First DWC Grow with CFLS a little stunted?

boomers03

Member
This is my first ever grow !

I am using a DWC kit from steath hydro along with the powder nutes that came with the kit.
I am growing 2 feminized white rhinos from seed and right now I have the sprouts under (4 total) 42 watt cfls, two 6500K and two 2700K.
It has been about 7 days since they sprouted.

I had plain phd water in the tank with the airstone 24/7 from the start. The water touches the netpots about 1/4th inch up the bottom.

Originally when I transferred the germinated seeds into the presoaked rockwool from a papertowel I had placed them taproot facing up, which the next day I found out is incorrect so I flipped them carefully with tweezers. I believe that this stunted them a bit (especially the one on the right). The root had already began curving down a little when I flipped it so it basically made a big u bend in the taproot after.

Today I changed the water out and added 1/8 strength grow nutes from the steath hydro kit as I am expecting roots to be hitting the water in the next few days.

The Ph is about 5.8-6.0 (im using the strips for now)
This is a closet grow and the temp is a steady 75 F and the humidity is at 16%.

I am asking for advice/comments from experienced CFL/DWC Hydro growers on what you think so far? I believe the one on the right will eventually catch up but is there any concern I should have about it since the other is about a week ahead?

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Thanks:leaf:
 
It's fine, don't touch it. If you want to risk it and run nutes do it, but I don't advise. Mine did fine without nutes until the second set of big leaves
 
Plants are doing well, the left one has roots in the water. I am running with 1/8th strength nutes waiting for the other plant to get roots down in the water. I am concerned though because the left one has a black patch in the middle and some on the edges of the leaves. What could this be from? lights too close? I have been using 2 42 watt cfls over each plant in 10 1/2" reflectors. This is day 10 from germinating.
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Doing better now, figured it out and I had a bit of nute burn on the tips. I also found out I actually was using the SH HIGH Feed formula which I was sent and not the regular formula for use with cfls. Since I was only running 1/8th strength of the low dose recommended on the package, I believe the burn came from the fact that it was the high feed and not the regular strength nutes.

I switched back to a reservoir of PH 5.7 well water only today and the ppm is showing at 245-275 out of the tap. Which I believe isnt too bad right?
I ordered some General Hydro Flora series nutes and when they are here in a few days I will start them on those.

Ill post some pics here in a sec.
 
They look better, do yourself a favour and buy a cheap ppm meter from amazon for like 20-30 bucks. Itll pay for itself. Your about to need it when they start getting bigger. They look like theyll make it though. Your going to love hydro, they grow fast and big. Looks like you dont have alot of room, id switch them when theyre on the short side. If your not going to get some other light source id swithch them at 12 inches. If you are getting a real light id wait till around 28-30 inches just because it doesnt look like you have much room. The difference in yield should pay for the HID if you decide to go that way. Cfls will get you there but HID will make you proud of your work. 400 should do, 600s always better :):):) PM me if you have any questions or for a second opinion anytime
 
They look better, do yourself a favour and buy a cheap ppm meter from amazon for like 20-30 bucks. Itll pay for itself. Your about to need it when they start getting bigger. They look like theyll make it though. Your going to love hydro, they grow fast and big. Looks like you dont have alot of room, id switch them when theyre on the short side. If your not going to get some other light source id swithch them at 12 inches. If you are getting a real light id wait till around 28-30 inches just because it doesnt look like you have much room. The difference in yield should pay for the HID if you decide to go that way. Cfls will get you there but HID will make you proud of your work. 400 should do, 600s always better :):):) PM me if you have any questions or for a second opinion anytime

Thanks! I am already enjoying it, harder than I thought but very interesting. Funny that you said that about the ppm meter cause I just got one from amazon last week for around $20 lol (TDS-03). My ppm outta the tap is about 245 and I have well water. I also actually do have alot of room in my closet and could probably run three systems in there but really have no need. I was planning on going with just cfls for veg but the more I read I am leaning towards getting an HPS for flowering. I was lookin at the 250W though. I dont really see myself ever growing more than several.
 
Got some growth finally.

Just changed the water today and noticed some begginings of root rot, I think I was taking the lid off too much to check the solution and allowing light in. It is mild but the roots have some noticeable brown and my airstone was all slimey:-|. What is an easy fix for this before it gets out of control?!?!?

My ppm with nutes is at 450 (tap is 245)

Also I am having trouble keeping the res temps in check as im only using a 5 gallon tote so I only have about 3.75 gallons of solution total in there. I hear frozen water bottles work? I have a nice fan in the closet and the room temp is a steady 75 but the res keeps creeping up to like 78 after about 24 hours. Having PH creep as well.

This is harder than I thought.:shock:
 
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