Skybound's Journal

Skybound said:
Thanks Dank. I'm actually trying to phase her out, but with her fast growth traits vs the slower PC growth traits, she outgrew my tiny veg closet and either of the PCs were still not as broad as her, so she earned herself the empty slot in bloom. I've been focusing on getting most of the under carriage cleaning done in veg before bloom, so when the stretch is done, I only have a few branches to snip off. Good habits add up to better harvests.
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That’s one thing I need to get into the habit of doing is thin out before the flip. I am in hydro but I’m using undercurrent, I currently have 4 strains running (in my sig) and been using botanicare nutes I’ve been having really good luck
 
ilikemsticky said:
she looks good sky I see 22 oz I never thought of taping the branches that way I like that it doesn't matter what you do down there nice and neat!
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Weasel actually suggested to try pipe cleaners which would be a lot easier to work with, but I just keep forgetting to grab a bunch from wally's world. Tape I always keep on hand to keep my walls together, lol.
 
Camaro1691 said:
That’s one thing I need to get into the habit of doing is thin out before the flip. I am in hydro but I’m using undercurrent, I currently have 4 strains running (in my sig) and been using botanicare nutes I’ve been having really good luck
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I missed this post earlier. It's hard to develop good habits, at least for me as I'm lazy and procrastinate. It's taken me years to push myself this far and it's a hassle to overcome my mental shortcomings. Botanicare is a good brand, but you do know they're selling you water that's mixed with the same salts I use, except their salts are targeted to be acceptable by many crops. I spent upwards of $500 on salts and have thinned the list down to about $160 of salts and they'll last me easily 10 years, I just have to add RO or distilled. A scale that measures to 0.00 or 0.000 is needed, that's the only kicker. Read the Hydro Buddy thread. You'll learn how to input the Botanicare into the app, then crunch the numbers to see what you're actually putting in your tanks each week. When using the app with any brand, you can adjust things like N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S and Si, so if you ever run into issues, you can adjust your doses to address any issues, or if you want to throttle the P in mid bloom to fatten up the buds, you can do this as well. Just learning the free app alone will double your abilities immediately. You do need a Windows or Linux PC though. There might be a Mac version too, but I'm almost certain there's no phone app.

A general apology to the 420 community at large. I know I get a little annoying when pushing salts and Hydro Buddy. I won't try to stop, but I am genuinely sorry if I annoy people with that lol.
 
Skybound said:
I missed this post earlier. It's hard to develop good habits, at least for me as I'm lazy and procrastinate. It's taken me years to push myself this far and it's a hassle to overcome my mental shortcomings. Botanicare is a good brand, but you do know they're selling you water that's mixed with the same salts I use, except their salts are targeted to be acceptable by many crops. I spent upwards of $500 on salts and have thinned the list down to about $160 of salts and they'll last me easily 10 years, I just have to add RO or distilled. A scale that measures to 0.00 or 0.000 is needed, that's the only kicker. Read the Hydro Buddy thread. You'll learn how to input the Botanicare into the app, then crunch the numbers to see what you're actually putting in your tanks each week. When using the app with any brand, you can adjust things like N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S and Si, so if you ever run into issues, you can adjust your doses to address any issues, or if you want to throttle the P in mid bloom to fatten up the buds, you can do this as well. Just learning the free app alone will double your abilities immediately. You do need a Windows or Linux PC though. There might be a Mac version too, but I'm almost certain there's no phone app.

A general apology to the 420 community at large. I know I get a little annoying when pushing salts and Hydro Buddy. I won't try to stop, but I am genuinely sorry if I annoy people with that lol.
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Not annoying one bit, good info actually and I will look into it at some point, I’ll pull up a tab with your link soo I remember to read it lol
 
Highya SkyBound,

Like Dankman, I don't know about DWC, or anything hydro. But I do say, those colas and nugs you have shown are seriously large. I'm impressed. I only grow in soil outdoors in the summer. Is there a way you could formulate a mix of organic materials broken down (lactobacillus serum) to use as organic nutes to supplement a grow? I'm hunting for something like that. Your command of all the individual nutrients is impressive, as well. Cheers
 
Bode said:
Highya SkyBound,

Like Dankman, I don't know about DWC, or anything hydro. But I do say, those colas and nugs you have shown are seriously large. I'm impressed. I only grow in soil outdoors in the summer. Is there a way you could formulate a mix of organic materials broken down (lactobacillus serum) to use as organic nutes to supplement a grow? I'm hunting for something like that. Your command of all the individual nutrients is impressive, as well. Cheers
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I wish! I believe it was @conradino23 thread where I posed just that question. I am equally uninformed about organics as some of you are about hydro, but the general consensus is that the soil needs to be sent to a lab, preferably all state universities to have an analysis test done on the soil comp. I forget the name of the test, so one of the others will have to fill in the blanks, but once the NPK is known, you then amend the soil as needed.

My concern with this method and media in general is that fungi is needed to convert organic materials into available nutrients. IDK what that time frame is, or if each element is broken down at the same rate, plus also how the plant will react while waiting for that process to occur. This is why I LOVE hydro as I can control the contents of the feed while the roots are embedded in the same media throughout the life cycle. So in Veg I give high N, low P and moderate K. In bloom, I transition to high K, high P and moderate N and taper the N and P off towards the end. As soon as I'm certain of my chelated micro solution experiment, I will resume experimenting with transitioning macros and searching out preferred strengths of each per strain per growth stage. I too use beneficial bacteria and mix a compost tea for twice weekly inoculation in hopes of recreating some of that organic magic. I've already learned how to improve odors and flavors exponentially, but there are still many more lessons to learn and methods to perfect.

As too the colas, thanks, but it is purely the strain, and so long as I don't kill them, they'll do what they're genetically programmed to do. When I was growing OG Kush, I've put in the same effort (slightly inferior nutes) but surely not to the extent to justify a 6 measly ass ounce harvest. We can only do so much, and the rest is out of our hands. Pineapple Chunk advertises 600gr M/2. I came in just under that. Triple Cheese I think is 500, and I came in just over. Assuming my micro mix is good, I don't anticipate having any more legit excuses and will expect the absolute most I can get from a strain. Failing to meet that standard and I'll personally hold myself accountable, lol.
 
Actually, I still have one more excuse to blame things on, my lights. I'm using Vero29 COBs, but am of the opinion that the smarter investment is in QBs. Only problem is that I have $1500 tied up in these Veros, so won't be replacing them. I'll just ride it out knowing I have the 2nd best LEDs, lol and if I get a sub-par harvest, surely it's the Vero's fault!
 
They're not trash, they're just not QBs. Better in a couple ways, not so in most of the others. I was using 600w HIDs prior and these Veros are doing better with less power. They're on par with weight production and better with flavors and odors.
 
Skybound said:
Actually, I still have one more excuse to blame things on, my lights. I'm using Vero29 COBs, but am of the opinion that the smarter investment is in QBs. Only problem is that I have $1500 tied up in these Veros, so won't be replacing them. I'll just ride it out knowing I have the 2nd best LEDs, lol and if I get a sub-par harvest, surely it's the Vero's fault!
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I’ve been wanting to try out cobs for a while now but not ready to sink the investment into it. I’ll let the quantum board tech develop a little more before I decide between the 2. For now I’ll keep sticking it out with the blurpurples, they’ve been doing pretty good for me soo far
 
Camaro1691 said:
I’ve been wanting to try out cobs for a while now but not ready to sink the investment into it. I’ll let the quantum board tech develop a little more before I decide between the 2. For now I’ll keep sticking it out with the blurpurples, they’ve been doing pretty good for me soo far
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hey camaro that's what I have to along with a couple roleadro cobs they work my first grow was a king led over 3 plants and it worked!
 
The down side to COBs aside from the light being focused is the need to manage the heat they produce or you can easily smoke them. Each COB needs a heat sink, either the lighter ones that use small fans, or the heavy ones. I opted for the heavies to avoid needing to plot out a 12 volt circuit to run the fans, but then I can only drive each COB to about 80 watts of heat as that's the limit of these passive heat sinks. The QBs are built onto the heat sink and offer broader coverage with less shadowing. The don't penetrate like HIDs or COBs, but being so broad they don't need to penetrate as in the traditional sense.
 
Skybound said:
The down side to COBs aside from the light being focused is the need to manage the heat they produce or you can easily smoke them. Each COB needs a heat sink, either the lighter ones that use small fans, or the heavy ones. I opted for the heavies to avoid needing to plot out a 12 volt circuit to run the fans, but then I can only drive each COB to about 80 watts of heat as that's the limit of these passive heat sinks. The QBs are built onto the heat sink and offer broader coverage with less shadowing. The don't penetrate like HIDs or COBs, but being so broad they don't need to penetrate as in the traditional sense.
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I think the qb is the way to go idk who it was but they mounted the driver outside the tent because most of the heat came from that that's my problem to when it gets above 50 outside I have to turn one of the lights out to hot a summer grow indoors is totally out!
 
My driver doesn't emit that much heat, but I only push it to 75% max, so maybe opt for more driver than is needed, and then you don't have to push it as hard?
 
Skybound said:
The down side to COBs aside from the light being focused is the need to manage the heat they produce or you can easily smoke them. Each COB needs a heat sink, either the lighter ones that use small fans, or the heavy ones. I opted for the heavies to avoid needing to plot out a 12 volt circuit to run the fans, but then I can only drive each COB to about 80 watts of heat as that's the limit of these passive heat sinks. The QBs are built onto the heat sink and offer broader coverage with less shadowing. The don't penetrate like HIDs or COBs, but being so broad they don't need to penetrate as in the traditional sense.
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The heat side of it I’m not worried about as I’ve read a few threads of people going from blurple to cobs and the cobs put out less heat than their previous lights did. Timber grow lights has also released that cobs produce better par per wattage WITHOUT the reflectors and also noted the issue of the holders melting in some instances. Myself personally if I were to dive into the cob world I would wait till I had enough money to do a minimum of 20-24 cobs in a 6’x8’ flowering area soo I don’t have to run them at higher wattages and soo I can run them lower to the canopy without foxtailing as bad.. one thing I’ve considered to combat my heat from my current lights is I’m considering a way to make them ducted and run outside air thru them and back outside soo the heat never even enters the room
 
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