Another update.
So until I hear otherwise, I'm going to continue to be verbose with the posts and updates. It's just a good reference for me and who knows it might just be something somebody else might encounter.
NEF recently asked about when I'm going to change cycles to flowering. Last night I decided it's really close to being time. The magnetic ballast arrived today, as well as the HPS lamp (pics in near future). I decided to do a nute change and change the "soup" to the Transition recipe. Here's what was performed.
So I'm not real familar how most people drain the res on their CAP system but here's what I've been using.
Pump purchased from home depot, garden hose attachment, some tubing, a hangar and some duct tape. Basically I just drop the "utensil" into the barrel and it pumps the reservoir dry.
While the res is draining, I take some run-off measurements, just to see what effect time does to the PPM and PH of the nutes.
Then I begin the process of filling up the res and while the water is being added, I begin adding the nutes. I use the drill with mixer attachment to do a great mixing job and get a more immediate reading of the nute strength. While close, but not quite to my filling level (approx 40 gals), I add my PH Down solution.
A final mix with the drill, I replace the 2 power-head pumps that live in the res, and buckle everything back up and then I take some measurements.
At this point, I can add a little more water if necessary to get all the levels proper. I took a temperature measurement for you to see.
Obviouslly the water is way to cold, so I turn off several cycles on the CAP timer. About 8 hours and the water temperature rises to about 65 and the watering cycle is resumed.
Tonight when I did a quick check, the PH had fallen to 5.6, a little to low for me, I added 5 gallons of tap water and it brought it back up to 5.8. A little lower on the nute strength, but I can live with this. The plants will talk!
As a side note, it looks like the first tank of CO2 I have is just about dry, it lasted about a week with 24/0 lighting schedule. At this rate, I'll be purchasing a propane generator, as someone suggested not too long ago. He warned me, ;-)
Anyway, I'll grab another picture tomorrow before I darken the room for 30 hours to start the flowering, and hopefully the fun begins!
Thanks all!
SF
Hey McBudz.
You a movie buff? Pulp Fiction? "Well Allow Me to Retort".
You bring up some very valid points/solutions.
Good to know, I'll move on and give this a go.
I wouldn't know how to really manage the PH "train" my PH is actually down by the end of the week res change. I've been starting the week pretty much at 5.8-6.0 based on these two charts?
Basically, my PH doesn't really drift much either way, so how would I compensate?
I hear you on the nap!!! I'm using tap water @ 190ppm, PH 7 right from faucet.
Thanks again for the tips. Looking forward to your comments!
SF
Love Pulp Fiction
If your pH doesnt drift much (mine actually doesn't too much either) GH Flora is very pH stable. I do 10 day res cycles and I fill the res to 50 gallons. After 5 days or so I lose a fair amount .. say 10 gallons or so of water. I just top off with RO water which can bring it upwards 6.0 give or take. So my drift in a sense is a bit manual.
You seem to have everything well put together and thought out. Im just throwing my 2 cents in from experience hoping to save you any unneeded extra work. Its nice to have you here hosting a journal with us.
I wish I had your tap water. Mine sucks. Can barely sustain life of any kind. Very hard water 500 ppm
Trich City... Wowz bro
thanks bro, sorry took me a while to respond but i've been keeping up.
ABOUT HARVEST:
here is one of the 420mag official guides to harvest:
What is the best way to dry and preserve the cure for smooth, sweet buds?
sounds good to me, but not what I do.
My Method is as follows:
1)cut off a main cola as far down as you can without getting too much side branching
2)cut off all fan leaves. and discard
3)trim the sugar leaf in the general shape of the bud onto a newspaper for hash (or discard). I don't trim it too too tight, the sugar leaf will curl up and cover the bud, which will protect the bud somewhat until i smoke it. i leave maybe 1/8-1/2 inch of sugar leaf depending on how frosty it is. . . if you leave too much you can just not smoke that part when you break it up.
4)I used to hang them upside down in a closet, but now i have a mesh drying rack with 5 compartment, and depending on climate i leave them for 5-7 days until they're really dry.
5)next cut off side branching, one branch at a time, and treat it like a cola.
6)repeat steps 2 & 3 for each of step 5.
7) after 5-7 days they go into glass jars to cure. the buds will go from felling very dry, maybe even a bit crispy, to being kind of wet again in the jars.
8)burp the jars (open them and close them again) at least once a day as the buds "sweat" out excess moisture.
9)the buds will get more potent, in both taste and strength of high, the longer they are cured - up to a certain point. i would say that they are cured enough after one week, nicely cured in two, and fully cured in 4. (this is just my own scale.
I never have enough to wait the full cure to start tokin my harvests. I start smoking from the first day they are dry enough. lol. I've been dry for a week now and it sucks man. I can't wait to get another harvest under my belt. . . . hopefully one that will keep me stocked well enough to get through the one after that and a full cure before i have to raid the stash.
I thought this is going to be great
