New Grower New, first grow

[LaoWhoo]

The secondary leaves on 3 Bears perked up when the light came on but after a coupla 3 hours they're still a lil saggy so I've dropped the light again, 2" to 22" Lookin for that sweet spot b/t nute PPM/PH/Light levels. Also wonderin whether/how the addition yesterday of Hydroguard is affecting them, but if it IS responsible for increased nute uptake then it'd make sense that she wants more light as well. And learned about "flocculation" at Wetwoods journal so won't be makin that mistake again.

Make that 20" or a little more than 350 PAR.(Reckon that 200 PAR was my target for the seedlings a week ago+ And there's reason to believe the light isn't "as strong" as published numbers might indicate, plus that they're 10w rather than 3w or 5w. Not to mention that 3 Bears--the stretchier of the 2 but by no means "stretched," developed what seemed signs of N toxicity [was way too dark] wh/ corrected in half a day by moving light closer...) Figure they're into the "veg stage" anyhoo w/ 3d set of leaves sprouting and that for this the lights oughta be 18" standard. But, accepting mfr. numbers, the plants are about a foot off center so divide values for center PAR by 1.4 for what will be the center of each plant growth. At 20" PAR should be about 370.

** Guess I've been incorrectly using PAR for PPFD.

 

[LaoWhoo]

PPM is holding beautifully at 240, but water temps are up to 73 so I put the frozen water bottle in the res. Guess I'll be looking into the aquarium chiller after all, wh/ kinda sucks given the small res, but knowing that bein a small res has its own problems/challenges/vulnerabilities. Oh, and 3 Bears Ernestine absolutely loves the lowered light--soaring again like a bird riding thermals. Of course Sally couldn't care less. She's growing/thriving no matter what.

Well in the 20 minutes it took to thaw the ice bottle, the temp dropped 2 degrees. So it'll require 2 or 3 in succession, to get to 69 hopefully, and then how long until it needs to be done again? (The res. is insulated but...) Since the water pump is coming out in a week maybe I'll just do this, at least for the 1st grow to see how we get on.

 

[LaoWhoo]

Okay, gonna take the leap and use the Sensi cal-mag xtra based on the following: the early N toxicity of 3 Bears; the early misshapen leaf; the lagging root development; the difficulty maintaining low water temps, and; the low PPM of our tap water at 60 (calcium and magnesium should comprise about 150 PPM of this according to this article) Calls for 2 ml/liter so figure I'll start low at 1/3 dose or 25 ml for 10 gal.

This added 100 PPM, wh/ would make our "tap" 160 PPM, minus the chloramines and in line with what they said is normal. So PPM at 340 now, which is still pretty low nutes level even tho I upped them 25% from first nute solut. Now to see how the PPM adjusts if at all.

https://www.maximumyield.com/cal-mag-supplements-a-one-two-punch-for-plants/2/2649

 

[LaoWhoo]

Say 420, I don't journal like you do (who does?!). I sorta just talk to myself out loud for my I own record instead of writing. BUT subconsciously I realize that I'm listening for some correction from you--like your catch when I wrote deficiency instead of toxicity--and every like I get from ya makes me feel better about things I'm doin that I'm unsure of. So thanks for that. Peace

 

[420Forever]

Say 420, I don't journal like you do (who does?!). I sorta just talk to myself out loud for my I own record instead of writing. BUT subconsciously I realize that I'm listening for some correction from you--like your catch when I wrote deficiency instead of toxicity--and every like I get from ya makes me feel better about things I'm doin that I'm unsure of. So thanks for that. Peace

lol, ya, nobody duz anything at all quite like i do but, i digress... the important thing is u are keepin a good journal, and whether it'z talkin to urself or not, once u type the wordz, they're there for the rest of time (or until an asteroid strikez & takez out the power grid, lol), meaning it'z there for otherz to reference & learn from, and that'z what afn is all about, so keep on truckin, eh-? ppp

 

[LaoWhoo]

Will do. But it's like I just saw a miracle, no shit. Had the nute solut at it's new level, from 200 PPM to 350 PPM and lowered light 4" to 20" Then this morning I added Hydroguard for root development. Ok. Then 3 hours ago I figured our 60 PPM tap water might be missing cal-mag so added a 1/3 dose of that, and it raised the nute solut to 450, as if we were usin 160 tap water. All good. What harm? And must need it. That was 3 hours ago. Our son wanted to see them so I opened the tent and holy shit. Sally/CDLC was bursting. Her leaves were an inch higher and I swear a half inch longer, 1/4" wider, you name it. Lookin more like a small tree now than a shrub. 3 Bears too! VIBRANT I'm talkin the cover of Good Housekeeping. They're like bursting. With life. I feel like crap that I mighta been deprivin them all along, but I'm glad I caught myself. Dunno what I was thinkin just accepting water as low as ours.

And here's the thing. Nute solut is back to 350! Have I been starvin the poor things? Our son said, wait, that's wrong. Lil plants like those can't have eaten that much. (He's a horticulture major and grows everything.) "They don't really have the roots yet." But he was shocked when I showed him the root pics, and said, well then sure they coulda chowed down. Honest to god it's like seein a freakin miracle. I'm so jacked dunno what to do but stare.

 

[420Forever]

Will do. But it's like I just saw a miracle, no shit. Had the nute solut at it's new level, from 200 PPM to 350 PPM and lowered light 4" to 20" Then this morning I added Hydroguard for root development. Ok. Then 3 hours ago I figured our 60 PPM tap water might be missing cal-mag so added a 1/3 dose of that, and it raised the nute solut to 450, as if we were usin 160 tap water. All good. What harm? And must need it. That was 3 hours ago. Our son wanted to see them so I opened the tent and holy shit. Sally/CDLC was bursting. Her leaves were an inch higher and I swear a half inch longer, 1/4" wider, you name it. Lookin more like a small tree now than a shrub. 3 Bears too! VIBRANT I'm talkin the cover of Good Housekeeping. They're like bursting. With life. I feel like crap that I mighta been deprivin them all along, but I'm glad I caught myself. Dunno what I was thinkin just accepting water as low as ours.

And here's the thing. Nute solut is back to 350! Have I been starvin the poor things? Our son said, wait, that's wrong. Lil plants like those can't have eaten that much. (He's a horticulture major and grows everything.) "They don't really have the roots yet." But he was shocked when I showed him the root pics, and said, well then sure they coulda chowed down. Honest to god it's like seein a freakin miracle. I'm so jacked dunno what to do but stare.

ok ok, picz plz! :smoking: ppp

 

[LaoWhoo]

Yeah, I really should. Ok. So I'm adding a tiny bit of nutes cuz they're 340 now. Just upped to 364.

Want them well-fed the next 4 hours of light and 4 hours of sleep.

It was like I just got hit b/t the eyes by life. Pic doesn't capture the change, but hopefully the vitality, but as compared w/ previous pic f/ yesterday...First set of leaves were touching the tube, and 2d set were an inch lower, below that ridge inside the pot. And smaller. Wasn't sagging or drooping, or even any hint of an umbrella shape, just flat/level everywhere w/ all the leaves overlapping like feathers. But then they all spread and stretched and filled out. Gonna make nute solut an even 400, still lower than 3 hours ago but decent for the nite. Just want them feeding if they want it, and they sure seemed to. Oh, and PH stayed dead on throughout. Gotta cool water again.

 

[LaoWhoo]

Plants did well overnight. Morning readings are exactly where they were last night at 406 PPM. Temp was decent too at 70.6 after getting it down to 69.5 last night 8 hours ago. That's promising--mita saved ourselves the trouble of an added chiller. Plants were not drooping at all but just as they were last night. Glad for the spreading in both. Gonna do sum searching after our tap water, see if I can discern what's in it, or not in it. Cal-mag may be a regular part of nute solut in 1/3 part to give us a starting 160 PPM water, tho I gotta go back to see when it goes in, before or after nutes. Chillin the water with 1 ice bottle before buttoning her up.

Prepped half gallon filtered (de-chloraminated) water wh/ still read 60 PPM and added cal-mag to get er up to 170 PPM. Nutes go in next (micro, grow, then bloom) to a targeted 400 PPM to match the res.

 

[LaoWhoo]

Our water is having potassium permanganate added to remove iron and manganese. More to follow. Or not. Really tuff to find out what's in it and what's not.

Girls look like they can use more lights. Other numbers holding steady, chillin the water midday. Lights at 18" now. And added 1 part GH Grow acc. to recipes and their development. Figure we're solidly into veg territory inasmuch as these have one. Total PPM is about 475.