Weedo Bandito
Member
What's Up RIU?
First, a heartfelt thanks to all of you out there who participate in the discussion. I've learned a lot from all of you. Perhaps, someone out there can learn something from me.
Well, here I go again. I've started another grow. It's a DWC setup with 4 buckets. I'm growing 2 plants of Barney's Farm Sweet Tooth, 1 plant of Dina Fem's White Widow and 1 plant
of G-13 Labs Sour Jack. All from feminized seeds. I use a 4x4x7 tent with a 4" Hydrofarm inline exhaust fan coupled to a 6x24 Phresh Air carbon
air filter. For lights, I use a 250w CFL for veg and a 400w HPS lamp for flower. I'll be upgrading here shortly to a 400w MH bulb for veg. I run Botanicare nutes as a rule but,
apparently, they've stopped making their Pro Grow line so, I'm switching to Fox Farm Grow Big and Big Bloom. I should run out of what I have on hand of the Botanicare nutes sometime
during veg. I hope the plants roll with the changes.
This is my 3rd solo grow. Street prices and street quality here in Vegas became just too unpredictable for my taste. Plus, I'm way too old and (ha hem) respectable to be out hunting
for new weed connections. I enjoyed spectacular success with my first grow. Over 7oz off two plants using DWC in a 2x2x5 tent. I actually still have a little of that weed left. My second
attempt ended badly. It was last summer and temps were way too high. I struggled with the high temps for 6 weeks or so. I could never get a handle on it given my amperage limitations.
Finally, when the house AC system went belly up in July, they were done. Now that it's Winter, temps are mild and manageable. I figure that I have until mid-May to get a grow off
before the heat is, once again, out of control.
I started this grow on January 11th by soaking the seeds in tap water. After a 24 hour soak, I used the paper towel method to let the seeds germinate. Meanwhile, I presoaked my rockwool
cubes in tap water. Once the seeds popped, I carefully placed them in the rockwool cubes. All the grow books and grow gurus say to keep the cubes moist, but not sopping wet. Well, with
rockwool cubes, that covers a lot of ground. I use a kitchen scale and try to keep the weight of the moistened cubes in the 40g neighborhood. I've learned that at that weight, they're not
sopping wet yet I can leave them for 10-11 hours while I'm at work and not have to sweat over them drying out. All four cubes went into a seedling tray that sat atop a heat mat placed in
a dark corner of my closet. A Mondi humidity dome covered the whole show. After a few days, all four seeds had broken the surface. Once all the cotyledon leaves were open and turning a
nice green color the dome went into the tent and under the light. That was January 17th.
I'm not sure when the right time is to move the sprouts from the seedling tray/humidity dome and into the Hydroton grow media but I make the move when the root just starts to reach the
side edge of the rockwool cube. I figure that roots are in darkness so when the root extends beyond the rockwool cube and into the light ... it's time. I moved the sprouts into the 5 gallon grow buckets on January 21st.
January 28th - 1st weekly res change. Switching from plain water to a 1/2 strength nute mix. The sprouts are showing progress, but no visible roots just yet. Shouldn't be long though. Res changes kinda suck, but I like to make the most of it. I'll usually put on some music, puff a bowl then start off with a fresh clean bucket full of tap water. I like to calibrate my pH meter with 7.0 solution first. It's never too far off. Then I take a baseline ppm and pH reading of the tap water. Vegas tap water is hard, but amazingly consistent. I can pretty much count on a pH of 6.5 to 7.0 and ppm of 485 to 500 year round. Today, it was 6.6 and 490. Next, I add nutes - Botanicare Pro Grow and Liquid Karma. Then I add H2O2. I use a 35% H2O2 solution mixed 10ml per gallon or a shot glass full per bucket. H2O2 keeps things nice and clean. Lastly, I measure the ppm again and adjust the pH with a few drops of pH down. I shoot for 5.5 to 6.0. This time, it came out at 5.7. Close enough. Wish me luck RIU and please comment or ask any questions you may have.
First, a heartfelt thanks to all of you out there who participate in the discussion. I've learned a lot from all of you. Perhaps, someone out there can learn something from me.
Well, here I go again. I've started another grow. It's a DWC setup with 4 buckets. I'm growing 2 plants of Barney's Farm Sweet Tooth, 1 plant of Dina Fem's White Widow and 1 plant
of G-13 Labs Sour Jack. All from feminized seeds. I use a 4x4x7 tent with a 4" Hydrofarm inline exhaust fan coupled to a 6x24 Phresh Air carbon
air filter. For lights, I use a 250w CFL for veg and a 400w HPS lamp for flower. I'll be upgrading here shortly to a 400w MH bulb for veg. I run Botanicare nutes as a rule but,
apparently, they've stopped making their Pro Grow line so, I'm switching to Fox Farm Grow Big and Big Bloom. I should run out of what I have on hand of the Botanicare nutes sometime
during veg. I hope the plants roll with the changes.
This is my 3rd solo grow. Street prices and street quality here in Vegas became just too unpredictable for my taste. Plus, I'm way too old and (ha hem) respectable to be out hunting
for new weed connections. I enjoyed spectacular success with my first grow. Over 7oz off two plants using DWC in a 2x2x5 tent. I actually still have a little of that weed left. My second
attempt ended badly. It was last summer and temps were way too high. I struggled with the high temps for 6 weeks or so. I could never get a handle on it given my amperage limitations.
Finally, when the house AC system went belly up in July, they were done. Now that it's Winter, temps are mild and manageable. I figure that I have until mid-May to get a grow off
before the heat is, once again, out of control.
I started this grow on January 11th by soaking the seeds in tap water. After a 24 hour soak, I used the paper towel method to let the seeds germinate. Meanwhile, I presoaked my rockwool
cubes in tap water. Once the seeds popped, I carefully placed them in the rockwool cubes. All the grow books and grow gurus say to keep the cubes moist, but not sopping wet. Well, with
rockwool cubes, that covers a lot of ground. I use a kitchen scale and try to keep the weight of the moistened cubes in the 40g neighborhood. I've learned that at that weight, they're not
sopping wet yet I can leave them for 10-11 hours while I'm at work and not have to sweat over them drying out. All four cubes went into a seedling tray that sat atop a heat mat placed in
a dark corner of my closet. A Mondi humidity dome covered the whole show. After a few days, all four seeds had broken the surface. Once all the cotyledon leaves were open and turning a
nice green color the dome went into the tent and under the light. That was January 17th.
I'm not sure when the right time is to move the sprouts from the seedling tray/humidity dome and into the Hydroton grow media but I make the move when the root just starts to reach the
side edge of the rockwool cube. I figure that roots are in darkness so when the root extends beyond the rockwool cube and into the light ... it's time. I moved the sprouts into the 5 gallon grow buckets on January 21st.
January 28th - 1st weekly res change. Switching from plain water to a 1/2 strength nute mix. The sprouts are showing progress, but no visible roots just yet. Shouldn't be long though. Res changes kinda suck, but I like to make the most of it. I'll usually put on some music, puff a bowl then start off with a fresh clean bucket full of tap water. I like to calibrate my pH meter with 7.0 solution first. It's never too far off. Then I take a baseline ppm and pH reading of the tap water. Vegas tap water is hard, but amazingly consistent. I can pretty much count on a pH of 6.5 to 7.0 and ppm of 485 to 500 year round. Today, it was 6.6 and 490. Next, I add nutes - Botanicare Pro Grow and Liquid Karma. Then I add H2O2. I use a 35% H2O2 solution mixed 10ml per gallon or a shot glass full per bucket. H2O2 keeps things nice and clean. Lastly, I measure the ppm again and adjust the pH with a few drops of pH down. I shoot for 5.5 to 6.0. This time, it came out at 5.7. Close enough. Wish me luck RIU and please comment or ask any questions you may have.
