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Old 10-23-2014, 02:08 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Lake Havasu AZ.
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Hello Bigdaddy216,
Quote:
but I think I add some reflective radiant barrier round bucket to help maybe keep lil more warm and added protection to block light
I was really making a comment about the bato buckets in the video you posted the link to. I wasn't referring to your setup. Your buckets looked black, and I believe you stated your water temp was about 65 to 66. I assume that is Fahrenheit otherwise, WOW. Your water temp is fine. The optimum range is between 68 and 72 Fahrenheit. a few degrees either way is no problem. You just don't want it to get into the 80's or it can lead to problems like heat stress, as well as unwanted bacteria, fungi, and microorganisms (thus pathogens). Pathogens are any living organism (plant or animal) that harms the plant, and like tommy mentioned they thrive best in warm water. They will always be in your system, but if the water temps get high they thrive and begin to outnumber the beneficial microbes that are in your system as well and keep them in check. Then when outnumbering the beneficial microbes there is nothing to keep them from multiplying out of control.

I wouldn't worry about pathogens much right now in your system, your water temps are fine, you said the roots look nice and white, and you said the water looks and smells fine. So I don't really see any signs that you have a problem with pathogens.

Quote:
for air circulation I know u cant tell from here lol but I basically have tent half open all time not closed up so air flows better with fan inside
I asked about air circulation on your plants because if there is standing moisture on the leaves, mold spores can germinate and the mold feeds on the plant. Giving your plant a fungal disease. Often times the first signs of this is spots on the leaves, so I just wanted to be able to eliminate it as a possible problem. It's also why I asked if there was any chance tiny water droplets are splashing on the leaves. That happens a lot with top drip irrigation systems, the water hits the grow rocks and tiny droplets splash on he leaves. Especially for small seedlings because people want it to get as close to the plant as possible because the root system is so small at that point. You can easily get standing water on the the leaves in high humidity (which the plants love) if you don't have good air circulation to the plants foliage.


Before you change your nutrients tomorrow, I would still check the pH before you do. Simply because if you don't you will never know if it was out of range in the first place. Normally for seedlings that small I would easily let it go a month before changing the nutrients because the plants that size are to small to use enough to deplete the nutrients in it. But I would still change them in your situation because you added extra Epsom salt, and from what I can tell it looks like you may have used too much calcium nitrate for this stage. Make sure you double check and triple check your math first if you have any question it may not be right. Otherwise it's just a waste of good nutrients dumping having to dump it out later, because your not sure. Not to mention could be stressful to your plants if it's not right.

I cant ell you how many times I have done a nutrient change and lost track of how much of what I already added (someone asks you a question, the dog barks, etc.etc..). One distraction and you forgot how many teaspoons you added. You cant take it out once you put it in, so check your math first. For dry nutrients I like to put it in a measuring cup before adding it to the water. That way if I loose track I can just pour it back in the container and start over. You can do the same with liquid nutrients as long as you add each part to the water separately, and rinse the cup out between each one you need to add.

P.S. Bigdaddy216
Like I mentioned I wouldn't worry about pathogens right now because from what you've said I don't see any signs their out of control. But if your interested I like to use these:

SubCulture-B (for the Trichoderma fungi)
and
Earth Juice Rooters (for the Mycorrhizae fungi)

oTOMMYo and Bigdaddy216
Also, if either of you are interested in learning more about beneficial microbes send me a private message with an e-mail address, or contact me through my e-mail address on the "contact us" page of my website, and I'll send you the articles I have in text documents on the subject.
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