Roots Fruits

[Rootsruler]

11/04/2023

Temp - 81.4*
Humidity - 62%
VPD - 1.39 kPa
DLI - 23

Plants are in their final home. Floraflex Matrix plates have been ordered. Once they show up I'll start setting up the auto irrigate. Looking to flip them in a couple weeks.

Florida Strawberry is the monocrop cultivar this round.

[Rootsruler]

I currently use 2 COB style lights that are 275w each. One is a newer white light LED and the other is an older style Blurple. The blurple is hung higher out of the picture but you can see the color of the light. So far they have served the purpose but I would like to move into bar style light as I like doing SCROG style grows and the bar lights will give me better coverage with a little less heat especially around the edges come flower time.

Yes. 5 x 5. 7 gal cloth bags. Roots Original soil amended with Mycorrhizae from Xtreme Gardening. Fed Voodoo Juice the first few weeks after rooting. Floranova G & B, Hormex, Armor Si, CALi MAGic.

I also have a couple of 2 x 2's I use for mothers, propagating and testing.

[Rootsruler]

11/11/2023

Temp - 80.7*
Humidity - 58%
VPD - 1.50 kPa
DLI - 38

I had to back off the lights a hair as the DLI was getting too high and the fan leaves at the top were just starting to taco. I'm going to FIM the girls and do some light cleanup underneath now that it's lights on so that when I get the screen in place I won't have so much cleanup to do on lollipop.

Waiting on a few parts to arrive in the mail tomorrow to finish off my auto irrigate. Once that is in place I'll net the plants and flip the light schedule. Plant branches are starting to wood up so I need to get these netted in the next couple days or I could LST them now, before I FIM, and get them ready for the net but I think I'll let them go as it's only a couple days more until I start bending so I don't think it'll be worth the work.

Couple things....I wanted to mention what great Customer Service I got from AC Infinity. My T3 humidifier's probe input got loose somehow and was wiggling around. I sent a message to Nick from ACI explaining what was happening and if there was some way for me to fix this. He replied by sending me an invoice for another T3 but with zero at the bottom of the invoice being shipped to me. He replaced the humidifier with zero hassle. I told him the other was working but just a little wonky. He said dispose of it as I saw fit. The new one arrived and is working beautifully.

I setup the FloraFlex Matrix plates waiting for the rest of the irrigation system to arrive so I decided to hand water with them. They worked great. Complete media saturation with whatever runoff I desired. Love it. Can't wait to get the system together and dialed in.

[dirtymike]

Where did you acquire the green soil covers?? Rootsruler

[Rootsruler]

FloraFlex Matrix plates. They are part of FloraFlex's Matrix irrigation system. I didn't need the plumbing or pump as I already have one so I just needed the plates. They work great for getting water to saturate all the media easily and quickly.

[Rootsruler]

11/15/2023

Temp - 81.5*
Humidity - 58%
VPD - 1.59 kPa
DLI - 41
Leaf Temp - 80*

The plants were getting a little too tall for my liking and I can't wait for the last part to my DIY irrigation to arrive being another couple days so I went ahead and netted the girls as some of the branches were starting to wood up on me and that would be no bueno when it came time to bend them under the net. I'll flip sometime next week after I get my irrigation going and I get underneath and clean up under the canopy. I also want to wait until the leaves orient themselves so I know what needs to be removed and what can stay.

I tried to orient the branches to accommodate for stretch so that I fill the net and have a field of colas going vertical by end of stretch and beginning of flower set.

[Bluey]

You are really pushing those plants hard early on, but it seems to be working for you nicely.

[Rootsruler]

Leaving enough room for stretch. I figure in the next couple weeks I'll get around 18" of stretch. I left around 8" - 10" around the edges for the plants to stretch into along with space in the middle. Once they start to close up the canopy I'll let them go vertical and I should get a canopy full of 8" - 10" colas.

[Rootsruler]

11/17/2023

Temp - 80.2°
Humidity - 59%
VPD - 1.49 kPa
DLI - 41
Leaf Temp - 79°

Looks like the leaves are starting to acclimate to getting smashed under the net and are finding their way to the light. Feeling a little under the weather so I'll get under the canopy and clean up when I'm feeling better. Looks like flip will be tomorrow to start the stretch phase of the grow.

On a side note, someone from another site offered me a brand new Phlizon PL-2000 he had won in a raffle for free so I took it. It should work well in extending the light coverage I want in the tent. I currently have two 275 watt COBs that'll cover maybe a 4 x 4 but if I want sufficient edge PPFD I need to move them closer to the backwall. This will leave room for me to mount the Phlizon light and should give me pretty much edge to edge coverage!!

I was going to use the VS1500 Pro as supplemental light but I won't need to now and can put it back into my 2 x 2. The Phlizon has 50 extra watts and is longer than the XS1500 Pro which works out nicely in the tent. Total wattage in the tent with the new light will bump it up to 750w. I have a few clones rooting so they should be rooted by next week and I will stick them in the 2 x 2 and veg for a couple weeks then into flower.

[dirtymike]

I like your humidifier

[Rootsruler]

AC Infinity T3. I fabricated the extension tube out of plumbing parts from Home Depot. Love that little humi. Set it and forget it other than keeping it topped off.

[Rootsruler]

11/18/2023

Temp - 77.1°
Humidity - 65%
VPD - 1.11 kPa
DLI - 27
Leaf Temp - 75°

Dragged my sick ass out of bed and cleaned up some of the canopy and underside. Didn't get it to my satisfaction but I was feeling woozy half way through it. This flu is kicking my ass. Did a Covid test. Negative.

Reset the light timer to 12/12. Repositioned the oscillator fan. Raised the lights to lessen the DLI and give the plants a chance to get into flower. From there I'll slowly ramp up the DLI until week 7 then I'll slowly start dropping DLI until harvest.

Watered them by hand AGAIN, because my irrigation part is still in transit. They took 6 gallons and barely ran off. Once I setup the auto irrigate I'm going to set it to 20% runoff.

I still need to hang the tent heater. I need to stay on top of it these next couple weeks so that stretch doesn't get too crazy. Going to run the heater on lights off to try and raise lights off temps a little higher than lights on to try and decrease internodal lengths in stretch. It's an experiment. We'll see if it works or not.

[Rootsruler]

It's switched off and unplugged but thank you for the warning. Sometimes we forget about safety in our quest for perfection! It's temporary as I will be hanging it above the canopy so that no direct heat hits the plants. I would've hung it already but I almost passed out and fell into the plants when I was trimming the canopy!! LOL!!

[Bluey]

Oh dear. Be careful

[Rootsruler]

11/30/2023

Temp - 76°
Humidity - 64%
VPD - 1.10 kPa
DLI - 31
Leaf Temp - 75°

It's been almost 2 weeks since I last posted and the girls have filled the net in stretch for the most part. I left just enough room for them to stretch which wasn't a lot as I've been running my little tent heater on lights off and raising the temp a couple of degrees higher than lights on temps. Looks like it worked because they didn't stretch as much as they did last time when I ran them together with the other cultivars. I'm guessing they have maybe a few more days to a week of stretch left but I'm also seeing pre pistil so flowers should be forthcoming in the next week or so.

I finally got the last piece to my irrigation system and put it all together and ran it. I was kind of disappointed in how much water the circulator, the little ring that goes around the main stem and distributes water around the plate, emitted. My little pump could water the entire media when I was using the DIY watering rings in around 5 minutes. Unfortunately it's not strong enough to put out a stream of water that fills the plate, maybe it's because I have 2 extra pots using water than I did last time so water pressure isn't as strong with more pots to water. I'm going to have to go from a 264gph to 800gph pump and see if that fixes the issue. On hand water the plates themselves work great. Just gotta get the water flow dialed in.

I also installed the two power heads in the reservoir to keep the nutrient suspended in the water so that it doesn't settle to the bottom.

After I had posted the last time I was pretty sick and decided to hang the oscillator on rope ratchets temporarily and when I got better I'd fab up a shelf but the ratchets are working pretty good so I just left them. I like that I can adjust the fan height with them so that when the colas start going vertical I can raise it a little more and get that nice gentle sway of colas going!!

I did a quick leaf cleanup as it was getting pretty thick in there but will be doing a more thorough job in the next few days then let them run to harvest.

I bought more EMT to make another set of horizontal tent poles. I'm going to use it to set up the other net as a trellis for the verticals.

The 3rd light that SSHZ from Bud Builders sent me is on its way and will occupy the space in front where the net isn't filled. By the time the flowers are button size that area should fill in somewhat but I'm pretty happy that the space I left for stretch filled pretty much to my expectation.

I'm going to stop using the heater in the next few days now that flower is starting to set in. Maybe the colder lights off temps will spur faster flower formation. Stay tuned!!!

[Bluey]

I always thought they would stretch to make room for nice long big flowers.

[Rootsruler]

My goal was about keeping the internode short and stretch from going crazy. The warm nights seem to have done exactly that.

[Bluey]

Yes. That will work, also less red spectrum will reduce stretch

[Rootsruler]

12/01/2023

Temp - 81.4°
Humidity - 59%
VPD - 1.50 kPa
DLI - 31
Leaf Temp - 79°

A member from another site sent me a 200w light that he had won in a raffle but didn't need so he gave it to me. Light just arrived about an hour ago. Perfect timing as flower is just about to start and the added photons will be much appreciated!!!

I already hung it and I'm now testing to see how much extra heat I'm going to have to deal with. So far it seems to have sat on 82° but I need to let it settle as it's only been about a half hour that I turned the light on. I want to see what the average constant temperature is because it's dropping ever so slowly so we'll see where it lands.

I pushed the other two lights further back so that there's more light for the edges back there now that I have plenty for the front part of the tent with my new light!!!

[Rootsruler]

12/06/2023

Temp - 77.4°
Humidity - 59%
VPD - 1.32 kPa
DLI - 36
Leaf Temp - 75°

I've been busy building a small lean to greenhouse in the backyard so I'm pretty tired at the end of the day. I've been doing some leaf cleanup but I need to get off my ass and do a serious defoliation. The girls are showing definite pre pistil so I expect small buttons to appear next week some time. I also need to get in there and do some tucking as the branches are arching up to the light. 12/08 will be the completion of week 3 of flip. I'm also starting to see stretch slow down so I figure a few more days and I should be out of stretch. After week 4 I'm going to let them go vertical. If I time it right I should yield a nice field of colas with some nice chunk running along the netline.

[Bluey]

That's looking pretty good Roots.

Looks like the back left one is lagging a bit hey. Do you think the blurple may be less of a light than that on the right?

How high is your tent?

[Rootsruler]

Not sure I see what you are seeing but everything at the rear of the tent has filled out pretty much other than the center rear as I only have one plant in the middle while I have two plants on the sides. The middle rear is a bit sparse but closing up as is the front. Maybe you mean rear right. That area is difficult to get to so I may have been a bit overzealous with the defol. I don't expect much more net getting filled as the plants have pretty much done all the stretching they're going to be doing. I'm hoping by week 6 the canopy should be fairly full with 8" colas. I'll drop another level of netting to trellis the colas so they aren't flopping around if they get taller than 8".

I keep trying to get rid of the blurple but I have to admit. It does the job. It's actually quite powerful which is why I have it hung higher than the others. It's one of those that has grow and bloom buttons and lacks any green spectra but that can be good in late flowering. It has no dimmer so I have to regulate DLI by raising and lowering it. I haven't noticed a drop in yield or quality versus the other white light LED's so I keep using it.

I already know a bar light is what I should be hanging in the tent for the style I grow and I'm sure I'll eventually fork over the dough to get one but so far these COB's have been doing the job.

[Bluey]

Glad to hear you got a decent blurple...

Upgrading may save you a little in electricity and a little less heat...you may even be able to drop the wattage a fraction and still produce terrific grows.

I keep looking at bar lights but my quantum are brand new and work great but drop off more in the corners....if I build another grow room and I will I'll get them, big ones too.

[Rootsruler]

12/11/2023

Temp - 80.4°
Humidity - 57%
VPD - 1.49 kPa
DLI - 36
Leaf Temp - 79°

Defoliated the canopy a few days ago. The leaves all filled back in so I may need to do another. Flower buttons have appeared. 12/15 will be end of week 4 since flip. Flowers started to appear at end of week 3 so I'm going to start the clock there. I need to tuck some branches that are going vertical but in 4 days I'll put down the second net to trellis the verticals and let the plants grow vertical for the remainder of the grow.

The plants look a little droopy from being thirsty. In the picture I had just watered them so they should perk up in the next few hours or so. They are starting to increase water intake as I was watering twice a week, Monday and Thursday, but it looks like I'm going to have to add an extra day to the week. They must've been really thirsty because they sucked the humidifer dry. I checked on them this morning after lights out and the reservoir was empty and RH was at 41%! Mind you the last time I monitored the tent the humidifier reservoir was full and RH was holding steady at 60%. In 8 hours they pulled a gallon + of water out of the air that the humidifier had to refresh. When I had monitored them I kept getting the feeling that I should water but I was pretty beat from building the lean to green house so I decided I'd water them today. I guess they didn't want to wait!!! It took 6 gallons of nutrient solution for them to runoff.



Lean to greenhouse I've been building from wood we demoed from a house we're rebuilding.

[Bluey]

Good stuff

[Rootsruler]

12/13/2023

Temp - 82°
Humidity - 54%
VPD - 1.72 kPa
DLI - 38
Leaf Temp - 79°

Gave the girls another haircut but this time I did a more thorough job so I'm OK with where they are at. Fed them 6 gallons of feed solution. Added some Hormex on this feed to soften the shock from the haircut I gave them. Changed the feed schedule to M/W/F as the girls are drinking faster. I mixed a full 5 gallon bucket and I still had to mix another gallon to get them watered completely.

Flowers are definitely forming and it looks like heating the tent after flip to reduce stretch is paying off. I was going to tuck them but the flowers are forming pretty fast so I'm just going to let them continue their vertical growth. Week 4 since flip ends in 2 days. I was going to wait until then to let them go vertical but I'm too tired and lazy to be tucking them. I'll probably lay down the trellis in a week or two if they start getting tall.



Greenhouse with the panels installed and plants. We tested it out and it was 42° last night. Greenhouse averaged 58° with a little incandescent bulb heating it. I may use the tent heater I have as I'm not using it to see how balmy we can maintain it in there!!

[Rootsruler]

12/19/2023

Temp - 80°
Humidity - 56%
VPD - 1.34 kPa
DLI - 38
Leaf Temp - 79°

Flower set has definitely set in and the flowers are stinking up the tent something awful. It has this really sweet aroma but it's so pungent that my eyes water when I open the tent. Verticals are starting to establish themselves.

So far the verticals don't need any trellising but I can see that these are going to get at least 10" tall. I'm going to wait before I lay out the trellis net so that it doesn't block any light to the flowers. I might have overdone it on the FIMming because there are TONS of flower sites. Some of them are a bit close and bunched up so I've been in there trying to cut out some of the leaf material for airflow but there are so many baby leaves it's going to be a battle for the next few weeks to keep the air flow going as these girls can grow leaves like no other. I noticed also that this cultivar, it being a Indica dominant hybrid, shows indica genetics in its leaf shape through veg but now that it's out of stretch and into flower the leaves have thinned to what look more like sativa style leaves.

[Bluey]

Looks great Roots.

It sure is full

[Rootsruler]

Thanks! I may need to add another or bigger oscillator in there. Not sure if the 8" Honeywell is going to be enough once the verticals get taller and block some of the air flow over the canopy. It's hard to tell from the pic but there are a lot of baby leaves right now so it's hard to really open up the canopy for better airflow. I'm thinking in the next week or so once those baby leaves mature I can cut them out and create better airflow through the canopy.

One of the signs that my watering/dryback practices are correct is no fungus gnats. If you noticed there are no yellow sticky traps anywhere.

I use to work at a few Licensed Grow Operations in California as a grow tech along with a lot of unlicensed grow ops. Every Op had cleanliness and safety protocols we had to follow. I guess they got ingrained in me because most of my grows have had no pest or disease issues. Either that or I've been extremely lucky!

[Bluey]

Yes. You will need more than an 8" fan.

At full flower I was using the fans in my sig...the main fan mounted high on the wall blowing directly into the bud tops worked well on the low setting. My buds would move around a bit which is the way to go. A pretty well packed 7x5 canopy.

[Rootsruler]

A couple of grows back I did an experiment and only used a 6 inch stationary fan mounted to the roof for airflow in the tent. Didn't seem to affect them much. The 8" is pretty powerful for such a small fan but I'm thinking of mounting a 12" or 16" Hurricane fan in there to get more air movement. I'm going to start hunting around the Target and Walmart stores in my area for fan deals they may have. Right now is not a good time as no one is buying fans as far as selection but then again it may be the perfect time as demand is very low this time of year when it comes to price.

[Bluey]

My room is a 7x11x7'6"H so it 3 times larger than a 5x5. My wall fan would have the potential to wind burn in a 5x5 and its too big to clip onto a tent pole.

[Rootsruler]

What kind, type, size fan do you have in the room? I'm debating on either going cheap and picking up a cheapo box fan, but that wouldn't give me the oscillation I would like in the tent, or an oscillating floor fan and remove the base and make a clip mount for it to mount to one of the corner poles.

If you look at one of the pictures I've posted you can see where I mounted the distro head for the feed lines on my irrigation system. Lower left corner. I made a clip on mount out of PVC and PEX clips and it has worked well. My problem is the irrigation system is too small for the amount of pots I have so I don't get the water volume I would like to work with the FloraFlex Matrix plates I use to water. I can use the mount I made to hang the fan as I offset it from the corner so I can get a good fan sweep without it hitting the walls.

I only have one 8 port distro head so I ran 1/4" line to the plate and split it off into two 1/4" lines to connect to the rings that distribute the water into the plates. Didn't work so well and it just dribbles out. I figured out that I need to run two separate lines to each pot to be able to get the volume of water I want. I need to add another distro head as I currently am feeding 5 pots so I would need to have at least 10 feed lines if I run separate lines into each side of the distro ring.The other part of the equation is the pump I am using. It's an 800gph submersible pond pump. It'll pump a good volume of water but can't raise PSI very well. FloraFlex wants to see at least 35 psi in the system with 50 psi being optimal. I'm thinking of replacing it with a small inline that can raise the PSI so that it pushes out enough volume to effectively saturate the entire media.

This is the pump I'm looking at......

https://www.amazon.com/VEVOR-Pressure-Diaphragm-Adjustable-Certified/dp/B0BYNBZYK7/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=mNSXw&content-id=amzn1.sym.35cab78c-35e3-4fc1-aab0-27eaa6c86063%3Aamzn1.symc.e5c80209-769f-4ade-a325-2eaec14b8e0e&pf_rd_p=35cab78c-35e3-4fc1-aab0-27eaa6c86063&pf_rd_r=1308SKN3R3TKGCB0CJ8P&pd_rd_wg=9ECAA&pd_rd_r=c36c9483-5578-40b7-840b-699329e6ac46&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_atf_m&th=1

[Bluey]

It weighs 5kg, 135W, 18" industrial wall fan. It has an oscillating function that varies its speed too up and down.