Sorry for the late update. Into week 7 now. Nothing big to report. Had the rez up to 1.2ec of just mega. Dropped it back down to 1.1ec mega and added .1ec of bud explosion to get back to 1.2 total ec. I may raise mega back up to 1.2 as I see some pale green. Did a slight trim tonight aswell, the pic of leaves are the worst of what got trimmed. Mind you these were all lower leaves not being direct light really. Looks to me like normal leaf die off, but could be wrong. Ph has remained between 5.7-5.9 whole grow, with no ph adjustments needed after nute mixing. Adding bud explosion spikes ec and drops ph.
Grow Mediums Rez on from germ . . . The grow
- Thread starter Carphunter
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Wow!!!! They sure look good!!! You're certainly demonstrating that you can indeed start out with the system on.
These Autopots are really cool.
These Autopots are really cool.
So I've been noticing a consistent problem with my autopot grows. These two tents are my 4th and 5th grow using them and coco. Plants have always done good, not great, like a solid 7/10. These runs are showing the same as my previous top watered ones. Never a full deficiency or lockout, just that the plants never were at their full potential I thought. Environment always on point, nutes always good, ph in rez always good. Yet never what above that 8 out of 10. So today I did what I should of done grows earlier and busted out my soil ph probe. I've had this extra probe for my apera for well over a year, and I could kick my self for not breaking it out earlier.
Well, check all 4 plants, all of them have a average soil ph of 5.4. This was with both full and empty trays. The one tent has never seen a drop of ph up or down, running at 1.0ec 5.8ph from germ. Double checked ph in both rez's and all 4 trays, all good. My guess is the buffering in the coco itself is pulling it down. I've seen pop22 mention running his rez at a higher ph in several of his posts. So my plan is to do a fresh rez the same as normal, but ph up to 6.0, then recheck the soil ph after a couple days and see if there's a change.
Pics are of the tent started at 1.0ec, it's about 2 weeks behind the grow being documented here.
Beyond that, thank you guys for following along and the words of encouragement. I'm no master myself, and love reading your guys grows, I learn something from each and every one I read threw.
Well, check all 4 plants, all of them have a average soil ph of 5.4. This was with both full and empty trays. The one tent has never seen a drop of ph up or down, running at 1.0ec 5.8ph from germ. Double checked ph in both rez's and all 4 trays, all good. My guess is the buffering in the coco itself is pulling it down. I've seen pop22 mention running his rez at a higher ph in several of his posts. So my plan is to do a fresh rez the same as normal, but ph up to 6.0, then recheck the soil ph after a couple days and see if there's a change.
Pics are of the tent started at 1.0ec, it's about 2 weeks behind the grow being documented here.
Beyond that, thank you guys for following along and the words of encouragement. I'm no master myself, and love reading your guys grows, I learn something from each and every one I read threw.
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The soil pH on the top could be a lot different from the bottom in a bottom-fed system. The majority of your roots are at the bottom now. So I would be hesitant on doing anything based on that soil pH test.
I sometimes test the water in the pot's pH to see how it compares to the res. If it's too high, I turkey-baster it out and ensure the res pH is where I want it. If I'm seeing a consistent shift of say +0.5 (6.5pH) I'll feed it -0.5 (5.5pH) to try and balance it around 6pH. (coco/soil mix medium) 5.8-6.2pH is where I like to keep it and I've had good results.
I used Recharge as a bi-weekly tea on my last grow and it really seemed to help - kinda gave the soil a microbial pH buffer between the nutes and the plants. I was having a minor manganese def. on one of my girls (later realized the float value wasn't seated right and she was drowning) so I let her dry out for a couple days and after some Recharge, she bounced back like never skipping a beat. Actually just finished jarring the Pluto Cut and she was super gassy - yielded 175g all by herself.
Enjoying the grow so far, take care!
I sometimes test the water in the pot's pH to see how it compares to the res. If it's too high, I turkey-baster it out and ensure the res pH is where I want it. If I'm seeing a consistent shift of say +0.5 (6.5pH) I'll feed it -0.5 (5.5pH) to try and balance it around 6pH. (coco/soil mix medium) 5.8-6.2pH is where I like to keep it and I've had good results.
I used Recharge as a bi-weekly tea on my last grow and it really seemed to help - kinda gave the soil a microbial pH buffer between the nutes and the plants. I was having a minor manganese def. on one of my girls (later realized the float value wasn't seated right and she was drowning) so I let her dry out for a couple days and after some Recharge, she bounced back like never skipping a beat. Actually just finished jarring the Pluto Cut and she was super gassy - yielded 175g all by herself.
Enjoying the grow so far, take care!
Into week 8 now. Think I'm dealing with a calcium deficiency. Haven't used any calmag this grow, just the mega crop. This is the first time I've used the new white version of mega, used to using the older brown/green. V2 I think. With that version the most I would do is add some epsom salt. Thought that with the added calmag in the newer version I might be able to go with out. Gonna do a flush and add some calmag. Luckily I always keep a bottle on hand just in case.
One pic is lights on, one is lights off with camera flash. This gets me into one of the underlying issues that lead to not noticing fast enough. Where my tents are located I get zero direct sunlight. And as most know, under led you don't see the plants natural colors. I need to get a light closer to natural spectrum for checking the plants with the LEDs off. I've tried the glasses, didn't work for me. If anyone has any suggestions post away.
On a brighter note, my little kush plant is just about ready. This one has had the leftovers of the old version of mega, never any calmag or epsom. Plus being in the living room under normal light it was always real easy to see how she was doing.
Don't mind the cat hair, inescapable in my house. Gonna try bud washing with her, heard good things and interested to see for myself. Thanks again guys for following along.
One pic is lights on, one is lights off with camera flash. This gets me into one of the underlying issues that lead to not noticing fast enough. Where my tents are located I get zero direct sunlight. And as most know, under led you don't see the plants natural colors. I need to get a light closer to natural spectrum for checking the plants with the LEDs off. I've tried the glasses, didn't work for me. If anyone has any suggestions post away.
On a brighter note, my little kush plant is just about ready. This one has had the leftovers of the old version of mega, never any calmag or epsom. Plus being in the living room under normal light it was always real easy to see how she was doing.
Don't mind the cat hair, inescapable in my house. Gonna try bud washing with her, heard good things and interested to see for myself. Thanks again guys for following along.
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ive read a few megacrop grows and from what i remember reading is megacrop v2 and v3 need epson salt added which would be the calmag issue you are seeing.
I just caught up reading all the updates, i'm getting some autpots soon and this grow caught my eye. great job so far i will start my auto pots turned on like you
I just caught up reading all the updates, i'm getting some autpots soon and this grow caught my eye. great job so far i will start my auto pots turned on like you
I could see this coming in the earlier photo from the 20th but only just stopped by today.
I have used Megacrop for the last 2 years and always have to have calmag especially at transition and in late mid to later flower when I've had issues.
Little late on the update again, such is life. Got all the pots flushed, wasn't a huge hassle. Ran 3 gallon of 1.0ec mega, 5ml per gal calmag, and z7 threw each pot. Got basically 3 gallon back out. Let them sit over night and slowly feed from the tray till I thought the top had dried enough to turn the rez back on. Bout day and half. Rez was cleaned and refilled with same mix. Color is def coming back and growth jumped back up. Looks like I got it fixed. There's damage, no biggie.
Next time def going with one plant per tent. I have no doubt one would fill it scrogged better. 2 in a tent is a little much honestly. For reference my tent is 6ft tall, gives an idea of how tall these plants are, even with all the training done.
As a tip on the flushing. I would recommend going to a auto parts store and grabbing one of these.
It's a bulb type transfer pump. I cut the one end down that short. Short end in the tray, long end in a bucket, and just squeeze. Made flushing the plants without moving them simple and mess free.
Next time def going with one plant per tent. I have no doubt one would fill it scrogged better. 2 in a tent is a little much honestly. For reference my tent is 6ft tall, gives an idea of how tall these plants are, even with all the training done.
As a tip on the flushing. I would recommend going to a auto parts store and grabbing one of these.
It's a bulb type transfer pump. I cut the one end down that short. Short end in the tray, long end in a bucket, and just squeeze. Made flushing the plants without moving them simple and mess free.
Way over due on the update. Went out of town for a few days, still playing catch up with everything. Almost done with week 9 here. Rez is at 1.0ec megacrop, 5ml/gal calmag, z7 and ph 5.8. The autopots really paid off with being able to leave for a couple days and not worry. Buds are coming in nicely. Not stressing the leaf damage from the calmag issue. Just means I learned something for next grow.
Carp, I see you’re not getting a ton of feedback or interaction.
Just wanted to say keep it up.
Been following along and while I’m on my initial run with a 4x spring pot rig (coco this time), the next run will be with super soil and turning the res on early. Probably not from right from start, but within a week to 10 days.
Anyway, keep up the good work and thanks for showing that it is quite possible to turn it on from the start and go.
Just wanted to say keep it up.
Been following along and while I’m on my initial run with a 4x spring pot rig (coco this time), the next run will be with super soil and turning the res on early. Probably not from right from start, but within a week to 10 days.
Anyway, keep up the good work and thanks for showing that it is quite possible to turn it on from the start and go.
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