So time for a long overdue update the plans have been vegging fine. Things are all going smooth using the autopots, I sure do enjoy not having to shop back the runoff everyday.
I’ve been checking the reservoir for pH drift which I was expecting to happen but so far I haven’t had to adjust it.
The low stress training continues and I have a ton of tops right now. I did break a branch almost clean off right at the node and I had to use the emergency Band-Aid AKA blue painter’s tape. A couple days later I was looking like it’s going to make it.
Now that I’ve gotten rid of the spare clone I’m going to put a net over the top of them tomorrow and continue the training for another week or two.
So I have the net in place now. I’ve done some defoliating every few days. Training continues.
The plants are looking happy with the jacks 4/2 recipe. The last two refills of the reservoir I’ve been using tribus as I have some that’s getting close to its expiration date. I don’t have any kind of circulator or air stone in the reservoir. I try to mix it up a couple times a day with the paint mixer attachment that I use to mix the jacks newts. I’ve noticed a little bit of film on the top is this a problem? should I take out the tribus?
Yea don’t put anything alive or organic in the res only salt based. That film that you are seeing is biofilm. You could do a splash of peroxide to kill off the bio activity so you could still use the nutrients left in the res, just turn off the main valve for about 12 hours. After that, Make sure to run it dry and clean the res and the lines before adding a new batch of jacks in there….if you want to use microbes it’s tough when using auto pots since there really isn’t a good way to go about it. You could top feed separately but there will be a wall of salt so who knows if the microbes would even survive. To be honest for a long time auto pot users didn’t really use microbes. Also if your temps are high 60s in the res it can also develop biofilm. I have that happen time to time with my res and I just throw in a splash of peroxide. I would wait at least 12hr before using said nutrients you treat with peroxide. If you use right after you might kill some of the beneficial microbes and bacteria already in your medium. You’re plants are looking great btw and you’re net is filling out quite nicely!
For the record I don’t use auto pots I use a frequent fertigation system, but res issues can be the same. I wanted to get autopots but the lack of freedom was kind of a deterrent.
When I used Growers Recharge and auto pots I would mix the recharge separately and add that to the trays. It was nasty setting in the reservoir. I switched to TPS Billions and it works well mixed in the jacks and added to the res
Okay thank you for the advice I will do like you have suggested. So when I try to clean the feed lines do I have to disconnect them or is just running fresh water through there and flushing enough?
I don’t want to do it half-assed and risk still having the same problem, but having to remove these lines from where the reservoir I know is going to be tough I would probably have to cut them off.
Right now there is just a shadowy film on the top there is no slime on the bottom or sides of the reservoir.
@OGIncognito yes I already knew that running the recharge in a reservoir was not good. I did use some while still hand watering to make sure I had some of that in there. I’ll have to look into getting the TPS billions.
If you don’t want to do it half assed run peroxide with water through all the disconnected lines. That should take care of any micro life or organic life that would be in the lines. If you do not want to use peroxide and water you could also use florakleen or a similar product if you chose to do so. It’s just more expensive than peroxide and it will do the exact same thing.
Not gonna lie this makes me question the contents of TPS Billions. The fungi has the ability to clean lines, but can the fungi and microbes survive pH drift corrections, and at the same time with no biofilm? I’m looking funny at my bag now. Because realistically I don’t see how that’s possible. If it’s alive it should be consuming and multiplying, no evidence of that makes me wonder.
That’s the challenge and I’ve learned to mix a few gallons at a time to try and mitigate adding PH down. Sometimes I add the TPS to the auto trays versus the res or double on up on the waver makers
So I was able to clean out and flush the reservoir this weekend. I wanted to disconnect all the lines and clean them out real thoroughly but I felt like I was going to break one of the fittings or even worse one of the valves and I don’t have any replacements. I cleaned out the reservoir ran a gallon of pH water through there and then refilled with fresh jacks.
I tried to disconnect the valve on the plant on the left and I wasn’t able to. For the last couple days that valve hasn’t been working right. It isn’t letting enough water back in I have to play with the valve manually. I don’t think it’s clogged it’s just not sitting right in the tray and I haven’t had the time to fix it yet.
The training with the net continues and I’m starting to fill out some of the outer squares.
Okay thanks for the advice guys. I’m going to end up flipping to 12/12 this weekend. At the current growth rate I may run out of room in the tent. I did plan on using the bloom booster but I didn’t realize I needed to use it so soon. By the time I get it delivered it will probably only be used for one or two weeks.
I always try to flip when I’m not at work and I can confirm that the on and off times are right. I’ve messed it up before.
I’ve been doing a bunch of defoliation, and chopped off of few of the smaller sucker branches.
So here’s some pictures from yesterday. I did flip to 12/12 over the weekend. I botched the timer on time but luckily it was only on for 15 minutes. Let the stretch begin.
Today is day 10 since I have flipped to 12:12 flower. Everything is cruising along nicely. I’m doing defoliation about every other day. The plants are starting to smell more and it’s on the sweet candy side.
I’ve been steadily increasing the dimmer on the light about 7% a day right now I’m at 85% with 17 18 in distance from the top of the canopy.
