Looking great Growmie, keep doing what you’re doing 
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Thanks guys, I appreciate the input and patience 
Since opening a vent she has finally shot up some. I’m moving the grow tent closer to my RO tanks today so I don’t have to carry as far anymore which will be nice. Now my only concern is how dense her nodes are as I’m not sure I can bend the main stem horizontal without super cropping, breaking the inner cell wall, or messing with other branches. I guess just a topping and wait till the side branches grow out to then LST trying to keep her canopy below 15" before flipping.
The chiller should be here early in the week and I’ll be installing it to keep those roots around 65-68F. Then while she is growing out I’ll work on setting up some sort of RDWC in the 5x5. All of this has been so exciting and a bit consuming that it keeps me up at night thinking about stuff.
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Should I be taking foliage off? It’s like a jungle in there and some of these fan leaves are bigger than my head.
Res changed, ph 5.7 PPM 700
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Went ahead and picked off a few leaves. Things that were not doing the best or covered up by higher leaves. Should have some better airflow under the canopy now. I still can’t get over how large some of these fan leaves are. The one I removed isn’t even the largest.
I think LST shouldn’t be too hard once she gets a bit bigger, still very flexible. Chiller is out for delivery so I’m stoked to get that. I have to wait 24 hours to use it so that the refrigerant settles back from shipping and being flipped around etc.
Oh, I ordered a 6" duct thingy which has helped with passive intake. I used the outer sleave to hold it then the inner sleave i expanded into the tent to lessen any light leaking. I have an 8" I will be installing on the 5x5 but at ground level.
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Chiller is here, I also put together the frame for the 5x5. The thing is huge haha. Will be nice to actually have a working area I can stand in and move around the plant(s). I’ll post photos when it’s wrapped and the lights come and are installed.
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Chiller works fine also the girl has perked up a lot since adding the passive air intake path. Tent is also a lot cooler now. I’m able to keep a decent VDP of 0.7-0.9 as well.
Thoughts on LTS? I will untwist the lowest tie in the main stem to not let it cut in as it grows. I will tighten up everything to be lower as it starts to recover.
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Twist ties are not very good for this type of thing. I’ve seen them used successfully but for me they seem to flimsy so ordered some flexible coated wire stuff.
Also, I just finished a mock setup for the chiller in a 5gal bucket like my girl is in. The outlet feeds to a short 5" bit of hose that waterfalls into the res. I went with quick connects so I can do water changes etc easier. The inside tubing is black and the outside is clear that came with the chiller but will have everything using the black tubing when in the production bucket.
Update, I know I said I’d keep updates more spaced out but I’m so darn excited during this grow.
Did some more training to adjust positions and move a few branches that grew enough to mess with. Rate my LST. I’m not going to make any adjustments until new areas get big enough and need moved elsewhere to fill out the area. I did bump the lights up to 70% and got about 450 par at highest point of canopy and lowest was about 350+.
I’ve also decided to not top this girl for my first ever grow.
My King Crab Instant Compost Tea came in. 4 days and my roots are getting bright white and brown spots are going away. I forgot to get a picture. I put 3ml on day one then day 3 another 3ml. They say to use .5ml per gal but you can go up to 5x that. The first round was in the res water and the next round I squirted it on the roots themselves with a hypodermic needle. So I wont be using Great White anymore and likely not my order of Southern AG unless really needed.
My King Crab Instant Compost Tea has:
Bacillus subtilis – 25,000,000 CFU’s per mL
Bacillus licheniformis – 25,000,000 CFU’s per mL
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens – 25,000,000 CFU’s per mL
Bacillus megaterium – 25,000,000 CFU’s per mL
Bacillus pumilus – 25,000,000 CFU’s per mL
Bacillus coagulans – 25,000,000 CFU’s per mL
Bacillus azotoformans – 25,000,000 CFU’s per mL
Paenibacillus polymyxa – 25,000,000 CFUs per mL
Paenibacillus durum – 25,000,000 CFU’s per mL
Pseudomonas fluorescens – 25,000,000 CFU’s per mL
Pseudomonas aureofaciens – 25,000,000 CFU’s per mL
Hydroguard has:
1.00×10^4 cfu/ml which is 10000 cfu/ml of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens
Southern AG has:
1.00×10^10 which is 10,000,000,000 cfu/ml of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain D747
For me the King Crab stuff is the best bang for the buck. 4oz is under 15 bucks and should last a long time and has the extra stuff. Southern AG is about the same price for 8oz but only has the one strain. Also AG is shipping restricted for a lot of places so had to go on ebay to someone who would ship.
Ok, I waited 3 days to do this update
She is officially 35 days from sprout. Did a res change this morning.
Using the same nutrients but upped the calmag to 2ml per gal. Got me to a 770PPM.
Upped the lights to 70% but left the height lower making it 500ish PAR/PPFD with a DLI of 35.
Dropping the RH from 65-70 to 55-65.
LST is looking good. I need to adjust some things but pretty happy with it.
Roots are exploding growth wise and looking better. There are still some dark patches but overall I’m happy. I think the new beneficial product I’m using will keep it at bay and help prevent the nice new growth from getting it. I think on my next grows I might go sterile if the chiller doesn’t help for some reason.
I have also gotten 1" ID tubing and bulkheads to do a RDWC reusing my 4 vivosun DWC buckets+ a res. It not deep current with 2"+ pipes but more in my price range I was willing to spend. I looked at a lot of PA Hydroponic videos and stuff to get the gist. I wish I had gone with one of his kits instead of the vivo but I think I can replicate it just as well using what I have.
Not all the tops are even and the tallest needs tied down as I was waiting for it to get a bit taller before doing so. I don’t think I’m going to use any trellis/scrog just stick to LTS.
For my next run I’m going to try out some autos. I don’t need much flower, as it’s all for personal use and a pinch does it for me. I’d like to get to try out more cultivars (strains) with a quicker harvest and less weight. Then when I find my favorites go back to photos for those. I suppose I could make a 2-3 bucket RDWC while one is being used for this grow. If I used autos the should all finish out around the same time then add the other bucket making it a 4.
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Trying to decide when to flip. Almost middle of week 5 of veg. She would be close to 12-14" atm if not LST’d
Not sure this little 150 watt vivosun can handle too much of a bushy plant. I guess I could move it into the 5x5x6 but it doesn’t have any fans or exhaust and not sure if the little 4" exhaust from the small tent can vent the heat this thing makes.
Finalized the RDWC setup with what I have on hand. Just need to build it.
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Should I move her into the larger space and go crazy with it? Really wouldn’t take long at all to transfer all the equipment over and the new light is installed. Run the exhaust at near full speed for some slight neg pressure and a lower vent to let in cool air.
I don’t have any netting that will fit this space, though I have considered using some old 1/2" PVC trellis from some of my other hydro kits when I was growing veggies. I think its from 3 ebb/flow kits so should be enough for one large plant put together maybe
I went ahead and quickly fitted the chiller to my single DWC bucket. Saw too many videos of people growing without one and mid flower losing their plant to rot. SO far the temp seems to stay around 70-72F in a tent that gets 77+. The floor is cold. Set it to 65F with a 3 degree increase trigger at 68F. Going to be a pain in the butt to res change now with pump in the bucket and everything else in this tiny tent (the chiller is outside). The pump it came with is super underpowered so going to have to use one of my old circulation hydro pumps when I switch to DWC. The pump makes maybe a 6" waterfall by itself whereas my other pumps would be spraying the ceiling. I might use it’s pump to cool the res and a larger pump also in the res to push through the RDWC. Can’t wait to see that electric bill
I’ve decided for the RDWC to have a pump just for the chiller that cools the reservoir. The main reason being it’s a 1/2" tube and I think will be too restrictive converting to 1".
I grabbed this 55W pump for the circulation. 800GPH with 11ft head pressure but will it be able to push water through the RDWC? Since it will only be lifting maybe 1’ then through 20 ft of horizontal tubing I figured it should work?
I’ve also noticed with the chiller my girl is really perking up. I’ve been seeing what might be calcium deficiency as well though. I plan on upping calmag to 3ml/g next change.
I have to say this small 15watt sump is awesome! Perfect size for a single DWC with a chiller. Has incredible power and nearly silent. Quite heavy too.
The 55watt version is massive and also very heavy. I haven’t tried it but if its anything like the smaller version but more powerful obviously I think it will perform great for a 1" RDWC setup. Heck, it could probably power 2" PVC.
Inside a 5gal bucket for size. Apologies for all the dander and dog hair. No matter how much we vacuum or clean it’s everywhere in a few hours.
I also like that they are bottom fed, wire on the top. The weigh will ensure they don’t move about. The 55 watt is on sale for 18 bucks, the same as the 15 watt. Quite the steal imo. Oh, they have adjustable flow as well but run at full speed so not PWM unfortunately. Though I wonder if a dimmer would work on them.
Did an “emergency” res change. Lots of upper leaves starting brown spots that look just like cal deficiency. I don’t think it’s Septoria because it doesn’t start yellow around spots.
So went with calmag 3ml/gal and PH’d up from 5.7 to 6.0. As low PH can cause deficiencies.
Also took this time to swap over to the new pump and it works awesome! Silent, no more bubbles getting sucked into it and a faster cool down. I ordered AC Infinity pro 6" exhaust and controller kit plus 2 oscillating fans from them. So I can eventually move her into the 5x5 if I can’t keep this humidity down.
Forgot to tag some of you for opinions. @OGIncognito @John7
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Leaves don’t seem to be getting better but she is drinking a lot of water. 30 hours or so and has gone down a gallon. I hope it’s not fungal or something else. Could the chiller being added have added some stress?
I’m not sure how to reduce the humidity in my grow tent. With lights off it will go over 60% and with them on it seems to stay about he same. I brought in my 4500sqft 70 pint dehumidifier and put it into the room and that has helped… some. So the room isn’t a bedroom but open on two sides no doors. Can’t really consider it a lung room. Anyways, I’ve gotten it to 40% RH in this room and it’s only 54% with lights off in the tent. The humidity gauge on the dehumidifier is says it’s 31% but none of my other readers say that so I have to run it continuous and not go by its set RH. I’ll likely hook up my inkbird to it so I can automate it in the room. If I can’t get lower than say 50% is that ok for flower?
Lastly, got in all my ACI gear for the 5x5. Holy smokes the 6" carbon filter is insanely large. I couldn’t imagine how large the 8" filter is. Got the adapter to control my non-branded light and it works as intended which is relieving. I really like vivosuns app, its more user friendly and dumbed down so to speak but I’m sure I will figure it out.
Looks like PH swings are the cause of lockouts. She was up to 6.5 last night and after a ph down to 5.9 rose to 6.2 overnight Also have a little foam which could be from cleaning some of the pump stuff and not rinsing well enough. She has been drinking a lot so assume that’s where the swings are coming from. PPM is around 450 from 800ish in only 4 days and I’ve only been doing RO top offs. I forgot I can use the water level tube to drain off into a container and test the ppm/ph instead of lifting off the basket. I’m going to mix up a gal of nutes and next top off will be using that.
Sorry again for all the bumps
I think I’m going to start transition nutes (just raising it to bloom numbers) then flip this weekend to 12/12 which will make her 7 weeks old. She is 10-11" with LST and I’m happy with how many tops she has. I don’t see any sex indicators on any nodes but the seed was feminized.
I did read someone mention waiting till you see pistols at the nodes but for my limited space I think it’s time.
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