First Grow - 250W Cab - Hydro drip system - F13 from seed

greenpenguin · Oct 29, 2008

BesideHimself: thanks, I was actually checking out your cab last week, waiting to see you start up the action!

So I also discovered while tinkering around that my 250W HPS suddenly doesn't light up... I'm hoping it's just the bulb, I'll have to go buy some new bulbs and see. Sucks I've only lit it like 4 times soo far during my testing phases and it's already broken!

I also whipped up a batch of neem oil solution and sprayed everything down, storing the batch in the flower room, can I actually store it like that and keep it good? I mixed it with warm water and some dish soap.

K.J · Oct 29, 2008

greenpenguin said:
So I also discovered while tinkering around that my 250W HPS suddenly doesn't light up... I'm hoping it's just the bulb, I'll have to go buy some new bulbs and see. Sucks I've only lit it like 4 times soo far during my testing phases and it's already broken!

Ouch! That does suck. Are you making sure to completely clean the bulb of all dirt and skin oils after you've touched it before trying to spark it up again? If not, that's likely the cause of the quick failure.

greenpenguin · Oct 30, 2008

My HPS works! I actually went out and bought a new bulb today, and before screwing it in I thought I'd mess with the old one a bit first, I grabbed a little terry towel and started to unscrew it with the ballast on and it lit up! Maybe it was just too tight? Anyhow it works and now I have a back up bulb.

As for the babies... I have another one!! that's right, my fourth one sprouted, I'm currently soaking a 4" rockwool cube for this one so I can transplant it and put it in with the rest of my babies. I'm pretty sure with my first set of seeds I germinated it for too long, now I know I can plant them a bit after they crack.

Also for those who are looking to follow this... this isn't going to be a fast grow, I'm gonna be doing the whole cloning, sexing process, by my estimates I will be harvesting sometime in february and then go perpetual and harvest again in april.

greenpenguin · Nov 1, 2008

Looks like I'm having some pH issues and my seedlings are responding to it. As you know I'm feeding just brita filtered tap water, it generally has a pH of 6.0 on it's own with 170-180ppm. Feeding seems to raise the pH so I've had to pH down it to keep it around 6.0, and the last few days it's been pretty stable and slowly climbing, right now it's at 6.2. ppms has climbed up to 220 over time, I think it's from adding pH down? I'm going to pH down it back to 6.0 for now.

Below is a picture of one of my seedlings. Ignore the closest cotyledon as it still has some seed gunk on it. But the spiked leaves and the other cotyledon show discoloration which looks like it might be pH issues. Someone let me know if I'm wrong please. The only other thing can think of is I spray neem oil solution every few days, I try to do it with the lights off though not always.

Another thing if anyone can give any advice on, I have one seedling that is about 2 weeks older than the rest, pretty soon I'm gonna need to start it up on some light nutes, but it shares the same res as the others, should I just keep feeding it water until the other plants catch up abit? or feed it extra extra light so the other seedlings can handle it too?

Thanks

BesideHimself · Nov 1, 2008

I've got no words of wisdom regarding your feeding issue there, but I don't think it would hurt too much to hold off on the nutes until the other seedlings have a little more time to catch up.

Was wondering if you'd want to put your smaller seedlings in a separate area until they are able to get into the res with the other one, that way you'd never run into the problem again man.

But maybe I'm not completely understanding the problem, soil is complicated enough for me. I'm sure you'll get it sorted out soon enough. Anyway, glad your seedlings are still alive, I don't have any sprouts yet but one promising seedling, the others hopefully soon to follow - 5 in the towel and another 3 are getting soaked in a cup.

Anyway, I'll be around bro...
Hopefully I'll get an update on tomorrow.

Peace :joint:

greenpenguin · Nov 2, 2008

I feel like I've been making a ton of mistakes, looks like I've been over watering a bit so I moved my drippers to not drip soo close to the stem, the starter cubes were being soaked and the 4" cubes not so much. I've also adjusted the drippers to drip a bit slower.

I cleaned out the reservoir and decided to use tap water and a lot of pH down as the tap starts out at 7.5-8.0 pH. I'm starting to record both my pH and ppms, I noticed that ppms were rising in the last reservoir which usually means use less nutes but I'm not using any nutes, I think this is was a lockout from the pH. I originally had pH at 6.0-6.2, I've lowered it to 5.7 and will gradually lower it over the next few days to 5.3. Based on some info i've read on IC the seedlings should be at around 5.3 pH and 200-300ppm which is what I'm working towards, we'll see how they respond to my changes.

greenpenguin · Nov 3, 2008

I checked my pH of my reservoir again and it jumped up to 6.4 and my ppms hit 300 at 0.5... ok screw straight tap, cleaned out the reservoir AND the grow tray, put in brita water. I need to get the faucet attachment cause I had to rig up the pitcher filter above my reservoir using the lid to hold it in place with a drip from my tub faucet and let it run while watching tv to fill it up.. Too much hassle.
Anyhow, brita measured ph 6.4 and 170ppms at 0.5 which is easier to work with. My theory is that starting it with a lower pH water will help make it easier to maintain a lower pH. pH downed it to 5.3, I'm not too worried about such a sharp adjustment because I'm thinking that rockwool is gonna swing that sucker back up.

On a positive note, roots have grown out the bottom of the 4" cube, I might transfer that to a net pot in a few days with hydroton but i'm gonna be anal about pH balancing that hydroton. The other seedlings are still growing a tiny bit but pretty slowly.

I suck at growing

greenpenguin · Nov 5, 2008

My pH is looking a little better, I've been setting my pH to about 5.1 and having it drift to 5.5, I think it's coming closer to stability and the plants are still growing so that's good.

Anyhow, pictures!

#1 - day 18
Some of the lower leaves are burnt but overall it's looking good, a bit droopy on the big leaves though.

#2 - day 9
starting to get new growth which is relieving

#3 - day 9
this one looks hurt, the leaves are curled down and the cotyledons are standing straight up, I'm kinda worried about this one. But new growth is starting.

#4 - day 9
I think this is a different phenotype from the rest, It's growing shorter, less color in the leaf viens. The leaves also seem stubby. I'm not exactly sure how to determine different phenos but I'm hoping I have some variation.

And I mentioned last time I got some roots growing out....
#1

That's the bottom of #1, I'm thinking of transfering to a netpot with hydroton pretty soon. I've checked the others and #2 and #3 each have 1 root tip peaking out the bottom and #4 has none, but I'm taking this as a positive growth sign. :dance:

Bedlam · Nov 5, 2008

awesome man, they're lookin really good and that cabinet is dope as hell!
hope you don't have to move it different places... i'm renting this place for one year so i had to make my cab easy to disassemble.

i definitely think i'm going to at least start in rockwool next time, that stuff looks really useful.
i also had similar discoloration on my seedlings, i'm starting to think it was my funky ph levels.

good luck bro

justanotherbozo · Nov 5, 2008

greenpenguin · Nov 6, 2008

Bedlam: Thanks for the compliments! I eventually will have to move my box, but I don't plan to until after my second harvest (if I ever get there!). I use a cheap moving company and I can just cover up the vent holes and box away the supplies inside and have them move it for me :muahaha:

As for using rockwool, it's handy but then you're moving into hydroponic territory. Also it wouldn't solve your pH issues, rockwool tends to raise pH so you have to soak it real well, I think I didn't soak well enough before my use so now I"m paying the price.

justanotherbozo: Good to see you're still checking me out :wave:

Thanks for the link but I actually already have that video in AVI format. You can probably tell I got a lot of inspiration from that. I have the same drip manifold as the guy in there (apollo 8), I'm doing the same starter cubes plugged into larger cubes. I'm doing the drip system he uses in veg. But I opted out of doing ebb and flow for flower as done in that video because I plan on using netpots and I like being able to move them around and use less hydroton, and I figure why complicate things with two types of systems when I can just have one.

On top of what I learned from that video I'm incorporating a ton of things I've learned from OG and IC.

Anyhow, my res pH is definitely pretty stable now, only drifted .2 from the last two feedings, I just worry about the next time I refill my res... or when I finally move to feeding nutes. I also noticed the ppm readings are rising every day, I'm guessing that just means the plants are drinking up (or the water is evaporating).

I'm going to start rinsing and then pH balancing some hydroton for when I move these suckers to netpots. I'm definitely gonna pH balancer for a few days until the hydroton is super stable, i'm tired of pH fluctuations.

Also my #1 is starting to smell like weed, yay!

greenpenguin · Nov 14, 2008

My plants are about ready for nutes I think. I think this partly because two of my plants are showing signs of a magnesium deficiency. However my ppms have been rising which usually means feed less but I'm not using any nutes. I've been using brita filtered tap water pH'ed to 5.3.

Anyhow I will be using the GH 3-part Flora series. I picked up some hard water micro today, I'm hoping that'll make pH management easier. I've also been reading a bit about the lucas formula, using 0-8-16 for veg and flower and it sounds interesting. I'm planning on starting a 1/4 strength solution and then letting the solution tell me what the plants want. I have some calmag but apparently with the lucas formula I don't need it.

hazy · Nov 15, 2008

Hey GP, do yourself a favor and switch to coco. Perfect for drippers.
You were right in that first post when you said you could only learn more by doing it.
Much learned already it looks like.
Real nice cab, You're gonna rock that scrog.

greenpenguin · Nov 17, 2008

Hazy - Thanks for the advice, I don't know much about coco yet, I'll have to read up on it. Thanks for the compliments too, I hope I rock the scrog, I still have a long way to go, I move at a fairly slow pace.

Anyhow I think it's about time for an update of all the veglings.

#1 at 31 days is doing awesome, lower leaves have a bit of damage but this one seems to be doing the best out of all of them, possibly in part because it's 11 days older than the rest.

The stem is getting nice and thick, leaves are all growing well. Nothing mutating. there is lots of branching starting out. I love how dark purplish the stems and branches are. I really hope this one is a lady because she's gonna be a champion. I'm ready to start LSTing this one, I just need to transfer it to a netpot with hydroton. I'll show you guys some root porn later.

#2 - 20 days - is looking well and growing at a good pace.

#3 - 20 days - This plant looks hurt, I'm not too worried though. It's still growing, a bit slower than #2. I'm really not sure what's wrong with it, it looks either burnt or mutant. The lights are about 4 inches from the top, same as with #1.

#4 - 20 days - This one looks like it's suffering a bit too, the growth for this one has been slow. I wish these plants wouldn't grow at such different speeds. This one looks a bit mutant or burned too.

And here's a group shot:

So two things have been going on as well...
1) I prepped 7.5 gallons of a nutrient solution. It's tap water with 15mL of GH Hardwater micro and 30mL of GH flora bloom. This is a light nute solution, it's about a 1/4 strength lucas formula of 0-8-16 which according to his latest tests he recommends for veg as opposed to 0-5-10. Anyhow I've read about the GH hardwater micro. Supposedly it should buffer down my solution and lowers pH but takes a bit for that. Right now mine is at 7.0 with an EC of 0.8. I've let it sit for 24 hours and the pH hasn't changed at all. It's just weird becuase I thought it would have dropped by now.

2) I've been washing/soaking some hydroton. I think the kids are ready for some netpots. My netpots are not very big, only 6". So I washed the hydroton pretty thoroughly, using the netpot as a strainer I would wash a little at a time getting all the dust and stuff off of it. I've soaked it in water pH downed to 4.3 for 2 days. I would check it 3 to 4 times a day and pH down it everytime it shot back up. It usually shoots up to 6 or above, I'm trying to get it to just find equilibrium at 5.5 if that's even possible. I'll try for another day and then say forget it and just pot it. Any advice on this? I really don't want to have to deal with fluctuating pH.

Anyhow I have a grow plan written up with a timeline and so far I'm still on schedule doing well. Though my nute feeding estimates were way off, I thought I'd be at full strength nutes by now.

Matsi · Nov 17, 2008

looks great man

justanotherbozo · Nov 17, 2008

hi green, i don't know if i'm missing something or if it's just 'cause i just
woke up but, how are you gonna get those big rockwool blocks into 6"
net pots? you know you won't be able to seperate those rockwool
blocks right? the roots have grown through the small starter cubes
and into the bigger blocks so, if you're gonna use net pots, you may
have to go bigger than 6" pots.

greenpenguin · Nov 18, 2008

justanotherbozo said:
hi green, i don't know if i'm missing something or if it's just 'cause i just
woke up but, how are you gonna get those big rockwool blocks into 6"
net pots? you know you won't be able to seperate those rockwool
blocks right? the roots have grown through the small starter cubes
and into the bigger blocks so, if you're gonna use net pots, you may
have to go bigger than 6" pots.

justanotherbozo, I hear you there, I know I can't separate the blocks but I *think* it will fit, if anything it'll look ghetto and sit on top of the netpots... I'm really just looking to use the hydroton so I'm not root bound.and the roots will still be in some media. I'm limited on netpot size due to the size of my closet. For flower I will have 9" net pots but I"ll only be able to house 3 plants in that room.

My Nute reservoir that I've been monitoring still hasn't changed pH so I pH downed it to 5.3 and I"m gonna start feeding tonight after I transfer the plants to netpots. Lots of work to do tonight.

greenpenguin · Nov 18, 2008

ok I decided to keep things simpler and just replace the res with one I had been preparing for a few days. I want to see how the pH fluctuate prior to adding the hydroton. I'll do the hydroton tomorrow if things are fairly stable with the new res.

greenpenguin · Nov 19, 2008

Hey guys, another day... another... something

I wanted to quickly thank everyone who's been watching my grow and giving me tips, hints, and compliments. I take everyone's feedback seriously.

Update:

1) New res with nutes doing ok, pH is fluctuating, I think I had it at 5.2 in the morning and it was 5.7 when I came home. I'll just need to monitor it carefully

2) Got my F13 #1 and #2 put into netpots with hydroton. Not much room for growth there. One thing I'm concerned about is the hydroton not getting wet, it seems with just a little dripper the hydroton below the rockwool wont get very wet but we'll see. My plants were definitely overgrowing their cubes.
As promised earlier, here's some root porn from #1..

We'll see how this hydroton affects my pH. Nute solution is currently at 630ppm (0.5).

3) I don't remember what 3 was....

But here is the current look of the veg room

mrred · Nov 19, 2008

those 2 look mutant if i ever see one and those roots look real nice, i would of put them in the hydroton the first little root popped out , i think its about time to make some clones and power up the 250watt too

First Grow - 250W Cab - Hydro drip system - F13 from seed

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