dresser stealth grow

[myles117]

the issue becomes that the rockwool will stay too wet with the pot submerged. rockwool holds water very well which is an advantage and disadvantage at the same time. if it is always saturated... there isnt enough air in it and the roots could rot. if it werent for that... submerging the pot would be fine. its all bout keepin the roots so they can breath (yes they needa breath as silly as it sound lol)

[buthidae]

Originally Posted by myles117

the issue becomes that the rockwool will stay too wet with the pot submerged. rockwool holds water very well which is an advantage and disadvantage at the same time. if it is always saturated... there isnt enough air in it and the roots could rot. if it werent for that... submerging the pot would be fine. its all bout keepin the roots so they can breath (yes they needa breath as silly as it sound lol)

Ok, this makes sense. Maybe I can try a shallower container and space the airstones out enough so that the rockwool doesn't stay saturated. As I said earlier, I'm already worried about the output of the airstones (it's not as high as I expected it to be. Never used this brand of air pump before ).

If this were the case, the stones would be used primarily to circulate and aerate the water, instead of acting as a water delivery system to the roots. This would mean I'd need to use something else to keep the rockwool at least moist enough so the roots don't dry out, and they can still soak up some nutes, even once the majority reach the water in the basin.

This leads to two other questions:

Drip line may be a good option to solve this problem, however, despite my best efforts, I have not found a decent diagram or description on how to set these up. I understand that it's just a water pump with a line off of it, but how do you slow the drip without causing excess pressure in the line (which will burn up the motor in the pump)?

Secondly, would using a fog box be sufficient enough to keep the upper portion of the pot, e.i., the rockwool, moist enough for growth?

Interested in which would be the better option here. I should have some pumps lying around, though they may have been discarded (some of the things I left at home when I moved out). Also, should still have a fogger from when I kept snakes, so either option would work.

[myles117]

usually you start the water level just high enough where the bottom of the pot is submerged so the hydroton wicks moisture up. In addition, you could use a cup and take a bit of water and empty it from the top to moisten rockwool every few days (this only if the hydroton isnt pulling enough moisture up through it.) I know it sounds like a pain but once the roots come out of the pot.... you can lower the level and not worry about it anymore cuz the roots will go crazy in the water

[buthidae]

Originally Posted by myles117

usually you start the water level just high enough where the bottom of the pot is submerged so the hydroton wicks moisture up. In addition, you could use a cup and take a bit of water and empty it from the top to moisten rockwool every few days (this only if the hydroton isnt pulling enough moisture up through it.) I know it sounds like a pain but once the roots come out of the pot.... you can lower the level and not worry about it anymore cuz the roots will go crazy in the water

This sounds great, and will be much easier than setting up fogponics on such short notice. It's something I'd like to try eventually, but I didn't want to jump into it quite yet.

So, aside from the screen, I need an appropriately sized container (Shallow Water Culture?).

Maybe at some point I'll still add an ultrasonic fogging unit. It'll be on the wish list along with the lights, one of those 'as money allows' kinda things. Till then, it'll be monitoring the water level and moisture of the rockwool VERY closely.

Wish I had room for a resevior of some sort to keep a consistent level of water for a longer period of time.

[Phoggy]

I got a grow going just like yours right now. CFL SWC. What I do is just put the net pots all loaded up with the rockwool, hydroton, and seedling into its respective hole in the res. However I leave the res empty of any water, and just hand water the seedlings a few times a day. I after a few days I check the bottom of the pot for the roots. Once they start poping out I get my res running like was suggested before. Just about up 2 the bottom of the net pot (as close as you can get with out submerging the bottom) with water and the bubbles will splash the water up to the hydroton to wick to rockwool. I had a fucking headach grow run doing the method with submerging the bottom of the net pot before roots pop out. They were constantly overwattered, and would just sit there stagnet and not grow. It wasnt until I started doing the above method and hand watering till the roots showed then putting water in the res that I started getting good results.

[Phoggy]

After you get the roots popping out of the bottom its basically impossible to over water.

[edwardvanhalen]

hey man thanks for checkin out my grow, you talked about doing soil instead of hydro.
I would recommend doing soil, but thats your choice
Hydro i believe makes the plant grow faster but you wont get the same results as dirt
Arian or whatever his name is, is a multi cannabis cup winner and he always uses dirt and he said that dirt gives you a better smoke ( gets you higher )
but its up to you man, did you say you start in february right??
o and nice setup you got with your cfl bulbs, its very ingenious
good luck man, ill be checkin up on this

[edwardvanhalen]

o and also if your going to do hydro make sure you know exactly what your doin cuz this is your first grow, the water that feeds the plants has to have a good ph level and nutrient level, i just think it would be easier with dirt
but up to you man, peace

[buthidae]

Originally Posted by Phoggy

What I do is just put the net pots all loaded up with the rockwool, hydroton, and seedling into its respective hole in the res. However I leave the res empty of any water, and just hand water the seedlings a few times a day. I after a few days I check the bottom of the pot for the roots.

I like the sound of this, but germing two seeds to increase chances of a female. Can't take up my single growing site until I've identified the strongest female of the two plants. I like the idea though, maybe for my next one I'll make a small tupperware bucket as a clone/germ bucket that could just sit on top of the larger grow bucket until needed.

Originally Posted by Phoggy

Once they start poping out I get my res running like was suggested before. Just about up 2 the bottom of the net pot (as close as you can get with out submerging the bottom) with water and the bubbles will splash the water up to the hydroton to wick to rockwool.

This is very helpful, thank you. I really do worry about how effective my bubbles are, so I'll have to try to keep an eye on the rockwool to make sure things don't get dried out. My pump is rated for a twenty to sixty gallon aquarium, and it's supposed to run up to six air stones. I'm running six, in only about six inches of water (which decreases water pressure, and should therefor makes it easier on the pump) and I'm still getting very little bubbling action.

Originally Posted by edwardvanhalen

hey man thanks for checkin out my grow, you talked about doing soil instead of hydro.
I would recommend doing soil, but thats your choice
Hydro i believe makes the plant grow faster but you wont get the same results as dirt

Due to the nature of the root structure, I think doing soil may defeat the purpose of my original intention when considering soil. I don't think I'd be able to grow a large mature plant in soil without taking up as much height as my bucket does now, and I desperately need to lose some height (gain height for growth). I've read similar things about hydro being faster, but not having the same taste as dirt would.

Originally Posted by edwardvanhalen

but its up to you man, did you say you start in february right??
o and nice setup you got with your cfl bulbs, its very ingenious
good luck man, ill be checkin up on this

I'm germing now, seeds went in around midnight of the sixth (morning of the seventh). Thanks for comments about the bulbs, they should work temporarily at least, and welcome to the thread.

Originally Posted by edwardvanhalen

o and also if your going to do hydro make sure you know exactly what your doin cuz this is your first grow, the water that feeds the plants has to have a good ph level and nutrient level

My pH will be carefully monitored, as you may have read above, I'll be using lemon juice to balance it out. I would eventually like to get an electronic pen for this, as well as one for nutes (as right now I have no way to measure how many are in the water). Until then, I'll be doing very low level nutes, and just basing my corrective actions on the reaction of the plant.

Also, since winter is coming, none of the gardening centers around here had the nutes I wanted (don't remember name, fox farm maybe? I have it saved somewhere...), I ended up going with miracle grow. Now, because I have seen very little about MG aside from people potting in the soil, I'm unsure about the actual nutrient levels of the mix.

Because of this, I'll be doing at least partial, if not full, water changes once every couple of days (maybe each time nutes are going to be added?). This way, I should be able to avoid any burns by keeping concentrations of unused nutes down.

[edwardvanhalen]

Well ur on your way brother. Your really going to love growing man it's great.
If u have the money buy some fem seeds over the net. Also if u want get flora nova nutes. In my opinion it's the best nutrients to use. Good luck

[buthidae]

Originally Posted by edwardvanhalen

Well ur on your way brother. Your really going to love growing man it's great.
If u have the money buy some fem seeds over the net. Also if u want get flora nova nutes. In my opinion it's the best nutrients to use. Good luck

Thanks for the advice. Not sure what to upgrade first, nutes, or lights, or a tester for nute levels. Fogger will be the last addition, as it's not completely necessary. Definately want to buy some better seeds if this goes well though!

The way I figure, if I can get this to work well with bagseed, then I should be able to get it to work amazingly well with something better. I've actually already started looking, and thinking about possible crosses.
That's all quite a while from now though, as I'm not comfortable growing any more than one plant in the appartment I've got. How nice it must be to have a perpetual grow...

[myles117]

why the fogger? I dont see why youd need one... ? Id go for nutes first... flora nova two part isnt that expensive... nd that way you can start saving for a 400 watt HPS Xd hehehe

[edwardvanhalen]

no prob man, i would love to have a big house to myself and be able to have pot all year around, ive thought about it and i think i would need to grow like 6 plants to have pot all year, have a couple vegging, and a couple flowering, but cant do it haha
im glad with growing one

Ill tell you that this cheese im growing is a really easy plant to grow, its not hard at all
mine has been healthy the whole time but that didnt happen with the blue cheese and bagseed grows
so big buddha cheese is a really good strain to grow, plus it stinks really bad haha

Yeah man just take your time and you will grow a good plant
and i think you should definately upgrade to flora nova nutes, i love these nutes
go to discounthydro.com and take a look then
ok man see ya later

[edwardvanhalen]

haha thats weird as soon as i got my reply up myles said exactly the same thing i said with the flora nova nutes haha, so as you can see my man a lot of ppl like flora nova nutes
peace

[buthidae]

Originally Posted by myles117

why the fogger? I dont see why youd need one... ?

I don't need the fogger, which is why it'll be the last thing I do to the setup. I'd like to try fogponics, or aeroponics, or some combination of fog and hydro, moreso as research than anything, lol.

I'm very inquisitive, so I'd like to try as many methods as I can, and carefully monitor them all to determine what works best for me. This will include things like time taken from start to finish, yeilds, potency (not actual obviously, I'll have to judge for myself), flavour, etc.

It is possible, as edwardvanhalen pointed out on his thread, that I'll just stick to this if it works well. Why jinx it? We'll see, lots of time before that, one step at a time.

Originally Posted by myles117

Id go for nutes first... flora nova two part isnt that expensive... nd that way you can start saving for a 400 watt HPS Xd hehehe

Originally Posted by edwardvanhalen

Yeah man just take your time and you will grow a good plant
and i think you should definately upgrade to flora nova nutes, i love these nutes
go to discounthydro.com and take a look then

All right, two votes for nutes (and the same ones none the less). This is what my next investment will be then. Any ideas on where to find those electric pens I've seen on this site for measuring pH and nute strength?

I don't have much to spend, so hopefully there's an economical one out there.

Myles117, wouldn't a 400w hps be much to hot in my small dresser?