New Grower 2x Blue Amnesia XXL; 2x HLG 135W v2 Quantum Board LEDs

[tronN00dles]

Wow it took forever to find this:

I love that. Great video, thanks a bunch! Curious though, how would hydroponics fall into that discussion? Are there microbes in hydroponic systems that would benefit from the dark cycle in veg?

And quickly back to DLI business: consider this thought experiment... let's assume a target DLI in the vicinity of 46 and consider a face-off, what would yield a better smoke, all else equal (autos only of course)?

1. 17/7 at 750 PPFD (DLI = 45.9)
2. 15/9 at 850 PPFD (DLI = 45.9)

Again, I often wonder about the extent to which the ruderalis gene 'diminishes' the requirement of a dark cycle. I think this might be something I need to experiment with for grow number 5 hehe. I seem to be going down a bit of a rabbithole....

Anyhow, I'm pretty convinced on the 18/6 approach. Would there be any risk in flipping that now? Instead of waiting until I start seeing pre-flowers? I'm thinking not...

-tronN00dles

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

I love that. Great video, thanks a bunch! Curious though, how would hydroponics fall into that discussion? Are there microbes in hydroponic systems that would benefit from the dark cycle in veg?

And quickly back to DLI business: consider this thought experiment... let's assume a target DLI in the vicinity of 48 and consider a face-off, what would yield a better smoke, all else equal (autos only of course)?

1. 17/7 at 750 PPFD (DLI = 45.9)
2. 15/9 at 850 PPFD (DLI = 45.9)

Again, I often wonder about the extent to which the ruderalis gene 'diminishes' the requirement of a dark cycle. I think this might be something I need to experiment with for grow number 5 hehe. I seem to be going down a bit of a rabbithole....

Anyhow, I'm pretty convinced on the 18/6 approach. Would there be any risk in flipping that now? Instead of waiting until I start seeing pre-flowers? I'm thinking not...

-tronN00dles

Hydroponics has a microbe root biome. I feed mine Mykos and carbohydrates. I do not know how much the benefit from the dark period. I do not start fertigating until 2 hours past lights on to take advantage of anything the microbe may hav produced over the dark time.

Both plants in the 45.9 DLI should be equal with ALL other inputs equal ( nearly impossible to pull off).

Yes there is no doubt that the ruderalis genome can handle a long day but remember it also gets short days fast. Ruderalis is found wild in Southern Siberia about the 60th parallel.

The 60th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 60 degrees north of Earth's equator. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.

Although it lies approximately twice as far away from the Equator as from the North Pole, the 60th parallel is half as long as the Equator line. This is where the Earth bulges halfway as much as on the Equator.

At this latitude, the Sun is visible for 18 hours, 52 minutes during the June solstice and 5 hours, 52 minutes during the December solstice.[1] The maximum altitude of the Sun is 53.44° on 21 June and 6.56° on 21 December. The maximum altitude of the Sun is > 15.00º in October and > 8.00º in November. [2]

So the longest day in the wild is 19/5.

We are not growing any pure ruderalis and who knows what parts of the genome is still in the plants we grow?

Autos don't care much about when you change the light schedule. I grow them 24/0 for the first week, until they have their first true leaves then I go to 18/6 to harvest.

 

[tronN00dles]

Hydroponics has a microbe root biome. I feed mine Mykos and carbohydrates. I do not know how much the benefit from the dark period. I do not start fertigating until 2 hours past lights on to take advantage of anything the microbe may hav produced over the dark time.

Both plants in the 45.9 DLI should be equal with ALL other inputs equal ( nearly impossible to pull off).

Yes there is no doubt that the ruderalis genome can handle a long day but remember it also gets short days fast. Ruderalis is found wild in Southern Siberia about the 60th parallel.

The 60th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 60 degrees north of Earth's equator. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.

Although it lies approximately twice as far away from the Equator as from the North Pole, the 60th parallel is half as long as the Equator line. This is where the Earth bulges halfway as much as on the Equator.

At this latitude, the Sun is visible for 18 hours, 52 minutes during the June solstice and 5 hours, 52 minutes during the December solstice.[1] The maximum altitude of the Sun is 53.44° on 21 June and 6.56° on 21 December. The maximum altitude of the Sun is > 15.00º in October and > 8.00º in November. [2]

So the longest day in the wild is 19/5.

We are not growing any pure ruderalis and who knows what parts of the genome is still in the plants we grow?

Autos don't care much about when you change the light schedule. I grow them 24/0 for the first week, until they have their first true leaves then I go to 18/6 to harvest.

HOT DAMN that's the kind of information I'm after lol. You da man!

Thanks again, kind sir.

-tronN00dles

 

[tronN00dles]

WEEK 4 Update - Part B

Hey everybody,

Back again with a Week 4 update. Currently on day 28. Things are looking good:

I decided to switch to an 18/6 light cycle, as per the conversation with @Mañ'O'Green above.

I'm not superstitious, but I am a little-stitious, so I made the switch over the course of 3 days or so, i.e.,, 24/0 day 24; 22/2 day 25; 20/4 day 26; 18/6 day 27.

Here are some more numbers/vitals from the situation live, right now on day 28:

• Light Power: Both drawing around 140W from the wall (just over 80% power), with 6-7W in the difference. According to HLG, the R-Spec is a little more efficient than the older 3000k and I can confirm - I get equal PPFD's with the R-spec drawing a little less power. (@Les @HLG )
• Height: Lights around 22" from the top of the plants
• Lux: ~39,000
• PPFD: ~600
• DLI: ~40
• Light Cycle: 18/6
• Temperature: ~23 deg C
• Humidity: ~56%
• VPD: ~1

To recap my nutrient schedule:

• Week 1 - None
• Week 2 - Fed once (way too heavy @ ~700ppm)
• Week 3 - Fed twice (once at 300ppm, once at 400 ppm)
• Week 4 - None yet, debating feeding tonight.
• Water/nutrient solution pH always at around 6.2-6.3; watering every 2.5-3.5 days

The leaves are still a little dark, but the new growth is has a nice shade to it - so I'm hesitant to feed again this evening, especially considering the heavy initial feeding. Perhaps someone could make a suggestion? I'm inclined to give plain water again tonight (for the third time in a row), but then "repeat" late veg / week 4 feeding schedule as per GH, at least until I start seeing some pre-flowers before making the switch in terms the GH week 5 / "early bloom" schedule. I would like to get at least one dose of the week 4 / late veg. nutrients into them though before they start flowering.

As for problems encountered, I currently have two: some fruit flies hanging around and I've noticed a couple of tiny holes. I'm keeping some apple cider vinegar + dish soap and I've trapped a couple. I think the culprit here was a Snake Plant we brought home from Home Depot. The thing appears to be full of fruit flies!

Other than that, one of the plants had a bit of an LST-related injury lol. The plants were topped in week 3, then early in week 4 when I was tying down the top two branches on one of the plants, she split a little bit down under the topping site. I put a hold on tying that one down for a few days, then yesterday put a bit of tape around the one to sort of "hold the split together" - almost like a butterfly stich lol. I gave this another day or so before I continued (carefully) with tying down those branches. Anyway, it seems to be holding up okay and is growing a nice knuckle there - and I haven't noticed any stunting!

The short, bushiness of these ones are definitely making them harder to tie down than my previous grow. I'm attributing this to the higher light levels I gave this early on. My previous grow, I stayed within the 150-300 PPFD range for the first 10 days or so. This time around, they were at closer to 400 by the end of the first week - they're definitely shorter and bushier and harder to train. Having said that, I'm not necessarily mad about any of this lol. I have high hopes for these two!

I also removed two smaller three-fingered leaves from the very bottom of each plant, that were essentially dragging into my medium and generally making it a bit of a nuisance to water (@Sheriffatman). I did this on two or my last three grows as well and it was all good.

Thanks again for reading. I'll provide another update tonight as to whether I decide to give another dose of nutrients or just plain water.

Cheers,

tronN00dles

 

[tronN00dles]

Random comment: so my tent is in the closet of my bedroom. We have pretty warm and humid summers here, so summer time I do run a portable AC unit to keep my bedroom cool, and consequently, my plants and dog happy.

To vent my portable AC unit to the outside, I use a sheet of polycarbonate cut to size to replace the flyscreen in my window. I cut a 6” hole in the polycarbonate and attached a plastic flange to which I can attach the duct from the AC unit. Works great.

-tronN00dles

 

[tronN00dles]

A few more pics:

I decided to give them another go of plain water at the end of Week 4, instead of feeding. That means they received no nutrients at all during week 4. They’re getting thirsty though, last time I had to give them 5L each before getting run off. I’m also gonna keep them on veg nutes for now for a bit longer; so in week 5 I’ll repeat the week 4 nutrient regimen as per GH guidelines. I’m gonna try to get these ladies as beefy as possible before switching to bloom nutes. :smoking:

 

[tronN00dles]

Week 5: Just fed with GH 10-part Week 4 nutrients @ 50% (~400ppm)

 

[tronN00dles]

Hey folks,

Here's a quick update on my current lighting stats in late veg @ 18/6. Note, these are approximations but are reasonable averages based on multiple measurements. In general, I'm aiming for 600 PPFD at the moment, and will increase this closer to 800 in the coming days. For now, here's where I'm at, whether it's right or wrong.

Note, I'm measuring Lux directly; PPFD numbers come from HLG's PPFD to Lux calculator on their website, specific to their light models; Power is being measured from two wattmeters. Also, my DLI is around 40.

	PPFD	Lux	Power from wall	Height from canopy
HLG 135W v2 QB R-Spec	612	39,500	131 W (78%)	20"
HLG 135W v2 QB 3000k	612	42,000	152 W (90%)	20"

As expected, the R-spec board is running a little more efficiently than the 3000k. I'm getting equivalent PPFD output at around 16% less power.

Detailed Week 5 update coming in the next 48 hours.... Stay tuned

-tronN00dles

 

[tronN00dles]

Week 5 Update

Hey folks,

Things went pretty good in Week 5. Just to recap, I didn't actually feed any nutrients during Week 4, so I've essentially repeated Week 4 Veg nutrients into Week 5. GH recommends repeating Week 3 and/or Week 4 nutrients if you want to prolong vegetative growth. I should also point out that I typically treat my autos as photoperiods, and I have found that the 13 week GH Flora schedule works for me if I scale it appropriately. I'm in no rush with my autos, and and happy enough to let them run for 14 weeks or so. I suspect this will be a similar situation.

Anyway, my feeding schedule since the last time I fed in Week 3, through to the end of Week 5, was as follows:

• Feed-Water-Water-Water-Feed-Water
• The plants are drinking around 5L of water each every 2.5 days or so.
• My most recent feed was at ~ 415 ppm

Temps are around 23 deg C, with RH @ around 52%.

Lights at around 600 PPFD as per the table above, and at 18/6 cycle, for a DLI of around 40. Starting next week (maybe tomorrow), I’ll boost my lights up to 800-900 PPFD and bring my DLI up closer to 60. I also anticipate I'll be starting blooming nutrients this week.

Here's how they're looking:

I also have some GH Diamond Nectar at my disposal. This is one of those nutrients that no longer appears on any of the GH feedcharts; it is a source of humic acid. I’m not really familiar with humic acid aside from what’s on the bottle - it says it helps nutrient absorption. Since it can be used as foliar spray in addition to the Flora Series line-up every 1-2 weeks, I think I may have a go at half-strength this evening before I crank my lights tomorrow or the next day.

-tronN00dles

 

[tronN00dles]

Still feeding veg nutes. I was gonna switch to bloom nutes and boost my light power tonight but I think I’ll do one more plain watering and make the switch later in the week: