First Bubbleponics Grow! pics+questions.Feedback appreciated.

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting on these forums,This is also my first time growing.

I am almost to the 4 week of growing and I have finally decided to take some pictures,ask some questions and see what ppl think about my grow.

Setup:

Stealth Hydro Bubbleponics System(bought the package deal,came with all the goodies)


2 Dual Spectrum II lights from SH


Timer
SH Nutrients
SH Ph control kit
Rockwoold cubes in hydroton rocks

OK a little information about my grow before I start asking questions. I have been growing for nearly 4 weeks,I have 5 plants growing at the moment but they did not all start out at the same time due to some seed complications. I have a 6 plot system, the letters below represent each plot.

A B C
D E F

A: 3 weeks of growing since the plant broke through the rockwool, strain is PPP
B: 3 weeks of growing since the plant broke through the rockwool, strain is PPP
C: random seed from my freinds festival seed bag(dro of some sort), 4 weeks of growing
D: White rhino,3 weeks of growing
E: random seed from my freinds festival seed bag(dro of some sort), 4 weeks of growing
F: plant died,so nothing

I have been using SH nutrients since day one and at first I was not sure what kind of feeding schedule the plants should be on,When I first started out i used half of the pre packaged dose of Micro and Grow the first day and the other half the next day, I think this was the cause for some of the health problems with my plants so now I have a regular schedule of changing the water every 2 weeks and introducing half the nutrients on monday of the first week and the other half on monday of the 2 week. As far as my water goes I have been using spring water only. I tried to keep the PH range in between 6-6.3 during the first 2 weeks of growing but I did some more research and decided 5.2 was optimal so I am now letting the ph drop until it gets around 5.2 and will maintain it to stay there.

Ok,now with the questions. Any help is greatly appreciated.

How often should I turn my water pump on? I read that after the roots have made their way into the water that it should not be on 24/7 which is what I had it on.

I have some health issues with my plants, Ive noticed some rust spots,tips of leaves curling down, and a few other things I am not sure of. I can also see a slight burn on the very tip of a few leaves.





I planted the white rhino at the same time as the PPP,but the difference now is HUGE,the white rhino is growing so slow and I am not sure why, Also the first 2 leaves that develop and are different from other kinds are black?? No idea why that is.


My biggest concern right now is the sheer size of plant C and E. They are overtaking all the other plants,lots of the lower leaves on the two plants are getting little to no light,I can see very soon that all the other plants will be covered by these 2 monsters,How will this crowded space affect the growth of other plants and the 2 big plants them selves. I can see where sets of leaves are growing/grown but are not shaped correctly cause there is hardly any room for them to grow? What do you suggest I do about this?

Also, why are the 2 big plants just getting bushier and bushier,I want it to grow taller and skinner not short and fat. Is this all in the strain or what?





Any questions regarding something I posted or a mistake somewhere, feel free to ask. If you need another or better picture of something let me know.
Thanks

" My biggest concern right now is the sheer size of plant C and E. They are overtaking all the other plants,lots of the lower leaves on the two plants are getting little to no light,I can see very soon that all the other plants will be covered by these 2 monsters,How will this crowded space affect the growth of other plants and the 2 big plants them selves. I can see where sets of leaves are growing/grown but are not shaped correctly cause there is hardly any room for them to grow? What do you suggest I do about this?"

Bit late but try moving your lights around...

Ok I have a bunch of advice for you. First I just want to correct you, dro just means it was grown hydroponically, it says nothing about the quality of the weed but I have heard some people use it in place of heads, or whatever other slang there is for good weed. Anyway, once the roots are in the water you can remove the pump completely, you never have to use it again on these plants. The spots and curling that you're talking about are from over-feeding. Try cutting back on teh nutes some. Your method of adding half during the first week after a res change and then adding the other half a week later does not make any sense to me. I recommend changing the reservoir every week, expecially since this is your first time, and give them full strength nutes when you fill it up. As for your pH, it is way too low. The best pH range is 5.8-6.2. You are correct that the bushiness of the plants is all in the strain. At this point it is a little late for the little ones to catch up. Like levellers said, try repositioning your lights to give the little ones more and maybe they will show some improvement. I think I answered all your question...if I missed something, or if you have more, feel free to ask. Subscribed.

I agree with everything Lt says, but let me put my spin on things. Lights, you need more of them, spread them out a little, use several light temps, 6500 mostly and throw in some 2700's, you can buy them from Lowes or most hardware stores. I'd probably go with nothing bigger than a 42w, the cost really goes up when you go up to the 65w. And the 42's are more efficient than the 65's. I just ordered some today so the research is fresh in my mind. I bought 6-42w 6500k and 2-42w 2700k for my new grow space.

You have several strains there, you are learning one important lesson, if you are planting more than one strain you have to make sure they have similar growing characteristics. Since you don't even know what those two bushy plants strain are you can't know their growing characteristics. Remember this lesson.

Who was it that tried a 5 strain grow recently, was that you Lt? Seems to me the final comment was never again!

The nutes. I change the res every 7 days, I want my nutes fresh! When starting no nutes. I have to defer to someone else for the proceedure when starting with seeds, I'm a clone man for now. But, once you are going, then when I refill the res I add half nutes the first day and the other half two days later. I never had any nute issues using the SH nutes. As a matter of fact, why don't you check out my grow (a link in my sig.) and see exactly what I added and when, it worked great for me! Remember though, when you are adding water between res changes (soon you will be using a gallon of water a day, before 12/12 my plants were drinking 2 gals a day) remember you have to add back the nutes your plants used that day. If you are adding a gallon to refill a 6 gallon water supply you need to add 1/6 dose of nutes.

One of the tricks I picked up from Roseman was airing the roots frequently. for the last three weeks of vegging I'd drain the res every other day, I'd put the same water back in, I just aired the roots is all. Roseman noticed a growth spurt after draining and refilling the res so I figured what the heck, drain the res and just put the water back in, take a look it worked out just fine.

I think I'll shut up for now, I'll stop back to see how you're doing.

FryingPanFlyer gave some great advice too! BTW it was PurpDaddy that tried to grow 5 different strains. I believe 3 of them died and he harvested the other 2 early and only got like 2 ounce sor something.

Lt Shiny Sides said:

FryingPanFlyer gave some great advice too! BTW it was PurpDaddy that tried to grow 5 different strains. I believe 3 of them died and he harvested the other 2 early and only got like 2 ounce sor something.

Click to expand...

Yup, thanks PurpDaddy, I learned a lesson from your grow.