Auto berry grow thread. 2nd grow. 1st in a grow tent!!!

[jayme001]

Had yet another look tonight. The ph shot up to 7.2 again. And ppm was down to 300. I added more ph down, just a 1/2ml and its down to about 6.5 now. Last time to up
the ppm I added 2.5ml of nitrozyme to get a reading of 460ppm. This time I added 2.5ml and the ppm read 330ml. I then added another 2.5ml and the ppm then read 360ml. Does anyone know why this is? Two days ago I added 2.5ml and pppm jumped 200 odd ppm. This time I added 5ml and the ppm jumped 60ppm.
Is there something I've done wrong, or is it that as the roots are now batheing in the resevoir (see pic 5), could they really be absorbing the nutes? Personally I doubt a plant could absorb so much so quick. So what the hell is going wrong? Althought the plants themselves are giving no problems. Maybe its me and I don't understand ppm.

 

[gumball]

looks good, flow & gro plant is catching up now. dont know why that is with the ppm being so different. i am sure the plant has an effect and the age of the mix your adding too. looks fine though.

 

[jayme001]

Thanks gumball. I changed the water on Wed 20/10/10 and added the right ph water and 2.5ml of nutes. To get similar ppm. Then checked it after a few hours and ppm shot up as did ph. Changed all that then checked it again two days later. Same thing with ph it shot up, but ppm was way low. Not too worried as they look fine atm. But from a stability point of view, it is all over the place. Will just have to keep on top of it and hopefully the it will remedy itself.

One more thing, the two plants I'm growing are the same strain. Why is one dark green (soil) and the other (hydro) a lighter colour. Is it to do with the medium I'm using. Or does that just happen?

 

[gumball]

do you have an air stone in the rez? i thought you did but cant remember. maybe that could have an effect on ph/ppm. not sure on the color, maybe the soil is holding in some nutrients where the hydro is not.

 

[jayme001]

I did mention earlier in this thread Gumball about the benefits of an airstone, but haven't got round to it yet!

Well as you can see below, the hydro has caught up with the soil plant and is actually looking taller. If you look closely at the stem of each, the hydro plant is considerably thicker than the soil plant. You can't actually see the difference much in the pics, but belive me there is. Had to water the soil plant earlier not that it was drooping or anything but the soil felt pretty dry. Had no water in a bucket so went and got some Evian!!!! PPM by the way of Evian is 230-240 so not bad. Anyway ph was lowered as the water was about high 6's to low 7's, then I added about 2ml of Tomorite. PPM jumped to around 950. Added some more Evian until I got 750ppm. Then fed the plant that, then got a ph reading with the run off water. Ph was about the same as before. Currently I am happy with whats going on, but if any probs occur, I will be searching on here asap.

 

[jayme001]

Anothr thing I forgot to mention in my last update. On the 3rd pic I have taken a pic of the leafs branch. There is a dark red line up the middle, is that some indication of nute deficiency or another problem that has arose? Am not too worried as the plant won't die, well I hope not, just thought some folks may know.

 

[gumball]

well you need to go ahead and get the air pump and air stone now that your roots are in the rez. it keeps the water oxygenated and prevents mold or algae. it helps the roots basically, and if you add one now you will probably see a big improvement in growth. but please add one soon before you run into problems. you may not have problems, but why risk it.

now on to the plants, they look great, and hydro is slightly overtaking the soil!! how many weeks are they now?

 

[jondamon]

usually purple or red stems is the first sign of N def but can be caused by too cold at night.


J

 

[jayme001]

Purple or red stems Jon. What about the branches off of the stem. I don't think it would be the coldness during the night as the lights are on all night an temps are a cosy 83c in their (I just checked). Do you think I should add some more nitrozyme? PPM in the res atm is 360. Shouldn't I start to increase it a little to maybe 450-500?

Gumball, the soil plant was germinated on the 5/10/10 and the seed split less than 24 hours later. The hydro plant was germinated when I saw the tap route appear on the 1st seed. So the hydro is 24 hours younger. The plants are auto berries and seed to harvest takes 6-7 weeks, so should be harvesting between 16-23 November hopefully. Will be getting an airstone tomorrow hopefully. As for the pic the other day of the roots going into the res. Had a look earlier and now there are twice as many routes in there now. I quite like this hydro set up now, shame it take up so much room.

Have been thinking once this grow is harvested and depending how big they get, maybe buying another 240w cfl and reflector, ditching the hydro and maybe trying to grow 6 soil plants in there, as the hydro really does take up that much room, but will see 1st. All I know is that I'm really getting into this!!!

 

[Danielsgb]

Looking good. They'll take off now.
Daniels

 

[gumball]

Had a look earlier and now there are twice as many routes in there now. I quite like this hydro set up now, shame it take up so much room.

you can get you a piece of foam big enough to cover the entire top of the flow gro, and a couple of 4, 5, or 6 inch net pots, and maybe do 2 in that thing. just a thought.

 

[jayme001]

May have a word with my local hydro shop about maybe doing that gumball. Just checked the ladies and the ppm was 360. Went to the local grow shop and he recommended a ppm of about 850 to 950. I bought some grow, bloom and boost nutes and got a cfl 2700k red spectrum bulb. When I got home I noticed the pistils showing, so I changed over the bulb for the new one I bought and gave it some grow nutes and got the ppm to 950. I will keep an eye on it and maybe as its starting to flower, in a couple of days I will change the water and start with the bloom nutes. Then I was told after a week of adding the bloom nutes start to add the boost nutes as well.

 

[jayme001]

Sorry I forgot to add pics earlier. As you can see above the hydro is definately getting bigger than the soil. The hydro plants branches/leaves are sticking up way too much. I'm guessing this could be a problem due to lack of nutes?

Yippee, the pistils are showing. The plants are 3.5" tall for the soil and 4" tall, so am not holding out much hope for the claimed 14" in height. We will have to wait and see.

 

[gumball]

looks good jayme!. normally when the leaves stick up that means over fert or a lockout somewhere. mine is doing it now. tried flushing and did not help, then tried ferts, looks a bit worse. so I will go with water for now.

 

[jayme001]

It must be a lockout then. I have red/purple branches which means lack of nutes. And sticking up leaves means, too much nutes or a lockout. So I take it I should just put plain 6.0ph water in the resevoir for a few days or so. What causes the lockout?

 

[gumball]

not sure buddy. i would assume pH based off of what I have read. maybe it is strain related. could be too much of a micro nute or too little locking out a macro nute, or vice versa! gets complicated.

 

[jayme001]

Well I have just topped up the resevoir as it was getting low with about 8 litres of 6.0ph, couple of days old water. Tank is only 17 litres!!! PPM is now 650, and i think that will be enough. Sunday I will change the water and as the leafs are still sticking up in the air i will just add plain 6.0ph water. Then I will add flowering nutes as/if the plants recover. The soil plant is doing extremely well in comparison. You can also see the red branches and just how much the leaves are reaching for the skies. lol

Below is the norther lights that I've had on the window sill over the summer, and the way its going it'll still be here come xmas! For my 1st grow I have no complaints, its by no means the biggest but I'm happy. Still just giving it plain water, and the trichomes still are not cloudy. Maybe a few are but not that many. Still don't know how much longer, will just have to keep an eye on it. Does anyone know how long I will have to harvest it, once the trichomes change to red? Do they change colour in a matter of hours or do I have a few days to catch it?

 

[Danielsgb]

You'll have a couple days to decide. It's not that fast. Good color.
Daniels

 

[jondamon]

just something about pH

Now as far as i'm aware pH for hydro should be between 5.5-5,8 i know a little drifting is ok but have you tried lowering it at all? i know gumball mentioned about leaves up being a possible overfert or pH lockout i would try just using a pH of between 5.5-5,8 with your current ppm and see if the leaves relax back a little.

can you use just nitrozyme as a feed for the whole grow?


You could try formulex by growth technologies its a 2.4 - 0.9 - 3.1 npk

J

 

[gumball]

i think his pH monitoring tool is iffy below 6. i remember he said something earlier on. but good idea if he can.

have you got that air stone in the rez yet?