First Grow - Hydro/Organic/Stealth Hydro--> FEM "Snow White" & FEM "Venus"

nasd90

Well-Known Member
Hello... This is my first go at it. The below text is just from a Pages document I had open on my computer, which I grabbed the text from & uploaded a few pics. Oh, this is in a Stealth Hydroponics 6 Bubbler system with a 400w HPS & a couple CFL's thrown in for good measure.

All of the following information in this particular 1st post is from germination to Day 12. Some of the dates got screwed up because I didn't start it for a couple of days afterward. I was also battling crazed temperatures from the outside because my small operation shares temperatures with the southern outside climate at this point in the year.


The Grow.
Mixing 3 Feminized ‘Snow White’ and 3 Feminized ‘Venus’ seeds from Nirvana.
Hydroponic System: Stealth Hydroponics 400w HPS Bubbleponics Kit





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1st Horticultural Experiment • Post Ed. • Germination Start: 1/25/09


Phase 1 - Germination
Method: Damp Rockwool in Tupperware
DATE: 25 JANUARY 2009

Above picture taken on 3rd day under intense 400W HPS lighting from 2 feet.
Began afternoon on 12/25/2008 with 3 feminized ‘snow white’ and 3 feminized ‘venus’ seeds from Nirvana. Temperatures inside closet about 68-70 F. Stored in Tupperware container in damp rockwool for 3 days. All sprouted except for one, because of prematurely checking to see if anything happened on Day 1. I mended the torn rockwool sheathing with 1 inch of black electrical tape. We’ll call this subject ‘Patch’.

1st day
Let me veer off topic and say that this is my 1st grow, so a learning process will ensue.

I was able to get the BP System up and running with the lights about 2-2.5 feet away from the subjects. Temperatures were decent on the 1st day so I did not need to worry myself.

By day 2 the temperatures dropped to the 40’s & 50’s F. And even though this grow is being contained in an outdoor workshop somewhere in the South at the dawn of the new year, it’s a roll of the dice. I let them go 1 night with cold temperatures, though the 400w HPS did keep the tops warm, it was the water that was getting ice cold.

Day 2: 1/31/2009
Dealing with temperatures and purchased a ‘work-site’ type heater. It’s basically in the center of the workshop with about 10 feet on either side of it, but the workshop is semi-exposed. This needs to be taken care of and/or I need to come up with a way to hide the system. I’m coming up with a plan to make the grow area 6 feet high x 4 feet deep x 6 feet wide. But here’s the good thing and not so good thing. There are sturdy shelves in the container that hold light, These take up much of the room, but they are wide so different seed-lings of different plants can be on each of the say 3 usable shelves. The others are being used for nutes, the light is screwed into another, and yet another houses household ‘tools’ for discretion sake.

It’s almost might on 1/31/2009, and I just went out to check and everything took a turn for the better. When I left, I had just installed the heater so it really didn’t have a chance to warm anything up and that area was about 60 degrees I would guess. The seedlings, now about and inch and change above the rockwool were sitting in cold, cold water. I threw a heater on the floor, came back about 8 hours later and checked the water temp and it was a nice ‘cool’ temp. I am going to throw a thermometer in there tomorrow just to be on the safe side. Things are looking better than expected. I tried to take a picture with the HPS light on and it was a no-go. You could see the screen was encapsulated with ‘waves’ from the light. I’ll get some during the day tomorrow.
I’ve also got some Organic Basil Seeds ($3) and Organic Tomato seeds ($3) which have been Germinating since yesterday. I’ve heard that tomato plants are extremely hard. I put a $3 basket of a strawberry plant in 3 separate containers in some Organic Potting Soil and nuted it with some Miracle Grow LiquaFeed Spray. I’ve also sprayed them about 3 times today and watered them. I’m going to see how long they take to drink that up and go from there.
I’m truly enjoying horticulture.



Phase 2 - Nutrients or ‘nutes’.
Method: BOTANICARE Pure Blend Pro GROW & BLOOM (liquid)
BOTANICARE Liquid Karma Growth Catalyst
DATE: 1 FEBRUARY 2009



I think taking into account your environment in relation to the plants & medium is important when trying to figure out Nutrient strength. Newbie here.


Day 3: 1st day of Feeding... I lifted up to have a look at the baskets and it seems one has already popped it’s root below the surface of the cup. Everything looks healthy. All 6 seedlings are turning slowly into mature plants. The water temp is going to have to be monitored closely as modifications were made to the appearance of the grow area and keeping heat in a little more than usual. I’d have to say the temp is about 75 F in there when it’s about 60 F outside. And the mini-heater is not blowing directly onto the water reservoir itself, it’s blowing next to but not directly on a large wooden crate. ALL 6 plants have 4 leaves on each, nutrient additions next.

To a 6 Gallon Reservoir of the Bubbleponics System I added 2 tsp of Botanicare Pure Blend Pro, and 1 tsp of Liquid Karma. It just sounded right, slow and steady wins the prize. So, I also put 2 Ott-Lite bulbs in there along with the 400W hps. The strawberries look pretty good, but I actually have no idea really. The hairs on the spines of the Ozark Beauty strawberries are standing on end, hopefully that’s a good sign & the leaves look healthy & shiny (there are 3).
So, another fairly cold low 40’s F night, but that area should maintain a mid 70’s temp and the water in the 60’s.

Seedlings have a nice week to look forward to some music coming there way. Radio, would use the least energy right now. And they’ve just received their first batch of nutes at the very moment of these pics.



2/2/2009
DAY 4: I spoke to an experienced grower and he is running the recommended Pro Blend Pro & Liquid Karma so I followed suit. The plants seem to be taking it well, they’ve been on it most of the day and I just went out to check them. I haven’t added the Liquid Karma yet, as I don’t have much and I heard it clogs up lines. I’m going to use it sparingly until the small bottle is gone and buy another product. There is one main sprout, that’s larger than the others. The top of the plant, from leaf to leaf diameter is well over an inch on that one. The others are about an inch and just about all of the roots are about to touch the water, one or two may have made it successfully.
Total Nutes Added: 6 tsp Pro Blend VEG & 1 tsp Liquid Karma. 2/2/2009

DAY 5 2/4/2009:
Things are going smoothly. I added the proper mixture of Liquid Karma to the mix so I’m basically at the recommended daily allowance of the Botanicare products I’m currently using. End to end leaf measurements are about 1/2 inch per day on say the largest plant.

DAY 6 2/5/2009:
Again, running nicely except for the fact that I’m dealing with the coldest nights of the year at the moment. Redid the grow area a bit and am keeping temps in the water, today they almost seemed warm after the cold evening. The exterior temps are up & down, no way to control at the moment.

DAY 7 2/6/2009:
Things are basically the mirror image of yesterday. Good growth, though dealing with a cold front, which should pass within the next couple of days. Water temps good but saw some purple stem areas due to the cold, will probably stunt growth a bit, but who is to tell at this point.
Note: Yesterday, I cloned the Ozark Beauty Strawberries in 3 separate rockwool cubes and put Dyna-Gro K-L-N Root Concentrate, which they are in right now. I’m going to remove all soil from the indoor garden, full hydroponics at this point.

DAY 8: 2/7/2009
I’m going to stay in Seedling mode for another 5 days or so due to the stunted growth. I have the HPS bulb about 8 inches away and they are thriving. THIS is what growing is all about. I’m glad I listened to the ‘guys on the forum’ about taking it slowly.


SUNDAY FEBRUARY 8th 2009. DAY NINE:
Well, I finally got in there to change the res tank out. I had mistakenly put a high concentrate of nutes in the tank, my plants suffered a bit and the project will be set back a day or so. I hope the fresh water for 24 hours, then a slow feeding of nutes will put them at optimal growth again. The leaves are still green, dry though but not from nute burn, possibly the lamp. I’ve increased the distance to the 400w HPS bulb about 14 inches. The plants are wide but not tall, which is exactly what I want. The roots are thriving and have some nute stain on them, mainly from the Liquid Karma which is like motor oil. When I took the water pump completely out of the tank today, it was stained beyond belief. Then again, I did put the incorrect amount of nutes in the tank to begin with.
It’s getting increasingly more difficult to hide the times I need to go out to check on the little one’s. It’s almost like I just have to do it and make it like I’m just cleaning this or that out, hopefully she won’t know the difference. The thing is, once the plants are grown and there’s bud around she’ll be cool with it but if she was around during the purchase, setup and research of this endeavor she wouldn’t have wanted to do it. To each their own.
Other research project include creating the greatest chocolate chip cookie with this stuff, or brownie for that matter.

DAY 10 - 2/9/2009
Here are some pics at the 10=day mark in the system. I had to flush the tank again this morning and really give it a good cleaning. More than a few seasoned hydo growers have stressed the importance of a clean tub to me numerous times. So, I refilled it with perfect water and added 1/3 strength seedling nutes recommended by Botanicare (Basically the 6 Gallon Res takes 9 tsp of Pure Blend Pro and 6 tsp of Liquid Karma, so I filled the tank with straight H2O and filled a separate 1 Gallon jug with this full strength solution then added to tank today after a 24-hour flush with plain water.)
Pictures are unknown of what plant is what right now, I put a V on the side of the rockwool cube to signify the Venus strain and left the other one’s blank. Luckily I left the plastic on so one day I’ll be able to see which is which.

DAY 10 - 2/9/2009 continued...
I was able to bring the 400w HPS to about a foot away, maybe 13 inches from the plants and things are going well, especially after the 24 hour straight water flush. I added nutes a couple hours ago with clean water and all systems are go... I’ve made a decision to not use a PPM meter and on occasion, check the ph. This just seems like too much fine tuning for me and I’m just going to add Organic Botanicare Nutes and change the res out about every 5 days and go from there. We’ll see what happens.

DAY 11 - 2/10/2009
Nothing new on this end, plants are booming and added about 1/2 gallon to of the 2/3 gallon mix left. We’ll see how they do. I also lowered the tank to give more room to the light.

DAY 12 - 2/11/2009
They have drank about 1/2 gallon so I’ve poured the remainder of the Botanicare full strength nutrient solution into the reservoir, that I had left in . They’ve now received the full dosage for the ‘seedling’ category for Pure Blend Pro & Liquid Karma.
There are 3 named characters out of 6 that I can separate out of the pack for their different qualities: (Please note: I put a “V” on the plastic part of the rockwool cube, signifying the 3 feminized Venus seedlings and the 3 blank one’s signify the 3 feminized Snow White seedlings. I will not be able to tell which strain it is until I pull away some of the hydroton balls and inspect. Just waiting for the roots to get strong enough to take some handling. Soon).


Momma - The largest plant, actually twice the size of any of the others.

Patch - The one that started the slowest because in an impatient moment on the 1st day of germination I checked to see if it had sprouted... And it did.

Toasty - He’s actually the smallest of the bunch, and is the only one that has it’s two largest leaves burnt on the end a few millimeters. I have no idea at this point.


Tangent: I purchased another reservoir tub, very similar to the Stealth Hydro Bubbler, and I was thinking of transplanting one or two plants to it OR using it for these Organic Tomato & Basil seedlings I have going. I’m thinking maybe Toasty & Momma could have some fun thriving in there. Could be good for Momma to have the room, and could be good for Toasty without all the clutter or roots. Again, who knows.

Temperature: The temperature outside is remaining fairly constant, I think this south eastern climate has seen the last of its 20 degree nights. But the plants did withstand ! I believe growth was stunted, due to the extreme cold and varying temps. I will most likely stay in the germination phase another week, going a minimum of 5 possibly 6 weeks.

Abstract Observations: When planning this whole mini-venture out, I would go on the boards and research ‘Indoor Growing’ and then ‘Hydro’, and then even ‘Organic’. But most people are so worried about temperatures, smell & humidity because they truly are growing indoors. In my situation, of course not better or worse, just different pro’s and con’s... Is somewhat unique in the fact that my area is semi-enclosed. It shares temperatures with the outside environment, yet is about 15 feet from any real wall or ceiling. This setup can contain the heat somewhat in one area with the heat dissipating ‘up’ and losing it’s true heat factor by the time it takes the drive to the roof. It also will help circulate air because wind is blowing around the area constantly. You really have to see it, but you can’t so you’re going to have to take my word on it. I’m still somewhat leery of posting anything specific. So, my point to this whole paragraph is that when I go on the forums online, I need to be very careful about what information I’m trying to go after. For one, I’m growing Hydro. Two, in a Stealth BP System, but that doesn’t truly matter but it’s still more specific. Three, a 400w HPS through both vegetative & flowering stages. Four, all Organic, more specifically Botanicare Organic Pure Blend Pro & Organic Liquid Karma.

For instance I read that brown roots are bad, yet the Liquid Karma stains the roots. So, were my roots really brown ? No, they’re like black motor oil, similar to the consistency of 20w-50 motor oil after 10,000 miles.

That’s it for now... They'll be more, but I just wanted to get something up.

Thanks if you made it this far. And I promise to give REP to anyone who posts!

DAY 13 - 2/12/2009
 

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nasd90

Well-Known Member
There are too many people posting their journals on this site... Wow. I put mine up, then checked like 10 minutes later and there were like 20 other 'New Grow' ones'.
 

MostlyCrazy

New Member
Very organized and documented. I wish I would have done one on mye last two grows. It was trial and error and fuck up beyond belief and I still got enough product to make it worth while. Keep up the good work and the good attitude and your success is assured!
 

nasd90

Well-Known Member
THANK YOU CRAZY & BLUEY!!

yeah, I would just sit there at night on the recliner with my laptop and spew out my thoughts on the process for the day.

More to come, I just wanted to get something up to share.

The 1st pic is from 12 days. These plants are getting wide, not tall. Which is what I want, believe it or not.

GETTING THERE !! PLEASE CHECK ME OUT EVERY WEEK OR SO IF YOU CAN.
 

blueybong

Well-Known Member
THANK YOU CRAZY & BLUEY!!

yeah, I would just sit there at night on the recliner with my laptop and spew out my thoughts on the process for the day.

More to come, I just wanted to get something up to share.

The 1st pic is from 12 days. These plants are getting wide, not tall. Which is what I want, believe it or not.

GETTING THERE !! PLEASE CHECK ME OUT EVERY WEEK OR SO IF YOU CAN.
If you post pics once a week, we'll see a nice change.

You've definitely studied well! I'm betting it goes very smooth.
 

nasd90

Well-Known Member
If you post pics once a week, we'll see a nice change.

You've definitely studied well! I'm betting it goes very smooth.
I appreciate it man.

DAY 13 - 2/12/2009:

I am getting extremely paranoid about the color of the water. It seems as if there's this dirty much at the bottom of the reservoir. It's not the color of the Liquid Karma which is as we've put it, like used 20w x 50 motor oil. It's more dark brown, like the color of the Pure Blend Pro VEG mix. Please note, I am using the given Stealth Hydro Bubble Kit Circular air stone, not bad actually. And I'm using two 12-inch airstones running full blast, so things get stirred up well. So, why not change the reservoir out again, which I just did 5 days ago on DAY 8 of the process. Some might suggest that this is wasting nutes and I should Ph test, then PPM test, then bless the tank, etc. I don't want to mess with that or this murky water. And the water, straight out of the tap is right where I need it. What's the added cost in the end ? Maybe another $20 or $30 extra, and a few more hours cleaning to make sure the tank & peripherals are clean. And on top of that, the airstones, hoses and interior of the reservoir are getting very dirty. Either it's algae (I doubt) or it's residue from these murky products. I'm not knocking Botanicare, I have read many praises... But, it's dark, murky liquid...

So, I cleaned & replaced the reservoir, and added HALF strength nutes for the Veg stage which is 1 Tbs per gallon on the Pure Blend Pro and 1.5 tsp of Liquid Karma per Gallon. Basically, I mixed the entire solution in a one gallon container and dumped in half.

The plants are growing, even from yesterday. I took a couple pics of the ROOTS & a top view.


DAY 14 - 2/13/2009

.....
 

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blueybong

Well-Known Member
I never cleaned my SH tub out until I switched the plants over to the 5 gal buckets, which was about Day 30. The tank had left over junk from LK, but nothing slimy or algae like. I wouldn't worry about it since you're using organic base nutes.
Are you also using Cal-Mag+ ?

Your roots look great(they will get a little darker over time because of the LK) and the leaves have a beautiful, healthy green color too.

You're growing Pro bro!! You got it together!
 

closetkiller

Well-Known Member
looking good man:weed: can't wait to see how they turn out.i was to scared to try store bought seeds for my first try:wall: are you going to move them to bigger res. for flowering:?: i read:dunce: >3 gal per plant. i do not know for a fact.
 

nasd90

Well-Known Member
looking good man:weed: can't wait to see how they turn out.i was to scared to try store bought seeds for my first try:wall: are you going to move them to bigger res. for flowering:?: i read:dunce: >3 gal per plant. i do not know for a fact.
Thanks closetkiller.

Well, I had bought 5 of each, so I have my fingers crossed... Still have 4 left for another time. I also have about 20 reg seeds and 1 seed that is a high-end but unknown strain from a friend of mine who only had 2 of these and was really careful about letting go of 1/2 his lot.

I never heard of the >3 gal per plant rule, but it sounds believable. I'm probably going to move 2 or 3 to the new res. Then again, I may keep them all medium sized and see what I harvest. Who knows at this point. I'm waiting until it gets out of hand... And I'm sure it will.

On my next grow... I'm curious to see if:
1. I use a banana peel with the unknown bag seeds & 1 unknown high-end seed... will they grow male ?
2. I can grow from a clone of one of my current plants.
3. To test growing with another nute. I'm sure Botanicare is great, but I'm curious if other nutes leave such a residue on everything. It can't be just me, it happens immediately when I throw it in the tank. On hand I have the SH Nutes that come with the system, but I don't think that the given amount is enough for 1 grow... And I have some Dyna-Gro as well. Maybe I'll do a mix-n-match.
 

blueybong

Well-Known Member
"I'm sure Botanicare is great, but I'm curious if other nutes leave such a residue on everything."

I'm sure if you post a question on clean nutes you'll get some good advice.


 

Dr.Blunt

Active Member
"I'm sure Botanicare is great, but I'm curious if other nutes leave such a residue on everything."

I'm sure if you post a question on clean nutes you'll get some good advice.


I heard organic nutes change the water color with the way ur plants look everything is okay.
 

nasd90

Well-Known Member
DAY 16: 2/15/2009:

I went away for about 48 hours, added an extra maybe 1/2 gallon before I left and came back and everthing was going smoothly. I added the 1/2 gallon of full strength nutrient solution to the mix and will let that sit for another 2-3 days in keeping with my res change of every 5-7 days.
I'm kind of glad I was able to leave them alone for that long, I was kind of worried I would never be able to leave.

Some pics attached of DAY 16.

Also, please note: I have 2 plants that are rather small. Their respective roots are in the water, just not flourishing. Actually a 3rd is fairly small, but the 2 in the picture of all 6, you can see. I'm guessing it's one strain or the other that supposedly starts out small then has a growth spurt. Also, you can see some nute burn that is clearing up.

I also added a FAN that hits the leaves, nothing strong, just the fan from the Stanley heater than I was using. But the leaves are being moved, thus helping in the building of strong branches & roots eh...
 

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blueybong

Well-Known Member
DAY 16: 2/15/2009:

I went away for about 48 hours, added an extra maybe 1/2 gallon before I left and came back and everthing was going smoothly. I added the 1/2 gallon of full strength nutrient solution to the mix and will let that sit for another 2-3 days in keeping with my res change of every 5-7 days.
I'm kind of glad I was able to leave them alone for that long, I was kind of worried I would never be able to leave.

Some pics attached of DAY 16.

Also, please note: I have 2 plants that are rather small. Their respective roots are in the water, just not flourishing. Actually a 3rd is fairly small, but the 2 in the picture of all 6, you can see. I'm guessing it's one strain or the other that supposedly starts out small then has a growth spurt. Also, you can see some nute burn that is clearing up.

I also added a FAN that hits the leaves, nothing strong, just the fan from the Stanley heater than I was using. But the leaves are being moved, thus helping in the building of strong branches & roots eh...
I'd say you got this growing hydro thing down pat. :bigjoint:

Best to you bro!
 

nasd90

Well-Known Member
I'd say you got this growing hydro thing down pat. :bigjoint:

Best to you bro!


Naw man, right back at ya... rep.

Do you see that 1 runt in there, it's really 2 small one's and 1 freakin' runt. What's with that one ? The roots are white on that one too, not too thick though. Bad seed ? Maybe it couldn't take the 'extreme' temperature variances in the beginning... LOL. :dunce:
 

blueybong

Well-Known Member
Naw man, right back at ya... rep.

Do you see that 1 runt in there, it's really 2 small one's and 1 freakin' runt. What's with that one ? The roots are white on that one too, not too thick though. Bad seed ? Maybe it couldn't take the 'extreme' temperature variances in the beginning... LOL. :dunce:
Your grow is normal being the plants are different sizes. All I can say is that some will catch up and some won't. It's all in the seed/gene at this stage.

I have two plants and one was smaller than the other up until flowering and then she came to life. So you never know.


 

nasd90

Well-Known Member
Your grow is normal being the plants are different sizes. All I can say is that some will catch up and some won't. It's all in the seed/gene at this stage.

I have two plants and one was smaller than the other up until flowering and then she came to life. So you never know.


Very true Bluey...

I bought another container but I was going to put 3 beefsteak tomato & 3 basil, both organic seeds but drinking the SH nutes. Go figure. The way I'm going to be going through the Botanicare products I currently stock, isn't going to cover the entire garden.

I am going to make a small ebb & flow out this plastic makeshift res, and throw them in there (the food).

Then, move the smaller 2 in the big res. I don't want BIG plants. I want them manageable 12-24 inches. Yield isn't the largest concern. Maybe grow them alongside in the new container.

I have to work on this some. Going to the nutrient shop today to talk to 'Mike', and get some hydroton balls and some net cups. Hopefully they'll be in stock.
 

blueybong

Well-Known Member
Very true Bluey...

I bought another container but I was going to put 3 beefsteak tomato & 3 basil, both organic seeds but drinking the SH nutes. Go figure. The way I'm going to be going through the Botanicare products I currently stock, isn't going to cover the entire garden.

I am going to make a small ebb & flow out this plastic makeshift res, and throw them in there (the food).

Then, move the smaller 2 in the big res. I don't want BIG plants. I want them manageable 12-24 inches. Yield isn't the largest concern. Maybe grow them alongside in the new container.

I have to work on this some. Going to the nutrient shop today to talk to 'Mike', and get some hydroton balls and some net cups. Hopefully they'll be in stock.
These are the types of problems you want to have over the other types:bigjoint:
Good luck and post pics on your new set-up!
Peace!
 
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