First Grow Newbie Bubbleponics

Thi is the dwarf.

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Warezaholic

Warezaholic

Active Member
Hi. I'm new to this forum and a first time grower. I'm growing in my 4ft long x two ft deep closet. My first month of growing was under 2, 48inch florescent plant lights, in rockwool, and between that and serious inexperience, I killed about 4 seeds and the only survivor of that batch of seeds was harmed by over watering (topfed) and insufficient light.

I chose hydroponics on a whim and went in blind. I thought it would be easy, I was wrong!!! So I wasted 6 weeks killing the first seed I touched (see it below) it had suffered through every mistake in the book (I should have read the book first)!

Another forum mediator corrected me with Bubbleponics so my last seed planted is flourishing now 4 weeks old.

while my first plant (feminized Gelato) is barely 6 inches tall.

My next batch is going to be 100 percent successful...

My light is now a 1000w led with veg and bloom switches. (She's 9 weeks old but 6 inches tall). At what age or size hould I start them under the bloom setting? I have had them under full spectrum as I don't get my second light till about another 4 days. Then I can separate them under 2 lights.

I would like to get at least 1oz from the dwarf.

Please look over my pictures and tell me when should I put this plant into the flowering stage under my led?

New subject.

My age is 64 and disabled Nam Vet and have not used painkillers since Michigan got legalized, but since my wife passed away, with my income cut in half I'm forced to grow my own.

So within the next 4 to 6 weeks, I hope to never see another dispensary

I have room for 5 or 6 pots and want a perpetual grow of either clones and or seed.

PS. My city water has a ppm of 800 + - and i can't afford distilled water so i devised a "free to $20" DIY water purifier/filter that brings just my ppm down to 97 ppm in only one night. I'm still working out a few improvements that will lower help better with the PH without needing standard commercial chemicals.

Being an avid garage drawer engineer, I always look for a way to keep my money IN MY POCKET. i spent just a few minutes studying commercial water purifiers, and came up with this.

See my YouTube video and I hope it helps with your poisioned city water like mine and if you're willingto try it and if you know any way to improve my design, to drop the PH, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!! I actually used only what I had lying around. The only Experimental $$ I spent was $12 for my activated charcoal packs but all else was sitting in my spare hydroponic failure box I'm updating it to include some minor tweaks anyway.

Im also posting a video of how to daisy chain all my led grow lights w/adjustability, using only the 4 Hanging rope/pulleys supplied with the one light for about 5/10$$$ and no need for more than 4 hangers.
 

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JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Warezaholic said:
Hi. I'm new to this forum and a first time grower...
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At first glance, I'd say you are burning her with lights that are either too powerful, or too close. Little ones don't need much light. Think "Spring"

Please don't take this the wrong way, as I'm not trying to discourage you, but you need to be set on a path to success, which you're not really on right now.

Growing weed isn't easy, like many sites like to claim. Going from seed to smoke is a long journey with challenges all along the way, especially for new growers. On top of that, growing indoors, via hydroponics, with a powerful led light makes everything exponentially more difficult. Buying more light and equipment will gain nothing. Just like a beginning guitar player, buying more and more expensive guitars won't make you sound any better. DO NOT buy anymore lights, as it's only going to make things worse, as far as heat and light burn.

Unfortunately, you're not going to have something of your own to smoke for up to four months. Your current grow will take a lot to recover from, and it's a challenge I wouldn't recommend to a new grower. But, we can get you going in the right direction so that you can be independent.

Hydroponics is highly technical and usually require skills in diy tinkering. Not saying that it can't be done, but all the experienced growers here will recommend against it.

Based on what I picked up from your post, this is what I highly recommend...
  • Put all your hydro stuff away for another day
  • Get yourself some fabric pots
  • Get yourself some middle of the road organic potting soil, like Black Gold, or even Scott's. Absolutely do not use Miracle grow! Do not worry about mixing soil. Don't buy expensive soils, as you won't see any difference at this point
  • Begin by germinating your seeds using the wet paper towel method, or cup of warm water
  • Once germinated, use a small nursing pot (like 1" x 1"). You can get 1" to 4" cheap plastic ones at your local hardware store, usually just given away. As the plant grows, transplant from the 1" to the 2", up to the 4". This is important and helps keep moisture on the roots. After the 4", you can go up to the 5-gallon fabric pots
  • When the plant is about 1/3 the size of how big you want her to be, switch your light schedule from 18/6 (18hrs on and 6hrs off) to 12/12. It's this time change that triggers that plants to go into flower. The type, or spectrum, of the light makes no difference in flipping your plant to flower. An easy solution to having to figure this out is to get auto-flower strains, that switch when they're ready. The reason why you want to flip to flower when they're 1/3 the size of how big you ultimately want them to be, is because your plants will "stretch" up to 2 or 3 times the size during the first few weeks of flower.

That should be enough to get you on the right path. Growing in soil is so much more forgiving to mistakes than hydro. Things move much more slowly, and you can concentrate on learning how these plants grow, rather than trying to learn both hydro, and growing at the same time.

With all the extra time you'll have, once starting a soil grow, you can learn all about growing. The GrowWeedEasy website is an awesome place to learn for beginners to advanced growers.

There are a lot of stages to go through, from seed to smoke, that you have to follow in order to get good results. You can have a perfect grow, but if you don't trim, dry, and cure your buds properly, you can end up with really harsh, and bad weed.

There is way more to learn than this, but I'm not going to write a book that's already been written several times, and is available for anyone online. This is to try and steer you in the right direction.

And finally, don't be concerned about any money you've already invested in your current hydro setup. You can always switch back to hydro once you've got some more experience.

Here's my Jack Herer, in a 1"x1" nursery pot. I don't have a 2", but the 3" pots and up are fine. This is under my 2ft, 4-lamp T5 hood. Really, I could just put a single CFL light over her and she'd do great.



She's stretching a little, which tells me that I should move my light closer. When transplanting to the next size up, I can bury her a little deeper to correct any stretching.


I hope all that helps :)
 
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JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
With a little effort, and by being careful, you can transplant your little one to soil. You just have to be careful with the roots.

Once in soil, move your lights away, which should help her recover.
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
I think you may be off on the PPMs. That's really high. I would think that water that high in dissolved solids wouldn't be safe for human consumption. I could be wrong tho.

If your water is @ 800ppm, that's another reason you shouldn't do hydro. Not unless you get a hefty RO filter, and plan on changing filters often.
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
And one more thought, you say you're a penny pincher, so I'll let you know that hydro is way more expensive than soil. And investing in good equipment is paramount for a reliable, properly functioning system. That includes getting the right sized pumps for the amount of water in the system.

You also need meters for measuring your nutrient levels and pH levels, both of which are required for your plants to grow properly. This is much more relevant in a hydro system, where you are delivering nutrients right to the roots, without soil acting as a buffer. You can kill your plants real quick in a hydro setup. It's way less forgiving, and way more prone to fail, partially due to the amount of equipment needed.

I'm an RDWC grower myself. The little plant is going outside (legal here in OR). If you want to see my system, see my thread. A few pages in, I switch up my system from buckets to totes. Either way, you'll get an idea of the complexities of "bubbling buckets", aka "Deep Water Culture" or DWC. The "R" is for "recirculating".

https://www.rollitup.org/t/which-would-produce-more-do-in-a-dwc.944432/
 
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Warezaholic

Warezaholic

Active Member
Sorry I've been off to the races with my good plant and she is doing excellent.

Yes that dwarf was started wit topfeed hydro and today I just put her out of her misery so i could perform the autopsy and found the rockwool cube was COMPLETELY drenched in mildew. It never had a chance! Lesson Learned!

Yes I'm aware that dirt is "Dirt Cheap " but im just discovering the hydroponic is more technical but the rewards will be much better yields with small, indoor growing. My garden is nearly all setup and looking forward to recouping the cost with avoiding dispensaries skyrocketing prices. Once you have it going and stocked up with nutes, the water us also cheap.

I have the inclination to find ways of competing wih deep pocket hobbyists by putting my junk parts to work AND making necessities I can't afford such as hundreds for an automatic CO2 system. Or a water filter for under $20 that I posted on YouTube. Once the plants start paying me back for all my loving care. I'll have a small perpetual harvest.

I am probably the lightest pot smoker in the area. Usually 1 gram lasts me 2 to 4 days. So I'm hoping to get one autoflower harvest once about every 6 or 8 weeks. And my only dispensarie visits will be to change up with a gram here and there.

I live and smoke alone so my needs are humble here is how i smoke and I usually fill it once every evening (the time I can relax and get stoned.
Screenshot_20190402-161243_Amazon Shopping.jpg
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
With the small amount you say you consume, don't invest in anything fancy, like co2 injectors, more lights, huge, powerful fans, nothing. A single bubbling bucket, with what you already have, is plenty to get you waaaaaaaay more than you'll actually use. What you do need, however, are the following:
These are things you have to have. You can find less expensive options, like the pH test kits with the drops, but there will be a few things that you're just going to have to bite the bullet on. I listed the nutrients that I've used for a long time now (GH Maxigro and Maxibloom. Super easy with great results.)

What you need to do, however, is go to the GrowWeedEasy site, or any number of other sites, and learn about how to do the following:
  • Balance your water's pH level (critically important for hydro)
  • Proper nutrient levels for each week (see General Hydroponics feed chart, and only use half what they recommend. If you need to up the strength, your plants will tell you.)
  • Water temps (very important for healthy roots)
  • Light distance (you should also get yourself a LUX Meter, very inexpensive)
  • Avoiding light leaks during lights out (again, critically important)
  • Proper air circulation (not just pointing a fan at her)
  • Growing temps (get yourself an IR heat gun)
  • Pest prevention and control
  • Plant problems (see the plant problems guide on the GrowWeedEasy site. It's a great place to quickly identify problems, and correct them. It's best to familiarize yourself with some of the more common problems, like excess heat, and nutrient deficiencies)
And everything else you can learn about DWC and growing. There are quite a few things to know, in both growing, and hydroponics.
 
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JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
And learn about exchanging fresh air in and out of the grow area, which is different than circulating the air around your plants.
 
Warezaholic

Warezaholic

Active Member
I already have "everything" on the above shopping list, even the laser/IR heat sensor (it also makes a great cat toy too)! But thanks for looking out.

Thanks

JSB99 said:
And learn about exchanging fresh air in and out of the grow area, which is different than circulating the air around your plants.
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Warezaholic

Warezaholic

Active Member
Warezaholic said:
I already have "everything" on the above shopping list, even the laser/IR heat sensor (it also makes a great cat toy too)! But thanks for looking out. My grow room has 4 ft wide doors and a fan peeking through and is lined with aluminum foil (Switching to mylar) as well as a vaporizer room humidifier (25 to 35 ○/○ humidity) and a 40 Watt, 2 speed heater for those Michigan chilly nights...

Thanks
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JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Warezaholic said:
I already have "everything" on the above shopping list, even the laser/IR heat sensor (it also makes a great cat toy too)! But thanks for looking out.

Thanks
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Cat toy, LOL! :)

Sounds like you're all set. You just need to do some studying, and you should be doing better.
 
Warezaholic

Warezaholic

Active Member
My first plant is thriving even though I made a huge mistake of topping my autoflowering i think was not paying attention to my gurus in another forum.

I will be getting into my next grow (5 or 6 buckets) in another week or two. Seeds from Colorado USA.

Will be stockpiling all the hardware and sundries next month (TAX TIME). I wish this hobby was cheaper! But, live and learn.
 
Warezaholic

Warezaholic

Active Member
I am new so I chose to grow only feminized autoflowering. This one is Killer Nuke and it's just now breaking through with the Pre-Flowering nodes. The next batch to grow is getting more ambitious, (5 plants); 2 strains of autoflowering; Russian Roulette & OG Kush (2each) and the 5th is (1 of 2) unmarked beans, 50/50 one is a Russian Roulette.
 
Warezaholic

Warezaholic

Active Member
I am a new grower so im doing only feminized autoflowering. My 1st survivor is Killer Nuke and is right now starting pre flower. 2 more weeks should about be in full flower. This one scant harvest should last till the next harvest MID'ish summer that will see the times I'll only visit a dispensary is IF I WANT TOO!!!

The next grow is more ambitious with 5 plants (again feminized autoflowering)

2x- OG Cush
2x- Russian Roulette
1x- undecided (of 2 unknown beans)

By mid summer,

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Warezaholic

Warezaholic

Active Member
On plant should last me till the next harvest "I say"? Well if the stuff is any good, i only consume about a thimble full per day. This is the only way I've smoked for years! Usually only late afternoon or time to crash for the night. And no good buzz lofting off through the air like with joints. That's how tight I've had to be with store bought weed.

Maybe my upcoming stash will spoil me and turn me into another old pothead couch potato. Oh that's right, I'm already old And a couch potato (so 2 out of 3 already down)!. Hmm

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