How critical are temps in 2nd half of flowering?

[fellowsped]

Sounds like a lot of work just to water. Can u explain the thought process behind trying to magnetize the water

 

[Hushpuppy]

I have my stuff in a hydro setup that is a hybrid form of top-feed and Undercurrent DWC. I plant on placing magnets along a 1' stretch of hose that connects my 5 tanks together. At the beginning of that hose is a submersible pump that pushes the water from the central rez out to the back tanks and back around through the front tanks, back to the central rez. I just have to get my magnets and set it up.

 

[ShOrTbUs]

Sounds like a lot of work just to water. Can u explain the thought process behind trying to magnetize the water

cation exchange capacity

all tiny particles, not just humus, carry electrical charges. these particles are
called ions. ions with a (+) charge are called cations and negatively charged (-) ones, anions. positively charged particles are electrically attached to negatively charged particles. this is exactly what happens when opposite ends of magnets attract each other. when a positively charged cation attaches itself to a negatively charged anion, the cation is "absorbed" by the anion. even microorganisms in the soil are small enough to carry and be influenced by electrical charges.
sand particles are too large to carry electical charges, but both clay and humus particles are small enough to have lots of negatively charged anions that attract positively charged cations. the cations that are absorbed by clay and humus include calcium (Ca++), potassium (K+), sodium (Na+), magnesium (Mg++), iron (Fe+), ammonium (NH4+), and hydrogen (H+). these are all major plant nutrients, and they are held in the soil by two components of good soil. the attraction of these cations to the clay and humus particles is so strong that when a solution containing them comes into contact, the attraction is satiated and only about 1% of the cation nutrients remains in solution.
there are anions in soil as well. these include chloride (Cl-), nitrate (NO3-), sulfate (SO4-), and phosphate (PO4-), these are all plant nutrients as well. unfortunately, soil anions are repelled by the negative charge on clay and humus particles and therefore stay in solution instead of being absorbed. these plant nutrients are often missing from garden soils, as they are easily leached away in the soil solution when it rains or soil is watered: nothing is holding them on to soil surfaces.
why does this matter? the surfaces of root hairs have their own electrical charges. when a root hair enters the soil, it can exchange its own cations for those attached to clay or humus particles and then absorb the cation nutrient involved. roots use hydrogen cations (H+) as their exchange currency, giving up one hydrogen cation for every cation nutrient absorbed. this keeps the balance of charges equal. this is how plants "eat".

-teaming with microbes

this is but a small caption i've copied from the book, and the book only scratches the surface of all the processes involved in nutrient uptake. basically electrical charge plays a huge role in how well your plants uptake nutrients.

now, i dunno exactly how the magnets work to aid in this process, but its deff something worth looking into.

this might also be why people see slight increased growth in hydro applications as opposed to soil. hydro basically cuts out the middleman. the ions dont have to attach to the humus or clay before exchanging with the roots ions. which in turn makes for a faster delivery system

 

[Hushpuppy]

I have often thought that "organic hydro" would be better than organic soil for the very reason that you just stated(or restated from the book). I have a buddy that grows organic in soil and does very well, but he marvels at my production and quality. I told him that I believe that my success is about maximising(but ballancing at the same time) all of the elements of the growing environment. And within that is nutrient availability. While my plants grow pretty big and produce very well, I don't see massive root balls like many soil growers see. I think that is because of the nutrient availability in my system keeps the roots from having to go seek out the microbes and nutrients trapped in the soil.

When I ran my last organic plant, I ended up connecting it to its own recirculating watering system that had organic nutrient tea aerating constantly in the resevoir. That one plant finished about 5'tall and easily 3' in diameter and produced about 6-7oz. But she also sat alone under 1200w of HPS with room to get light down deep as she was tied open. Again I think having the nutes fully available constantly made the difference.