GiGaBaNE's 3rd & Final Journal - At Least Until I Change Country

good stuff =D

just a quick update, i just ordered 10 x Sweet Fast Bud #2 Autoflowering Feminised Seeds and i get 3 free ones. i did try my luck in an email saying im from this forum and name dropping e.t.c, but just got a generic response saying already cheapest e.t.c
i did request no frilly freebies and give me free seed or something instead, but no response.

i will plant 1 seed first to test if my soil is too hot for them to germinate in, if it succeeds ill plnt the other 9.
they will be sharing veg lights with my other plants, but then will flower exclusivly on the strip lights i managed to recover from a job =D

so far looking at 5 recovered bulbs and 20 twin strip lights. will add some dual spec bulbs in the empty slots wwhen i can afford to.

i am pro dual spectrum becuse of what my end game grow room will look like, which is a 4ft tall room with a perspex roof and on the other side of the perpex is a pure roof of 30 dual spec 6' long t8's...guessing 18 30wt bulbs in a 6' square roof section, will need to work out the watts per sqmtr
 
Hey GiGa, I was going to post these pics on my journal, but since the GiGaPoT discussion is over here and a lot of my inspiration comes from this journal, I thought I would post it here.

I may have found the perfect 'smart pot' for coco.





​


These are the regular 'green' reusable grocery bags. You can buy them for $.50 - $1 (Wal-Mart has 'em cheap). The material breaths but not as well as a Smart Pot. It will help the coco retain moisture, yet still breath. I filled this one with Pro-Mix and watered it down heavily. Instantly I knew that it was better for coco than soil or a soil like media. This material will likely promote over watering in the later as it simply does not drain as readily. I need to get enough coco to fill one to test it, but I suspect that it will make a coco watering schedule closer to a soil watering schedule (not as often). In the next couple days I will get to the hydro store to get a side by side test going. I will do a Pro-Mix bag, a coco bag as well as pro-mix and coco in smart pots.

In the last pic you can see that I marked out the gallon sizes. They will easily hold 7 gallons. Compare a #7 Smart Pot at about $8.

Another use for the material is wrapping the small GiGaPots for moisture retention. They are super cheap and can easily be cut to fit what ever and simply glued together, or if your a fancy pants like me, serge (sew) it!


Cheers brother!
 
hey GiGa, where did you order from, herbie always responds to emails, every time i place an order and i put a msg i always get a response signed by herbie, its not automated cuz we discussed banks charging crazy fees for using credit cards over seas, so i know herbie has always got back to me, he gave me plenty of free stuff, when i complimented him on his prices he sent me an email saying flattery gets you everywhere and i had extra free seeds, i didnt send an email after the order it lets you add a msg to the order, then other times i got lots of extras such as pot markers, mints in a nice tin which can be used for seeds, stickers, wristbands, so i know herbie has always got back to me,
give me a shout if it was herbies, as i have always had a rapid response from herbie and not an automated email,

right back to the plants, this fish tank water seems to be working wonders, i chose 2 plants, 1 was a bigger plant in veg, and the other was a clone that i had 2 of from the same plant at the same time,
so the clone that has been getting the fish water has grown quicker than the one that has had just nute water, even the leaves seem different, instead of the leaves going out sideways they have all started stretching for the light, so it seems something is going on, and the big plant in veg that i gave it to is doing the same, both have grown more than any of my other plants that are getting normal bpn nutes, but these 2 have only had fish water the last 2 days and all ready their is a huge difference in the plants, the problem is im not sure if its doing the plants any good, ill continue to use it without nutes on these 2 and see how they go, but so far so good, they seem to be loving every drop of it, was planning on giving it the rest of my plants but ill give it a week and see how these go,

but the way the leaves are is crazy, both fan leaves either side of the stem are all in like a v shape, the leaves are not higher than the top of the plant, it seems the leaves want the lights more after feeding with tank water, and the growth is shocking as well, these 2 plants have grown more than the others, and the clone is clearly about an inch to an inch and a half bigger than the same clone, both of these clones where the same size before i fed the one with fish water, so by the looks of it this fish water really is working well and the plants love it, problem is do i keep feeding the fish water, or should i do 2 waters with fish water then 1 water with nutes, so a 2 to 1 ratio, or would i be best just sticking with the fish water to make it a fairer test, but im shocked at the results im getting, its give more of a boost than the bpn has, now this could just be a coincendence, or their might be something in using fish tank water,

anybody want to buy any nutes, ill bottle it up and ship it out, just need to change the water in my fish tank first, ill do it cheap honest, it works wonders, well it does for at least 2 days so ill guarantee the product for 2 days so far, now i just need to make it some fancy colour so i can start selling it, its our secret ok, dont tell anyone, lol
 
As long as you pay shipping Master Don I'll have some:)
 
The only problem I see in using straight tank water is you don't know what is in it, and in what quantity. A simple garden center test kit for NPK and PH would give you an estimation, but again, no clear idea. If I were in your shoes I would surf some to research aquaponics forums to see if I could get any info on tank water chemistry and if supplementing with nutes is an option. Heck, Corey (BPN) might have a good estimation of what's in there. Maybe even recommend a blend on tank water/nutes, or recommend a schedule of tank water/nute solution/clean water.

You have liquid fertilizer gold there DP. It is good stuff.

:goodjob:
 
ill pay shipping if you pay for the product :), or just find someone with tropical fish who dont use any water safe when they clean the tank and do a water change, i used to use this when i filled my tanks with tap water else my fish would suffer with the chlorine, but i just leave my water out for over 24 hours to remove chlorine and then i dont need to add anything, the only thing i add to my tank is tropical fish flakes, and plec wafers for my cleaning fish, that keeps my tank happy and my fish happy, plus if i want babies i just raise the temp of the water by a few degrees and they start making lots of babies, so i keep the temp just below that threshold,

ill keep running the test and see how the plants turn out, if you know anyone with a tropical fish tank then grab some water off them when they do a water change, just make sure its got no water safe added to it, this water safe is meant to be totally safe and would not harm you if it was drunk, but im not going to give it a try to find out, my dog did destroy a bottle and nothing happened to him, but not sure if he drank any, he just chewed the bottle to pieces and left it on the floor, i rang the company and told them what happened and they said make sure the dog has plenty of water and not to worry as its safe to use, so i worried a bit less and my dog did not turn into a dog fish so it looks like its safe to use, how ever not sure how safe it would be for plants, but saying that i have got plants in my tank and they was growing ok when i used water safe so its clearly safe for plants, my fish eat the plants and it never harmed them, but now im chemical free as it makes it easier to keep the nitrates and nitrites and ph in check, so i have not used any for months now.

but i got plenty of tank water and ill try it without adding any bpn to the mix and see how far they go, it would be amazing if i could go from day 1 to harvest buy just using tank water, id love to be able to test it so i could find out if its best for veg or flower, or even if it matters,

the thing is in nature these plants grow wild, they take the nutes out the soil, now unless im wrong this nute mix out of the soil dont change, so the plants would get the same nutrients throughout the whole grow, i may be wrong and it may change with the weather, but in the wild people dont add anything to the soil as its how these plants have grown, so i wondered does the plants nutrient uptake change with the seasons or is the nutes in the soil a good source for everything the plants need, which clearly it is as the plants grow well,
 
thanks heirloom, ill do some looking in to it, i have got a big chemical testing kit for my tank, its got loads of chemicals in it and it tells me the nitrate and nitrite level plus everything else, not sure how i find out the NPK of tank water though, if their is something i can buy to find out then ill try and get some, i know i can test the ppm if i had an ec meter but i dont have 1 yet but need one for my dwc scrog when i set that up,

im just looking at how well these 2 plants have responded in just 2 days, like you say, is it worth adding nutes, well i was thinking about a 2/1 ratio, where for 2 feeds i just give tank water, then the next feed i give tap water and bpn, this should prevent anything building up thats in the tank,

i need to try and find out whats in it, ill drop corey and email see if he knows anything about this, he is a great source of info so he may of come across this before, he may be able to tell me how to test the water for whats in it, thanks heirloom, ill reps you if it lets me
 
i just been looking round the net and it seems all fertilizers contain high levels of nitrates, now this is what my fish produce, their waste is the nitrites and nitrates, what im reading so far makes this water sound like its a good option for feeding plants.

soz GiG for hyjacking your thread,

now im reading loads of good stuff, plus their is one bloke who keeps orchids and fruit trees and he uses this water, but he says when you clean the pump and filter instead of throwing all the gunk and crap thats built up inside the filter away he says place this in a jar and fill with water and it will be a strong feed for the plants, their is so much to learn from this water, if it does work this well then we should be giving it a try, these 2 plants im watering with it will get nothing else, just the tank water, ill drop corey a msg and see what he says, but i can pretty much tell when the plants need nutes so if i see signs or anything unusual then ill hit it with some nutes,

read up on aquponics, animals and plants require almost opposite things to survive, for example we breath in oxygen and expel co2, plants take co2 and produce o2
also the nitrogens and other by products from fish will be of use to your plants,
using aquaponics i often see an increase of 20-30% plant size compared to hydroponics and 50-60% over soil alone
using fish water will only ever benifit your plants.
 
Welcome to a wonderful new world my friend. And thank you!

The NPK test I was talking about is the cheapo ones.....

LUSTER LEAF 1601 RAPIDTEST Soil Lawn Garden Farm PH NPK Tester Test Testing Kit on eBay!




EDIT:
donpaul.p said:
read up on aquponics, animals and plants require almost opposite things to survive, for example we breath in oxygen and expel co2, plants take co2 and produce o2
also the nitrogens and other by products from fish will be of use to your plants,
using aquaponics i often see an increase of 20-30% plant size compared to hydroponics and 50-60% over soil alone
using fish water will only ever benifit your plants.
Click to expand...


It's a beautiful symbiotic relationship.

:thumb:
 
thanks for the link mate, ill check it out, it would be great to see whats exactly in this water, it seems most fertilizers are based on the nitrates. and my fish produce this, from what ive read its a win win, i only throw the water away so if it can be used then its a huge bonus and if it does boost the plants then even better, even if i just used bpn every 3rd feed, then this means my nutes last a whole lot longer.
ill try and get one of these testing kits and find out whats going on,
thanks heirloom, ill get on it and find out what i can
 
hi guys. lol feel free to hijack all you want, its all educational =)

i would be interested to see these 2l hempies tested with putting their roots in the fish tank directly instead of a rez...who knows, you may no longer need to clean the tank near as often, lol.

it was herbies. i did get an email from them, i think my grammar could have been better. i only meant they didnt form any sort of reply to the specific request of not giving me free stuff and just chucking in extra value of seeds, lol.


Interesting find with those shopping bags for pots...will be interesting to see if it breaths enough to retard root growth at the perimeter. i have no experience yet with anything other than soil so no idea about coco or hydroton e.t.c

speaking of hempies. im going to read up a bit more on it, but im going to try one in a 3l pot, but will only be feeding it liquid seaweed and maybe a lttle molasses just to see how it fares.
 
the hempies are worth a go, most people use the 2ltr pop bottles as they are the perfect size for a 12-12 from seed or clone, but if you had a bigger pot then you could give a week or 2 of veg before flipping 12-12, mine are not far off done now, so ill be harvesting them soon and should have some seeds from the buds i pollenated, all been well ill have some nice seeds and should be an interesting mix
 
hey GiG just started a new journal comon over if yant too
 
07-sep-2012 (day 69 veg)

Im so sorry, hadnt realised its been nearly 3 weeks since a propper update. i will take some more pics and add them to the pile already building up.

been spending a lot of time with the kids on the school holidays and more reently decorating the kitchen and lounge.

ok first and most depressing order of business....my soil was too hot =( a lot of my fan leaves have gone all dry and crispy.
i did emergency transplanting. i pulled all the soil out and mixed it 50/50 with the old soil i was using which almost certainly has no nutes left in it then potted them all back up...halved the length of the roots on those with long ones to allow them to grow into the soil as they wish rather than just being all layed flat halfway in the soil.

im down to 3 clones from my last attempt...think i have come to the conclusion its actually my cheap rooting gel thats triggering rot. the stuff smells tremendously bad now, it already smelled pretty sticnky the day i got it =( next time mi going for rooting powder for the extra dryness.

my new seeds i got yesterday, i put 1 NL and 1 sweet fast in water, the sweet has poped a tap root bigger than the seed already, the NL is still to crack.

my plan for the new seeds is to plnt them in a very small pot of 'new' west+ john innes no2 as i used to use, then put that little pot of soil into a bigger pot of my 50/50 mix alowing it to 'dig down and find a rich vein of nutes' i will germ the rest of the seeds tonight.

with auto's is it best to use 6500k till they start to display pre flowers then switch to 2700k?
 
it will be hard to run any tests on it for me at the moment as they will be sharing a grow space with my other plants running GLR. they will share 6500ks with all my plants but will have the 2700k strips all to themselves for now. so all plants will be recieving both types their entire grow to some greater or lesser extent, but it would be good to see an all 6500k, all 2700k and a few different switch timings...will try to do so on my next order of seeds in a few months as i will be doubling my order.
 
Heirloom said:
Hey GiGa, I was going to post these pics on my journal, but since the GiGaPoT discussion is over here and a lot of my inspiration comes from this journal, I thought I would post it here.

I may have found the perfect 'smart pot' for coco.





​


These are the regular 'green' reusable grocery bags. You can buy them for $.50 - $1 (Wal-Mart has 'em cheap). The material breaths but not as well as a Smart Pot. It will help the coco retain moisture, yet still breath. I filled this one with Pro-Mix and watered it down heavily. Instantly I knew that it was better for coco than soil or a soil like media. This material will likely promote over watering in the later as it simply does not drain as readily. I need to get enough coco to fill one to test it, but I suspect that it will make a coco watering schedule closer to a soil watering schedule (not as often). In the next couple days I will get to the hydro store to get a side by side test going. I will do a Pro-Mix bag, a coco bag as well as pro-mix and coco in smart pots.

In the last pic you can see that I marked out the gallon sizes. They will easily hold 7 gallons. Compare a #7 Smart Pot at about $8.

Another use for the material is wrapping the small GiGaPots for moisture retention. They are super cheap and can easily be cut to fit what ever and simply glued together, or if your a fancy pants like me, serge (sew) it!


Cheers brother!
Click to expand...

Finally got my first prototype of the GiGapot - Korloin model (you should trademark this! :) ) complete.
For the lad (or lass) with no hand for the thread and needle.
Step1

3'x3' (ish) landscaping fabric, chalk sectioned into 9 - 1ft squares.
Corners split in to halves with a chalked 45 degree mark.
IMG_24369.jpg


Step 2:

Fold halves of corner into a triangle and affix the point to the opposite top corner of an adjoining center square with a stapler (nice touch eh?). Repeat on other corners.
IMG_24399.JPG


Step 3:

Place inside milk crate and pull excess over top.
IMG_24376.jpg


Voila!

:thumb:
 
nice giga pot, never thought about those re-usable shopping bags, but i think they would be ideal, might even grab a few next time i go shopping and ditch the pots all together,
 
Back
Top Bottom