Darth Fader's 1st Grow - DR100L/400watt CMH/wick/coco

Darth Fader · Jan 6, 2010

Room: 39"x39"x72" Secret Jardin DR100L Grow tent
Strains: (1) Casey Jones, (1) Chem4, (1) Master Kush - all clones
System: wick-fed smart pots (ea. sitting on a riser in a 5-gal bucket)
Medium: Aurora Innovations' Roots Organics coco mix
Method: TBD - scrog or vscrog
Lighting: 400watt CMH & (2) 42watt CFLs
Nutes: GH FloraMicro & GH FloraBloom 6:9

Inspiration:
PPK thread
Verdant Green's SCROG
NBG's 400w 1 lb, sgl-plant SCROG

details & pics [placeholder] - coming soon!
The medium, the nutes, the microfiber (wick material)

2-gal smart pots

Risers made from a $3 5-gal bucket from Home Depot

The riser is inserted upside-down into another 5-gal bucket, leaving space for approximately a 2-gal reservoir. Holes will allow drainage and will allow the wicks to be strung thru.

Wicks are made of a microfiber towel, cut into 1" strips.

The wicks are run thru slits cut in the bottom of the smart pots & then run up further into the medium to automatically feed the medium w/ moisture. The topsoil stays slightly moist while the soil-less mix is very light. The smart pots are designed for natural air pruning.

Darth Fader · Jan 6, 2010

Day 1 - off to a shaky start.

Day 1 - off to a shaky start.

Day 1 veg - Jan02

I couldn't wait until everything was ready (would be another month if I did) so I went & got 3 clones, a bit sad-looking honestly.
Don't have my lights or pots but I do have my buckets & a half-assed plan. Temp solution was to put them all in a single 10" netpot w/ coco mix & a cheapo cfl I had lying around. I have no nutes left, so I gave them straight tap water.

New clones in coco-mix

Day 2 veg - Jan03, 2010
Picked up some stuff. Told the hydro-shop guy I'm a newb & don't know a thing. He was so unhelpful that he sold me ph calibration solution instead of ph-down.
Tap water ph = 7.0 & then the meter went nutz when I tried to re-calibrate. No matter, I have no ph-down solution anyway (thx hydro-guy). Have wrong nutes as well (missing the FloraMicro), so I fed 1.5 gal tap water w/ 1/4 tsp FloraGro & 1/4 tsp FloraBloom. I'm sure the measurements are off b/c I didn't have anything precise to measure with. I'm stressing cause it's not right & I'm not sure what to do. Another trip to Home Depot & I get 42-watt CFL's that don't work in standard socket fixtures.

Day 3 veg - Jan04
Found some std socket 42-watt CFL's at OHS. Picked up GH-FloraMicro & added 1/4 tsp to the res. Still no PH fix since the hydro shop was closed. Set up the tent & moved in. I feel better & they're looking healthier.

Day 4 veg - Jan05
Ordered 400-watt CMH bulb & picked up ballast & lamp cord. A different guy at the hydro store checked my ph meter - was getting weird results at first & then started working correctly (ghost in the machine?). Ph in res measured 7.4. Adjusted down to 6.0.

pics to follow ...

DiscoBiscuit · Jan 6, 2010

Best wishes, Darth. Those meters are finicky. I think you're supposed to mix your micro first, then add the grow and bloom. Might not hurt this time but for future consideration.

Darth Fader · Jan 7, 2010

Day 5 veg - Jan06
Looking healthier every day. A few more days and they'll get their own pots. Re-adjusted res pH from 6.45 to 5.9. The Casey Jones is now nearly as tall as the Chem4.
Prob w/ the laptop recognizing the camera - will get the pics in soon. Should get the CMH bulb tomorrow.

Darth Fader · Jan 10, 2010

Day 6 veg - Jan07
Adj pH from 6.24 to 5.75

Day 7 veg - Jan08
Adj pH from 5.95 to 5.6

Darth Fader · Jan 11, 2010

Day 8 veg - Jan09
Transplanted the young ladies into their own 2-gal smartpots. Adjusted the res pH (forgot exactly) and wetted down the new buckets. Filled up another 5 gal bucket w/ tap water to sit overnight & gas off the chlorine.
Set-up the the 400watt CMH

Day 9 veg - Jan10
Wow they like the new light. Leaves are positively reaching.
Ph'd 3 gallons H20 to 5.5 and mixed the GH micro & bloom at 6:9
Finished the bucket risers (for a res) for the 5-gal buckets.
I now need to fashion a vertical cool tube (or abandon that plan & just buy a reflector) and pick up a fan/scrubber set-up. They're starting to smell a bit.

I'm happy with their progress. Also just happy that I actually kept them alive. They appear to be thriving (yaaaaay!) & I've got to start topping or something quickly!

My camera just won't complete USB initialization & my wife's constantly busy on the other machine w/ her work. I may have to just upload iPhone pics.

Darth Fader · Jan 11, 2010

P.S. I really don't know what pH range I should stay in. Can anyone help?

Again, Coco-mix grow w/ 3 strains.
1. Casey Jones
2. Chem 4
3. Master Kush

Darth Fader · Jan 12, 2010

Day 10 veg - Jan 11
Mixed 2 gal tap H20 to 5.7 & added 1/2 strength nutes.
Each plant got about .7 gal topfed & run-off to bucket res.
Picked up "Hurricane Glass" for $.99 at the thrift store for a DIY Cooltube.
Pipe strap & hose clamps from Home Depot and another couple CFL's as well.

Darth Fader · Jan 14, 2010

Day 11 veg - Jan 12
No watering today. Plants are taking off.
Crimped them for the first time.

Day 12 veg - Jan 13
Mixed 3 gal tap H20 to 5.55 & added full strength nutes (6/9) plus 10ml Hygrozyme.
Measure pH @ 6.42 after additions. Hmmmm ... think I should add nutes 1st, and then adj pH. Plants are booming. (pinch) Fim'd 'em tonight (1st time). I don't really know what I'm doing - learn as I go I guess, but I have done some reading on it & things seem to be going well. In fact, my only concern is letting them get too tall. I need to make some scrog screens or start tying them down, quick-like.

Darth Fader · Jan 18, 2010

Day 13 veg - Jan 14
No watering - plenty in the res.

Day 14 veg - Jan 15
No watering - plenty in the res.
Picked up a cheap 4" inline fan.

Day 15 veg - Jan 16
No watering - plenty in the res.
Hung the fan.
Put together my DIY Cooltube. Temps are 73 outside the tent, 76-77 inside. Crap I was trying to supercrop & snapped off the top 2 nodes on the Master Kush.
The wicks are working great. The top soil is not dry. The perlite bits on top are looking yellow/brown/green. I hope this is nothing unhealthy.

Darth Fader · Jan 20, 2010

Day 16 veg - Jan 17
no watering, no pH adj. Until the res needs more, Imma let it be.

Day 17 veg - Jan 18
no watering, no pH adj. Until the res needs more, Imma let it be.
Working on training. That Casey Jones is gonna be one big mofo.
Wow, I've gone 5 days w/o watering! Res is probably half full still. The top soil does not dry out w/ the wick - at least when the res is over half-full which causes a higher PWT (persistant water table). As far as my bucket design, it's working exactly as planned. The idea was to design a low-maintenance, low-drama system that I could leave for days at a time & not worry. I'm going to be gone for 3 days this weekend and I'm not the least bit concerned. Mission Accomplished!

Darth Fader · Jan 22, 2010

Day 18 veg - Jan 19
no water, res fine

Day 19 veg - Jan 20
added 1+gal pH 5.56 w/ 6/9 nutes
more training

Day 20 veg - Jan 21
added 2 gal pH 5.8 w/ 6/9 nutes per gal

Darth Fader · Jan 22, 2010

All pics are finally up in my album. It's late, so I'll drag them into the thread later.

greents · Jan 23, 2010

Ladies look really happy, what master is that sir?

How are you liking the CMH thus far?

looking forward to seeing some plump ladies

Darth Fader · Jan 23, 2010

Hi Greents, I got all 3 clones from Club Meds in Orange County. They may have their source listed on weedtracker. I'll have to look. I know they claim the Casey Jones to be the original Tom Hill cut. The CMH bulb seems great. They really reacted well Immediately after it was introduced. I really can't make a comparison though since this is first grow. I do plan on using it for bloom as well. I've seen some nice results in the CMH thread.

Darth Fader · Jan 25, 2010

Day 20 - 22 veg - Jan 21 - 24
-nada

Was away on a wknd trip & came home to some robust growth & significantly stronger odor. The ladies seem to be blowing up. Apparently shock isn't a problem from the training I did on Thursdsay. I did a bit of everything; supercropping, lst, FIM, etc. This is a great learning process for me. I'm going to have to think about flipping pretty soon. I wanted to do a scrog, but I also want to keep the vertical lighting. What do you think I should do?

group shot: Ch4, MK, CJ

Casey Jones

Chem 4

Master Kush

Darth Fader · Jan 26, 2010

New pics @ day 24 veg. Growing like gangbusters!
Mixed 2 gal @ 6/9 plus Hygrozyme. The Casey has been drinking the most, the MK the least. Have a look at the problem leaf for me and see what you think please. This is on the MK.

If the photos seem like the light was on (washed out), that's b/c the CMH bulb doesn't want to come on very easily when I turn it off. I'm going to have to sort that out QUICKLY before I flip. I'll turn it off for the next set to show the color better.

Results of FIM (MK) @ day 21

Master Kush

Master Kush - What kind of deficiency would this indicate?

Casey Jones

Chem 4

LJB · Jan 26, 2010

Those look to me like bacterial spots, and not a deficiency.

delta9nxs · Jan 26, 2010

hey, darth, your plants overall look real good. when you increased wattage you increased the plants metabolic rate and so they are capable of using a higher nute strength. it looks to me like they were a little over ferted to start with the weaker lights and now they are suckin' up the juice.

unless the spots continue i wouldn't worry much about it.

nice start for a first time grower, congratulations!

Darth Fader · Jan 26, 2010

LJB, I'm assuming that would be bad. What would I do in this case?

D9, thx mucho. I added the 400watt around day 10. I did notice the same issue on a 2nd, smaller leaf later on as well. The other plants look fine, so it's jsut the Master Kush. Every time I feed, I'm adding full-strenghth nutes. I haven't done any plain tap feedings. That would dilute the mix in the res. Also, I should probably swirl the buckets to agitate the mix in case there is any settling. Would you guys advise any plain (unmixed) watering?

Darth Fader's 1st Grow - DR100L/400watt CMH/wick/coco

Member

Member

weed fiend

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

LJB

No Jive Productions

Member