A Long Time in the Making, Finally...The First Grow! 600w, 2x4, Waterfarm

Hey there RIU, welcome to my grow journal!

Preface: I have been a lurker here for a long time and RIU was my first inspiration to get a grow going. I originally tried to get one going in 2012, but it took me a while to get all the necessary equipment and then wouldn't you know it...My house was broken into and someone made off with my entire setup AND seeds (among other stuff) before I even got to pop one. It was very disappointing to say the least. But at last, I am back in the game!

The Equipment:
~Mothers/Clones~
1 150w HPS with reflector
4 5gal. Pots w/ FFOF soil (Mothers)
1 DIY Ez-Cloner w/ 16 sites

~Veg/Flower~
1 600w HPS/MH 6" air-cooled
1 2x4 Tent
2 modified WaterFarms (ScottyBalls Style)
1 2x4 DIY scrog screen
1 440cfm fan with a 6" carbon filter

~Nutes~
Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro (Mothers & Veg)
Dyna-Gro Bloom (Flower)
Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt (Entire Cycle)
Dyna-Gro Mag-Pro (As needed)
Botanicare Aquashield (Veg/Flower)

The Strain: Unknown - My dad passed away in June, and upon going through some of his old stuff, I found a small black film canister. Now as the story goes, when I was still a wee lad, my dad was in the process of building our first house (by himself, he was a master carpenter) and ran out of money. As a result, we lived with unfinished floors, walls, etc. for a bit. To finance the rest of the house, my dad started growing on our 50 acres. My uncle has always said it was the best pot he has ever had and he's been smoking for 40+ years. They called it Polio, I'm sure you can guess why. Well inside this black film canister, were 9 seeds that look great (color, stripes, size, etc.). I decided to use these seeds partly to save money, but mostly because I'm determined to grow at least one of these out and smoke some in memory of my Pops.

The Plan: I popped 4 seeds on 2/17/14. My plan is to plant all the seeds that germinate into 5gal. pots with FFOF soil, these will be my mothers (hopefully). I will veg for about two weeks, take some cuttings and immediately put one from each on a flower schedule so I can sex the mothers. If all goes well, I will select two female clones from the strongest mother(s) and put them into the WaterFarms. I plan to veg the clones 20/4 (maybe 18/6, haven't decided yet) till they are about 10-12 inches and will then I will flip to 12/12 and scrog for the first two weeks. Then just let them flower until the Triches say "cut me!"

The Goal: I'm hoping to pull at least .5g per watt or 300g. I've seen people pulling upwards of .75g a watt (ScottyBalls) with a smaller but similar system, so I'm hoping I will easily reach/beat my goal.

I will update this journal as much as I can and I will have some pics up once the action starts. Feel free to comment, ask questions, give suggestions, etc...just please keep it civil and keep the threadjacking to a minimum.

~Chadster152

A lurker 100 posts ago....? pics please lol



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I like that your mystery seeds were your fathers who has passed on. this is pretty cool and I would grow them if they were my dads.

good luck on the grow sounds like you have done some homework.

Wow that was my 101 post? Didn't even realize. Well like I said I tried to get a grow going in 2012, so my first 100 posts are from that effort. However, as soon as the beans are planted and they crack the surface, I will have pics up. Only thing I could post pictures of now would be empty pots, unopened soil bags, and a pile of equipment.

dopeydog said:

I like that your mystery seeds were your fathers who has passed on. this is pretty cool and I would grow them if they were my dads.

good luck on the grow sounds like you have done some homework.

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Ya I'm excited to see what lies within. It will be nice to share a toke of Dad's herb with the family and reminisce. Thanks for the support, I appreciate it! I have done a lot of researching but until now, I haven't been able to grow. But if it is half as easy as most of RIU makes it seem, I think I'll be alright.

Congrats on getting the seeds to pop, gonna be hearty if they survived that long. Excited to see how this goes!

Ace Yonder said:

Congrats on getting the seeds to pop, gonna be hearty if they survived that long. Excited to see how this goes!

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Well they haven't popped yet...but I'm hoping they will! I put them in some water to soak on 2/17/14 at around noon, let them soak all day 2/18/14, and then this morning before work I checked and they haven't cracked yet. I took two out and put them in some tupperware in a damp paper towel and left the other two to soak. I also moved them to a warmer spot of the house so I'm hoping to see some signs of life soon. Should I be worried?

No signs of germination yet. If they don't pop by 2/24/14, I think i may have to bite the bullet and order some new gear.

Sounds nice but why do you guys tease with no pics?

Interesting. Subbed. :3

UPDATE: So I broke down and ordered some new gear, Cherry OG from Emerald Triangle and Critical Jack from Dinafem. I was convinced that none of my beans were gonna pop and then last night I checked and one has split the shell but there was no root tip visible. Maybe it'll pop after all! Either way, I have new gear on the way.

GoldMouf said:

Sounds nice but why do you guys tease with no pics?

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There's nothing to take a pic of yet, once I have some gear sprouted i will be posting plenty of pics.

UncleReemis said:

Interesting. Subbed. :3

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Welcome. I hope you enjoy the ride.

Mmm don't get discouraged on the seeds. I thought my Mr. Nice seed wasn't gonna pop and my friend stopped me from tossing it. It popped xD

UPDATE: So its been almost three weeks and my mystery seeds haven't popped yet...I have all but abandoned hope. The seeds I ordered from the attitude have been stuck in ISC Los Angeles since 2/27/14, so I have a feeling I'm gonna get a package with green tape and a "Nice Try" letter. I'm itching to get this started and my window of opportunity is getting shorter everyday. I did pick up some herb recently that was loaded with seeds (40+ seeds in an eighth) but was still pretty good quality, so I think I may try germing a few of those. My only other options are to A: Wait for my attitude order and hope customs took a sick day, B: pop my bag seed, or C: try to convince my buddy (who recently revealed to me that he grows, what a coincidence ) to spare a few clones of his Romulan Diesel he has going. Apparently, his Romulan Diesel is from seeds that his buddy got ten years ago in SF.


What do you guys think? Try to pop some bag seed, wait for the attitude to come through, or try to come-up on some clones?

Do what you gotta do to get goin. If you can snag a few clones just to get a rotation going and then you can start specific strains from seed when they come in for your mothers. Good luck

UPDATE: So it's official, I will be getting two Romulan Diesel clones to start this bad boy off! I do have a wee bit of a problem though. The clones are rooted in coco, however I need to transplant them into my DWC buckets...anybody have any advice on how to accomplish this??

UPDATE!!!!

Alright, a lot of things have changed so I'm going to do a revision of my first post.

The Equipment:
~Clones~
1 150w HPS with reflector
1 DIY Ez-Cloner w/ 26 sites

~Veg/Flower~
1 600w HPS/MH 6" air-cooled
1 2x4 Tent
2 DIY WaterFarms (ScottyBalls Inspired)
1 2x4 DIY scrog screen
1 440cfm fan with a 6" custom carbon filter

~Nutes~
Dyna-Gro Foliage Pro (Veg)
Dyna-Gro Bloom (Flower)
Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt (Entire Cycle)
Dyna-Gro Mag-Pro (As needed)
Botanicare Aquashield (Veg/Flower)

The Strain: Next Gen Romulan Diesel - I am fortunate enough to be getting two rooted cuttings from a friend of mine. He came across the seeds from a friend of his that acquired them at a cup in San Fran about 10 years ago. I've seen the finished product as well as a crop about 4-5 weeks in flower and I am really excited to see what I can do with it.

The Plan: I will be getting 2 clones on 3/12/14. My plan is to transplant the clones into my custom DWC buckets, and veg under my 150w until the clones are about 10" tall. I will then throw them under the 600w for a few days to get acclimated, start to weave into the screen, and probably take a few cuttings. After the acclimation period, I will flip to 12/12 and continue to weave for the first few weeks of stretch. After that I'm just gonna let them do their thing.

The Goal: I'm hoping to pull at least .5g per watt or 300g. I've seen people pulling upwards of .75g a watt (ScottyBalls) with a smaller but similar system, so I'm hoping I will easily reach/beat my goal.


I will update with pictures tomorrow night. Any questions, comments, suggestions, tips, and tricks are welcome!

Good morning RIU! Happy St. Patty's Day!

Let's get down to brass tacks...

I haven't updated in a while and I have some catching up to do...
I popped some bagseed I had laying around. The baggies started breaking ground on 3/13/14.


I brought the Romulan Diesel clones home on 3/13/14.


They went into the buckets the night of 3/15/14 under a 600w MH. As you can see, I still need a bit more hydroton for one of the buckets.

I put them in a fresh rez with 1.5 tsp of Pro-Tekt and Aquashield...PH at 5.7-5.9 and PPM at ~100 for both buckets.

Here are the nutes...


and some room pics...


I will be doing a rez change tonight, adding 1/4 strength nutes, and finalizing my drip rings (work in progress)...I will upload some lights off pics this afternoon.

~Chadster152

lookin good bromandude! That Rom Diesel isnt a heavy feeder.....i dont go over 1.1EC with her ever!

Ohh and you should get quite a bit of branching from those clones, as they were taken at 2 weeks flowering

I took some pics on my lunch break...Both plants look a little droopy, plant #1 has developed some sort of yellow-greyish patch, and plant #2 has the same thing but smaller in scale.


Bucket #1 -----> Plant #1 ------> Plant#1 ------> Plant #1 ----> Bucket #2 -----> Plant #2

Any ideas on what mighty be causing this?

thewhitelotus said:

lookin good bromandude! That Rom Diesel isnt a heavy feeder.....i dont go over 1.1EC with her ever!

Ohh and you should get quite a bit of branching from those clones, as they were taken at 2 weeks flowering

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Thanks TWL...nice to see you on RIU. Sounds good...I haven't started feeding yet but I am tonight. I'm gonna start with ~350ppm @ .7 for a week then go from there. What is your take on the pics i posted from today?