Indoor Ebb and Flow Grow Journal (FireOG, PurplePunch)

[Trichome farmer]

Also here’s a post of certain deficiencies I came across. Over watering, Gnats, PM View attachment 1059298View attachment 1059299View attachment 1059300


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lets see if we can get some help in here id love to see this grow happen @Mañ'O'Green is the guy i think of for hydro

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Hi @toematoe Here is a couple of things that may help. Get some covers on the top of the Hugos to keep light off of them otherwise you will get too much algae growth and that is what the fungus gnats eat. I have used lots of things but the FloraFlex cap with a small piece of Orca Grow film work well for me. Remove the Orca film when the plants shade the hole. These caps also make it easy to flush the cubes or add additional nutrients for a fussy plant.

A problem with flood and drain is salt build up at the water line. If you cannot flood over the top of the cubes you will get a toxic salt build-up inside the cube above the water line. To mitigate this you should top water to drain once a week. I always did this just before a reservoir change. Change the reservoir weekly. Fertigate with every watering. Nutrient strength is learned with your brand but I usually start seeds at 25% first week 50% then 80% from then on. PH is paramount to success. I run 5.8 to 6.1. I have a meter probe in the reservoir 24/7 and check it several times a day. I noticed you are running RO water. Be sure to add 50 PPM of Cal-Mag above your normal addition to replace what the RO takes out.

It is a little late now but I put a teaspoon of Mykos in the hole before I transplant.

Good luck and tag me if you have a question.

Here is my current grow. I use precision drip to waste now.

 

[toematoe]

Hi @toematoe Here is a couple of things that may help. Get some covers on the top of the Hugos to keep light off of them otherwise you will get too much algae growth and that is what the fungus gnats eat. I have used lots of things but the FloraFlex cap with a small piece of Orca Grow film work well for me. Remove the Orca film when the plants shade the hole. These caps also make it easy to flush the cubes or add additional nutrients for a fussy plant.
View attachment 1059933

A problem with flood and drain is salt build up at the water line. If you cannot flood over the top of the cubes you will get a toxic salt build-up inside the cube above the water line. To mitigate this you should top water to drain once a week. I always did this just before a reservoir change. Change the reservoir weekly. Fertigate with every watering. Nutrient strength is learned with your brand but I usually start seeds at 25% first week 50% then 80% from then on. PH is paramount to success. I run 5.8 to 6.1. I have a meter probe in the reservoir 24/7 and check it several times a day. I noticed you are running RO water. Be sure to add 50 PPM of Cal-Mag above your normal addition to replace what the RO takes out.

It is a little late now but I put a teaspoon of Mykos in the hole before I transplant.

Good luck and tag me if you have a question.

Here is my current grow. I use precision drip to waste now.

View attachment 1059944

Thanks for all the advice my friend I’m glad to hear someone so inclined with what I’m doing. Actually yesterday I placed coco mats covers on them so I stop that algae build up , I was looking at the light shields from flora flex but the ones you have seen like a better bet if your are stressing to top feed weekly , that’s something I haven’t heard yet and makes complete sense. So you are saying weekly top feed from the reservoir, not flush them with ph balanced water correct? And I have been adding in emerald harvests cal mag doing 5ml per gallon as recommended. PH has been at 6.0 every feed. And yes these buggers eat a lot so I change res weekly on one and every 3-5 days on smaller res. Also what do you mean by fertigate with every watering?


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[toematoe]

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[toematoe]

So I am seeing no return of the gnats but I spotted Pm on 3 plants today again , I’m spraying neem oil every 3 days , any other solutions or should I just stay strong with the neem for another week and see what happens? Also I purchased some flora flex products today , setting up that drip system that was recommended above. Hopefully get it going for one bed tomorrow. Just don’t want to run the feeding lines till I have these girls in their final placement which means I’m going to be killing off the Purple Punches that aren’t performing and 1 fire og which isn’t a performer. I need to get down to about 32-35 plants. I’m going to be keeping 24 Fire Ogs and I have 8 purple punches selected that I would like to keep . I didn’t really want to do a bed with two flavors but I have to make due with what I have and I want the room full as can be. So I’ll be doing 16 per bed I believe won’t be so crowded.


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[toematoe]

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[Mañ'O'Green]

The coco mats will get wet and grow algae when you fertigate from the top. To "Fertigate" is to irrigate with water and nutrients to feed plants. Rock wool is hydroponics and you should always fertigate not water.

Yes, once a week you top fertigate to good run-off 20% - 30% with the current nutrient mix to waste. This will wash out any build-up of salts in the cubes. This is not flushing. In my opinion flushing is an absolute last ditch method to use on a plant that is most likely going to die anyhow. The thing is whether you know it or not you have a colony of microbes/fungi growing in your cubes. The natural exudes from the roots foster and support this ecosystem. The plants have a symbiotic relationship with these microbes. Plants feed the microbes and the microbes feed the plant. Flushing destroys this ecosystem and usually is as bad as what you are trying to correct.

Powdery Mildew attacks weak plants in the wrong (right for the PM) environment. It usually happens when leaves are wet at lights out and the night temperature too low and the humidity too high and not enough air movement. Ok so fix the environmental factors then strengthen the plants immune system. Fans are the first step for the environment. Get the air moving. Do not fertigate (flood) sooner than 4 hours before lights out. Only flood when the blocks have dried down to between 30% to 40% moisture. This can take 9 days with seedlings and two days with the plants in my picture above. My plants are usually 4 weeks old before they get fertigated daily. Then use a good bio-stimulant to help the plants become more vigorous. The most simple formula is PH water 6.0, Fulvic Acid and Kelp Extract in a 5:2 ratio with a pinch of yucca powder ( a natural surfactant). Apply this foliar not more often than once a week every other week is good. To this you can and should add Amino Acids Glutamic acid and Glycine acid. Look for L – Amino Acids and B1 – Vitamins but these are harder to find.

Alternate your neem treatments with milk and PH water 1:3.

Ok another observation: The mirror surface of your walls can create a parabolic concentration of light and burn your plants (like a magnifying glass). Just something to look out for when your plants grow closer to the lights.

 

[toematoe]

The coco mats will get wet and grow algae when you fertigate from the top. To "Fertigate" is to irrigate with water and nutrients to feed plants. Rock wool is hydroponics and you should always fertigate not water.

Yes, once a week you top fertigate to good run-off 20% - 30% with the current nutrient mix to waste. This will wash out any build-up of salts in the cubes. This is not flushing. In my opinion flushing is an absolute last ditch method to use on a plant that is most likely going to die anyhow. The thing is whether you know it or not you have a colony of microbes/fungi growing in your cubes. The natural exudes from the roots foster and support this ecosystem. The plants have a symbiotic relationship with these microbes. Plants feed the microbes and the microbes feed the plant. Flushing destroys this ecosystem and usually is as bad as what you are trying to correct.

Powdery Mildew attacks weak plants in the wrong (right for the PM) environment. It usually happens when leaves are wet at lights out and the night temperature too low and the humidity too high and not enough air movement. Ok so fix the environmental factors then strengthen the plants immune system. Fans are the first step for the environment. Get the air moving. Do not fertigate (flood) sooner than 4 hours before lights out. Only flood when the blocks have dried down to between 30% to 40% moisture. This can take 9 days with seedlings and two days with the plants in my picture above. My plants are usually 4 weeks old before they get fertigated daily. Then use a good bio-stimulant to help the plants become more vigorous. The most simple formula is PH water 6.0, Fulvic Acid and Kelp Extract in a 5:2 ratio with a pinch of yucca powder ( a natural surfactant). Apply this foliar not more often than once a week every other week is good. To this you can and should add Amino Acids Glutamic acid and Glycine acid. Look for L – Amino Acids and B1 – Vitamins but these are harder to find.

Alternate your neem treatments with milk and PH water 1:3.

Ok another observation: The mirror surface of your walls can create a parabolic concentration of light and burn your plants (like a magnifying glass). Just something to look out for when your plants grow closer to the lights.

Wow thank you a bunch for knowledge my friend. I’m definitely going to start top feeding weekly , just need a few more connections tomorrow and should have one bed going.

For feeding I don’t think I’m too far off I’ve been flooding every 3-4 days and been getting a better hang of things lifting the cubes up and feeling out the moisture , definitely a learning curve which is why I had overwatering issues.

As for my environment I’m doing great during the day 70-75 degrees with humidity 50-55, during lights off can be troublesome to keep humidity down I usually have it below 70 (although I’ve had some spikes to 75% I’ve caught, could this have been an issue?), ideally 60 lately when I have my A/C’s dehumidifier setting on and another humidifier unit. I think the lowest temp I’ve seen was 59 at lights off, usually 10-15 degrees lower, is that okay? Also today I did get my 2nd hurricane fan mounted so I have 2 12” units on the wall circulating. Cool thing coming though I got a Pulse One WiFi hygrometer for my birthday so I’m excited to use it in the next week to collect some good data about my environment.

And awesome tip with the milk I was reading about that and didn’t know weather to consider. So I believe tomorrow it will be 3 days since last spray, should I spray that instead of neem ? Also does the type of milk matter hahah?

Yes I’ve been told I should just kept the white walls but I wanted to hide some of the cables and saw it as an inexpensive option, also I have a sliding mirror door to a closet behind a good portion so I wanted to cover it . Would you tear it all down and hang white plastic over the door I’m speaking of and call it a day? I feel like it’s a decision I need to make sooner rather than later


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[Mañ'O'Green]

Yes, 59°F 70% RH = molds - all kinds.

Target temps 78°F day, 68°F night, humidity 40% to 60%. These are just best case. I am often out of bounds on the high side of temperature ~88°F+. It is what I can provide in the summer here. We have 30 or more days over 100°F every year. Fortunately the side effects of lower yield are not as bad as molds on the cold side of environment.

That is a judgement call on your walls. It has been too long since I did the research. I have seen growers grow with that mirror stuff without problems? I can tell you that I went with Orca Grow Film and I am well satisfied with it. I hit 1.68 GPW on my last grow. If I remember right just plain white paint did well in tests?

 

[toematoe]

Yes, 59°F 70% RH = molds - all kinds.

Target temps 78°F day, 68°F night, humidity 40% to 60%. These are just best case. I am often out of bounds on the high side of temperature ~88°F+. It is what I can provide in the summer here. We have 30 or more days over 100°F every year. Fortunately the side effects of lower yield are not as bad as molds on the cold side of environment.

That is a judgement call on your walls. It has been too long since I did the research. I have seen growers grow with that mirror stuff without problems? I can tell you that I went with Orca Grow Film and I am well satisfied with it. I hit 1.68 GPW on my last grow. If I remember right just plain white paint did well in tests?

Ok sounds good , shouldn’t be an issue to dial in daytime just need to get night time stabilized. Going to see how tomorrow goes, I purchased a $180 dehumidifier but it doesn’t handle the room on its own and I have to kick on the A/C dehumidifier which is hard to juggle. And yes I feel you I’m in SoCal more inland and I’m awaiting those days , going to be interesting to deal with.

Going to have to read up on that a little and make the call soon, they’re kind of annoying at night I hear them shake around and ripple.

And my apologies but you were recommending I spray the milk/water in stead of the neem tomorrow , so switch off?


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