Indoor First medical auto grow 800w hps! Mi5, Easy Ryder, Thunder Bloody Mary

[potfanman]

Sorry for multiple postings in one day but these little ladies love to change quickly! After the feeding early today, the starting to shrivel leaves perked back up and gained some color =) All the plants look very healthy except that one from before that I said was dead.. it is gonna ditch it tonight... When I fed them earlier, the ph of the water was below 5.5. The nutes naturally take it there. The run off from the cubes was still around 7.. a little lighter on the ph color chart... maybe 6.9. I just watered with regular filtered water with the ph lowered to just below 5. The run off is now at 6.7-6.8. Now at least their in range for proper ph.. These cubes really dry out fast.. Im gonna have to wake up super early to check them so they don't get to dry like yesterday. I'm being really careful not to over water them but it seems like i really can't.. i sit the dry cubes on a shallow bowl of water until they sink a little.. then i gently squeeze some run off out and a drop or 2 into the ph tester.. I do this for each plant and they seem to dry out about 85% in only about 12 hrs or so... Still waiting on my friend to send me pics we took his camera...

 

[JEMman]

So you still have them in the cubes and not the soil yet? I thought that they were supposed put into the soil as soon as the pop out of the cubes. I may definitely be wrong tho. But im pretty sure they should be transplanted into something by 2 weeks. The roots need more room.

 

[potfanman]

I was told from a few sources to let the roots come out the bottom of the cube about a cm or so before I put them into soil.. The roots seem to be moving slowmaybe from the higher ph, and now at about 20 days from seed and about 13-15 days from breaking the surface for some, they are hardly coming out the bottom of the cubes.. the tap roots have come out on most but only a few root tips are beginning to show out.. i'm hoping any day now they show a bit more.. Some of the tips that have been out a little longer are starting to look a little darker but the new ones look nice and white.. none are any longer than 3 millimeters though.. Everything above the surface seems very healthy just slow to stretch out.. maybe due to the 2 100w blue cfls? Please anyone who has used cubes before.. any suggestions or input?

 

[potfanman]

Why are they growing so slow? So some seeds were planted 9/29 and some were planted 10/7... the strawberry cough was planted with the first round but popped right on time with the second round... here they are individually.. Ill get higher quality pics when my friend sends me them from his camera.. Please someone tell me why these plants haven't started booming yet... Are they missing something?

 

[JEMman]

Cant see any pictures . But yea, something is definitely wrong with them taking that long to come out of the cubes. Ive used jiffy pucks/pellets before, but sorry man, never used the plugs before. It would seem that its the same premise, but i planted my pucks almost directly after they popped up.

Maybe if you get the pics up someone can help better

 

[potfanman]

Heres pics...

 

[JM]

rockwool requires a 24 hour presoak at ph 5.0 prior to use followed by a distilled water rinse....

rockwool's natural ph is around 8.0

if you insist on rockwool as a starting medium... growdan is easier to use... can go in 2" net pots and can easily be seperated from the roots later... as well as being pretreated for ph 6.5 (last i knew)

i sit the dry cubes on a shallow bowl of water until they sink a little.. then i gently squeeze some run off out and a drop or 2 into the ph tester..

just read this....

i think it would be better to sit them in a bowl and pour water over them gently so they are flushed a little with each... espcially with the wide variation of ph ranges you're speaking of..

cheers!
:smokebuds:
hope this helps...
rockwool is super aerated btw... drains almost too well... thats why its such a great hydro medium...

 

[potfanman]

Im not gonna use rock wool ever again but I do put them in a bowl with water and pour more on top so they get a full rinse every time I water.. and the problem with this rock wool seems to be the opposite of what you are saying.. some of the cubes drain just fine but others are super dense in some spots and don't absorb water properly or release it properly.. some cubes are soft and spongy and some are a little hard in some spots..

 

[JM]

yeah... proper pre-soak is essential both for ph and proper water penetration.... if you're growing in soil... start in a soil medium... Promix BX is real solid... no nutes (key) and ph 6.5 (key) and has micro fungi (trichodermia I think)

i went through a host of other starting mixes with some great success and some issues as well... since promix BX I've been stable... a 3.8 cu ft bail cost me about $30 US

:smoke:

 

[potfanman]

Thank you I will always be starting in soil from now on when I'm using it for the entire grow... I always had success with it, should have kept to it.. I hope these ladies can get a bit bigger quick. I think once they break out of these cubes and hit soil, they'll be able to grow properly. I hope this slow start doesn't stunt them for good.. that would be really bad.. I am getting a few chocolope and OG Bubble Gum Kush clones that were selectively bred. Ill be veging these along side of the autos so when their done, I can cut clones of them and start a new round of flowering perpetual growing from there on..