First off, my girls have just finished their 4th week under 12/12. They are coming along.... slowly.... I imagine the shortest flowering period strains are progressing ahead of the rest. The longest strain to mature would be AK at 10 weeks...which this strain has been the one that has caused me the most issues....

I tried LSTing a couple of the tallest after reading some about it. Seems different people use different means for LSTing...is any one material better to use than another? I have read & seen from brown twine, white cotton string, coated copper wire & plastic fishing line, I am trying the cotton string, partly because I have miles of the stuff...with a slip-knot on each end.. The two plants I did earlier seem to be doing fine...the bent over tip has already started trying to turn up towards the light...but showing not issue with the stalk at all...I only bent it over to the tops of the other plants. I did read about placing a "counter-tie" before I started so that's one disaster avoided...

Here are some pics after 4 weeks...of experiments...





Here is one of my newly installed ventilation system...so far, so good!! I love getting new toys, especially ones that help my grow!!



And these are the little ladies that hopefully will be making babies for my next grow!





Happy

SME, Thank you for the LSTing suggestion!! It is working beautifully! It has brought the tall girls down to the tops of the rest...and every little bud on the newly curved stalk has already started to re-direct itself toward the light...so cool!!

I got home this afternoon to a nice surprise!! My new Hanna Phep hand-held Ph meter arrived early... So I poured out some fresh calibration solution, 4 & 7, into separate cups.... I calibrated the Hanna Phep first. Pretty cool, it calibrates itself!! You just push and hold the button and it senses which solution you are putting it in, adjusts, then asks if you want to use the setting.... Yes, little things amuse me...

While I had fresh calibration solution already in cups, I went ahead and re calibrated both the GroCheck monitor and the cheapie hand-held I had been using. I slid the GroChek probe back into it's holder in the reservoir and when the display settled, it settled right back on 5.8! Just for grins I dipped the Hanna Phep in and it read 5.8.... And I couldn't help myself, I dipped the cheapie in too, it read 5.8 as well.

So Rkymtnman I hope you are reading....you were asking about the accuracy of the Grochek?? I think we have a good starting point to find out. I will keep checking the Aeroflo daily with all 3 meters and I will let you know which needs re cal first. It would be funny as hell if the $10 one from Amazon ended up most reliable...

Happy

Hey Happy,

Yep, GroChek looks pretty good. I was looking at a Milwaukee full time pH meter. like 70 bucks. don't remember model offhand. but the site I found had data sheets for alot of pH meters. what I liked about the Milwaukee was it had a 0.02 accuracy while most in the same price range were only 0.2 that's a huge difference!

I'd like SME's opinion: why I like the drops is not just because they are simple and failproof. I have read that a fluctuating pH is better than a constant in hydro. some minerals/nutes get absorbed better at a pH other than 5.8 (the gold standard for hydro).

And alot of growers also use just drops and have fine results according to other grow sites/journals.

oh, and do tell. what about the mother and clones?? the only reason why i don't like the idea is that i think i have become a pot snob. i really like a huge variety of indica and sativa. it seems like i get burned out on one strain. and it's nice to be able to smoke some to get you going and then smoke some later to melt you into a couch.

what light cycle do you use for mother? "mother will they put me in the firing line" sorry, pink floyd flashback there.

and then, do you just take all the cuttings you can? or do you leave enough to grow again??

Well Mr Snob....I know what ya mean, I like variety as well....just haven't gotten there yet!! I have plants/clones of all 3 strains I started with. If I go with the plan to populate half the system at a time, every other site...so that would be 15 coming from one Mommie....I think that can be done easily.

The girls I am grooming to be the Moms have been under HO T5s. Running 24 on in their own tent, in tubs...and they seem to be doing good. When I get the lighting over the Aeroflo situated, I am still planning to use at least one Mag for the Mother tent. The last batch of Moms I had I chopped and chopped for clones until they were tall, skinny nothings. Then I took as many clones from the top as I could and started a new batch of mothers before taking them for a long walk, deep into someone else's woods...

SME said that keeping mothers in hydro wouldn't be easy so I figure they get big or hard to manage I will chop em and make more mothers.... I used to like keeping salt tanks & it was a steady challenge to maintain a healthy environment for my fish. To me Hydro is kinda like an aquarium without the fish... The fish were cool, but they didn't smoke too good...lol and the only return from the $$$ spent was the enjoyment of watching them grow big & healthy...I like my tanks without fish now..and it is still a challenge!

Man, I am sorry to hear about your string of bad luck lately!! They do say that it comes in threes...haven't you had 3?? Hope you have seen all the bad bud and the rest of your grow is smooth to a good finish....

But your incidents have been scaring the crap out of me about "what am I going to do if that fails"? Last week I replaced 2 of my not so old Whisper air pumps with a 950 GPH air pump with 6 outlets, so I have 2 spare air pumps... Tonight I think I found the best price I am going to find on a replacement GH 1250 GPH water pump for the Aeroflo...so I ordered it!!! It will take me a while to save up for a good generator...then I will have your last 3 hurdles covered..just for "when" they happen here

As much as I am learning, I do hope things level out for you & you have a strong finish!

Happy

The drops are simple but are they as simple as a calibrated meter? *shrug* As far as "failproof" goes, I'm not so sure; since they aren't so accurate you could "fail" to get them in the right range. If you like the Milwaukee meter because it's .02 instead of the Hanna's .2 then why would drops that are 2.0 better?

It's true that different micro and macro nutrients are best absorbed at different pH levels but I've found that 5.8 is kind of like a sweet spot in that it borders on most of the fences. If you're more comfortable letting the pH fluctuate between 5.6-6.0 it probably wont hurt the plants depending on how much time they stay at the higher and lower margins.

As I've said a million times, there is no one single "right way" to grow; it's part science and part art.

A lot of people use miracle grow nutrients too, that doesn't make them better than LF. A good meter is worth the investment, imho.


There is nothing wrong with variety except that it's more work. If you have a perpetual grow setup with mothers/clones/veg/flower rooms then it just a matter of weighing the pros and cons and making a decision. If you have more than one flowering light (or more than one flower room is even better) and you're willing to deal with a more complicated grow then grow more strains if that's what you want. If you grow from seed with a single light, then you can rotate strains but it still adds complexity.

Mother plants should be kept under constant (24/0), fairly intense, light so she doesn't flower. You take some cutting but if you strip the mother it dies and it's not a mother anymore so, yes, leave enough to grow more so you can take more clones later. Alternatively, you can use one of the clones to replace the mother but geneticists say that that can lead to problems over time. Again, no one right way. Pros and cons...


HW:
You *can* keep mother plants in hydro but it's harder to treat them like Bonsai trees so they can get big and be harder to deal with. Pros and cons...

I've smoked fish...

(now I'm hungry)

I'm sold on a good pH meter for the next go round. Time to step my game up a bit!

Well Rkymtnman, if you buy a cheapie it will be a throw away item when something happens to it....but then again so was my first Hanna hand-held..it was like $50-60 I think. I think the problem with that one is that I used it for about a year then stored it for about 2 years, then pulled it out at the beginning of this year and it only worked for a short while before acting up.

The new Hanna Phep 4 I bought is pretty cool. It has a replaceable electrode, even comes with the tool to change it....it was about $85...accurate to 0.1. For about $15 more you can get the Hanna Phep 5 which is good to 0.01. But I didn't feel I needed the pin-point accuracy..
Cheapie meters I have gotten on Amazon...the yellow ones...prices vary($8-25). The cheaper ones are shipped direct from Hong Knog and take about 3 weeks! They do a fair job for the price, but they are fragile and not water proof! With one meter I had the cover started to go on wrong and shattered the glass bulb in it! And I have read reviews where people have submerged them too far and they shorted out. But if you keep in calibration they will give a good reading. I have broken one, use one and have one brand new one still in the box as an emergency back-up! Like I said, I suck at the drops!!!

If you are only doing one reservoir you could do a monitor with a probe or a hand-held... I need a hand-held for the tubs I keep, but I like the monitor on the Aeroflo...even though I double check it with the hand-helds...

I couldn't do this without more than one meter...hahahaha

Happy

SME, the LSTing is working great!! Of the 6-7 I tied over almost all have slack in the string and all bud on the curve has taken off towards the light....so now even if my canopy is still too high, at least it is more even.

Ph is still in sync with the meters at 5.8. Through topping off I have dropped the PPM back down to 1200, which is where I started. I have noticed that since installing the ventilation system and keeping the door closed more the RH has gone up slightly. It was 40-43 and the last couple of days it has been 46-50...but the system seems to be holding the ambient temps to where I have them set, 82-84, with the lights on....but I am not getting down to 72 during dark, it only gets down to 75-77.

Second SolarFlare arrived today! SO now I have the pair of SolarFlares in between the pair of SolarStorms. I still have one Mag hanging on the end, the other Mag has been moved over the mothers. The girls in the Aeroflo have been on 12/12 for about 4 1/2 weeks and finally there are buds popping like I have wanted to see!!

All the girls are looking great....other than a little nute burn at the tips of some leaves there isn't a blemish to be seen.....Hopefully they will show me how much they like their blanket of 5W CLW LEDs over them!

I will try to get some pics up in the next day or two....

Happy!

Alrighty....33 days of 12/12 and all seems well! Ladies are looking good, no blemished leaves that I can find....other than an occasional burnt tip. Little white powder puffs are showing up all over...guess I was just being impatient...

Lucas Formula seems to hold my numbers steadier than ever before. And I believe I got the hang of adjustments and topping off....





And this little gem is what keeps my ambient temps pretty close to settings (It is mid-summer, and air from basement is warmest it will be all year).... If it can hold my temps in summer, I know it will do well the other 3 seasons!




Now for the good ones!!! LOL

LSTing is working out great! Evening out my canopy nicely and noticing nothing but good for the plants!





The girls are starting to show more and more!!





And finally, a pic of the future mothers getting used to their new lighting....



Seems things are on cruise control....so I am going to go cut the grass & weed my outdoor garden...

As always, comments, guidance, suggestions, criticism, & general BS welcome!

Happy