My First Grow! DIY DWC & Grow Area, SNOW WHITE FEM FROM SEED!

haha, doesn't it? I think I may start a quick little thread in the DWC forum just to try and recruit a few more bubble-buddies =P

Just post those comparison pictures and see how many converts we get haha


I am uploading a video of my grow today instead of pics!

DAy 33

in the video I say the wrong day, its 33 for mamma dukes


enjoy!

***If you click on the picture it will take you to the video on photobucket, you should be able to watch it from there.

tmsculli said:

I dunno craig, that last picture for 16 days makes bubbleponics pretty tasty lookin. Believe me, because the proof is right behind me in the closet. hahaha

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You have convinced me mate i will go buy a pump and some feeder tubes the next vist, that is a shit hot comparison pal.

As for the ppm, if the value is going up and the water is going down then the plant is drinking more water than nutrients, so what is happening is there is less water so your ppm is going up due to the concentration of nutes.

If the water is going down and the ppm is staying around the same value as it was at the beginning then the plant is taking water and nutes at the same ratio.

If the ppm is going down but the water is staying around the same it is feeding more than drinking.

I think that is the idea.

To be honest though if you are changing your nutes every week (i tihnk its a little excessive, but safe) you shouldn't have to worry too much about it.

Cool, thanks for breaking that down for me brother, really appreciate it. Did you check out miss Goliath in the video? haha the little ones are on day 18 now

Yeah man nice plants keep up the good work

Hey guys...been reading the thread and was wondering what nute schedule you're currently using on your setup. I have a similar one with sprouts on day 3. I know to wait til the second or so set of leaves before feeding but with your success I was just wondering. Thanks for an advice.

Don Doobie, thanks for stopping by brother. Kind words are always appreciated. Keep stopping in to watch them boom!

Braceman, nutes are definitely my weakness, but I will explain what I have done thus far. Since this is my first grow, I waited a bit too long to get nutrients to my mother. I grew her for a while with no nutes at all. If you read back into my journal you will find posts where I talked about my first dosage etc. I started off with just grow nutes at 1/4 strength. I changed the nutes and water once a week. After 2 weeks, when I started to see some substantial foliage growth, I did another new tank. This time I put in 1/4 strength GROW and MICRO nutrients. I am using 3 part Humboldt nutrients by the way, not sure if I noted that above. Week 3 I bumped up to 1/2 strength GROW and MICRO nutrients. You need to realize that under-doing it can be okay, you still have time to "save" the plant, but if you nuke it with nutes, you may never see it standing up again. Go slow and gradual until you get nice and comfy. Week 4 I bumped up to 3/4 strength of both GROW and MICRO nutes and that is where I am currently sitting. The little ones are on the exact same schedule as the mother was and so far so good!

Thanks for taking a look brother! If you have any more questions or comments etc let me know!

pulling up a chair.. i'll have some words here and there. need to make my way through the thread to be caught up!


Shack

Looking good matey!

Ah, Shack! It's great to see that you will be taking a peak! It's a lot of reading, but the HD pictures make it worth it =P

Can't wait to get some nice macro HD bud shots...nom nom nom


Knickers, thanks for stopping by man! keep checking in I update almost every day!

Hey tm,

Grows looking good man, I like the video. Root Porn Yea!

Anyway I made it to the depot and got materials. I found the sheets just like you said in the ducting area, cool. Problem was my depot didn't have the smaller size, It looks like stainless steel but it will reflect fine I am sure. I found something to use though. A rolled piece of 10" ducting it looks like. I also picked up some aluminum sticks for braces. I will let you know when I get it together.

Thanks again for the idea.

o0o0 Sounds nice Cruzer, I am really excited to see how your reflector turns out

bloatedcraig said:

You have convinced me mate i will go buy a pump and some feeder tubes the next vist, that is a shit hot comparison pal.

As for the ppm, if the value is going up and the water is going down then the plant is drinking more water than nutrients, so what is happening is there is less water so your ppm is going up due to the concentration of nutes.

If the water is going down and the ppm is staying around the same value as it was at the beginning then the plant is taking water and nutes at the same ratio.

If the ppm is going down but the water is staying around the same it is feeding more than drinking.

I think that is the idea.

To be honest though if you are changing your nutes every week (i tihnk its a little excessive, but safe) you shouldn't have to worry too much about it.

Click to expand...

Okay, so I just checked on my ladies and my mother's data is as follows.

From yesterday to today, ppm has dropped from 508 to 382, water level has stayed the same and ph is good. This means that she is feeding more than drinking correct? So does this mean that I need to give her more nutes since she is hungry, or does it mean that what I have going is good?

I am in the process of making everything light tight and getting it ready for flowering now. The little ones are going to start 12/12 this weekend I think. Also, I haven't really looked intensely into how much more they are going to grow. My vertical space is limited, so I think I may rig up a nice screen to SCROG is out. It will be a top screen with 4 legs, almost like a table, that is connected to the tote and easily moved/removed etc.

No plan as of now. Headed to wally mart though, and we all know that it's like a creative pot heads fun house in there.

tmsculli said:

Okay, so I just checked on my ladies and my mother's data is as follows.

From yesterday to today, ppm has dropped from 508 to 382, water level has stayed the same and ph is good. This means that she is feeding more than drinking correct? So does this mean that I need to give her more nutes since she is hungry, or does it mean that what I have going is good?

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it means you should replace any missing water, do a ppm test again, then repalce the missing nutes to go back to what you have calculated to be a
full dose of nutes.

Roseman, I honestly am not sure what I would consider a full dose of nutes to be. Would it be where she was hanging out for a while? I hate that I keep having to ask questions about nutes, but for some reason I just don't get them. I have read chapters and chapters on them in books and it just won't click. =/

Very nice set up for a first time. I decided to go soil for my first grow. Could you tell me what kind of light fixtures t hose are? They look EXTREMELY convenient o use since they seem to plug directly into a power strip and hold 2 bulbs. I was looking for something like that earlier today at lowes but all I found were a couple of clamp lamps. So if you could send me a link to what kind o fixtures they are I would very much appreciate it. Keep up the great looking grow man! ^^

looking good.

tmsculli said:

Roseman, I honestly am not sure what I would consider a full dose of nutes to be. Would it be where she was hanging out for a while? I hate that I keep having to ask questions about nutes, but for some reason I just don't get them. I have read chapters and chapters on them in books and it just won't click. =/

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Brother Bublehead, let me help you a little.



If you use a ppm (TDS - EC) meter, you should first read and follow the instructions on your nutrients.

When I first got started with my most recent grow, I started with 1/4 dose nutes to be safe. I started 1/4 dose (the reccommended amount) AFTER I first saw the first two nodes, not counting the round leaves. A day or two after I saw the second node or 4th leaf, (two sets of two leaves, not counting those first two round leaves), I introduced 1/4 strenght nutes. I increased them to half strenght, or a 2nd dose of 1/4 strenght nutes two days later when I saw the 3rd node. I could safely do this with the Stealth Hydro Nutes. They are not too strong to cause damage at that strenght, especially using CFLS to grow. HID light users can use higher NPK nutes, or stronger strenght nutes.
A day or two later, I saw a 4th node, and increasing the strenght of the nutes again by adding another 1/4 dose, bringing me to FULL-Strenght nutes.
That is when I measured my ppm, but by then, the plants were eating the nutes too. My ppm was only 200 then, and 75 to 100 of that was my well water. In no way am I saying that is what your ppm should be too. I am just telling you what mine was. I was trying for a weaker strenght feeding to make sure I did not burn them up and be emabarrassed. In past grows, I did use more nutes, strongers doses, more often.

After ten days passed, I did a Drain and Replinish. I added back a full dose of nutes and my ppm was 280 that day, telling me my target ppm to stay at the same level during the early VEG or GROW cycle.
As I daily added a half of gallon of water, and a 1/12 packet of nutes, my ppm grew to 330, or bounced between 220 and 340 as they ate. (Before the feeding, it was 220, after the feeding it was up to 340)

By the time I was in my 3rd week, and they were drinking a full gallon of water a day, and I was adding back 1/6 dose of nutes, my ppm was between 360 to 440 daily. But that number is not important to me or you. What is important is tracking it, writing it down daily, to determine how much more nutes I should add or not add.

Let me rephrase this.
Do not worry about the exact number, or any number from a chart or from me and my grow. Instead watch, record, and track how it rises or falls from day to day. The differences between what you have in there on one day, and the readings you get the next day will tell you how much your plants are eating. Of course, you do this daily, at the same time of day.

And remember, just because a gallon of water is gone, does not mean they also ate 1/6 of the nutes. Maybe you had HIGH HEAT and they were very thirsty but not as hungry.

First, determine the ppm of your water sourse. Say it is 100 ppm. Then fill the tank with the proper amount of water and a complete dose of nutes and read the ppm. Say it is 350 for example. If tomorrow a gallon of water is gone, and the ppm says higher than 350, or is still close to 350, then they did not eat and they do not need more nutes, they only need more water. Your reservoir's water and nute solution is more concentrated, telling you to add more water only.

If the ppm went down to say 250 from 350, and a gallon of water is gone, they need a gallon of water, plus enough additonal nutes to bring the ppm back up to 350. And that is the real purpose and use of a ppm meter, to determine that need and how much.

No one can tell you what your ppm should be. It will vary from garden to garden, and vary from different nutrients too.

If your plants are very happy, and drinking and eating at the same level, then the ppm will remain the same daily.
If for example, 1/8 of the water is gone, and 1/8 the nutes are gone, then the concentration remains the same and the ppm will remain the same.

I would like to offer a ppm chart as a rule of thumb or ball park target ppm, but each grow or garden is going to be different.

These numbers are based on EC readings, .500 readings, TDS readings converted from EC or the common Hannah Chart:

Seedlings, Early Sprouts 100 to 250

Early Vegging 300 to 400

Full Vegetation 450 to 700

Early Blooming 750 to 950

Full Mature Blooms 1000 to 1600

Budskee, thanks for the kind words brother. Actually, they are all homemade fixtures. The ones that are the power strip ones were thrown together from every day things and items easily purchased at any hardware store. The most basic fixture is a power strip w/ a surge protector. You then buy two prong plug to light bulb converters. from there you can get single bulb splitters allowing 2 bulbs per plug. Then you can just wire tie the bulbs to the strip to make sure they don't fall and that is about it. When I upgraded my lights to larger ones there was no more need for so many and it was no longer safe to have them hanging from a surge protector. I took it upon myself to design, build, and wire the fixtures that I currently use. Hope that helps you out brother.


Wonderblunder, thanks for taking a look man, kind words are always appreciated, stay smokin my friend.


Obi Wan, oops, I mean Roseman. I have read that post before, I am pretty sure most of that was from another thread I chased you too. It makes a bit more sense to me now. I think I may just be too stubborn to let myself embrace how it works. I have a TDS meter and have been recording the data now for a few days. Sadly I didn't have meters from the start so I was not recording it the entire time. I am still not to a full dose of nutes on my little ones or my mother. I am kind of afraid to I suppose. I guess next full drain and fill I will go full dose grow and micro on her. Obviously recording my water's ppm first. Then with a loaded dose in her I can take the reading and that is going to be the proper "maximum capacity" of sorts correct? So that is the number that I should be relating my daily numbers to as well as the ones that are directly before it. I think I understand it a bit more. Thanks brother



Now, I am pissed. I hate wally mart. I will never go back again. I dealt with 6 different employees today, I kept giving them chances. I was being so nice, asking simple questions, but received nothing, but blank stares and comments that I would expect from a 6 year old. For example, when asked "Excuse me sir, where are your fans?" He answered "Welcome to Walmart" "Fans, sir?" he answered "This is shirts"

I turned around. I continued to have similar experiences before going to the manager, asking her, not being impressed by her, and then telling them all to go to hell.



that being said, I still don't have my fucking fans. I guess I am sucking up the price and getting them online. I need them now.