Finally My First Grow

Wow wow wow
Thats all I gotta say.
So for the last 3 to 4 days things have been going.... slowly but going.
For some reason I was constantly having issues wuth my ph. It kept rising. Did some research here. And instead of adding ph down I added another gallon of water to my system and the ph dropped to 5.8. I am happy with that. I then decided that mayne I hadnt added enough nutrients. I used less than a 1/4 of what was reccomened . At that point i was around 140ppm.
Decided to up the nutrients to 1/2 of what is recommened .
Now with my ph at 5.8(checked after nutrients added) and with 347 ppm. I watered my plants after all was done.
I leave to do some work and 5 hours later I come back and my ladies are standing strong. All leaves are up and perky. 3rd set of leaves started to come in more prominent and they all grew a little taller.
All of my girls are leaning towards the L.E.D. even the ones under my hps.
So tonight I am gonna change over the hps for 2 192w purple sun L.E.D's.
So that an update super excited.
Everyday... i learn something

Keep up the good work. Your on your way to success! If u put the time in you will he rewarded in the end

I love it when we see results like that from our plants!

Makes us understand what they like

Got a quick questions my friends.
So to start i had my water level in my dwc half way up my net pods and was watering my plants thru the hydrocorn by pouring water over the hydrocorn and down to bucket.
My roots in all my plants have come thru and all are sitting in the water.
My question is do I now bring the water level down below my net pods? And if so, am I just simply removing water from my system or am I completely removing all water and starting with fresh distilled water.
What risks if any am I running by leaving the roots that deep into the sytem.
Thanks guys.

If the roots are through the bottom.lower your water to an inch to 2 inches below the net pot, and I drain and refill the water once a week so if u think its due for a change then drain and refill! If not just suck a couple quarts out. If its a 5 gallon bucket u should have about 9 liters of water in it now. Thats what I got in my 5 gallon buckets, I just did a water change last night! Good luck

Awesome I will get on that right now.
I am scheduled for a change on friday. So ill drop the water level 2 inchs under the net pods.
And friday I am due for a water chance and will do a complete change then. So happy everything seems to be growing extremly well. All leaves are growing huge and fast. Nice green color. Stems are between 4 to 7mm thick. All are up atleast 3 to 4 nodes

Thanks
K_elliot99

Do you have an air stone in your res?

No i do not have a air stone in my res.
Should i have 1?

If your roots are in the water then yes, I would recommend it. Just be aware that it can warm the water up. The air pump gets hot and blows hot bubbles. I was able to reduce the heat by blowing a fan directly on the pump. Make sure your res stays in the 68-72 F range.

Bubbles are magic for roots - the more the better!

I was not aware that the air pumps can heat up your water . Good to know considering I have 4 air pumps running. 1 for each bucket.
i did have another conserned I am using 8" net pod in my 3.5 gallon buckets . The net pod sits deep into the bucket once i lower the level I end up with like 4 to 5 inches of water in each bucket.
those that seem ok to you guys.
Space is limited that is the reason i chose the 3.5 gallon as appose to 5 gallons.
Those that water level with those net pods seem right.
here are a few pics of a few of my ladies. The smaller 1 is Grand Heft Auto. And the other is thc bomb..
they look healthy and strong

I have seen guys with fully immersed roots and giant plants!

Pouring from the top works great too. Just as long as the roots are kept moist you are golden

cruz420 said:

I was not aware that the air pumps can heat up your water . Good to know considering I have 4 air pumps running. 1 for each bucket.
i did have another conserned I am using 8" net pod in my 3.5 gallon buckets . The net pod sits deep into the bucket once i lower the level I end up with like 4 to 5 inches of water in each bucket.
those that seem ok to you guys.
Space is limited that is the reason i chose the 3.5 gallon as appose to 5 gallons.
Those that water level with those net pods seem right.
here are a few pics of a few of my ladies. The smaller 1 is Grand Heft Auto. And the other is thc bomb..
they look healthy and strong

Click to expand...

Why is your plant so wet?

I spray a lil mist over them everyonce im a while.
Keeps them happy

okay my Friends, so today I did a complete change of all my water and nutrients in am all for buckets and my reservoir. Last night I prepped all my 1 gallon jugs with nutrients and then I pH balanced each of the one gallon jugs everything was done individually by the gallon my ppm is at 400 and I set my ph at 5.8 which is what my nutrients recommended I am using Aurora soul synthetics and I am cutting the recommended nutrients by half.
I emptied and cleaned each bucket completely with clean water and rags, clean rags and then I poured all my water and nutrients into my reservoir and it flowed into the 4 other buckets. I have about an inch to inch and a half of air between the bottom of my net pod to the water. all my roots are coming through my hydro corn and from what I can see they look healthy and hairy.
Now am I supposed to do the same procedure every single time I feed the plants.
And my second question is PH ....
AAAAAAAARRRRGH.
I guess I need to be educated a Lil more. My ph is constantly rising. It could be set to 5.8 and hours later its at 6.5.
I understand that with hydroponics the ph varies, so is this normal. And is using ph down daily damaging to my plants. And if it is normal is the 5.8 to 6.5 normal?
Thanks ahead for the help......

I would always pH low and let it rise up. I think that some plants might make it worse.

Did you pre-soak your hydro corn in acidic water?

I wipe the reservoir down each change but I still have a little water in the buckets, I just let that mix in and don't have any problems.

I would set my ph to 5.0 and let it raise to 6.2 then adjust it back down. that seems like a large swing, is your pen calibrated?

Yes and to make sure I brought back to htg and they calibrated for me. I washed my hydro corn threw tap water.Do you think that may be causing the ph variations. I mean don't get me wrong I stay on top of it and the girls do look healthy. I have included some pics. I also topped 3 outta the 5 plants I was planning on topping. The other 2 where planted 5 days later and I an gonna do them as soon as they are nice and strong.
Tell what you guys think.

You need to soak the clay pellets in a 5.0 ph water over night before use. They will cause it to swing up if you dont soak them first.

You will just have too keep adjusting until they level out. Like i said, keep it at 5.0 and let it swing up to 6. Should get it under control without hurting the girls. Ive done that a few times before.

They look good!

Look nice and healthy and happy so far! Good job man!


P.S. To get the most accurate info from these guys you might consider turning off your LED and just using your camera flash for light when taking photos. LED and hps both sort of wash things out a bit.

Looks damn good to me