Fif3l's Perpetual Garden

OK so i scrapped my other grow,didnt want to work with schwag unknown seeds anymore. I took two clones from the biggest plant i had,,unknown sex. I have three utopia haze in the 3 gallon soil bags,no sprouts yet. I had sprouts from the seeds i germ'd a couple of days ago 2 aurora and 2 haze),so i decided to get them in their new homes. i got a MH light bulb from one of my boys, so i can do MH and switch to HPS for flowering. One of the haze hasnt popped up quite yet, and i cant see roots yet,so i left it in the tray with the clones for now. Itll be ready tomorrow.
Im running nutes at about 1/2 strength. Maybe less.
Around 350-400 ppm. Im debating on the liquid karma this go around,as i suspect that is what was making my roots all nasty last time. Well see.
So here are my specs...

400 w mh/ hps light w/ ventilation out of room.
No name grow tent.
Eco air pump running to a 4-way splitter going to airstones in buckets.
Botanicare nutes. Pure blend pro grow and bloom. Calmag.
4-5 gallon buckets w/6 inch net pots. Hydroton
Water temp 78-80
High temp 81, low 74
Humidity is between 45 and 55% its dry where i live so i run a humidifier sometimes.
17-7 light schedule.
Ppm's @ about 400
ph at 5.8 - 6.0


I want to just see what happens, not scrog this time due to possibility of males.
The auroras are feminized seeds. The haze are bagseed. Will grow one clone if it lives.
Pics:



so you can see light heighth:


clones lookin sad. my basil did this too so im not worried.


Haze 1:


auroras 1 & 2






Thanks for takin a look. Constructive critiscm welcome. Comments are appreciated.

Lets hear it.

Edited by fif3l, 03 September 2011 - 09:33 AM.
pics

update.

one of my haze seeds seemed to stop growing, and started to rot out, so i threw it away. i had a problem with some kind of gnats from another indoor plant that my mother in law gave us. gross. little fuckers got into some of my root cubes when i first started out. i think some had larvae in them, because at one point they were eating all of my sprouts. most have germinated without any problems, but that sprout showed some same symptoms, so i scratched it. i am running the three bubble buckets, 2 auroras(feminized) and the one utopia haze. i have three soil containers as well, filled with fox farm ocean forest, and one haze seed in each. one sprout has popped up from the soil so far. checked ph on buckets and watered all soils again today. checked soil ph from runoff, 6.7.so far so good i guess. im starting to notice the auroras are very light green in color, the haze is a little darker. the auroras didnt look too good at first, but they are starting to look healthier. if anyone notices anything i could be doing better, please let me know. im using RO water for both hydro and soil applications, ph adjusted to 5.8 and 6.8 respectively.

Question: should i be using cal mag in the ro water for my soil plants? i havent used any yet.

im gonna update pics as soon as i find them in cyberspace.

some pics for the masses.


i moved the light back a few inches because i just felt like it was a little too close. how should i guage how high my light should be? i dont want to fry the little ladies, but i dont want them to stretch any more either.

aurora #1-


aurora #2-


this haze is going to be a beautiful plant methinks. the leaves already look so perfect.


the newest one.



let me know what you think! 93 views and not one remark. believe me, i need the input!

Edited by fif3l, 06 September 2011 - 07:40 AM.

I've been looking forward to the start of this tread! I'm excited to see how this grow goes!!

Nice! They're lookin good! I would recommend just getting few CFL's and putting them close to the plants. That way they wont want to stretch, but they're still getting a good amount of light. Just a suggestion..

... But as for light height for mh/hps lights, I don't know.. I know you're supposed to have it about 2 feet above your plants.. But as young as they are they might get too hot.. Or be too intense.

Edited by siobber, 06 September 2011 - 07:48 AM.
Didn't want to double post...

thank you sir! im excited as well!

I wish I could help with DWC questions, but I'm a strictly soil grower so hopefully someone else will help with those questions. However, as far as your light question goes, this chart pretty much nails it. This is for HPS but MH is pretty similar.

As you can see 6-7 inches from your plants is optimum using a 400 watt light. Any closer and you're risking burning them and the farther away the less light penetration you get. Notice at 22 inches you are no longer benefiting the plants.

However, during seedling phase I tend to keep them 10 inches away because they don't need much light and are VERY susceptible to heat and burn from MH. But just know to move the light closer as you get the grow farther along. As long as you have 50% or higher humidity the plants are able to take quite a bit of heat too.

Whoah. My light was way too far away. 6-7 huh? Thanks for the info doc. Im scared to put my light that close. Im gonna move it tonight whe i get home from work.
Should i be supplementing the soil water with cal mag or should i wait to start til i start fertlizing?

My humidity flirts with 50% when my lights are on. I moved my light to about 15 inches away. I have nice airflow,i know that helps too. 6-7 inches seems so close!haha.
I have a spare light with another hps bulb. I wS thinking,during flowering,if i turned it on and illuminated plants from the side,would it help fill in the buds? With a 400w light and all,i heard i should only veg for 2-3 weeks.if vegged longer (which i would prefer) the 400w wouldnt be enough to reach all the buds. Could i veg longer if i turned on that other 400w and illuminated the sides of the plants during flowering?

Yo got the same light as you don't be scurred. They can take it, as long as it's nice and cool in there. Put your hand above the leaves and if it feels hot on your hand move it up otherwise all is good. Good luck... Subscribing.

Edit: btw aurora indica is the bomb!!! I am jealous as hell.

Edited by booyaa, 06 September 2011 - 11:59 PM.
Was high

thanks for the great info doc. and the encouragement booyaa & siobber. i got my lights at about 11 inches right now.(sheet of paper, longways away). closer than ever before. HAHA.
i also have two new additions to gush over. the remaining two seeds have sprouted! were now fully loaded. locked, cocked, ready to rock.

i noticed a little nute burn on my one aurora, cut the nutes by about 1/3 with fresh, 5.8 ph'd water (0n both) guess i was a little too ready to fertilize, lol.

cant wait for these babies to get growin!



some pron for you all, i promise it will get better.

my one clone from the last grow....its gettin there, the other one didnt take.




to give you an idea of the current setup.. three bubble buckets, three soil.


newest one.






more updates tomorrow.

thanks for checkin it out!!!!

Damn gc, i am drunk and it feels nice.i dont drink alot because i used to party too much.

Thank you so much gc (doc) for the light chart, i can see the difference already in my ladies. They are all leaning to the light , and i can physically see the growth,even in a few hours. That chart gives ne the insight i need. Thanks so much!

Im just going to wait for sig.ns of deficiencies befire fertilizing i think.

hi fif3l, looking good, you will love that Aurora easy to grow and is a great somke, a 400w side light would help alot if you can keep the temps down, on my 400w aurora grow i kept my light at 8"-9", but my light was not air cooled. I veg mine to 18" and then fliped to 12-12, also ran a 250w hps side light and it turnd out great, well for a noob that is. dwc well im going to pull up a chair, this is some thing i would like to learn!! keep up the good work.



major

Sidelight question = This ^^

nice. thanks for the feedback fellas! i think im going to rig up a side light for flowering.


i started the dwc not knowing exactly what i was getting myself into. lol. but now that i have started it, i am determined to master it. i am learning, i've read my growers bible a couple times, but specialized info on dwc is a little scarce.

pics tomorrow.

I'll have to drag R076's ass in here (Elvis) he just completed a very nice DWC very similar to yours and had kick ass results.

Fif3l hi, Doc sent me link to your journal.
Looks interesting . I do not have much time at the moment to look deeply in to it , but i'll get in to it tomorrow. If I can, I'll help you. If you want ,you can check my grow journal for now (link in my signature) , you might find some helpful info. I am not an expert but my grow was relatively successful.

Speaking of the buffer zone between canopy and lights ,I can tell you that I had my 600w on average 12-8" away from the plants, you can probably go lower.The easiest way to check is to put your hand on the canopy level and lower your light little by little and if you do not feel discomfort it should be good .Also what you can do is to attach string to the side of your light reflector to indicate "comfort zone", that way you can always keep that string right above your canopy , and move the reflector up as plants grow higher .(look at the left side of my reflector,bottom mark is 12" and mid mark is 6")
Talk to you tomorrow.

Fif3l hi, Doc sent me link to your journal.
Looks interesting . I do not have much time at the moment to look deeply in to it , but i'll get in to it tomorrow. If I can, I'll help you. If you want ,you can check my grow journal for now (link in my signature) , you might find some helpful info. I am not an expert but my grow was relatively successful.

Speaking of the buffer zone between canopy and lights ,I can tell you that I had my 600w on average 12-8" away from the plants, you can probably go lower.The easiest way to check is to put your hand on the canopy level and lower your light little by little and if you do not feel discomfort it should be good .Also what you can do is to attach string to the side of your light reflector to indicate "comfort zone", that way you can always keep that string right above your canopy , and move the reflector up as plants grow higher .(look at the left side of my reflector,bottom mark is 12" and mid mark is 6")
Talk to you tomorrow.

Hello elvis,thanks for stoppin by. That string trick makes this light situation much easier. I will be doing that asap.

My clone is has taken root,and will be ready to transplant tonight. Still no sex. A survivor of my last attempt.


The haze seem to be doing MUCH better than the auroras.

Do not worry about sex,on the 2nd or 3rd week of flowering it will be clear as day if your plant female or male, just try not to stress it much.

By the way, keep your journal as detailed as possible.Post your data :Air temperature,air humidity,PH,PPM,nutrient solution temperature,so that way if you face any problems solution can be found quicker. You do not have to post it every day, but every time when you update your journal provide viewers with that info.
p.S.What type of PH/EC(PPM) meter do you have? Is it calibrated?