Jacks vs Bottle nutrients grow comparison. DWC

Tolerance Break said:

This was my first grow, I used jacks and loved it

Ended up with 2 of those jars full of weed, about 3 gallons off 3 plants.

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Good shit, looks like you learned the secret of making the root mat. Blows my mind how many people do not cover their flood trays with panda.

Leave out the coco mat next time, you do not need it with the tray covered and you will get even more roots.

F_T_P! said:

Good shit, looks like you learned the secret of making the root mat. Blows my mind how many people do not cover their flood trays with panda.

Leave out the coco mat next time, you do not need it with the tray covered and you will get even more roots.

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Learned that from posts here and on youtube before making an account. Its amazing how much info is on this site if youre willing to dig.

Forreal!? I wanted to do an experiment someday with cotton batting in place of the cocomat. 6 plants, 3 on cotton batting, 3 just sitting on the tray. I think I will try it my next grow now that youve peaked my curiosity.

Tolerance Break said:

Learned that from posts here and on youtube before making an account. Its amazing how much info is on this site if youre willing to dig.

Forreal!? I wanted to do an experiment someday with cotton batting in place of the cocomat. 6 plants, 3 on cotton batting, 3 just sitting on the tray. I think I will try it my next grow now that youve peaked my curiosity.

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Forrealdo, mats hold too much moisture so roots do not search out water. The left over water in the tray along with the humidity dome you created with the panda will create the perfect environment for root explosion.

F_T_P! said:

Forrealdo, mats hold too much moisture so roots do not search out water. The left over water in the tray along with the humidity dome you created with the panda will create the perfect environment for root explosion.

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That makes perfect sense, thank you! Do you believe I will need to do any major changes to my water schedule of 3 floods, 3 times a day, 2 minutes each?

Tolerance Break said:

That makes perfect sense, thank you! Do you believe I will need to do any major changes to my water schedule of 3 floods, 3 times a day, 2 minutes each?

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What medium are you using?

F_T_P! said:

What medium are you using?

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4x4x4 Rockwool cubes

Tolerance Break said:

4x4x4 Rockwool cubes

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I am not an expert on rockwool so I guess you would adjust if needed. I run hydroton in pots so my watering times are longer and more frequent. I think sticking with your watering schedule will work fine.

F_T_P! said:

I am not an expert on rockwool so I guess you would adjust if needed. I run hydroton in pots so my watering times are longer and more frequent. I think sticking with your watering schedule will work fine.

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I appreciate the honesty. I guess there is only one way to fine out, and thats just to do the damn thing

Tolerance Break said:

about 3 gallons.

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I too measure my weed like this. it's glorious.

Very fond of jacks. Have like 45 pounds of it I think so you know, all set for quite a while.

Tolerance Break said:

Learned that from posts here and on youtube before making an account. Its amazing how much info is on this site if youre willing to dig.

Forreal!? I wanted to do an experiment someday with cotton batting in place of the cocomat. 6 plants, 3 on cotton batting, 3 just sitting on the tray. I think I will try it my next grow now that youve peaked my curiosity.

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I know of the video you watched. The guy's name was Mama something I think. It's what sent me on a long journey of experimentation a couple of years ago, which recently lead me to very small pots of coco with Blumats in Dutch leach trays.

I will 100% attest to the insane root system that is created by covering the trays in panda film. I used rockwool slabs and Unislabs, and what I noticed was the roots were mostly concentrated at the bottoms and beneath the slabs. I couldn't get the panda film completely air tight, so they liked the sub-layer the most.

I think it's why that dude used cotton batting. I didn't really trust the long term sterilization of wet cotton, so I bought a thick roll of coco mat. I never got around to trying it because I started using 6" coco cubes instead of rockwool because I founding hand watering them under the panda film was a pain. I tried to use Blumats with soaker hoses, but they didn't jive with the rockwool, so I bought the coco cubes and tried to replicate the rockwool setup.

But then I thought of using the dutch leech trays because I was vegging in them. I figured I could reduce the footprint of the flood trays and also just move the leach trays from the veg room to the flowering tents without transplanting them. I ended up disliking the coco cubes, so I decided to use similar sized fabric pots and fill my own with Canna Coco.

The problem is the Blumats makes the Leech trays too hard to cover with panda film because the leech trays aren't as tall as my flood trays. So I'm kind of back to square one. I'm trying to decide if I should stick with this setup, which is looking good now that I have the kinks worked out. Or go back to rockwool and maybe flood and drain the panda filmed leech trays. Or buy smaller flood trays for the coco / Blumats.

But yeah, I really want those roots back.

lusidghost said:

I know of the video you watched. The guy's name was Mama something I think. It's what sent me on a long journey of experimentation a couple of years ago, which recently lead me to very small pots of coco with Blumats in Dutch leach trays.

I will 100% attest to the insane root system that is created by covering the trays in panda film. I used rockwool slabs and Unislabs, and what I noticed was the roots were mostly concentrated at the bottoms and beneath the slabs. I couldn't get the panda film completely air tight, so they liked the sub-layer the most.

I think it's why that dude used cotton batting. I didn't really trust the long term sterilization of wet cotton, so I bought a thick roll of coco mat. I never got around to trying it because I started using 6" coco cubes instead of rockwool because I founding hand watering them under the panda film was a pain. I tried to use Blumats with soaker hoses, but they didn't jive with the rockwool, so I bought the coco cubes and tried to replicate the rockwool setup.

But then I thought of using the dutch leech trays because I was vegging in them. I figured I could reduce the footprint of the flood trays and also just move the leach trays from the veg room to the flowering tents without transplanting them. I ended up disliking the coco cubes, so I decided to use similar sized fabric pots and fill my own with Canna Coco.

The problem is the Blumats makes the Leech trays too hard to cover with panda film because the leech trays aren't as tall as my flood trays. So I'm kind of back to square one. I'm trying to decide if I should stick with this setup, which is looking good now that I have the kinks worked out. Or go back to rockwool and maybe flood and drain the panda filmed leech trays. Or buy smaller flood trays for the coco / Blumats.

But yeah, I really want those roots back.

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Try flood and drain with hydroton in pots with panda, it has been the best for me. Next best is coco in smart pots drain to waste. I used to run Blumats in coco and I always had to recalibrate them, it worked but was a hassle to me.

F_T_P! said:

Try flood and drain with hydroton in pots with panda, it has been the best for me. Next best is coco in smart pots drain to waste. I used to run Blumats in coco and I always had to recalibrate them, it worked but was a hassle to me.

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I think hydroton and soil are the only two mediums I haven't messed with at this point. I'm not sure if I can bring myself to attempting another experiment. My yields have suffered throughout all of this. Although, hydroton in leech trays might be a good setup that I haven't considered.

I still fiddle with the blumats a little, but that's mostly due to my tiny pots. The little bit of calibrating takes much less time than hand watering. And flooding to waste is kind of a pain because I'm in a tent, so everything has to be low. I was using a pump to drain the flood trays, by there were always suction issues and I had to screw with the hose to get it to work. I couldn't risk having a setup like that on timers. But on the other hand, the hydroton / leech trays would be pretty easy to drain with a pump if I got creative.

Damn it, man. You're dragging me back into the madness of experimentation. I was just about to hang up my lab coat. haha...

lusidghost said:

I know of the video you watched. The guy's name was Mama something I think. It's what sent me on a long journey of experimentation a couple of years ago, which recently lead me to very small pots of coco with Blumats in Dutch leach trays.

I will 100% attest to the insane root system that is created by covering the trays in panda film. I used rockwool slabs and Unislabs, and what I noticed was the roots were mostly concentrated at the bottoms and beneath the slabs. I couldn't get the panda film completely air tight, so they liked the sub-layer the most.

I think it's why that dude used cotton batting. I didn't really trust the long term sterilization of wet cotton, so I bought a thick roll of coco mat. I never got around to trying it because I started using 6" coco cubes instead of rockwool because I founding hand watering them under the panda film was a pain. I tried to use Blumats with soaker hoses, but they didn't jive with the rockwool, so I bought the coco cubes and tried to replicate the rockwool setup.

But then I thought of using the dutch leech trays because I was vegging in them. I figured I could reduce the footprint of the flood trays and also just move the leach trays from the veg room to the flowering tents without transplanting them. I ended up disliking the coco cubes, so I decided to use similar sized fabric pots and fill my own with Canna Coco.

The problem is the Blumats makes the Leech trays too hard to cover with panda film because the leech trays aren't as tall as my flood trays. So I'm kind of back to square one. I'm trying to decide if I should stick with this setup, which is looking good now that I have the kinks worked out. Or go back to rockwool and maybe flood and drain the panda filmed leech trays. Or buy smaller flood trays for the coco / Blumats.

But yeah, I really want those roots back.

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The cocomat wasn't sterile enough to my liking, hence why I wanted to switch to cotton batting. You can see in the photo I posted earlier where mold would grow on the matting. I ended up adding some h202 34% to my weekly flush to keep anything really nasty from taking hold.

The gap between the panda film and the tray is a peatry dish, I dont believe I can ever prevent mold from forming in such humid conditions, but I know from experience I can keep my plants healthy enough not to be affected by it with some regular maintenance.

Markshomegrown said:

Come harvest, I don't want my buds full of Nitrogren, maybe you do?
you remove most the fan leaves in late veg/ early flower, I reduce the food in late flower(5th week) so the plants get rid of the unneeded fan leaves.
The results more or less the same, no body wants a full canopy of leaves a week before harvest, could cause high humidity in the canopy and this could cause bud rot, also this will reduce the light getting to the lower bud sites and ripening them, resulting in airy buds.

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idk, I just pluck leaves as needed to keep air moving and my buds are dense, dank and delicious. Flushing is pointless unless it’s to correct ph, or nutrient excess from over feeding. Rarely do I have leaves yellow and I damn sure don’t let em get crispy.

Tolerance Break said:

The cocomat wasn't sterile enough to my liking, hence why I wanted to switch to cotton batting. You can see in the photo I posted earlier where mold would grow on the matting. I ended up adding some h202 34% to my weekly flush to keep anything really nasty from taking hold.

The gap between the panda film and the tray is a peatry dish, I dont believe I can ever prevent mold from forming in such humid conditions, but I know from experience I can keep my plants healthy enough not to be affected by it with some regular maintenance.

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Right on. During all of my experiments I tried to flood and drain the coco cubes, and ended up with a horrible algae overtake. I didn't have any whatsoever when I used rockwool. I ran a few cycles with that setup too.

The dude had the video's comments turned off, so there was no way to ask any questions about the betting. I searched all over the internet afterwards, but couldn't really find any good info on it. I'm sure at least a few growers have tried since then. That was at least two years ago.

Now you have me rethinking the betting idea. Your coco mat didn't look too bad though. Both probably need a sterilization regime.

Lenin1917 said:

idk, I just pluck leaves as needed to keep air moving and my buds are dense, dank and delicious. Flushing is pointless unless it’s to correct ph, or nutrient excess from over feeding. Rarely do I have leaves yellow and I damn sure don’t let em get crispy.

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The lights were too close to the top of my canopy and it slowly damaged the leaves(70,000 lux), I should have lifted the hood and kept the lux around 50,000 not going to make that mistake again, you can't fix the damaged leaves in mid/late flower.
It was my first time using this flower room and I thought I could keep the lights a little closer to the top of the canopy.

Markshomegrown said:

The lights were too close to the top of my canopy and it slowly damaged the leaves(70,000 lux), I should have lifted the hood and kept the lux around 50,000 not going to make that mistake again, you can't fix the damaged leaves in mid/late flower.
It was my first time using this flower room and I thought I could keep the lights a little closer to the top of the canopy.

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It happens, had to swap out to the 1000w ballast in my auto tent to run my dimmable 600w ballast for seedlings and they ain’t liking it, got a new tent and a few lights coming in the next few days so they just gonna have to deal with the excess, might back off to 16/8 on the lights though since my big autos show fatigue at 18/6

twentyeight.threefive said:

Jack's is a low cost and effective line of nutrients.

Benefits? Low cost, completely water soluble (clear final solution with no precipitates to clog drip/feed systems), and effective.

All the things you are looking for in the final paragraph are going to be strain dependant, except for the last.

My pH drifts up every day my Jack's solution sits while being aerated.

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Most ag salt fertilizer recommends avoiding air stones for this reason. I know that Athena Ag Pro line says do not use air stones cause it will raise your PH.

Q: "Should I use an airstone?"
A: No. Airstones will cause pH to rise over time. We recommend using a circulation pump to keep your solution mixed.

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