2 months ago
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Instagram: Tickle.Toast
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~!~ TickleToasts' Day-to-Day / Common Practice ~!~
[Germination]
-I always start with dechlorinating my tap water. My local water is typically 180-210ppm, a tad high, but not outrageous.
API Pond @ .2ml per 4 gal / or .4ml per 4 gal for water over 100ppm (I will eventually graduate to a RO device)
-*Soak rockwool cubes - some instructions say to just "dip" - ignore this, you wonât end up with the PH you want. Seedlings can damp off over just about anything, with this we cross PH off the list.
-Do not water your rockwool daily, instead every other or when clearly bone dry. If you over water rockwool you'll push out needed oxygen just like soil and smother/drown seedlings.
If you choose to germinate in rockwool/peat then there is NO reason not to let that seedling go a full two weeks, week 1: water/bennie/stim/hormone. Week 2: Acclimate to Nutrients. This reduces the chances of that seedling damping off at transplant and in DWC thatâs more important than with any other system of growing.
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[LED's]
I find its best to first reference the manufacturer's instructions for each individual product and go from there.
Typically, this works fine for LEDs using Samsung Diodes & HLG drivers:
Seedlings: 20''/@50% - Veg: 15''/@75%
Early Flower: 15''/@100% - Mid Flower: 10''/@100%
ViparSpectre XS2000's have been treating me very well the last couple years (Affiliate Link: https://bit.ly/3NOxRdQ ). I will eventually graduate to some HLG's or something equivalent, or maybe make my own.
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[Transplant]
-Start weekly BT-k treatment (Bacillus Thuringiensis - Kurtsaki) (1ml per 32oz)
It's safe / tasteless / useable through flower. I skip weeks 1-3 in flower so as to not bother newly forming pistils too much (you should have enough lingering bacillus to be safe, defoliate as needed!). It's fairly common practice at large scale facilities to stop spraying altogether in flower - however BT-k is an exception. It wonât leave a taste or residue on buds like green cleaner / spice based or oil-based products.
-*Scoop out hydroton before transplanting - I use a cup with the bottom poked out to make space and drop in the seedling undisturbed / refill / remove cup / adjust hydroton. This ensures a safe transplant and reduces damping. It's easy to crush stem if you get in the habit of doing this barehanded.
-DO NOT place rockwool/seedlings directly into your nutrient solution. Doing this can, and most likely will, choke/drown your seedling. If you use the above method then it becomes easy to get your seedling halfway into the netpot and get your roots withing millimeters of your solution, without it touching your rockwool and pushing out all your much-needed oxygen. Oxygen is incentive to grow - without it your plant probably won't.
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[Mixing / Nutrient Solution]
~!~ Dechlorinate First - PH Last ~!~
~!~ *nutrient swap is every two weeks* ~!~ (or as needed / at flip)
~!~ PH at least once Every 24 hours ~!~
The day of a nute swap/top off is the mandatory exception. You want to PH one more time before lights out - as your fresh solution will have mixed fully/stabilized after a couple hours.
-I use a pony pump to remove any old nutrient solution. SumpMarine Water Transfer Pump (115v 330 Gallon Per Hour). Anything that gets it out without moving/hurting your plant will do - *have an extra on hand* (if this part fails, your plants will suffer).
The two-week swap rule is for those of us treating our solution with a bennie such as Hydroguard / Southern AG / Great White etc. If you choose to use peroxide and go "sterile" then you need a chiller as well and canât use organics (I use single unit hydrobuckets, chillers require a *RDWC setup, or just one single unit). I am of the mindset that there is no such thing as "sterile" and peroxide is a mild bleaching agentâŚcannabis is a accumulator plantâŚ.proven/tested bennies are the future for hydroponics people! just sayin.
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-I mix a full fresh batch directly in my buckets at those two-week swaps (pump out the old, fill with fresh water) (the air stones do the actual mixing - have an extra set on hand to swap to if they clog). Reminder: I dechlorinate FIRST, wait a couple minutes - *then get to your nutrients*
Work diligently and your plants won't miss a beat or be stressed by this process whatsoever. (Do not let them just sit with half your mix in it or something, while your off doing whatever else.)
-Water starts @ ~60°-65°f
Mixing Order: Silica 1st Always / CalMag / TriPart (Base) / Extras / Bennie / *PH
-The mid-week top offs are mixed separately in 5gal food grade buckets and then hand poured with a half-gallon pitcher.
*NEVER let your buckets go dry, there is no such thing as "over watering" in hydro, however, the flipside to this is that IF your reservoir/bucket goes dry - your plants will hate you! This is because they will no longer have access to oxygen, as well as nutrients, and DWC is an active-oxygenation system. Going from High to Low is stressful (choking) and can even herm your plants.
*Try to anticipate your top-off days. With the hydrobuckets its easy, if you can see the bottom line then itâs a fill day. If this is within a day of the 2-week swap, then just do it a day early instead.
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[PPM]
I always check the starting waters PPM and subtract that from my overall before reporting.
-My reported PPM is fairly accurate until you get into mid to late veg. Things start to steadily creep up due to salt/nutrient retention within the rhizosphere. From here, what is reported is the fresh solution added at the two week mark and weekly top offs.
This works just fine in DWC for mooooost genetics. I never add more than 1000ppm at the highest points, and it never exceeds 2000ppm overall. If it ever gets too high you can service that plant individually (pump out early or top off with a corrective amount etc.)
A plant grown in DWC that is treated right - can exceed upwards of 3000ppm. What I'm doing is fairly modest, but allows for a large differential that I can monitor and adjust as needed. Most genetics donât need much tending to outside of my base recipe - and if it does, I simply wonât revisit those genetics again in DWC.
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[Environment]
~!~ I Maintain 74°-84°F 24hrs/day ~!~
~!~ 45-60% RH ~!~
AC Unit: Summer @ 66°-68°f / Winter @ 70°-73°f / (20°f or below) @ 76°-78°f
(adjust as needed)
(11x12.5ft / 138sqr.ft Room)
It's easy to maintain a 10° differential in your environment with some solid equipment and a close eye/fine tuning (without thermo/humidistat controllers)! This can easily be adjusted to a warmer climate as desired, just up/lower the AC range a bit according to where you are and your lung space.
Keep in mind that your home thermostat is at the front of the line when it comes to environmental control. The average home runs 68°-76°f, aside from that your fighting the heat put off by the LEDs and that is altogether pretty manageable.
I've found that so long as you're within 45-60% RH and 74°-90° temps, then your VPD will always be in the yellow-green :)
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[Dry & Cure]
I cut down my plants at the base of each primary branch. (so, if you top once or twice after mainlining - you'll end up with 8 or 16 branches to hang). Hang each one at the base of the intersecting nodes and you won't need anything else save for maybe a few clothing pins to secure the stragglers & stuff that falls off.
~!~ 7-14 day dry ~!~
~!~ 45-60% RH / 70-75°F ~!~
~!~ 1 Month Cure ~!~
I will tilt more towards 60% RH / 65°F when I start pressing rosin - for a bit more moisture retention.
-Old-School Mason Jars are my preference - burp once a day for about a week.
For strains that have satisfactory bag appeal right out of dry - I sometimes forgo the traditional method and "bag cure" instead. Using *freezer bags (they will leach out the least and let close to no extra moisture in - just like food in the freezer). Only downside to this is some static electricity. Not really an issue for the kind of stuff I'm talking about, and if you're worried about that then it likely needs the full month in something air tight.
In the future I will be trying out some food grade buckets with air-tight lids, for bulk curing.
-Boveda / Integra Boost - 62% Two-Way Humidity Control Packs
Humidistats are pointless! I recommend not using them after the first couple grows and you get an idea for when your plants are close / fully dry / needs rehydrating - without using them. The reason being, they collect plant material on them and can't really be cleaned, reuse them and you can track in mold. If you're using something like BT-k and keep a close eye on what is fully dry or close and what isn't, you will learn to do it by feel.
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[Extras]
-Co2 Generator (5gl Bucket):
Mix
-2.5 gal Water (No more than 3gal* depending on the strength of your air pump, or the mixture ends up in the airline)
-8 cups Sugar (fully dissolved in warm water)
-1/4 cup Active Dry Yeast (I mix half with the sugar / the other half at the end for a slow release)
*Do not use longer than two weeks* It will start to spoil.
(Good Bucket Lid) Tubing / Air stone ran in from a low watt air pump to the solution, and a 2nd tube ran from the lid out and to a high placed fan. This isn't quite as good as a C02 bag or tank of course, but it does well to get your PPM over ambient with harmless/natural fermentation - and for the price you can't beat that. (Picture example in my 1st diary week 8)
(Eventually I'll upgrade to a refillable C02 tank*)
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-Good to note that I wrap my hydrobuckets with insulation, mix with cold water, and keep airflow on them - putting my temperatures below 76°f at all times. This, combined with a BT product (Amyloliquefaciens) such as Hydroguard/Southern AG/Great White etc. as well as the active oxygenation system - is what keeps root rot from ever being an issue within my system.
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