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- #261
Mini-mini SIP Cloner Update
The clones in the mini SIPS are all looking a bit droopy today on days 8/9, a few days after I've taken the domes completely off so I think keeping water in the reservoir and on a heat mat is keeping the medium too wet as the heat causes accelerated evaporation right up into the soil mix.
I had been topping up the reservoirs as the water evaporated so I'll now let both the reservoirs and soil dry out a bit over the next few days and see how it goes. On my next run I'll just leave the reservoir empty to start and just add water after the domes come off and the mix starts to dry out a bit.
On the larger plants, the top watering with my fish fertilizer seems to maybe have at least slowed the nitrogen fade, but it certainly hasn't been an instant fix. In soil, changes happen gradually over a week or so, so hopefully by week's end things will be back to better health.
It's interesting that, so far at least, it's only the first up-pot and plants in flower showing the deficiency so it seems to be related to time/age and perhaps root growth. The larger and first veg plant's roots have completely filled the reservoir but I don't think it is root bound as there is no droop showing in the leaves.
It has been drinking the entire reservoir every day and could've used more, but since I top watered it hasn't used up the reservoir water over the past two days. It's probably just exhausted the original nutrient supply and I haven't been replenishing it in the soil, but simply adding the nutrients to the reservoir which I figured would be sufficient since I was adding some every day. If the top feeding resolves the issue that would suggest that the top roots are more of the feeding roots and the bottom ones are watering roots. I had figured roots are roots, but maybe not.
So, there're some good lessons for when I use larger containers that won't allow me to see the roots. Those lessons being water-only in the reservoir, fertigate periodically (maybe once a week?) from the top and then go a few days without top or bottom watering to let everything assimilate. And probably top dress with my crumbles periodically to provide longer term nutrient sources that the microbes can work on.
To that end, I added more comfrey crumble as a top dress today, just sprinkling it across and right on top of the leaf mulch layer and then misted it to moisten it back up.
The clones in the mini SIPS are all looking a bit droopy today on days 8/9, a few days after I've taken the domes completely off so I think keeping water in the reservoir and on a heat mat is keeping the medium too wet as the heat causes accelerated evaporation right up into the soil mix.
I had been topping up the reservoirs as the water evaporated so I'll now let both the reservoirs and soil dry out a bit over the next few days and see how it goes. On my next run I'll just leave the reservoir empty to start and just add water after the domes come off and the mix starts to dry out a bit.
On the larger plants, the top watering with my fish fertilizer seems to maybe have at least slowed the nitrogen fade, but it certainly hasn't been an instant fix. In soil, changes happen gradually over a week or so, so hopefully by week's end things will be back to better health.
It's interesting that, so far at least, it's only the first up-pot and plants in flower showing the deficiency so it seems to be related to time/age and perhaps root growth. The larger and first veg plant's roots have completely filled the reservoir but I don't think it is root bound as there is no droop showing in the leaves.
It has been drinking the entire reservoir every day and could've used more, but since I top watered it hasn't used up the reservoir water over the past two days. It's probably just exhausted the original nutrient supply and I haven't been replenishing it in the soil, but simply adding the nutrients to the reservoir which I figured would be sufficient since I was adding some every day. If the top feeding resolves the issue that would suggest that the top roots are more of the feeding roots and the bottom ones are watering roots. I had figured roots are roots, but maybe not.
So, there're some good lessons for when I use larger containers that won't allow me to see the roots. Those lessons being water-only in the reservoir, fertigate periodically (maybe once a week?) from the top and then go a few days without top or bottom watering to let everything assimilate. And probably top dress with my crumbles periodically to provide longer term nutrient sources that the microbes can work on.
To that end, I added more comfrey crumble as a top dress today, just sprinkling it across and right on top of the leaf mulch layer and then misted it to moisten it back up.