Here’s the setup for those interested. Deep water hydro. 6 inch net pots, had 8 inch but the 6 inch is better as it’s deeper. They sit in a 27 gallon Greenmade tote with around 10-17 gallons of water depending on stage.
300 gph aquarium air pump. 4 inch cylinder air stone, one under each pot.
700 watt modern bar led light fixture, warm/cool+ir. Pulls 630 watts at the plug. Ran 20/4 during seedling and 18/6 when turned up to 100%. I tried to use it on a mover kept near the plants but it was causing hot spots and burning the leaves. They seem happier with the light at the top and on at 100% as it spreads out the lux way more evenly. Depending on the height, the dli is anywhere from 20-50 (maybe I haven’t measured it in ages).
Masterblend tomato mix plus epsom salt plus calcium nitrate is a full nutrient mix. I add agsil16h, the water soluble one for extra silicone and it makes the stems very strong. The plants love it, it’s cheap, easy to mix the dry into separate wet bottles and then just dose by volume. Best salt based nutrients in my opinion.
I did a bunch of research and copied autopotamos grow habits.
Starting them out in 1 ec under 200 watts of light. Bumping that up to 1.5 ec and 300 watts by week 1. Week 2 up to 2 ec, full light. Week 3, 3 ec. Week 4, slowly ramp up to 4ec or tip burn. I got up to 3.8 before the OG started getting mad. Week 5-7 hold 3 ec. 7+ or late flower, 2 ec
Tank temp should be 65-70f. Air Temp should be 80-95f. Humidity needs to match the vpd needs of the stage it’s at. That’s been 80 down to 65% so far and down to 55% at the end of flower.
The plant is a triangle. Light at the top, nutrients is one bottom corner, and vpd as the other bottom corner. Balance all 3 and the plant grows really vigorously. If they are out of sync the plant can’t use what’s being thrown at it.
Lots of light, high EC plus high humidity, means low water exchange and no tip burn as the plant can’t suck up too many nutrients.
Lots of light, high EC, plus low humidity, means the plant must drink lots of water through it’s roots and will be pulling too many nutrients. Causing burn.
Tldr, if you run high EC you have to carefully manage humidity or vpd otherwise the plants will burn and stress and stunt.
And last here’s some random tips I’ve learned. The humidity in the tent will vary a ton from relative humidity. The air under light is consistently 10-15f warmer than the air above the light. The air is also dryer under the light. The vpd the plant experiences is the actual reading under the light at plant level.
If you have your temp meter in a random spot in the tent, it’s probably not very accurate. Eg with real numbers, top of tent 80f 70%. Under the light, 93f 45%. Middle of tent 84f 65%. The plants experience all of that, the top gets hot and dry, under the leaves is cooler and more humid. That’s why mixing up the air in your tent is so important
Happy growing y’all
