New Grow with Dinafem auots & automatic watering system

[Cronk]

Hey, all. I'll be starting a second grow in a couple of weeks but I wanted to post my top feed system first, maybe get some suggestions.

Ill be growing 3 Dinafem Industrial Plant CBD auto and a Dinafem Critical + 2.0 Auto

for the watering system I have a 20 gallon reservoir, a circulation pump, another pump on a timer for distribution to a Floraflex bubbler sending 8 lines, 2 each pot with Floraflex Floracaps 3 gallon fabric pots with coco / perlite that drain to an easily accessible pan in the front of the tent.

I plan to treat this a hydro and water at least twice a day. I guess I'll be watering by hand at first but as soon as I can I'll turn this rig on. I'll be using Mega Crop for nutes with extra cal mag.

 

[D.A.A.S.69]

Nice Cronk, good luck with these, especially the watering the seedlings part, lol, your gonna do fine.
PS- you are going to love the autoflower, I promise.

 

[Cronk]

yep, I'll take it easy on the little ones

 

[Dutchman1]

Ill watch.

 

[Dutchman1]

Really looking forward to what you do with this grow.
I tried to grow Industrial plant outside my second grow a while back.. The first seedling languished and died after a couple of weeks. The next one took off but then never grew above 7-8 inches all summer. It was right next to the plant in the picture and was watered and fed and taken care of the same way. I think I read after that they recommend growing them inside so maybe that had alot to do with it. By the way.....that picture was taken after I had moved it indoors because it hadnt flowered yet, it was getting to cold out and I was trying to force the issue.

 

[Cronk]

just got my light back after a storm blew the transformer. back on track

4 seeds germinated. 3 Dinafem Industrial CBD Auto, 1 Dinafem Critical + 2.0 Auto
Coco 1 gallon pots for seedlings.
all germinated within 2 days, planted in pots of coco/perlite. I'll feed with plain water for a few days

Mega Crop nutes @ 2 G per gallon for seedlings. I'm following Mega Crop's feed schedule

Water- 65 PPM
7.0 Ph
---
feed- 300 ppm
6.7 Ph

The plan here is to water by hand until I replant into 3 gallon fabric pots and run auto feed top drip pumped from a 20 gallon reservoir (16 gallons water). My last (1st) grow turned out pretty well for a first, This time I will treat the coco like hydro and top feed at least twice per day. Thanks Campesino for your work on your coco posts.

Last time I treated the coco like soil and let the pots get dry. I think I lost a lot of weight because of this. We'll see how this does.

I may manifold or just do a top at the 4th and keep the nodes below for an X pattern. Maybe 5th and keep 2,3 & 4

 

[Campesino]

Sub'd and excited for your grow!!!
Those numbers are starting water and then nutrient solution?
pH is pretty high!
PPM is a little high too, but you mention "plain water for a few days", so I am not entirely sure what you are up to! I would advise providing nutes right from the start, but at lower EC/PPM.
you do what you want! I am just trying to help!!

 

[Cronk]

the Mega Crop is supposed to self adjust Ph so I'm waiting to see what it does. I'll adjust if not. then the reservoir will need to be adjusted, so I'm learning how too use this stuff. I'll dilute quite a bit at first. Mega's ppm rec. is about 180 at this point.

 

[Campesino]

Yes, 180 PPM is good for seedlings. You may want to adjust your target based on the factors I describe in my guide: Strain, climate, etc.
I would deliver all water with nutes as close to the target EC/PPM as possible.

 

[Dutchman1]

1 gallon to 3 gallon? You could have just put em into 3 gallon and avoided the transplant. Especially where there autos.

 

[Cronk]

good point.

 

[Campesino]

FWIW, I like the 1 gal to 3 gal transplant plan. it is easier to water smaller containers more frequently.

 

[Campesino]

I just keep looking at that watering system and am sad I can't see more! Look forward to seeing it in action! you are set up fantastically!
I will have my much lower tech system going on Friday... At least I will make a solid effort to... Kind of hard to install a system in a jungle when my access time is limited by 12/12 and I can't work in there with the LEDs on. Plan to go to 3x as soon as I trust it...
I can't figure out if the feeling I have looking at your system is excitement for you or jealousy!

 

[Cronk]

thanks for the words, to be honest, it;s pretty low tech. Two fish tank pumps, hose distribution and the drip caps, they make it look fancy ($12 each). about 125 total.

I'm pretty nervous about turning it on and I don't expect it to be smooth at first. The toughest thing is keeping the res of Mega Crop in proper Ph. apparently this is problematic for some, also late flower with the nutes giving some problems.

 

[Cronk]

Quick update, finally.

I germinated 4 seeds and have 4 plants. One is obviously bigger than the others so I may have confused who they are.

Germinated in paper towels under a dome on top of a heating pad. happy with that.

I started out watering 2x per day after they sprouted with about 1/8 cup each in these small pots. just around the perimeter not directly on the stem. I don't know if they're 1/2 or 1 gallon pots. Starter pots.
did that for about a week, then increased the nutes from 1gram per gallon to 2 + cal mag. Now I'm at 1 cup each @ 2 gram per gallon plus cal-mag and they're taking it all up. No drooping, fast growth. better than my fist grow.

While doing this I've been working on getting my timing and drip amounts right for the auto drip system. I've been running water + cal-mag into the drip 3x per day for 30 seconds for a week now. Started adding enzymes today. I do this for two reasons, one because I read Campesino's write up about cal mag & coco and two, I wanted to get the system working well because I have to go out of town right after the planned transplant.

The drip system is running well and has been fairly easy to set up. I'm going to up watering after I transplant to 4x per day and keep the amount fairly low, about 20 seconds for my flow should be good. I only want to see a small amount of runoff. I plan on keeping nutes within a reasonable ppm to avoid excessive buildup. The plants drain into a lower pan via tubes and that gets pumped away by a cheap sump style pump set on a timer, 2x per day. so far so good. I'm sure I'll have to alter than once there's a root system sucking up the water.

one thing I notice about plain coco is that water passes though pretty quickly as compared with peat and coco. This tells me the coco is taking what it needs and letting the rest go, filling voids so to speak and leaving plenty or air in the medium, makes a lot of sense why this is considered hydro. I think the over-watering risk is slim.

That's it for now. grow those roots and transplant next

 

[Campesino]

It all sounds and looks great!
With such frequent fertigation, I really don't think you are going to have problems with EC/PPM as long as you keep inflow reasonable. I am 3x daily now and numbers out are almost the same as in. I still suggest watching outflow to ensure... That is the most critical number to track per plant.
You are right, there is always enough O2 and the risks of overwatering really are in your past. During the first week or so there is a chance, but your girls are off and running and no looking back! I enthusiastically support your plan for 4x daily! Consider timing... I think 2/3 ratio is prob best (2 light hours = 3 dark hours when spacing fertigations)

 

[Chefbjy]

Nice set up. Makes me want to try coco in my shop 😉.

 

[Cronk]

DAY 18

topped the 5th nodes and transplanted into 3 gallon fabric pots.
Mixed up 14 gallons of nutes in res. and ph'd

Mega Crop 4 gram per gallon..nothing else at this point.

water ppm 78
res ppm 588
ph 6.3

as I said last post I'd been watering the 3 gallon coco pots with cal mag solution since I had sprouts, two weeks or so. This was so that the coco would start giving up cal-mag to the plants when I transplanted. now I'll hold off on extra cal-mag in the res as Mega Crop claims to have enough

watering 4 x per day for 25 seconds. My pump is 290 gal per hour so I figure this calculation, loosely:

290 gal per hour = 4.83 gallon per minute / 4 hose groups, 1 per plant = 1.2 gallon per plant per minute

1.2 gallons = 4.8 quarts per minute = 2.5 ounces per second

I'm watering 25 seconds each time. about 62.5 ounces, about a 1/2 gallon. I don't really think this calculation is very accurate because I doubt the pump is precise. I guess I should have measured it.

I get about a couple of cups each plant runoff from that and it gets pumped out 2x per day. Pretty slick so far. The coco does not feel wet. it feels moist and cool which I think is perfect. color is great, growth fast. The roots were already begging to get out of the starter pots

we'll see what happens next

 

[Campesino]

Sounds and Looks Good!
Yeah, just look at run-off and adjust duration of fertigation to achieve the desired amount.
I developed the fishy smell in my tank after about a week and the lines and pump had gotten a little slimy. I am adding H2O2 to tank to address this (after thorough cleaning... and long talk with expert at hydro store). Also using SM-90 in the tank now, one benefit is it inhibits the growth of bacteria.
I suggest periodically checking pH in the tank to make sure it isn't climbing.
Just some thoughts to fend of potential problems.
Cheers

 

[Cronk]

Thanks for the info. I have some sm 90. I'll read up on it. No fishy smell yet but I'll read up on the problem. Peroxide I've heard before. How much?