High Brix Hydroponics

[Skybound]

I’m all about finding the best, but I’m also lazy and I know it. That’s one of the reasons why I went DWC in the first place. It’s so easy for me now that I really don’t even think...I just do. You put the science back into the equation for me. I love reading your journals. You’re a freaking scientist...I’m an old dude in a barn.

I just like to over complicate things to see if I can fix things I break on an extremely thin budget. I shaved my costs substantially in recent months, now I wish to shave them the rest of the way and expand (not quit) my grow. As it turns out, to start my small business and survive I will need a bit more funds and with politics getting so much closer to legalizing, I'm feeling a little more brave. I still want to go the CNC route ultimately, but I will need to build a work shop in the basement and also take car of other concerns. That said, I will be ditching hydro and getting into soil. If I understand it correctly, a 10 gallon dirt ball will weigh less than a 10 gallon res which would allow me to bloom 9 medium/large plants instead of my current 3, and the soil is reusable as long as I amend it correctly and give the microbes time to stabilize the media and get to eating out the rocks.

The great part about trying hard to up the brix in hydro is that I learned a lot about organic growing and the various commonly used soil amendments having the same type of elemental ratings I'm already used to working with, I can build my own soil based on other people's experience and shared recipes. Soil uses less water which means less weight, and even though I'll yield less per plant, I'd still get more for not much more effort in a media that's basically reusable for a fair amount of time.

 

[StoneOtter]

I just like to over complicate things to see if I can fix things I break on an extremely thin budget. I shaved my costs substantially in recent months, now I wish to shave them the rest of the way and expand (not quit) my grow. As it turns out, to start my small business and survive I will need a bit more funds and with politics getting so much closer to legalizing, I'm feeling a little more brave. I still want to go the CNC route ultimately, but I will need to build a work shop in the basement and also take car of other concerns. That said, I will be ditching hydro and getting into soil. If I understand it correctly, a 10 gallon dirt ball will weigh less than a 10 gallon res which would allow me to bloom 9 medium/large plants instead of my current 3, and the soil is reusable as long as I amend it correctly and give the microbes time to stabilize the media and get to eating out the rocks.

The great part about trying hard to up the brix in hydro is that I learned a lot about organic growing and the various commonly used soil amendments having the same type of elemental ratings I'm already used to working with, I can build my own soil based on other people's experience and shared recipes. Soil uses less water which means less weight, and even though I'll yield less per plant, I'd still get more for not much more effort in a media that's basically reusable for a fair amount of time.

I'm in

 

[Grandpa Tokin]

I just like to over complicate things to see if I can fix things I break on an extremely thin budget. I shaved my costs substantially in recent months, now I wish to shave them the rest of the way and expand (not quit) my grow. As it turns out, to start my small business and survive I will need a bit more funds and with politics getting so much closer to legalizing, I'm feeling a little more brave. I still want to go the CNC route ultimately, but I will need to build a work shop in the basement and also take car of other concerns. That said, I will be ditching hydro and getting into soil. If I understand it correctly, a 10 gallon dirt ball will weigh less than a 10 gallon res which would allow me to bloom 9 medium/large plants instead of my current 3, and the soil is reusable as long as I amend it correctly and give the microbes time to stabilize the media and get to eating out the rocks.

The great part about trying hard to up the brix in hydro is that I learned a lot about organic growing and the various commonly used soil amendments having the same type of elemental ratings I'm already used to working with, I can build my own soil based on other people's experience and shared recipes. Soil uses less water which means less weight, and even though I'll yield less per plant, I'd still get more for not much more effort in a media that's basically reusable for a fair amount of time.

I understand. Like Otter, I’m in!

 

[Skybound]

Aside from the F'd up results of my attempt at a hydro Cat Drench, overall, ever since I sought out to discover hydro high brix, my yields have diminished and other deficiencies began to creep in. I'm not entirely sure, but so far I'm drawing the conclusion that elevated EC changes the rules of the amount of restriction that Calcium normally endures in the solution and being taken in by the roots., but when I was at 1.5 EC, I had no such problem. Months ago, I did encounter issues with Ca, but then I only had CalNite as my only source of Ca. Now having gypsum, I can bump the cal as needed without also throwing nitrate at it. All of this being said, I will be ditching the high brix hydro pursuit and revert to a healthier feed regimen with updated knowledge of course.

I've read P is in higher demand during veg and it reduces as the plants age. This also coincides with studies that suggest bacillus megaterium doesn't do well above 40ppm, so I will aim to push the P in veg and reduce it in later charts. I now also use ammonium with nitrate to supply N. For now, I aim to make the ammonium 10%-15% of total N, but stop it in mid bloom. Calcium I am targeting less than what I give now, but more than the original old schedule I used. I do want sufficient Ca and I intentionally have my K low so not to restrict Ca flow. Mg is another cation I am reducing some. I've had it all the way up to 80ppm, but generally haven't noticed any gains and since it's also a cation, I feel it's wise to keep the cat inputs as low as I can to make ionic way for the Cal.

 

[Mj76]

Hey Sky. I've just started your thread and wow, nothing like feeling idiotic first thing in the morning. Thank you for putting yourself through such stress so we can watch and learn. Obviously this isn't for us but still. Alright, back to it.

 

[Mj76]

That's probably the same issue everyone else encounters.

Absofuckinlutely

 

[Skybound]

Hey Sky. I've just started your thread and wow, nothing like feeling idiotic first thing in the morning. Thank you for putting yourself through such stress so we can watch and learn. Obviously this isn't for us but still. Alright, back to it.

It was just a whim I had that I wanted to flesh out as much as possible. I've since concluded for myself that high brix in hydroponics is not likely to be possible. My plants aside from the failed Cat Drench plant are so healthy and nearly perfectly colored which implies my current feed is about spot on for my medium. I was hoping that beyond that I could also encourage the plant to create more sugars and increase the nutrient density in the tissues, but in hydro, we're also flooding the tissues with a lot of added water that has a negative effect on nutrient density and also sugar content per dry weight. I feel that if this whim panned out, the smoke would have tasted better. This is not to say my smoke doesn't taste good, and I would put my bud against any other hydro grower's on earth for quality comparison, but still, not having ever smoked the mythical "organic bud" I hear and read so much about, I have no way of knowing if the smoke really does taste that much better and this was my effort to try and strive towards that goal.

If you're interested in nutes though, definitely check out my other thread about mixing your own nutes and using Hydro Buddy. That free app is a game changer to all growers, not just hydro growers. All of the nute blends do not target cannabis the way that you can. The best they can do is sort of get you in range, but that's it. Even Megacrop which everyone loves and I like, still the only change you can make to it is more or less of it in the solution. But when you make your own, you can change only N or only Ca or only Mg, or any 2 or any 3 elements, whatever you want. This is real helpful when you're trying to fix a Calcium deficiency, you're not also adding in more magnesium which furthers the strain put on calcium due to both cal and mag having a + charge. Mixing your own from salts is down right liberating and I highly recommend all hydro growers go this route if you can locate the materials. I created a BOM in that thread that will get you years of nutes for less than $200 before shipping from "customhydronutrients" or Amazon. This applies to the lower 48. Other countries I know it gets a lot more difficult. I just spent an hour this morning trying to find Calcium Nitrate in Canada and couldn't. Maybe Google, but I tried with DuckDuckGo.

 

[Mj76]

I totally understand where you're at. I started with organics, a mix of dry amendments and bottled nutes. Somehow I got worse at it over time and after my last frustrating mg def, I switched over to coco and mostly synthetic. I'm not totally happy here either. There's definitely pros and cons with both. And both are complex.
For effect, the clear winner is organic. I imagine high brix to be the pinnacle of medical-effects and here's why:
I'll use Sour D as my example. Organic it smelled and tasted like citrus candy. But what it did for my mind was magical. My thoughts became positive and orderly. At that time, I actually used it to get myself away from alcohol and nasty drug cravings. It was the reason for my success. That batch was the most wonderful cannabis I ever smoked.
The synthetic version couldn't be more different. The aroma and flavor were like a semi-sweet, citrus nail polish remover. The buzz was more devastating than enlightening. Very disappointing.
I'm trying to achieve the same thing with coco and I haven't come close.

 

[Skybound]

Did you use organic hydro nutes or an organic soil mix? Either way would require an active microbe colony to break down the elements and exchange for exudates. I have no defense for the blend of syths you tried other than to say that I'm aware of the disappointment of being let down by the nutes. That feeling is what lead me to take full control of the situation so that if/when that happens again, I can rest assured it's my fault which may sound harsh, but it's very motivational, lol.

Brix increases as cellular water decreases so trying to reduce the water content of a hydroponically grown plant was a lesson in futility that I should have spotted from the start. All in all, the various regimen adjustments I made all did fairly well. It was trying to emulate a Cat Drench from that really spun out of control and I only had it in the res for 3 days. Had I went a whole week, I'm certain that Glue would've died. Ammonium is the fast track to rapid N toxicity, and like a dog, she'll drink herself to death of NH4+.

 

[Skybound]

This is drugs ...

This is your drugs on Ammonium ...

any Questions???? ......

 

[Weaselcracker]

We have to keep this ammonium crap out of our neighborhoods! It could put our family’s drugs at risk and damage the very fabric of our society!

So after all this, do you feel like you’ve got a pretty good overview of nutrient interactions and deficiencies ? For me, not that I’ve put in any real effort, it’s just always an info overload. Too many different variables to get a solid footing.

 

[Skybound]

We have to keep this ammonium crap out of our neighborhoods! It could put our family’s drugs at risk and damage the very fabric of our society!

So after all this, do you feel like you’ve got a pretty good overview of nutrient interactions and deficiencies ? For me, not that I’ve put in any real effort, it’s just always an info overload. Too many different variables to get a solid footing.

I'll go so far to say that I feel like I got a great handle on the elemental relationships for rockwool, lol. I can see learning to fert peat will prove to be a different story. That said, I'm trying Doc's numbers, or as close to them as I can, so I tried my best to amend it accordingly and will try my best to fert it accordingly while observing. Keep looking at chapter 5 of that book, it's really the only chapter I ever refer to. I had to read each element at least 10 times and over time it all starts making more sense. You have no control over your micros, so don't even waste time looking at them, but the 3 macros and 3 secondaries, we can substantially move those numbers. If I were you, I would be leaning on @farside05 for info as he grows in peat I think and uses megacrop, plus he is also more in tuned with the nutes than most growers so might could be more helpful in helping you find more ideal ranges.

FYI, ammonium is a good thing, but it's easy to overdo it as noted above. In hindsight, I should've mixed a single gallon with high NH4, then dumped that into the pot to better emulate the Cat Drench. I believe the experiment did stimulate more tric growth, but I clearly overfed the nh4.

If at any time, any of my threads or any of yours you want to debate numbers, show pics for more feedback to help[ you flesh this out, you're welcome to. You know me, I love talking nutes, and I definitely want to learn more, but w/o other peers to vibe off of, I find it hard to locate new information. By encouraging others to learn Hydro Buddy, I can sort of expand the knowledge pool as a lot of experienced growers know how to diagnose deficiencies and have some understanding about how the elements relate to one another in the soil or solution. Just debating such topics while studying chapter 5, I promise it will all click more. It did for me. I stil need more clicking so to speak, but I'm clicking a hell of a lot more now. It's also important to categorize the elements ionically so the Cats on the left and the Ans on the right like a bank ledger. It's helpful to know what those are because aside from finding an ideal ratio one to the next, but if ever you want to adjust any one to make something more available, you'll likely need to decrease the levels of something else. For us in the north at least, but I think on most of the earth, such concerns seem to be most impactful in the Cations as the cats have most of our majorly used elements (NH4+, K2O+, Ca++, Mg++). So for instance, if you wanted to add more Cal and Mag, you'd likely need to decrease the others some. There are micro Cats too, but you can't change them, plus they are on such a small ratio compared to the 4 named that they won't have too much influential energy.

 

[Huktonponics]

All I've ever seen Ca chelated with is Amino Acids which I have and will add into my concentrates. but I'll check it out. FWIW, most other chelators are poisonous to plants in higher doses. It's fine to chelate trace metals at below 5ppm, but obviously calcium goes way above 100ppm, or in my case, a measly 120 to start. Though, when my Ca was at 100, I only ever got some late bloom splotching, but never any tip burn so I suspect I was very close. My aim is to get better visual queues, then test the sap's PH and try to tweak the elements until I can dial into 6.4 PH. I suspect by then the brix will be roughly 8%, maybe more. To drive it higher, I will have to devise a feeding schedule that is less than my current, but more than Doc Bud's which I think is on average once weekly? In hydro, I will need at least once a day, but maybe I'll need to dust off the Arduino stuff and build a timed outlet so I can do shorter feeds than 15 mins from a mech timer. Still though, a lot more reading to do.

I am considering rev engineering Doc's guaranteed analysis to try to better understand his nutritional approach to see if I can glean something from that. I can load all of the foliars and drenches into hydro buddy, then use each according to his chart to consider what's happening or what desired effect is sought after. The beauty of hydro is that I can test theories in hours-days which is why I think I can get high brix in a reasonable amount of time, hopefully before I intend to quit growing. IDK if I will ever grow again, and if I don't, I would really like to exit on a very positive note.

L-Amino Acids mate. I use the Aminos by RAW NPK that help to keep Ca in solution and can even reduce/eliminate calcium deposits and reintroduce them into solution, they also enbale the roots to take up Ca at an increased rate. But I use Clay/Rockwool Hydro so it works for me, so im not sure how it would work for other substrates and systems.

have a watch of this Skip to 7:20 to hear the L-Amino Acid + Ca info. Harley Smith is so easy to listen to, he knows his shit.

 

[Skybound]

L-Amino Acids mate. I use the Aminos by RAW NPK that help to keep Ca in solution and can even reduce/eliminate calcium deposits and reintroduce them into solution, they also enbale the roots to take up Ca at an increased rate. But I use Clay/Rockwool Hydro so it works for me, so im not sure how it would work for other substrates and systems.

have a watch of this Harley Smith - The Legend explains - Skip to 7:20 to hear the L-Amino Acid + Ca info. Harley Smith is so easy to listen to, he knows his shit.

I also use L-Amino Acids to chelate my gypsum (calcium sulfate), but the product called "Biomin Chelated Calcium" is not water soluble and can only be used as a soil amendment. That aside tough, I found that using the recommended dose of the AA caused PH problems as well as ghost TDS readings. Plant growth seemed to have slowed. The recommended dose is a 1/4 TSP per gallon. I only use a 1/2 TSP on 10 gallons. It still forms a gelatinous layer on the top, but all other factors seem to have abated and my nutes are jiving well.

I'm interested to hear how you incorporated clay into your rockwool?

 

[Huktonponics]

I also use L-Amino Acids to chelate my gypsum (calcium sulfate), but the product called "Biomin Chelated Calcium" is not water soluble and can only be used as a soil amendment. That aside tough, I found that using the recommended dose of the AA caused PH problems as well as ghost TDS readings. Plant growth seemed to have slowed. The recommended dose is a 1/4 TSP per gallon. I only use a 1/2 TSP on 10 gallons. It still forms a gelatinous layer on the top, but all other factors seem to have abated and my nutes are jiving well.

I'm interested to hear how you incorporated clay into your rockwool?

Hello there Sir. I use an 8 pot flood & drain system that is roughly 70% clay pebbles / 30% rockwool croutons with a 180 litres res, and have an 8 pot Wilma drip fed system that uses 80% rockwool croutons and 20% clay pebbles that i use the same nutrients in. I dissolve the AA in a jug of water and add to my res before I add my base nutes and additives then add my silica, root stim etc ( depending on where I am in the cycle, Pk, boosters and additives first then base nutes ).

I dont get any bio film or sludge unless i use things like Terpinator or Green Planet Massive as these have bio stims and fulvics in ( no longer used as I use a emulsified triacantanol product called Sumo Boost and raw Potassium Sulphate, Magnesium Sulphate and Monoammonium Phosphate as top up dosages, and a product called Green Sensation by Plagron for bloom ) and as I use a h2o2 additive ( Silver Bullet roots ), and ATA Clean ( a deposit dissolver for drip lines and other deposits ) Ive tried to steer away from adding any kelp, humic, fulvics to my res and use them as foliar applications only ( I use the Fulvic, Kelp, Amino, Amonium Nitrate, and Monoammonium Phosphate products from RAW NPK ). To this day Ive ran clean and higher res temps with zero issues ( upto 26 degrees reciculating ), even though I have a giant chiller ( Hailea HC500 ) which i refuse to run in the summer as it just dumps heat into the room.

I would LOVE to get into organic growing, but I have a thing about bugs lol, and my missus would go mental about how much time id spend studying than doing other things.


:: edit ::

Forgot to add regarding the PH, I struggle to get my PH to sit below 6.2 ( which isnt bad ) but If i set it to 5.6 for a creep up, it dont creep it fucking rockets and stays at 6.2 SOLID. Its the only thing I dont like, and Ive just started to live with it, but I wish i could get more of a gradual creep up. I mite just start adding more Ammonium Nitrate into the solution to get a slower drif up in flower.

 

[Mj76]

I wanted to tell you that by simply reading your thread, I figured out exactly what I was doing wrong. Too much biomin Ca. I think you said something about a tractor beam pulling the ph up. So I watered and checked outgoing ph. 7.41 I believe. I totally dropped the biomin and the next time outgoing ph was 6.45! Again, thank you.

 

[Skybound]

Hello there Sir. I use an 8 pot flood & drain system that is roughly 70% clay pebbles / 30% rockwool croutons with a 180 litres res, and have an 8 pot Wilma drip fed system that uses 80% rockwool croutons and 20% clay pebbles that i use the same nutrients in. I dissolve the AA in a jug of water and add to my res before I add my base nutes and additives then add my silica, root stim etc ( depending on where I am in the cycle, Pk, boosters and additives first then base nutes ).

I dont get any bio film or sludge unless i use things like Terpinator or Green Planet Massive as these have bio stims and fulvics in ( no longer used as I use a emulsified triacantanol product called Sumo Boost and raw Potassium Sulphate, Magnesium Sulphate and Monoammonium Phosphate as top up dosages, and a product called Green Sensation by Plagron for bloom ) and as I use a h2o2 additive ( Silver Bullet roots ), and ATA Clean ( a deposit dissolver for drip lines and other deposits ) Ive tried to steer away from adding any kelp, humic, fulvics to my res and use them as foliar applications only ( I use the Fulvic, Kelp, Amino, Amonium Nitrate, and Monoammonium Phosphate products from RAW NPK ). To this day Ive ran clean and higher res temps with zero issues ( upto 26 degrees reciculating ), even though I have a giant chiller ( Hailea HC500 ) which i refuse to run in the summer as it just dumps heat into the room.

I would LOVE to get into organic growing, but I have a thing about bugs lol, and my missus would go mental about how much time id spend studying than doing other things.


:: edit ::

Forgot to add regarding the PH, I struggle to get my PH to sit below 6.2 ( which isnt bad ) but If i set it to 5.6 for a creep up, it dont creep it fucking rockets and stays at 6.2 SOLID. Its the only thing I dont like, and Ive just started to live with it, but I wish i could get more of a gradual creep up. I mite just start adding more Ammonium Nitrate into the solution to get a slower drif up in flower.

Severe mental disconnect on my part. I had in my mind clay soil, or some derrivitie thereof and never considered clay pebbles. I'm transitioning to soil and my studies are veering that way and in passing read about adding clay to a soil, but can't recall if it was for Ca or P. My medium is 100% potted rockwool chunks. I start in cubes and use chunks in the final pot as cubes like to mess up a room when they get a chance.

Do you use Hydro Buddy for plotting out your nutes? This thread is an extension of my other thread for using Hydro Buddy and making your own nutrients from salts. If you can source your own salts, you would be much better served creating 100% your own formulation and adjust whatever YOU need to adjust which is oh so helpful when tailoring your feed to your plants in your environment The link to that thread is also in my signature along with this thread and my 2 journals.

It's my experience that Calcium Carbonate is a strong buffer and is the "tractor beam" that @Mj76 referred to in the above post. CalCarb straight in the water all but programmed the PH to the high 6.x range. I tried Emilya's CalMag remedy to separate the calcium from the carbonate, but I neglected to follow the part of the instructions that says to wait 20 days for the PH to fall again before using and had another bad experience with trying to supplement calcium. Around that time, it was very iomportant to me that my secondary source of calcium be a liquid for my convenience. I've since bit the bullet and adopted the practice of using powdered gypsum, and just mix about 3 grams on 10 gallons each res each week. Along with the gypsum I add 1/8 TSP yucca, 2 TSP fulvic/humic/kelp blend and 1/2 TSP of Amino-L. Add water, screw on lid, shake violently for several minutes and add to filling res.

It makes sense for you to put your organics in through your leaves on account of your running a sterile res. I myself keep some microbial life active in my roots with a weekly microbe and frass tea. I think it is practices like these that will help me transition my grow into soil. I don't look forward to bugs. I've never had them in all my years of growing, but predict that might soon change. I'm on the 2nd floor and will soon build a sealed room so I still have my fingers crossed on getting lucky.

 

[Huktonponics]

Severe mental disconnect on my part. I had in my mind clay soil, or some derrivitie thereof and never considered clay pebbles. I'm transitioning to soil and my studies are veering that way and in passing read about adding clay to a soil, but can't recall if it was for Ca or P. My medium is 100% potted rockwool chunks. I start in cubes and use chunks in the final pot as cubes like to mess up a room when they get a chance.

Do you use Hydro Buddy for plotting out your nutes? This thread is an extension of my other thread for using Hydro Buddy and making your own nutrients from salts. If you can source your own salts, you would be much better served creating 100% your own formulation and adjust whatever YOU need to adjust which is oh so helpful when tailoring your feed to your plants in your environment The link to that thread is also in my signature along with this thread and my 2 journals.

It's my experience that Calcium Carbonate is a strong buffer and is the "tractor beam" that @Mj76 referred to in the above post. CalCarb straight in the water all but programmed the PH to the high 6.x range. I tried Emilya's CalMag remedy to separate the calcium from the carbonate, but I neglected to follow the part of the instructions that says to wait 20 days for the PH to fall again before using and had another bad experience with trying to supplement calcium. Around that time, it was very iomportant to me that my secondary source of calcium be a liquid for my convenience. I've since bit the bullet and adopted the practice of using powdered gypsum, and just mix about 3 grams on 10 gallons each res each week. Along with the gypsum I add 1/8 TSP yucca, 2 TSP fulvic/humic/kelp blend and 1/2 TSP of Amino-L. Add water, screw on lid, shake violently for several minutes and add to filling res.

It makes sense for you to put your organics in through your leaves on account of your running a sterile res. I myself keep some microbial life active in my roots with a weekly microbe and frass tea. I think it is practices like these that will help me transition my grow into soil. I don't look forward to bugs. I've never had them in all my years of growing, but predict that might soon change. I'm on the 2nd floor and will soon build a sealed room so I still have my fingers crossed on getting lucky.

Haha no problem, although I can understand where youre comming from, clay in a soil mix would be a nice ammendment depending on the source.

Ive not heard of hydro Buddy nor use any calculators in my ammendments, I just try to judge by what I add and when and gauge the PPM's before/after a feed to see how they alter to see if the girls are liking anything ive added, even though its guess work I can kind of guess depending on what they need a top up of depending on what stage they are at.

Its only the 3rd crop of my current strain im trying ( Platinum Kush Breath by In House Genetics ), its a belter of a strain so trying to squeeze the potential out of the pheno i kept and see how far I can push it, as I never push hard nute wise on anything I grow, but I think Ive got a lot of give regarding feeding considering my last 2 harvests of her, but the cross I made on the other hand, I havnt got the foggiest about ( PKB x SFV ), Im just going to try and push her the same way as Im doing the straight PKB.

Struggling a bit enviromental wise now that the summertime is here. My spare room which I use to grow....the whole house for that fact is insulated PISS POOR, so its as hot inside as it is outside if the sun is in full swing, so my indoor ambient is shit.

Is there anyway to combat the Calcium Carbonate buffer ? I'd really like to have my nutes sitting a lot lower for a slow drift up during feeds. As my clay pebble dominant tent is on 4 feeds a day, Id like to hit some more of the macro nute ph ranges lower down the spectrum, without having to PH down daily.

Ive got 2 x PKB and 2 x PKB x SFV's in a small tent in a big bubbler im considering experimenting on with coco coir. Ive got a whole load of beneficial amendments Ive been dying to try, but scared to try it in any of my re-circ systems.

TNC Mycorr - Hydro
TNC Bactorr - Hydro
Great White Mycor
( a bucket full of insect frass and chittin from the Super Worms that I feed my Bearded Dragons )

I also make a foliar spray from the insect frass that I hit them all with in my Kelp/Amino/Fulvic. AND im going to do a little experiment this run on 2 out of 8 of the girls, im going to cut the main stem and rub insect frass / chittin into the wound and tape it up at week 6, to see if it encourages a systemic defense.

But as I digress, its been a while since Ive had anyone to talk to about cultivating the earth given medicine, I noticed a few times on previous grows that I would get Cal / Mag / Phosporus / Iron deficiencies before I started using Amino acids, I know some of them can disguise themselves as other things, but since using the AA Ive not had a single problem.

Ive had leaf bugs once ( Thrips ) and root bugs once ( Spring Tails ) and it drove me mad. I just went Captain Ahab, so having beneficial bugs aswell as pests would send me over the edge. I keep everything clinical, and thats the way I like it

I need to get more Yucca aswell, cant knock anything that makes water wetter !

 

[Skybound]

To beat the CalCarb ph lock, don't use it, or not too much. I just killed a bale of peat with it, 250 grams in fact. Hope all works out with that, otherwise I'll have to wash it all out and reamend it correctly. In hydro, I find Calcium Nitrate with a little gypsum allows me to target my calcium wherever I want so far. I keep my Ca slightly above N. I currently have my ammonium to about 10% of N. For comparison, Megacrop uses 5% of total N as ammonium. Maybe the sweet spot is around 8%, but I'm not a fan of one feed to remain constant in hydro. I use a lot of N and P in veg and diminish both at different stages in bloom.

I saw on another thread someone razored a slit at the base of the plant, just above the crown and pushed 3 toothpicks straight through, and zip tied the stalk above and below the tooth picks. I guess to also trigger a defense, but your approach to open a wound, inject your chitin, then heal the would makes more sense. I'm not there yet, but when I go, I intend to just purchase Methyl Jasmonate to trigger a defense. I also use triacontanol. I started off with a 25ppm solution, but dropped that down to 5 ppm. The 25 worked wonders on clones from a treated plant. 2 rooted in 6 days! My jaw was on the floor when that happened. The down side to 25ppm tria is too much side branching during the stretch. I never monster cropped a plant, but from what I read, that would be the result of the vigorous branch growth, and they're not good bud yielding branches either, just random useless growth.

Learn how to use Hydro Buddy. It's free and I made a tutorial, plus I explained how to input the Guaranteed Analysis (GA) information so you can use HB to compute your liquid nutrients. Then you will be able to see what you're feeding now exactly and make informed decisions on how to tweak any one element. It's harder to tweak individual elements when using any brand, and is why I encourage growers to make all their own blends. I've been mixing my own for 6 months and my results are the best I've ever grown. Here in the states, it only costs $200 for 10 years of nutes. Downloading and using Hydro Buddy is free. You should also check out Blog Entries on ScienceHydroponics, very good info and is one of my most treasured sources.

 

[Skybound]

Maybe that extra ammonium did push more trics? Gorilla Glue 47 days. The plant looks downright hideous with brown gnarled fans everywhere, but she's pulling through. A few more days of late bloom feed (85-50-180--100-50) and I'm starting flush. I do hope she fattens a bit more.