isn't going wonky on me - and yes, I calibrate with proper liquids, just less frequently.
My setup is in an insulated house-attached space with plenty of passive intake; my CanFan exhausts through a 6" vent to the outside - so an open system (no supplemental CO2)
So, I won't bore you death too much, so I'll start at the beginning, and trickle out the mistakes in short simple bursts:
The first mistake:
1.) I read, read, read, read, and read this damn forum, and never once listened to my plants. I got good advice, bad advice, I misinterpreted advice, I failed to pose clear questions and supply clear descriptions of my grow and grow space, but I nevertheless kept fucking with my system daily without listening to my plants and without ever letting the reservoirs just settle down.
The things I just wouldn't leave alone:
pH'ing - all the time to try and hit 5.6 or 5.7 - I never let it swing from 5.5 to 6.5, and therefor never let my roots rest in the natural swing through available nutrients, I just kept locking them up through pH fluctuation stress, which means ROOT ROT
H2O2 - I never read about it, I never understood how it interacted with organic material, i never new what a sterile versus organic DWC reservoir was, and therefor I kept killing naturally occurring good bacteria on roots and feeding the bad ones in a confused reservoir, which means ROOT ROT
Fans - I added oscillating fans, moved them daily, got a tower fan, took them all out, pointed them up, down, at, away...all the effing time - I sped up my exhaust, I slowed it down, I got HEPA covers for my passive intake, etc...BUT I never just let the damn things be
So, bottom line for this first entry of mine, is this important lesson:
HAVE PATIENCE, let your plants chill out in a steady environment that can be analyzed one component at a time, and then make small adjustments to one component at a time only after seeking solid advice from someone you trust that can show you images to compare one problem at a time.
This is only the beginning of my flaws...I will share more.
Peace
