Hydroponic Basement Grow Discussion

This will be the discussion board for my current grow and might evolve into the next grow.

It feels lonely having a grow journal with no posts so, if there are any good suggestions as I go along that would be great!

Linkola: https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/269904-hydroponic-basement-grow-moved.html

290watts total fluorescent. Thats 4x 40w tubes, 5x 26w CFL and 1x 40w CFL. On 24/7 right now.

1" of plant pots are under water with roots dangling in the DWC with 200gal worth of aquarium air pump, 1x 12" stone and 6x 1" bubble stones.

Using General Hydroponics 3-2-1 atm with a little FoxFarm GrowBig and SuperThrive.

When everything arrives in the mail, I will have a 430w SonAgro in a Daystar hood connected to a Lumatek 400w Digital Ballast for the flowering side of the op which will be ebb'n.

Im using a dust collector 914cfm through homemade carbon filter, and a table fan for smell/aeration.

Basement ambient temp in grow area is 64-66 and res temp is 52.

Once all equipment arrives and flower room is set up completely, the current 2 plants will be moved into that room, and 2 feminized White Widow seeds from Nirvana are going into germination.

Ive learned a lot from this current operation, and I feel like I will be ready to grow fairly consistently with the WW. In flowering, the current plants will be under a screen for scrog, which is why my plants look the way they do. I have been training them with wires and chains as stem weights and small string wedged into the rim of the planters.

Thats all for now. Check it out =)

I still haven't figured out how to efficiently buffer the pH with citric acid. I wanted to try and remain using the citric acid crystals (lab grade) rather than use aquarium grade chemicals. As a fish guy, I preached not to use chemicals because everything could be buffered using natural means. The citric acid lowers pH but only for a few hours at the most. Now, im not exclusively organic, I just dont want to put anything low-grade/industrial in my res. I was thinking about making a pine-needle homebrew/tea for the taste and acidity, but I am unsure on the probability of introducing vectors. Right now I have no mold, algae, bugs... nothing. /knock on green. I would really like to keep it that way. I did have what appeared to be banana gnats, but the move to the basement with the low temperatures and many many spiders took care of that.

So, apart from the pinetea (suggestions on that if you have experience please) homebrew, what would be the closest-to-natural choice I could make? Not sure on how natural it is, but Phosphoric acid is used in all types of foods and beverages -- could someone recommend a business to get some high grade, rather than off the wal-mart shelf grade? I am trying to keep some constants in my grow like all you guys =) (except I am reckless with these plants and keep breaking shit -- too high)

Changing out the rez, upgrading lights, ventilation, cleaning, trimming, etc etc etc.



Just a closeup.

They are really taking off. I havent been down for the night and am about to go start some of the rez change. I change every week. This time, I am going to empty out and clean the tub, sterilize as much as I can, then I am going to go get some pretty clean creekwater out in the boonies. In the meantime, I figure I will give the plants' roots some airtime w/o water. Make em feel a little dry spell. Keeps em on their toes, you know? I firmly believe that my mishandlings have made these plants stronger in their growth, and as such they will yield better overall bud in the end for a first grow.

Once I get the water home, I am going to treat it with a couple drops of acidified Chlorine Dioxide to kill anything in the water, then run it through an activated carbon filter one pass after about 10 minutes. Then I am going to mix a 3-2-1 with general hydro nutes for the next two weeks or however long it takes my stuff to get here. Its been a week and a half already lol. I am going to transition from the foxfarm growbig because I want better control of the nutes and GD can afford me that.

Im actually excited to get the hps and if the growth is really so lush, ill just make it a matching set for the veg.

My extension cord popped apart where a male and female end connect, so my plants got 8 hours of sleep, when it has been 24/7 lights on. Out of curiosity, would that throw my plants off at all? the bubbler and everything turned off so it was a still night for them. They dont seem to have had any adverse reaction, so I just shrug and continue on. I am headed to get some agua por la senoritas. (im not spanish, and im high)

Here is a small update



blahka.



is this pointing towards being male? Hope not its doing so good



#2

what the hell are those plants growing in the last pic? That looks awesome. I have guessed a lot but I will let you just tell me. I read yur post again and it sounded like that it is the support for dwc? IDK, but as to the power I ahve done worse than that and no hermies yet. No matter how bad I abused light cycles! That does look male but too early I guess. Sorry. Nice gun.

tea tree said:

what the hell are those plants growing in the last pic? That looks awesome. I have guessed a lot but I will let you just tell me. I read yur post again and it sounded like that it is the support for dwc? IDK, but as to the power I ahve done worse than that and no hermies yet. No matter how bad I abused light cycles! That does look male but too early I guess. Sorry. Nice gun.

Click to expand...

If you look near the lower right hand side of the tub, youll see a green 10" plastic planter. I drilled a lot of 1/4" holes in the bottom of the containers for the roots to pop out, and sat them in a rack made of PVC which at 15gal only 1" of the pot is in the water, at 20gal, thats 2.5", with a manifold made of PVC surrounding the two plants. Think a digital 8 with the pots sitting in the holes. For the WW I am definitely going to use net pots because although I dont think I would have root rot, it is possible. though I have a lot of air bubbles hitting the roots, there is still too much plastic blocking effective oxygen uptake for the majority of the plants roots. Im going downstairs before work, ill take some pics.

Rack and manifold during watering cycle



Closer view



I regularly let them grow into the lights, its not too hot so it doesnt matter. I actually tied that branch down since i took the pic.



oG roots



#2 roots.

nice setup.

Those sure do look like male flowers.

And just one suggestion. Block the light from getting to your res. You will have alot less issues if you keep the light out of the res. The temp dounds good, but the light will try to screw you up.

Also, maybe try to get your temps to run no less than 68 at night and 80 during the day.

I am not trying to hijack your log, just making some suggestions.

Best of luck.

Once again. I like the work you have done. Nice job on the PVC work.

Im logged in for now, but yesterday I could not log on or post at all, and I cannot access my photobucket. Maybe itll come back.



Well, ive been meaning to put the top on with a hole cut out for the pvc rack, ive just been lazy about that. The temp in my grow area should increase substantially with the addition of the HPS, though im not sure how much. I want to say my temp is around 62 today. Im keeping two 10gallon buckets of rainwater in the room as well so humidity should be fine. Dont worry about hijacking anything, I like suggestions; im still a noob.

I cleaned the entire basement, and installed a Hydrofarm Daystar with a SonAgro bulb. My eyes are truly zonked. In the grow room it is bright orange and when I step out it is crisp blue. I also have one other SonAgro bulb and a HydroFarm 400w Metal halide with increased red spectrum.

I am dissappointed though, that both of these plants appear to be male. We are going to see about that, at they are going into 12/12 tonight. Im not pro grower but ive read enough to see that they are probably male. Doesnt matter though, just going to blenderize them and either give to some of the other plants in the house or go down the toilet.

If I use butane extraction method, would I be able to save any amount of active chemicals? The leaves all have a little glitter on them, if you will, which seems that they are producing something on the hairs. I have kept all cuttings, mostly for security purposes but in case I could extract anything as well.

the Nirvana WW is getting so close to the wet towel. I would rather see what the sexes are first, before I get interested in the WW, but I am 80% sure that oG is male, but I only have one branch on #2 that shows any indication. I MUST keep plants <4 (its also an exercise of control since I have none) So I am thinking of only doing 2 WW seeds, if they do poorly in the early stages I am confident I can bring them back so good levels, and 2 plants is easy to manage.

I am thinking of performing cloning once the plants grow to a sufficient size. Since everyone has their own different idea on when their plant goes into flowering, (some rely on weeks, others rely on height, others plant structure.) I am going to use a combination of several factors. Since I bought feminized seeds, I assume that means my plants will not be male, therefore I do not have to wonder whether I wasted time or not.

Im going to germinate them until they are over 1/2" in taproot length. I do not care to be careful with the precious little root; mother nature can be a bitch sometimes. If I take away all the negative factors in life, i'll be left with a pussy widow. Once at least 1/2" I am going to stick them in 1" acidified Rockwool cubes, and they will be under 8 40w tube fluoros in a small ebb and flow tub. (Because I have not tried the ebb and flow setup yet, I am going to have to determine as I go what the water schedule should be.)

In maybe a paycheck or two, I think ill just get another ballast/reflector and live happily with HID. I have a bad taste in my mouth with the fluoros because 1) 48" tubes are big, they get in the way, ...its not easy to manage these. I dont do the tall plant thing. SCROG/SOG makes the most sense to me; this is effectively helping nature become way more efficient. So keeping the 48" tubes level with the wide growth of the two plants is ANNOYING. Ive had wire slips, pulleys come off of hooks, dropped fluoros, power wires bashing the plants, et al. All reasons to go for as few lights as possible. 2) they are low to the plants. Tubes do not get as hot as the CFLs do, so you can leave the lights down and let the tops of the plants grow mushing themselves into the fixture. Though I do not recommend this as it makes the leaves all weird looking, its easier to not adjust the light sometimes. I had never set up lights before, so I originally had hooks and chains. When it was too hard to reach the rear fixture's chain, I had to reposition the lights to make it more accessible. This is a bitch. I eventually put them on wires and pulleys. Yesterday, it took me all of half a lunch break to drill, tap, wire, clean the bulb to be sure, install bulb, install pulley system, install hood, install ballast, and turn on. I started with the light at 26" from the tops of my lowest branches. Ive reduced this to 18" as at this height the plants are getting a little warmth from the light but no hotspots, and I feel this strength of light is good. Go HPS/MH!

Now im going to clean my AK and go to the range. peace.

Dunno whats up with my account at photobucket, but im not exactly going to say hey, im missing some pics of weed.... we will see what happens.

Anyway, the WW are in a nice warm, dark, wet environment.

Today was the first day of 12/12 for the existing plants. Fully changed res today after lights came on, 15 gal 100% harvested rain water with 2-2-2 GH nutes, 1/2 tsp SuperThrive and 2tsp FoxFarm GrowBig. Cut off all the lower branches that weren't receiving adequate light, and exposing the upper portion of the bottom of the pot to air will give roots extra o2. I dont like to use 20gal it makes me worry about root rot.

Ive modified a lid to fit the res now, blocking direct light from the HPS, with 2 pieces of reflective insulation on the sides illuminating the underside of the plants.

set up new vegetative area. other side of wall I had previously done nothing with yet. I spent the better part of the day cleaning and mopping the basement, and since the basement has a water leak , there has been years of muddy dirt collection that had not been cleaned. The floor is dark grey painted green then half covered with white. Im contemplating etching the concrete in the basement, but only if I can dilute the acid enough that it wont affect the plants via respiration. If I can find a gentle enough sealer I would like to repaint the entire basement. Once again, only if the fumes wont cause adverse effects in taste or health of the plants. I hung the fluoros that used to be in the right side in their new spot, with 1/32" cable thru pulleys, attached to a chain which is then adjusted on a J hook. This is by far the easiest method ive found without buying custom stuff.

Sad to say my interest is waning with every day that my first plants do not prove to be female. Is there a possibility that I could keep the male(s) in vegetative state and then pollinate one of the female WW clones, in order to induce a female clone to produce seeds somehow? I dont fully understand the process of purposely making plants have seeds, but if I have a male couldnt I breed it and the WW somehow?

-Both oG and #2 are exhibiting good signs. Nutrient burn has been eliminated, pH is 5.8-6.0, and they seem very healthy.

-Yesterday I had cut most of the sun leaves that were shading nodal growth so that the HPS would reach the lower foliage.

-I think that I need to add holes to #2's bucket because the roots look kinda pathetic and bound, which would be why growth hasnt been as good as oG. #2 looks to have 3 main colas and oG has 2.

-oG has a lot more white hairs. For most of the nodes, there are 2 pairs of hairs, some with 4 pairs.

-#2 still shows no signs of sex.

-pH has been kept at 5.7-5.8 steadily so thats great.

-Changed res water yesterday and went 1-2-3 GH Flora series with 1 tsp superthrive and 2 tsp growbig. Pulled restraints from plant to allow for any extra stretching after the switch. oG is reaching, and #2 still seems the same. I drilled many more holes in the bottom 1" ... 9 holes per square inch. Hope that allows the roots to get out a little better. Once I get #2's roots unbound I think she will really switch over flower-wise.

-oG has many hairs. #2 still exhibits no distinguishable gender traits.

-Flushed each plant's hydroton with 3gal fresh water to remove built-up salts as well.

day 12 of flowering. (mid-week 2)

December 18, 2009:

-These plants never cease to amaze me. They grow so damn fast. There are a few flies flying around due to the yeast farts, which in turn caused an incredible average growth of 1/2" in leaf width for the larger leaves, and 1/4" for the smaller leaves. They look healthy, and I need to prune the lower branches again. I believe it has been 6 days since I pruned it last and its thicker than it was before. THAT kind of growth. And im going to get to give them at least 2 weeks -- 4 applications of penetrator and liquid light >) Growing is highly educational and very fun.

-oGs roots are not as bright as they were last week. It isnt causing me concern, but is something to note. The pH has been raining very slightly but in checking 3x per day, im on top of the shit. Now, if it is due to anything, Tarantula is on the prowl. #2s roots are starting to peek out a little from the higher holes and some of the submerged ones, and that is encouraging. I am hoping the addition of beneficial organisms to the mix will be a great boon. kick ass of any fungus due to the roots being cramped and wet, or if there are any rot-spots. To my understanding the bacterias eat decaying tissue and allow the surviving tissue to heal, such as the marine invertebrate the Fireworm. Good in my book.\

-pH has remained in the 5.7-5.9 range, ppm has dropped to 1070 from 1500 iirc. I like to be conservative. That tells me the plants are chomping up the nutes pretty good. I used 2/3 strength GH and I feel it didnt cause any burn at all and showed intense growth. Res temp is surely in the 50s.

-Added 2tsp of FloraBloom to rez today to bring the ppm to 1290 and pH to 5.7

-oG has hairs popping up at every node now, and 8+ on the higher nodes

-#2 has finally shown to be a GIRL! there are pairs of pistils, though very small, popping up here and there. Fantastic news. It is it is nice to be alleviated of the burden of the ominous thought that ive wasted a tremendous amount of time and effort. Buy feminized seeds! worry free.

-Its snowing and im growing. Damn hydroponics is great.

As an aside: I guess I can not let you guys in on photographs unless I can somehow post on this site's upload tool (which I cant) I wont be adding my pics as public evidence to any site. =/ Until its after the fact anyway. Gotta learn from those that rule you. Im not making growing my tomatoes any amount stressful.

Watch your Fem seeds closely, I've had personal
issues with feminized seeds turning hermaphroditic.

Your plants look great though, happy grwing..

ps. Res temp in the 50's!!? Grab an aquarium
heater and set that baby to 72!

I have been meaning to get to that. You know, the little things. And I have an allergy to dumbass. Walmart is loaded with dumbass. But that might fix the root deal.

DUH.

hehe, for sure.. If you're having root issues
thats probably one of them..

December 19, 2009:

-oG is growing steadily. Last night added another 2" to what im going to call colas. The plants have been showing great signs of growth since addition of the CO2, im likely to continue using it for a while. It is so cheap of a benefit. Thanks yeast!

-#2 is showing roots beginning to peek out but nothing excitable. However, the pistols are starting to pop up all over.

-the plants had grown quite bushy, so I trimmed all the fan leaves that were shading internodal vegetation and im planning to go down later to change the rez and tie the branches down, and then lower my lights to intensify growth.