Closet Grow [AeroGarden > DWC > Bubble Bucket]

[theRootAppeaser]

Hello everyone! I'd first like to welcome myself, I frequented OG (a lot) under a different pseudonym few years back, taking in collective knowledge but never growing. Skip forward 4years and now a friend and myself are in the beginning stages of what will (should) be our first harvest.


This grow will be 100% hydroponic. We are utilizing spare closet space, and have built a vegging/cloning chamber. The dimensions are 3ftx3ftx3ft (approx), made of lumber with a sturdy thick plywood top. 3mil thick blast plastic is put up to prevent light from escaping, as the flowering area is located directly above.


So here's the general plan so far, and has been working great. Seedlings/clones will all start in the aerogarden (located in the vegging/cloning chamber.) Once they have sprouted and established a basic root system, they get transferred to the 10L Deep Water Culture (DWC hereinafter) with 6in Net pots. They will stay located in DWC in the vegging chamber until roots begin to appear on the larger plant and are well established. Once the plant is of desired size, we transplant each net pot (with plant & hydroton still inside) to its own 5 gal bubble bucket for flowering under 12/12 light.

General Info

Lightning - A 2ft T20 dual flourescent striplite (1x warm @875 lumens, 1x blue @1025 lumen])

Water - Distilled water. My local grocery store has a lage supply and will be the source .

Nutrients - Technaflora. I ordered their Starter Kit, it comes with smaller size bottles of nutrients, and all kinds of sample bottles of other products. Hophally this will get me by [BC Bloom Grow & Boost, Thrive Alive, Rootech Clonign Gel... etc]

Air - The vegging chamber can be closed and air still airculate through pc fans that act as exhaust. The chamber gets it's fresh air from the closet, the closet gets air from the room it's located in.

Pictures you say??? Allright then...



[Supplies!]


[pH meter - water with nutes added is at 5.5]


[Baby #1 in foreground. Here the seedlings are in an Aerogarden. No nutes are used at this point, just distilled water thats replaced weekly] {3-26-08}


[Baby #1 up close] {3-27-08}


[Baby #2. This is a lazy sucker... will hope patience pays off with him (or her)] {3-26-08}


[Baby #1 after beign transplanted to DWC, will remain in veg for 2-3 weeks] {3-29-09}


[Lightning!!! For the veg chamber. This wont be enough, especially without a hood todirect all the excess radiance onto the plants. Plan on purchasing four 60w CFL's for increased lumens, and to fill in light gaps.]


[DWC setup inside the veg chamber, moved out some for purposes of picture taking. Their is some plastic sheeting which is out of the picture sittign on top of the box, which acts as a door and a light blocker.


[Air Pump - $15 at a pet store in the aquarium section. The valve with the arrow insures flow is only in one direction, to stop water from entering the pump]


[Black plastic material with holes cut for the plant put over the buckets lid, to keep light out of the tank.]


[Baby #2 after beign transplanted]

[screwdababylon!]

welcome!

looks like u know the basics
good plan & setup
plants lookin good also

good luck man

[labyrinth]

good luck man! i'll be watching this one!

[theRootAppeaser]

So the closet kind of has a small odor ... I'm guessing it's from the nutrients bubbling in the solution. Is this normal?

[theRootAppeaser]

Pretty sure I found out the smell.... Thrive Alive B-1 Solution. The red bottle is some potent stuff when smelt.

[CrimsonAngel]

Looks prty cool ill be watching

[theRootAppeaser]

Hey everyone!

Here's a quick update on the grow.

Noticing some yellow occuring on the end tips on lower leaves. when i put transplanted both of the 2 to the DWC i used the full veg nute strength, and probably should of only used 40% and worked up from there.

the smaller initial pod leaves from the initial sprout are withering up and looks about to fall off, not sure if this is normal as the plant is now in veg state, or if it's a sign of nutrient burn.

Build update on veg cabinet in closet
Allready had the basic 2ft flurotube, but noticed it just doesnt give out the lumens these plants will require. Bought some more lights!

2x 42W CFL's [150W equiv] - link does not give specifications, and mine wasnt a 2-pack deal, had to purchase each light seperately. On the box: Light Output: 2700 Lumens / Energy used: 42W / Life: 12,000hrs [ gives off a blinding orangish white glow ]

4x 20W CFL's [75W equiv] - Light Output: 1150 Lumens / Energy used: 20W / Life: 8,000hrs [ a bluish white light with strong intensity ]


pics coming later tonite

[theRootAppeaser]

Fresh off the usb transfer

Pictures!


[Baby #1 & CFL upgrades; shes grown so much... lots of new leaves starting to appear on the top. The lights are hanging upside down three way light socket. (T connection) ]


[Down shot of Baby #1 to show the new growth. The air intake fan can also be seen in the background, i scrapped it from an old dell dimension computer.

Fan runs on 12V DC, and only requires 0.85A, so in this case the power supply comes from an old linksys wrt54g not being used (and when i need to use it again as a repeater, i'll get the snes power supply to run the router... the plugs match up even!)

I tried to focus better on the nute burn. I believe the problem is fixed, the nurned leaves still look the same, but havent gotten worse, and all the plants NEW growth has no signs damage. ]


[More babies! (#3, #4, #5... respectively.) Total of 8 in the rockwool cubes on a tray un der CFL's, three of which have germinated.


[Im amazed at the symmetrical dimensions. And if you glance just long enough... the plant looks like its staring right back at you]

feedback (+/-) is always welcome, and thanks for checking in

[theRootAppeaser]

Happy independence day to all US readers [and a HUGE thank u to all the french!]

plant growth is taking off like crazy. pics coming soon

noticing very small condensed red dots along the stem... According to Ed Rosenthal's Grow Tips

"Nitrogen. N is the most common deficiency of cannabis indoors or out. The first sign is a gradual, uniform yellowing of the large, lower leaves. Once the leaf yellows, necrotic tips and areas form as the leaves dry to a gold or rust color. Symptoms that accompany N deficiency include red stems and petioles, smaller leaves, slow growth, and a smaller, sparse profile." [link]

Gradual yellowing of the larger 2 bottom leaves has occurred, with the tips already turning brown and falling The red stems mentioned also, leads me to think "more nitrogen"

Any ways to add a little more nitrogen to the DWC solution without making a new batch??

I'm changing out the water tomorrow either way, just looking for a quick overnight fix.

[theRootAppeaser]

Since the plants in the DWC are small, i decided not to start with full strength nute solution. instead of it's pretty much 1:2 (one part nutes, 2 parts water) right now. But with the plants having the N deficiency, moved it upto 2:3 solution strength.

Now my upper leaves are getting burned pretty bad, or... lacking something just as bad. Check out these pics and fill me in on some input

[screwdababylon!]

yo
whats your ppm & ph readings?
just flush all the nutes
u need RO or tap water

[theRootAppeaser]

so after watching a video online of a guy with a whiteboard & a pen graph out global warming... ended up deciding to add more nutes to the DWC solution as a means to take action of the plant. I figure it'll either help it out the plents leafs tremondously with the yellowing and dying on the tips by adding more Bloom solution (some new leafs are drooping now on the tips as seen in the pic,) or it will burn the plant bad for a day, and then we'll know to flush and make a new batch [or not]

[that_kid_parker]

nice setup man +rep.. cant wait too see those lovely ladies grow up & cant wait to see the harvest pics

[theRootAppeaser]

screwdababylon! - you were respoding as i was typing that last message, didnt get to read it.

Ph is 6.0, dont have a ppm meter, plan on ordering it tonight online [hello ebay!]

Tap water? i've been using distilled all the way. fill me in =)

[noob88]

im also using the aerogarden. kind of new to the hydroponics. im all germinated and planted in the medium but i wonder if there is anyway the seed can drowned in the constant waterflow
any advice or tips will be appreciated