Grow Mediums Mephisto-Reserva Autopot run #1

[MANNIK]

Congratulations ! Looks great. I like how you have a 1/2 inch main feed line from the res. Tidy and functional.
That should minimize the possibility that a line will plug with sediment.

I have only limited experience with autos and understand that they are reputed to be light feeders. 560 ppm seems a little low to me for that stage of growth, though. Your larger plants look to be ready to take off and like they want to feed.

I'm not sure about the Calimagic. I use Botanicare cal mag and the recommended dose would be 3 to 5 ml per gallon. I'm still learning about coco and it's need to be fed cal/mag to avoid it stealing nutrients at its cation exchange sites. A possible explanation for your mag deficiency is that your coco needs to be fed which is preventing magnesium from being available to your plants. If that is correct, then you will need to bump up your cal mag a bit to get your coco to quit stealing from the ladies.

Your plants look ready to take off. My two cents would be to bump up the ppms and watch to see if they green up and/or start to show nutrient burn at the tips of leaves. If they show white tips, then you might have to back off a bit.

I am calling this one a win for now. Mag deficiency stopped progressing and the ladies have darkened up in all the spots where there is no leaf damage. They will continue to get Epsom foliar feeds weekly for a little while for good measure. New growth looks great!

Leaf tips are slightly burnt (just barely white) at this ppm/ec but they seem to love it!

 

[MANNIK]

Too much light guys? New growth seems really closed up.

 

[seedstodreams]

They look good to me

 

[Nosias]

They look good to me

They look as close to perfect as they can get. Chill

 

[MANNIK]

Day 24 | 78 F | 60% RH | Lights = dimmed (180W each) @ 32" = 21,000 Lux/307 PPFD
600 PPM / 1.2 EC
(200 ppm calmag)

The backup girls have finally gotten big enough to get on the system, I will add them in tomorrow some time. Gonna have to get tricky to cut hose and add more connectors.

Still need to get a small pump and timer for a way to keep the reservoir mixed, drip clean as well.

Autopots are the real deal! The growth explosion is impressive at the least.
They drank about 7-8 gallons over 4 days. Curious to see how quick a full 25 gallon res will get drank up in full bloom!

May need to raise lights a little to encourage some stretch to keep airflow manageable a few weeks down the road.

Growth over only four days on the system.
Left (Day 24) Right (Day 20)

 

[elcoloan]

I know you use another brand of CalMag.. but that seems like lot of Calmag considering GreanLeaf's calmag product is recomended by them at max 100 ppms, and here in the forums some wouldn't ad mroe than 50 ppms to MC. Interesting how there seem to be no ill effects in your plants, though.

 

[MANNIK]

I know you use another brand of CalMag.. but that seems like lot of Calmag considering GreanLeaf's calmag product is recomended by them at max 100 ppms, and here in the forums some wouldn't ad mroe than 50 ppms to MC. Interesting how there seem to be no ill effects in your plants, though.

My understanding was always that you should start off with 0.3-0.4 ec water which with RO water means bring it up to 150-200ppm before adding nutes. Calimagic calls for 1ml per Liter and that was my dosage measuring within single digits of 200ppm.

With using RO water and coco I figured that it should be on the higher end of that spectrum.

Maybe this is not the case with autos/Megacrop due to it's calcium/magnesium. I have always been a mostly photo/soil guy.

 

[MANNIK]

Day 27 | 78 F | 60% RH | Lights = dimmed (180W each) @ 32" = 21,000 Lux/307 PPFD

Woke up this morning to another magnesium deficiency.
Checked PH in res and trays
Res 6.2
Trays 6.6 <---- Found the culprit... Caught it super early so it shouldn't be a big problem.

Gave the girls another Epsom foliar treatment to help correct the issue.

Drained each tray with a turkey baster and drained the lines. Brought res down to 5.8 to help swing PH in opposite direction. The trays are currently at 5.9 and I would imagine the PH will equalize around 6.1-6.2 in the pots.

I will need to keep an eye on the PH as it seems to rise with RO water. Will need to keep res at 5.8-ish to compensate for increase.

The girls may show a bit of overwatering for the next day or so due to the extra fertigation cycle instead of on schedule with the Autopots. Hopefully this wont be the case and they'll power through it.

All in all they are looking good!

 

[MANNIK]

Day 32 | 78 F | 60% RH | Lights = dimmed (200W each) @ 28"ish = 29,000ish Lux/423 PPFD

Dealing with rising PH in the res daily, it will not stabilize. Every day it rises from 5.8 to 6.12, not sure what the deal is. I am using RO water with added CalMag and Megacrop only. PH down is Earth Juice Natural powder. I am going to pick up some regular liquid PH down to see if that may help. I have a pump that runs for 15 min every 4 hours to prevent sediment from the Megacrop.
Any other suggestions that may help?

All good in da hood!

The girls are exploding. Probably have another week or two of stretch before decent production starts. I have high hopes for this crop! The 5x5 is getting filled.

The 2 younger ones are finally getting some legs but are suffering a bit due to the current nute and light strength. Don't want to slow down the majority of the bunch so they will just need to deal with it. Anything off these two is just a bonus anyway as the original seeds were duds.

Leaf tucking was in order to expose some young bud sites. A little defoliation may be in order on a few after the stretch is done.

 

[seedstodreams]

Day 32 | 78 F | 60% RH | Lights = dimmed (200W each) @ 28"ish = 29,000ish Lux/423 PPFD

Dealing with rising PH in the res daily, it will not stabilize. Every day it rises from 5.8 to 6.12, not sure what the deal is. I am using RO water with added CalMag and Megacrop only. PH down is Earth Juice Natural powder. I am going to pick up some regular liquid PH down to see if that may help. I have a pump that runs for 15 min every 4 hours to prevent sediment from the Megacrop.
Any other suggestions that may help?

All good in da hood!

The girls are exploding. Probably have another week or two of stretch before decent production starts. I have high hopes for this crop! The 5x5 is getting filled.

The 2 younger ones are finally getting some legs but are suffering a bit due to the current nute and light strength. Don't want to slow down the majority of the bunch so they will just need to deal with it. Anything off these two is just a bonus anyway as the original seeds were duds.

Leaf tucking was in order to expose some young bud sites. A little defoliation may be in order on a few after the stretch is done.
View attachment 1241491

They're gonna be massive lol