420's Soil Purple Kush Journal

[Old TimingMan]

That's actually a good idea. I'll try it out see how it works. I turned on the other light for the time being and now it's 84 degrees. I don't know why it goes up so drastically with the fan blowing cool air in. Any good evaporative coolers you'd recommend?? And ahhh would the same problem happen in soil?? I always watered at the stem. Everywhere I read that's what it always said to do.

Watering at the stem is fine when they are seedlings, but as the grow up you want to spread the roots out, that gives you a good base to hold the plant in the medium, plus more roots feed the plant.

What size fan (CFM) do you have exhausting your tent?

 

[Herbshuttles]

Watering at the stem is fine when they are seedlings, but as the grow up you want to spread the roots out, that gives you a good base to hold the plant in the medium, plus more roots feed the plant.

What size fan (CFM) do you have exhausting your tent?

Not exactly the correct terminology for how big it is but here's a picture with my hand in it for comparison. (I have big hands hahaha)

 

[Old TimingMan]

To keep your tent temps down you are going to need some sort of an exhaust fan pulling out the hot air at the top of the tent and keeping circulation going thru the tent, just blowing air in will not exchange enough air for the space. There are a few ways you can do it, the cheapest is a inline duct booster fan with some flex ducting and the best route is a inline exhaust fan with a carbon filter to get rid of the smell that will be produced when they get close to flower...when in flower they can be really stinky...like you are keeping a skunk in the house stinky.

These are some ways to set up an exhaust system to get rid of the heat and smell. Its best to exhaust the hot air outside the room the tent is in, to the outside of the house being the best way to get rid of it.

Using a system like this will create negative pressure inside the tent and draw the fresh colder floor air in through the vents at the bottom of the tent and draw the hot air at the top out. The top right method is the best because you are keeping the heat created ny the fan out of the tent.

 

[Herbshuttles]

To keep your tent temps down you are going to need some sort of an exhaust fan pulling out the hot air at the top of the tent and keeping circulation going thru the tent, just blowing air in will not exchange enough air for the space. There are a few ways you can do it, the cheapest is a inline duct booster fan with some flex ducting and the best route is a inline exhaust fan with a carbon filter to get rid of the smell that will be produced when they get close to flower...when in flower they can be really stinky...like you are keeping a skunk in the house stinky.

These are some ways to set up an exhaust system to get rid of the heat and smell. Its best to exhaust the hot air outside the room the tent is in, to the outside of the house being the best way to get rid of it.

Using a system like this will create negative pressure inside the tent and draw the fresh colder floor air in through the vents at the bottom of the tent and draw the hot air at the top out. The top right method is the best because you are keeping the heat created ny the fan out of the tent.

I actually have a carbon filter and inline exhaust fan. But my problem is how do I keep the fan suspended in the air outside the tent?

 

[Herbshuttles]

Ok so here's an update. I figured out a way to install the carbon filter and fan, almost identical to the top right. I have ducting leading out the fan and out the room.I still have a fan blowing air in. Temp has not changed. I don't understand why, but I'm starting to think an evaporative cooler is my only option left

 

[Old TimingMan]

Ok so here's an update. I figured out a way to install the carbon filter and fan, almost identical to the top right. I have ducting leading out the fan and out the room.I still have a fan blowing air in. Temp has not changed. I don't understand why, but I'm starting to think an evaporative cooler is my only option left

Do you have the heat/heat registers in the room the tent is in shut off? You might have to give the exhaust fan some time to get caught up. If you hold your hand at the ducting leading out of the room can you feel noticeable warm air coming out? The temp at the top of the plant is the area you want to check.

 

[Herbshuttles]

Do you have the heat/heat registers in the room the tent is in shut off? You might have to give the exhaust fan some time to get caught up. If you hold your hand at the ducting leading out of the room can you feel noticeable warm air coming out? The temp at the top of the plant is the area you want to check.

By shutting off the heat register do you mean to close the vent in the room? I could try it but I'm worried it would have unintended negative effects in my house. It's now at 79 degrees. That's my ideal temp however my problem now is only one light is on. I wanted to have it at 75-78 with both lights on. I put my hand on the other side of the ducting and it actually feels kind of cool. Not really warm at all. I have the thermometer at the plants canopy. I also have a co2 bag now. I know science said don't bother with it but I already bought it when he said that haha

 

[Herbshuttles]

Never mind, it's back at 81

 

[Old TimingMan]

By shutting off the heat register do you mean to close the vent in the room? I could try it but I'm worried it would have unintended negative effects in my house. It's now at 79 degrees. That's my ideal temp however my problem now is only one light is on. I wanted to have it at 75-78 with both lights on. I put my hand on the other side of the ducting and it actually feels kind of cool. Not really warm at all. I have the thermometer at the plants canopy. I also have a co2 bag now. I know science said don't bother with it but I already bought it when he said that haha

Regulating the room temperature the tent is in will help considerably, every degree lower should have an equal effect in your tent as long as your exhaust fan is big enough.

Exhaust fans are rated by CFM's (cubic feet per minute), Example; if your tent size is 4'x4'x7', that is 112 cubic feet and the proper size exhaust fan should be rated to exchange at least that amount of air per minute, the more air being pulled out of the tent the better.

You also try leaving your tent flap open, but eventually the room the tent is in will heat up and your fresh air fan will just be circulating hot air around.

 

[Herbshuttles]

So I gave it a day or so and now temps staying at 79 with both lights on. I'm happy with that. However considering that it's been about 2 months I'm just about ready to call it quits on this batch. I'm confident with my environment now that I think I can have much better luck with my next grow. As far as starting in a solo cup and transplanting, would you say that's absolutely necessary? Or can I have the same results with starting it out in the 5 gallon pot?

 

[Old TimingMan]

So I gave it a day or so and now temps staying at 79 with both lights on. I'm happy with that. However considering that it's been about 2 months I'm just about ready to call it quits on this batch. I'm confident with my environment now that I think I can have much better luck with my next grow. As far as starting in a solo cup and transplanting, would you say that's absolutely necessary? Or can I have the same results with starting it out in the 5 gallon pot?

The first run is a good time to "dial in" your grow area, which it sounds like you are doing, temps at 79 is about the max you want, will it rise in the summer months or can you keep it steady year round? How is your humidity in the tent?, you are going to want it around 35-40% during the whole grow if you can, slowly decreasing as harvest approaches.

Starting in a solo cup in my opinion is the way to do it especially in coco, you will end up wasting a lot of water/nutes with a seedling in a big pot because you want to keep coco from drying out completely. A seedling should stay in a solo cup until the 4-5 node stage so it builds a nice root ball and it will take transplanting with no problems.

Dobewan has a great journal going that has a nice amount of in-depth explanation with great photos for a beginner in coco. He is at the transplanting stage now with his current grow so following along with his journal will give you a lot of tips and tricks. DobeWan's Perpetual Adventure 2.0 - The Reboot

Stop by and check it out, questions are always welcome and he is always happy to help beginners and shoot the breeze with others.

 

[Herbshuttles]

Also, it's necessary to pH water from seedling all the way through correct? Do you recommend pHing the runoff of the coco before I plant? And do you think this feeding chart seems accurate for coco? I have GH nutes so it's the GH flora series drain to waste feedchart General Hydroponics – Grow indoor. Grow outdoor. Grow with us.

 

[Herbshuttles]

I have central air so if anything I think it will be cooler in the summer. My problem is now it's cold so the house is warm making the tent even hotter. And yes that's about where my humidity is usually, sometimes high 20's. And I thought you don't nute until around the 4th/5th node?

 

[Old TimingMan]

PH your water on everything from seed to flush, coco is good at 5.7-6.0 range. You can start feeding it when the first set of 3 finger leaves show up, start lite and gradually build it up, by the time you transplant into the final pot, you should be at full strength for the current week. Some consider veg starts as soon as it pops, I consider it when the first true leaves appear. If you are using Tap water, allow for the PPM's at the tap and let it sit 24 hrs to allow the chlorine to evaporate before mixing nutes.

I would flush your coco with just PH'd water 24 hrs before you plant, take a reading so you know that your coco is not full of salts, brick coco tends to be, bag coco is usually pretty neutral. Once you get started in your big pots, its a good idea to flush with just PH'd water once every 14 days, just to keep the build-up at a minimum. I don't get too concerned if my run-off is a little high, most of the time the PH is 6.0-6.5 which for run-off seems to be acceptable.

I have used this nute line for my last two grows, the names may be different but I think the ingredients are similar

The amounts are per gallon.

 

[Herbshuttles]

Thank you for all the info, much appreciated !!! Definitely will be careful to follow this. Do you recommend flushing with cali magic before planting or really strictly just water? I'm reading up on people who do both. And I use the flora series + floralicious plus + koolbloom (liquid and dry) + flora nectar. So this may prove to be difficult to me. (I have no idea what I'm doing with the nutes, and ppm's). I see plenty of people creating their own schedules and there's no way I could do that as of right now.im going to have to find a way to make this work

 

[Old TimingMan]

Thank you for all the info, much appreciated !!! Definitely will be careful to follow this. Do you recommend flushing with cali magic before planting or really strictly just water? I'm reading up on people who do both. And I use the flora series + floralicious plus + koolbloom (liquid and dry) + flora nectar. So this may prove to be difficult to me. (I have no idea what I'm doing with the nutes, and ppm's). I see plenty of people creating their own schedules and there's no way I could do that as of right now.im going to have to find a way to make this work

I would charge the coco for the big pot with Cal/Mag before transplanting, in a solo all I would use is Rapid Start, because the Idea of a solo cup start is to build a good root system. All the seed needs to pop is moisture, warmth and humidity once it pops, the Lighting comes into play, you don't need a high power light right away, I use 4 17 Watt T8 florescence's in my seedling/early veg stage, I do that because I can keep the lights about 3-4" above the plants so they don't get "leggy" on me.

When you switch the lighting intensity (LED's), start high and work down a couple inches a day as you observe the growth, if the look like they are reaching for light, lower it some more until the flatten/spread out.

I basically followed Skunk Labs schedule to the T and had no problems, I used RO water so my base was zero and my PPM's started around 200 and slowly increased to 600-700 at the end of veg, then slowly worked up to 900-1000 around the 6-8 week of flower and then backed down to the 700-800 range until flush.

Cal/Mag is important in coco especially if you are using RO water, the bulk of the PPM's in city tap water is usually Chlorine and Cal/Mag so keep that in mind if that is what you are using.

 

[Herbshuttles]

Yes I'm using filtered tap water so I'll definitely keep that in mind thank you. In regards to the nutes, I'd have to figure out how to match my nutrients to skunks, and research if they are similar enough to do so. I've read people doing a 6:9 ratio. Seems like a lot of mL of nutes to me considering it's more than the feed chart which was supposedly excessive as is. I don't have fluorescent lights as of right now, just LED. Do you think that will be a problem ?

 

[Herbshuttles]

Yes I'm using filtered tap water so I'll definitely keep that in mind thank you. In regards to the nutes, I'd have to figure out how to match my nutrients to skunks, and research if they are similar enough to do so. I've read people doing a 6:9 ratio. Seems like a lot of mL of nutes to me considering it's more than the feed chart which was supposedly excessive as is. I don't have fluorescent lights as of right now, just LED. Do you think that will be a problem ?

 

[Herbshuttles]

I've been reading and somebody said to follow the GH chart but to just add more cali mag. I don't want to cause nute burn early on again, do you think it would be too much?

 

[Old TimingMan]

You could get a couple of the lower wattage screw in type LED's or CFL's to do the job with a standard reflector hanging socket.., you don't need high wattage, for $40.00 or less on Amazon or eBay you would be set.

If using the 1500W, use just one and start high...use the back of your hand to judge distance, at seedling stage when they are tender, you don't want to feel any heat, but you also don't want them searching for light...Lower it till you can feel heat and then raise it up 8 inches, see how the plants react, if they look to be stretching, lower it a couple inches at a time until you find that sweet spot.

As far as nutes, start lite and slowly up them, keep a log of what you do so you know if you have to back off or up them, learn the signs the leaves tell you, the color, the position they present themselves ( droopy, flat, praying) are all signs of how happy the plants are...uplifted leaves are what you want to see with a true Green color, the stems should be a light green and fairly stiff, a slight breeze rustling them 24/7 is ideal, use the tent walls to bounce the air rather than hitting them directly.

Before you start your new run, clean the entire tent with a mild bleach/water solution, the current plants may have some of the diseases we discussed, we don't want any spores hanging around, and if you had any bugs, a product called Home Defense by Ortho is a great spray to keep the bugs away, it is safe to use indoors, pet/child friendly and keeps the creepy crawlers away, just follow the directions. I spray the inside and outside perimeter of my room and tent once a month...no bugs.

Another tip that mostly applies in the spring, summer, and fall is if you are working out in the yard, change your clothes and wash up before entering the grow area, drift from spraying weeds or ants catching a ride with you will cause all sorts of new problems.