Grow #2 -ICE- Darth Strikes Back!1!!1

S'allrighty. Been awhile, but I'm glad to be back. Took a little time off to drink and smoke a lot.

If you don't remember my last thread, I had some serious root rot problems and lost a huuuuuge ICE plant I was scrogging. I did end up with some somewhat immature Aurora Borealis, about a 1/2 ounce. It was goooooood.

So, I'm hoping I learned from my mistakes as I embark on my next grow.

Most of the equipment remains the same, with a few changes.

Light: 3 3/4th feet long, Full-spectrum 18000 lumen 234 watt T5 that I will be using for both veg and bloom

Smell: have one of the HTGsupply goblin charcoal filter/inline fan combo

Nutrients: goin with the Lucas Formula this time around, so GH Micro and Bloom
will also use Liquid Koolbloom, Superthrive, and S-90 as needed

Method: I originally used one of those little 6 gallon Stealth Hydro Bubbleponics kits, but have since threw it out and made a kit of my own with the same basic set up. I made a new reservoir that holds 12 gallons of water. I already triple duct taped it and put mylar on the lid. 4 inch net pots, hydroton, and rockwool cubes. Water pump with 6 outlets, 1 hose going to each of the 4 net pots, the other 2 empty so they drip water back into the res.

I got a Sunleaves UV Water Sterilizer. While I won't be able to use beneficial bacteria to my advantage, the UV light is supposed to zap any type of harmful bacteria that might grow (ie the shit that causes root rot).

I got a 600 gallon/hr air pump, 2 2 inch oxystones, 1 4 inch oxystone to aerate the water.

Seeds: The ICE plant that died spit out some seeds before its departure. It turned hermie. Since I had no more ICE seeds, I'm using the ones I got off the hermie. To my knowledge, that means there's a good chance they'll be female, but also an increased chance they'll be hermie. I'll take my chances because I want SOME DAMN ICE!!!

I have 2 small oscillating fans, 1 computer fan for intake, and some passive intakes. Still using my Homebox Clonebox.

I haven't decided if I'm going to scrog these, but I probably will. It's the best way to get the most out of limited space as far as I can tell.

Still have a good Hannah PH/EC/TDS tester.

Can't remember what else needs to be said, but I'm sure it'll come to me and I'll add it later on.

So, on Sunday night 9/14 I threw the 12 or so ICE seeds I got off my hermie in a wet paper towel, then in a tupperware container and in a kitchen cabinet. (water was RO water PH'd to 5.5, with a little Superthrive in it).

Within 24 hours, 9 of them popped. (A lot better ratio then I had with the ICE originally...)

I had soaked 8 rockwool cubes in 5.5PH RO water for 24 hours. I planted 8 of the 9 seeds in the rockwool cubes, then put them in a little nursery tray and put 2 25watt CFLs on 'em.

Within 24 hours, about half of them had sprouted.

Within another 24 hours (yesterday) all of them had sprouted. (How bout THAT success rate, Whoop whoop!)

Pics:






One thing that threw me for a loop was that I thought that UV Sterilizer would only be about 6 inches long, or as long as my hand or so. Well, that turned out not to be the case...it's fucking huge.




Here's some random pics of the set up and the 4 I decided to stick with:

And here's the other 4 which I think I'm going to pass on to a friend:



They're chillin in their cubes over some hydroton in that container. I feed them (same that I fed the others) about 10 ml RO water w/Superthrive PH'd to 5.5 about once a day, or whenever they need it.

Forgot to mention that some of those sprouts had roots coming out the bottom of the cube within ONE DAY of being in 'em. Is that normal? W00T!

Anyhow, I'm back and I plan on being around a lot more now.

Any help given receives pics of super hot chicks as per the usual.

I have one question offhand: A friend of mine is thinking about growing in a crawlspace but is worried about dust and bugs. I thought spider mites were the bug to worry about but that they usually came in from outside or off of other plants. Are there any dangers from dust or inside insects?

Another question: I'm going to use some Miracle Gro potting soil for a couple of my houseplants. Would that be alright to grow some poppies if I felt the urge?

TIA. Good to be back.

 

Forgot I had another question...

I live in an apartment, and just got a letter from my landlord today informing me that it's time for annual inspections of the apartments by the Fire Inspection Maintenance Specialist some time next week and that it's not necessary for me to be there for it...

What type of shit will they be checking? I'm assuming just the fire detector, hot water heater, and possibly the fire extinguisher...I see no reason why they'd try to get up in my bedroom and check my closet, but I'm making sure to leave the floor super messy around the closet in case the fuckers try to come in there when I'm gone.

Any insight into this? TIA.

 

Oh yeah. PH was 5.52 and water temp 67F.

That is all.

 

Thanks for the advice man. I'm definitely going to leave the bedroom messy and stack some books in front of the closet. I actually want to have the maintenance guy come and look at a couple things anyway, so I think I'll have him come this week to to get the shit out of the way.

That way, it's this week or bust, and then I'm going to put a locking door knob on the bedroom door and be done with it. The closet itself has sliding doors that wouldn't work with any kind of lock I can think of.

I'll let 'em know about the mold.

So you don't think that Miracle Gro potting mix stuff is good for flowers?

Thanks again mane.

 

For the record, I wasn't going to use the MG for pot plants. I was wondering if it was good for poppies, as in actual flowers and what not. Well, I guess I'll get something different for 'em. I did use the MG Potting Mix for some houseplants of mine, so hopefully they'll be alright.

It appears my friend is 86'in the crawlspace idea and walling off a part of his basement, so he should be alright.

Thanks for the response.

Thanks, man. Ask away. They're pretty simple to build.

 

haha, good job setting that shit on fire, zab.

Well, since the fire guy was coming this week I went ahead and called in some work orders for some other things I needed to have done around here. I'd been putting it off because I didn't want anyone in here, but I figure if I was going to have someone in here anyway I might as well just get everything out of the way.

So, the fire guy and 3 sets of maintenance people came today. No one needed to get into my bedroom. I still have painters coming next week but they don't need to get into my bedroom either, so I'm pretty much out of the woods.



Nothing much going on on my end. Haven't checked on my babies, but if anything has changed I'll report back in a bit.

Thinking of changing out my intake fan for one about twice as powerful. Also thinking of trying to set up a small cooler with frozen ice packs in it in front of the intake somehow to try to get those ambient temps down.

One thing I'm trying to decide is concerning the water pump/hoses. How much water should those hoses be putting on the bottom of the cubes, ya think? I believe I had the pump going 24/7 last time, but I think less would be better...

Also, have a friend I'm helping with his first grow, so I'll be putting up a thread for him soon. He got the other 4 ICE I wasn't using.

Thanks, man! And that's a nice pair.

 

Checked 'em out. Growing their first set of leaves, while one of them still has a really thin stem. I'm a bit worried about it.

Anyhow

PH 5.65
Water temp 75F
Ambient temp 85F

 

And so it begins. I'm seeing some brown on my little girls. Can anyone diagnose this?

Here's the 4:










And here are all 4 together:



All the relevant info should be above. I've cut back on the hose feeding to about an hour a day.

Cubes aren't soaked, but not dry: just right IMO.

PH is 5.65

Ambient temp 80 right now w/lights on (opened up the box)

Humidity 45

oscillating fan blowing on them

light about 6 inches above them...

Any ideas?

Actually, I like all women but I do admit a certain affinity for the Asian variety.

Thanks for showing up, and thanks for the pic.

Interesting about the water pump/hoses. I do think 24/7 is too much, but I don't think about an hour a day would hurt anything. I tried going without the pump during my last grow but that was after a nasty round with root rot, and I had snipped off the dead roots and added hygrozyme. My res got frothy and funky without the pump so I bought another and put it back in there. Even if you're not necessarily feeding the roots with 'em I like to think that it circulating the water is a good thing.

You know, the rockwool + overwatering the bottom of the cubes might have been at least part of my root rot problems...the rot was pretty much contained in the space between the cubes and the water...

...and that's the mic bag for my Shure 57. I cut a hole in the top of the res for the sterilizer and water pump plugs to come out of and haven't came up with a decent solution as to how to block the light. So for now my Shure bag is serving a purpose.

Sup Zabaroni. Wiz is doing his first grow (I think) in an SH Bubbleponics set up just like the one I used. All three of us have had to battle the issues with the crappy quality products they sell. Wiz does have like a 4 foot plant growing out of his though, it's fuckin crazy if you haven't seen it.

The only difference I know of between the Bubbleponics and DWC is the water pump with hoses sending water to the netpots. I think the main reason for it is to keep the roots well fed before they reach the water, after which there really isn't much of a reason to keep it going except to keep the cubes damp and initial roots wet. Because once the roots hit the water it really basically is a DWC.

I think.

Thanks man. I'll have to rummage through the threads to find out what happened with your grow(s), bro. Good to be back, and thanks for stoppin in.