My First Grobo Grow

[vegetato]

The roots are nice and white, though they are developing slowly – likely due to the week without nutes. Since the fix they’re getting thicker and more are coming in. I have been very careful to keep the lid closed and have only peeked in at the roots a few times since starting and only during the evening (when the room is dark). I peeked in last night and they’re starting to increase in size over the past week or so.

When I peek I just lift the front side of the lid about 2-3 cm to get a view in, the roots are already tangled and providing some resistance to that so I might need to stop doing this or risk pulling some out.

Today the bottom of the stem is starting to stiffen up as well, so I’m expecting that should get thicker over the next week or two.

I can’t get hydroguard here and to purchase any hydrogen peroxide that is of a concentration greater than 3% requires some documentation (in my country/province). Thankfully that doesn’t seem to be necessary yet.

Tonight will upload the pics from yesterday and today. She’s starting to rise and perk up more – the new fan leaves are taking over!!

[Russel_Richardson]

Perfect then probably no need to worry and you’ll start to see her rebound. And yeah once my root rot cleared up they got real tangled and I couldn’t lift anymore until harvest. Not that I needed/wanted to. Turned out fine!

[vegetato]

Here’s a closer pic, one from each of the past 3 days:

[Azuri]

@vegetato

I can’t get hydroguard here

Hey @vegetato

You can in fact get hydroguard here assuming you’re in Canada (Toronto) You can shop in person of close enough or they ship free with $100 and over of products.

I order my nutes for my soil grow from time to time here. Also check amazon.ca.

Hydroguard™ is back with a new, clean look and a more powerful, concentrated...

[James]

@Azuri Doesn’t bioroot do basically the same stuff at a fraction of the cost?

[vegetato]

Great info – thank you!

[Azuri]

@James

Doesn’t bioroot do basically the same stuff

Hey @James

I’ve not used either product since I’ve had no root issues. I was help point a fellow grower he could get it. I avoid a huge line up of products designed to deplete my wallet lol.

[James]

Hello @Azuri

I see a lot of folks use bioroot and rockwool cubes for cloning . My understanding is bioroot contains vitamins, enzymes, organic and humic acids that stimulate root growth. BioRoot is outstanding for seedlings and cuttings, helping young plants develop strong and massive root systems. I don’t know the difference between the two products which is why I asked . I was under the impression that root rot in hydroponics was due to oxygen levels or high water temps. Pythium thrives in warm water because of the the dissipating dissolved oxygen.

[vegetato]

The water coming out of the reservoir during drains is clocking in around 22.5C (72.5F) every time so far. How cold is good enough to stave off rot?

The temperature at the reservoir cover itself is around 23C.

The air temperature below the first fan is a constant 24-25C during day and 22-24C for a few hours during the night/early morning. RH hovers between 27-35%, has been 23 sometimes lately but not any lower. Raising it is a royal pain currently.

Below the light it’s a bit warmer than down below and I believe the overheat issues are behind me (only happened for short period then was fixed semi-permanently).

I’ll be making some environmental tweaks to address the conditions over time but for now will need to live with that RH. My expectation is that she will struggle a bit due to that and will likely only produce a small yield, so I’m inclined to have faith in her genetics they’ve not let me down yet in soil.

I’ll continue the grow under these RH conditions to get a baseline for the next grow to compare with after making some tweaks. I’d rather keep the environmental conditions stable (if not perfect) than manipulate them so much that I can’t tell what fixed which issue.

I also can’t just raise humidity in the room so will need to get creative about that part; current thought is to find cool air humidifier to attach to the intake with magnets or something. The trick would be to trap it in the bottom somehow so the circuitry up top doesn’t get subjected to it… . like sectioning off between the fans with a plastic barrier for example (bottom would be wet top would stay dry).

[James]

@vegetato

Someone please correct me if this is wrong

How does root rot start? High water temps, lack of air flow (air stone not working), fungus, pests/knats, dormant spores ect (a lot of reasons really)

My understanding (new to hydro) is keep your hydroponic nutrient solution under 75 degrees to help prevent root rot.

If you’re seeking a cheap fix for increasing your humidity there are cheap portable humidifiers. I believe with prime day happening this portable humidifier can be had for under 20$’s. I also had an unused light portable batterybank. It’s really small and picked up for the grobo specific in the event it’s needed. I can provide model numbers if you’re interested. Initial tests show it will stream continiously for 4-5 hours or puff every 3 seconds for 8 hours

Humidifiers are cheap, dehumidifiers are expensive (the ones that are any good at least).

Probably should wait for the pros to chime in.

[vegetato]

Oh, and I just got my first “your plant is thirsty” notification as well. She drank a good 1/8th of the tank since the water change a few days ago!

[James]

Removed old post/ pic to remove my address Didn’t realize it had it, sorry.

It’s thinish kinda like a tall beer, going for roughly 16$’s for the next 24 hours. Yet to be tested in a unit (don’t have mine yet). Changes color which to me a useless feature in a humidifier. Adding hot water helps rather than cold water in this unit. Takes about 5 minutes to heat the water enough to mist

[vegetato]

I have a mini humidifier already and was using it outside at the intake for a while but it was only adding 1-2% to RH at the base of the unit which I deemed to be negligible and not worth remembering to fill it back up a couple times a day. My suspicion is that most of the air was flowing through too quickly to build up any amount of additional humidity within the unit.

Placing the humidifier into the grobo for 5-10 mins increased it by about the same amount (maybe 1% more) but again a lot of it was being sucked back through the top and wasn’t actually reaching the lower region of the unit where the plant needs it to be (which is where the measurements are taken). The electronics up top shouldn’t be subjected to a humid mist either. That’s why I’m thinking about ways to create a barrier between the top/bottom to provide a bit more moisture at least while the plant is young. I won’t be doing that this time, we’re already too far along, but perhaps it is an idea to try next time.

[vegetato]

I also did this a week or two ago and it’s helped quite a bit with preventing overheating. My hypothesis was that there was air escaping through the inactive fan that should’ve been channeled through the top instead, which was reducing the air flow through the top and preventing it from cooling as much as it could.

It does seem to have partially addressed that, as this modification alone reduced exhaust temperature by at least couple of degrees Celcius (I stopped measuring after it went down by 2 deg as internal temps continued dropping a bit further than that).

When the top fan kicks on I’ll remove that barrier to permit the additional airflow and not add resistance to it, this is just until that happens.

I’ve also got a piece of paper taped to the rear in such a way that it funnels air from a nearby fan directly into the open intake, similar to how a deflector for a furnace vent works but in reverse.

Already sent in a suggestion to support asking for more control over the fans (speed and on/off state), as I believe if both of the fans were running I’d have an easier time keeping the unit cool in my environment.

[James]

Read some other folks here experiencing trouble with heat for one reason or another mostly related to location/climate or whatever reasons (too me a lot of times it looks like unneeded foliage js), found that little guy on amazon and bought as part of my “just in case tools”

It’s small, portable, battery operated and adjustable speeds slow and slower. It’s asjustable, kinda pivots in 20 degree increments

Might help you some

[Azuri]

Good info @James,

Yes I’ve seen others suffer these issues knock. I’ve been able to maintain good water temps.

[vegetato]

This is the humidifier I have:

It is quite small and the power cord can be routed through the back of grobo or even just have the door closed on it as it’s a very thin wire and doesn’t draw much power.

The next attempt to use it will be by connecting some rubber tubing to the top of it and routing that to the base of the plant. The idea would be that the mist can rise through the leaves as opposed to missing them entirely and getting sucked out the top.

[Russel_Richardson]

Root rot can set in from a bunch of different factors. I believe I didn’t clean my reservoir well enough after my first grow, the roots got caught on to the nute tubes and I saw there was some stuff I missed and it looked like it was the contributing factor. Also light leak and temperature of the reservoir can also factor in there as well. But yeah I’m in Ontario and got hydroguard. Took like 2-3 weeks because of a shortage on their end but they tend to have it stocked pretty good. Just used hydrogen peroxide pretty well daily till I got it and once I started using it my roots took off

[LtcTerps]

I also used hydroguard till I added the chiller. I haven’t used hydroguard since and roots look nice and white still

[vegetato]