# Hey All -- First Grow



## Straycat

Hey All: Fairly new to this site. Have been checking in regularly and thought I should go ahead and register and post my progress of my first grow. I will give a general description of our grow and our cloning progress and attach pics at bottom. Don't really know enough to ask questions so if anything pops out at any of you, feel free to comment. Sorry in advance for lengthy post.  Will read up on rules of posting to see if I'm doing something wrong.

This is our first grow which began (from clones) on 4/15/11. Don't know if I would do this again until I know what we are doing, however, we started with mixed strains, a couple of which I couldn't find anything about so don't know exactly what they are. The strains are: (2) Yellow Kush -- couldn't find anything on the net as to what these are so any hints here would be appreciated; (2) Koos Kush (??) Same as above but don't even know if we got the name right; (1) Purple Kush; (1) Lavender. The purple kush and lavender are known for certain as came from a known source.

The reason I wouldn't do this again is all strains did their own thing in their own time and left us second guessing our every move. We would make changes that some responded favorably to while others didn't and then vica versa. The exception was the lavender which didn't seem to mind anything. As the plants mature, however, they are all getting into synch with each other. In short, the lavender made us feel like genuises while the others have kept us humbled.

Here are the details of the grow room etc..

GROW ROOM -- Approx 5'W x 7'6"L x 7'H; Mylar covered inner walls, industrial strength black plastic outer cover. 

EQUIPMENT -- 
Lighting 1000W MH lamp and recently added (5/30/11) 400W dual spectrum HPS lamp.

Air Conditioning -- window mounted air conditioner for 13'x20' room

Circulation - 6" in-line fan for cooling lamps (rated 400cfm); 6" in-line duct fan for pushing air out (rated 160cfm); oscillating fan for air ciruclation.

GROW MEDIUM, etc.
Recirculating hydroponic drip system; 6" rockwool cubes with hydrotons; (6) three gallon buckets; (1) 5 gallon master bucket; (1) 22 gallon resevoir.
Climate -- maintained 67 to 71 degree F temp throughout grow.

NUTRIENTS (changed every 7 to 10 days)
We are using General Hydroponics Flora system (Flora Micro, Flora Grow, Flora Bloom, and Floralicious)

PH - Targeted 5.5 to 5.8PH. In first weeks of grow PH always creeped upward so at 6.1PH added PH down. In last 3 weeks PH is consistently creeping downward and at 5.1 add H20 to resevoir to avoid using PH up solution.

PPM -- Started out using 80% of recommended nute mixes provided by GH. Started out with mild growth formula and have gradually increased to 80% solution of "Aggressive Growth" recommendation on chart. PPM's started out averaging 950 PPM's and in last three weeks have ridiculous PPM's of around 1850 using a TDS/PPM conversion of 0.5.

NOTE ABOUT WATER: -- We are using tap water which is extremely hard (557 PPM; 7.4PH) and seems to be chlorinated as when filling the resevoir we seem to smell the chlorine.

For results I will just post pics of plants six weeks in. Let me know what you all think.

First Grow 01.jpg -- Day One of First Grow. Plants are clockwise from bottom right: Purple Kush (one leafer at this point; Yellow Kush?; Yellow Kush?; Koos Kush??(is there such a thing?); koos kush; lavender

First Grow 02 -- Yellow Kush -- center of pic. Our most sickly one in background.

First Grow 03 -- Yellow Kush -- See some yellowing of leaves
First Grow 04 -- Purple Kush -- Took some time to get past one leaf stage but really started kicking in last couple weeks
First Grow 05 -- Lavender -- Seems to be doing really well. Don't know but bottom branches seem to be getting leggy. Don't know if that is normal or needs something (i.e. more light).
First Grow 06 -- Koos Kush -- Not a good pic but center. Seems to be doing well now but was a bit sickly first 3 weeks in.
First Grow 07 -- Koos Kush -- Our really sickly one. Never really took off. Really spindly with sparse skinny taco shaped leaves, some curled under
First Grow 08 -- Three recent purple kush clones in ebb 'n' flow system.
First Grow 09 -- Tried to get as much of grow room as possible in pic to give idea of setup. The 400W dual spectrum bulb was just added yesterday. 'Til then all plants were under one 1000W MH but Lavender was outpacing others so much was hard to manage.
First Grow 10 -- Pics of recent cloning. Did a piss poor job (I think) of clipping as was first time trying. Tried earlier batch with help from someone. Used rockwool with clonex. They all died. Couldn't figure out watering frequency, vents open/close, etc.. Watered by misting leaves. Upon inspection it didn't appear any even started to grow roots. The clones in the pic were put in peat pellets with clonex again. Soaked peat pellets in very mild nutrient solution (1/2litre purified water; 10ml Flora Grow, 5ml Flora Bloom, 5ml Flora Micro, few drops Floralicious, and few drops H202).

In all the thing I am most uncertain about is the cloning. Just don't have a good intuitive sense of things yet. First batch was fine for a few days then I first noticed change in smell (seemed to smell real musty). The stems turned brown, thin and then lilted. Thought I overwatered but then rockwool seemed almost completely dry. Don't really have any questions for you all yet but when I know enough to ask I will do so.


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## thomas 11111

Hey straycat!  :welcome:   There is a grow journal section where everyone posts their grows.  I use tap water also and let it set out for 24 to 48 hours before use.  Chlorine is very bad for your roots and the it kills the good bacteria. I would fill 5 gallon buckets and let them set out no less than 24 hours (longer even better). The chlorine will dissapate and you will have chlorine free water.  Hope this helps.:48:

P.S.  A little calmag in the mix may help also.


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## Locked

Welcome to MP glad you joined us....hard to tell how your plants are doing with those pics ....if those are cell phone pics I wld check over them and make sure there is no data attached to those pics that wld give away your location...we hve a thread here on the problem with cell phone pics and how they can contain geo tags.

Some of the problems you hve been experiencing are why growing multiple strains at the same time is not recommended....especially to the newer grower who is still struggling to get all the basics down and dialing in his/her grow space.  Some strains like things that others don't...

I use GH flora series as well.....you know they also make a hard water series that might be more beneficial to you. You shld check that out....that ppm out of the tap seems very high....I am a soil grower who has tried hydro twice so I am far from being able to give out hydro advice.


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## 4u2sm0ke

:48:


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## Straycat

thomas 11111 said:
			
		

> Hey straycat! :welcome: There is a grow journal section where everyone posts their grows. I use tap water also and let it set out for 24 to 48 hours before use. Chlorine is very bad for your roots and the it kills the good bacteria. I would fill 5 gallon buckets and let them set out no less than 24 hours (longer even better). The chlorine will dissapate and you will have chlorine free water. Hope this helps.:48:
> 
> P.S. A little calmag in the mix may help also.


 
Thanks.  I considered doing that.  There are other growers with same water source that get good results, however, sometimes when filling the resevoir the grow room smells something like an indoor swimming pool.  Well, I will do what you say and look into a RO water filter as well.


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## Straycat

Hamster Lewis said:
			
		

> Welcome to MP glad you joined us....hard to tell how your plants are doing with those pics ....if those are cell phone pics I wld check over them and make sure there is no data attached to those pics that wld give away your location...we hve a thread here on the problem with cell phone pics and how they can contain geo tags.
> 
> Some of the problems you hve been experiencing are why growing multiple strains at the same time is not recommended....especially to the newer grower who is still struggling to get all the basics down and dialing in his/her grow space. Some strains like things that others don't...
> 
> I use GH flora series as well.....you know they also make a hard water series that might be more beneficial to you. You shld check that out....that ppm out of the tap seems very high....I am a soil grower who has tried hydro twice so I am far from being able to give out hydro advice.


 
Hamster -- thx for the input.  I am using a digital camera (a very cheap one) and you are right.  When comparing to other pics on the forum I see mine are pretty piss poor.  I will see if I can get some better pics up.

As far as the multiple strains we were in a pinch.  Am growing for a patient in need of meds and had to take what we could get at the time.  I don't think this will be a problem moving forward.  More concerning to me is that I don't really know what some of them are.  When trying to look them up on the net I could find little to no information regarding two of the strains.

For a quick fix we separated a couple plants from the recirculating system and ran them in their own isolated buckets.  Required a bit more work but was manageable with no other alternative.  For now we are just waiting for the othe five plants to catch up with the lavender.

Recently, we added a second light, the 400W dual spectrum HPS, and dedicated it to the lavender.  Doesn't seem like enought light and looks a lot more yellow than the 1000W MH.


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## Locked

Straycat said:
			
		

> Hamster -- thx for the input.  I am using a digital camera (a very cheap one) and you are right.  When comparing to other pics on the forum I see mine are pretty piss poor.  I will see if I can get some better pics up.
> 
> As far as the multiple strains we were in a pinch.  Am growing for a patient in need of meds and had to take what we could get at the time.  I don't think this will be a problem moving forward.  More concerning to me is that I don't really know what some of them are.  When trying to look them up on the net I could find little to no information regarding two of the strains.
> 
> For a quick fix we separated a couple plants from the recirculating system and ran them in their own isolated buckets.  Required a bit more work but was manageable with no other alternative.  For now we are just waiting for the othe five plants to catch up with the lavender.
> 
> Recently, we added a second light, the 400W dual spectrum HPS, and dedicated it to the lavender.  Doesn't seem like enought light and looks a lot more yellow than the 1000W MH.




Good luck my friend...seems like you are growing for the right reasons which is always nice to see.


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## tcbud

Welcome to MP.

I dont know anything about Hydro.  I did grow some Lavender last year outside and it yielded well.  No problems with those two plants at all, lots and lots of small buds, very nice.

Good luck to you and Welcome Again.


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## The Hemp Goddess

You are doing a med grow for someone else and you do not know what you are growing?  Where did you get the seeds?  If these are legitimate strains (and not just a pollen chucker's seeds), you should be able to get some info on them.  

I live in as non mmj state and only grow for myself, so maybe I'm confused here, but when doing med grows for specific people, don't you all pick a strain(s) that is suited to the patient's needs?  For example someone with a sleeping disorder is not going to want something like C99--someone who is lethargic is not going to want a pure Indica?????


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## Tsuto

Hamster Lewis said:
			
		

> Welcome to MP glad you joined us....hard to tell how your plants are doing with those pics ....if those are cell phone pics I wld check over them and make sure there is no data attached to those pics that wld give away your location...we hve a thread here on the problem with cell phone pics and how they can contain geo tags.



There are a few EXIF data viewers online you can use to double check what info is attached to your pics. Pics taken by iphones especially will attach exact coordinates where it was taken by default 

EXIF Viewer -

Be safe!


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## drfting07

tcbud said:
			
		

> Welcome to MP.
> 
> I dont know anything about Hydro.  I did grow some Lavender last year outside and it yielded well.  No problems with those two plants at all, lots and lots of small buds, very nice.
> 
> Good luck to you and Welcome Again.



Is there a journal? I have some seeds of lavender im growing next season outdoors.


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## BudGrower

why they cover the bottom of the plant ????


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