I opened my paper towel to this?

Lol…I apparently suck at it too! I want to try some photo but I travel for my job so I thought I would try these first. I had read they were easier but I don’t think that is a fact! I also did not really have the hang of hydro before I started so this is all new and harder than I thought it would be. For a plant that grows wild these things are fragile!

1 Like

I travel a lot for work as well… heck my first full grow journal on here is titled “The Traveling Grower.” :wink:

My objective has been to establish a garden that I can be away from for 5-7 days at a time. As long as I don’t have seedlings that’s almost true.

I read your journal and was inspired that I could actually do it to but it is proving a little more difficult than I thought! I am hoping that once I get passed the 4th week that it will get easier and the plants won’t be so picky…I don’t see that being true but I am not as discouraged as I was when I kept killing the seeds or the seedlings. Now that I have actually made it to the 4th week I feel like I could maybe be ok :ok_hand:.

2 Likes

If you aren’t in a hurry and can take your time to learn by doing, then you will gain a ton of good knowledge on this grow. Let’s just focus on getting you to harvest and worry about yields and all that jazz later. Baby steps! Focus on this week’s objectives. The harvest will take care of itself.

Best way to do DWC as a person who travels for work is a big ass reservoir and as much automation on atmospheric appliances as possible.

1 Like

My husband is a unwilling participant lol…so he did top water and water change when I was gone last week. I had it all ready so all he had to do was dump and sprinkle … He is afraid he will kill my babies so he is not sure he wants to help! I am as you say just teying to go from one week to the next without killing the plant I figure they are suppose to bloom so it will do that if I keep it alive …lol

1 Like

A lot of my issues I think in the beginning was to much water. I seem to have a handle on that now but it seems like the nuts are my next issue. I have a bit of curling long ways on the plant that was the healthiest of the 2 starting yesterday but I read that it could be temprature related or humidity so I adjusted that last night and I will see this evening what has changed. It also said that it could be healthy and just really growing so I am trying not to panic…yet

1 Like

Plants in the 4 week age range from seed can probably be on a good, balanced nutrient base in the 300-400ppm range. Maybe 500ppm.

Humidity at this point you should try to keep above 50%, with temps in the mid to high 70s (lower 80s if you are rocking white light LEDs).

Also, don’t ever be afraid to give your plant a short flush if you are seeing nutrient-related issues. Four to 24 hours on a Florakleen flush then resetting to an appropriate nutrient solution can work wonders to recover a plant in hydro quickly.

My wife is the same - she will water soil/coco plants but when it comes to dealing with my flood and drain system she wants no part in it. Which is fine because that is the system that I can go days without checking… not so much right now in mid-flower. Right now I need to add water every three or four days to keep the water pump submerged when it’s flooding.

Last year in late flower I was gone for almost three out of four weeks in October. Had some crispy leaves when I got back, but made it to harvest.

I am having trouble with humidity. I have my light turned down to 250W it is HID and is about 3ft above the plants at this point because they were struggling with to much light. I have a 24x48x72 tent and my extractor fan is 6inch. I have to keep the fan on high to keep it in the 78 to 81 temp range and even with a big room humidifier in there it stays about 38% . I have wet sponges I re wet 3x per day and an led cool humidifier as an extra and I am still struggling to keep it humid.

Perhaps get a small cool mist style humidifier - like one of those Vicks thingies. I use one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-Humidifier-Control-1-18gal-100-240V/dp/B07D6L83GB?ref_=bl_dp_s_web_5608252011

I have a humidifier outside the tent as well to raise humidity in the room where the tent lives.

The mister I put in the tent.

1 Like

That is why I am a little scared to do photo because I could be gone for 3 or 4 weeks and I am not sure I would not loose the whole mess! I thought bubble buckets would be the best but now I am second guessing .

1 Like

I wonder if something like auto pots would be a better option considering your possible extended traveling.

1 Like

I have been looking at those. My husband says he would feel happier with the buckets that have the water measure on the side so he could see how much water is in there. He has to add water daily and feels like he is not sure how much to add or not add.

1 Like

@Screwauger uses autopots I believe. I think he has a thread about them?

There it is.

@blackthumbbetty is also growing in that kind of format with a do-it-yourself solution.

1 Like

Well the good news in DWC is it doesn’t matter how much he adds as long as he keeps it a couple inches below the net pot.

1 Like

I have been following blackthumbbetty . I don’t think I have all that much energy to go through all that !! Lol
I will look at the tread for the AP’s . I will put the humidifier in my cart today and see how that does. I have to get a new PPM meter mine got dropped this week. I have read that once the roots get to the water then there is a growth explosion !! I am hoping for that this next week or 2

1 Like

I am also hoping that the leaf curl is just growth and not defecency but I threw some cal mag in the cart too just in case.

1 Like

Kind of an aside, but something I wanted to share. Here are a couple of pictures of the same plant:

The grower had the plant inside and his humidity was really low - throwing his vapor pressure deficit off, so the plant curled in on itself like that as a result.

He put that plant outside and it opened up like you see. Humidity was much higher outside the tent, so the plant was able to open up and breathe.

I think those pics are one or two days apart.

1 Like

Wow that is huge …I for sure nees to get a handle on my humidity. I am clearing my air quick with the fan to keep things cool and that is causing a low humidity. I have struggled with temps from the start. I ran my tents for several weeks before plants trying to get a handle on temp and humidity but I am still struggling. I fear this will be ongoing with temp problems.

1 Like

For sure - managing temps in a tent is one of the more challenging parts of tent growing. The simplest - but most costly, probably - solution would be to eliminate the primary heat source - which is likely the lights. This is why a lot of people prefer the QB style lights - they don’t produce nearly as much heat while giving off more photons than your average blurple Amazon LED or gas light.

Turns out it’s also harder to get your humidity up if it’s warmer (humidity being relative to temperature). So if temps are high it can compound the issue.