Obi's Northern Light Autoflower - Indoor T5 - Soilless Mix - 2014

I have a quick question for the community:

Does anyone have a handy method of watering and preventing nute splash? DIY or store bought suggestions would be cool.

I leave the containers where they are inside the grow box during watering and they are pretty packed together. Reaching and lifting are hard on my lower back. I'm not incapacitated but I need to be careful. I seem to be more prone to back spasms and muscle pains the older I get. Currently I am raising/pushing branches and leaves aside with one hand and pouring from a plastic 2 Liter water pitcher type container.

Hmmm, maybe something like a pressurized 2 Gallon weed sprayer would work? I could remove the nozzle and let the water pour out the tip at low pressure. I dunno, Let me know your thoughts!

Thanks,
/Obi
:Love:
 
Obi, I am using a Roundup 2 gallon pump sprayer from wally-world. It cost me $17 and tax. It works great. I have the pointy nozzle on it and just do a single pump so the pressure is very low. :high-five:

It looks like your plants are doing well. I think your feeding them was the right thing to do. I thought your mixture was good. The pictures look good also. Everything looks fine to me so far. :thumb:

PS: I rinsed it out real good before I used it on my plants. I have never used it for anything else.
 
Hey virgingrower and ColoradoKid!

Thanks for the input :idea:. Every little tidbit really helps us new growers.
 
Good idea with the cups of water on the floor.I used a bowl,soup bowl.hanging a soaked towel in the tent would help.I did that also 4 just 2 plants.u have more I def get that going.hang the towel about 2 hours after ur light goes on.
 
danknessdude said:
Promix works well when bottom feeding. Sucks up water like a sponge. No chanc4 of nute splash.

You finishing under t5?
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dank, I hadn't even considered bottom feeding. What a cool idea!

Yes, I am running the T5 from start to finish :)

I just recently swapped in a few 3000k bulbs. I have plants in various stages of flowering (from preflower to full flower) and I'm hoping the gradual light switch will encourage the couple of stragglers to get movin' on the flower production.

Thanks again for thinking outside the box!
/Obi
 
snakelad said:
Good idea with the cups of water on the floor.I used a bowl,soup bowl.hanging a soaked towel in the tent would help.I did that also 4 just 2 plants.u have more I def get that going.hang the towel about 2 hours after ur light goes on.
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Thanks snakelad, I'm right there with ya working on climate control. I want to get a towel or two in there but haven't taken the time to do it. Now that my light is hanging higher I might have room to safely get one in there. I was worried about it dripping on something before.

I have some grow box mods in mind for the next try :)

Happy growing,
/Obi
 
Journal entry 05/01/2014
Day 34
A quick update today. I've gone and caught a head cold and am going to keep this brief.

Lot's of growing going on. Most plants are in full-on flower mode. A couple nice, big, healthy gals are just starting to preflower I think. Those two could be my strong finishers perhaps.

I need a way to measure the temperature at the canopy. Temp at the grow box ceiling is 74F/23C, temp at the container level is 76F/24C. There are several plant tops that are only a few inches from the T5. Previously, with the T5 light hung down low, enough heat would get trapped beneath the light that it would burn up the plants at that distance. Now there seems to be more air flow or the plants are more tolerant to the heat. I'd like to know the temp, though. I'll have to try to hang the gauge somewhere.

I took a couple quick pictures during their mid-day light cycle. Most pics up to this point have been within an hour or two of lights-out. I had commented that the plants seem to droop more later in the day. I wanted to see if we could compare these to my other pics to see if there is a difference in posture during the day...

Pics to follow...
 
Day 34 continued...



Lovin' every minute of it,
/Obi-Wan Cannabinoid
 
Day 35

Just a quick pic upload. This pic was taken not too long after lights-on. Early wake-up droop.

 
Last night, a few containers felt like they were getting light. I will water tonight or tomorrow. I think I'm going to go with plain pH'd water this time. I have a feeling that things are getting out of balance below the topsoil.

The runoff pH measurements have me concerned. 5.8 is going in but 6.8 is coming out. I'm going to look into this today. If I need to do some kind of flush I think now is the time to do it. I'd like to see everything switched over to flower mode by early next week.
 
I'm thinking if my soilless mix is buffering up a whole point I should consider flushing with a pH of 4.7.


Hmmm,
/Obi
 
grannyT said:
The FF soil doesn't seem to be draining well. I haven't watered with nutrients since Monday, now the container is getting light so it's time to water. So from Monday to Friday. Since I watered with nutrients on Monday this time should just water with no nutrients, right ?
Also my auto is on 18 on 6 off lighting schedule with 6500 T5, when do I change to 12/12 with 2700 T5 ???
Gonna take a current picture. Can't believe how fast autoflowers grow. Amazing.
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The FF soil should have some nutes in it. I'm fairly sure you can run an on/off schedule: nutes/water/nutes/water etc... They will tell you what they need. The trick is learning the subtleties of their language :)

You don't need to switch lighting to 12/12 for autos. Leave them at 18/6.

I switched to 50/50 6500/2700 after solid signs of pre-flower. I plan to leave the 50/50 mix for about a week and then move to 100% 2700's once I am sure all are in flower mode.

Cheers!
/Obi
 
Nice girls what with the balest with t5 lights? I am a newbe just a question.I go from seed to solo cup to save handling problems. My 600 watt light is hot as hell in my closet. Its warm in florida with heat issues. At night when the ac does not kick in 9o degrees is common. I have to turn the ballest down or it gets 100 plus! good luck and think of leds. expensive but worth it.:cheertwo:
 
Obi,head 2 my journal,an ull see full fat buds,with no experience at all.don't over complicate things,keep it simple.see ur pH water thing,simple,fill a bottle with water,leave cap of overnight,sorted.honest buddy,people on here will have u convinced u need 2 buy this,that,an the other.bollocks.I've just proved,it can be done,without that nonsense.look at my plant man.its fat,an full of bud,yet I had people telling me.rem this,plants grow in the wild,we make it silly by are conditions.DO NOT FEED UNTIL WEEK 6.THEN FEED UNTIL WEEK 11,THEN WATER,AN LOADS OF.simple.ur food should also be low,npk.most people are talking about photos,an wot 2 feed them.buy a cheap soil,an that soil will see u through 2 week 5.then feed week 6
 
iboxweed said:
Nice girls what with the balest with t5 lights?
Click to expand...

My T5 is set up with dual internal ballasts each drawing about 215 watts for a total of about 430 watts. It is switchable: Off/4Lamp/8Lamp. It can get quite warm in a small space.

Happy growing my friend,
/Obi
 
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