Helloes,
This is my second grow and post here. The first one was problematic from the beginning and couldnt finish it, had to give the plants away after a month. But it served its purpose as a learning experience, so here I go with a more carefully planned grow.
Now, keep in mind that in this country (Venezuela) its impossible to find grow products of any decent quality (most of the time any at all), specifically hydroponic equipment and nutrients. The government approves only 400$/year to use on electronic purchases, but you cant import things like nutrients, so I use that to buy whatever equipment I can (used this year dollars to buy seeds, rockwool and a ph meter), so have to make do with what there is to be found around.
Please keep in mind that this is my second grow (first serious attempt) and that English is not my first language
Ok, I had nowhere to grow, and because of new laws very hard to find apartment/house to rent, and I couldnt set up a proper grow room where im living now, decided to make a grow closet:
This is all homemade and I got the best products I could find considering that you can hardly find any at all. The closet is divided into 2 areas:
TOP:
* 60cm tall x 40cm deep x 60cm wide.
* 4 x 42w CFL (2772lums each).
* 2 x 5´Fans for extraction.
* 1 x 8´Fan for intake.
* DWC/Drip 15 Liters system with 6 pots. Has an Air pump and Water Pump.
BOTTOM:
* 90 cm tall x 40cm deep x 60cm wide.
* 4 x 55w CFL (3450lumens each).
* 2 x 5´Fans for extraction.
* 1 x 8´Fan for intake.
* DWC 15 Liters system with 6 pots. Has an Air pump.
Also has a little top compartment to keep all the things needed for the grow.
TOOLS:
* Milwaukee Instruments PH/Temp meter
* TDS PPM meter
* Clonex
* Rockwool Cubes
* Hydroton
* Ph Down/ Ph UP
* And the only water soluble nutrients I could find :S
INITIAL PROBLEMS:
Other than the fact that good stuff is impossible to find/import...
1. The temperature in my room is very high, which makes controlling the temp inside the closet even harder. Right now the temp inside is 30-32C (85-90F). Not too worry about it, cause there is a lot of airflow
2. The water quality is horrible. The one that comes through my water ozone filter has 7.2 PH and 240 PPM. My other option is bottled water, which comes with 8 PH and 110 PPM, which is what im using now.
3. So far I have not come up with a DIY carbon filter for odor control, but im not too worry about it cause I love the smell of this stuff
.... Ill make a couple filters for when the plants get bigger
Since Im a bit rusty I started with 2 unknown seeds I got from a friend, which I have aptly named: Mistery seeds. Got a some Liberty Haze seeds and some OG Kush from Attitude seed bank, and they also sent a whole bunch of freebies, some look really interesting, soon im gonna try the Chocolate Heaven strain, just out of curiosity.
I started this grow (Mistery seeds) on 12 March 2013. Now, when I started I had everything setup, BUT turns out my old cheap PH meter was broken, so for the first 2 weeks I had no way of knowing how high the PH was, however I got my new meter, so everything is right with the world again. Im gonna start counting from the day the seed sprouted from the rockwool cubes (Day 1, which happened to be March 14) and only gonna post updates on the days I take pictures from the plants.
DAY 7 (20/03):
A couple of days after the seedling where put under light. Notice there are 3 plants, the third is from a seed that I had put to germinate days before, but didnt look to good from the start, so I quickly discarded it.
DAY 8 (21/03):
DAY 10 (23/03):
Those other 2 weird looking plants are Mint and Chrysanthemum flowers that im planting as a present to my mother. They wont be there for too long. The little Eggs are the same and actually pretty cool, got them in a trip to Barcelona, you just crack them open, put some water in and hopefully the little plants start sprouting... still waiting.
The plastic cups over the plants are there to protect the little plants from the strong air flow, as they get bigger those will go away.
DAY 12 (25/03):
Compared to my first grow this things are growing fast and dont have all the problems I had from a bunch of mistakes made the last time. Also keep in mind that even tho the plants are in the DWC system, the water level barely reach the bottom of the pots, and it has no nutrients in it, they are still being watered manually once a day with plain water. I just liked the way they looked in there
DAY 16 (29/03):
Color on the plants look good, and since my temperature is quite a bit high, I make sure to spray them with water several times a day. They seem to like it.
DAY 19 (01/04):
The plastic cups protecting the plants from airflow is gone, they dont seem to need it anymore. The yellowing in the plants its probably from the high PH of the water. Waiting on my new PH meter impatiently.
DAY 20 (02/03):
Got my ph meter so I started to make a daily journal of PH/PPM levels. The initial PH was super high, at 7.2 which I lowered that same morning. Also, started to give the plants just a little bit of nutrients (25-5-15). A couple of leaves have a few burnt spots on them, gonna assume that was from the PH problems.
PH: 5.5
PPM: 400
Day 21 (03/04):
The little roots are starting to grow fast, they have an intense white color, which make me happy
PH: 6
PPM: 460
DAY 22 (04/04):
PH keeps going up daily, today it was up to 6.6, had to get it down a bit. Also the PPM keeps going up, but I just plan to add bottled mineral water tomorrow to bring it down a bit. The little brown spots are still there and kinda annoying to look at, but there arent any new ones and otherwise the plants look a healthy green all around.
PH: 5.9
PPM: 490
P/S: Anyone have any idea why the PH keeps going up everyday. And can someone recommend a way to get it down, running out of the PH down solution and still cant find it anywhere, not even pet stores.
PP/S: Also, if anyone has a creative SIMPLE DIY idea on how to bring the temp down a bit that would be great. Im still not too worry about it, but it would be nice to get the temp down to 28C
DAY 23 (05/04):
Ph still keeps going up above 7 daily, I keep bringing it down.
PH: 5.1
PPM: 470
DAY 24 (06/04):
Ran out of PH down :S, so starting to use vinegar to lower Ph.
PH: 5.7
PPM: 520
DAY 25 (07/04):
Wasnt home all day so PH went crazy.
PH: 7
PPM: 570
DAY 26 (08/04):
The water was a bit cloudy so changed it and did a little cleanup of the res this morning. Upped the PPM to 620 (500 from nutes + 120 from water)
PH: 5.8
PPM: 620
DAY 27 (09/04):
Adding vinegar a couple times a day to keep the PH Down, starting to show a bit of yellowing on the top leaves.
PH: 5.8
PPM: 680
DAY 28 (10/04):
I made a bit of a mistake.
Seems like in some cases vinegar and high res temps can cause a very nasty looking slime which is attached to the roots, messing with my PH and is also causing the water to look cloudy. So I emptied the res, cleaned the roots with tap water to get rid of the slime, cleaned the res/airstone/waterpump with bleached water and light sealed the water feeding lines just in case light was getting in that way.
Not gonna add nutes for a few days and, since I still cant find any PH down, gonna use fresh lemon juice to control PH levels.
PH: 5.8
PPM: 160
DAY 29 (11/04):
Got some H2O2 (all I could find was the 3% one) and added about 10ml/Liter to the rez. Yellowing on the top leaves is starting to go away. Plan to empty the res again tomorrow and do a thorough cleanin of everything with H2O2. At least the PH stopped going up like crazy
PH: 5.8
PPM: 170
This is my second grow and post here. The first one was problematic from the beginning and couldnt finish it, had to give the plants away after a month. But it served its purpose as a learning experience, so here I go with a more carefully planned grow.
Now, keep in mind that in this country (Venezuela) its impossible to find grow products of any decent quality (most of the time any at all), specifically hydroponic equipment and nutrients. The government approves only 400$/year to use on electronic purchases, but you cant import things like nutrients, so I use that to buy whatever equipment I can (used this year dollars to buy seeds, rockwool and a ph meter), so have to make do with what there is to be found around.
Please keep in mind that this is my second grow (first serious attempt) and that English is not my first language
THE SETUP
Ok, I had nowhere to grow, and because of new laws very hard to find apartment/house to rent, and I couldnt set up a proper grow room where im living now, decided to make a grow closet:
TOP:
* 60cm tall x 40cm deep x 60cm wide.
* 4 x 42w CFL (2772lums each).
* 2 x 5´Fans for extraction.
* 1 x 8´Fan for intake.
* DWC/Drip 15 Liters system with 6 pots. Has an Air pump and Water Pump.
BOTTOM:
* 90 cm tall x 40cm deep x 60cm wide.
* 4 x 55w CFL (3450lumens each).
* 2 x 5´Fans for extraction.
* 1 x 8´Fan for intake.
* DWC 15 Liters system with 6 pots. Has an Air pump.
Also has a little top compartment to keep all the things needed for the grow.
TOOLS:
* Milwaukee Instruments PH/Temp meter
* TDS PPM meter
* Clonex
* Rockwool Cubes
* Hydroton
* Ph Down/ Ph UP
* And the only water soluble nutrients I could find :S
INITIAL PROBLEMS:
Other than the fact that good stuff is impossible to find/import...
1. The temperature in my room is very high, which makes controlling the temp inside the closet even harder. Right now the temp inside is 30-32C (85-90F). Not too worry about it, cause there is a lot of airflow
2. The water quality is horrible. The one that comes through my water ozone filter has 7.2 PH and 240 PPM. My other option is bottled water, which comes with 8 PH and 110 PPM, which is what im using now.
3. So far I have not come up with a DIY carbon filter for odor control, but im not too worry about it cause I love the smell of this stuff
.... Ill make a couple filters for when the plants get bigger
Since Im a bit rusty I started with 2 unknown seeds I got from a friend, which I have aptly named: Mistery seeds. Got a some Liberty Haze seeds and some OG Kush from Attitude seed bank, and they also sent a whole bunch of freebies, some look really interesting, soon im gonna try the Chocolate Heaven strain, just out of curiosity.
THE GROW
I started this grow (Mistery seeds) on 12 March 2013. Now, when I started I had everything setup, BUT turns out my old cheap PH meter was broken, so for the first 2 weeks I had no way of knowing how high the PH was, however I got my new meter, so everything is right with the world again. Im gonna start counting from the day the seed sprouted from the rockwool cubes (Day 1, which happened to be March 14) and only gonna post updates on the days I take pictures from the plants.
DAY 7 (20/03):
A couple of days after the seedling where put under light. Notice there are 3 plants, the third is from a seed that I had put to germinate days before, but didnt look to good from the start, so I quickly discarded it.
DAY 10 (23/03):
Those other 2 weird looking plants are Mint and Chrysanthemum flowers that im planting as a present to my mother. They wont be there for too long. The little Eggs are the same and actually pretty cool, got them in a trip to Barcelona, you just crack them open, put some water in and hopefully the little plants start sprouting... still waiting.
The plastic cups over the plants are there to protect the little plants from the strong air flow, as they get bigger those will go away.
Compared to my first grow this things are growing fast and dont have all the problems I had from a bunch of mistakes made the last time. Also keep in mind that even tho the plants are in the DWC system, the water level barely reach the bottom of the pots, and it has no nutrients in it, they are still being watered manually once a day with plain water. I just liked the way they looked in there
DAY 16 (29/03):
Color on the plants look good, and since my temperature is quite a bit high, I make sure to spray them with water several times a day. They seem to like it.
The plastic cups protecting the plants from airflow is gone, they dont seem to need it anymore. The yellowing in the plants its probably from the high PH of the water. Waiting on my new PH meter impatiently.
Got my ph meter so I started to make a daily journal of PH/PPM levels. The initial PH was super high, at 7.2 which I lowered that same morning. Also, started to give the plants just a little bit of nutrients (25-5-15). A couple of leaves have a few burnt spots on them, gonna assume that was from the PH problems.
PH: 5.5
PPM: 400
The little roots are starting to grow fast, they have an intense white color, which make me happy
PH: 6
PPM: 460
DAY 22 (04/04):
PH keeps going up daily, today it was up to 6.6, had to get it down a bit. Also the PPM keeps going up, but I just plan to add bottled mineral water tomorrow to bring it down a bit. The little brown spots are still there and kinda annoying to look at, but there arent any new ones and otherwise the plants look a healthy green all around.
PH: 5.9
PPM: 490
P/S: Anyone have any idea why the PH keeps going up everyday. And can someone recommend a way to get it down, running out of the PH down solution and still cant find it anywhere, not even pet stores.
PP/S: Also, if anyone has a creative SIMPLE DIY idea on how to bring the temp down a bit that would be great. Im still not too worry about it, but it would be nice to get the temp down to 28C
DAY 23 (05/04):
Ph still keeps going up above 7 daily, I keep bringing it down.
PH: 5.1
PPM: 470
Ran out of PH down :S, so starting to use vinegar to lower Ph.
PH: 5.7
PPM: 520
Wasnt home all day so PH went crazy.
PH: 7
PPM: 570
The water was a bit cloudy so changed it and did a little cleanup of the res this morning. Upped the PPM to 620 (500 from nutes + 120 from water)
PH: 5.8
PPM: 620
Adding vinegar a couple times a day to keep the PH Down, starting to show a bit of yellowing on the top leaves.
PH: 5.8
PPM: 680
DAY 28 (10/04):
I made a bit of a mistake.
Seems like in some cases vinegar and high res temps can cause a very nasty looking slime which is attached to the roots, messing with my PH and is also causing the water to look cloudy. So I emptied the res, cleaned the roots with tap water to get rid of the slime, cleaned the res/airstone/waterpump with bleached water and light sealed the water feeding lines just in case light was getting in that way.
Not gonna add nutes for a few days and, since I still cant find any PH down, gonna use fresh lemon juice to control PH levels.
PH: 5.8
PPM: 160
Got some H2O2 (all I could find was the 3% one) and added about 10ml/Liter to the rez. Yellowing on the top leaves is starting to go away. Plan to empty the res again tomorrow and do a thorough cleanin of everything with H2O2. At least the PH stopped going up like crazy
PH: 5.8
PPM: 170
