SubGirl’s grow with new Spider Farmer SF-2000 light

[RosterMan]

I usually do too but took the advice from Cartys page buying the 2 gallon tall pots he suggested. I noticed since then he also changed to larger pots. I’m watering every other day in these little pots. I’m thinking that has a lot to do with it but I haven't figured out yet the PH drop. I had this happen in a previous tent grow and was able to get ahead of it by flushing. I may take these out of the tent and flush the heck out of them to try and bring the PH up enough to accept the nutes and calmag I’m adding.

I stopped feed nutes every day and watered one day feed the next ( I kept the PPMs of my feed water below 1000ppm)
Found it easier to control PH, and over feeding. Plants responded well, and bloomed fine
Nothing the size of forearms but nice buds non the less.
I did adjust PH a few times the add more or less method during feeds)

 

[RosterMan]

I usually do too but took the advice from Cartys page buying the 2 gallon tall pots he suggested. I noticed since then he also changed to larger pots. I’m watering every other day in these little pots. I’m thinking that has a lot to do with it but I haven't figured out yet the PH drop. I had this happen in a previous tent grow and was able to get ahead of it by flushing. I may take these out of the tent and flush the heck out of them to try and bring the PH up enough to accept the nutes and calmag I’m adding.

Your plants almost sound as if you are doing hydro in coco coir and perlite
Maybe your soil has too much drainage
Are you adding extra perlite to soil that may already have it in there>

 

[SubmarineGirl]

Once you have damaged leaves it sure makes your tent look on the ugly side. I don’t think the buds will be effected but just not BOTM looking even tho there are some nice long colas and fat buds on most of the plants. Every plant in the tent looks different even tho I have only three strains in the tent they all are growing different with some tall stacked buds and some really fat shorter ones.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

I stopped feed nutes every day and watered one day feed the next ( I kept the PPMs of my feed water below 1000ppm)
Found it easier to control PH, and over feeding. Plants responded well, and bloomed fine
Nothing the size of forearms but nice buds non the less.
I did adjust PH a few times the add more or less method during feeds)

I’ve been feeding about once a week which I didn’t think that was to much since I’m watering about 4 times a week. I’m laying off the nutes this week and just gonna work on the PH to try to get it back to 6.5 run off

 

[RosterMan]

I would love to develop a feed that was one part already mixed that would be PH perfect
Imagine mixing 10ml of a nute into a gal of water and Bam you are ready to feed plants

 

[SubmarineGirl]

Your plants almost sound as if you are doing hydro in coco coir and perlite
Maybe your soil has too much drainage
Are you adding extra perlite to soil that may already have it in there>

I did add perlite to my soil the same amount as always even tho it did have some in it. Using the FF strawberry stuff which I love as I don’t have even one gnat this grow. I planned to use that soil again in my next photo grow because I hate gnats and no gnats is awesome.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

I would love to develop a feed that was one part already mixed that would be PH perfect
Imagine mixing 10ml of a nute into a gal of water and Bam you are ready to feed plants

I was under the impression that GH nutes had that advantage by reading others posts that have been using it. Maybe something to do with my city water. My outside plants this year did not have PH issues and I treated them the same. Could be the tent conditions but I’m running aroun 77F and 42% RH pretty much consistently in this auto tent in the house.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

I stopped feed nutes every day and watered one day feed the next ( I kept the PPMs of my feed water below 1000ppm)
Found it easier to control PH, and over feeding. Plants responded well, and bloomed fine
Nothing the size of forearms but nice buds non the less.
I did adjust PH a few times the add more or less method during feeds)

I think I need to study up on the whole PPM thing. I have a pen to measure it but haven’t grasped a hold of the whole PPM thing yet. I am just trying to master the PH thing now…. I do know that my PPM of the water that I use is under 200 which I read was good.

 

[user 60570]

good baseline chart , can be easily modified to fit the plants needs

most of the time I go from 2-4 right up to 8-16 and see how the plant responds

Micro and Bloom are real forgiving , I find it difficult to burn a plant using those two nutes

 

[RosterMan]

I think I need to study up on the whole PPM thing. I have a pen to measure it but haven’t grasped a hold of the whole PPM thing yet. I am just trying to master the PH thing now…. I do know that my PPM of the water that I use is under 200 which I read was good.

Yes under 200 is good
What I do is 5 gallons at at time and add all the nutes doin g micro 1st and stir each one in good
Then do a ppm test it will go up or down depending on how much of the feed and additives are added
PH will too

 

[RosterMan]

not sure if it matters or not
but I have pushed the ppms up to 1500 and the plants were not happy burnt tips and curling clawing
I backed it down to 950 and plants never clawed. I did notice watching ppms runoff of both feed levels of the plants
one reading from 1500ppm feed and another from the 950ppms
both still showed nutes not being absorbed in runoff,
It was just higher in the 1500ppm plant feeding.
So at this point I figured I was just wasting plant food. and back down to 950ppms
That is what I did.

 

[T_Dub]

Hi Submarine Girl,
With your frequent irrigation, I’m just curious if you are getting enough runoff with each watering to flush out all of the salt buildup. I never had any bad experience with GH Flora. How much do you water each time? I used GH nutes with my 9.5 ph tap water and always had to use ph down.

I’m still learning….but that’s all I could think of.

 

[oldfogey8]

Another update on the spider farmer light tent. Looks like I’m having a few problems with probably nutes and PH.
I switched my nutrients to GH a few weeks ago and decided to use this schedule. Only using micro and bloom in both tents in flower. 9and calmag) My PH is drifting way down for some reason. Putting in at around 7.0 and getting a runoff of around 5.0. I had this problem before with the FF nutes was part of the reason I switched to GH but still having the issues.
part of the problem I think is i can’t water them fast enough at times as the little 2 gallon pots drink quicker. I’ve checked them at night before bed and they look as if they will need water the next day but by the time I get up, they are already wilted a bit and I am rushing to get them a drink. This may be part of the problem with the dry curling leaves too. Would definitely go with at least a 3 gallon next time so the water last a bit longer. The tallest plant appears to have heat and light damage but its only 77F in the tent and the lights are about 18” from the plant. watered them with plain 7.0 water and got a 5.0 runoff PH this morning so I guess I need to flush them with a high PH water to bring that down
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I recalled reading that too much water can decrease pH. I don’t know if that means too frequent watering or if it is water-logging that causes that. You obviously aren’t water-logging the soil since they start to wilt. I found this article about irrigation that might help. It says that ‘over watering can increase the salinity of the soil’. You are right I think about using a larger pot on future grows. My multi plant pot looks horrible right now. I have to water it daily. I am pretty sure there just isn’t enough soil for all the plants(6 of ‘em). Hopefully you get this sorted out. The buds look beautiful.

 

[Hippie420]

not sure if it matters or not
but I have pushed the ppms up to 1500 and the plants were not happy burnt tips and curling clawing
I backed it down to 950 and plants never clawed. I did notice watching ppms runoff of both feed levels of the plants
one reading from 1500ppm feed and another from the 950ppms
both still showed nutes not being absorbed in runoff,
It was just higher in the 1500ppm plant feeding.
So at this point I figured I was just wasting plant food. and back down to 950ppms
That is what I did.

Sounds like you're treating all of your plants the same. It's the bain of all hydro growers that do that. I made the mistake of growing a straight sativa and a straight indica in the same tank. What the indica's loved burned the heck outta my sativas.
In hydro, you'd have the option of changing nutes quickly. In soil, you're kinda screwed unless you do a heavy flush. My outdoor plants never got any ph checks and did just fine on their own. I did do a top dressing of ash when it came flower time, but otherwise they got the compost/topsoil that I'd tilled in beforehand and watered by nature or my 7.0 well water when needed.
I also learned from a friend that was into horticulture that the best time to water the plants was after a good rain. It drives the water deep into the soil and feeds the roots. Sounded crazy enough to work, and it did.
Your buds are looking sweet.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

Yes under 200 is good
What I do is 5 gallons at at time and add all the nutes doin g micro 1st and stir each one in good
Then do a ppm test it will go up or down depending on how much of the feed and additives are added
PH will too

What PPM do you expect after adding nutes and how do you adjust PPm?

 

[SubmarineGirl]

I recalled reading that too much water can decrease pH. I don’t know if that means too frequent watering or if it is water-logging that causes that. You obviously aren’t water-logging the soil since they start to wilt. I found this article about irrigation that might help. It says that ‘over watering can increase the salinity of the soil’. You are right I think about using a larger pot on future grows. My multi plant pot looks horrible right now. I have to water it daily. I am pretty sure there just isn’t enough soil for all the plants(6 of ‘em). Hopefully you get this sorted out. The buds look beautiful.

I feel sure that weird water habits have something to do with it. The last couple times I over watered a little just to let it soak up trying to make sure they get enough. Maybe that’s not great to do after they were almost wilting from dryness. I think that has something to do with it too and defiantly all the plants are acting different with the nute mix. Some seem to love it others not so much. Learning how to adjust for each plant now…

 

[SubmarineGirl]

Hi Submarine Girl,
With your frequent irrigation, I’m just curious if you are getting enough runoff with each watering to flush out all of the salt buildup. I never had any bad experience with GH Flora. How much do you water each time? I used GH nutes with my 9.5 ph tap water and always had to use ph down.

I’m still learning….but that’s all I could think of.

I water enough each time to get run off so I can check the PH as I’ve had problems with my PH decreasing in the past and watch out for it now.. I get plenty runoff each watering. I haven’t given up on the GH nutes yet as I think my watering cycle and different plant needs are part of my problem.

 

[JoseyWales]

Another update on the spider farmer light tent. Looks like I’m having a few problems with probably nutes and PH.
I switched my nutrients to GH a few weeks ago and decided to use this schedule. Only using micro and bloom in both tents in flower. 9and calmag) My PH is drifting way down for some reason. Putting in at around 7.0 and getting a runoff of around 5.0. I had this problem before with the FF nutes was part of the reason I switched to GH but still having the issues.
part of the problem I think is i can’t water them fast enough at times as the little 2 gallon pots drink quicker. I’ve checked them at night before bed and they look as if they will need water the next day but by the time I get up, they are already wilted a bit and I am rushing to get them a drink. This may be part of the problem with the dry curling leaves too. Would definitely go with at least a 3 gallon next time so the water last a bit longer. The tallest plant appears to have heat and light damage but its only 77F in the tent and the lights are about 18” from the plant. watered them with plain 7.0 water and got a 5.0 runoff PH this morning so I guess I need to flush them with a high PH water to bring that down
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View attachment 311358
View attachment 311359
View attachment 311360

I could be wrong but with my new LED lights I found I had to trun the intensity down to around 3/4, BC I started seeing what your seeing in your plants. I then repoted from 3 gal to 5 gal, after both actions the plants turned around. My thoughts are 1 the LED light manufacturer gave me a special pair of glasses to use, this tells me radiation damaged to my eyes is possible. 2 Are the plants feeling this radiation and reponding by dring more water than norma? Is radiation different from getting baked from MHB's? It can be 70 degrees out side and folks can still get one hell of a burn, just my brain damage is all.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

I could be wrong but with my new LED lights I found I had to trun the intensity down to around 3/4, BC I started seeing what your seeing in your plants. I then repoted from 3 gal to 5 gal, after both actions the plants turned around. My thoughts are 1 the LED light manufacturer gave me a special pair of glasses to use, this tells me radiation damaged to my eyes is possible. 2 Are the plants feeling this radiation and reponding by dring more water than norma? Is radiation different from getting baked from MHB's? It can be 70 degrees out side and folks can still get one **** of a burn, just my brain damage is all.

Could be. I’ve never had this problem with my photo plants. Maybe the autos can’t take 100%. I will move them down a bit as the one that is the worst is the tallest one closest to the lights about 18”

 

[WeedHopper]

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