Al B. FAQt

hey you seem to help alot of people out with there problems.... thanks for all the help to everyone. you must have exp. up the butt. lol..... um i have a prob. im pretty sure you can help me with. my plants leaves are curling upward and on the top in the middle growing outward my plant it losing color ... meaning turning light green. is it a simple over watering or is there somthing seriously wrong?

heres some pics:

Thanks again from me and everyone *puff,puff, and passes it on to you*

saturnlily said:

you must have exp. up the butt. lol.....

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Funnily enough, 'up the butt' isn't amongst my experience set. I have only ONE tattoo; it's a downward pointing arrow on my lower back with the words "EXIT ONLY."

is it a simple over watering or is there somthing seriously wrong?

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If the medium has been kept saturated, it probably is overwatering. Allow the medium to lose at least half its water weight before watering again.

thank you so much!!! lol, ya i wasnt meaning it that way just meant alot as in ....well lol, alot. ok, will do i just wanted to make sure thanks again and have a good day.

Al, just wondering what is the best procedure to get rid of brown, slimy roots?

Al B. Fuct said:

one thing while I'm thinking of it... it's really quite surprising how LITTLE you need to grow great dope with hydroponics. Nutes and pathogen control, pH adjustment as needed. That's all. No bloom blaster, bud lead, monster hooey, bee semen or other madness are needed... Incidentally, don't depend on your local hydro shop clerk for advice on magic sauces. If s/he really knew what they were talking about, they'd not be hawking magic sauces at minimum wage for a crust- they'd be running productive grow ops.

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Dude...that's about the funniest and truest shit I've ever heard!!!

Rock on!!!

Chumlie said:

Al, just wondering what is the best procedure to get rid of brown, slimy roots?

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Apply H2O2 50% grade @ 1ml/L every 3-4 days to nutrient solutions. Will knock it fast. If you have a large accumulation of pathogens in your nute sauce (may appear as whitish, gelatinous gack in the tank), do a 1-shot shock treatment with 50% grade H2O2 @ 5ml/L then return to dosing on the usual rate/sked.

corral hollow kid said:

Dude...that's about the funniest and truest shit I've ever heard!!!

Rock on!!!

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Well, I have the distinct disadvantage of having wholesale accts at a few hydro equip suppliers. I know what the retail shops are paying for their product and thus their markup. I also know a fair bit about marketing. Read the information-poor labels on these magic sauces with a critical eye and a clue about what plants really need... and you'll be as astonished and sceptical as I am about what is claimed for some of these sauces.

Well Im sure its in the res, but the weird thing is only one plant has the problem the rest seem to be fine I think it has been over watered. It happen when I change the res about three days ago cus of fungus, so when I put them all back I lightly sprayed the top of the pelets with fungusicide. On this perticular plant there was signs of thrips. You know that shiny shit on the leaves so I sprayed it with insecticide.

That could be the answer right there. Also I can only get 3%. Ill look back to see if I can find your amount for that, but I use organics so I don't know about that one.

Also, how would a airpurifier put more moisture in the air, since I got one my moisture has gone from 50-60% to 71%. Whats up with that?

Al, have you started using PK 13-14 again, on week 5 of flowering?
If so, was there a big different from not using it?

Chumlie said:

I lightly sprayed the top of the pelets with fungusicide.

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Sorry, that will have no effect. Most of the pathogen load will be in the res & rootmass, not on the surface of the pellets. What did you use for a fungicide?

On this perticular plant there was signs of thrips. You know that shiny shit on the leaves so I sprayed it with insecticide.

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Yep, thrips can be a problem. They're persistent, too. Not quite as tough as spider mites but very small and hard to totally get rid of. What insecticide did you use? Did you vacuum out the entire op & spray everything, all at once? That's what it takes.

That could be the answer right there. Also I can only get 3%. Ill look back to see if I can find your amount for that,

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3% is simply impractical in a hydro op. It requires 17ml/L at that strength, every 3-4 days. In my 125L tanks, that would be 2125ml per tank every 3-4 days. Since the chemist usually stocks 250ml bottles of the 3% stuff, I'd need 8.5 bottles per tank every 3-4 days- and I have 4 tanks in my flowering area, so I'd need 34x 250ml bottles every 3-4 days. You think the local chemist will notice?

You won't find 50% (or 35%) at your chemist, you'll have to go to a hydro shop.

but I use organics so I don't know about that one.

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Stop right there. H2O2 is not compatible with organic nutes. H2O2 will break down organic nutrient molecules in the same way it attacks organic pathogens. Either use standard non-organic nutes or find an organic means of pathogen control, which is usually by way of competing organisms.

You're on your own with organic nutes. It's an awful lot harder to maintain a hydro op pathogen free if you cannot use H2O2. Remember, 'organic' means 'sourced from decomposing organic matter' not 'better' or 'safer.'

Also, how would a airpurifier put more moisture in the air, since I got one my moisture has gone from 50-60% to 71%. Whats up with that?

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Your air purifier is not adding any water to the air. Either your ambient air's humidity has gone up or you have added more wet things in the op which are transpiring moisture into the room air. Is the ambient air temp, that which you draw into the op, different from when you installed the purifier? Cooler, perhaps? Changed any of the ventilation system lately?

All my females are turning hermie, I have a 3x4x7 room w/ a 400w HPS it sits around 75 all the time, not sure the humidity i dont have a meter, but its not humid nor dry, they're only 1.5 weeks into flowering and 1 had 3 beautiful looking tops lots of white hairs coming out, then the nodes all look like they're male?!?! Do male tops look like white haired buds and I'm just a noob? or are they going hermie on me??? I have no light leaks, I had a power box w/ a red L.E.D on it I was told that would aggervate plants and cause them to possibly hermie, From the sounds of it you put most myths to shame so whats your opinion on the situation and is it to late to turn back if they started??? The genetics are Nirvana Big Bud and Nirvana Master Kush. Thanks!!!

fitzyno1 said:

Al, have you started using PK 13-14 again, on week 5 of flowering?
If so, was there a big different from not using it?

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I've shifted that specification to wk 6 but did add some when I mixed new tanks yesterday. I have a batch of inexplicably stunted plants in tray 4 at the moment, so they will not produce a fair comparison to what PK will do with healthy plants.

I have noted that yield is down in the batches where I have not used it but there were other problems going on in those batches and I eliminated everything non-essential to try to eliminate any possible causes.

I keep telling everyone here that I'm NOT any kind of guru- I do get it wrong sometimes and do have trouble sorting out my own op from time to time- this happens to be one of those times! The onset of winter changed some of my conds and I'm just now sorting things out.

Fungicide: Safer Brand
Insecticide: Bonide
both organic

No, change in anything but puting the purifier to catch things in the air. Right now I can't do everything like the pro's do, but iventually I'll get everything in a room only disign for a grow op.
But like I said its only that one plant so could it be over watering?
Next time Im going to do dripFed/veg and ebb&flow/flowering.

Madg420 said:

All my females are turning hermie, I have a 3x4x7 room w/ a 400w HPS it sits around 75 all the time, not sure the humidity i dont have a meter, but its not humid nor dry, they're only 1.5 weeks into flowering and 1 had 3 beautiful looking tops lots of white hairs coming out, then the nodes all look like they're male?!?! Do male tops look like white haired buds and I'm just a noob? or are they going hermie on me??? I have no light leaks, I had a power box w/ a red L.E.D on it I was told that would aggervate plants and cause them to possibly hermie, From the sounds of it you put most myths to shame so whats your opinion on the situation and is it to late to turn back if they started??? The genetics are Nirvana Big Bud and Nirvana Master Kush. Thanks!!!

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Pix would be very useful here, please.

A peak-memory thermometer/hygrometer is a necessary bit of kit. Put that on your shopping list. You need to know with some surety what's going on in your absence.

White hairs indicate female buds. See the GrowFAQ for the appearance differences between males and females.

A single red LED pilot lamp is quite unlikely to cause hermaphrodism across an entire batch. You can tape it over if it makes you uncomfortable or to simply eliminate it as a cause.

Sometimes you get bad DNA in a batch of seeds, prone to herms. I hope that's not the case here. Do your research, find out what male & female flowers should look like, post some pics & we'll talk about it again.

Hey Al,

I built a scrog cabinet, along with a clone section and a mother chamber. I figure the screen will be anywhere from 8-10 inches above the grow medium. I plan to grow in RW/Hydroton, letting the roots go down to the hydroton. Ebb/Flow. I have 10 seeds coming to me.

My goal is to grow these seeds, get rid of the males, get clones off females, flower and harvest the females, and choose a mother from the clones based on the best plant.

My problem is how I can sex the plants before they get put into the scrog setup. Or it might be how to best manage removing males from a scrog setup if I cannot sex them before it would be too late to fit them into the screen.

Do you have any input on how I can best go about that, or if it would even be possible?

If all else fails, I can just germ a couple seeds, sex their clones and make any ol female a mother, but I would prefer to get the best genetics of the bunch, and ideally getting the best bang for my time.

Chumlie said:

Fungicide: Safer Brand
Insecticide: Bonide
both organic

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Sorry, I don't know these products by their brand names. What's in them? What's the active ingredient as listed on the label?

No, change in anything but puting the purifier to catch things in the air.

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I can promise you this much, it's not your purifier adding moisture to the air. Something else has changed, perhaps the ambient RH is higher or ambient temp is cooler.

But like I said its only that one plant so could it be over watering?

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could be, but H2O2 will sort it out. Adjust your watering so you don't water this plant until 50% of its stored water weight is used up.

Next time Im going to do dripFed/veg and ebb&flow/flowering.

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Why not just run flood for everything? Why the difference? Drip systems have this nasty tendency to clog drippers, requiring cleaning every other day to prevent clogging the drippers with nute salts.

My two other option for RH is fast plant growth despensing moisture are the bad weather were having in this area for the last 3 weeks may have increas the RH.

This is what the label looks like
Safer
Active In.................BY WT

Sorry about that.

Sulfur................0.40%
other in.............99.60%

Bonide
active in
Potassium salts of fatty acids......1% says does not persist in inviroment
other in............99%

Hey Al could you tell me where I should cut this to top my plant? And by doing this it will make my plant what? I know this is a lame question I just want to make sure I don't screw my plants up. Thanks again!!

dear al,
love what your doing here.

i'm having trouble with my first grow, i'm over six weeks into flowering and have damage that is still spreading despite my best efforts.

i have two DWC 5gal buckets, GH nutrients. i have trouble keeping the pH 5.3-5.5, i can't keep pH below 7.2 for 1day.

my municipal water is bad, pH=7.5 and tds=350ppm.

day 1 (new water, let sit in a bucket for 24hr+)
i adjust pH down to 5.5, tds=500ppm. add some nutrients up to 1000+ppm.

day 2
ph=7.2 and tds=1300+ppm
adjust pH down to 5.5, tds=1700ppm

day 3
pH=7.2 and tds=1900+ppm

the tds goes very high from adding so much pH down.

after about 3-4 weeks of flowering, plants in one bucket started to get yellow spots on the top leaves, eventually turning the top of the plants very yellow and dry. the plants in my second bucket are more developed having gone 6+weeks flowering without problems but are now starting to turn yellow also.

i knew my water was a problem, i picked up a Mr Clean Autodry thing. it's a deionizer (i think), the filtered water is pH=7.2 and tds=7ppm.

with the filtered water, the same thing happens with my pH. i pH down, the next day it's 7+, i pH down again, the next day it's 7+.

with the filtered water, i can go another day or two before the tds gets above 2000ppm.

it seems like there is a buffer or something in my water making it hard to maintain acidic water.

i'd prefer not use store bought water, i'd rather buy a RO system but that may not solve my pH problem.

thanks much for reading all that.

Al B. Fuct said:

I've shifted that specification to wk 6 but did add some when I mixed new tanks yesterday. I have a batch of inexplicably stunted plants in tray 4 at the moment, so they will not produce a fair comparison to what PK will do with healthy plants.

I have noted that yield is down in the batches where I have not used it but there were other problems going on in those batches and I eliminated everything non-essential to try to eliminate any possible causes.

I keep telling everyone here that I'm NOT any kind of guru- I do get it wrong sometimes and do have trouble sorting out my own op from time to time- this happens to be one of those times! The onset of winter changed some of my conds and I'm just now sorting things out.

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Maybe you need to use RO water LOL