The Biggest Grow Battle in the World 2019 First Leg. FINISHED

[Only1Sky]

@St. Tom - Zamnesia Week 11 Update. Caramel. Thanks for your patience, Tom.

 

[Only1Sky]

@TheMongol Week 11 Update - DINAFEM BATTLE - (OG Kush)
@archie gemmill Week 11 Update - GENERAL BATTLE - Dinafem OG Kush

 

[St. Tom]

@St. Tom - Zamnesia Week 11 Update. Caramel. Thanks for your patience, Tom.

View attachment 1047009 View attachment 1047010

no problem growbro sorry for pestering you i just want this completed to be honest as im on the hso grow after this one well team leader same sort of gig as this one

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

My blocks filled with roots but they have to be perfectly level and the holes in the corner of the caps somtimes make the water drain down away from the block. Also i wish there was a way to secure the caps to the block instead of them just sitting on there. Whats your dryback? I wait till around 40-50% dry then water to around 80% of capacity. I'm in veg now and when they flower I'm thinking of going to 30% dry and 65-75%.

This is from a post in my incredible bulk thread

A big shout out to GroDan for having a knowledgeable rep that I could actually talk with!

I have forwarded a copy of this information to the GroDan rep for review if anything changes I will update it later in this thread.

Ok so after communicating with the west coast GroDan rep; there is a newer “Precision Watering” method recommended in my scenario that supersedes the previously published information. I am going to reiterate the information sent and discussed with me here and I will try to explain what it means to me in my 6 plant grow as well as some of the ideas behind the changes. You want to slowly water about 3% of the capacity of the rock wool block on each pump on cycle with enough cycles to accomplish a 10% to 20% of that total volume as run off by the end of the watering period that day.


Watering Formula


1 Gallon of Water = 231 in3

1 Hugo = 216 in3 (.94gal)

1 Ounce = 1.805 in3

1 Gallon = 128 oz.


Formula:

216 ÷ 231 = .94gal. x 128oz. = 120 x 3% = 3.6oz.


Whew….. Ok so let’s talk first about that small 3.6 oz. of water (nutrient mix) per cycle for the Hugo. I could not understand why such a small amount of water per cycle until in the course of our conversation the topic of “Water Channeling” came up. When you water in larger faster volumes the water develops “channels” through the block instead of permeating the entire block. Smaller slower more frequent watering provides a more desirable capillary action. This capillary action moistens and aerates the block more evenly which is the goal as opposed to just the areas close to the channels. It was like a light went on for me with this revelation. Using “X” number of water cycles per day to achieve a 10% to 20% run off of the total water applied in those cycles by the end of the day has to be accomplished by observation and measuring the run off. This small runoff is what is flushing any salt build up out of the block daily. The number of cycles in a period is going to change as the plants uptake changes and I think I have figured out a way to keep tabs on that in my system. More on that as the grow proceeds.

The “when” to water patterns has changed as well from previously prescribed regimes, it is now recommended for me in Veg. to start watering 2 – 4 hours after lights on until 4 – 2 hours prior to lights out. So this is a 12 to 14 hour watering window in veg. Listening to your plants is part of determining when to start and stop within these hourly ranges. Remember you need to achieve that 10% - 20% runoff of the total by the end of the watering time frame. Not watering during lights out is going to provide a very important “Dry Back Period” in the block which stimulates root growth and health.

In flower mode you water from ~4 hours after lights on until ~4 hours prior to lights out. Here we are talking about a 4 hour watering window in which to accomplish the runoff. Shrinking down the watering window places more stress on the plants to strive for “survival of the species with bigger better flowers hoping to get pollinated” at least that is the theory behind it. I think that this may set a very fine line between good stress and too much stress that can cause hermies in some strains. Consequently I may opt to be a bit conservative here.

When I am ready to transplant the A-Ok starter blocks into the Hugos, I will prepare the Hugos by following Grodan’s instructions soaking them in 5.5 PH water for 30 minutes then flushing to waste with ¼ strength nutrients PHed 5.5 to 6.0. Transplant, and then don’t water for 7 – 10 days in order to establish a good root system in the Hugo. Watering should start when the blocks are ~30% - 50% moisture content. Just picking them up is the test here they will be light yet should still have about 36oz to 60oz of water.

The “First drip watering”, It has been explained to me that runoff from this first drip watering will begin at around the 4th cycle which means I will have applied about 14.4oz per block and would be looking for 1.4oz. to 2.8oz runoff; If I don’t get that then I would want to add another cycle in which case I will have applied 17oz and looking for 1.7oz to 3.4oz and so on. Remember I have a big watering window and the plants will not be very large yet so I should be able to dial this in.

Now I don’t want to water again until the block is at that ~30% to 50% moisture content range again which may be a few days or more but now I will have a better idea on the number of cycles needed to get the proper runoff.

As the grow progresses I will just keep ramping up the number of water cycles to meet the plants demands and getting that 10% to 20% runoff as well as keeping within the other watering parameters above.

Now to make this happen I added pressure compensating .5 GPH drip emitters to what I already have and in a 5 minute time interval I accomplished the 3.6oz per block desired.

I know that right now that seems complicated but I think it will be easier once I get it going.

Another benefit to this precision watering method is an even more substantial savings on nutrients. I am pretty sure I can run this with <12 gallons of nutrient mix per week!

So I water to ~20% run off every day once the plants get going.

 

[faded187]

 

[SOOTDAWG]

Red tags..battle plants
Yellow-Shortstuff Purple ???
Orange-Mephisto Strawberry Nuggets
Green-Autoseeds Autopounder
Blue-Shortstuff Amnesia CBD (light)

 

[Need4Weed]

@woody
Berry Bomb
Temps 78 - 84
Humidity 45 - 55%

She's not going to be finished in the time frame allotted, but I'll post a final pic of her on the last day!

 

[Need4Weed]

AutoSeeds GSC
Temps 78 - 84
Humidity 45 - 55%

Here's my AutoSeeds entry! She won't be done on time either!

 

[Tyler_Durden88]

This is from a post in my incredible bulk thread

A big shout out to GroDan for having a knowledgeable rep that I could actually talk with!

I have forwarded a copy of this information to the GroDan rep for review if anything changes I will update it later in this thread.

Ok so after communicating with the west coast GroDan rep; there is a newer “Precision Watering” method recommended in my scenario that supersedes the previously published information. I am going to reiterate the information sent and discussed with me here and I will try to explain what it means to me in my 6 plant grow as well as some of the ideas behind the changes. You want to slowly water about 3% of the capacity of the rock wool block on each pump on cycle with enough cycles to accomplish a 10% to 20% of that total volume as run off by the end of the watering period that day.


Watering Formula


1 Gallon of Water = 231 in3

1 Hugo = 216 in3 (.94gal)

1 Ounce = 1.805 in3

1 Gallon = 128 oz.


Formula:

216 ÷ 231 = .94gal. x 128oz. = 120 x 3% = 3.6oz.


Whew….. Ok so let’s talk first about that small 3.6 oz. of water (nutrient mix) per cycle for the Hugo. I could not understand why such a small amount of water per cycle until in the course of our conversation the topic of “Water Channeling” came up. When you water in larger faster volumes the water develops “channels” through the block instead of permeating the entire block. Smaller slower more frequent watering provides a more desirable capillary action. This capillary action moistens and aerates the block more evenly which is the goal as opposed to just the areas close to the channels. It was like a light went on for me with this revelation. Using “X” number of water cycles per day to achieve a 10% to 20% run off of the total water applied in those cycles by the end of the day has to be accomplished by observation and measuring the run off. This small runoff is what is flushing any salt build up out of the block daily. The number of cycles in a period is going to change as the plants uptake changes and I think I have figured out a way to keep tabs on that in my system. More on that as the grow proceeds.

The “when” to water patterns has changed as well from previously prescribed regimes, it is now recommended for me in Veg. to start watering 2 – 4 hours after lights on until 4 – 2 hours prior to lights out. So this is a 12 to 14 hour watering window in veg. Listening to your plants is part of determining when to start and stop within these hourly ranges. Remember you need to achieve that 10% - 20% runoff of the total by the end of the watering time frame. Not watering during lights out is going to provide a very important “Dry Back Period” in the block which stimulates root growth and health.

In flower mode you water from ~4 hours after lights on until ~4 hours prior to lights out. Here we are talking about a 4 hour watering window in which to accomplish the runoff. Shrinking down the watering window places more stress on the plants to strive for “survival of the species with bigger better flowers hoping to get pollinated” at least that is the theory behind it. I think that this may set a very fine line between good stress and too much stress that can cause hermies in some strains. Consequently I may opt to be a bit conservative here.

When I am ready to transplant the A-Ok starter blocks into the Hugos, I will prepare the Hugos by following Grodan’s instructions soaking them in 5.5 PH water for 30 minutes then flushing to waste with ¼ strength nutrients PHed 5.5 to 6.0. Transplant, and then don’t water for 7 – 10 days in order to establish a good root system in the Hugo. Watering should start when the blocks are ~30% - 50% moisture content. Just picking them up is the test here they will be light yet should still have about 36oz to 60oz of water.

The “First drip watering”, It has been explained to me that runoff from this first drip watering will begin at around the 4th cycle which means I will have applied about 14.4oz per block and would be looking for 1.4oz. to 2.8oz runoff; If I don’t get that then I would want to add another cycle in which case I will have applied 17oz and looking for 1.7oz to 3.4oz and so on. Remember I have a big watering window and the plants will not be very large yet so I should be able to dial this in.

Now I don’t want to water again until the block is at that ~30% to 50% moisture content range again which may be a few days or more but now I will have a better idea on the number of cycles needed to get the proper runoff.

As the grow progresses I will just keep ramping up the number of water cycles to meet the plants demands and getting that 10% to 20% runoff as well as keeping within the other watering parameters above.

Now to make this happen I added pressure compensating .5 GPH drip emitters to what I already have and in a 5 minute time interval I accomplished the 3.6oz per block desired.

I know that right now that seems complicated but I think it will be easier once I get it going.

Another benefit to this precision watering method is an even more substantial savings on nutrients. I am pretty sure I can run this with <12 gallons of nutrient mix per week!

So I water to ~20% run off every day once the plants get going.

I know all this I've read that thread before. I just found out they actually make cubes that fit the hugos in and the caps and clips mount to it. That's what I was looking for I just didn't know they made them. And they keep improving the design every year. It's a bit harder growing from seed with drip irrigation as diffrent plants drink diffrent amounts and dialing in each plants drippers take time. I'm gonna use the rockwool for my clones at another grow I'm setting up at a diffrent location. I'm also buying some coco mats to set them on. Right now growing in coco and rockwool in the same grow gets harder and harder with this many plants. Using photo Clones will eliminate alot of the factors. Thanks for the info man o green.

 

[Need4Weed]

Red tags..battle plants
Yellow-Shortstuff Purple ???
Orange-Mephisto Strawberry Nuggets
Green-Autoseeds Autopounder
Blue-Shortstuff Amnesia CBD (light)

@SOOTDAWG I got you checked off!

I've missed or haven't received Week 11 updates from the following members!

@bushmasterar15
@Kya Knight ​