Does not compute - pc grow

[v12xjs]

Being close to the end it's time to charge up the trichome inspector.
Not sure these are still available as I picked mine up several years ago, wasn't cheap either but it's an awesome bit of kit.
Please forgive the stock photo, it's better than I could muster

 

[v12xjs]

Been a bit of a rough week for the plant as I've not been able to see or feed her daily. She got fed Sunday, Tuesday, Friday and today, and that's caused some stress and burning on the canopy.
I think I've got off fairly lightly considering how neglected she's been, but on the bright side I suppose there shouldn't be any worries regarding mold for a few days.

 

The blondie cola is staunchly refusing to dye her hair green and the bleaching seems to have even spread a little across the top of the bud.
I'll put her in her own jar and see what kind of difference it makes.
Another couple of cola's are showing it too now but I think that's just part of the stress over the last week, most of the canopy is still looking fine so I've left the light at 70w. It's safe to assume the humidity nodesdived.

No need to consider adding Ambre Solaire to the feed just yet

 

She's supposedly ready to crop in around 2 weeks but that seems a bit optimistic looking at her today.
Guess we'll find out for sure in 2 weeks though.

 

 

 

 

[v12xjs]

Feel like I should talk about coco, how and why I use it in my grow.

 

So plants are basically syphons. They emit water out of the tops which then creates the suction to drag more water and nutes up to replace it.
Along with the water and nutes they also bring oxygen up through the roots to help with powering some of the reactions that happen. They can grab additional oxygen through the leaves if they need to, but leaves have other jobs to do so the roots are the primary source.

 

As something needs to come back down to replace that air, the plants suck up carbon dioxide at the top and then that gets pushed down and out through the roots. That of course is why plants are so good at fixing carbon in soil and why we need them now more than ever to save our planet.

 

So if they are putting carbon dioxide into the soil, then the oxygen they are sucking up is going to be more and more tainted until we do something about it.
Think halitosis and you'll get why that might not be ideal.

 

This is why flushing plants is always beneficial.
It flushes the CO2 out and allows the plant to get some fresh air.

 

So when coco hit the scene and folk were talking about watering to runoff, or flushing every day. Well let's say my ears pricked up.

 

When I started to check it out, the Canna guys were suggesting something that just made so much sense to me.
They advised throwing the feed into the pot so a pool formed on the top, and to keep it like that until all the nute mix was in.
This they said, would then act as a battering ram. Going down through the medium and forcing out all the stale air, while dragging fresh air behind it.

It was a full on bingo jackpot moment for me because I knew that was what I wanted to do but I just had no idea how to do it until that moment.

 

So now I've ruled soil out because you either feed the plants or flush them, and either way it will be days before you can do it again.
With coco you can feed and flush the plants completely every day and it even allows for the CO2 dump as it dries out.
It's already around 40% air when wet, but as it dries that becomes 80%. So there's still fresh air available even as the plant is exhaling bad breath like mad down there.

 

So you guys do what you like.
I'll stick with coco for now thanks.

[Groking_]

7 minutes ago, v12xjs said:

I'll stick with coco for now thanks.

 

Each to their own pal! I'm a soil grower (Biobizz Light Mix + Extra Perlite.) and prefer the earthier flavour.

 

However, may try some coco / soil combo soon. I'm also going to test flat air stones in the bottom of 1 gallon fabric pots for a laugh.

[v12xjs]

Thanks for stopping by and commenting @Groking_

Main thing is we're both happy with what we are doing, although using a high level of perlite with plans to add airstones and coco might perhaps suggest otherwise.

[green_machine]

@v12xjs

 

I always love reading through your work and feel I learn so much!

 

I am going to have to go and do some testing with my fan and filtration set up now and see if I can work out what the optimum speed is as I too have noticed on the higher speeds I seem to get more heat.

 

Funnily enough, I use a similar watering technique in compost that you are using in coco, it was OT1's writings which first put me onto it and the importance of gas exchange in the root systems back in the late '90s and I have always stuck with it.

 

atb will be following along

[Groking_]

9 hours ago, v12xjs said:

Thanks for stopping by and commenting @Groking_

Main thing is we're both happy with what we are doing, although using a high level of perlite with plans to add airstones and coco might perhaps suggest otherwise.

 

Always fun to experiment and doesn't really effect the base way people grow. I'd never use high levels of perlite, just add a little extra.

 

Coco does have It's advantages and am glad your seeing good results.

[v12xjs]

Hi @green_machine, thanks so much for stopping by and posting such a lovely comment.

Really pleased to know you find my ramblings informative. All the best to you too.

 

Hi again @Groking_, like you I have great fun with these little trials and experiments and ultimately that's how we learn.

Good luck with your grows.

[Alys]

What a great diary! I don’t know how I missed this starting but I’m here now.

[v12xjs]

Hi and thanks @Alys, a pleasure to have you on board.

[Guest]

Thanks for an open eye info @v12xjs about flushing coco and oxygen. 

 

22 hours ago, green_machine said:

Funnily enough, I use a similar watering technique in compost that you are using in coco, it was OT1's writings which first put me onto it and the importance of gas exchange in the root systems back in the late '90s and I have always stuck with it.

 

Any chance (if op allow post it here) to share your watering technique in compost, mate?!

 

Thanks!

[v12xjs]

I'd be very interest in that myself @Canna Denfour20 and @green_machine as it was something I never managed to work out for myself.

[green_machine]

Hey guys

 

I don't mind sharing, this is old information. I learned the original technique and importance from OT1's writings back in the 90's, I think the posts are still on the cannabase if you look through it.

 

As V12 said the majority of gas exchange occurs in the roots of the cannabis plant, however, this does lead to a build-up of "bad gasses" things like CO and N2. When growing intensively in small pots it becomes essential to flush these gasses out as buildup can be detrimental to plant growth. Now it is important to remember that this is more relevant to people who grow in small pots. OT1 was growing in 4l pots at the time and some of the people who were part of his collective were growing in 2l pots. In order to get the best gas exchange in compost, there were a couple of points he mentioned. The first was to use a fine rose on your watering can to give you a large surface area spray. Second, to water in 2 parts. The first time you watered was to wet the surface of the compost to ensure any further water could penetrate quickly you then gave the pots 20 minutes to absorb this before a second watering was done, this time aiming to flood the surface of the pot and maintain this so that you can see the bubbles of gas coming up through the water and escaping as the water was making its way down.

 

I'm paraphrasing his original words pretty badly here, but I have his original posts so I will try and dig it up from my files later on. Hopefully, this gives you a good idea of what I do though.

 

As I said this is more relevant to small pots especially plastic pots, these days if you are growing in larger pots you are probably better off using a fabric pot and allowing the gasses to diffuse out naturally.

 

One more trick I sometimes use on my mum plants which have developed root balls, is I take the plant out of the pot and then dunk the whole root ball into a bucket of water or feed again you will see all the air within the compost just driven out while it is submerged underwater like this, I will keep holding it underwater until no more bubbles escape. This is a handy technique to re-hydrate compost if you ever let it get too dry, but you need a well-developed root ball to do this.

 

hth

Greenie

[Guest]

@green_machine Thanks. It's relevant to me as I am starting in 0.5l nursery pots and then repotting into 3-5l pots, depends on strain development. 

Edited May 11, 2022 by Canna Denfour20

[v12xjs]

Awesome explanation there @green_machine

Thanks for sharing