Oh guys... It feels so good!!
In retrospect, and after this loooong run of hair pulling troubleshooting, I really believe the "only" problem was/were not the LEDs. It was me potting directly into the final 10L airpots.
The root system was not established enough for such big airy pots. I always did the 20% run-off, but obviously it was a total waste of water and nutes. As Canna said, the "stagnant" water pushed the pH sky high to even further the problem. I suspect the little tappling did everything it could, burning its little tap-root and going ouch ouch ouch ouch :no:
So they stunted... but NEVER quit trying. Scavaging for food, I distinctly remember mentioning here how a strong foliar feed did them well. But not for long, and I only applied it once or twice. Got worse again. I guess they stopped taking in water from the roots, did not transpire enough kick-start the cycle, and started munching on themselves...
So in comes a 600w Sunmaster HPS until I got the MH, but anywhooo, took an entire week of a good flushing, feeding and heat radiated blast on them, and they started getting back up. As suggested by Canna, they needed to transpire, so I've been giving them high'ish temps and lamp closer now. Sure enough the heat stress forced the roots into action!
1.4/1.6'ish EC of yummy Canna A&B (about 1.5ml/L), Rhizo 2ml, Canna 2.5ml, Cal Mag 2ml and Liquid Silicon 1.5ml. Couple of drops of pH(-) and off it goes.
I also quit adjusting the pH in the rez before the nutes. Upon dozens of readings, how the chems react with each other in pH and EC... I realized this was bad practice too. Listen to the companies! Adjust the pH in the END.
For example, Canna B has a very very strong pH buffering strength, which is great because Liquid Silicon is also pH(+), but not half as strong as phosphoric or nitric Acids as pH downs... So NOW I can actually add it without the pH flying back up again while the Canna B was still fighting the phosphoric acid from BEFORE the mix was made!... did anyone just follow that?
Seemed logical at the time, but it was a stupid move to try and compensate the base pH. Leave it alone and a few drops in the end and the prep will follow slowly into the 5.8 zone and stabilize there.
Algae and initial (possibly:unidentified) fungus gnat infestation was treated with cross-pot dry coco patching (have no stock left), and cutting 2 yellow sticky tapes into lots of smaller stripes and hooking the all around the airpots. 2 flies were only ever accounted for, and I believe they never got to formally meet each other.
2 new ladies joined in btw... DP/CBD Crew's new Skunk Haze 1:1
Front to back, NQ3, SH2, NQ2
Ortega 1 and NQ 1 at the back
Will give another week of this light then maybe... turn the LEDs back on along the MH :hot: I still believe in them ALOT, and I'm hungry to see how they will like it.
With all this lost time, what "week" would you say I am in? Would love to start logging stats again...
In retrospect, and after this loooong run of hair pulling troubleshooting, I really believe the "only" problem was/were not the LEDs. It was me potting directly into the final 10L airpots.
The root system was not established enough for such big airy pots. I always did the 20% run-off, but obviously it was a total waste of water and nutes. As Canna said, the "stagnant" water pushed the pH sky high to even further the problem. I suspect the little tappling did everything it could, burning its little tap-root and going ouch ouch ouch ouch :no:
So they stunted... but NEVER quit trying. Scavaging for food, I distinctly remember mentioning here how a strong foliar feed did them well. But not for long, and I only applied it once or twice. Got worse again. I guess they stopped taking in water from the roots, did not transpire enough kick-start the cycle, and started munching on themselves...
So in comes a 600w Sunmaster HPS until I got the MH, but anywhooo, took an entire week of a good flushing, feeding and heat radiated blast on them, and they started getting back up. As suggested by Canna, they needed to transpire, so I've been giving them high'ish temps and lamp closer now. Sure enough the heat stress forced the roots into action!
1.4/1.6'ish EC of yummy Canna A&B (about 1.5ml/L), Rhizo 2ml, Canna 2.5ml, Cal Mag 2ml and Liquid Silicon 1.5ml. Couple of drops of pH(-) and off it goes.
I also quit adjusting the pH in the rez before the nutes. Upon dozens of readings, how the chems react with each other in pH and EC... I realized this was bad practice too. Listen to the companies! Adjust the pH in the END.
For example, Canna B has a very very strong pH buffering strength, which is great because Liquid Silicon is also pH(+), but not half as strong as phosphoric or nitric Acids as pH downs... So NOW I can actually add it without the pH flying back up again while the Canna B was still fighting the phosphoric acid from BEFORE the mix was made!... did anyone just follow that?
Seemed logical at the time, but it was a stupid move to try and compensate the base pH. Leave it alone and a few drops in the end and the prep will follow slowly into the 5.8 zone and stabilize there.
Algae and initial (possibly:unidentified) fungus gnat infestation was treated with cross-pot dry coco patching (have no stock left), and cutting 2 yellow sticky tapes into lots of smaller stripes and hooking the all around the airpots. 2 flies were only ever accounted for, and I believe they never got to formally meet each other.
2 new ladies joined in btw... DP/CBD Crew's new Skunk Haze 1:1
Front to back, NQ3, SH2, NQ2
Ortega 1 and NQ 1 at the back
Will give another week of this light then maybe... turn the LEDs back on along the MH :hot: I still believe in them ALOT, and I'm hungry to see how they will like it.
With all this lost time, what "week" would you say I am in? Would love to start logging stats again...
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