Dave's 3rd Grow: Pineapple Chunk in DWC w/fogger

Hi All!

Just put a new seedling that I sprouted from seed into my hydro setup. Same setup as last time:

• 18" x 36" cabinet
• 8 T5 fluorescent lights, 6500°K & 18/6 for grow period
• 14 gallon Roughneck tote
• Advanced Nutrients© nutes
• ultrasonic fogger
• 6" diameter net pot (new)
• Sure to Grow Hail cubes (new)
• coco coir seedling plug

Added some nutrients to the res:

• Sensi-Grow A&B
• B-52

ppm:__540
pH:___5.5

Only got one live seedling this time. (Two sprouted out of three and only one survived my inattention. )

Before adding nutrients, soaked the seedling & surrounding medium with plain water. I think that will keep it from absorbing too much nutrient at first. Net pot is hanging in res so that the bottom isn't touching the water. The only water it will come in contact with now will be the fine mist that the fogger produces.

This is my first time using STG Hail as a grow medium. Layed down one layer in bottom of a net pot, then placed the seedling plug on top and surrounded the plug with more Hail. Then drenched it all in plain water. The STG stuff really holds a lot of water! It feels a little like cotton, except is springier, kind of like some kind of plastic, shredded into fine fibers. Not sure what it's made of, but it has a synthetic feel to me. I'm a little afraid that the fine mist from the fogger won't be able to penetrate the saturated cubes at all. I'll have to keep an eye on it. Hopefully, the roots will grow through it pretty soon.

Pictures on the way!

Yesterday (11-29) was day 1 in the tub with nutes.

Here are some photos:


This is my res full of fog from the ultrasonic fogger.


Here's my little sprout. It was lying down flat, maybe because I didn't plant it soon enough. Anyway, I tried to prop the little guy up a little bit with that chopstick. Once it grows long enough to reach the top of the net pot, I'll be able to stand it up straight with the pot's cover. (It has a hole in the middle where the plant can come out.)


A shot of my res from the outside with sprout in place.

Get that sprout closer to the light somehow, Dave.

You might want to bury it more with some hail cubes, prop it up that way.

lordjin said:

Get that sprout closer to the light somehow, Dave.

You might want to bury it more with some hail cubes, prop it up that way.

Click to expand...

You got it, boss!





I just re-loaded the net pot. Thanks for your advice, Jin. I was also worried that nutrients wouldn't be able to penetrate the saturated Hail cubes, so I first laid down a bed of Hydroton on the bottom of the pot. That's to allow vaporized nutes & water to flow through the gaps between the hydroton pellets, and up to the sprout's roots. Still don't see any roots sticking out of the sprouting plug. That has me worried a little. Maybe I'll drip a little AN Voodoo Juice on it. But anyway, the stem is a lot more vertical now.

I wouldn't worry about that sprout too much. It looks healthy.

I forgot to mention that I added another gallon of pure water to raise the surface level up a little, so that the fog can really get into the net pot.

New measurements:

ppm:__460
pH:___5.6

ppm:__440
pH:___5.6

Had to lower the pH because it had been 6.0. But otherwise everything's ok.

you're just doing one plant in that huge res?

hatsofftoya said:

you're just doing one plant in that huge res?

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Hey dude! Yeah, last time I only had one plant growing in the same place and it outgrew my 36" x 18" cabinet. It only takes one plant to fill it up. This time I won't veg it so big before I start the flowering phase.

Hey hatsoff, have you started your grow journal yet? If so, could you either post a link here or send me a message with the link? I'd like to see how things progress with it. Best of luck!

2nd set of real leaves growing now. (Sorry, no pics yet... Too lazy.) Still don't see roots poking out yet, but that pot is huge so I'm not too worried.

daveroller said:

2nd set of real leaves growing now. (Sorry, no pics yet... Too lazy.) Still don't see roots poking out yet, but that pot is huge so I'm not too worried.

Click to expand...

It'll take a while to poke out if you're using the six inch pot.

Not much new today. Just getting a little bigger & taller. The leaves are just about high enough that I can put a cover over the net pot, maybe tomorrow.

pH was 5.73. No adjustment needed for the past 2 days. It's nice to just sit back and let it grow without thinking about it too much.

Finally, some roots are dangling out of the net pot:



The plant's spreading out wider, but not much taller:





pH this morning was 5.83. A little higher than I want, but not enough to screw with.
I did drip about 2 ml of Voodoo Juice at the base of the plant.

Looking good...

lordjin said:

Looking good...

Click to expand...

Thanks. I know I need to lower the lights closer to the plant pretty soon. Maybe when my wife gets home from work she can help me do it.

The fact that it's growing out instead of up is a good sign. I don't think she's starved for light if she's not strecthing at all.

lordjin said:

The fact that it's growing out instead of up is a good sign. I don't think she's starved for light if she's not strecthing at all.

Click to expand...

Oh, ok. Maybe I'm too impatient. But I'll lower the light fixture pretty soon anyway, when I get a chance. Grow! Grow!

daveroller said:

Oh, ok. Maybe I'm too impatient. But I'll lower the light fixture pretty soon anyway, when I get a chance. Grow! Grow!

Click to expand...

Oh, I wasn't suggesting that moving the light closer is wrong... because it's just what I would do too.

I've been away for a while because my stepdaughter just got married on Saturday. Really a sweet young lady who I'm very proud of. Her guy's a good, hard-working nice fellow himself.

Anyway, back to growing... Last Friday I noticed some white (or light colored) powdery stuff on one leaf. Not sure if it was mold or what, but I sprayed the plant with a dilute solution of neem oil in water. Now it's looking fine. It really had a growth spurt over the weekend, too. Hadn't even looked at it until this evening (since last Friday night).


Still a small trace of white stuff on that rightmost leaf, but it's almost gone.


Not stretching too much, so I guess that's good.


Roots have gotten a lot longer and are fishboning nicely.

In my previous grow I obsessed over my plant every day. Now I like low maintenance. My laziness is winning the battle with my love of growing.

Edit: Still haven't changed the water yet. I guess that must be ok, since she's growing nicely.