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Ok, i know this has probably been gone over before, but im new here so im going to be brave and ask. I have seen a few grow logs on here and everyone uses buckets. I kind of like rockwool, but when i see everyone else using buckets i assume there is a reason. Should i switch? Im not totally sold on the cubes, and i lean more and more towards buckets everyday. Thanks.
There are several things I personally dislike about rockwool.....including it's ability to retain too much water and to need some good pretreatment before use due to its ph issues. When you say "bucket" what do you mean exactly....a medium like hydroton?
Ya, something similar to hydroton maybe. I have no idea honestly. I guess there aren't a ton of options, hyroton is looking better than rockwool at this point. Is it reusable?
thanks for the reply. I think if i could do it any way i wanted i would use higromite. Is that stuff as good as they claim? I dont think i can afford as much of the stuff as i would need, and man rockwool is cheap. Decisions decisions. If you guys say its worth it to go with the higromite or hydroton over cubes i would have a hard time not going that route. I posted this in plant problems and i didnt get a response and im really desperate for some info. Ill post a pic of the problem. Its spreading from bottom to top and really starting to scare me. Im thinking about cutting the lights back to get them to ripen and harvest asap before I lose everything. The black spots are what really scare me. Thanks again.
I use higromite and love it......I HATE hydroton....used them both. Higromite hands down BUT it does have its own issues. Among them: Heavy....they are ROCKS and they weigh the same as rocks. Also algae loves higromite and grows on it like mad so you need to cover it. It is resuable and plants LOVE all the silica imo and there is less fert build up in the medium because of their more solid nature. They are not quite as "airy" as hydroton but I definitely prefer to hydroton. (much easier to clean and reuse too.)
Hydroton pros:
Lightweight
algae won't really grow on it
Resusable
airy
Cons:
super amounts of fert build up due to airy nature
not stable.....rolls around like coco puffs even with a plant in it so no real stability
crappy ph issues so needs a LOT of pretreatment
IS resusable but a REAL PAIN IN THE ASS to clean.....again because of its airy nature.
metalhead based on your photo there I'll take a quick stab and say that is a dead leaf.
That's about all I can tell you from that photo.....and that's really just an educated guess :D
How about specs and conditions etc?
haha thanks for the guess. Man, theres just so much stuff to type. I really want your opinion on this though so here goes. I just went and shot some pics like 5 mins ago btw. Anyways, this is my first time growing, I have a very simple, small setup. I use cubes in a recirculating drip system. Im about 1 to 2 weeks from harvesting. Iv been on flora nova bloom since a week into flowering at about 1200 ppm on my hanna meter.About 2 weeks later i added the cool bloom at 250ppm and reduced the flora nova to 1000ppm. My problems started when my PH got to low, around 5.0-5.1 which was around the same time i added the cool bloom. I corrected that and the leaves on top looked a little better and it stopped getting worse. The next issue was fungus knats. Thats when the black spots started showing up and leaves started dyeing. I killed all those bastards and my black spot problem might be slowing down, i cant really tell. My girls are definetly shedding though. Generally I like to keep the ph around 5.8-6.0 which is proving to be fairly tricky. Especially because im to cheap to buy ph up and rockwooll sucks. The first part of my grow all the ph did was go up, now all it does is go down, and yes i presoaked my cubes overnight before i used them. My temp and humidity is decent 75 to 80 with lights on 70-75 lights out, humidity right 40-50% Water/nutrient temp is always right around 72 degrees. I run a 400 watt light in a 2x2 space which is way overkill, and since its my first grow i veged to long and have overgrown monsters. I guess thats a common newby mistake, live and learn. Thats what i say at least. Thank you for taking the time to try and help, its greatly appreciated. It sounds like i need to dust my wallet off and get some higromite and some pots.
Iv been on the computer all freakin day, i found some more info though so its all good. I guess im doing the internet version of thinking out loud here, but i think it might be a simple deficiency. How likely is a manganese deficiency? I think thats what it might be, and after seeing this chart i guess it could make sense. Thats my educated guess, but im not very educated.
Actually that looks like straight up overnute to me.....most likely from the addition of your "bloom booster". They'll do that so need to be used pretty carefully (I'm referring to your Kool Bloom here) and I that's what affected your plants the most. A lot of times you have to pull your lights back when using bloom boosters (not sure about Kool Bloom) and I think that's led to your other problems....including the ph was is most likely jumping around because of the unhealthy state of your plants but again I think the issue stems from the Kool Bloom originally.
What are your ppms now? I would set them at about 800(@700 conversion) with JUST BASIC NUTES...no additives at this point and watch ph carefully. Also consider a full system flush.
Thats very interesting. Someone else told me the koolbloom was the problem but didnt explain, and of coarse i didnt listen. It makes sense though. I started a flush last night. My flushing habbits have been poor to say the least from the get go, like i didnt flush them ever untill about a couple weeks ago. Could that also be part of the problem? Im kind of assuming that. Next time, i flush every 2 weeks. What do you think about that white residue? that always shows up before i get little black dots then the leaf dies. It looks more clear and slimey in real life. Man im glad this forum is here, all us rookies would be even more confused without it. WH, thank you for taking the time to answer.