LED Grow Light Forum

Just got done transplanting the girls into their first 1 gal containers. We're using the Canna Terra Pro plus. I knew it was peat based, but the whole thing seems like peat to me Anyone reading this ever used it before?

Prior to transplant, I picked up some Clonex gel, and using a torch-sterilized razor blade, I gently scraped the stems of the plants.


I don't know if this did anything at all because I really didn't scrape much. Then I applied the clonex gel to the stem, and buried them almost to the cotyledons.


After transplanting, I watered the media until saturation and drain using the remainder of the 1 gallon water: 6ml bio-vega/16ml bio-rhizotonic after agitating the heck out of it to provide aeration.

All 5 are now directly under the solar storm. The temperatures will rise substantially where they are, probably to about 84. Because I'm not injecting the CO2 yet, I'll be leaving the tent flaps open to provide fresh air and a tiny bit of heat mitigation.


The girls look like they will have some adjusting to do in their new homes, but I think they will eventually be quite comfortable. Sorry for all the purple.

The plants seem to be doing pretty well recovering from the transplant shock yesterday. The media is still moist from yesterday's feeding, so I've been administering foliar sprays of nutrient solution periodically.

Most of the girls have turned themselves upward towards the light. At this point, I have to say that the best looking above ground growth belongs to the Money Maker with the damaged stem.


The other Money Maker looks exceptional too, but has had so much stem growth since transplant that she was also laying over this morning. I propped her up a little with a plastic plant marker.


The Incredible Bulk seedling is actually the worst looking of all of them at this point. Her little true leaves are shriveled and curled slightly. She is still a nice dark green color, but her cotyledons are curved severely back toward the stem. We'll have to see how she does in the future. All these observations are not easy to see in the picture below.


The other two Pineapple Chunk look pretty good. One of them is sloping to the side, but I think I'll let her do that for a while.



Temperature has been 76-80 degrees. Lights on 24/0.
Thanks for watching!
MC

Another 24 hours without killing any seedlings. I'll count that as a win. Here are some pictures.







The medium was pretty dry last night so I went ahead and watered it. I used only tap water, pH adjusted to 6.3. Temperature has been 77-78, RH around 40-45%. Still trying to boost that, and it helps after watering. Humidifier is still on in the tent, flaps are still open to mitigate temperature.

hey MC,

just a quick question for you: is your tap water city water? if so, do you let it sit for 24hrs to help dissipate the chlorine? we've had some people here have trouble with the plants and it turns out their water has a really high PPM with unknown levels of "crap" in it.

i use a 1/2 1/2 mix of RO water and well water. my EC is 0.2 which is fairly low and I normally don't have to worry about adding Cal/Mag because it's in my well water.

if you already know this, disregard but it might help others following along that aren't aware.

RKY

rkymtnman wrote:hey MC,

just a quick question for you: is your tap water city water? if so, do you let it sit for 24hrs to help dissipate the chlorine? we've had some people here have trouble with the plants and it turns out their water has a really high PPM with unknown levels of "crap" in it.

i use a 1/2 1/2 mix of RO water and well water. my EC is 0.2 which is fairly low and I normally don't have to worry about adding Cal/Mag because it's in my well water.

if you already know this, disregard but it might help others following along that aren't aware.

RKY

Hi RKY,

Thanks for the question. Yes, the water I'm on is city water, although last night I did not let my water dissipate. I do have a reserve bucket that I will be using in the future to hold water for at least 24 hours prior to use. The reserve bucket will have constant aeration, and a hole at the top for chlorine and chloromine to off-gas.

In addition, yesterday I installed an inline refrigerator filter just prior to the bucket, so most of the chlorine and chloromine should be filtered prior to being in the reserve reservoir anyway. I just haven't started using the reserve bucket yet because I keep having leaks and the silicone isn't dry yet Perhaps tonight, after 6 tries, I will have finally nailed it.

It's been a while since I've truly measured the EC of my tap water, but last time I did it was pretty consistently under 180 (.18 ?), and closer to 130 (.13?) most days. I'd love a Reverse Osmosis filter, but it's so not in the budget at this point that it's not even funny. <- That's my serious face.

But you're absolutely right about all that! I'll be adding Cal/Mg when I start feeding in earnest.

Question though: Why do you use 1/2 RO and 1/2 well? Why not just R/O?

Thanks again, I appreciate your input!
MC

I bought a camping size RO filter off Ebay years ago. It worked but I just couldn't justify all the grey water that was wasted by it. Being on a well and with the water issues in CO, I quit using it. I get the culligan water at walmart for 37 cents/gal.

I started with just RO years ago. The reason I use half/half now is for 2 reasons: not having to add back cal/mag (I'm part Scottish and a bit cheap, laddy ) and I think that it holds pH steadier than just RO water alone. I also did a well analysis a few yrs ago and the contents were all within range.

rkymtnman wrote:I bought a camping size RO filter off Ebay years ago. It worked but I just couldn't justify all the grey water that was wasted by it. Being on a well and with the water issues in CO, I quit using it. I get the culligan water at walmart for 37 cents/gal.

I started with just RO years ago. The reason I use half/half now is for 2 reasons: not having to add back cal/mag (I'm part Scottish and a bit cheap, laddy ) and I think that it holds pH steadier than just RO water alone. I also did a well analysis a few yrs ago and the contents were all within range.

OK, that makes sense. Always handy to know exactly whats in your water with the well analysis. I used to get distilled water at WM a year ago when I first started hydro until I got tired of shlepping water. Also, my bucket wet test failed again last night. I need more silicone. Also the table leaked on the tent floor while draining, so I'll need more there too.

Here is my aeration/reserve bucket that I'll be using once I get it leak-proof.


I'm wondering RKY, SME, GR8, anyone else watching, if you think the burned leaf tips might have come from the chlorinated water I used the other night. Here's a few more pictures. The Pineapple Chunk affected last night has gotten a little worse, and Money Maker #2 is also showing the start of the same.





All of the other girls do not have any burned tips. Money Maker #1 still continues to dominate. Incredible Bulk is still curly and looking light stressed for some reason. Any info on this growth would be appreciated too.



Finally, here are the two healthiest looking plants.




Temps have been up to 82 overnight, but stabilizing back around 77 today. No water yesterday. Thanks again in advance for any input you have.

one suggestion for the aeration bucket:

try to find a cat litter square bucket instead. holes seal much better on a flat vs rounded surface. or find a plumbing supply and get some uniseals. they are expensive but are almost 100% leak proof if installed correctly.

for the tip issue, how about the basics? what is pH? what is EC? temp and RH seem to be OK.

if I had to guess, too strong on the EC.

RO water is too pure to keep pH'd properly so I add some calmag (or nutrients) before even bothering with pH.

I use RO because my tap water is pretty bad and lucas formula (for hydroponics - not soil) uses it so everyone gets the same result with a batch. If tap/well is below 100-200 you're probably OK. I DO use tap water for all of my outdoor plants because I'm lazy and a hose is convenient.

rkymtnman wrote:for the tip issue, how about the basics? what is pH? what is EC? temp and RH seem to be OK.

if I had to guess, too strong on the EC.

Always good to keep an eye on the basics although some people use PPM and some use EC...

That'd be my guess too, either the soil is too hot or he's feeding too much/too early.