Indoor 1Sky's Mephisto, COB (Amare) & Fastbuds GrowBattles: BioTabs vs Adv Nutes & AutoPots vs FiberPots

[Only1Sky]

Today, as suggested, I switched from RO water to Tap water for my two AutoPot BioTab girls. I let the tap water sit for 24 hours first, then slightly adjusted its pH to 6.0. Then I vacuumed out all the old RO water from the AutoPot trays, dumped out the reservoir, and reloaded it with the tap water. What the heck? Experimenting, tweaking, playing around with this and that is what its all about, eh?

 

[Slowmo]

@Only1Sky ... good luck with with the water change .... I Think @Sensi Jay is on point here !
the tabs rely on the micro nutrients in tap water

I have never used anything but tap water, but here we don't add any chemicals to our water and it's very hard ...
so quite optimal for growing indoor...

 

[Sage]

Don't know how I'm only just seeing this as I'm doing a couple of Sour Crinkles as well! @Only1Sky, I'm a couple of weeks behind you but one of my Sour Crinkle's started yellowing and drooping badly. I gave it several epsom foliar treatments (jsut epsom salts mixed with water and a tiny drop of dr bronner's soap as a surfactant) and a week days later she's back up and running, feeding again and almost looks like nothign happened (and from how badly she was drooping I thought she was a gonner...). Maybe you could try that? I use tap water with my biotab grows but @Biotabs F69 told me he uses RO water (see my thread about buying Silicium Flash in the Biotabs section for where he said that) so I don't think tap is neccessary... Are you using Silicum Flash (sorry havent had to time to read the whole thread, will do this evening)?

 

[Only1Sky]

@Only1Sky ... good luck with with the water change .... I Think @Sensi Jay is on point here !
the tabs rely on the micro nutrients in tap water

I have never used anything but tap water, but here we don't add any chemicals to our water and it's very hard ...
so quite optimal for growing indoor...

Well, I have to admit that I was very skeptical and uncomfortable when I initially read that BT recommends tap water. After all, I got to believe that there's an absurdly huge variation of what's in tap water from one region to another. Those who live in the US know for sure that the tap water in Flint Michigan is not fit to even bath or wash with, much less drink.

But I can see the logic that tap has certain minerals (notably calcium) that would be helpful with Biotabs. As it turns out, when I installed my RO system, I added a final "6th Stage" - a Calcite Acidic Water Neutralizer 10" that adds calcium carbonate to increase water alkalinity. Of course, I installed a by-pass so that only my household drinking water gets that final stage, whereas the water routed to my grow area does not. I figured the grow area should have the "purest" water possible, with nothing added, until my chosen nutrients enter the picture. But who knows, maybe I should not be depriving the plants of the added calcium ???

 

[Slowmo]

But who knows, maybe I should not be depriving the plants of the added calcium ???

I have a bottle of canna mono MG for adding a little mg , but no combined cal/mg, since my plants get cal from water

P.S i am using siliciumflash this round and deficts are just showing at day 45+ and very full tent (reddening stems). way later than before !

 

[waynejohn]

I use molasses to prevent it...1 tsp per 4L at the begining of stretch, and every 2 weeks the same...since i been doing that no cal mag def...when i was chasing def i used 1 tsp per 2L and repeat the same 2 weeks after and then as per usual schedule 1 tsp per 4L
I think i read somewhere that calmag def starts up to 3 weeks before it shows signs on leaves...also molasses is like a super shake for myco to reward them for their good service of keeping the roots healthy and balancing the ph and it's a full pack of micronutrients for the plant...if you decide for it expect it to stop yellowing in about 3-5 days depending on strain and just plain water the next watering, no nutes...hope that helps

Also noticed that sativa dominant ones eat more mag and indica eats more cal, don't know if just a coincidence since i don't have cal mag def anymore...but it could be of benefit to spray with just a tip of tsp epsom in 1L RO to speed up the recovery

 

[Only1Sky]

@waynejohn - thanks a lot for sharing your experience in this and especially for the detailed suggestions on the molasses. I'm headed to the kitchen cupboard now to see if I can find some. Also, you said, " it could be of benefit to spray with just a tip of tsp epsom in 1L RO to speed up the recovery" What do you mean by "tip"? I assume that a tip might be something like 1/4 or 1/8 of the tsp ??? I'm eager to give this a try too. But is it safe to spay this when the plant is in full-on flower production??

 

[Only1Sky]

P.S i am using siliciumflash this round and deficts are just showing at day 45+ and very full tent (reddening stems). way later than before !

So if I get this right, you're saying that the siliciumflash helped but did not totally prevent the deficit. Hum, interesting. I had added dolomite to my coco when preparing the pot with the Startrex, Mycrotex, tabs, etc. This had been suggested by BT F69 in my previous grow as a way to eliminate the CalMag def. I'd say that it may have helped delay or lessen the impact, but certainly did not eliminate it.

I gave it several epsom foliar treatments (jsut epsom salts mixed with water and a tiny drop of dr bronner's soap as a surfactant) and a week days later she's back up and running, feeding again and almost looks like nothign happened (and from how badly she was drooping I thought she was a gonner...). Maybe you could try that? I use tap water with my biotab grows but @Biotabs F69 told me he uses RO water (see my thread about buying Silicium Flash in the Biotabs section for where he said that) so I don't think tap is neccessary.

Sage, what proportions of epsom to water do you use? I'd like to give it a try. Also, do you know if its safe & OK to spray epsom when the plant is in full flower production?

Sage & Slowmo, I'll probably get some Silicium (and also some BioPK 5-8 ) for my next BT grow, but seems way too late to have any impact on this run.

Thanks a bunch guys for your response and suggestions.

 

[Only1Sky]

See how they go mate, but I'm also curious as to whether RO would be recommended by them..

@Biotabs F69 , is RO recommended with tabs? I thought tap was always preferred.

Hi Jay,
FYI, here is BiotabsF69 response on this topic in a thread by Sage over in the BioTabs forum:

https://www.autoflower.org/threads/silicum-flash-where-to-get-in-the-uk.61240/

At biotabs we use certain bacterias, that wil make sure every thing gets leveld out
Only in combination with silicium flash, RO water is the best... Thats what we use.

We use the growmax power grow RO filter.
I feel you about the water waste, that why i use the growmax, because. that produces 1 liter clean water, and throws 1 away.
The cheap chinees ones are like, 1 liter clean water, 8 liters to waste.

I have the filter running in the garden, so the waste water goes to the tree's. Am not sure if the tree love the water. But at least it is some thing for them...

 

[waynejohn]

If the stretch is over then don't spray, you can a bit on the most damaged leaves but try not to spray the buds...i would avoid at this point and just stick to molasses
I used 1/4 of tsp, kinda like when you see chefs on a bit of sprinkle in the bucket
Get a good organic blackstrap molasses and watch how she reacts, it should slow down right away and stop in the next few days
Forgot to ask, is it sativa dom?