[phattybudz]

First let me say props to Blazeoneup!

Well it has been a long time since I've posted anything because I have been having all kinds of problems with soil the last 6 months...

Nutrient lockout issues, spider mites, powdery mildew

So I'm sick of dirt and now I'm trying hydro...I got Forbid and eagle 20 for the mites&powdery mildew. Just popped them into the buckets today after a lot of tinkering.

Running a 220gph water pump for the 1/2'' feed lines with 3/4'' return lines, and 185gph to run the 1/10 hp water chiller. Controller is a rubbermaid 18 gal with a float valve that will connect to a 30 gal rez... total system volume is about 35 gallons right at the netpot level. Eco-8 air pump with flexible air diffusers and 2 airstones in the controller. 400 Watt CMH for veg and 1k HPS for flower, separate 3x3 veg chamber will be ebb&flow. 6'' vortex for the carbon filter and 6'' for intake w/pantyhose for filter.

4'' rockwool cubes into hydroton for medium.
Trying to keep things simple on the nutes, running Floranova onepart Grow/Bloom, Roots Accelerator, Sm-90, and ph up. Maybe shooting powder if things are looking healthy in week 6...

Shooting for 800ppm to start things off, ph about 6... I have a ph/ppm tester but I don't entirely trust it... seems like I calibrate it and the next day it's off. That's the only thing that concerns me about this grow.





Oh yeah strains are Chemdawg-4, OG kushX????, and Bubblegummer from female seeds. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!!! It's been a long time since I've had a good harvest but I have high hopes for this system.

[BUNDY & COKE]

Looks good mate...

[phattybudz]

Soooo... day 2, things are looking good root-wise, but the plants look light-green on the new growth and my mix went from ~800ppm to 1150, and the ph rose from ~6.0 to ~6.5... which I have no idea how to interpret.

I have this cheat sheet:
"Basic cheat sheet:
Ec goes up, PH goes down=plants require less nutes.
Ec goes down, PH goes up=Plants require more nutes
Ec stable, PH goes up=Equilibrium=Good thang."

But there's no "ec up, ph up" option lol..
Rez will be ~30 gallons an inch or two below the netpot, and I will be using mostly RO water at ~20 ppm if my meter is to be trusted, and comes out at a low ph around 5.4 or something, which seems weird. Anyways I'm putting ph down in now and mixing up a new batch of nutes as well but that may take a while since my 200gpd R/O is so F'in slow. Here they are on day 2 and a shot of my rockwool veg. Gotta say I am loving rockwool & floranova after doing soil for a long time.

[phattybudz]

Day 11 update: Roots are booming, I have steadily been increasing the nutes and they have been sucking it up... PPM is at 1130 now (I am using 20% tap water so my pre-nute mix is 80 ppm... so 1050 of nutes, with sm-90.) Plan on switching over to bloom in 3 days with FN bloom. They look a little light green on the tops still to me though, maybe I'm just being paranoid?










They're at about 1.5 feet, I'm pinching the tops now and waiting til they get to 2 feet to flip. Can't wait, it's been a long time since I've had a harvest.

[Greenstar420]

Hey bro thats lookin good, I'm lookin forward to seeing those ladies in bloom! What strains you running?

[phattybudz]

Thanks Green, I am currently running Chemdawg 4 clones from bluesky in oakland, a phenotype of bubblegummer from female seeds, and an OG kush cross that resulted from my last grow... Not sure what she got fertilized by maybe lemon skunk, hindu skunk, or powerhouse because I had a couple of hermies on that run. I've also got a different phenotype of bubblegummer and pure ak from female seeds in the veg chamber.

I just setup a 6'' magnum xxxl hood to better fit the 4x4 and started feeding them 1000 watts. Will flip to flower soon as they reach the scrog screen I put over em!

[sneaky101]

Looking great phatty!! I got tired of all the nats and troubles with soil and went to hydro as well. I'm considering getting a tent and a 1kw lamp too. I have a couple of questions for you about it to help my decision making process. I was concerned about temps with that many watts in a 4x4 tent...what are your inside and outside temps? How crammed is it in there? How many girls do you think you could fit in there with all the other equipment, mainly tubes running around?

Good luck with your grow, they are gonna explode once you flip the switch. I was soooo suprised how quickly they grew up once the stretch started. Your gonna have a nice yield!

[phattybudz]

Hey thanks Sneaky

As far as the temps, I just plugged in my thermometer so I'll let you know after a few days... I am using a 6'' vortex to exhaust and another one for the intake which is cold air from beneath my apartment which helps too. 1k is definitely the way to go for a 4x4 though no question, and the magnum xxxl reflector is worth every penny.

There is plenty of space for my 6 dwc buckets, could do 8 or 9 but I think that would be pushing it I think, I have done sog in the past and had issues from crowding like mold etc.

I certainly hope I pull a nice yield because it's been a while...

There is a problem though! My bubblegummer clone is showing some yellowing on tips and between veins too... her roots are much smaller than the other girls, they are outgrowing the shit out of her and she's probably not going to make it out alive... they are hungry and she's being overfed. This is why you're supposed to run one strain in DWC! I actually think she'd be fine but she started off a little shocked because she dried out in rockwool and lost a bunch of leaves when I threw them all in.

I can't decide if I should just handwater my chemdawg mom in rockwool in place of her or just weave the other plants into that space... one more run of testing strains and I will select my 2 moms to rotate so I won't have this problem in the future.

Day 17 veg
Here is the bubblegummer, I know it's hard to see sorry for the HPS...
Chemdawg 4
And my beautiful ogkush mystery hybrid

[peterjoseph88]

Hey phatty nice lookin setup, can't wait to watch these things explode.. how was the strain selection and overall quality of the clones at bluesky

[shibbysurfrider]

hello,
I also grow in a 4x4 grow tent and have a quantum 1000w ballast. How do you keep your temps down? I run an 8'' 735cfm Inline trhough 6'' insulated ducting, though Yield Master II air-cooled hood, though carbon filter and my temps are 78-82 with the ballast at 750. I was running an A/C into the tent and running it at 1000 W no problem. But i saw my Power bill and OMG!!!!

My ambient room temp is usually 75-78.

Grow looks good. I've never used your nutrient line, but Anything over 1000 ppm in veg scares me. And in hydro your pH should be 5.5-5.8 for optimum nute uptake. Good Luck and happy Growing!