Durban Poison SCROG SIP (Sub Irrigated Planter)

Ooooooo-eeeeeee……she’s starting to smell wonderful. I rub the stems and I get a wonderful pine scent. This is my third scrog and I still have a lot to learn. My first two really shouldn’t count because it was nothing more than a support net. I’m actually bending and supercropping to move branches under the net this time. Looking much better on the left side of the canopy than the right side….more buds and more mature. The plant on the right isn’t growing as quickly. Welcome to week #2 of flower. I update my journal daily based on daily activities. Average daytime temperatures are around 80;degrees. Most importantly, my exhaust fan is holding the VPD at 1.1-1.2. Day 8. Wednesday - Added half gallon of nutrient solution, lowered ph in reservoirs from 6.4 to 6.0 with .5ml of ph down. Raised the LED by two inches to offset for plant growth. LED is now 15” above the plants on full blast and providing a daily light integral of 35.5. That’s ok for now, but I’d like to see it closer to 40 in weeks 3-5 of flower. I will likely need to lower my light to increase intensity. Reservoirs at 6.0 ph and 800 ppm. Day 9. Starting to get concerned that the high nutrient content will result in the need for a flush in 2-3 weeks. In preparation, I’m reducing my nutrients slightly to prevent excess salt buildup at the roots. I’m updating this week to reflect the reduced feed. Day 10: DEFICIENCY FOUND - Phosphorous. Added 6ml of liquid KoolBloom (0-10-10) to each 1.3 gallon reservoir, added 2ml of cal mag to each reservoir, topped off with RO water. Day 11: Saturday I decided to perform a FULL FLUSH OF PLANTERS. These pots have stopped taking up enough water to support the roots based on how light each pot is. By end of week, there’s still some water weight in the pots and the plants aren’t drinking much from the reservoirs after the flush. I’ll be that water uptake improves post-flush. One of the downsides of these self-feeding planters is the salt buildup at the root zone from my synthetic nutrients. It has always resulted in damaged leaves during flower as that salt builds up. I discovered that by flushing the fiber pots at least once to reduce the EC at the root zone, I can finish my grow successfully without damaged leaves. So I incorporate a flush into every grow now. Flushed with 16 gallons of water treated with Florakleen to dissolve the salts. Flushing solution was probably around 200-300ppm when I dispensed. The first runoff water out of the root zone had a ppm on 1800ppm, so there’s definitely a salt buildup as expected but not as bad as I expected either. I ended the flush by running nutrient solution through the roots with a ppm of 750. Runoff ppm from the three reservoirs before the flush was 1500, 1795 and 1800. After the flush the runoff for the three reservoirs was 845, 1200 and 1100. I’m hoping this will be the only flush I need since this is a short veg and fast flowering strain. Refilled reservoirs with nutrient water at 6.0ph and 800ppm. Defoliated top and below net, focused on removing fan leaves that were blocking bud sites. Day 12 Sunday: researched LEDs and ordered new LED to replace my 6 year old technology (cob) Day 13 Monday added second scrog net 3-4” above the first one. Wove branches to expose more bud sites. Now I stop weaving branches and wait for the colas to develop. The second scrog net should help support the canopy in late flower. Observed that new growth is starting to look light green, so added 3ml of micro to each reservoir. Decided to flush the reservoirs and start with fresh nutrients. New nutrients added at 900ppm and 6.1ph. Day 14: Tuesday I installed new grow light. Wow is it bright…..12” above and 90% dimming for a DLI of 30. I like the light coverage from 3 bars instead of 3 cobs too (previous light). So 320 watts over 8 square feet should work well. This lamp provides more red spectrum to support flowering better. As I close out the week, I’m seeing some infrequent purple stems, so I’ve been bumping up the phosphorous with Liquid Koolbloom (0-10-10) as the week goes on. Ph is in line. Hoping the plants continue to look healthy for 8 more weeks.