Durban Poison SCROG SIP (Sub Irrigated Planter)

Welcome to the 3rd week of flower. The stretch should take place this week. TLDR. Self wicking pots working well but proved the need for a thorough cleaning mid-grow to keep functioning. New lighting spectrum to support flowering. Starting new seeds for my next grow…..planning to clone first. Vivosun self-feeding bases are still working well. The only work required was the flush last week. I have noticed that they uptake water more slowly over time. I regret using 3 gallon fiber pots…..5 gallon pots would wick and hold more moisture. I’m not sure that these 3 gallons will make it without needed top watering over time……or at least one more flush. (As of Friday, I believe the issue is dirty clogged wicks) Starting the week under that new light spectrum with more red lights to support flowering. This LED is also 6 years newer so it should be more powerful for flower even at the exact same wattage. Day 15 Wednesday: Saw a little leaf curl so I raised the lamps 1 inch to 13” above the plants. Dimmer at 86. Daily Light Integral averaging 30. I plan to creep the dimmer up daily. Checked ph which had risen from 6.1 to 6.5. Added 1ml of ph down to each 1.3 gallon reservoir. I’m targeting a 5.8ph. Ppm was around 1000, so I topped off reservoirs with 1g of RO Water to dilute the reservoirs. Plants are looking healthy and I’m glad that I flushed the salts out of the coco last week. Day 16 Thursday. HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Topped off with RO water in the reservoirs. Noticed a need for CalMag and phosphorous, so added liquid KoolBloom and CalMag to the 1.3 gallon reservoirs. Ph at 6.0. Ppm at 900. Day 17: Friday pots feel extremely light today and not holding enough water again. This has historically indicated that they need a flush, but I completed one last week so I’m confused. Either I will need to flush more frequently due to being in a 3 gallon pot or there is another issue. I flushed one plant with 4 gallons of Florakleen mix and the runoff of the first gallon was only 700! So no salt buildup since the last flush. Decided to pull out the plant bases and inspect the wicks. See pictures above. Looks like mold growth probably blocking the wick uptake. So I cleaned and swapped out each reservoir. NOTE TO SELF….CLEAN RESERVOIRS EVERY 2-3 WEEKS TO KEEP THE WICKS FUNCTIONING PROPERLY. I have always routinely cleaned my AC Infinity bases but they were never built into a scrog net like this. I think this slow water uptake has all been “user error”. We’ll see how well they keep the plants watered with freshly cleaned wicks. Placed two new seeds into an aerogarden to start the plants. I’ve never used this approach. Soaked for 6 hours in RO water with seaweed extract then placed in the Aerogarden. (Also growing mini tomatoes and peppers). Day 18: Saturday topped off reservoirs with ro water. Add .75ml ph down to each 1.3 gallon reservoir to target 5.8-6.0 ph. Plants are heavy and holding water from flush yesterday. No other activity needed. Day 19 Sunday: planted seeds into spider farmer aerogarden for next grow. Planning to attempt my first DWC grow. Observed a phosphorous deficiency on plant #1 which received the most thorough flush. Added liquid KoolBloom to the reservoir of all three plants. For the one showing the deficiency, I flushed using the reservoir contents. Net, she has a nice strong 1100ppm dose of nutrients in her root zone now. Now we wait. Also took the advice from another forum and added two 1/4 inch wicks. The Vivosun uses smaller 1/6 inch wicks. Given the clogging issue I experienced, I’m going to see if this improves wicking action over the rest of the grow. Day 20 Monday: Ran the remainder of the 1.3 gallon reservoirs (1100ppm / 6.0 ph) through the base of each plant. Runoff was 1300 ppm, so I did flush some salts out of thr medium. Drained each reservoir and replaced with fresh nutrients. 900ppm and 5.9 ph. I’m growing tired of dealing with these slow wicks so I’m going overboard with my modification. I added some 1/4 inch wicks. Let’s see which plant stays hydrated best now.