My First Hydroponic Grow

[CasualGrower]

Hey everyone,

Well this will be my first hydroponic grow, I have done a couple very low budget soil grows in the past that did not turn out so well, so I thought I would try my hand at wate gardening. 8) First off I will describe the systems I will use for this lil experiment. I am going to set up 3 hydroponic systems, one for propogation and gemination, one for established mother plants and the third for blooming.

PROPAGATION and GERMINATION

For this set up I am using an underbed storage container for the tray. it is about 36"X16"X8" deep and cost about $7 heh, a lot cheaper than the $80 equivalent from the hydroponics store. I am using a 15 gallon container for the resevoir. I am also using rockwool and Hydroton for the growing medium in this area.... for lighting I am using 3X23w CFLs with daylight spectrum and a 4' shoplight with grow bulbs for extra blue light. The kids seem to love it 8).

MOTHERS

This setup is almost identical to the above setup except that I will not use an open tray.... I am gonna use the lid on this container and cut out 6 holes and set in 5" pots

BLOOMING

I am using 3 of the same containers as above for a total of 18 growing stations but for light I am using a 400watt HPS lamp. That should be enough light for the 4'X5' area I need to light or so.. If not I will supplement with some CFLs. I figure with 18 blooming stations and 5 or 6 mothers that should be plenty to get a sea of green up and going.

For all 3 systems I will be using a drip system and will oxygenate the water with a 12" airstone during feedings. I have chosen the drip system mainly because with the hydroton and a flood system too much moving around has occurred.

NUTRIENTS
I am using the Botanicare line of nutrients for this first grow.... gonna use the Vegetation fertilizer in the Prop and Mother system and use the blooming formula in the blooming area. I will also the Liquid Karma in all 3 areas, I am not sure but I think that is a blend of trace elements and other goodies. I do not have a PPMS meter and do not want to put out the money for one so I will just add nutrients when the plants tell me they need it 8) hehe.

STATE OF THE GROW

Well so far I have the prop/germ system up and going. I got about 24 seeds from a friend that lives up the street and germinated them, out of the 24 seeds I got 19 sprouts and put them all in 1" rockwool cubes. I have 10 drippers in that system so i have had to flood feed the others. out of the 19 I have culled out 6 plants so I am down to 13 atm and will probably cull out another 3 for an even 10. They are all doing very well at about 3 weeks of age and are about 9-10" tall and foilage is filling in very nicely. There are a couple of plants in the bunch that are just phenominal. Good thick stalk and vey strong.... but none of them are bad at all, I will find it hard to cull out 3 more heh. I am not sure about what strain this is since the seed wass just some bad seed but I think it is an Indica with the wide leaves, but I could be wrong about that. I will post some pics here in a lil bit, once I figure out how to do it. Out of the 10 I am hoping to get 5-6 females and will keep one male as I want to seed the first batch of clones for an outdoor grow I got planned in the spring.

Anyway, I will post more and some pics this aftenoon , hopefully.

 

[bombbudpuffa]

I am using a 400watt HPS lamp. That should be enough light for the 4'X5' area

My advice would be to seperate the room into halves or add another light. You need 600w minimum and 1000w recommended for 4'x5'. Good luck.

 

[Growdude]

My advice is if you are switching from a not so succesful dirt grow that you go a bit smaller than 3 seperate systems.
Might be alot to deal with all at once.

Either way I think you will enjoy hydro.

 

[octobong007]

you HAVE to post your findings...i'm waiting on my clones, then i'm on my FIRST hydro-grow :hubba: so needless to say, i'll be tuned in to your channel ALOT. :48: pass to you

 

[Growdude]

Plants look great!

Why not just use clones instead of using seeds? for your outdoor grow?
Once you got you mother sexed you never have to chance a outdoor grow that turns out male.

And nice setup you have going.

 

[CasualGrower]

The Clones for the outdoor grow is a great option. I will have to keep it in mind .

 

[stickytasticbud]

It is looking good so far. I am also using botanicare nutes.

Which line are you using?

Im adding some other goodies to it. check out my first hydro grow journal if your interested.

 

[CasualGrower]

I am using the Problend Pro grow and the Pro Bloom. I am also using Liquid Karma.

 

[stickytasticbud]

sweet me too.

Be careful with the measurements...about what strength are you using? compared to what the bottle says?

I am also using the liquid karma and pro grow and bloom.
Im also adding Techniflora SugarDaddy and am about to add botanicare hydroplex which is a bloom enhancher.


Have you found your nutes and karma to settle a lot in your resevoir? I have two air stones and it still does it..but just wondering if you are experiencing the same thing.

 

[CasualGrower]

Well I went between quarter and half strength for the first week and half or so.. I then bumped it up to nearly full strength on the Pro-grow and went even a lil heavier on the Karma. The plants are responding GREAT to it so far.... I was a lil worried when I started reading how a lot of people stay at very low strength for about the first month.... but so far, so good.

 

[stickytasticbud]

yeah different strains handle it differently. When im going "full stength" im using 70 percent of what they say..cause i am one of those ppl whose plants did not like the fuller doses.

I have 4 indicas and 1 sativa growing in my ebb and flow...the sativa does not like the nutes nearly as much as the indicas.

 

[CasualGrower]

I know that it is really way too early to be able to tell anything now, or if it is possible at all.... But is there anyway to be able to identify what strain, unless they have been crossed since first Gen, these plants would be closest to? I guess what I am trying to ask is, is there any place to reference identifying characteristics of each strain. I know this is just bag seed, but would be interesting to see if I could find a close match heh.

 

[stickytasticbud]

yeah i wonder the same thing... all i can really figure out is if it is more indica dominate or sativa. All my plants are bag seed as well. You could always go buy the big book of buds 2 or whatever it is called and try to match it..but its a long shot.

 

[CasualGrower]

OK, well this has been a busy week, I have transferred the Rockwool cubes into the 5 inch pots I am gonna use to hold mamma's in. I have also culled another 3 plants to bring it down to a even 10 plants. Hopefully I will get 5-6 females out of the bunch. I have taken measurements of the height and widest fan leaves on the plant just as a reference for growth. I have also counted the nodes on the main stem as another reference for growth.

Here is the report on the 10 keepers so far:

#1: 7" high, 11.25" wide and 6 nodes
#2 6.5" tall, 11.25" wide and 6 nodes
#3 4.25" tall, 10.5" wide and 5 nodes
#4 6.25" tall, 8.25" wide and 6 nodes
#5 6" tall, 10.5" wide and 6 nodes
#6 5.5" tall, 10" wide and 6 nodes
#7 6" tall, 13" wide and 6 nodes
#8 6.5" tall, 7.5" wide and 5 nodes
#9 6.5" tall, 9.5" wide and 6 nodes
#10 6.5" tall, 7.5" wide and 5 nodes

#1 is by far the healthiest plant in the bunch, there are pictures of him below.

#2 and #7 had a bit of stem stretch before I added extra light, but since then, their nodes are very tight and compact on the stems.

The rest of them are pretty much carbon copies of each other. the difference in size could probably be from the 4 day stretch I was pulling them from the Gemination cup and putting them in the rock wool.

While transferring the cubes to the net pots I had to trim the corners off the cubes. I bought 4" cubes and 5 " net pots..... a 4" square does not fit into a 5 IN circle heh.

I also started building my blooming area. there is a picture of that below. I have 2 of the units finished and will finish the 3rd today. I have also ordered my HPS light today so that area is well on it's way to completion.

I am still undecided how to make the system for my mothers. I want to keep 6 plants for that..... but I am working it out.

Pictures on the way.

I also added a couple nice side shots to show the production at the nodes.

 

[bombbudpuffa]

Looking good.

 

[CasualGrower]

Well, I sat there looking at my ladies last night and decided that they might not be growing as fast as they should for being in a hydro system. So I did a Ph test on my water and I think I found part of the problem, I came back with a 7.5-8.0 reading. The water was also almost frigid to the touch. So off I go to the pet store, (Hydro store closed that time of night), I pick up a 50 watt aquarium heater and some PH adjuster. They did not have the bottled liquid that is the straight acid, all they had in stock was this stuff called, Proper PH. there is several mixes of it for whatever level of PH you want to set in an aquarium...... well after I pulled off the stores price sticker on the bottle to read it a lil closer.... In Bold Print it say: Do not use with live aquarium plants. heh... well good thing I caught that BEFORE I used it.... so I am out of town for a couple days, will have to get some PH down on my way home Wednesday afternoon, I need some more Liquid Karma anyway.

I set the Temp on the heater for 76 deg.... Conditions in the room have been pretty steady. 75-80 during day cycle and dropping 70ish at night. and the humidity has been around 50-65%.

I also noticed while checking the resevoir that it looks like some of the solids in the Nutes are settling in the water.... so that means they are not getting cycled to the plants. I might have to add a second pump to circulate the water some to keep those Nutes suspended during feeding. So I am gonna keep a better eye on TDS measurements, I ordered a TDS meter last night also....cheap model but should be OK as long as I don't drop the whole thing in the res heh.

Anyway, just a short update...

 

[bombbudpuffa]

Use lemon juice temporarily. Its a good ph down. Its not permanent but should be good enough to hold you off until you get some ph down.

 

[CasualGrower]

kewl, will have to tell the wife to try it... I am out of town on business atm.... but I think she might be able to do it.

 

[CasualGrower]

Well I got home from work today and I stopped in the local hydro store and picked up a bottle of PH Down. I went upstairs to the grow and did another PH test and it was still around 8. I added about a tablespoon of PH down and retested, Hmmmm My little vial turned a bright red... that is bad... I brought about 5 gallons of water down at least 4 points of PH with a tablespoon of acid LOL... Well panic sets in, and I start adding water, and more wate and more water...... got it back up to around 5, not high enough, so off to the store again to buy some PH up LOL..... well I got the tank to around 5.7 to 5.8 I think... should be about perfect, the water tests yellow with just a little bit of orange tint to it. I also added anothe dose of Nutes. I will keep an eye on them tomorrow and the next day while I am home.

I also noticed that they are losing the bright green look and starting to turn that nice dark green in the leaves and the nodular growth has increased considerably in the last couple days. and I also think I see nice female preflowers on #1.. an encouraging sign 8).

 

[stickytasticbud]

sweet that your got it figured out.

Get some airstones for your resv. My liquid Karma likes to settle, and i have two air stones. Some nutes and additives just like to settle more than others..but is not a problem if you get a wisk or something and stir it all around once a day or once everyother day. the settling really isnt a bad problem unless your plants are not looking healthy..but yours are looking rad.

Yeah adjusting the ph is a pain until you get it down. I keep my drops the same color as you, orange to yellow color. Also check the ph after adding the nutes and what not and especially after the first couple feeds if you really want to get on top of it and not let it fluctuate so much.