1st Grow. Dry run for Hydro setup

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goodpunk6

Active Member
I'm a novice! I bought a big 4x2x60'in tent and 2 8 site hydroponic dwc setups. I've got a carbon filter, inline duct fan, exhaust fan, appropriate ducting, a cool tube 400w HPS and MH setup, a wireless indoor outdoor thermometer/hygrometer, a TDS pen, and GH Micro bloom and Micro Gro. I also made a 15 site hydro cloner and have a 100w fluorescent setup for it as well.

I know what you're thinking! I'm a noob so what the hell am I doing with all this stuff? I bought this stuff for the future. Right now, I'm actually going to use a 5 gallon bucket I made for $20 by watching this link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNO8nNV_Dd0).

I also just happened to own a 3 bulb spot light fixture with power cord. I modified the cups that the bulbs sat in by cutting them with metal sheers. Then I installed adapters in two of the cups. I kept the one in the middle the same because it has some black metal hoop installed in it. Its detachable but I think its for grounding the fixture. So I'll leave it there. I'm using 5 100w CFLs that output 1750 lumens each.

I figured I would only grow one plant in the bucket, but I might be open to getting another lid and making 3 3in holes.

I'm also thinking about painting the inside of the closet white. It already is, but can use a coat. Also, the overhead compartment will serve as a vegetative area down the line or maybe even sooner.

I'll be using some bag seeds.

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G

goodpunk6

Active Member
I took a wet paper towel, put 6 seeds it, folded it, put it in a sandwich baggie and is sitting in a warm dark place. Does that sound right?
 
Shrew

Shrew

Member
so far so good imo

maybe just clean up your wires a bit mount your surge protector to the wall. A tidy grow room is a happy one :)
 
asaph

asaph

Well-Known Member
goodpunk6 said:
I'm a novice! I bought a big 4x2x60'in tent and 2 8 site hydroponic dwc setups. I've got a carbon filter, inline duct fan, exhaust fan, appropriate ducting, a cool tube 400w HPS and MH setup, a wireless indoor outdoor thermometer/hygrometer, a TDS pen, and GH Micro bloom and Micro Gro. I also made a 15 site hydro cloner and have a 100w fluorescent setup for it as well.

I know what you're thinking! I'm a noob so what the hell am I doing with all this stuff? I bought this stuff for the future. Right now, I'm actually going to use a 5 gallon bucket I made for $20 by watching this link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNO8nNV_Dd0).
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if you are excited about growing and think you're gonna do it for long, I just can't tell you how much time, money and frustration you have saved yourself with this decision
 
asaph

asaph

Well-Known Member
goodpunk6 said:
I took a wet paper towel, put 6 seeds it, folded it, put it in a sandwich baggie and is sitting in a warm dark place. Does that sound right?
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make sure your towel is smooth and not a 'hairy' towel, as the hatching root can engage in it and might be difficult to extract. Personaly, I and other people don't like the towel method, because it involves messing with the root of a gentle seedling, which is never a good idea, and it's also unnecessary - if you can plant the seed in the soil, there's no real reason for that. If you're gonna use DWC, you can use rockwool cubes for germination - I have very high germination rates (85-90%) with them. once they germinate you can simply put them inside your net pots with the hydroton.

good luck!
i'm subbed
 
G

goodpunk6

Active Member
asaph said:
make sure your towel is smooth and not a 'hairy' towel, as the hatching root can engage in it and might be difficult to extract. Personaly, I and other people don't like the towel method, because it involves messing with the root of a gentle seedling, which is never a good idea, and it's also unnecessary - if you can plant the seed in the soil, there's no real reason for that. If you're gonna use DWC, you can use rockwool cubes for germination - I have very high germination rates (85-90%) with them. once they germinate you can simply put them inside your net pots with the hydroton.

good luck!
i'm subbed
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Awesome advice! I'll be using this method in the future. The less I have to do, the better! So the rockwool sits in a cup with water and I just drop the seeds in and then place in the dark?
 
G

goodpunk6

Active Member
Shrew said:
so far so good imo

maybe just clean up your wires a bit mount your surge protector to the wall. A tidy grow room is a happy one :)
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Will do. Ill just take a screw and drill it to the wall. I've some velcro cable ties that ill use to get it all together.
 
asaph

asaph

Well-Known Member
goodpunk6 said:
Awesome advice! I'll be using this method in the future. The less I have to do, the better! So the rockwool sits in a cup with water and I just drop the seeds in and then place in the dark?
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thanks :) when you REALLY like someone's advice, you can click that little star in the bottom left of their post and give them a reputation point for that :)

My method is to water the rockwool with ph ~6 water and place the seed in the rockwool, then cover it with something not-transparent (so it's dark inside). open at least once a day to change air (but not a lot more), and in the third day start checking every once in a while. it may take up to ten days but only if it's cold. once they hatch above the rockwool they should already placed under lights, or they will stretch badly and not be able to stand for quite a while. you can transplant them into the hydro-culture then.

This could also be done into soil or coco, but they must be watered VERY often especially in the first week until they root out a bit. then you can start watering around. or you can just keep them in the rockwool for a few days (under light) to root and then plant into medium.

some people say you should pre-soak the rockwool with pH 5.5 24 before putting the seed, I don't think this is really necessary though. Also the seed will probably germinate faster if it's soaked in a shot-glass of water before, up to 48 hours, but I think not faster enough to make up for those 48 hours :P so basically yeah, you just put them in the rockwool, cover and let sit.

NEVER LET IT DRY. It will kill it for sure.

good luck tell us how you're doing
 
G

goodpunk6

Active Member
Update. I changed over to 5 26w 1800 lumen 6500k cfls for vegatative growth. I also got my hands on a t5 setup. Ill be using that down the line.
 
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goodpunk6

Active Member
update - so its a couple of weeks into vegetation and this is what I've got. The big one is green crack kush. the others are Nirvana Short Ryder. There is one that's really tall and skinny. She's a bagseed. IMG_20110331_103738.jpgIMG_20110331_103107.jpg
 
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goodpunk6

Active Member
OK. So after adding another pump to the tank my babies have recovered. Again, thanks to everyone who helped! I have also taken my one remaining bagseed and moved her over to the Mother area. I'll have pics of that later.

I have nothing sitting in my cloner. I'm thinking about germinating some white rhino seeds. I don't think I want to grow any more autos.
 

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goodpunk6

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So I forgot to mention that I ended up getting a bigger tent. I'm now running in a 4x4 tent. I have one bagseed mother plant under 6 6500k 23w cfl's cranking out 1800 lumens each. I also forgot to mention that a couple of weeks back I installed a shelf in my closet that the cloner is supposed to sit on. Well, it sat there for all of two minutes before it fell. Some of the plants didn't make it so that's why I'm down to 8 short rider and 1 bagseed. I have since reinstalled the shelf, enforced the brackets, and adjusted the lights. Pics to come.
 
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goodpunk6

Active Member
I have a feeding question - https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/427718-ppm-question-when-feed.html#post5645573

But as far as the plants go. So far so good. I'm trying to keep the PH at 5.8 now that I have a digital PH tester. Turns out that my water was closer to 6.3 before I got this thing. So its no wonder why my plants show signs of a nitrogen deficiency. Hopefully with the PH at the correct level that will sort itself out.
 

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asaph

asaph

Well-Known Member
goodpunk6 said:
I have a feeding question - https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/427718-ppm-question-when-feed.html#post5645573

But as far as the plants go. So far so good. I'm trying to keep the PH at 5.8 now that I have a digital PH tester. Turns out that my water was closer to 6.3 before I got this thing. So its no wonder why my plants show signs of a nitrogen deficiency. Hopefully with the PH at the correct level that will sort itself out.
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Hmm... If you are correct about the units you are measuring (meaning, you are in fact measuring TDS / PPM and not EC which is measured like this in μS) - then it's very surprising that your plants are not seriously burned, after getting 2000ish ppm, which is like... 3000 μS or 3.0EC. I grew most of the veg stage with ~1.0EC/~600-700PPM with very good results. But then again, your plants really don't seem burned at all. They are a bit small, I must break, and it seems that your oxygen levels are still to low in the res. What is the res temperature? water saturation levels will reduce drastically at temps higher than 25 celsius. I do recommend using hydrogen peroxide (H2o2) to try and relief this situation, and/or adding yet another air pump. You are using air stones connected to the pipes of the pumps, yes?

You have a nice amount of plants for a res this size and perhaps you should try and build another one to relieve some of the war on oxygen, but this last comment is no more than a hunch.

Try promoting root growth with a rooting accelerator added to your solution.

At any rate, it seems that perhaps DWC isn't the best solution for you. I'm not saying you should quit it, but if you can't fix those problems perhaps you should consider moving them to a hydroponic medium such as coco coir, which will give you hydroponic benefits but be much more helpful with root oxygenation and high temps. It's still a different method, but it might be worth the trouble.

No reason to panic, they are looking healthy and good. Try to improve conditions, wait another week and see where you stand in terms of growth, especially the roots.

(Note: I've never really done DWC so all my advice is to be taken with consideration thereof. Also, they really don't look that bad)
 
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