[monkeybudz]

After my first semi-successful grow in soil, I got talked into switching to hydro, so here I am. Hehehe. Soil to hydro's not the only change I made though... This time instead of growing alone, I talked my hubby into helping and boy am I glad I did. He's been really helpful and creative.

We started off by getting a 4' 4 light fluoro fixture which we filled with 2 Philips 40 watt cool white tubes and 2 Philips 40 watt daylight deluxe tubes. (11050 lumens total) We recently added another 4' 2 light fixture in which we put a pair of GE plant and aquarium bulbs. Don't know how many lumens they put off but hey they were free

We germinated some Skunk #1 seeds (thanks to my friend) and put them in 1" cubes when they cracked and put them under a dome and left the light off. As soon as they popped up, we turned on the lights.

Later that day we were over visiting a buddy of mine who has some NLxKush plants he got from newlines. He let me cut 10 clones and after they were all dipped in rooting gel and tucked in 1" cubes, we moved em in with the seedlings that just came up. We misted all of them a lot with some very diluted thrive alive.

After a week, 5 of them had roots growing out of the bottom of their 1" cubes, as did 5 seedlings. Those we transplanted into 4" cubes and placed on a drip system. We have a 20 gallon reservoir with diluted FoxFarm nutes that we change the water once a week. The tapwater pH here is 8.0 so we go through a lot of pH down.

Here's a pic of them a couple days after the transplant.

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A little closer.

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A pic of our whole garden. It's not very big, but....

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About the two plants on the far right... the one in front is a bagseed plant we adopted from the guy who let us cut clones and the one in back is one we're attempting to reveg from the first soil grow.

It's been about a week since we took those pics and they've gotten a LOT bigger. We're gonna have to borrow my sister-in-law's camera again to get more current pics. Both the clones and the seedlings have branches coming out of their nodes with two sets of leaves on them.

The seedlings are now between 2 and 3 1/2 inches tall with 4-5 pair of nodes, all with branches. The clones are 6-8" tall with branches as long as 3" growing from the nodes. My hubby moved the light up to 1" above the tops yesterday and they're already growing into the lights. They're growing like, well, weeds and I couldn't be prouder.

Thanks for checkin out my post, I really appreciate it. Sorry it was so long and drawn out. I look forward to any questions, comments, concerns, bitches, gripes, complaints, etc. that are offered. Thanks again..

Happy growing!
-Monkeybudz

Your on your way tpo the hydro bounty my friend

Good growin

Tex

Looks like a great start monkeybudz. Are you going to add light or are you going all the way with flouro?

[monkeybudz]

I'm not sure yet... I'll probably get another light for flowering... It'll be a while though.... we plan on letting these veg for a bit.

Something we were discussing last night... I'd apperciate any opinions on the matter.... Is it OK to make a clone of a clone into a mother plant?? We would really like to keep the NLxKush strain goin...

Thanks for the replies.

Happy growing!
-Monkeybudz

[amsterdame]

Hi there monkeybudz (cute name, i smiled when i typed it) :p I started growing in soil last year and switched over to hydro not long after. I've got 3 strains growing currently: ice, northernberrry, and bogbubble.

Like you, I'm getting ready to take a clone of a clone and grow her into a momma. From all I've read thus far, we should be fine doing this.

Great lookin lil garden! And very cool you and hubby are enjoying the growing together. Good luck, looking forward to seeing your progress.

~dame

[Hooked-On-Grown]

very nice and clean........monkeybudz

Maybe look into buying 4' sun sticks ......you can get them at HD or Lowes....... much better light (they run like $6 a piece)......although you did know to get warm and cool!! I use floros with sun sticks in veg and for all seedlingd and clones. Much easier on them then an HID right away.

Looking good!!



ok...sorry ...re-read post and notice you purchased some...LOL!!!

*imstoned*

[monkeybudz]

Thanks for stoppin by yall... All of the babies are looking really good... we're havin to move the lights up every day now. I think these puppies are gonna end up kinda huge if they keep goin at this rate

I'll definitely keep yall posted.... it's good to hear that it'll probably be ok to keep one of the NLxKush as a mother... any more info on that would be appreciated though..

I'm gonna try and get the use of a digi cam this week comin up... (keeping fingers crossed) so hopefully I'll have new pics to post soon.

Happy growing!
-Monkeybudz

[BuzzBob]

HiYa Monkeybudz! --

Hey... How far above the plants are you keeping your fluoros?

Having just been through this, you can let the babies grow right up to the tubes, no problem! Fluoros {at least my 4' Full Spectrum tubes} produce such minimal light, and even less heat, that my plants didn't seem to mind the extreme close proximity at all! I would usually raise the tubes to a maximum of 3/4" over the plants, and let 'em all get back to the light again before raising it next...


Just food for thought...

-BuzzBob

[monkeybudz]

When we raise up the lights, we usually do it right before we go to bed and put it about 1" above the tops of the plants. By the next morning when we wake up for the past 2 days, they've already started growing into the light. We have yet to see any signs of burning on the leaves, so we just let em keep growing into the light all day and just raise it again right before bed. They're amazing....

Every time I go in there I have to stop and say "wow" The stems on the clones are getting THICK too... they were kinda scrawny when I cut em and now they're about 1/4" diameter... I never knew growing could make me so happy... and I haven't even started flowering yet, much less smoking em...

Sorry I'm rambling... just smoked a joint with my hubby... yay Texas Schwag.... <- note the sarcasm... can't wait for real buds...

Thanks for the replies everybody.
Happy growing!
-Monkeybudz

[So Quick]

Lookin good monkeybudz...and welcome to the wonderful world of hydro I see your using 1/4" spaghetti line...I would like to offer you a friendly suggestion, if you won't mind To make things a lil more easier for you in the future and a lil more organized...you could run a 1/2" tubing in the middle wit a stopper at the end and use T barbed spitters connected by 1/4 spaghetti, into a bato dripper...might be kinda hard to imagine, but I could get a couple of shots up to help ya invision it a lil better...the bato drippers will help ya keep the feeding nice and snug at the same time spraying directly down...those lil clamp thingy's you use to keep the hose in place are good, but they can be a lil annoying when they pop out of the cube...btw, what sort of pump are you using?? And can you give us a shot of the rest of your feeding system, ie: res and such...

SQ