RG's First grow ( DR 150 , 400w , Aeroponic)

Hey , Whats up !

This is my first grow , i have been reading around the boards for about a month. Taking in all the great advice and experiences people here share.

On to the set up , Im using a DR150 tent with a NextGen 400w mh/hps ballast , 4 plant aeroponic system with 360 degree sprayers , GH 3 part nute system , protekt , Vortex 6" fan to exhaust my air cooled hood , ph balance kit , ppm meter , 2 digital timers, rapid rooters , hydroton.

It all cost me about 900 bucks brand new. I will attach some pics of my equipment first and the set up in my spare bedroom.

Ok , So two days later i managed to find some clones. They are GDP , i got 4 of them. One of them i noticed was kind of slanted and the bottom fan leaf tips on some of them were cut off, I hope this is ok.

They were rooted in 1 inch rockwool in a cup of perlite. The perlite sketched me because i didnt want i to get in my pump if it dropped into my res. So i blew it all off the cube the best i could.

Then i washed my Hydroton clean and layered some on the bottom of the net cups. Put my clones/rockwool about half way into the cup and covered them over with hydroton.

As for my nute solution i read i should introduce them to the aeroponic at 50 % so i followed the lucas formula for GH and halved up the dosage for the Veg cycle.

I put 7 gals of R.O water into my system. Lucas formula said 0-5-10 - For Vegetative cycle. I did 0-2.5-5 x 7. Added the water first. Micro , then mixed and then the bloom and mixed. I then added my dyna protekt as the bottle suggested.

My ppm at this point was only about 400 PPM my R.O was 0, so this seems right i think for a 50 % nute solution ?

Im adding R.O ph corrected water, and every sunday i will do a full resivoir change. I will bring up the strenght of th nutes this coming sunday.

At the moment my res temps stay around 65-70 pending on time of day. My ambient air temp is around 75 - 83.

Please let me know if you have ay advice !! im a newb and i am in complete awe in some of the buds ive seen grown on this site !

Peace !

Hmm when i bought my clones they had a couple fan leaf tops cut off ad very small specs of yellow on the lower bigger fan leafs , i noticed i may have a couple new yellow spots on the tips of the leafs. Also a couple of the fingers of the fn leafs are turning so the bottom is up toward the light.

Not 100 percent sure what the deal is so i made a post on it in the plant problem section.
https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-plant-problems/213541-opinions-wanted-my-clones.html

I got a question for anyone , My plant has roots on the side and bottom, not loads but some breaking thru the rockwool and going into the hydroton. They are about 4 to 5 inches tall. They have been in my 3 part GH 50 % solution for a little over 3 days. The owner of the clones also said they were being sprayed with nute water.

right now they are in a 50 percent 400 ppm solution , they are 4 or 5 inches tall. Is this to weak ? should i use the full 100 percent veg solution ? or am i doing it right by keeping it at 50 percent ? I dont know when to go full strength on the nutes.

rubberguard said:

I got a question for anyone , My plant has roots on the side and bottom, not loads but some breaking thru the rockwool and going into the hydroton. They are about 4 to 5 inches tall. They have been in my 3 part GH 50 % solution for a little over 3 days. The owner of the clones also said they were being sprayed with nute water.

right now they are in a 50 percent 400 ppm solution , they are 4 or 5 inches tall. Is this to weak ? should i use the full 100 percent veg solution ? or am i doing it right by keeping it at 50 percent ? I dont know when to go full strength on the nutes.

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I use GH nutes and the Lucas Formula. All I do with clones is up the strength by about 33% every week (say from 400ppm to 550ppm to 730ppm, etc.) until I reach full strength or it shows signs of nute burn. Never had a problem doing it this way, but different strains may need a little less or more.

With the Lucas Formula you may want to consider some supplements for flowering, if you haven't already. I use Big Bud Bloom Booster for two weeks when I flip to 12/12, and then add Hammerhead for the rest of flowering. These have really improved the size and quality of my buds over the GH nutes alone.

BTW, I believe that cutting the fan leaves in half on clones is a common method used to help the clone concentrate on rooting.

Nice setup, it's obvious you've done your research!

Awesome , thanks for the advice. Yah i will definatley pick up some flowering nutes, prolly the ones you mentioned.

I was considering increasing the nutes today even tho its onbly been 3 and half days in my aeroponic. The person who made the clone i think nute burned them so they trimmed off what got burned on the lower leafes. The nute burn signs of yellowish on the tips is still mainly staying on just the older fan leafs.

I did notice today that some of the new leafs that are forming are slightly twisting, some of them show the bottoms up , but their color and texture are fine.

rubberguard said:

Awesome , thanks for the advice. Yah i will definatley pick up some flowering nutes, prolly the ones you mentioned.

I was considering increasing the nutes today even tho its onbly been 3 and half days in my aeroponic. The person who made the clone i think nute burned them so they trimmed off what got burned on the lower leafes. The nute burn signs of yellowish on the tips is still mainly staying on just the older fan leafs.

I did notice today that some of the new leafs that are forming are slightly twisting, some of them show the bottoms up , but their color and texture are fine.

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In my experience twisting leaves in hydro usually means a ph problem. You have to be careful sometimes with the GH nutes, I've noticed the ph tends to drift down initially, then starts drifting up. So if you adjust the ph to read say 5.6 initially, it'll drift down to 5.0 or below over the first couple of days, then start drifting back up towards 6.0. So I usually adjust my nutes for a 6.0 ph initially.

Since my humidty is low is it ok to mist the tent / plants lightly a couple times a day to have some more moisture in the air ? and should i ph correct the misting pray first if it is a good idea to use at all ?

rubberguard said:

Since my humidty is low is it ok to mist the tent / plants lightly a couple times a day to have some more moisture in the air ? and should i ph correct the misting pray first if it is a good idea to use at all ?

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In your pictures it shows humidity at 46%, this should be fine IMO. You can mist if you want, but I don't think it will raise your humidity much unless you do it constantly. I also wouldn't do it with lights on, don't want to get any water on hot glass, :danger:.

To raise the humidity you can stick a bowl of water where you have that bowl in your picture, or you can invest in a cheap humidifier (< $20).

Ok here is a new picture of the clones from today, they have been in my aeroponic system for 4 days. I can start to see some roots breaking thru the net cup and going toward my resivoir.

Some of the fan leaf fingers that were cut / had some yellowing when i obtained the clones are starting to die, is this ok ? they were about 3.5 to 4 inches when i got them they are now about 5 and half.

Im kind of freaking out the last day and half,

I dont know if i have to much nutes or to litte. Its only a 400 ppm solution they ahve been in it for 5 days . its lower ammount solution than the person who rooted themin the rockwool. the roots of my plants just broke thru the net cup, still using 50 % strength lucas formula.

Small yellow ish dots formed on median of one of my newer leafs and the older big fan leafs that ere cut are showing more damage , i duno if i should increase the nutes or no ><

rubberguard said:

Ok here is a new picture of the clones from today, they have been in my aeroponic system for 4 days. I can start to see some roots breaking thru the net cup and going toward my resivoir.

Some of the fan leaf fingers that were cut / had some yellowing when i obtained the clones are starting to die, is this ok ? they were about 3.5 to 4 inches when i got them they are now about 5 and half.

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Looks like you got some drooping there, maybe shock or you might have a water issue.

Is the thermometer in the picture measuring the water at 74*? Does it ever get higher? What's the air temp at the plants? What's the ph of the water?

Anyways, I'd keep an eye on it. In my opinion, if the new growth is vigorous with no sign of drooping then I wouldn't worry about it.

The new growth looks fairly nice, alot more roots re going thru the netcup now. that was air temp, my resevioir temp mostly stays around 65 70 at highest. 74 is about as low as my ambient air temp gets as well.

Hey whats up ,

Ill attach some pics of them now, its been one week in the aeroponic they are on half strength lucas formula, i see some yellowing maybe they should be full strength ??

2 of my girls are short and stalky, two of them are taller.

Im going to copy and paste a post made earlier to see if i get any more answers here.

Check the pics , read my post and lemme know what you think !


Lucas formula potency schedule

"Hey

I was wondering a good time line / feeding schedule for the potency / % of strength for using GH nutes on the lucas formula.

I bought clones rooted in 1" rockwool, i put them in my aeroponic, they were about 4 ". I started them on the Lucas Formula for Vegging at 50 percent , its been one week. They grew a couple inches and now the roots are rooted past the net cups about 2 inches.

At first i thought i had nute burn even at 50 percent strength. Now i think possibly i had to little nutes ? they are not as green as they once were.

I figure the plants are 3 weeks old, 2 weeks ago germinating then rooted in rockwool and one week in my aeroponic. Should i have these babbies on full strength Lucas formula by now ?


Im standing over my resivoir with an addback to double the strength from 50 percent to full strength Lucas formula i just dont know if it will be to much ?

Let me know what you think please !"

Yah, man, looks like a magnesium or nitrogen deficiency. How long have they been in 400ppm water, what's the ppm now, have you changed the water yet?

Make sure your ph is good. If so, now that you've got good roots go ahead and up the nutes, say 3/4 strength, and see how your plants respond. One week of 3/4 strength, then go full strength.

Just my opinion...

I decided to mix up full strength lucas formula 0-8-16 and i put my girls in for a swim to see how they liked it. Its been a few days and they seem to regaining all thier green and look good. Two of them are short , stalky and bushy , the other two are tall and more skiny , Anyone have any idea why this is ? im not to worried about it , it will be cool to see which ones turn out better in the end.

They are comming up on 7 inches tall , im not quite sure how tall ill let them get before i flower them. Any suggestions ?

Ill attach some pics , lemme know what you think !

Looking good! As far as when to flower, you're growing Granddaddy Purple, right? These are the things I look at when deciding when to flower:

1. Headroom: I'd flower now if headroom is an issue. I believe GDP is a relatively short, bushy Indica. If headroom isn't an issue then you could wait for the plants to tell you they're ready to flower (alternating nodes and preflowers) or you could base it on...

2. Light source: in my opinion growing tall plants is a waste of time if you don't have strong lights. Your 400 watt-er will penetrate about 12-18 inches into the canopy, so without side lighting any growth above 24" or so is basically wasted time. If GDP is like a typical indica it will at least double in size during flowering. Using this criteria, I would start flowering at 12", you should end up with plants about 24-36" high with buds in the top half of the plants.

As far as the yellowing, it may be that your strain needs a little more nitrogen then the Lucas formula provides. You might want to try adding a little GH Grow to the mix. If you add 2ml per gallon of Grow to your mix I think it will increase your nitrogen about 10% and your ppms by about 50 ppm. This is just a suggestion, though.

Awesome ill try adding in some of the grow if the new leafs are still comming out a little yellow.

I measured them this morning and they are between 9 and 10 inches tall, i cant tell if the nodes have any pre flowering signs il have to inspect closer. The smell has definatley picked up in the last couple of days. Its a legal grow so i may not trip on it , if it gets to bad ill rig up a DIY carbon filter possibly.

I have not fimed any of them yet , do you think i should fim a couple to se if i get a couple extra heads for some more top buds ? i could fim them a couple times let them grow to 12" over next week and then kick them into flowering ?

rubberguard said:

Awesome ill try adding in some of the grow if the new leafs are still comming out a little yellow.

I measured them this morning and they are between 9 and 10 inches tall, i cant tell if the nodes have any pre flowering signs il have to inspect closer. The smell has definatley picked up in the last couple of days. Its a legal grow so i may not trip on it , if it gets to bad ill rig up a DIY carbon filter possibly.

I have not fimed any of them yet , do you think i should fim a couple to se if i get a couple extra heads for some more top buds ? i could fim them a couple times let them grow to 12" over next week and then kick them into flowering ?

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LOL, started with height, now we’re talking width. OK, your 400-watt HID has an effective area (or “sweet spot”) of about 3.25’ x 3.25’ or about 10 square feet. You need to try to imagine filling this 10 sq ft area with a more or less level canopy of buds. So the question becomes “how many main colas do I need to fill this space?” I like to shoot for 1 – 4 main colas per sq ft, depending on the characteristics of the strain, so we’re talking somewhere between 10 – 40 colas.


So, basically a good starting point would be to shoot for 10 main colas from your 4 plants to fill up your 10 sq ft canopy and work from there. The more colas you do the harder it becomes to maintain a level canopy, usually one or two plants will try to dominate the light. Also, a crowded canopy makes the plants more susceptible to insects, bud rot, and other diseases. Since this is your first grow and you don’t know the characteristics of your plants (besides being indica dominant, which usually means it’s going to be bushy already) I personally would shoot for 16 main colas (4 per plant).