Get a harvest every 2 weeks - Page 194

Squeechie · #**1931** 05-21-2008, 01:04 AM

One more...
Will lowering the times per day i feed, and dropping the flood level help to slow down the rate of lose in the nutes tank? I really am trying to make a 20 gal tank last for 2 wks instead of one. you know what i mean..

Squeechie · #**1932** 05-21-2008, 01:16 AM

well dakevs i guess your straw was the straw that broke the camels back.(Not mines). Well Al, we all love you.. Thanks

Al B. Fuct · #**1933** 05-21-2008, 02:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squeechie

A Im starting to think that im turning my tank into hardwater and probably locking out other nutes, because in the 2nd week of the same nutes, all hell breaks lose (new leaves/shoots turn limegreen more and more everyday, leaves start to taco up, growth slows down to a halt, etc.)

Under normal conditions, growing tips should be light, lime green. That's the active growth. When a leaf reaches the final size it will be, it'll turn darker.

'Leaves taco up' and slow growth has me worried, though. What's your temp & RH? What's the medium? How often do you water and by what system? Could you be overwatering?

If you're dumping & cleaning every 2 weeks, there will be no ongoing accumulation of tapwater minerals. Topping up over 2 weeks for your system should not result in a significant accumulation of mineral salts.

To test that theory, you might put a bucket of tapwater right under the lights and top it up as it drops from evaporation. Make some notes as to how much you're replacing, at what ppm, etc. I bet you find the accumulation of minerals is insignificant. At very least, you'd have to replace the entire volume of the bucket once to get the intrinsic ppm to double.

Quote:

Should i just top off back to 1400 ppm and then ph adj?

Yep.

Quote:

What happens when im down 2 gals and my ppm still reads 1400.. Are my plants drinking and feeding at the perfect rate? Do I not top off?

Bingo.

If your tank is precisely matched to the needs of the plant, the amt of water used and the amt of nutes used will remain in constant proportion. Don't top up. Ck pH- but don't be overexuberant about correcting. If you're in rockwool, it may drift up .1 every day or two. You may have to adjust 2x per wk, or if it drifts up much over 6.0.

If the res tank is too small, where the proportion of water is used faster than the proportion of nutes, ppm will rise. Top up is needed to control nute strength.

A tank that is too large is wasteful as the plants consumption won't come close to the amt of nutes in the tank- and it goes down the drain in 2 weeks, regardless.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squeechie

One more...
Will lowering the times per day i feed, and dropping the flood level help to slow down the rate of lose in the nutes tank? I really am trying to make a 20 gal tank last for 2 wks instead of one. you know what i mean..

Well, you're kinda asking 'how do I make a fuel-efficient race car?'

If plants are growing vigorously, they will be consuming the water in their medium at great rates. The faster they're sucking it up, the better they're doing. Ideally, they are using up 1/2 to 2/3 of the water weight in each pot before they are watered again. Depriving them of necessary waterings will slow them down. If you need your tank to last 2 weeks and it's near empty at the end of 1, get a tank 2x the size you have now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squeechie

well dakevs i guess your straw was the straw that broke the camels back.(Not mines). Well Al, we all love you..

The camel's back ain't broke just yet, but there's probably a change in format (or an Al B. holiday) in the offing.

9inch bigbud · #**1934** 05-21-2008, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by videoman40

Your making me wonder if you've ever grown anything under artificial lighting.
The lumens output you speak of is at the bulb, not at the plant,
I actually thought this was understood. I am not disagreeing with your stated lumens,

a 1000 watt = 150,000 lumens.....at the bulb, agreed?
a 400 watt = 55,000 lumens.....at the bulb, agreed?

As you move further & further away from the light source, you loose lumens.

Again....
the "usual safe distance" for a 400 watt is 12"
the "usual safe distance" for a 1000 watt is about 24"

a 1000 watt light emits 11k lumens at about 24 inches
a 400 watt emits almost 17k lumens at one foot
17k x 2 400 watt lights= 34000 lumens

Again....you'd need 3 1000 watt lights to equal 2 400 watt lights.
Silly, silly, silly.

Peace

i agree with you to a point. 2 - 400watt lamps will give better light coverage than a 1000watt lamp + they can be hung much lower than a 1000watt lamp. the light from a lamp 1foot from the bulb will only be 1/2 as bright as it is at the source. light loses intensity very fast the farther away it is. ( see pic at the bottom)

recommended distance a 1000watt lamp should be hung from the top of the plants is around 2 foot, a 10000watt lamp at 2 foot will only shine 1/4th of the light from the source ie bulb.

so a 1000watt lamp that is 150,000 lumen is only shining 37500 lumens
at 2 foot away from the bulb

the recommended distance a 400watt lamp should be hung from the top of the plants is around 1 foot for a 400watt lamp
1 foot will shine 1/2 the amount of lumens of light from the bulb

so a 400watt lamp that is 50,0000 lumen is only shining 25,000 lumens at 1 foot away from the bulb.

now for the good part. you have 2 - 400 watt lamps that are in the same size room hung at 1/2 the distance of the 1000watt lamp, not only is it lower, the coverage of the plant canopy is much better than what the 1000watt will cover.

remember that light losses intensity from the bulb
the plants on the out side of the grow room under a 1000watt will only be getting (4x4 grow room) 1/16th of light or 9,375 lumens.

where as 2 - 400watt lamps in the same space will be hung over 2x2 space each. lets use the 25,000 lumen only from just the 1 - 400watt lamp the lumens will be more than 25,000 if you use the 2 - 400s it will not be double ,but it will be more than 25,000 lumens,

1 - 400watt lamp over 2x2 foot of room will shine 25,000 lumen at one foot above the plant canopy and the plants on the out side of the canopy will be getting light 2 foot from the bulb because the 400watt is hung at only 1 foot above, the plants on the end will be getting 1/2 of the light from the original 25,000 lumens 25,000 divided 2 = 12,500 lumens

even though the 400's look the better option on paper it does not always work like that, the penetration under a 1000 watt bulb can grow heavier buds under the canopy than the 400s its that extra 12,500 lumens under the bulb and that massive bud production which makes up for the better coverage that the 2-400s offer.

the 1000 watt is the better option because after 1 crop the light of both bulbs diminish and after a few crops the 400s will not be very bright where as the 1000 will still grow fat ass buds.

over the long run its more economical to replace 1 bulb than it is to replace 2.

Al B. Fuct · #**1935** 05-21-2008, 06:22 AM

...and when you add cooltubes, where a 1000HPS can be spaced at 300-350mm, it's more desirable yet. Something on the order of 80K lumens at that spacing.

9inch bigbud · #**1936** 05-21-2008, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al B. Fuct

...and when you add cooltubes, where a 1000HPS can be spaced at 300-350mm, it's more desirable yet. Something on the order of 80K lumens at that spacing.

could not agree more

i used to use 5-400's but now i only use 2-600s and 1-1000 in the 2nd room the 2 600s do not yield much more than the 1000watt on its own.

the 2-600s light a room about 24sq and the 1000 does a 16sq i might get a few more grams under the 2-600s

rdgx34 · #**1937** 05-21-2008, 12:40 PM

Hey al

Grow Marijuana FAQ, Cannabis cultivation - marijuana growing tips & photos

if you scroll to the bottem it shows his nutes chart. He starts from about 1050ppm(1.5ec) and slowly works up to about 1470ppm. And you start from 1400ppm all the way through. Is there pros and cons to this? or does it even really matter?

Also Im sorry but im a big time noob and im still not sure about mother plants and how to make the stems thicker. when you say cut the growing tip are you talking about the MAIN thick stem in the middle or the stems that come out of that main stem. And do you cut right before the leaves, so the leaves fall off of it?

Thanks!

Al B. Fuct · #**1938** 05-21-2008, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rdgx34

you start from 1400ppm all the way through. Is there pros and cons to this? or does it even really matter?

Clones are mature plants, albeit with a new root system. They can handle 1400ppm from the get-go, no ramp-up required.

Seedlings, on the other hand, are a bit more delicate and should be ramped up, starting at about 500-800ppm and jumping a couple 100 ppm every week or so until you're at 1400.

Quote:

When you say cut the growing tip are you talking about the MAIN thick stem in the middle or the stems that come out of that main stem.

Both!

Quote:

And do you cut right before the leaves, so the leaves fall off of it?

Have a look at my thread on cloning. Pix there.

firsttimegrowerr · #**1939** 05-21-2008, 01:59 PM

AL! I finnaly got most of my equipment in!
I have 4 3x3 flood systems the reseviors are 30gallons each
But i was wondering if i could just use two systems with 1 resevior?
So that way instead of changing 4 reseviors every 2 weeks i can just change 2.

Ill post some pictures when i get everything set up
Thanks AL!

rdgx34 · #**1940** 05-21-2008, 02:01 PM

Quote:
And do you cut right before the leaves, so the leaves fall off of it?
Have a look at my thread on cloning. Pix there.

Sorry I meant when you cut the main stems not cloning, Do you cut the main stem at the end where the leaves are? So the leaves fall off when you cut?
Sorry im trying to understand