GR's Flow & Grow 4, Plant Gorilla Cookies!

[gr865]

Well here I go again, trying something new.
My first attempt this year was a total bum-fuck.
I started my seeds and got 6 out of 6 to germ.
Only needed 5 so I put one in a pot outside.
Things were going ok when I made a major newbie mistake, I overfed the plants when they were too young and lost them all. That was about the time I had surgery so my mind wasn't into the grow.

I have retooled and going with an Active Aqua Flow & Grow system, 6 - 5 gallon pots with a 55 gallon rez and Hydroton as the medium.
Picked this up a couple of weeks after my surgery.

The setup in my 5 x 5.

The rez, is only fill to what I need, about 30 gallon.

If you have seen my post on Air Stones in the rez, I have eliminated them for waterfall type aeration. The standpipe at the 12 o'clock position tees off for two nozzles. The dark tube behind the pump is the Torus XpH cannister. The pump at the 8 o'clock position is the feed pump for the Ebb and Flow system.

The rez in action, the pump and standpipe are positioned for high O2 production and create and vortex effect in the rez.

I germinated and planted 8 seeds in rockwool cubes, lost 4 of them, so planted two more and they did not make it so I am going with 4 plants this run. I hate rockwool and will never use them again.

The seedlings just would do nothing in the rockwool cubes so I planted them in the Hydroton and began hand watering them a few times a day. This is what most looked like at planting.

They have been in the pots now for 10 days and the roots of only one plant has reached the rez, still watering with the system but also hand water with light nutrients and Rapid Roots. They are doing ok, the one that has roots in the solution in the pot is doing very well.
Pics to follow.

 

[Roy Growin]

Looks like a great setup if you can nurse them into it
Sending green vibes

 

[gr865]

A few pics of the progress!
Gorilla Cookies #!
7/20

7/21

7/22

7/23

7/24

7/25

7/26

To be continued!

 

[Roy Growin]

Fantastic!

 

[gr865]

A few pics of the progress!
Gorilla Cookies #2
7/20

7/21

7/22

7/23

7/24

7/25

7/26

To be continued!

 

[gr865]

A few pics of the progress!
Gorilla Cookies #3
7/20

7/21

7/22

7/23

7/24

7/25

7/26

To be continued!

 

[gr865]

A few pics of the progress!
Gorilla Cookies #4
7/20

7/21

7/22

7/23

7/24

7/25

7/26

This little lady has been on her deathbed more than once since germination. Seed looked crushed when I opened the package, she took 5 more days for the seed to open, while in the rockwool cube I sat the lid of the dome on her and bent her double, right after placing her in the Hydroton pot on the first hand watering I pour it directly on her and she bent double and you could see the break in the stem, she recovered but has been very slow. You can see the knuckle in the first pic where the break was. But she made it.

 

[gr865]

Group pic from 7/25

Ok we are caught up on the pics and will add to the story soon.

 

[gr865]

I can't believe that Admin moves threads without the owners permission. I understand that they have the power to do so but it is not right. I will request a move when I feel ready and my thread is at a point where I am comfortable moving it.
This is about Ebb & Flow and that's where the thread should be.

 

[gr865]

I would like to thank 420 Staff, for listening to me and moving my thread back to this section of the Hydroponic forum.
They do listen to their members!

 

[gr865]

Would like to discuss the Torus XpH cannister.
My friend who have been growing in DWC for years switched to an Ebb and Flow grow table. He told me about the Torus XPH cannister. He has been using it for a while now and said it works well for him. I spoke with Torus and they suggested I purchased the one for a 70 gallon reservoir as I am using 36 gallons in the rez. I set the pH at 5.85 and placed the XPH cannister in the rez.
It took about a weeks to level out but the rez is stable now and the pH moves from 5.7 to 6.1. Talking with my friend he suggested I set the original pH at 6.0 so on my 2nd rez change I did just that and did the same with my last rez change. That was on 7/21 and I have not added any pH Up or Down to the rez and again it is holding the pH between 5.75 and 6.15.
I am impressed with the unit, although I still go out and check the pH just before every watering , I feel comfortable about not having to add any up or down on a regular basis.
My friend says when the pH reaches 6.3 +/+ he adds pH down to 5.7 and allows the pH to float up from that point. I will try that if the pH reaches that point. So far it has not.
The company also says that you can change the rez out less often but I am leery of that and still change it out every two weeks.
Since this grow is totally new, equipment wise, nutrient wise and grow wise I will at some point let it go beyond two weeks just to see what happens.
I also put a Styrofoam cap on the buckets to prevent light from getting to the solution.
Yesterdays pic.

 

[gr865]

I have a question about Hydroguard. Can I add it or should I add it between reservoir changes?
I use 3 ml/gallon when I change the rez out about every two weeks.
Just wondering and maybe being to anal, but just don't want root rot.

 

[gr865]

All plants have roots in the rez.
Some more than the others.
Here are a few pics and a question.
This is the runt that I have unsuccessfully tried to kill, LOL She is just getting her roots on.

Have some concern about this plant. Roots are just beginning to show. Please note the tips of the new growth, starting to white out. Lamp is 26 inches above the plants, EC is 1.1 and pH has been floating between 5.8 and 6.3 with the XPH cannister.

This plant seems to be just fine.

This plant took off strong from the beginning. Is it natural for the roots to get that brownish tent. Plant looks healthy.

What do y'all think, is everything looking OK?

 

[gr865]

Had my second surgery on Thursday and I am home and on the mend.
Need to catch ip on the thread and other threads I watch will be posting some pics soon. I am going to get behind in this grits because my action is very limited.

 

[Listersmeghead]

Good to see you're on the mend.
Take it easy gr865.

 

[gr865]

I think I have the whitening problem taken care of, not seeing anymore damage. I spoke with HLG tech support and sent him a picture of the problem. He suggested I mist the plants with Cal/Mag Plus, I did and it seems for be better.
I will get more pics later today.
They are beginning to flower so I need to do a little defo and begin raising her skirt.

This is the one that showed the whitening the most, she is coming out of it. You can see the buds forming in this pic.

 

[gr865]

Just a few pics from today.
I did a minor trim of the plants.
Here is the root progression.

We are flowering.

 

[gr865]

So I have some tip burn, and someone suggested that it looked like Zinc deficiency, so I researched it and this is a pic of what I found. It looks a lot like my plants.

So yesterday I removed each plant from the tent and did a flush, first with 1.5 gallons of pH'ed tap and 3.5 gallons of RO. Then a second flush with 3 gallons of pH'ed RO with 2 ml Cal/Mag Plus. Cleaned the bottoms of the Ebb and Flow containers before adding the plants back.
Added 3 gallons of RO to the rez making the EC 0.8 and pH'ed to 5.85.
Also ordered some soluble Zinc sulfate that I will begin misting the plants with when I get it tomorrow. Here is one of the plants effected.

Need to get it under control as I know it has slowed down growth. I also did some below the canopy pruning.

 

[gr865]

I believe the plants are recovering from the zinc deficiency. But I think the damage is done, slow growth, bleaching, but not seeing any root damage. Being auto's I think that they will not produce as they should.

These two are showing the most damage.

These two are showing minimal damage.

The pH seems to have stabilized. I took the Torus XPH cannister out of the rez last week and the pH has been stable since Thursday. It had been rising rapidly but it has not risen above 5.9 since I took it out. Torus is sending me new pods for my cannister and will try them and see what I get. I know they work as my buddy has been using them with great success.
They are drinking and taken in nutrients, about 3 gallons used since last Thursday and the EC has dropped from 1.1 to 0.8. I added 1 ml/gal of Micro and Bloom, also added .25 rate of zinc sulfate.

It is what it is, let them do their thing and get ready to start again.

 

[gr865]

Yesterday I changed out the rez, pumped out the old rez, washed the rez good with Clorox and refilled with 30 gallons of nutrient mix that I made up three days in advance.
This rez had been in use for 16 days, I added 3 gallons on the 7th day and 14th day and adjusted the nutrients. When I pumped out the rez there was less than 9 gallons remaining. So the plants over the 16 day period had drank 27 gallons. The EC dropped from 1.1 to 0.8 after the first week and from 1.1 to 0.7 during the 2nd week. So on Tuesday of this week, the 2nd week, I added 3 gallons to the rez and set the nutrient level to 1.1 again and yesterday when I took the reading it was 0.8.
I had some pH issues during the previous reservoir that led to zinc deficiency, too high pH. I corrected that but now I am getting leaf drooping and discoloration. This is my first grow with this type of Ebb and Flow system, been growing in coco/perlite for the last 10 years so I am new to this type of grow and not use to having these problem.
This is the drooping and discoloration I am seeing.

This one is not showing the drooping and discoloration.

These two showed the most damage do to the zinc problem.
This pic is showing the drooping and discoloration.

This one was the most damaged by the zinc problem but it is barely showing the drooping and discoloration, just the original zinc damage.

Any comments appreciated.
Thanks