Hydroponic

Ask Ed

karlis — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0700

AIRY BUD
My plants are about 3 feet tall and have immaculate looking buds on them, but I have been unable to get large and dense buds even though all the hairs and stigmas are completely red when harvested. My 4?x8? system is lit by two 1000w HPS lamps on tracks. The room stays in the mid-70?s.

Indoor Dankster,
Mechanicsville, MD

Ask Ed

karlis — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Strategy to Live Within the Limits

Harvest Master

karlis — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0800

Technology. Some say it's a dirty word, but when you decide to grow pot indoors, you have to become Mother Nature to your babies. Fresh air, clean water, bright light, nutrients, Ph, humidity and temperature: these conditions must be replicas of a perfect day outdoors. The more precisely you can control these factors indoors, the more favorable your results will be.

Rotting Roots

karlis — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0800

I grow in a 6' x 5' area using two 1000-watt HPS air-cooled lights. I use a 40 site aeroflow system. Water temp: 80 degrees. Room temp 85 degrees. One day I went to check my plants and what were healthy lush white roots had become a brown mushy mess. Thick gelatin goo formed everywhere, binding the roots together.

Fertilizer okay

karlis — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 00:00:00 -0700

I have a hydroponic system made from a 10-gallon Rubbermaid container filled with water-nutrient solution. An air pump holsters two airstones.
I cut six 4-inch-diameter circles in the top. I grew my plants in soil first until they put out their first set of true leaves. Then I placed them in 4-inch-diameter plastic cups with many holes cut at the bottom.

Hydropanic

karlis — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 00:00:00 -0700

In 1989, the US Drug Enforcement Agency tried to destroy the indoor gardening industry, asserting it was nothing more than a "sleazy front" for marijuana growers.

Ask Ed

karlis — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 00:00:00 -0700

Stem Borer

CO2 for roots

karlis — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0700

I noticed an aquarium product called Nutrafin CO2 Natural Plant System. It adds CO2 to the water. Would it help the plants in my hydroponic drip system, which has a small reservoir?
Steve,
Internet

Rootbound plants

karlis — Mon, 08 Nov 2004 00:00:00 -0800

I'm growing 46 babies in two ebb and flow trays under 1,400 watts of HPS (a 1,000 and a 400) on a six by five-foot table with a six-foot light track in a typical "box" setup and an AC unit mounted on the side. The air is enriched with CO2 from a tank and regulator. The plants are between two and three feet tall and are three weeks into flowering but they are planted in five-inch round containers.

Container size for a passive SOG garden

karlis — Mon, 13 Sep 2004 00:00:00 -0700

I am moving from soil to a hydroponics garden. I want to use the passive system with the SOG method. What size pots should I use?
Madcat,
Queensland, Australia

Cooling water

karlis — Thu, 02 Sep 2004 00:00:00 -0700

I am growing a Dutch Passion feminized Blueberry strain using a 1,000-watt HPS lighting system, and an aeroponics growing chamber with seven plants. The total garden area is five by six feet in a walk-in closet. It's winter now and my solution stays around 75 deg F (24 deg C). Will the nutrient solution get too warm in the summer? Is there a water chiller on the market for aeroponic units?

Ebb and flow flood time

karlis — Wed, 09 Jun 2004 00:00:00 -0700

I am setting up a three-foot square ebb and flow tray with a 35-gallon reservoir underneath. I plan on using four-inch rockwool cubes. For how long a period should I flood the tray?
S.D.,
Bakersfield, California

Filling the tray with water serves two purposes: it supplies moisture to the cube so that the roots can draw up more water and it adjusts the composition of the nutrient solution.

read more

Fertilizers and water

karlis — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 00:00:00 -0800

Manufacturers make fertilizers to use with "average water." That's fine, except that water in many locales is far outside that average range. Water may be too pure, for example, without much calcium; or it may be the opposite ? it may contain too many dissolved solids. The pH can be too acid or alkaline or the water may have a spike in one or a group of nutrients that affects the nutrient balance.

read more

"Homegrower's Manual" by Billy McCann

karlis — Mon, 16 Feb 2004 00:00:00 -0800

This is an amazingly comprehensive book which covers everything you need to know to grow, prepare, and sell marijuana. This book lives up to its bold subtitle: The definitive guide to understanding and growing cannabis.
Printed in the UK, this book includes chapters on medical, religious and historical uses of marijuana, details on urine testing and how to beat a pee test, and a "bonus chapter" about the proper use and effects Salvia Divinorum.

read more

Soilless mix

karlis — Mon, 16 Feb 2004 00:00:00 -0800

I'm looking for an easy to use soilless mix that is best for someone who uses the hand watering method with organic tea fertilizer solutions. What would you recommend? Also, what size containers would conserve space, but allow clones to grow to 14-16 inches before flowering is initiated.
King Cola,
New Orleans, Louisiana

There are many prepared soilless planting mixes that you can use with an organic nutrient water solution.

read more

Water ozone generators

karlis — Mon, 19 Jan 2004 00:00:00 -0800

While surfing the web I came across ozone water purifiers for fish farming that clean and disinfect the water. One of the byproducts is extra oxygen in the water for the fish and aquatic plants.

read more

CO2 late in crop

karlis — Wed, 17 Sep 2003 00:00:00 -0700

Is it too late to add C02 to my crop? My crop is six weeks into growth and I have about three weeks left. How much should I use, if any?
David N.,
Internet

read more

Stretched stems

karlis — Wed, 13 Aug 2003 00:00:00 -0700

I started my seedlings in inadequate light and created wimpy, stretched stems. I now have a 400 HPS and have staked them, but I wonder if they will be strong enough to support growth. What is the best recovery method? Some people have suggested planting them deeper, thus burying part of the existing stem. Is this a good idea?
Hillman,
Internet

read more

Size and spacing of plants

karlis — Tue, 15 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0700

I am designing a very high-tech aeroponic fogging system. I have discovered that in a lot of aeroponic systems the plants are very close together. I have been hydroponic for three years now. I keep the plants in vegetative growth for about four weeks. They grow to three feet tall in that period. I have read about people setting their babies back when they are only a foot tall.

read more

Deadly potion

karlis — Mon, 30 Dec 2002 00:00:00 -0800

I'm very new to growing. I started three healthy plants (two 12", one 22") in a simple hydro setup consisting of a drip system draining back to a tub filled with water and hydro nutrients. The plants are in meshed pots with lava rocks and perlite. The plants were all doing great until I followed a friend's advice and added a cup of blood meal to each tank.

read more

Water "lice"

karlis — Thu, 10 Oct 2002 00:00:00 -0700

We are using a drip system in a soilless mix. The other day we moved a plant and saw hundreds of tiny white bugs in the water standing at the bottom of the pail. They are very quick and constantly jump around in the water and tend to collect into colonies.
What are they? Should we kill them?

Buddy,
Internet

read more

The cannabis cage

karlis — Wed, 14 Aug 2002 00:00:00 -0700

Can you imagine growing a crop with four times the yield of your buddy's fine-tuned flat garden, without using any more light or area? Pinch yourself because that dream can come true. An inventor/grow guru has invented an easy-to-use circular garden to do just that. It's called "The Cage."

read more

Reservoir research

karlis — Mon, 06 May 2002 00:00:00 -0700

I am growing some plants in a "Liz's Garden." This is a passive reservoir system. I am using pea-sized lava as the medium. Should the nutrient/water solution in Liz's Garden be replenished when the tray dries out or should it be kept at the same level by topping it off?
Second, would adding an aquarium air pump to the tray help in oxygenating the water? The total cost would be around $20.

Low-Profiler,

read more

Growers' tomes

karlis — Thu, 02 May 2002 00:00:00 -0700

The book gods have given us a sweet crop of reading material in the last few months, and Cananbis Culture readers will derive pleasure from many of the texts and periodicals reviewed in this issue's literature review section.

read more

Green water worries

karlis — Sat, 27 Apr 2002 00:00:00 -0700

I'm using the wick system in my garden from your book Easy Marijuana Gardening. The water in the reservoir turned green after a few weeks. I drained it, cleaned the reservoir with hydrogen peroxide, and refilled it. It has turned green again and so have the wicks.

read more