40+ lbs with 12 Plants in 2 Rooms on a Flip

My grow is definitely different than most. I push my plants pretty hard with the CO2, warmth, intense lighting including side lighting. My veg room isn't like that. I notice when I move plants into flowering rooms to veg a little more I have to adjust them by bring the numbers up incrementally. If I roll them in there with all lights cranked and CO2 at 1200 PPM and all that jazz they puke. Things they would tolerate in the vegroom are no longer tolerated when pushing them harder. pH needs to be on point and the feed as well. They can seem ok but when pushed harder they can't get enough of something and you check the soil pH and find it's 5.7 or some shit lol. So when pushing them harder things have to be spot on, they won't be forgiving. This is probably why I have to feed every watering, not water/feed alternating as many get away with. This is also why I have to keep my root zone dialed in pH wise. I think many growers don't push this hard and they get away with rootzone pH thats off (don't see major deficiencies) but if it was on their results would be better I am sure.

Hope that made sense I am so high and tired.

I have to water in the dark as my plants get parched lol. Every 6 - 8 hours at peak, thats in 10 gallon pots. A lot of drying happens in that last hour too so you gotta be on point. This coco is nuts.

Yes I understood, thanks for the quick and detailed run down.

I keep my co2 around 1000ppm, though for the few hrs it can jump to 1500ppm + what with the rooms recirculating, and the off room dumping and mixing with the on room. Do you notice a big difference between 1000 and 1200 ppm?

Im watering everyday in my coco 5’s, pushing about 1-1.5gal through just to keep them voracious. Always feed/feed never a water, though maybe a lower ec feed every 3-4 feedings. How many gallons do you end up pushing your your big girls in 10gal coco? Also what brand coco are you using?

I’m interested in what jacks formula you tried and what ec you ran it at and when, there is certainly a sweet spot and of course every room can vary. To keep my plants from cannabalizing themselves they need at least 1.0ec base nutes and that can go as high as 1.5 depending on which lighting they’re under.

If you’re watering as often as you are and in the dark I would set up pulse feed drip system that runs off a cycle stat. I love em and have used them most the time, though this is my first run in a new build so im hose watering 2x a day everyday until i can take the training wheels off.

Renfro said:

Yeah I was always thinking of a system with a probe in each pot that would watch moisture levels and water each plant individually as needed via solenoid valves / pump. But I learned the moisture probes I have seen don't like to sit in the soil constantly, they become off very fast.

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I am sure you have looked in these but troph blumats are pretty close to what your talking about

Joedank said:

I am sure you have looked in these but troph blumats are pretty close to what your talking about

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They are pricey, I am worried they will plug with my bennies, I am also concerned about the depth of my 10 gallon pots. I know I would need more than one carrot per pot. I have thought about them.

dakindgrind said:

If you’re watering as often as you are and in the dark I would set up pulse feed drip system that runs off a cycle stat.

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Different plants different rates and times.

TBH auto watering is abandoned because of the need to adjust pH. If I have auto watering I wont check my plants coco pH and group them for adjustments.

Renfro said:

The Jacks just fucked the hell outta my plants. As soon as I went back to gh they were happy and I don't want to lose a crop experimenting.

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You take that back, right now. Lol.

Renfro said:

They are pricey, I am worried they will plug with my bennies, I am also concerned about the depth of my 10 gallon pots. I know I would need more than one carrot per pot. I have thought about them.

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Blumats will clog with anything but fully dissolved hydro nutes. Even then I'm told you only run 1/4 strength because they won't water to runoff.

Frankly, your setup is killing it and Blumats would cost a crop experimenting. Why risk it?

ttystikk said:

Blumats will cook with anything but fully dissolved hydro nutes. Even then I'm told you only run 1/4 strength because they won't water to runoff.

Frankly, your setup is killing it and Blumats would cost a crop experimenting. Why risk it?

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My thoughts exactly. With 10 gallon pots I doubt the bottom would even stay moist lol.

Eveyrthing looking on point in here as usual.

Wheres wifeys Cake? i wanna see the cake bro

Well pictures will have to wait a bit, I am so busy and wore out, last few days of working has been unreal. When I am on here I am just taking a quick smoke break. Managed to pull a dedicated 20 amp 120 volt feed for the new Quest 205 dehumidifier. Did tons of other shit lol.

Renfro said:

Well pictures will have to wait a bit, I am so busy and wore out, last few days of working has been unreal. When I am on here I am just taking a quick smoke break. Managed to pull a dedicated 20 amp 120 volt feed for the new Quest 205 dehumidifier. Did tons of other shit lol.

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Ya I seen you mention the new quest. No doubt it's all work lol. You ain't a hobby grower bro lol

Damn that dehumidifier is a beast. It pulls the room down fast and kicks off.

It looks like the plants are doing the first stage of slowing down on drink, thats great, sure don't relish having to water every 6 to 8 hours.

Renfro said:

It looks like the plants are doing the first stage of slowing down on drink, thats great, sure don't relish having to water every 6 to 8 hours.

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Hey Renfro,
Could you tell me how you went about sizing you dehu? Was it just kinda going off sq. footage, or canopy/plant area, or did you try and calculate the total amount of water input/output - like the transpiration in pints and do some calculations to estimate/figure it out that way?

2com said:

Hey Renfro,
Could you tell me how you went about sizing you dehu? Was it just kinda going off sq. footage, or canopy/plant area, or did you try and calculate the total amount of water input/output - like the transpiration in pints and do some calculations to estimate/figure it out that way?

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Honestly my buddy got a deal on it and I knew it was overkill but I am ok with that. I timed it and when it kicks on at 50.1% it takes about 4.5 minutes to bring the room down to 45% and kick off. I know short cycling isn't ideal but it gets the job done. After this harvest I plan to move it under my stairs in area I can't otherwise use for much, then using the duct kit make it run both flowering rooms. I can zone it since it has the 24V control option. But for now it has solved the problem.

Dehumidifier sizing is complicated TBH. Many dehumidifiers don't pull as much as they say for one reason. The other reason is people have varying biomass / transpiration loads as well as different ambient humidity.

I have seen basic ass 80 pint units outrun some of the fancy 100+ pint commercial units. Thats why I like to stick with brands like Phoenix or Quest that actually do what they say they will.

Renfro said:

Dehumidifier sizing is complicated TBH. Many dehumidifiers don't pull as much as they say for one reason. The other reason is people have varying biomass / transpiration loads as well as different ambient humidity.

I have seen basic ass 80 pint units outrun some of the fancy 100+ pint commercial units. Thats why I like to stick with brands like Phoenix or Quest that actually do what they say they will.

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This is why I ask, because it's not really discussed in a proper way, in my opinion - just having started trying to get some understanding of it. Quest has a short video on it actually. Everest Fernandez has a good one, and there's another on cannabis and dehumidifier sizing (nothing specific to cannabis though, really).

So yea, variables aside (there's always the same variables between gardens), when you chose one, how do you? Like when you were building this room you're in now, did you just go shopping for a dehu and look on the box for recommendations like "does a 1500 sq. foot apartment" or whatever the boxes say (not criticizing...this is what they give us to work with, lol), or do you just try and buy the highest rated pints per day unit available at consumer stores?
I'm curious, as that's what I've done - and anyone else I know who doesn't have a garden the size of a small warehouse/requiring a quest style dehu. Hah.

Thanks.