Indoor Mars Hydro grow journal: WildBill does Hubbabubbasmelloscope in EarthBoxes under MarsHydro SP3000

[Sour D]

Welcome to the deep end.
Have you ph'd your water?

 

[WildBill]

Do you trim the secondary branches?

Not yet, given both not 100%.
I did a little bit with my GG#4 that was in the 15 gal pot. I'll probally let this one run, except for the really small ones that may pop up in the next couple of weeks. Although some selective trimming now, may stimulate some new growth.

 

[WildBill]

Hello AFN world long time lurker first time poster...

I have to finally chime in here thanks @WildBill for this great detailed thread. I am yet another SIP convert also due to reading @MrOldBoy amazing threads RIP.

I have grown several cycles using only Mephisto genetics in both earth box juniors and my own homemade versions.I love growing in SIPS and I think they are perfect for living soil organic growing.

I have definitely seen increased yield and quality over my previous fabric pot grows.However I know it could be better and I have consistently had the same issue as I see you had @WildBill and I noticed
@MrOldBoy had in his last grow journals and that is the yellowing of upper growth.

for me I always seem to get explosive growth until the first week or two/three of flower and then the yellowing in the upper growth starts and progressing to the spotting on the leaves.while I still have had good yields and quality and I think it is definitely holding me back to some extent.

I have diagnosed it as a calcium deficiency as it seems to fit all the symptoms but despite trying to correct with oyster shell flour, EWC and/or another organic Calcium supplement I had on hand I could never quite bounce back. Also, prior to planting I have always added dolomite lime to my medium which is a blend of peat/compost EWC and amendments.

So this leads me to believe there is plenty of Calcium available but it is getting locked out somehow. I am starting to suspect that it may be caused by the soil becoming acidic possibly due to being too anaerobic because of the mulch cover? The plants have the explosive growth in veg with a big calcium appetite and then get starved for it affecting flower?

Very curious to hear yours or anyones thoughts on this? Your plants seem to have recovered quite well and maybe that is partly due to your removing the covers?

Cheers all! and Im stoked to finally be posting and learning!

Welcome to Autoflower!! Be sure to post up a grow journal when the time comes!
@MrOldBoy sure would be very helpful now. He's the reason I'm here and growing. He's sorely missed by me.

That's why I don't think I'll put the cover back on AND won't ever put it on on later grows. Like you. I know there's plenty of calcium there. It's what make sense to me. It's also the reason I'm going back to using tap water, one for the alkalinity and for the cal/mag I know is there.

I'm thinking that adding HumiChar, which is a micronized humic acid and biochar product to the media when amending in the tote, may not be a good idea in this grow style,. But that really doesn't make much sense to me. I thought it would be released when exposed to alkaline conditions. Maybe hecno, Waira or other organic guys could throw their input in on the subject.

I'm not adding water to the rez tonight in prep for the "treatment" tomorrow night again. More aerobic microbes and with the top open for air exchange in the media can only be helpful. The surface moisture is still quite good and temps are fine as frog hair. The Timothy Hay is doing its job well and is still loose enough with no packing.

The HBSS may not be super pretty looking currently, but they are growing very well. Here are the girls with in seconds of lights on. Ready to make some magical flowers!

 

[simoiget]

Welcome to the deep end.
Have you ph'd your water?

My water is from a well PH is right around 6.8 out of the tap...also wonder if the water sitting in the res drops in ph a bit? not that it is there long enough to really make the soil acidic and by that I mean the plant drinks enough daily that the water cycles through the Rez fast enough that I don't think that would cause a ph drop

 

[simoiget]

Welcome to Autoflower!! Be sure to post up a grow journal when the time comes!
@MrOldBoy sure would be very helpful now. He's the reason I'm here and growing. He's sorely missed by me.

That's why I don't think I'll put the cover back on AND won't ever put it on on later grows. Like you. I know there's plenty of calcium there. It's what make sense to me. It's also the reason I'm going back to using tap water, one for the alkalinity and for the cal/mag I know is there.

I'm thinking that adding HumiChar, which is a micronized humic acid and biochar product to the media when amending in the tote, may not be a good idea in this grow style,. But that really doesn't make much sense to me. I thought it would be released when exposed to alkaline conditions. Maybe hecno, Waira or other organic guys could throw their input in on the subject.

I'm not adding water to the rez tonight in prep for the "treatment" tomorrow night again. More aerobic microbes and with the top open for air exchange in the media can only be helpful. The surface moisture is still quite good and temps are fine as frog hair. The Timothy Hay is doing its job well and is still loose enough with no packing.

The HBSS may not be super pretty looking currently, but they are growing very well. Here are the girls with in seconds of lights on. Ready to make some magical flowers!

View attachment 1287361

My next run I will run without the covers and mulch with straw as well. and I will strive to post a journal as well!

 

[WildBill]

My next run I will run without the covers and mulch with straw as well. and I will strive to post a journal as well!

I think that a safer way of running these boxes with canna.

 

[WildBill]

My water is from a well PH is right around 6.8 out of the tap...also wonder if the water sitting in the res drops in ph a bit? not that it is there long enough to really make the soil acidic and by that I mean the plant drinks enough daily that the water cycles through the Rez fast enough that I don't think that would cause a ph drop

I've dumped out the rez water several times before I water to see if it's changed. Only noted a small change towards being more acidic..

 

[Sour D]

My water is from a well PH is right around 6.8 out of the tap...also wonder if the water sitting in the res drops in ph a bit? not that it is there long enough to really make the soil acidic and by that I mean the plant drinks enough daily that the water cycles through the Rez fast enough that I don't think that would cause a ph drop

You should check your runoff. I was using EM1 and some bokashi stuff and my ph was getting down in the 4s.

 

[WildBill]

You should check your runoff. I was using EM1 and some bokashi stuff and my ph was getting down in the 4s.

TxRebel/Mark and MrOldBoy ran into the same problem at one time. Eric Lancaster,Executive VP, TeraGanix is calling me tomorrow to talk specifically on EM1 and EarthBoxes,
Were you using it in just the rez or did you use it on top of the bokashi? Do you have a grow journal where you documented this problem?
If ya can, give me as much info as ya can so I can be better prepped for my conversation.

 

[Sour D]

TxRebel/Mark and MrOldBoy ran into the same problem at one time. Eric Lancaster,Executive VP, TeraGanix is calling me tomorrow to talk specifically on EM1 and EarthBoxes,
Were you using it in just the rez or did you use it on top of the bokashi? Do you have a grow journal where you documented this problem?
If ya can, give me as much info as ya can so I can be better prepped for my conversation.

Originally I thought it was just a end of life thing. In this grow, I realized it was something else: https://www.autoflower.org/threads/purple-roc-b1-sip.80080/
This is my next round where I've been ph'ing my water and so far so good: https://www.autoflower.org/threads/brother-mendels-purple-thai-sip.81837/
This one has gone a bit off the rails as I've had some seed issues but it's getting sorted
I was using EM1 in rez and on occasion spraying the top. This new round I'm just gonna use it for top and will soak any kashi products in order to jumpstart it