Dusted’s Traditional Hydroponic Grows

Well, I knew there was still something wrong with this grow, even though things have improved. You would think after growing hydroponically for 40 yrs, and working in laboratories for 35 yrs, I would remember to calibrate the bloody pH pen. I had dunked it into an old pH 7 buffer at the start of the grow and it read 7.1 so I figured close enough. Today I made up fresh pH 4 and 7 powdered buffers in DI water. Checked the pH of the nutrients first. pH 5.7. Calibrate. pH 5.3 in the system after calibration. Dip Shit!

When I touch the nutrients they feel tepid. The chiller was set to 22 C, but the temperature rises to 23 C before the chiller brings it back down. When I stick my fingers into the earth it doesn’t feel tepid. I turned the chiller down to 19 C which made it work for a few hours, considering the mass of water (60 kg) and mass of rocks (60 kg) which it had to cool. This will increase the dissolved oxygen content by quite a bit but decrease nutrient adsorption rates. Another bonus is reduced potential pathogen growth.

Also checked the light clearance and found I had to raise the light about 6 inches, which should have been obvious from the plant growth.

@oldsmokey, and any other hydro growers, calibrate your pH pens if you haven’t done so recently.
 
What DAB said! ↑
 
Day 24 - 31

I don't normally defoliate my plants but SB#1 had such large heavy leaves the shoots couldn't get light or even get out from under the leaves. The exposed shoots were pretty droopy to start but are picking up now that they are in the light. Still getting the same damage to the fan leaves on SB#2 and WW. The Cream Caramel doesn't have a single brown spot on any leaf so its a hardy little thing. The damage must be done early in the leaf development if I'm still seeing new spots form.

Thinking back to the problems I saw in my last grow I realize the pH pen was probably out back then as well. That probably means that the Mg deficiency I saw was due to pH instead of not enough Mg. That would also make sense since I have never had a Mg deficiency in all my years of growing in this water without supplementing. I guess I will discontinue the Epson salts.

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Strawberry Banana #1 @ 31 days

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Strawberry Banana #2 @ 31 days

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Cream Caramel @ 29 days

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White Widow @ 24 days

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HashFart said:
What a come back brother , I was worried for your elephant , ,,,,,, you found the t bomb piney?
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It is. I’m really enjoying it since it is much more energetic than some of my couch lock strains

MrSauga said:
Looking good Dusted. During my days of pH'ing my nutes I would never remember to calibrate my pen. I finally set up a notification on my phone calendar that reminded me monthly. Worked like a charm for one month then I stopped pH'ing my nutes. :)
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Thanks Mr S. Your on MC now aren’t you.

StRoostifer said:
Wow those have taken off! That elephant ear is crazy looking. Great in the calibration dusted!
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Even being poisoned by me they are ahead of what I’m used to, under the new light.
 
Day 29-35 or so.

RH 54%
Daytime 23.5 C Nighttime 20 C
Nutrient temperature 19-20 C
Light at 500 W and 34 inches above the plants

They are taking much longer to recover than I expected. It has been a week at 5.8 and the new growth is much lighter green without the purple leaf borders, which is good. I'm still losing a lot of the damaged fan leaves but thankfully the new growth is faster than the die back. I did change out the nutrients yesterday and went with week one of Bloom nutrient mixture. I did not add any Mg and I cut back on nutrient concentration by about 10%. I want to let them recover a bit more before the flip but they are mostly ready. Sometime this week, depending on my mood.

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Strawberry Banana #1

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Strawberry Banana #2

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Cream Caramel

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White Widow

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Dusted said:
Thanks Mr S. Your on MC now aren’t you.
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That is correct; I always have been. Just to clarify though, it has nothing to do with why I don't pH my nutes. My medium is buffered, so regardless of the nutes I use, or the pH value my solution is at, the soil will buffer it accordingly.
 
I did the flip tonight. That should give me a harvest date of the second week in Dec. Elephant ear was getting too big for her own britches and SB2 close behind. WW isn’t ready yet but it will probably catch up during stretch. The Cream Caramel branches are starting to peak through the big fan leaves. It still shows no damage . I will have to defoliate soon and get rid of potential popcorn and open up more bud sites. With the more aggressive growth under this light I will have to control the plants more than usual.
 
DutchinAB said:
That’s the full spec light from budget, yes? Have you had the uva on for the duration, or just for flower?
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It is the Budget led. This model doesn’t have a uv switch. I read the new ones you can turn off the uv off in veg
 
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