Thoughts on VPD? I'm not sold on it.

Delps8

Well-Known Member
I'm keeping all variables identical to my previous grow where I was locked on to 1.0 during veg. My EC/nutrients are the exact same down to the ml. I kept paper notes so I'd be able to do a 1:1 comparison. The only thing that changed is the RH, which in turn results in the higher 1.4 VPD value.

I guess one other change is the feeding frequency, but that's out of necessity since they drink more at 1.4 and need to be watered more often as the coco dries out faster. So even though they're getting the same nutrient ratios to the ml, the 1.4 veg is technically getting more accumulated nutrients since the feedings are more frequent. I water on an as needed basis, judging by the weight of the pots. Before each new feeding, I always let the coco get fairly dry, but not bone dry to the point where there's any wilting.

The veg solution they get is Canna Coco A + B, Rhizotonic, Roots Excelurator, CalMag, ProTekt silica, Cannazym, Thrive Alive B-1 Red (nutrient and foliar), and Great White. The Great White isn't as effective in coco as it would be in a soil blend, but it still helps the root zone to a degree. I've noticed I get finer root hairs with Rhizotonic and more hearty roots with Roots Excelurator, so I rotate between the two every other feeding. I don't combine them in the same solution.

The previous 1.0 and current 1.4 both receive the exact same foliar feeding, which is a daily foliar feeding of Thrive Alive B-1 Red. They get a foliar feed each day, right when the lights come on. The light is dimmed to 25% for the first hour to avoid burning the leaves. After an hour, there are no more droplets on the leaves acting as magnifying glasses, so it's safe to bump up the light intensity, which I dial to 50% for the first week of veg and then bump to 75% for the remainder of veg.
Which reduces their ability to grow because they're not getting light for that time period but that's a separate issue.

I'm not measuring height with a ruler, but I'm able to tell that the growth is faster because the plants reached my trellis grid sooner, which remains at the same height as last round. In other words, I know the growth is faster because with VPD at 1.0, the plants reached the trellis on day 16, whereas the current plants at 1.4 reached the trellis in 13 days. It's not a huge difference, but mildly substantial with the plants at 1.4 reaching the same size around 19% faster.
Interesting that they're growing taller sooner but what about yield?

Another upside is that at 55% RH, it's not too far off from my air conditioned lung room, so my humidifier only kicks on sparingly to counter the incoming dry AC air which floats between 45-50% RH. With 1.0 VPD, my humidifier was almost always running to maintain 67% RH, so I was having to buy a lot more distilled water.
Understood but those are components of VPD.

Question I should have asked from the start - seeds or clones? If it's seeds then all bets are off but if it's clones, the next step would be to compare harvest weight and then dried weight for above ground mass and then flower only.

Interesting situation but, when all it said and done, if it works for you, take the win.
 

Delps8

Well-Known Member
Agreed. It's not like people didn't grow good bud before vpd was a thing.
And whether or not VPD had been formulated (I think it was in th 1930's), growers were still keeping their temps and RH within certain ranges and, therefore, they were keeping their VPD in range.

VPD is just one number that covers a range of temperature and RH combinations. So if you're keeping your temp "in check" and keeping RH in "about the mid-50's" that's exactly the same as keeping VPD at around 1.0 (veg).

It's not magic, it's just one number instead of two.
 

SBNDB

Well-Known Member
Usually for me i just shoot for 80f/60rh and thats usually good enough to get nice results, with airflow and just a little cleanliness theres never any mold problems. Knock on wood.
 
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