any ideas with this

[orion6324]

ok ive been reading and reading on here and its been very informative. But i think i need to give all my info for a proper response from you guys so here goes....5x4 room with mylar on walls. 600 hps. flood and drain. 4' of space from light to flood table[have a seperate room for veg under floros] temps are 77 to 80 with light on and 70 with light off. rez temps are 70. 3x3 flood table with 18 gal rez.osilating tower fan and a good 400 cfm exaust fan running the aircooled light. using floranova grow and bloom for veg and bloom. in the veg room i have a drip system using rockwool. start seed/clones in 1.5 inch rockwool and then transfer them into 4x4 rockwool when they are rdy[this might be bad ?]. And then when they are rdy for flower i just put the 4x4s in the table full of hydroton[yes im switching to pots in the table]...so my questions are...1 im new with floranova what is a good feed program in veg with the floranova grow?...2 should i ditch the 4x4 rockwool and if so what size pots for veg then for bloom?....3 with my setup [switching to pots]what is the most productive/yielding way of configuring the table? 4 big plants 8-9 smaller ones or a bunch of popsicles?...4 is there anything you guys can think of that im not?......sry for all the stupid questions but im a med patient in norcal here and am just fascinated with all your knowledge and i want my grows to be good like all of yours thx for the help and pls feel free to throw in anything you guys would do different.....lets get me up and goin here fellas..lol thx again

[herbie the love bud]

Man I had to read that thing like 3 times I am so high. It's gonna be hard to get all the answers to your questions because there are so many, so let me say on the onset that your whole setup sounds great for a beginner so even if you just do what you outlined you'll do good.

For the nute formula I would go to the GH website and use their formula. I always use manufacturer's recipe.
I don't like rockwool, I think it is nothing but problems and costly overall. I would use hydroton in net cups.
Size of net cups depends on what size plant you want to grow. I personally would configure 5 plants in 6" netpots in bloom hoping to get 4 to harvest.
Beyond that its a matter of preference as to method. I don't like flood tables for instance. I'm more of a DWC or Aero/hydro.

[Opie Yutts]

5x4 room with mylar on walls. 600 hps. flood and drain.
More light or less space. Flat white is better than mylar.

4' of space from light to flood table
You need to be able to adjust the lights or the plants or both, so that you can keep the light a few inches from the plants, or as close as possible without causing heat stress.

in the veg room i have a drip system using rockwool.
My condolences. RW is very hard to work with IMO.

1 im new with floranova what is a good feed program in veg with the floranova grow?
The same as all nutrients, start at about 1/4 strength after 2 weeks (or 5 nodes). Gradually increase each feeding until you see the first signs of nute stress (brown leaf tips or edges), then back it off a notch. It's different for each variety, some need twice as much as others.

2 should i ditch the 4x4 rockwool and if so what size pots for veg then for bloom?....
I would defiantly ditch the rockwool, or you can have my half bale that's been sitting in my shed for 6 years. Why not stick with one size pot from start to finish? I use expanded clay pellets (Hydroton) and 6" net pots.

3 with my setup [switching to pots]what is the most productive/yielding way of configuring the table? 4 big plants 8-9 smaller ones or a bunch of popsicles?...
Depends on your growing method. If you flower soon, you use more plants per space. If you flower normally, depending on a bunch of stuff, you'll want 4-8 plants in that space. I veg for about 2 months under a 400W MH, then flower under a 600W HPS supplemented with 10 or 12 28W 5800K CFLs, in a space a little smaller than 3x3 feet. I usually do 6 plants, and top once or twice. You need good ventilation for this. I have dedicated ventilation just for my cool tube, and more for the grow.

4 is there anything you guys can think of that im not
Yeah, lots. Just practice.

[SpaceNeedle]

Well, you are on the right track. But I agree with Opie Yutts on the use of rockwool. It is VERY easy to get root rot using it, and I talk from personal experience. ESPECIALLY when you are using drip. You are better off using clay pellets. And like Opie says, use net pots. Everyone does it a bit different, I use net pots that are 4"x4"x4" in the veg room due to space restrictions. They are on an ebb and flow table, and get watered for 15 minutes every 4 hrs.
When they are ready to flower, for me that's at about 10" high, They go into pots about 8"x8"x 12" high. They are then transferred onto a 4'x4' table on a dripper 24/7 under a 600W light to "recuperate" from their time change to 12/12 and the fact they were repotted for about 10 days. Then they go under the 100W HPS for the remainder of their life.

The one thing I haven't heard from you is whether you have a PPM/EC meter. That is very essential, because without it is like driving a car with blindfolds on.

good luck

[Opie Yutts]

True dat, about the meter. SN, did you mean they go under 1000W HPS?

[theforthdrive]

Wow, im starting to feel like an anomaly. I actually have done something similar but larger for years with great success. Never had root rot once! I place my clone in a sponge. After a week or so, 2" x 2" grodan cubes. Then either 1 or 2 gal buckets depending of if the final stage is in 2 gals or 5 gals filled with loose RW. I use flood and drain. I have used drip systems but found it better to just hand water with a pump. I found switching pots to be a benefit if you catch it at the right time. If you switch when the root are growing they will keep popping off. however, if you wait to long they might not grow into the next pot. I think the proof of ones set up is the results! what are you getting? i wish you could judge mine, maybe i could be doing better! but Ill have to wait for my 50th post before you'll can see if my RW is nice!?!?

[SAP420]

I can tell you from experience that with the floranova series nutes, you will never need to use more than 2 tbsp of grow per gallon of water in veg mode and when transitioning to bloom you should do 1 tbsp of grow and 1 tbsp of bloom per gallon of water. Then after that week go straight to 2 tbsp of bloom per gallon of water. Never necessary to mix any stronger than that. Any stronger and you risk nute burn on your plants.

[SpaceNeedle]

True dat, about the meter. SN, did you mean they go under 1000W HPS?


Whoops! yea I left a "0" off, sorry about that!

SN

[SpaceNeedle]

I can tell you from experience that with the floranova series nutes, you will never need to use more than 2 tbsp of grow per gallon of water in veg mode and when transitioning to bloom you should do 1 tbsp of grow and 1 tbsp of bloom per gallon of water. Then after that week go straight to 2 tbsp of bloom per gallon of water. Never necessary to mix any stronger than that. Any stronger and you risk nute burn on your plants.

Well SAP that is all true, BUT unless you are in the habit of discarding the nutes left in your reservoir (instead of topping it off), and then starting fresh with water and your formula of nutrients, how do you know how much nutes is left in the bin? I don't mean how many gallons you have, but the proportion of nutes to water, because often times, especially in the beginning of flowering, say, they may have well extracted much more water than nutes, so all you should be doing is adding water to make it the same strength is was originally. Perhaps near the end of their cycle, they might be taking on more nutrients than water and what you have left is a very very weak solution. How do you do that without a meter?

SN

[SAP420]

I have never used a ppm meter due to their cost but I change my nutes out once a week when plants are blooming especially that way everything stays fairly constant. Has always worked for me. :)

[herbie the love bud]

Well SAP that is all true, BUT unless you are in the habit of discarding the nutes left in your reservoir (instead of topping it off), and then starting fresh with water and your formula of nutrients, how do you know how much nutes is left in the bin? I don't mean how many gallons you have, but the proportion of nutes to water, because often times, especially in the beginning of flowering, say, they may have well extracted much more water than nutes, so all you should be doing is adding water to make it the same strength is was originally. Perhaps near the end of their cycle, they might be taking on more nutrients than water and what you have left is a very very weak solution. How do you do that without a meter?

SN
That's a common error in usage of an EC meter. You cannot effectively top off your rez with more nutrients. If your initial formula is 2.6 EC for instance, and into the week you are at 1.4 you cannot mix up additional nutrients to bring it up to 2.6 again. Because it is a formula of many different nutrients and each with different ECs, when the overall EC falls you don't know what the plant drank. You're assuming it drank uniformly every nutrient.

To keep the nutrient EC level throughout the week in a non-falling rez you should just maintain the same water level constantly by adding fresh water. A float valve is ideal.

[SpaceNeedle]

That's a common error in usage of an EC meter. You cannot effectively top off your rez with more nutrients. If your initial formula is 2.6 EC for instance, and into the week you are at 1.4 you cannot mix up additional nutrients to bring it up to 2.6 again. Because it is a formula of many different nutrients and each with different ECs, when the overall EC falls you don't know what the plant drank. You're assuming it drank uniformly every nutrient.

To keep the nutrient EC level throughout the week in a non-falling rez you should just maintain the same water level constantly by adding fresh water. A float valve is ideal.

Oh I understand that, and my trays are all filled daily on a timer with float valves, but I change the nutes every other week, but about twice a week I go thru them and top up with nutes, I feel I give them 'something' in between nute changes. I'm not saying your method is wrong, and I'm not saying mine is right, but I doubt if there's that much to gain using your method, and mine is less work. :)