5x5 grow room yield question first grow with pictures.

It's Thanksgiving weekend and I am finishing off the last of my beer so forgive any spelling and rambling. Let me clarify from the start I am new and have 0 experience so I want suggestions!


This is my first grow and I am learning a ton. I am using a 5x5 grow tent and am looking to maximize my yield per year. I am specifying yield per year because I have a feeling when people talk about yield per tent size or number of plants new growers get confused. Correct me if I am wrong but based on my observations you would need to veg longer with less plants which in the end would decrease your yield in the space after a year. Yield per grow would be the same though.


I am running a 6 plant's in 5 gallon DWC with 5 inch net pots. My nutrients are jacks 3-2 and leaving out the 1 based on other forum research. I started with a Vipraspectra 1200 watt dimmable for the first 3 weeks (one week seeds didn't emerge yet). I also started with 10 Royal Queen Northern Lights seeds in the water float method. After 5 days all 10 rooted and placed into holes poked into the top of rapid rooters. I broke a few placing them into the holes but decided to keep them in rapid rooters just in a seed starter dome with moisture. The best 6 went directly into the 5 gallon DWC. I placed about 1 inch of hoydroton in and filled the nutrient water high enough that I saw the bubbles percolating through. I placed the rapid rooters on top and filled with hydroton. I created a volcano as to cover up holes in net pots blocking light. I will say more on this later in my lessons learned.


After 2 weeks I got rid of the Vipraspectra because I already saw uneven growth. I replaced it with 12 luminous 3500k 90cri cob LEDs. I built 2 separate frames of 6 and one frame is currently not inside of the tent since only vegging and since I can place the buckets closer together. I also purchased a lux meter and validated the light spread was very even at this point.


See pictures below. The center 2 plants I think started bigger because of the vipraspectra. The first was taken a few days after changing to the cob LEDs. The second about a week later.






It's been a few days less than 3 weeks since they poked through the rapid rooters. They were topped HST about 5 days ago. The new growth is really showing now.

1. How much longer will I have to veg for this 5x5 tent at this rate all things equal
2. To increase production would I be better of running 9 or 16 buckets. How much veg time would this save me?

What I have learned so far from my noob experience for those interested.

1. Leave the rapid rooters in the seed starter dome and don't go directly into the 5 gallon DWC. The seeds in the seed starter dome emerged much faster. I actually ended up swapping some of the better ones and placing them into the DWC. The ones I took out of the DWC emerged right after being removed. I think the DWC over waters them in the beginning since you have to place the water level higher. The rapid rooters looked way too wet on the top if you follow peoples instructions to have the bubbles touch the rapid rooter. DWC only helps when you have established roots. Bubbleponics/ a drip system may be the way to go at this point and switch to DWC later when you can see roots in the rapid rooter and place them through the net pot.
2. Don't poke holes in the rapid rooters like some say and just cut it down the middle like a taco. If you try and place the rooted seed in the hole you can break the taproot. Maybe just start the seeds in the rapid rooter in the first place. Rapid rooters are cheap enough you just won't get as early of confirmation growth has started.
3. Don't lift a net pot out of the DWC to check the roots and get nutrient solution on the leaves of your other plants. It will make burn marks where they got wet.
4. Add a little bit of PH down at a time and check a little while later. It takes time to mix. With experience I learned if it says a PH of 5 in an hour it may say 5.3 or 5.4. No need to go and add PH up right away which you don't want to do anyway. I'm not using a long spoon since I don't want to break roots. I think this may be why some people say their PH isn't stabile and changes fast.
5. This is a big one. Cover the stupid blue tubes in the DWC setup. That lets light in and promotes root rot which one of my DWCs is still fighting. I recently started using hydroguard and it helped 5 of the 6 plants that were showing early signs of root rot. The one that was the worst bottom left in pictures is still recovering. I may try using long black socks when I get off my ass and go to a store. The foil was just a quick fix after the last res change.
6. If using hydroton make sure you get the level high enough to cove the holes in the net pot or light can get in. Even my volcano method probably let some light in. I did add more hydroton after stems were long enough. Next time I will wait until plants are more established with a little bit of a stem. Covering the pot my help once the plant started to emerge.

Input is welcomed and don't take my advice as I know what I am talking about. This is just my experience on a first grow. Please add input to my questions above. I want to do this right next time and save on turnover time for max yield.

Sounds like you are on the right track.

In response to your questions...

1. It is difficult to determine this without a picture!

2. Increasing your bucket count from 9 to 16 will just about half your veg time, but as a new grower I suggest keeping your plant count down until you are really feeling comfortable. Once you start running a bunch of plants your attention to detail on each individual will decrease -- you will get lazy with training before you fully understand how the plants, and different strains, are affected by topping and defoiling and it will take you longer to identify any issues you WILL eventually run into (mold, pests, hermies).

I'll add some color to your findings as well:

1. You are right to leave them in the plug trays longer, but once most of the seeds have started reaching for light you should remove the dome (the plant has roots now, it drinks from the wet rooter plug, not the humid air). This will also prevent issues such as damping off. Also make sure to give them really good light at this stage to avoid severe stretching (remember, they expect the full strength of the sun).

2. You should be rooting in your rapid rooter!!! No need to cut it open, you will be able to move your fully rooted rapid plug & plant into the hydroton net pot once the plant is established. The best practice is to soak your seeds for 24 hours in a cup of water and then drop them into the hole already provided on the plug. Try not to "help" a seedling emerge, they are very good at it on their own and chances are you will break the fragile taproot. It is less known that the taproot actually grows UP first (towards the sun) and once it finds the light it changes direction and starts growing down. If you really want to get particular, this is the reason you drop the seeds into the hole with "cutaway down".

3. Adding to this, exposing your roots to light with cause your roots to harden like tree bark. Think about a large tree whose roots have been exposed to the sun by soil erosion.

4. It definitely takes time for the pH to stabilize after adding up or down. What pH are you running? Ideal for DWC is 5.8-6.0. I've found that excessive aeration in your reservoir can cause the pH to creep up faster and because of this we use a recycling timer and water pump to both mix our solution and aerate the water. Obviously this method doesn't apply for single bubble buckets but it's still good to know.

5. Blue tubes? Root rot is more likely to come from lack of water circulation/aeration or high water temperature. Are your water pumps running all the time? These pumps get hot and can cause high water temps leading directly to root root. This is a big problem and you should focus on a solution for this before the slime takes over. What is the water temp in your buckets?

6. Fill the net pot full of hydroton for the light issue as you said. As mentioned before, wait until the plant is establish then pop the rooted plug in the net pot. You can hand water the hydroton/rooted plug/net pot (no bubble bucket required immediately), but the roots will quickly grow into the light and you will have trouble keeping it watered (hydroton retains none) but it can be done.

Overall you've got your eye on the right things, good luck with your harvest! Let me know if you need me to expand on any of these points.