Transpiration, Humidity, & Why You Should Pay Attention

I found a really great link today after fighting humidity in my grow room.



I couldn't figure out why for the past week I've periodically experienced higher than normal humidity levels. Normal RH in my grow room is 40-50% and as the temperature drops, I sometimes get levels as high as 70% but I'm now getting around 66% during the day. It took a little investigation as to why and if this was a good thing. If I've been fighting to raise humidity in my grow room, then my ladies aren't taking up water and nutes. They instead hold onto it which doesn't promote growth which has been fairly obvious the past month and makes your plants heat stressed which isn't good either when it's actually showing signs.


Lately, I've been tinkering around with ventilation to find the perfect combo of circulation fans and windows to create a optimum environment and the past two days have finally reached a temp of 72F instead of fighting to keep it 79F. Lowering the heat to the "perfect" temp has been very beneficial and I've seen signs of new growth finally. Now I get to fight humidity! HAHA!!

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=6913

Save Money DIY How to make Yellow Sticky Traps (+playlist)

Save Money DIY How to make Yellow Sticky Traps (+playlist)

All About Nitrogen and Plants, Nitrogen Cycle, Deficiency and More (+pla...

All About Spider Mites and Cannabis Plants - Exterminate Now! (+playlist)

Learn about the truly best ways to exterminate spider mites

I used Nuke Em which worked great! It's not oily so it won't clog your stomata (plant pores similar to our skin) like Neem Oil, no stunted growth, kills aphids and root aphids, powdery mildew and quite a bit else too! Smells great like oranges since it's active ingredient is citric acid.

How to Scrog, Screen of Green Technique for Cannabis (Trellis Netting) (...

Heavy Metal Content in Your Pot; Not the Guns & Roses Kind either...

The topic of heavy metal content. Are 100% organic grows lower in heavy metal content? Yes, but they are still present. Unflushed cannabis will have higher levels of these heavy metals than flushed cannabis will.

This is commonly revealed at the remnants of a smoked bowl. A black charcoal-like bud that has been smoked in a pipe is a clear indicator of excess heavy metal content from skipping or incorrectly flushing. A clean and properly flushed bud will end in a very light grayish to bright white color and is easily blown out of the bowl. Heavy metals are one of the major culprits of throat burn and the coughing reflex. Properly flushed cannabis is so smooth to smoke! Here's a plant that is properly being flushed before harvest and is using up the last of the nutes she has leftover that has accumulated throughout the grow!

Advanced Nutrients: pH Perfect Demonstration

Grow Weed Easy's Plant Dr & pH Availability of Micronutrients

I haven't tried this yet but I just may soon if I can't get my girls to quit showing signs of rusty brown spots which I thought was a Cal/Mag deficiency. I went out and bought Advance Nutrients Sensi Grow pH Perfect line since the micronutrients are already mixed for you and it really, really, really, does help keep your pH stable. It's supposed to stabilize itself without the use of pH down which I recently learned is salt derived and will show up on your ppm readings so if your ppm's are rising and you are also using a lot of pH down, that may be the case and your water is more salt than fertilizer. I plan on buying lemon juice which will also lower your pH to eliminate this as a issue since I don't use RO water which is what you're supposed to use for perfect pH. I have well water which is 30-80 ppms but Sensi Grow still keeps my pH anywhere from 6.0 to 6.3 instead of the 5.5 as advertised. I'm happy with my results as Calcium and magnesium need at least a 6.0 pH to be absorbed by the plant. Everyone has their idea of what a hydroponic reservoir is supposed to be at and you will hear anything from 5.5 to 6.5 pH but when you look on the micronutrient pH availability chart (Below) then you will see a huge difference between soil and hydro and also, you will find that 5.5 is too low for cal/mag uptake although it is better for NPK ratio. I might try to toy with that come bloom time and see how lowering the pH from 6 to 5.5 affects my bud production and if the cal/mag deficiency comes back.
 

If you're stumped and don't have anyone to turn to, Grow Weed Easy is a great website that provides pics of plants, pests, and anything else that is bringing down your girls. They also have a Plant Dr. where you can send in all of your information and pics and they will diagnosis your plant through email! I was super excited to find this and I hope it helps us all out in our quest for the perfect nugs!

Grow Weed Easy's Plant Dr via email

Strain: Girl Scout Cookie

Inside Girl Scout Cookies Strain

The above link will take you to the history of how the strain was bred and how you're not really smoking Girl Scout Cookie! I just bought some from my local dispensary and I was super thrilled! It had a menthol taste which was actually quite good and it was more purple than green!

Doesn't that look dank!!

 

600 watts vs 1000 watts; How to Pick Out Lights for your set up!

Click to read High Times article about the advantages and disadvantages of each wattage bulb

The first rule: No matter what size your space is or what system your garden utilizes, never buy a cheap or secondhand lamp. Growroom lights use a lot of electricity, and the wiring and ballasts that supply that electricity to the bulb is the difference in whether or not a fire can start in your growroom. Therefore, this is not the place to skimp on costs.

           

The next thing to focus on is your actual growroom size. High-intensity discharge (HID) lamps are sometimes too intense for a very small space. For spaces smaller than 4’ x 4’, you may consider using fluorescent bulbs, perhaps something on par with a bank of T5 or T8 fluorescents. These bulbs are inexpensive, use way less power, give off very little heat and provide excellent spectrum for plants—but they will yield less than HID lamps come harvest time.

 

If your space is slightly larger, or has more space for ample air circulation and ventilation, you can consider larger lamps. Metal halide (MH) and high-pressure sodium (HPS) bulbs are the most popular choices among growers, but if you’re going with only one fixture, HPS is the usual choice. Some ballasts allow growers to switch bulbs, using an MH during the vegetative (“grow”) cycle and HPS during the flowering (“bloom”) cycle. These bulbs usually range from 250 to 1,000 watts. This table shows the coverage areas for bulbs of various wattages.
*http://www.hightimes.com/read/1000-growroom

Wattage	Coverage Area	Height Above Canopy
250	4’ x 4’	12” – 18”
400	5’ x 5’	14” – 24”
600	6’ x 6’	18” – 30”
1,000	8’ x 8’	24” – 36”

High Times tests MH/HPS combinations with great results!

High Times tests single bulbs vs MH/HPS combination lighting



Makes sense to me! By only using one type of bulb, you are not providing a full spectrum for your plants that mimics the sun. I personally can not run more than my 1000 watt light due to circuit breakers triggering and my magnetic ballast will not turn on fully (it looks like the bulb is BARELY lit) until I turn off other stuff i.e. electric heater to maintain temps. I can then turn it back on again bulb I swear my bulb isn't providing it's maximum lumen output.

So I plan on supplementing with CFL daylight bulbs. Philips makes daylight bulbs in a 6500k color with a little over 800 lumens. I shopped forever comparing lumen output and color and found some super low watt (I think they're 13 watts) bulbs. Watts is what you pay for and really doesn't have anything to do with the lumens. IF you look at 1000 watt HPS bulbs, you will find them with several different lumen ratings with all the high output or HO HPS with 50-60K more lumens but same watts. What is most important is the amount of color that is put out and how intense the bulb burns.

With that said, CFLs are only good for the beginning stages and for supplemental lighting. While you can grow pot all the way to harvest, the density, quality, taste, everything, will be noticeably less no matter what you do. Light is that important unless you love popcorn buds. You will also be paying the same price per watt for electricity so paying a one time higher price to purchase the ballast and reflector is a far better investment.

I didn't want to invest in HID lighting, hence why I spent so much time learning about the science behind grow lights. I spent a bunch of money overall even though each item was cheaper. My plants were growing okay until I decided to invest and bought a MH PlantMax 1000 watt bulb. (BTW 1000 watt is way more efficient than 600 watt and the lighting set up is cheaper as well.) My plants LOVED the MH light (I'm not happy with PlantMax as it seems to have lessened lumen output greatly in just a week or two) and I got much better condense bushy growth. Now I just use my CFL light setup to grow lettuce, onions, dwarf bell peppers, coriander/cilantro, carrots, strawberries, mini roses, succulents, cacti and I will be adding more! I'm not entirely sure how blooming veggies or flowers will grow in my room because of the changing light schedules but it should be fun to watch!

I was concerned about companion planting with my mmj because of pests but so far, everything has been okay and I also planted several things like coriander (cilantro), dill, and onions to repel spider mites and aphids. They both hate the smell and many outdoor garden guides suggest planting them around susceptible plants (like my precious mmj). So we will se how this goes!

Best HPS Bulb Comparison Test - Hortilux, Ushio, Digilux, Lumatek, Maxlu...

Sealed Grow Room 101: Indoor Garden Setup for CO2

you want a sealed room because you're paying for CO2 and if it has an exhaust fan.....guess what? you're wasting your CO2!!!

Small Scale Aquaponics: Use Fish for Nutes

Go Organics! with Jorge Cervantes

Why you should go organic: besides a better quality taste, you should really be aware of ground water pollution; especially if you drink from a well. Hydro has a really hard time going organic though because the material used for organic fertilizers are filled with chunky stuff your pump won't like. I've broken two pumps with filters in less than 30 minutes before I made my organic hydroponic coco coir medium into a lettuce raft where I don't need a water pump. The baby romaines love it and I only have to power an air pump and CFLs. also, organics really, really, stink to high heaven! Decomposing materials rot and stink but provide a lot of nutrients to your ladies. I'm saving all of my organics for outdoors this summer time where I am constructing a NFT pvc system that I tried to build indoors but couldn't get it to not leak. Then I think a sump pump might be a better choice. They're used in ponds and my old one would get covered in dead water lilies but wouldn't break.

Jorge Cervantes - Yellowing Leaves During Flowering

Humidity - Marijuana Growing Humidity Moisture - Growing Weed - 13

How To Scrog - Marijuana Growing

Jorge Cervantes: Grow Guide Pt 3

Jorge Cervantes Grow Guide Pt 2

Sequel to Jorge's original grow guide which was produced by High Times magazine

 

Jorge Cervantes Grow DVD 1: Soil & Hydroponics

The first hour is soil and then the second hour is hydroponics but all the other information is the same in each segment. You can watch whichever segment pertains to your grow!