End Of 2nd Grow Starting 3rd

Dante Danko

Member
I'm into my third consecutive grow now, from where i started with a few good bag seeds and took clones for the next two grows. I'm writing this grow journal too help new growers set up a simple ebb and flow rockwool system that i have been perfecting now over the last 8 months and to get criticism, praise and ideas from other advanced and peer growers.

My system consists of one 400W HPS light for flowering coupled with two 64w cfls to help illuminate lower portions of the garden. As stated above iI am growing out of rockwool 4x4 cubes in an ebb flow system that i built for under 50 dollars. I used a 10 gallon container from walmart as a reservoir and a clear plastic "steralite" tote to hold the plants. I bought a 25 dollar submersible pump and some plastic hardware to make an stacked overflow drain. I also found that getting an air pump with airstones and putting it in the res keeps the water looking clearer and cleaner as well as my ph stays consistent with less need for adjusting.

The water I'm using comes from the tap, except i run it through one of those PUR faucet water filters. I fill my res 5 gallons at a time as i don't seem to go through that much water until later on into flowering. The nutes i use are Hesi Hydro growth and Hesi Hydro Bloom and molasses during flowering. I just a 10 bottle technaflora nute package from a buddy that I'm going to experiment with on the next batch of clones to compare final yield to see if there is a difference.

As of today i have two females which are 2ft and 3ft tall, that are 6 weeks 2 days into flowering, and 7 clones 2 week 4 days after rooting. I ended up rooting them in a medium sized propogation tray with in soil, although im growing hydroponically. As many others may know and i found out the hard way its pretty difficult, maybe just for me to root, to root into rockwool. I succeeded by rooting in soil first then transplanting into rockwool starter cubes. I didn't see any shock from the clones, but these clones are from two hearty plants. Yes I know i took the clones late but the first two attempts of cloning all died.

I started flowering at a 12/12 regimen and then at the 4 week mark cut it back to 11/13 so that i can harvest them at 8 weeks of flowering. Ive been watering them once every day or two depending on how much they drink in the later weeks of flowering, but during veg i was only watering once every 3 to four days. Very important with rockwool because i have found any more then that hurts them and they show signs of being over watered. I took me a few weeks to figure that out because i could not find an answer on how often to water, so here i am posting that info now for the next beginner. I started out on half strength nutes for the first two weeks of veg and the bumped up to full strength, keeping my ph at a constant 6.0. When i triggered flowering i fed full strength bloom nutes through until about 2 days ago, at their 6 week mark when i started leeching, watering with only 6.0ph adjusted water and 1 tsp of molasses per gallon of water, no nutes.

And that is where i stand now... I will post pictures asap of the 2 in flowering and of the 7 clones and will start a daily - weekly journal depending on when i have time to write ..comments suggestions appreciated
 

Dante Danko

Member
Today i check my clones and it seems that the new growth leaves are looking deformed and skinny, I'm assuming that this is because of a ph issue. So i flushed the rockwool cubes with ph 6.0 adjusted water to help rectify this. I also decided to crop the ones that looked the most deformed, 3 plants out of the 7 to experiment with cropping. I have been growing them with little trimming and have only been removing fan leaves when they are just about dead. Because of the size of my light (canopy penetration) and the amount of space I am working with (3.5ft x 3.5ft) I have been only allowing them to get to a height of 2-3ft. I let my first set grow to a height of 4.5ft the first grow i did and yielded 96 grams dry weight off of three plants, two of them being 4.5 ft and one being 3.5 feet. As it looks now with my two shorter pants that I will be getting around the same amount of yield as my first crop with shorter plants. I attribute this to the lack of canopy penetration from the 400w. On my first grow the bottom 1/3 of the plant was lightly flowered, buds running it seemed, while the top 2/3 grew fatter and tighter. To obtain maximum yield i decided to let them grow shorter as seen on the 2nd picture above. The bottom 1/3 of the plants seem to produce less flowers now, but tighter and bigger that my taller crop before. My upper 2/3 of the plant seems to be around the same size so i think i found my goal height. After drying and curing i will post a total yield from this crop to compare.

I watered the two flowering plants yesterday with only water at the beginning of their light cycle, and today the rockwool is still very damp and moist, so more than likely i will be watering them again tomorrow or later on into their light cycle tonight. Which reminds me, i flipped their light cycle to night time because i live in a very hot area, and have found that this helps to keep my temperatures constant, 82 degrees during light hours, 68 during night hours. Because my light is not air cooled I have been doing everything i can to figure out how to vent out hot air and bring in cool, and working with my homes ac while having their light comes on at night seems to have provided me the answer i was looking for. Any input on how to get more heat out of my space without buying the necessary components to air cool my light is appreciated.
 
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