T Dub’s Durban Poison Winter Garden

[KGB]

Hey KGB, yes….all feeding is done through the wicks from the reservoir. No top feeding is needed or recommended because of the salt buildup at the root zone. It keeps the bottom 1/3 of the pot damp with nutrient solution. It’s really a slick concept except for the required 1-2 flushes per grow. My memory isn’t that good, but I believe I only needed to flush if using coco. When I used Ocean Forest soil, I dont recall needing anywhere near as many nutrients so I had a lot less salt buildup. There’s plenty of nutes in ocean forest already….at least enough to get through veg.

I’m still intrigued by your earth box….might look at that for next winter grow if they look like two would fit in a 2x4.

In a 2x4 how many plants? In all honesty the earthbox can theoretically do four in one box as long as you stay on the water.

 

[T_Dub]

In a 2x4 how many plants? In all honesty the earthbox can theoretically do four in one box as long as you stay on the water.

That’s good to know……I’m only thinking of growing two plants with a scrog net.

 

[KGB]

That’s good to know……I’m only thinking of growing two plants with a scrog net.

I do two plants in each of mine and they seriously make trees if you don’t train them. You should see my root systems

Another cool thing about them is the salt builds up in one area that you scoop out and throw way then the majority of the soil is reusable

 

[greenmobster440]

I'm curious and need to ask....

Salts buildup. I'd like to see a pic of this exact issue. I can see it probably looking much like any other deficiency only hard to detect. It's not on most deficiency charts.

I ask because I don't water to run off and I don't flush. I've done it this way for a few runs and had no issues at all. To add my ash is grey and not harsh.

So what exactly are you seeing with this buildup? Is it the wick pots that cause this or maybe you see it more in wick systems?

At one point I was concerned with run off and salts but I've found peace in not worrying so much..lol

 

[T_Dub]

I'm curious and need to ask....

Salts buildup. I'd like to see a pic of this exact issue. I can see it probably looking much like any other deficiency only hard to detect. It's not on most deficiency charts.

I ask because I don't water to run off and I don't flush. I've done it this way for a few runs and had no issues at all. To add my ash is grey and not harsh.

So what exactly are you seeing with this buildup? Is it the wick pots that cause this or maybe you see it more in wick systems?

At one point I was concerned with run off and salts but I've found peace in not worrying so much..lol

Hmmmm…..I’m trying to find photos and I may not have documented my first coco/automatic feeder grow. It looks like the start of nutrient burn with crunchy yellow/brown leaves when it happens. It happened once and I’ve always flushed mid-grow ever since. Everything I read about growing in coco emphasized the importance of runoff and the flushing out of salts. When I did do a flush on a previous grow, it was not uncommon to have runoff water with a high ppm content over 4,000 by week 10+.

I’m intrigued by your experience. I’m very tempted to switch to Promix HP next year. I wonder if Jacks also has less residual salts than my three part Flora series. Don’t know……but you and your plants are a great example of the potential with promix and jacks.

I know when I flushed a previous grow (Godfather OG) the initial runoff water had an EC content of 4,000 ppm.

Let me keep looking for a picture of my crunchy leaves.

 

[greenmobster440]

Hmmmm…..I’m trying to find photos and I may not have documented my first coco/automatic feeder grow. It looks like the start of nutrient burn with crunchy yellow/brown leaves when it happens. It happened once and I’ve always flushed mid-grow ever since. Everything I read about growing in coco emphasized the importance of runoff and the flushing out of salts. When I did do a flush on a previous grow, it was not uncommon to have runoff water with a high ppm content over 4,000 by week 10+.

I’m intrigued by your experience. I’m very tempted to switch to Promix HP next year. I wonder if Jacks also has less residual salts than my three part Flora series. Don’t know……but you and your plants are a great example of the potential with promix and jacks.

I know when I flushed a previous grow (Godfather OG) the initial runoff water had an EC content of 4,000 ppm.

Let me keep looking for a picture of my crunchy leaves.

Awesome, and thanks for that info.

I'd forgotten you use coco. Is that not more prone to salt buildup anyways? Maybe it's slightly different vin peat.

I have no answers for peat n jacks. I don't question it. I just watch it work. Sometimes wish I understood the workings of it all but I'm an old dog with no desire to chase the ball..lol.

4000ppm..lol. I'm afraid to check mine. I've not touched that meter in almost a year.

 

[KGB]

Just saying this because you are considering an EarthBox. The makers of the EarthBox discovered that the strip of 7-7-7 fertilizer had salt buildup. Since the plants get the majority of their nutrients from that strip they recommend digging the strip out and with it the salt material around it. Then the soil left is reusable.

Since I do put a tablespoon of grow dots in a pattern there will be minor salts there but nothing to worry about.

 

[T_Dub]

I saw this on another website and wanted to share. Note to anyone no might be in the market for AC Infinity gear. Apparently they will feature a 25% off Black Friday sale later this week using the coupon code “thestash15” on their website. See where they talk about this at 45:20 of this video to verify. I’m in the market for a new light, but they seem a little underpowered compared to others so I doubt I will use this.

https://www.youtube.com/live/3NLRsEiUaYc?si=PiHOAg9Lq9IA4ZQA

 

[T_Dub]

Awesome, and thanks for that info.

I'd forgotten you use coco. Is that not more prone to salt buildup anyways? Maybe it's slightly different vin peat.

I have no answers for peat n jacks. I don't question it. I just watch it work. Sometimes wish I understood the workings of it all but I'm an old dog with no desire to chase the ball..lol.

4000ppm..lol. I'm afraid to check mine. I've not touched that meter in almost a year.

I found an example of salt buildup in my previous LA Peyote Kush grow. I believed this was due to excess salts. You can see the discoloration on the older lower leaves of the full plant. After a 7 gallon flush, the discoloration stopped spreading. After flushing seven gallons, the runoff was reduced to 1800ppm. One other indicator that I had forgotten about is that the plants were drinking much more slowly when there were excess salts in the root zone.

These were fed constantly with Lukas Formula using GH Flora series (8ml Micro and 16ml Bloom).

 

[T_Dub]

I'm curious and need to ask....

Salts buildup. I'd like to see a pic of this exact issue. I can see it probably looking much like any other deficiency only hard to detect. It's not on most deficiency charts.

I ask because I don't water to run off and I don't flush. I've done it this way for a few runs and had no issues at all. To add my ash is grey and not harsh.

So what exactly are you seeing with this buildup? Is it the wick pots that cause this or maybe you see it more in wick systems?

At one point I was concerned with run off and salts but I've found peace in not worrying so much..lol

Hi Greenmobster,
Here is the report that generated when I scanned that damaged leaf photo into the Grow Doc app.

 

[greenmobster440]

Great info. I've looked at that app. I agree with some things but I felt as if it over diagnosed issues.

When I first got back into all this I was flushing and chasing ppm and ph. Awful results. When I'd try to fix one thing another popped up. Before long id locked everything up.

Many deficiencies that show up in weed are similar in appearance. Npk, mag, n calcium are what we usually see.

Why do we not see salts buildup in most deficiency charts?

 

[T_Dub]

Great info. I've looked at that app. I agree with some things but I felt as if it over diagnosed issues.

When I first got back into all this I was flushing and chasing ppm and ph. Awful results. When I'd try to fix one thing another popped up. Before long id locked everything up.

Many deficiencies that show up in weed are similar in appearance. Npk, mag, n calcium are what we usually see.

Why do we not see salts buildup in most deficiency charts?

I can relate….I’m always chasing reservoir ppm and ph constantly. But I feel like it keeps my plants looking better than if I ignore it.

Very good points there…

My only guess why it doesn’t show up more is that bottom feeding coco through these pots is relatively uncommon. There is absolutely nowhere for the salts to go in this type of growing. Most people choose to feed from the top and most people get even a little runoff. I’m a member of a group dedicated to SIPs (sub irrigated planters) in another forum. I’ll ask around to see who finds the need to flush.

I’ve seen other people struggle with the same issue in their grow journals using SIPs with the AC Infinity feeders.

I could also be feeding too many nutrients which is why I reduced my use in half for now.

 

[T_Dub]

My last 24 hours has involved a lot of research into LED lighting and I don’t feel any better educated than when I started. Talk about complex!! I decided to document my decision in my grow log here so that I can look back and kick myself for being ignorant. This is what went into the decision.

One of my observations with my grow setup is that my light does not encourage stretch. I use a 2018 320 watt Timber cob fixture at the 3500 spectrum in my 2x4 tent. It’s probably obsolete given tech changes. I hope to continue to use this old lamp for veg and use a new light for flowering.


Unless I hit my plants with the Mars Hydro IR light like I did last year, there is almost no stretch with my current light. I figure that if I’m ever going to have a shot at winning “bud of the month”, I need better stacking on my colas.

Lighting is something that I know very little about, especially LEDs. Based on my reading and very little input from forum posts, I could benefit from more red lighting in my LED. I also read that LEDs are much more efficient than they were 6 years ago when I bought my lamp, so I could get more light output with my 320 watts than I’m currently getting.

So I’m taking advantage of Black Friday to pick out my Christmas gift….an entry level new LED. I narrowed it down to the ViparSpectra p4000 (XS 4000 too powerful), 2024 spider farmer se4500 (new model), or AC Infinity ionframe evo3.

I have no idea how to choose an LED, so I made my decision based on wattage (prefer same or more than my current 320 watts), diode brand (preferred Samsung EVO for efficiency), par maps and red spectrum for better flowering. I also preferred a light that could be controlled with the AC Infinity 69 Pro controller and I believe I prefer bar lights over boards. I used artificial intelligence (Microsoft copilot) to compare and contrast the various lamps and it was helpful but oftentimes inaccurate.

I chose the Spider Farmer because it checked all the boxes.

Here were my choices…..ViparSpectra. P4000 420 watt! Bridge lux diodes, red spectrum as shown below


AC Infinity…..Ionframe evo3. Only 280 watt. Samsung evo diodes, and a better red spectrum


Spider Farmer se4500…..320 watt ( equal to mine), Samsung evo diodes and more red spectrum

The Spider Farmer LED arrives tomorrow and will be installed as we go into week #3 since the flip to 12/12. I look forward to observing any noticeable differences.