Day 39
I'm not completely happy, but I have been learning loads about hydro... as Autoberry said..."Soil for show, hydro for Pro". I have jumped right in at the deep end, and there's a huge learning curve. I would have thought by day 39, I would have some serious foliage by now. Not quite, as you will see.....
You start off looking at feed charts, and think, "right, week 3, I have to put so and so in the mix", and then you're told feed charts are usually maximum values, and are advised to go for 1/2 recommended doses etc.... I'm learning to read my plants now, EC is at 0.4 and I'm not gonna think about increasing my nutes until I see the EC drop. I learned that the hard way, upping my nutes (hoping to get more growth) but only burning my leaves and stunting growth. Recently I saw all the leaves curl down, (over feeding from what I understand, so I went back to last weeks dosages, after a quick flush with plain RO water).
For a 60 Litre res of RO water, I used 1/2 ml/L (15ml) Cal Mag as a buffer to get 0.2 EC. Added AquaFlakes (10ml) to reach 0.4 EC. Over adjusted pH with pH down then used Silicon as pH up to bring it back to 5.8.
I also added tiny amounts of Roots Excelurator (5ml), drip clean (5ml) and Algen Extract (3ml).
I have also been busy topping and Low Stress Training the girls. I topped no 1 and 2, and fimmed no 3 and no 4, with the intention of getting more than 2 new growth sites and getting these plants to catch up a bit. It worked nicely on no 3, but as no 4 is a week younger, she needs more time to catch up.
One good thing about the DWC tank is that the unused pipework serves nicely as LST anchorage points. Next time though, I'm using individual pots.
I made a few changes to the cabinet set up, mainly by putting another carbon filter in, plus I exchanged the Ecotechnics controller kit for a Harvest Master Pro, and I also added a humidifier, so now I am maintaining temps of 27 degrees and RH 50%. I can achieve minimal fan use, for added CO2, but unfortunately I have a defective sensor that will get replaced soon. Res temp is 19-20 degrees.
I think my environment is a bit more stable and favourable now.
I was playing with the light height, but its at max for the moment as they recover.
no 1 is a strange one - she's different from the rest, she got badly burned, but there's hope for her.
- no 1
- no 1 to show LST
Nos 2 and 3 are looking great
- no 2
- no 2 showing LST
- no 3
There's some amazing growth in no 3 after fimming. Some very strange shaped leaves coming through!!
- no 3 showing LST
As for no 4, we'll she was very poorly at one point, all leaves drooped. I fimmed her, and hopefully she'll get better.
- no 4
Comments and suggestions, as always welcome!
Thanks for following my grow, peace !