Inda-Grow + Aquamist SoG + Vert ScroG

bibbles

Active Member
Alrighty, thus far I've failed to keep up with my journals as I'd been busy with other things, and previous runs were just to further my understanding before settling on equipment and purchasing it.

So, here's the run down:

My flower tent is 4'x8', 2/3s or so of which houses two Aquamist systems with four inch net pots, totaling 64. The other side has some room for a pedestal fan, a dehumidifier should I need it (or just a third fan), as well as a couple sativas which will see a vertical ScroG against the end wall. These two will be grown in five gallon DWC buckets.

The former will live under two 420 watt induction lights, and the later next to a 400 watt light which is set at... roughly 75° - ratchet hangers though one side of the set of holes which normally hold a hanger.

I also have a ~3'x3' tent which will be used to veg the ScroG sativas. They will see 24/0 or 18/6, whatever, till the screens are full, then be moved to the flower tent where their screens will be tied onto a third larger piece, suspended from the ceiling of the flower tent.

I'm going to give Sure to Grow a try this time, washing hydroton is some next level BS which I'll hopefully never need to do again! I'll be using Lucas Formula via MaxiBloom and R/O water, no additives unless I decide otherwise later.

I'll be setting up tonight, updating as I go along. Feel free to comment, etc.! :D
 

bibbles

Active Member
SoG clones are going to be King Louis XIII, I've got 66, so I'll have two extras... they'll probably end up in the ScroG if I can't find any sativas this week.
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This is the veg tent, I could probably greatly up the available light by buying some reflectorless lights, as well as making things a bit more roomy, however I had yet to get around to that when hanging them... now they're in the mail.
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Here is the SoG area, yet to get plants as I sort of ran out of water before they were both totally full...
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This is where the ScroG will be located, and the light it will be lit with. I can probably also hang the light sideways, however I haven't tried yet, and I'm not sure what sort of angle it would rest at. I figured this was the best way to hang it.
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bibbles

Active Member
So, the clones are in the system, hooray. While moving them though I had a couple issues with the media. The cut outs in the center are not actually cut outs, just cuts that go most of the way through the cube. You have to squish the cut down and then place your clone on top - Rapid Rooters were too skinny, leaving an air gap, and due to that, would pop out most of the way. I rectified this by cutting off the top 1/4"-1/2" of the cut, placing the clone inside, and then replacing the removed bit. It seems to have worked well, in addition to providing a cleaner feel.

Secondly, I worry that the non-wicking nature of the media might not work super awesome in this system initially. They say they tested them, and they'll work in most commercial aerosystems, however it seemed like their primary test bed was the AeroFlo2, which can raise it's water level when plants are young. This system cannot do that, and as such, water splashing on the outside of the media might not make it to the center. If things look a little rough, I can always water them from the top a couple times a day for the first few days.

OH, and after using an AeroFlo2 30, I am shocked at how quiet the Aquamists are. Shocked.
 

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bibbles

Active Member
Problem solved with Dyna Gro Pro TeKt, PH is spot on at 10Tsp in my mostly full 34 gallon can used for collecting R/O and mixing nutrient solution. The can works very well given its size (could be a bit bigger though) and if I remove te hose from the sump, it mixes the crap out of my solution for me. If you're looking for something similar, $30 or so on amazon with free shipping, $50 for six.. Not the best colors, but much cheaper than most places.
 

bibbles

Active Member
Alrighty, so they've been getting 24/0 since they hit hydro, most are showing a bit of new growth, however I think I may have gotten fungus gnats... saw one while I was checking stuff out, but I was planning on hitting them with the neem tonight anyway.
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I also noticed some white spots on the leaves of one clone, they didn't look like mites, and I didn't see anything, even after putting on my loop, so... neem is happening anyway, I'll let it go for now.
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I've also noticed a few plants with curling leaves, they were as such when I received them (I think), and most seem to have uncurled, however a couple look a little worse for wear. There were also some with bent stems, they seem to be standing up.
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PH has risen to 6 from 5.8, and PPM has risen to 1,100 from 1,080. The reservoir is at 77°F, but I expect it to fall quickly as I enter flower... if not, I'll find a solution. The air is 74°F and 35%RH with both circulation fans on low.
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Still looking for some sativa clones, though I've been a bit busy.
 

bibbles

Active Member
Topped off today, bringing pH to 5.9 and PPM to 1230.

Things seem to be going well, yellow leaves are regaining color, roots are coming out of the bottom of the net pots of most, I'll probably switch to flower tomorrow.
 

bibbles

Active Member
Added 10 tsp cal/mag+ today as I saw some yellowing leaves and what not, and hey, R/O right? Couldn't hurt. I also did some work on the veg room, I'll update with better info/pics later. The Cal/mag looks to have raised the ppm by 100, which is what I was aiming for, but I was in a hurry, and still am, so... FML.
 

bibbles

Active Member
Technically it's day two now, but whatever, here's what's up.

Plants in the right hand tray are almost all fantastic, one lifted right out of the media due to fungus gnat root damage, two others are still recovering from the lack of magnesium, but looking good. The one which lifted out had a lot of fresh roots that had not yet grown into the media, and was left.

Plants in the left tray are... not as awesome. It seems they had a bit more of an infestation. One lifted out clean like the other, however showed no fresh roots. It was replaced with one of the extra clones I got. Another had roots into the media, but was looking very rough, and while one root was poking through, it had no others visible, and it's leaves were looking very rough, so it was replaced as well.

of the remaining plants in the left tray, the ones which arrived bent are still a bit bent, but looking much better, growth is green and lush, roots are plentiful. There are 2-3 others which look rough, but I have no more extra clones, and they look like they are improving (others were getting worse).

I added 3/4 mosquito dunk to each, and I guess we'll see in the morning when I get back in there with the neem again. I do not have sticky traps, they skipped my mind when I was shopping, probably pick up some tomorrow.

I received my sativa clones, two Super Lemon Haze, they hit hydro today. DWC in 5g buckets, sure to grow, same nutrient solution for now till I get a baseline. Replaced awkward reflectors with reflectorless CFLs (2x 125w).

Sure to Grow and Algae - they claim it makes your stuff algae proof, but I saw some today, after never seeing it in hydroton. Probably my fault, as I watered them from the top once, but good to know - they are algae resistant only because of their non-wicking material.

I would say that the biggest advantage you have is an all white medium, which makes seeing anything which shouldn't be there MUCH easier - like how quickly I noticed those flies... although it took me a bit to deal with them, my fault.

I ended up going with paper backed stucko wire? Idunno, it's a sheet with paper attached (no adhesives) that measures 28x104 with 2" square holes for a bit under $10. Chicken wire looked stupid, and everything else came in amounts much larger than I needed, which lead to much higher price tags.

The plants are, for the most part, about a foot tall, a few are nine inches, and those bent ones are a bit shorter than that, though they look to be righting themselves day by day. The couple with a side branch AT the bend will probably get trimmed, but I'll leave that one branch, as it'll get all the light it needs in the extra space created.

Sorry for the lack of pictures/updates, but shit's been crazy... and... I'll probably snap some and add them in an hour when I go check on the haze.
 

bibbles

Active Member
So, after the initial noticing of the gnats, I treated as best I could, but given how young they were, it was a loosing battle. It looks like the entire left tray is done for. The right tray is doing remarkably well, and was also treated. When I was picking up clones the guy told me there was a 30 day guarantee, so... I'll give him a call tomorrow and see if I can't get that half replaced, or at least something...
 

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bibbles

Active Member
HUZZAH! They're replacing half of the clones, picking them up tonight.~

These will go straight into 12/12, which is probably when should have happened with the first batch, but oh well, now I can at least compare the extra veg time to straight 12/12, right?
 

bibbles

Active Member
Alrighty, so I sterilized the entire system which was producing less-than plants, and I'm going to make a fresh nutrient solution, and then move the lush plants to there. This way the shorter plants will be closer to the fans, and air flow should be better. This will also give me a chance to clean that reservoir as well just to be sure...

R/O 10PPM (30ish gallons)
Cal/Mag to 149PPM (9tsp, aiming for 150)
MaxiBloom to 1340PPM (160g, aiming for 1350)
Pro-TeKt to 5.7 (30tsp)
 

bibbles

Active Member
Definitely the case here, I wasted time waiting for them all to get going, now the ones which didn't get owned are probably a little larger than they should be... trimmed the lower 1/3, but I can see at least a few branches which will have to come of in the next week or so.

The little ones are looking good, just cut out the center and placed the cubes, they fit well, sealed themselves, and maintain a small gap below the cube so that roots were not crushed putting them in.

EDIT: Oh, the sativas are doing fine, some new growth, one is a little lighter than the other, but getting darker, it was lighter when I got it so...
 

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711grower

Active Member
subd. you kind of looked lonely here. i have 2 indagrow pro 400s. i love the quality of the buds and low heat however, my batch turned out airy. not super dense the way i like it. curious to see how the new ones perform
 

bibbles

Active Member
subd. you kind of looked lonely here. i have 2 indagrow pro 400s. i love the quality of the buds and low heat however, my batch turned out airy. not super dense the way i like it. curious to see how the new ones perform
I just finished a run with just my 400 (which will light my vert. ScroG), pulled 11 oz from four plants in a slapdash four plant ScroG. I ran into some issues, but the buds were still dense and sticky.

So far the only difference I've noticed is that they run much cooler than the 400, and they are about half the weight. After running for a few hours you can put your hand on the ballast and it's still only warm, the 400 would be hot. These got a little damaged in shipping (due to the lighter, less ridged design) but were easy to bend back, and Inda-Gro offered to replace them if I couldn't. They said they were working on a better way to ship them. The issue came down to FedEx being unable to read "this side up," despite the size of the sign.

Oh, and the box still says agricultural induction lighting on the outside.
 

bibbles

Active Member
Things are looking good on both sides fo the King Louis XIII now, perhaps a bit better with the new clones, but only because I'm not sure how I'm gonna go about trimming the larger ones... they're just a bit too big, it's probably nothing to worry about though, and I'll have clearance. The Super Lemon Haze is doing great, I'm textually just flooding and draining the buckets for now, the media holds a good about of water, but I'm worried about drowning them by raising it too high as they are quite small. I'll switch over to normal DWC once the plants are a bit bigger... as... I can't really check the roots.

Either mosquito dunks raise your PPM like a mofo, or these plants are drinking water like it's... water... PPM has spiked a bit, and my R/O filter isn't full (just redid the aquarium). Hopefully I'll be able to get to that tonight, everything looks fine in there otherwise.

I noticed an odd texture on the leaves of the younger clones, I'm a little bit worried that it's powdery mildew as I forgot to turn my dehumidifier back on last night. Some pictures are attached if anyone has any ideas, it's pretty faint.

The sticky traps have caught a few gnats, but since removing the other plants there's been no (new or otherwise) visible damage. Hit 'em with the neem again tonight.

OH, there was one with a slightly wonky leaf, if anyone has any ideas... Look like it might be a magnesium deficiency, and I'll be adding more CalMag with the water, so that should be fine.
 

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chazbolin

Well-Known Member
Definitely the case here, I wasted time waiting for them all to get going, now the ones which didn't get owned are probably a little larger than they should be... trimmed the lower 1/3, but I can see at least a few branches which will have to come of in the next week or so. The little ones are looking good, just cut out the center and placed the cubes, they fit well, sealed themselves, and maintain a small gap below the cube so that roots were not crushed putting them in. EDIT: Oh, the sativas are doing fine, some new growth, one is a little lighter than the other, but getting darker, it was lighter when I got it so...
Is that brown light in the picture the indagro and just curious did you start these plants from clones under that light? I was thinking of getting the same lamp but in a lower wattage, maybe the 200 for the babies. subbed
 

bibbles

Active Member
Topped off the reservoirs with 150PPM Cal/Mag R/O water, then raised the PPM to 1400. I neglected to keep track of how much the Mosquito Dunks effect PPM, and the only information I can find online is that they DO... *shrug* :/

I'm gonna do a full res change in a week, so I can check then.

Is that brown light in the picture the indagro and just curious did you start these plants from clones under that light? I was thinking of getting the same lamp but in a lower wattage, maybe the 200 for the babies. subbed
The brown lights are the Inda-Gro 420W with the extra red phosphor. The white light is the 400W version. I received rooted clones and put them straight under the lights, the larger plants got a week of veg, the smaller ones went straight to 12/12. Once I get my clone stuff going, I'll just be going with T5s, I don't see the need for this much light. Remember, the 200W version is suppose to replace a 400W MH/HPS, and both of those are more efficient than fluorescent lighting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_efficacy#Examples_2

Yes, I know that lumens aren't everything, but chances are... overkill.

I was looking at the 200W unit for when I get mothers going... I'm planning on having small rotating mothers, providing fewer larger clones rather than more smaller ones. After they start getting too large, I'll just replace them with a cutting.
 
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