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Welcome back. Even while you were MIA, you probably helped more growers than anybody else on this site.

bwahahaha. thanks for the kind words. probably true though :)

 

sup jippers? taj good to see ya. howdy toad, scrog and everyone else!!! hope all your grows are going swell.

 

one of these days I will find a few extra hours and post a ton of video and pics from the last month or two. there is a lot of it :)

 

until then..... may your plants be vigorous and your harvests bountiful.

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wow a bubbleG post,,,cool! :goodjob:

p.s., are brown roots ok as long as new roots rock?

Growing DWC, I had a situation where my 2 ft. plants vegged in plain ro water for about a week (i ran outta nutes and finally got em in botanicare grow and silica blast. Should i try to add Cal-Mag to the water soon? I'm switchin to flower in a week or so. Thanks and great to see u bubble.

 

Maybe i'm not clear with the question,,umm,,does it take a while for brown roots to totally recover?

Edited by Eggybuddy
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wow a bubbleG post,,,cool! :goodjob:

p.s., are brown roots ok as long as new roots rock?

Growing DWC, I had a situation where my 2 ft. plants vegged in plain ro water for about a week (i ran outta nutes and finally got em in botanicare grow and silica blast. Should i try to add Cal-Mag to the water soon? I'm switchin to flower in a week or so. Thanks and great to see u bubble.

 

Maybe i'm not clear with the question,,umm,,does it take a while for brown roots to totally recover?

 

howdy.

 

having your plants in plain r.o. water for a week is not too terribly of a horrible thing. in veg they can handle it much easier than in late flower....... but a week isnt going to kill anything.

 

as far as adding cal/mag ....... thats up to your plants. i have never used the silica blast so i am not too positive on its ingredients..... but if your plants tell you to add cal/mag, do it...... i would personally hold off until they tell me though. less is almost ALWAYS better.

 

as far as brown roots..... they will never recover. well, they may still serve their purpose and uptake nutes, but they will never turn white again. at least i have never seen it happen. brown roots are basically just like leaves that are spotted from a deficiency. you can fix the problem, and the leaf will start doing its thing again...... but the spots arent going to go away, and you arent going to make that leaf totally green and pretty again.

 

in my experience there are "2 shades of brown" :)

 

after you correct whatever problem created the brown roots ............. the lighter brown color (more tan i guess) will more than likely begin taking in roots again as normal, and just finish off brown. the darker brown and more damaged roots will more than likely fully die and detach themselves from the plant. this will become evident by having cloudy or slimy water.......... and slime on the new white roots that are forming. as long as you have new white roots growing you are good to go.

 

i would make sure to check the water often if i know i am going to have some roots dying on me. you probably will want to change out your water more often. i also take regular chlorinated tap water with a gentle shower head sprayer and wash off the roots. the chlorine will help kill the bad bacteria and get you back on track quicker.

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just a few tips while i have a second to ramble.

 

dont get complacent.

 

i remember (barely) back when i was a noob and after those first couple of successful harvest i thought i had the world figured out. basically my attention to detail got shot to shyt. after a couple lesser pulls i got my azz back in the saddle and got "more serious" about things.

 

this isnt rocket science, but it isnt childs play for the couch potatoe either.

 

i recently found myself in kind of those old shoes again.

 

moving to michigan not so long ago i started fresh. then i had a couple medical issues. and just recently i figured i had it all made........ so i started taking more and more time off to enjoy the michigan summer, fishing, eating, and boating.

 

it took a toll on my grows for sure.

 

this takes attention to detail. dont get lax. dont get the "well i will get it tomorrow" attitude.

 

considering it takes 90-120 days to grow a plant from beginning to end ................ a couple days of "fuccccking off" WILL hurt you in the long run.

 

stay on top of it!!

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just a few tips while i have a second to ramble.

 

dont get complacent.

 

i remember (barely) back when i was a noob and after those first couple of successful harvest i thought i had the world figured out. basically my attention to detail got shot to shyt. after a couple lesser pulls i got my azz back in the saddle and got "more serious" about things.

 

this isnt rocket science, but it isnt childs play for the couch potatoe either.

 

i recently found myself in kind of those old shoes again.

 

moving to michigan not so long ago i started fresh. then i had a couple medical issues. and just recently i figured i had it all made........ so i started taking more and more time off to enjoy the michigan summer, fishing, eating, and boating.

 

it took a toll on my grows for sure.

 

this takes attention to detail. dont get lax. dont get the "well i will get it tomorrow" attitude.

 

considering it takes 90-120 days to grow a plant from beginning to end ................ a couple days of "fuccccking off" WILL hurt you in the long run.

 

stay on top of it!!

when I'm hurting and can't do my chores I've found that there are PLENTY of newbies that are willing to work/learn for very little compensation just to gain experience

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Welcome back, BG! I totally hear you. Today on the radio they were already saying goodbye to summer. I was like, "What summer?" I have four gardens going right now (not all MJ) and it's like a job after my real job. It can be a lot of fun, but the setbacks really suck. I'm learning how to dial it in though, one day at a time.

 

are brown roots ok as long as new roots rock?

Growing DWC, I had a situation where my 2 ft. plants vegged in plain ro water for about a week (i ran outta nutes and finally got em in botanicare grow and silica blast. Should i try to add Cal-Mag to the water soon? I'm switchin to flower in a week or so. Thanks and great to see u bubble.

 

I don't know if you have brown slime algae or what, but I highly recommend putting some compost tea into your res. You can get it at some hydro stores, but I recommend making your own. Since I started using it, it cured my root rot, brown slime algae issues, and I've never seen roots so white. If I didn't discover this I would have had to abandon DWC.

 

Here's a down and dirty recipe (credit to Heisenberg at RIU):

To make one gallon of compost tea for DWC (I make five gallons at a time)...

 

- Get a bucket, fill it with water, add an airstone, and get those bubbles going.

 

- Use one handful (per gallon) of General Organics Ancient Forest. Put this in a teabag of some kind. I use paper towel tied up in a bag. You can also just dump it in a bucket and strain it later. You don't have to use this stuff but it's got all the microbes you need. You could also combine some stuff from a local hardware store: you want earthworm castings and peat humas from a forest floor. If you only have earthworm castings, those will do.

 

- Add a few drops of Molasses so the microbes have some food. For five gallons, I add about a teaspoon.

 

- Put in some Great White or other product that contains mycorrhizae, beneficial bacteria, and trichoderma. Mycorrhizae is a symbiotic fungi and that keeps crud off your roots. You could certainly just use this alone and see improvement.

 

- Add about one capful of Aquashield.

 

Let this brew for 48 hours then add it to your res. You can give about one cupful per plant site. Keep it in the fridge (it lasts 10 days) and keep adding a cup a day until it's gone. I can guarantee your plants will love it. There are other products you can use such as GH's Subculture B and M, but I don't have experience with them. The recipe above is fairly cheap considering what you get out of it. The microbes brewed in tea will be more numerous than if you just add the ingredients to your res. Do not add Ancient Forest to your DWC, that part you have to brew as a tea.

Edited by Nix
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when I'm hurting and can't do my chores I've found that there are PLENTY of newbies that are willing to work/learn for very little compensation just to gain experience

 

yeah i did the apprentice thing back in cali but havent gotten to that point quite yet. you make a great point though :)

 

Welcome back, BG! I totally hear you.

 

thank ya thank ya :)

 

i have never used that recipe but i try to keep it simple too :)

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BG nice to see you back in action, I hope all is going well and stays that way!!!

 

quick question about a strategy I was recently forced to use, I flower with two 1000w HPS bulbs (8" XXXl hoods, but that does not matter), I recently (2nd day into flower) noticed one of my bulbs blew out, no big deal I replace it, but I also noticed my temps during this most recent heat wave almost touching 80. My room is always 68-72, so I decided to let them enter their new home with only 1 bulb on....temps went back down to normal and I have not noticed any type of irregular stretching.

 

my question is, am I depriving my plants of something by only running one 1k light instead of two?

I plan on firing the 2nd one up when I see the first sign of flowers...

 

just thought I would bounce the idea off you guys....

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BG nice to see you back in action, I hope all is going well and stays that way!!!

 

quick question about a strategy I was recently forced to use, I flower with two 1000w HPS bulbs (8" XXXl hoods, but that does not matter), I recently (2nd day into flower) noticed one of my bulbs blew out, no big deal I replace it, but I also noticed my temps during this most recent heat wave almost touching 80. My room is always 68-72, so I decided to let them enter their new home with only 1 bulb on....temps went back down to normal and I have not noticed any type of irregular stretching.

 

my question is, am I depriving my plants of something by only running one 1k light instead of two?

I plan on firing the 2nd one up when I see the first sign of flowers...

 

just thought I would bounce the idea off you guys....

 

well, the major deciding factor should be the footprint your plants occupy...... but no matter what, it was just over 110°w/ heat index and if thats all the hotter your room is going to get, you are blessed.

 

but back to the matter at hand. let the footprint decide. if your plants are taking up more than a 5x5 or even a 6x6 space, then you should be looking at running 2 lights.

 

also ...... the stretch is so strain specific. just because you do not see a stretch now doesnt mean you wont see one begin once week 2 of 12/12 hits. some strains wont really stretch at all ....... but one thing is certain........ if a big stretch is going to cause you a big problem.......... blast them with as much light as you can for those first couple weeks of flower.

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About 5 weeks ago I moved a few plants into flower. One never got any traction. I didn't notice what was happening right away, but the weather was getting hot and my totes were getting hot also. After two weeks they were all well into flowering, but one of them wasn't showing any signs of stretch. In fact it was dying from the bottom up. I finally got my hands into the roots, and sure enough they was rotting. Rats! I was gonna pitch it and clean up the tote and pick out another plant fromn veg to take it's place. I set the root-rot plant into a bucket, checked all of my other plants, and did the clean up and re-plant. I got out the scissors and cut all the roots off flush with the net pot so I could pitch it onto the compost heap, and then I changed my mind. I hit it pretty good with the garden hose and put it back into veg. After about a week it started sprouting new roots. It's been a couple weeks now and it's a very healthy looking plant, still showing early bud development, and building a fresh, white root mass again. I had the space to play with one plant, but even I don't know if I'd try this again. Anyway... it shows just how resilient these plants are. They really want to grow! I keep my water cooler now, so it was a lesson that didn't cost me much.

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howdy.

 

having your plants in plain r.o. water for a week is not too terribly of a horrible thing. in veg they can handle it much easier than in late flower....... but a week isnt going to kill anything.

 

as far as adding cal/mag ....... thats up to your plants. i have never used the silica blast so i am not too positive on its ingredients..... but if your plants tell you to add cal/mag, do it...... i would personally hold off until they tell me though. less is almost ALWAYS better.

 

as far as brown roots..... they will never recover. well, they may still serve their purpose and uptake nutes, but they will never turn white again. at least i have never seen it happen. brown roots are basically just like leaves that are spotted from a deficiency. you can fix the problem, and the leaf will start doing its thing again...... but the spots arent going to go away, and you arent going to make that leaf totally green and pretty again.

 

in my experience there are "2 shades of brown" :)

 

after you correct whatever problem created the brown roots ............. the lighter brown color (more tan i guess) will more than likely begin taking in roots again as normal, and just finish off brown. the darker brown and more damaged roots will more than likely fully die and detach themselves from the plant. this will become evident by having cloudy or slimy water.......... and slime on the new white roots that are forming. as long as you have new white roots growing you are good to go.

 

i would make sure to check the water often if i know i am going to have some roots dying on me. you probably will want to change out your water more often. i also take regular chlorinated tap water with a gentle shower head sprayer and wash off the roots. the chlorine will help kill the bad bacteria and get you back on track quicker.

Wow,, thanks:

 

I too have been taking it easy this summer. But I have payed very close attention to my plants.

The root mortality that I had mentioned is pretty much nonexistent now! You were right! They just need the new nute water and tlc. I been checkin PH and ,bubble bars like a relig. and it's really paid off. Huge black&WW almost ready to flower.

 

I did wash the brown areas and just looked close over the plants overall like a hawk.

 

I'm tellin you bubble, you have to check out some of these silica products out there. This silica blast i'm useing seems to make these roots more healthy lookin. This is like my 5th hydro grow now so i'm no pro but,,wow,,this silica really works.

 

I gave them the cal=mag. I don't know if it's the cal mag or the silica, but something is really goin good here that i would like to KEEP going , and thanks to your help over the years,, it's happenin.,,,cul :goodjob:

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Welcome back, BG! I totally hear you. Today on the radio they were already saying goodbye to summer. I was like, "What summer?" I have four gardens going right now (not all MJ) and it's like a job after my real job. It can be a lot of fun, but the setbacks really suck. I'm learning how to dial it in though, one day at a time.

 

 

 

I don't know if you have brown slime algae or what, but I highly recommend putting some compost tea into your res. You can get it at some hydro stores, but I recommend making your own. Since I started using it, it cured my root rot, brown slime algae issues, and I've never seen roots so white. If I didn't discover this I would have had to abandon DWC.

 

Here's a down and dirty recipe (credit to Heisenberg at RIU):

To make one gallon of compost tea for DWC (I make five gallons at a time)...

 

- Get a bucket, fill it with water, add an airstone, and get those bubbles going.

 

- Use one handful (per gallon) of General Organics Ancient Forest. Put this in a teabag of some kind. I use paper towel tied up in a bag. You can also just dump it in a bucket and strain it later. You don't have to use this stuff but it's got all the microbes you need. You could also combine some stuff from a local hardware store: you want earthworm castings and peat humas from a forest floor. If you only have earthworm castings, those will do.

 

- Add a few drops of Molasses so the microbes have some food. For five gallons, I add about a teaspoon.

 

- Put in some Great White or other product that contains mycorrhizae, beneficial bacteria, and trichoderma. Mycorrhizae is a symbiotic fungi and that keeps crud off your roots. You could certainly just use this alone and see improvement.

 

- Add about one capful of Aquashield.

 

Let this brew for 48 hours then add it to your res. You can give about one cupful per plant site. Keep it in the fridge (it lasts 10 days) and keep adding a cup a day until it's gone. I can guarantee your plants will love it. There are other products you can use such as GH's Subculture B and M, but I don't have experience with them. The recipe above is fairly cheap considering what you get out of it. The microbes brewed in tea will be more numerous than if you just add the ingredients to your res. Do not add Ancient Forest to your DWC, that part you have to brew as a tea.

 

 

I'm like almost indigent this month for,,reasons.

 

Can I make something like this with stuff i have layin around? I have cow manure,,mollassas,um, I don't have Aquashield.

i have some moss growin in my backyard,,is that ok to use?

 

I don't want to hi=jack bubbles thread so i'm sorry. I can't afford hydrozyme and this sound interesting. thanks

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I'm like almost indigent this month for,,reasons.

 

Can I make something like this with stuff i have layin around? I have cow manure,,mollassas,um, I don't have Aquashield.

i have some moss growin in my backyard,,is that ok to use?

 

I don't want to hi=jack bubbles thread so i'm sorry. I can't afford hydrozyme and this sound interesting. thanks

 

I think this thread is for everybody to ask and answer each others questions. BG just happens to have started it and has most of the answers. ;)

 

What you are looking for in a compost tea is beneficial bacteria. Earthworm castings and compost contain the most. Manure tea is something different. It can contain E. coli and roundworms that eat roots. So I would not recommend it. Composted manure would be safer, but I would still avoid it, at least in hydro. Manure is fine in soil. I use it outside.

 

Do you have any soil humus or a compost heap that's been baking for a year or so? Then you can use that to make some tea. Aquashield is not as important as a beneficial fungi like Mycorrhizae. That's what will keep your roots nice and glistening white. I would just wait until you have a few dollars to buy a bag of earthworm castings as that is the most important ingredient.

 

Never use Hygrozyme in DWC. It's not worth the risk IMO, as it's food for brown slime algae.

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I have some clones that I need to stay tiny for a month or so. Instead of constantly trimming roots/branches, I heard I can keep them in a "suspended" state by doing a 6-6-6-6 light schedule. Anybody heard of this?

 

Why do you want to keep them short?

 

I have never heard of that light schedule. I wouldn't do it as it will probably screw up your plants and would result in hermaphrodites.

 

Why not just cut the top off when they get too tall?

Edited by Nix
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I think this thread is for everybody to ask and answer each others questions. BG just happens to have started it and has most of the answers. ;)

 

What you are looking for in a compost tea is beneficial bacteria. Earthworm castings and compost contain the most. Manure tea is something different. It can contain E. coli and roundworms that eat roots. So I would not recommend it. Composted manure would be safer, but I would still avoid it, at least in hydro. Manure is fine in soil. I use it outside.

 

Do you have any soil humus or a compost heap that's been baking for a year or so? Then you can use that to make some tea. Aquashield is not as important as a beneficial fungi like Mycorrhizae. That's what will keep your roots nice and glistening white. I would just wait until you have a few dollars to buy a bag of earthworm castings as that is the most important ingredient.

 

Never use Hygrozyme in DWC. It's not worth the risk IMO, as it's food for brown slime algae.

 

I hear u nix. Good point in regard to the manure.

 

I have a compost silo in the backyard. Its been baking for 3 years and i have never really checked it or looked at it in years.

 

I went back there today and lifted up that compost silo and loe and behold,,nice rich compost mostley made up of MARIJUANA Leaves!! i started it with some lime activated it so long ago.

 

So,,i made a teabag with a few gallons of water and dosed it with the molassas and,,how much did you say i could add to my water? I don't circulate my buckets and i grow in 10 gal. of water per plant. So like one cup per 10 gal. bucket maybe?

 

I'm still getting the worm castings and when i do my Hydro store run. Thanks for the opinion in regard to hydrozyme, i was under the mis-impression that hydrozyme was some glamour food for growers with deep pockets?

 

But anyway,,throughout my hydro adventures the last couple years,,I've always wondered what I could do to keep these darn roots from wilting before the plants was harvested. I always knew I was missing something to put in the water. And I also have learned the hard way to check PH EVERY DAY! Its the # 1 mistake in hydro growing in my opinion.

 

My roots right now are bright white and really healthy,,but I'd like to KEEP them that way and I think your right about this so,,I'll give it a whirl...Thanks again.

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I hear u nix. Good point in regard to the manure.

 

I have a compost silo in the backyard. Its been baking for 3 years and i have never really checked it or looked at it in years.

 

I went back there today and lifted up that compost silo and loe and behold,,nice rich compost mostley made up of MARIJUANA Leaves!! i started it with some lime activated it so long ago.

 

So,,i made a teabag with a few gallons of water and dosed it with the molassas and,,how much did you say i could add to my water? I don't circulate my buckets and i grow in 10 gal. of water per plant. So like one cup per 10 gal. bucket maybe?

 

I'm still getting the worm castings and when i do my Hydro store run. Thanks for the opinion in regard to hydrozyme, i was under the mis-impression that hydrozyme was some glamour food for growers with deep pockets?

 

But anyway,,throughout my hydro adventures the last couple years,,I've always wondered what I could do to keep these darn roots from wilting before the plants was harvested. I always knew I was missing something to put in the water. And I also have learned the hard way to check PH EVERY DAY! Its the # 1 mistake in hydro growing in my opinion.

 

My roots right now are bright white and really healthy,,but I'd like to KEEP them that way and I think your right about this so,,I'll give it a whirl...Thanks again.

 

If pH is a major problem you might want to consider a recirculating system as it makes it a lot easier to just top off a res with pH down.

 

Speaking of pH... when you adjust, make sure you dilute your acid with water before pouring it in. The acid in pH down can kill those beneficial microbes.

 

Brew the tea for a full 48 hours before putting it in your res. Don't add any food (molasses) once it's in there. For an initial inoculation I add one cupful per bucket (mine are 4 gallon so you might want to add 2 cups since you use 10 gallon ones). Then add more every few days until it's gone. It's best to pour it right in through the net cups so the roots get soaked.

 

When you go to the hydro store, see if they have Ancient Forest. It is supposed to be more effective than just EWC for making compost tea. It's made by General Hydroponics so most stores have it. Great White may seem expensive but you only need one little scoop (about a half teaspoon) for five gallons of tea. It will last a long time.

 

Hygrozyme if fine for any method other than DWC. A grower I know uses it with success in aero and ebb and flow.

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