Fools Rush In: Newbie's Adventures In Suboptimal Conditions

So I hear there are awards for bud of the month and photo of the month?

I mean, I may be biased, but...

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Stunger said:
Last grow I even drilled out the 2 liter seed starting pots I used as well as well the bigger 30L and 50L final pots, that small size I realized allowed a lot of moisture loss so next time I will water more often. When drilling out the pots I feel you really need to change your watering approach for that reason. The other thing is, I made a simple pot liner by stapling some breathable landscape fabric to allow the air/oxygen to come in and avoid the soil falling out the bigger holes. It must be a little tricky if you are drilling the pots out already filled with soil. I don't imagine that any roots that got chopped or nicked would be any problem as it would only be those on the that reached the sides of the pots.

Here's some pics of what I did. :hookah:

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home made 'air pot'

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using landscape fabric as a pot liner

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30 liter/7 gallon pot filled approx 1/3 with super soil

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  • Media owner Stunger
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root tips showing thru old pot liner
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Trust me I have no issue watering more. My big issue is to much rain and now high ph. I just got a tester in and yea not top of line. Still it works I compared water to nutrients and fairly close to what should b. So when I went to test soil and it was 7.3 to 7.5 I was wtf. All but 2 plants healthy just some slight spotting on a few leaves due to macro deficiencies which due to water and oh will happen. Question now is do I wait for them to dry then flush to adjust ph? Or just say screw it n flush em while moisture still a little high? I finally got a week almost no rain so what do I do. The pic is the worst of the bunch obvious too much water and too much ph. So flush now or let soil dry for another day or 2?
 

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CraCraCarl11 said:
Trust me I have no issue watering more. My big issue is to much rain and now high ph. I just got a tester in and yea not top of line. Still it works I compared water to nutrients and fairly close to what should b. So when I went to test soil and it was 7.3 to 7.5 I was wtf. All but 2 plants healthy just some slight spotting on a few leaves due to macro deficiencies which due to water and oh will happen. Question now is do I wait for them to dry then flush to adjust ph? Or just say screw it n flush em while moisture still a little high? I finally got a week almost no rain so what do I do. The pic is the worst of the bunch obvious too much water and too much ph. So flush now or let soil dry for another day or 2?
Click to expand...
I only have a cheap pH meter and I seemed to get quite a range of readings depending where I 'poked', but I didn't feel confident to go with them nor did I want to purchase an expensive meter, so knowing there were still worms living and the plants seemed fine I never bothered further with pH.
 
CraCraCarl11 said:
Trust me I have no issue watering more. My big issue is to much rain and now high ph. I just got a tester in and yea not top of line. Still it works I compared water to nutrients and fairly close to what should b. So when I went to test soil and it was 7.3 to 7.5 I was wtf. All but 2 plants healthy just some slight spotting on a few leaves due to macro deficiencies which due to water and oh will happen. Question now is do I wait for them to dry then flush to adjust ph? Or just say screw it n flush em while moisture still a little high? I finally got a week almost no rain so what do I do. The pic is the worst of the bunch obvious too much water and too much ph. So flush now or let soil dry for another day or 2?
Click to expand...
Stunger said:
I only have a cheap pH meter and I seemed to get quite a range of readings depending where I 'poked', but I didn't feel confident to go with them nor did I want to purchase an expensive meter, so knowing there were still worms living and the plants seemed fine I never bothered further with pH.
Click to expand...

Yeah I have a cheap ph meter and it doesn’t do anything.

There are pretty cheap soil ph slurry test kits (i.e. sample and chemical-based) out there. They don’t have the precision of a fancy meter but I believe they’re quite accurate. I’ve got this one locally for example.
 
FelipeBlu said:
To me, his waterlogged condition is best remedied by transplanting into a 7 gallon fabric pot with 60-70% ProMix and 30-40% perlite. And covering it/taking it in when it rains.
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Increasing perlite to decrease water retention, right?
 
So the lights arrived yesterday morning, just as I was jumping into a work meeting. The package stared at me from the corner of the room until the end of the work day. Pure torture!

I was too excited to cook a proper dinner, so pizza was the solution. 10 minutes later I began my feverish mission of measuring and cutting and duct-taping and cable-tying. I had already planned out what I was going to do, but execution was really a thing in and of itself.

The actual cabinet is arriving in 2 weeks to a month, so the cardboard box will serve as an excellent platform on which to experiment. And it also means I can get started earlier!

After a very long day, I finished the first pass on my cardboard prototype!

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I don't want to talk about the product/brand I'm using, also out of respect for this forum's policies. But I will mention the specs of what I'm working with. Each LED panel is 15W, with Samsung lm301bs, and can be adjusted for intensity. I'm using a lux meter to take measurements at different positions and with different light intensities. I'm aware that lux isn't PAR/PPFD, but for now all I need is an internally consistent measurement so I can make adjustments and try things out in a more systematic fashion. With the bottom light panels at 25% and the rest off, it's approximately "7000 lux" where the seedlings are in that photo. I started conditioning the seedlings today, and they were in there for 2 hours. I will progressively increase their time spent in the box each successive day, and the intensity of the lights too.

Probably the first thing you all will have noticed - it might be a little ambitious/aspirational, but I really want to try out vertical/side lighting to maximize surface area exposed to the lights. If the plants end up not liking it, I can always move the panels into a more typical arrangement. This one will require some interesting training.

Suffice to say there are still things I have to work on. Better cable management. I have an exhaust fan but no carbon filter yet. Have a bit of time to think about what to do in that context. It will be a tough challenge considering the spatial constraints. Perhaps I can have the filter on the outside? There's also better soundproofing to be done. I have a heat mat to go in there for the cold nights. No fan for internal air circulation yet.

The seedlings themselves seem really happy. The timing of the gear arriving really couldn't have been better - both seedlings have just sprung their first multi-tipped leaves. The days have also started to get really dark and miserable here.

I feel exhausted now. But all in all so pleased the journey's really started! Thank you to whoever's stuck around this long :yahoo::snowboating::surf:
 
Looks really promising syenite, cool to see when the tent arrives. :hookah:
 
Thanks team! Really appreciate every one of you being here :Namaste:

Yesterday was all about the box, so this is how the plants are looking today. Sorry about the weird lighting, it was a rushed shot before work.

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My mutant is lagging behind a bit. Its weird post-coty leaves never fully grew out, so I assume once its first full leaves establish themselves, the seedling will have enough power to take off.

Not much else to report. Back in the office today and that still feels a bit strange. Wish I were home fussing over the plants!
 
If you have a spare time please visit my thread

LST, HST, FIM,Topping etc: Help

So im a new with just a little experience, could you describe me how do i use them and when do i use them. Which i can use on autoflowers or photo-periodic ones. FIM SCROG LST HST TOPPING SUPER CROPPING If its there anything else please explain to me and write name of the method
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FINALLY. The work week is over.

Today I added some foam where the blower meets the box to deaden the vibrations for soundproofing. I sealed the edges of the exhaust hole so there's no possibility of backflow. My "carbon filter" is currently a yoghurt pot with mesh covering the end. It sits empty while I wait for the carbon filter media to arrive. I'm not confident, but perhaps this will suffice for this stage of growth. I might consider having the filter outside the box to save some space, and have the blower push through it rather than pull. It would also help muffle the sound of air leaving the box.

I installed the heat mat for the cold winter nights. I'm having the lights on while I'm awake, rather than at night, just so I can keep an eye on things for now - until I feel confident the whole thing isn't gonna catch fire :rofl:

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I've conditioned the plants to the LEDs over the past few days. I have no idea how effective it's been. But this is it now I think! This is where they're going to live. My feeling is that the risk is manageable, considering how young the plants are and that they are photos. If necessary, they'll have time to recover. Will keep a close eye on them over the next few days.

I'm considering my plants to be entering the vegetative stage proper now. The bottom 4 panels are running at 40% power, approximately 24W. They are getting about 12000-15000 lux where they are sitting. I'll monitor them for unwelcome stretch. I will probably up this to 30k-40k (slowly) if they can take it. The biggest one is due for a feed any day now and I will be giving it full strength nutes.

Omg... it's going to be so nice now I don't have to wake up at the crack of dawn to get them outside, or worry about the weather in general.

It's really happening!!! :ganjamon:
 
Hey syenite, I have no indoor experience but looking good so far! :thumb:
 
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