First Hydro Grow

[sneakers]

Using bag seed for this first grow. This seed came from a one legged lady that lives about 75 miles from me. She called it "hydroponic". While it may have been hydro, the quality wasnt the best. It was ok but not the best. It was priced accordingly so I didn't get ripped off. It was all some big nice tight bud, dark green with maybe some white over it (like a "haze") and it was full of seeds. I am thinking maybe this was some that was accidentally pollenated or a hermie. This is the seed I am using. Due to the events of this MJ and the way I remember this particular 1/2 oz. in my mind I am calling it Pegleg's Blunder. Perhaps I can figure out later what it actually is (if anything).

My grow room - nothing special and hopefully adequate for now. It is a closet about 2.5'X6'X8'. Carpet has been pulled up and shelf removed. It was previously painted a white and hopefully I can put up mylar by next month. There is a n 8" Honeywell fan purchased from Walmart to circulate air.

Hydrogear - General Hydroponics Waterfarm guts placed inside a 5 gallon bucket. I am using Hydroton Clay Pellets and GH Flora nutes in distilled water.

Lighting - 2 26 watt (100 watt equivalent) 6500 K CFLs placed a couple of inches over the seedlings in 2 buckets. Bulbs placed in clampon lights and hung from hanger in closet. Lights on 24/7

Please excuse the quality of the pictures. They are the best I have for now.

Seeds start germinating 6.1.07

Late sprout was placed in growing medium on 6.5.07

Peeked out of the growing medium on 6.7.07 - Journey begins.

Notice browning on the leaves, looks like nute burn. (I had kinda guessed at the nutes)
There are a couple of other seedlings in here also. They will not be kept up with due to they wind up not being able to be saved from this initial nute burn, only this one planted 2 days later from a late sprout.

6.9.07, Got a TDS Meter, nute strength was off the chart. Diluted it down to about 220 PPM.

6.10.07

Growing but leaves are burnt. First set of 3 fingered leaves have appeared.
Tested TDS and it has spiked to about 440 PPM. Added distilled water to bring back to 220 PPM.

6.11.07

Definately growing. Not gaining much height. Maybe I need to raise the lights a little to make it stretch. Small amount of nute burn on next set of leaves noticable. So far the rest of the leaves look good.

6.12.07

Not much change. Adjusted nutes back down today. I think there was some of that extremely strong nutes from the beginning still in the growing medium that has filtered back down into the bucket.

6.13.07

Nutes appear to have stabilized. Pegleg seems to agree with the strength. A very noticable difference from yesterday. Those damaged leaves sure look bad.
Added a third 100 watt CFL. There is one over a bucket with seedlings and 2 over this bucket with these 2 seedlings.
6.14.07

Looking nice. Fat leaves, good dark green color. Lighting makes the color look different in the pictures. Second set of multi fingered fan leaves are showing nice. Third set are barely visible. Plant is not gaining much height. I raised the light to about 4 inches above the plant.

6.15.07 Added about 1/2 gallon of water today. Added enough nutes for new water. I have added water a couple of times before but didn't log it. It was usually in conjunction with trying to get the nutes dilluted.

No pictures today.

6.16.07

Maybe it is the amount of green being reflected back that is causing the lighting in these pics to make the plant look yellow. It is still a dark green. Third set of fan leaves are opening.

As I inspected closely up under the leaves, this is what I saw.

This looks like it might be visible new side growth coming from above the stems of all of the leaves on my 9 day old baby. I wasn't expecting that this quick. Is this normal?

I went to Galveston last night and didn't get back until today so imagine the surprise at this growth Leaves getting fatter and possible new side growth.

I raised the light up to about 6" above the top of the plant. Still using 1 100 watt light on this plant and another 100 watt light on another seedling in the same bucket. The other seedling is looking bad. Damaged too bad from nute burn in the beginning. I will remove it in a couple of days.

Here are a few more pictures taken today.

Side view

Looks nice for 9 days but still so short. It measures about 5 1/2" to 6" from leaf tip to leaf tip and only about 2 1/2" tall. Does this sound right for 9 days old?

Having been messing with them and because it is so short and because I have it planted off to one side the leaves look to be getting wet from the Waterfarm and drooping slightly.

A look under these leaves without the closeup we used to see the new growth.

Held the upper leaves out of the way for this picture. A nice strong stem. Thick stem also shows good on new growth picture.


Bic lighter in picture helps show actual size. Notice the droopiness in the leaves and wetness on some leaves

It is about 11 pm here now and I just noticed that after only about 2 hours after having raised the light, Pegleg might already be responding. The leaves are not drooping as before and have dried off. It appears they are starting to try to reach up for the light. Maybe what it needs to make it taller. The new growth is a much lighter green. Not in a yellowing kind of way but looks healthy.

Notice how they appear to have lifted up?

Leaves are beginning to open at new growth areas above leaf stems in 4 places. This is making for 4 additional bud locations. 2nd set showing 5 fingers, third opening nicely and 4th beginning to be seen.

Is it looking normal for a 9 day old baby?

I am thinking that tomorrow might be a good day to bump the nutes p to about 300-400 PPM. What do you think?

Advice is always welcome.

[brokencage]

Well im on my first hydro grow myself but my opinion is why rush the nutes.she is doing well as is.up the nutes when she asks for it not before.

[sneakers]

Maybe I am starting to get a handle on these nutes and understand them better. I tested the TDS again today and it was up again to 280 PPM. Also had to add over 1/2 gallon of water. Now I understand that as water is used/evaporates then less water to dilute existing nutes. I wonder why I never understood that before. Added a touch of FluraGrow and an even smaller amount of FloraMicro. It now has 250 PPM and full of water. Still within the range it has been (200-300 PPM).

Looks to have grown about 1/2" in the last 12 hours since raising the lights. The third set of leaves continue opening nicely and fourth set are just just beginning opening up. It is hard to tell right now but it appears like there might be 2 new tops opening beside the 4th set of leaves. It is either new tops or maybe somehow the 2 outside fingers on the 4th set of leaves are coming up to look like tops. I hate to mess with it too much right now, probably by tomorrow I will be able to see more. I don't see how it could be additional tops. I haven't topped this plant. The new growth on the sides are already showing small stems and the first set of leaves on each one are just starting to open.

Here is a picture. It isn't real good but it does show what I am talking about with the additional tops. Sorry about the quality of the pic..

White line is the 3rd set of leaves
Yellow is the 4th set
Red is the new growth I am talking about. It doesnt appear to be coming from the stems of the 3rd set of leaves. I have a feeling these are leaf fingers, just can't see good enough to be sure. Tomorrow will tell more.

I will post updated pics when my battery is recharged.

See ya.

[TOP5Y KRETT]

if i were you i would cover up the drip ring in the hydroballs, cause if you just leave it like that after time its going to splash on ur plant and the fluid coming out of the drip ring is for the roots to absorb not for foliar feeding. I didnt cover it on my first grow and i got this salt build up on my leaves and the lower leaves started dying. so cover dat ish up man.

[sneakers]

I wasn't trying to use it for foliar feeding. I was concerned that no nutrients would get to the roots before they had time to grow out enough to reach where the nutrient was dripping to. I see now that even in the center would work.

This particular seed germinated later than another and I had left it in the paper towel and extra couple of days. It looked big like a bean sprout so I planted it directly into the Hydroton. Not advisable. Although the plant has a nice stem, it still doesnt feel like it is very solid due to the way roots have to grow around the hydroton. I hope in time it will get a little sturdier, especiall for LST.

In the future I will be sure and use rockwool or peat pellets before placing into the growing medium.

[Berlette]

If you want either of those plants to live they'll need individual buckets, man. Roots will get tangled and such, they'll both die probably.

[azybaby]

Originally Posted by Berlette

If you want either of those plants to live they'll need individual buckets, man. Roots will get tangled and such, they'll both die probably.

i agree too !!! especially if different strains , i dont think it's healthy !!!!!
would one plant use more nutes than other ?

[sneakers]

Originally Posted by Berlette

If you want either of those plants to live they'll need individual buckets, man. Roots will get tangled and such, they'll both die probably.

Neither of those 2 other plants look very healthy. I plan on pulling them up pretty soon. Up until about 3 days ago I was hoping they might come back but I feel now that they probably won't.

Problem resolved. They were just pulled up.
Interesting seeing how much the roots grow in the first week.



I just looked at the outside of the 10" basket that the keeper plant is in. Roots from the keeper plant are down to the bottom of it and what I can see it is 4-5 inches wide.

Fixing to take update pictures for today. Will have them posted a little later.

Thanks for the input.

[sneakers]

Originally Posted by TOP5Y KRETT

if i were you i would cover up the drip ring in the hydroballs, cause if you just leave it like that after time its going to splash on ur plant and the fluid coming out of the drip ring is for the roots to absorb not for foliar feeding. I didnt cover it on my first grow and i got this salt build up on my leaves and the lower leaves started dying. so cover dat ish up man.

I added more Hydroton under the drip ring to help keep the nutes from splashing onto the bottom leves. Hopefully this might also help solidify the plant from my regretted method of planting the sprout directly into the Hydroton.

[sneakers]

6.17.01 - Day 10

After removing the other little plants from this bucket, I was able to focus both lights on this one plant and turn it for better pictures.



This angle gives a good view up under the leaves at the stems and secondary growth.



Notice the stem. The fan is doing it's job. First set of leaves beginning to open on secondary growth. It can't be seen but there is new growth at each of the bottom 2 sets of leaves.

The top area that looked like 3 tops is the way the 4th set of leaves is coming in. It almost looks as if they are underneath the 3rd set of leaves now. It is hard to tell exactly what is what right there with the naked eye.

Here are some pictures to show the size.

About 6 inches from leaf tip to leaf tip on the first set of leaves.

and about 5 inches from tip to tip on the 2nd set of leaves.

I am still concerned about the height. It is about 3" tall now. Maybe this redirection of lights will help.

There are 2 clampon lights, each with a 26 watt (100 Watt equivalent) about 10-12 inches above this plant. Each one is pointed down at about a 45 degree angle at the top from opposite sides. I have another light setup just like this to add a 3rd light to the plant if needed. Maybe wait a day or so and see how it reacts to how it is now?

I noticed some CFLs online the other day. They were 65 watt (500 watt equivalent) and 85 watt (750 watt equivalent). I think those are the right equivalencies. Both were 6500 K color temp. They require a fixture with a ballast instead of the ballast in the bulb. One of those per bucket and suplemented with the clampons might be the way to go. I will have to find the place I saw them and see if they also have them in a 2700 K color temp. Might be a couple of weeks before I actually get it and that will be getting much closer to flowertime.

Any suggestions for making it taller?

[sneakers]

2 Weeks Old today



Started to gain a little height. Old nute burn on lower leaves apparent. Fourth set of leaves developing nicely, 5th set opening. Secondary growth has commenced.

I finally took off the reflectors on those 2 clampon lights, added a "Y" socket to one of them and put 2 100 watt (equivalent) bulbs in each of the 2 sockets and currently using just this lighting for this plant. I tied the main stem to the drip ring with a twist tie as a first step in LST. It needs to grow another inch or so before I can bend it over and tie it down at the edge of the bucket.

I had planned on changing the solution in the reservoir today but I might still be confused with these nutes. My understanding is this. If the PPM goes up when the water level goes down then the nutes are too strong. If the PPM gos down when the water level goes down then nutes are too weak. If the PPM stays the same when water level goes down then nutes are adjusted correctly.

My readings tend to always go up. I have kept the strength about 200-220 PPM and the next day it is usually about 260-280 PPM and needing about 1/2 gallon of water. This tells me that nutes are too strong. 2 days ago I decided to try adding a little FloraGrow when I watered so after adding water, the reading was about 270 PPM. The next morning it seemed to have responded positively so I added another 100 PPM of FloraGrow and 50 PPM of FloraMicro. I want to maybe wait another day or 2 to be sure how plant responds before changing the reservoir.

I'm still not sure of the percentages to use for the Grow, Micro and Bloom and if I should stay close to 200 PPM or go stronger if the plant shows a positive response. Any help would sure be appreciated.

[brokencage]

I dont use any grow at all the micro contains more N than the grow anyway.I use 2 parts bloom and one part micro no gro. google lucas formula

PS.Looking better by the way.here is some verry good reading.https://www.cannabis-world.org/cw/showthread.php?t=360

[sneakers]

Day 18

I'm sure that if I keep trying, I will kill this plant. Saturday was not a good day at the farm. I had removed a fan leaf to allow more light to hit lower areas and decided to adjust the LST. I felt a snap. The top snapped. It didn't come completely off so I decided to try and tape it and at least see what happens. I know that I could remove it and that would only promote secondary growth but I was curious to see if this could be saved. One of the fan leaves above the break shriveled up right away so I removed it. One other large fan leaf above the break was adding weight and nutrient needs above the break so I removed it too. Three large fan leaves removed.

So far it appears to be making it. Growth has slowed but that is to be expected, like when topping a plant. I also changed out the nutrients.

I had originally started by trying to keep the nutes as close to 200 PPM as possible. Some of what I have read would indicate that that was too strong as each day the plant would use about 1/2 galllon of water and the PPM would go up accordingly. Apparently when the nutes are right, the PPM remains the same when water is used. Others have mentioned "listening" to your plant.

This plant seemed to be needing something so about 4 or 5 days ago, I increased the strength of the nutes to about 350 PPM. I wanted to see how well it did with stronger nutes for at least 3 days before changing the reservoir. I changed the reservoir Saturday and have nutes close to 500 PPM. Plant appears to be looking healthy. Trimmed like crazy but it does look healthy and is starting to look bushy. Gaining some height too.



Hopefully it hasn't been stressed too much.

[sneakers]

Day 20

The break appears to have healed nicely. I attempted to start LST again today but didn't put much pressure on the top although the broken area is a couple of nodes below the top now. It is starting to get real bushy.





Should I maybe try removing more of the fan leaves so the undergrowth can get more light?

[TimeHigh]

Plants themselves seem to be pretty healthy. GL