Oct 2022 - Auto Grow - 4 Different Strains - AutoPots - Coco

Day 18 - Photos

Although all of them seem stunted to some degree, they are now on the move growth-wise.

I trimmed away some of the necrotic leaf material on the Purple Lemonade plants.

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Azimuth said:
Do you find there is an adjustment period for plants in those buckets like there is with SIPs?
Click to expand...

This is my first SIP Bucket grow. Now, that style of grow is in limbo since I yanked the Knows Candy last night.

I do have the Sweet Nurse CBD seed soaking right now. I expect to see a tap root tonight or tomorrow.

This time, I will keep that plant much longer in a Solo Cup than I did with those tiny terracotta pots. I'll never use those terracotta pots again. I am going back to my double-layered Solo Cups. One cup is see-through and goes into the opaque red solo cup.

The remaining four plants are in the AutoPot fabric pots.
 
ExNavyInSTL said:
The remaining four plants are in the AutoPot fabric pots.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the AutoPots are more what I'm asking about. I've found in the SIPs that the roots need a 2-3 week transition period to morph into the small feeder roots since they don't need the bigger, water seeking roots. Wondering if you see something similar with those other plants.
 
Azimuth said:
Yeah, the AutoPots are more what I'm asking about. I've found in the SIPs that the roots need a 2-3 week transition period to morph into the small feeder roots since they don't need the bigger, water seeking roots. Wondering if you see something similar with those other plants.
Click to expand...

My experience is much like yours.

This time I tried something different and released some nutrients into the pots for a couple of hours to get some nutrients at the bottom so that when the roots find their way down there is something waiting on them.

I was amazed that 3 gallons drained into the 4 pots and the AquaValve chamber before I shut it off. A few hours later the AquaValve chambers were bone dry. So, that coco was pretty dry to start.

I'll wait for more growth from here on out. Additionally, I want to add some Recharge before I turn on the valves for good.

Plus, I'll wait to turn on the AirDomes as prescribed.

With the GrowBucket, I'm drying out the coco now as I await the Sweet Nurse tap root.
 
Day 19 - Photos

Not much to add. New growth seems like it is happening.

I've resisted watering since I put them in the AutoPots on Monday. The coco is nicely damp.

Because I turned on the AutoPots for a few hours, I know they will eventually find food if they head south in the pots.

Next up - build up the microbe population. I'll do that during the next watering and top feed.

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Day 20 - Notes:

I couldn't wait; I turned on the reservoir.

Those four pots sucked up even more nutrients.

Just turning the system on (once for 3 hours and now full time) the pots sucked up 6 gallons of nutrients.

The way to tell that the amount was 6 gallons - depth went from 17" to 7".

New Nutrients Added:

6 more gallons RO water

Jack’s 3-2-1 Full Strength (p/gallon):

Part (A) -- 3.79g
Part (B) -- 2.52g,
Epsom --- 0.99g

With the appropriate amount of the following:

(a) Mono-Silicic Acid (Why? See Below)
(b) Mr. Fulvic (Why? See Below)
(c) Orca (Microbes)
(d) Photosynthesis Plus (Microbes)
(e) Vitamins & Amino Acids
(f) SLF-100 (Why" See Below)
(g) House & Garden HGDPC002 Drip Clean (cleans lines & salts control)
(h) Southern Ag Garden Friendly Fungicide (98.85% Bacillus amyloliquefaciens) (IPM)
(i) Ecological Labs Microbe Lift (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) (Fungus Gnats)

Why Mr. Fulvic?:

Mr. Fulvic has Antiviral, Antibacterial, and Antifungal properties

Contains:

• 70 Trace Mineral & Elements
• Macro Minerals
• 13 Carbolic Acids
• 18 Amino Acids
• 22 Terpenoids/Flavanoids
• 38 Antioxidants
• Electrolytes

Why Mono-silicic (ortho) acid?

• Thicker stalks
• Thicker stems
• More lateral branching
• Tight internodal spacing
• Uniform flowers
• High yields
• More vigorous and stress-resistant plants

Why SLF-100 (enzymatic formula)?

SLF-100 is formulation of multiple species of bacteria (including):

• Pseudomonas putida - an antagonist for pythium and fusarium.

• Virgibacillus pantothenticus (VP) - production of ectoine and proline:

-- VP helps plants to adapt to environmental stressors

• Bacillus thuringiensis - helps with some pests - also anti-pathogenic properties.

• Bacillus subtillus - catalase-positive bacteria that helps with:

-- For biotic and abiotic stress tolerance caused by:
-- (1) Induced systemic resistance (ISR)
-- (2) Biofilm formation
-- (3) Lipopeptide production



So they say! : )
 
Wow, that's quite a line up! Should have everything they could possibly want from that buffet. :thumb:
 
More Day 20 Info:

New Tent Heater:

I thought I would show off the new tent heater. I was looking for ways to free up floor space, and I found this "wall-mount" design. The best way to describe the feel of it is to image a 3/8-inch thick piece of slate tile.

Of course, I never intended to mount it on the wall, but I did intend to attach it to the tent support framing via heavy-duty corded hangers.

It's running through a BN-Link temperature controller to come on if the tent drops below 72ºF.

Since it's radiant heat, I'm going to take an extra 4-inch inline booster fan and mount it on the back at the top, pointing downward. I'll use a C-Clamp. Pointing it down the back should gently move the warm air toward the floor.

At this (veg) phase, I am just trying to keep the temps in the upper 70s during the day, and low 70s when lights are out.

As a bonus, I'll give you a tour of my tent. :ganjamon:

Day 20 New Heater.JPG
 
Day 20 - Enviromental Data

The weather turned cold overnight, and I am having issues getting my relative humidity to stay in the 60%-range.

To help, I now have two humidifiers, and I added a Swamp Cooler. The Cooler won't cool much, but it does throw moisture all about. The cooler looks like a fat tower fan, so I normally use it as an extra fan when needed.

Feeding from the Reservoir:

As you can see from the data sheet posted below, I am now on the reservoir, so I am including the important data points that I track.

Because of a horrible lockout during my last grow, I now double-check the EC and pH in the small AutoPot valve housing. I was using slow-dissolved nutrients in the media. So, the runoff was all over the place. In time, I am likely to drop those stats, as everything is now coming from under the plants.

Day 20 Stats.png
 
That looks like a very effective setup Ex. Love the new heater. :thumb: Where did you find that?

@LKABudMan has a grow similar in that he's looking to control various inputs with controllers. I take what I get primarily but it's always interesting to see the possibilities.
 
Day 22 - Nothing Special

Events of Note:
  • Raised DLI to 30 - see if I can tempt the PLs into "rapid and tremendous" growth. 😎
  • pH is slowly rising from 5.8 to 5.9.
  • I'll let the reservoir get to 6.4 before bringing it back down.
  • The moving pH range should slide into a variety of element sweet spots for uptake.
  • Two Seeds are in the Germ Tent, both vying for only one spot in the SIP Bucket.

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A Closer Tour of the Grow Tent :theband:

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@Azimuth

I bought the heater from Amazon. It was used for $90.

It was a model that came with a safety piece (heat guard - usually optional cost) to dissapate heat. I couldn't use the guard because if I did it blocked the holes for hanging.

I'm going to see if I can drill through safety plate and make those holes part of the hanging setup. The guard is about half the thickness, maybe less and seems more like plaster-of-paris than the slate feel of the heater section.

If you note, I have 4 hangers on it. The bottom 2 take some of the burden off the center of the tent supports.

The search term on Amazon is:

EconoHome Wall Mount Space Heater Panel - with Thermostat and Heat Guard Cover - 400W Convection Heater - for 120 Sq Ft Room - 120V - Overheat Protection​


If you have the space for a MICA style heater, look at those. They put out heat on both sides, and are a lot thinner than the oil models.

If I was growing only 4 plants I would have a Mica-style heater and put it down the middle of the tent. I needed something that was hotter on one side. Although mine gets pretty warm on the opposite side, although I don't think it was burn the tent. I have a fix for that coming up. Today, I'll use a C-Clamp to mount a small 4-inch "booster" fan (left over from my 2 x 4 tent) to the back. That will blow warm air into the floor zone and keep a 5-inch gap between the heater and the side of the tent. I'll take pics once it is set up.

I'll discuss my controllers later.





Azimuth said:
That looks like a very effective setup Ex. Love the new heater. :thumb: Where did you find that?

@LKABudMan has a grow similar in that he's looking to control various inputs with controllers. I take what I get primarily but it's always interesting to see the possibilities.
Click to expand...
 
ExNavyInSTL said:
A Closer Tour of the Grow Tent :theband:

Day 21 Group Pic.JPG
Click to expand...

So, does the container in the middle hold the water/feed for the 4 plants around it? If yes, is it really a SIP if there is no water or air gap in the bottom of each pot?
 
@HashGirl

Thanks for your question. I'll try to clear some things up.

The picture you grabbed doesn't have the SIP bucket in the picture. It is out of the tent waiting on a new 'renter." :) Although, the bucket overflow saucer (brown) is in the center.

Other Resident in the Tent:

The other 4 pots you are looking at are AutoPots XLs with 5-gallon fabric pots. Those are fed from a 12-gallon reservoir sitting outside the tent. That's why the floor is covered in nutrient-delivering tubing.

Food for the Ladies:

That outside rez is loaded up with all the "clear-ish" nutrients and supplements. I say clear-ish because Mr. Fulvic is pretty black, but so little is used that it doesn't "funk" up the rez or lines.

Back to SIP Buckets:

If you were referring to an older picture that has a yellow bucket, that is the only actual SIP bucket currently waiting for action. I have a short plant stand that I put under it to keep the bucket up off the floor and away from the tubing.

Below, I've attached the older picture that featured the SIP.

More on GroBuckets:

My particular version is called the "GroBucket." I'll include a pic of the guts of that setup.

This time I went with a 3.5-gallon bucket, instead of 5 gallons. I did that to keep the levels of each pot at a similar height for grow-light coverage. The idea worked pretty well. The bucket's soil level is only a couple of inches above the other pots.

Regarding nutrients for the bucket, my plan is to dip into the large reservoir for the AutoPots and feed the exact same thing to all the plants.

My "Expected" Setup (if I can germinate a healthy seedling) to make 5 plants:

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GroBucket Internals:

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HashGirl said:
So, does the container in the middle hold the water/feed for the 4 plants around it? If yes, is it really a SIP if there is no water or air gap in the bottom of each pot?
Click to expand...
 
Birth Announcement -- Gender Reveal Party

Allow me to introduce you to "Mystery Seed". Gender better be Female. :Rasta:

Back Story on Mystery Seed:

A Podcaster that no longer seems to be active had some really cool t-shirts. So I ordered one. When the shirt was delivered, it came with a pack of 12 unnamed seeds. The seeds were very unexpected.

I contacted them via email to thank them for the seeds and to ask what they were.

They never wrote back. So, I just put them with the rest of my seed collection thinking one day I would plant one just to see what it turned out like.

I'm assuming they are Auto Flowers because the name of the podcast included those words.

This grow seemed like the perfect time to throw a fifth plant into the tent. Why not add a little mystery to my life? :nervous-guy:

Mystery Seed 1 11:15:22.jpeg


Mystery Seed 2 11:15:22.jpeg
 
Thanks for the explanation of your Aero and Gro Buckets. This SIP thing is interesting but I don't think I'm ready to try it with my cannabis plants yet.

It would drive me nuts to have seeds without names. I'm a planner and it's hard to plan when you don't even know what you're growing. Most people seem to feel the effects from everything they smoke/vape/eat but I don't. I don't know why; I just know that some strains just don't work for me, e.g. strains high in the terpene, limonene don't affect me at all.
 
Day 23 Stats & Notes:

Biggest Changes and Observations of the Day:

(1) Raised DLI from 30.01 to 33.9
(2) Critical Purple has a look of flourishing
(3) Gorilla Glue is growing, but wobbly on nutrients
(4) G.G.: I clipped away the two oldest true leaves (See Photo)
(5) As expected, with Jacks 3-2-1, pH & EC from big rez matches AquaValve chambers
(6) Purple Lemonades are on Gallows Watch until the end of Week 3
(7) Out of curoisity, if PL needs to be pulled I will leave one to track
(8) Mystery Seed is coming along, still wearing her battle helmet

Day 23 Stats.png


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