Simple Noob DWC - Sensi Star/AK 48

[InterestingPie]

First hydro and Indica attempt... outdoor Sativa experienced. Had several stunted attempts throughout this year trying indoor soil - poor soil mix and very salty water in new town.

Sensi Star (left) and Nirvana's AK 48 (right) - both fem seeds.

A pH at about ~5.8 and 0.75 - 0.80ec at the moment. First picture five days ago - second picture today.

Starting a diary as I'm bound to have heaps of generic first timer questions.

Individual buckets.
Dutch Master nutes.
250w mH
250 hps & Phat Filter when flowering.

 

[nameless]

good strain choices for first time indoors - are you monitoring the temps and humidity in there?

 

[killerweed31]

hy grower , great genetic and nice setup ..if you don't mind i grab a chair.!!

 

[InterestingPie]

Hi

Thanks for dropping by.

Nameless: I'm not checking the temp/hum - I pulled my digital reader out of storage and its convinced that everywhere is 26 Celcius no matter where it lives - the tent, rest of house, the freezer. Havn't gotten around to getting a new one. It is definatly not optimal temp - probably 3 degrees or more over - itd be pushing top 20s C in the day - its pretty much a 40 degree desert outside.

Here they are six days later - places swapped - SS on the right and AK on the left. I can't get over how bushy they are! As an outdoor sativa guy I've never had a plant grow out as much as it grows up - the secondary branches are giving off their own second branches - crazy.

Couple questions...

1. Should I upgrade buckets? I was going to keep them relatively small and use the same bucket - there are no grow shops here and very poor quality hardware stores - so I'm reluctant.

2. The lids are a hard sort of plastic sheeting - will these hold up in to flowering as weight is added?

3. Probably the more interesting question - how long should I veg these for? I would like at least a few ounces to keep me going during my second grow but won't be starting that until Feb '12. Should I top/FIM?

 

[who dat is]

I can't comment on hydro, DWC stuff as I have no clue but I wanted to chime in on the training. I think that there is always something to be gained from training plants as you can manipulate them in whichever way you need to. That being said what kind of height are you working with? Right now they are looking somewhat young, not too young to train though. They are really nice, squat, bushy plants right now so you probably won't need to even start training for at least another 1-2 weeks. I would say let them go for that amount of time to see how they start to come into their own and show how they will continue to develop, then you can get a better plan of action and go about training accordingly.

 

[jolygreensprout]

looks great! i wouldnt worry about wieght so much you should be fine...as far as veg lenghth i am just learning also and i let mine veg for like 90 days...way too long now i am running out of room on flower but have some huge trees.. i am dwc also ..from what ive gathered from other people 30-40 days of veg should be ok depending on the strain..some say after the fourth node you can start flowering..but its really up to you i think. how fast do you want to harvest and how much room do you have?..good luck i will be watching!

 

[InterestingPie]

From the tops of the buckets and figuring in the carbon filter which will sit above the light I've got about ~1m (3'3") to work with. I was thinking of vegging till just under half that height to account for flowering stretch and to ensure they don't touch the bulb itself.

The AK is very bushy so maybe leave that and top the Sensi Star but as you've mentioned maybe give it another week and see what they're like - maybe try some lsting or something - I'd like atleast 60g off each so probably a 45 day veg or something.

Problem - My pH is starting to jump large numbers now - it went from 5.5 to 6.5 in 24 hours. Normal or calibrate my meter? I'm working with small amounts of liquid still so its hard to get the ph to that decimal place and close to impossible to nail 5.8.

 

[Scrogerman]

Nice simple lil set up mate. looks like you used corex sheeting to cover ya buckets, personally id add some reflectix/mylar Or black n white plastic to cover the lid too, make it completely light proof.

Has the PH just started jumping up like that(what was it like before?)? what does your EC say in correlation to your PH(+-) & what is the EC&PH of your source water? salty water in new town, elaborate?

theres a few things that will cause PH to drift up that much in that time. usually either your source waters alkalinity(carbonates like cal/mag) ie-hard water. Or your nutes are a lil weak, which you'll be able to work out by charting EC & PH movement.

 

[InterestingPie]

Thanks for the tip - also trying to find an alternate to the clear air tubing.

pH has just started to make jumps like that - ec is consistant at about 1.1

The tap water is just notoriously salty and probably full of other stuff too - stinks when it comes out the shower, tastes bad to drink, etc so I'm bulk buying large drinking water containers for this first run. Next year I might try the tap water and let it sit in the open for a few days before use - although maybe that only solves chloride problems or something?

Rental property and probably won't stay more than another year so not worth investing in a RO system.

 

[Scrogerman]

The air tubing is fine, no worries really there. if your worried cover it with tape or plastic, but it shouldnt cause you any problems either way.

your tap water sounds nasty but what is the quality of the water your using now, EC & PH?

 

[alkalien]

From my experience (very hard but excellent water) a RO unit is allways worth it! Get a cheap one and just connect it to the washing mashine connector in the bathroom.

At least you will love the water for making tea and they come at 40 to 60€...

The amount of Ca in the tap water made my pH swing badly, causing multiple deficencies in DWC. Learned that lesson the hard way...

 

[jolygreensprout]

i have decent tap water but gave up on it anyways..just started buying ro water from the store its easy and fairly inexpensive depending on how often you plan to do full res changes

 

[GP73LPC]

plants are looking great !!!

 

[InterestingPie]

Hi,

Thanks for the tips guys - I'll look into what the readings are on my tap water when I get a spare moment. Friday arvo here - about to hit the pub - just a quick flick update... another five days of growth and put them on to full strength about two days ago (~1.33ec). AK48 left and S.Star right. They've both started to stretch. Also I can no longer answer my front door until I rig up the carbon filter and lead it to the ceiling - smell is incredible all ready - something I didn't realise would be such an issue at this stage being an outdoor grower.

 

[Scrogerman]

Well, by the way their taking off their well well happy, stick with it, looking good! if they smell now you best get the filter sorted asap lol. G'Luck!

 

[InterestingPie]

Thanks Scrogerman - Just plopped it in.

Flowering?

Going to have to take my vacation days in the middle of January and leave them to be watched by a close friend.

They've got no experience and to avoid them messing with eC measurements I'm thinking I should switch to 12/12 this week - sometime after day 30 veg - so that when the time comes they'll be hitting the 6 week period and can go into a two week flush of just water.

I don't like to really gamble on this timing, or leave all together, but I've got no choice. They both suposedly flower in the 53 - 63 day range - trustable? I'll try and find some other threads with these strains and see how long they went.

Photos...

The Sensi had a growth spurt in 12 hours and I got shit faced, slept in and forgot to raise the bulb slightly. A little damage to the tips. Also a view from my toilet and the height range I've got to work with now that the filter is in.