BBFan said:
Good Evening, Doctor-
I trust all is well.
I'm curious why you think raising the temp by 5 or so degrees is going to make a difference. I too let my water sit for a few days in my grow room so that it gets to "room" temperature. What is the temp at your soil? Is it above 65 degrees?
Everything I've always read has said that the water should be "about" the same temp as the soil- give or take 5 degrees. Have you read something different? Maybe you need to raise your temp at soil level, rather than trying to warm it up with your water?
I too have been playing with root zone health- but I'm keeping the soil about 60 to 65 degrees. Something I experimented with on this grow was aerating the water before feeding it to my plants- but again, always at room temperature.
Always enjoy reading your posts- would like to know what has brought you to looking at this approach. Thanks.
Hey there BBFan, thank you for the reply. I have seen your grows and value your opinion greatly. The book I have been reading most is 'The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Growers Bible' by J.Cervantes. Some peeps don't like this book I know but I have gained alot of knowledge so far from it so I am trying to follow it somewhat closely. In chapter 11 'Water and Nutrients' he gets into deficiencys of different elements. The pictures and description he gives of a Magnesium deficiency describe my last few grows almost to a 't'. One of the things he mentions is that "most often, magnesium is in the soil, but is unavailable to the plant because the root environment is too wet and cold, or too acidic and cold. Magnesium is also bound in the soil if there is an excess of potassium, ammonia (nitrogen), and calcium (carbonate)." Later on he goes into this on treating the deficiency- "Control the room and root-zone tempuratures, humidity, ph and EC of the nutrient solution. Keep root zone and nutrient solution at 70 to 75F. Keep ambient air temperature at 75F day and 65F night"
So, my temps are right on, I'm in FFOF soil, using FF nutes at half strength and under, Liquid Karma, and occasionally Cal/Mag+. I don't think I'm overwatering. I have cut Grow Big almost completely out of my grows since this soil is so rich, so I can't see having an excess of nitogen like he suggests. Calcium could be a possibility since I'm using tapwater (160ppm), but I'm certainly no professional on botany and a plants needs so it's kinda hard to tell. This batch of girls is right on time with the deficiency at week 2 or so of flower and has had very little flowering nutes so I can't see Potassium overload being the problem either. I feed under 1000ppms total at a max feeding so I don't think they are overfed, at least to my untrained eye.
I have had one plant out of about 40 that didn't show any signs of what I am describing... and it was grown in a MassP coco bucket with almost zero ammendments to the coco, just Sub-Culture B+M. I was feeding it with FF also every other watering which was about every 3-4 days. Honestly, it was the healthiest looking plant I've ever grown, but yielded only 1 ounce and I've been getting 2+ off these 'deficient' plants in soil. My point with that was I was thinking since the coco aerates itself so fast, maybe the 70ish 'ambient' room-air being pulled into the bucket was heating the roots up just a bit to the point where the plant was absorbing Mg.. Crazy thought probably, but I'm kinda tired of chasing my tail on this :ignore: When I read about cold root zones, I firgured maybe that was my problem.
So, theres my story. Maybe heating the solution isnt my......solution (sorry). I'm going to be doing a few side by side comparisons with coco vs. soil and FF vs. General Organics with the next batch of clones, should be about a week or so until I start that, maybe I will find some answers in varying up my style a bit.
If I wasn't such a fiend, I could handle healthier plants that yielded a little less. But half...no
