Hydro Closet Grow

[silentstoner]

So I am new to growing and this is my first hydroponic grow journal. I’m doing this mainly to remind myself what I may have done right or wrong and for everyone to give me feedback on what I’m doing right and wrong as well. Feel free to drop by and give me feedback on anything or suggest anything to be done a different way. Since I am new to this any help would be greatly appreciated!!

I started out with 10 white widow seeds from Nirvana seeds. I only germinated 7 of them in hopes that 6 would sprout because I have 6 spots in my hydro set up. they were set under 3 CFL lights


side note: I started this journal on day 24 of my grow. I was going to start earlier but procrastination and smoking got the best of me..

Here is a run down of my personal notes that I write in my note pad to keep track of things. Ill keep posting pics and updating journal at least once a week but most likely more like 3 times. Im pretty sure I lost the pictures from the first week or so of documenting the growth but I have most of everything else.

Nov.14th
Day 1:
1/2 strength nutrients started. (not sure what the ppm is with no EC meter) i did realize later that it was wayyyy to high.

6 seeds planted in rockwool/net pots and one seed in just rockwool just in case i needed it.

2 150W CFL and 1 more CFL not sure of the wattage off hand
18 hour light cycle started. ON 5PM-11AM and OFF 11AM-5PM. Perfect since i'm and insomniac so I check on things all night long and not have to worry about the day time since im sleeping when the plants are

Nov 22
Day 8:

Carbon scrubber moved to a direct connection with the exhaust fan which also made it quieter. I used some excess chain to hang it up.

Hose was attached to the intake fan to bring in fresh air from under the closet door if it is closed.

there was one plant with a little bit of its roots showing so i covered the pots with reflective covers to prevent light from hitting them.

lights area bout 3 inches and no sign of burning.

11/23
Day 9:
Got my EC meter today and measures in us/cm so I have to make conversions myself. I made a chart for reference.

Lights raised an inch

Water temp: 69.8 F

PPM:940 (way to high for such small plants) so i replaced some of my water with fresh water to lower it down.

Some of the plant leaves were looking burnt and yellow and im pretty sure it was from them being the the tray uncovered and the nutrients were splashing up from the air hose and drying on the leaves plus the nutrients being to high.

2 plants are looking very healthy and taller others.

11/24
Day 10:
2 plants showing roots through rockwool

1 plant looks like its going to die soon. all leaves are dry on it.

I moved the plants from being in the tray into the bucket today.

Im not to sure what I was thinking when I added the nutrients since I OVER did them again.. and like an idiot i left them like that for a few days since I was out of town.. 15 tsp of nutrients for about 10ish gallons of water.
PPM: 925

11/27
Day 13:
5 plants showing roots and one is a little bit but out of the side of the rockwool not the bottom.

there was some black shit of some of the roots but ONLY some. I just rinsed them off. i think it was nutrients.

the rookwool was dry from being gone for a few days so I wet them down again.

I cut off the leaf tips that were all burnt and yellow from the fertilizer falling on them while they were in the tray.

2 tallest plants are about 3 inchs tall.

Nov 28
Day 14:
Now that I had some time I made the effort to take some of the water out and replace it with fresh PH6.0 water to lower the PPM.
PPM: 665
water temp 70.3F

I labeled all the plants by number today so that I can keep track of who does what and so that if i talk about them now or if you have questions about them I might know what your/I am talking about

I found this thermometer that I will be purchasing next week to keep track of air temp, humidity, and water temp better.

http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=5046128#



11/29
Day15:
So now I am to today. I know I left a whole lot out but I hope the pictures help out a bit as I post and update my logs.
I think I am going to get a TDS meter as well just so I have two references to go off of for my PPM calculations.



12/8
Day24:
Its been quiet a few days since ive gotten to write anything in the journal after having a pretty good birthday weekend and studying for finals last week and this week. I'll try and get to it more ofter once school is out. last night I checked everything and as of now this is what my readings are
Temp:71.6
Humidity:55%

Water temp: 68

PPM:850
PH:6.3
Height :

plant 1: 6.5in plant 2: 7.25in plant 3: 4.5in plant 4:4in plant 5:4in plant 6:3in

 

[silentstoner]

just got another fan today for $4. ill have a pic of the progress as they keep getting bigger. One question. Im in week 3 and a half of seedling/vegging. whats the ideal nutrient PPM right now?

 

[wowisuckatthis]

watch your plants if they are running a light green step up the nitrogen a bit, you should be running low phos and potasium in veg, looks like they are going good now though.

 

[silentstoner]

watch your plants if they are running a light green step up the nitrogen a bit, you should be running low phos and potasium in veg, looks like they are going good now though.

well all of them are pretty strong green but one plant. which is the smallest plant but the roots look great and it keeps growing daily so i think they're all doing great so ill just keep a close eye on them.

 

[silentstoner]

here the are about 10 mins ago. kind of confused on the extreme height difference between the tallest and shortest plant. almost 6 inches difference. will the smaller one catch up anytime soon?

heres some photos of set up, and some root picks.

 

[Che Paddy]

here the are about 10 mins ago. kind of confused on the extreme height difference between the tallest and shortest plant. almost 6 inches difference. will the smaller one catch up anytime soon?

heres some photos of set up, and some root picks.

Looking good so far dude. Pulling up a chair for this one. Im a bit ahead of you in the same sort of set up but with 1 brainstorm and one skywalker. Planning to do about six for my next grow so itll good to watch this one.

As far as the difference in the height from one of the pictures it looks like you have the light too far up and they're strecting to the light and tha would make them taller. I veg with a 150w cfl and get that baby as close as possible. 2 or 3 inches even. I have a 250w hps for flower in a cool tube I can get it to 5 inches.

Not a pro myself but I hope this helps. Looking great tho so far

 

[Che Paddy]

Sorry dude rubbish everything i just said there. Just seen the pictures and realise you have your cfl close. Sorry bit smoked at the minute. Could be just a certain phenotype making ones bigger.

 

[silentstoner]

oh yea i guess i didnt really explain that picture. I was moving some fans around in the back of the plants so i lifted the lights up to be able to reach behind better. they're normally have them2-3 in but I forgot to put them back down for this picture.

 

[silentstoner]

plus the ruler wouldn't fit under the lights so i have to move em up to take that photo too. I hear you tho. i have 2 150WCFLs and 1 100WCFL for right now. but i only have 1 150W HPS for flower. so i want to get another 150WHPS so i can have 300. and get a T5 lamp and clone tray and stuff. but i just got my phone stolen so i have to buy one of those before i get more equiptment. if anything ill just let them get a little taller then before i flower

 

[silentstoner]

so another update. im tearing apart an old mini fridge that i had laying around that i dont use to make a clone box. i got it for free so im not to worried about it. Ill have pictures up of what im at least TRYING to do. not sure if its possible to do since i dont know how im going to cut through the outer shell if i want to put in fans or would that even matter if its going to be its own humidity clone dome fridge? if i leave it as is it will be completely sealed with the exception of a couple holes that the wires went through.

 

[wowisuckatthis]

what kind of cloner u trying to make? let me know how it goes maybe i can help u with design and setup. how the babies doing man?

 

[silentstoner]

Well, Im almost done with the Mini fridge clone box. I just need to run to the hardware store this week to get a mini hacksaw to cut open a back part to put the light/airpump wires through. I'll have pictures as wells as my step by step on it when im done with it. As for today, I cleaned the nutrients solution, it was starting to look gross on the bottom of it. plus the PPM was kind of high and i wanted to lower it down with a full clean batch of water.
my readings today
700PPM.
PH 6.0
temp 73.6F
water temp 72.7F
Humidity %50

I sealed up all the ventilation screen flaps around the bottom walls of the grow tent with duct tape today. hoping that this will help the tiny hint odor when you walk in the room.

I also have photo of what the airpump with all the bubble wrap around it. its sitting on a sponge with the middle cut out to adsorb all the vibration and sound. It is 95% silent. Theres bubble wrap around the extension cord connection as well to protect it from any water spills that might accidentally fall on it.

Im cloning this weekend and starting my 12/12 flower as well. i'm excited

 

[silentstoner]

what kind of cloner u trying to make? let me know how it goes maybe i can help u with design and setup. how the babies doing man?

Its going to be in a mini fridge thats been completely gutted. ill probably have it up this weekend since its finals weeks so ill be busy with that.


heres a little sneak peak

 

[wowisuckatthis]

sweet ill be waiting to see it.

 

[silentstoner]

4 of the plants are about 16IN tall right now. cloning and starting 12/12 in the morning. Ill post later on.

 

[Che Paddy]

4 of the plants are about 16IN tall right now. cloning and starting 12/12 in the morning. Ill post later on.

If you are flowering them at 16 in your going to have monster plants. I flowered my first batch at 10 to 12in and they grew to 4 feet tall.

 

[silentstoner]

If you are flowering them at 16 in your going to have monster plants. I flowered my first batch at 10 to 12in and they grew to 4 feet tall.

ohh damn. well i was waiting to flower because I didnt have any money to get my cloning stuff at the time. i hope they dont get toooo tall. there wont be any more room. they can really only grow another 20IN because of the small grow tent height combined with the distance i have to have the light from the tops. if they eventually get to tall is there a way to fix that

 

[wowisuckatthis]

tie them down to keep them a lil shorter, they are going to want to blow up in the first couple weeks of flower. they use up all the food they have stored in roots when the light cycle switches and there is more time for growing in the dark.

 

[Che Paddy]

The brainstorm i have at the moment has blown up like a mothafuckersince it went to 12/12. Its about 3 weeks into 12 12 and im so glad i tied it down otherwise ive have no space.

 

[silentstoner]

so like i said in previous post, I was in the process of making a cloner out of an old mini fridge that I had and it was a complete fail. it has potential but I would have to do some more cutting to get holes for air and fans. It ended up just creating more heat than anything since its so well insulated.

there were a bunch of things that just REALLY weren't working out so i kept evolving the situation to try to make an efficient cloner. its now just sitting on its back with the door off and the light just hanging into it inside the closet. itll do for now.

I ended up getting two $.97 plastic bins and just threw the clones in with a bubbler. they're all watered down now so I think they should pull around nicely.

I cleaned the whole system and replaced the water and added the new nutrients.

I turned the lights off in the flowering room for 24 Hrs to try and help determine sex as early as possible. I want to weed out the males since ill be out of town for the holidays.
flower room:
PPM:410(started plants on dyna-gro Bloom 3-12-6)
PH:6.0

I left the 150WCFLs in for added light.

heres a couple pictures for reference. sorry the shitty ones of the cloner are from my phone