First Grow 600W HPS - Northern Lights/Big Bud Auto (Coco) Bubblegum (DWC)

Hey everyone!

So a little over a month ago I posted my shopping list and specs for my space. Well, good news...I got everything and already have 2 Northern Lights/Big Bud Auto seeds from marijuana-seeds.nl germinated and planted into coco! Tonight I will be germinating one of my Bubblegum seeds, which will be my first DWC plant.

WOOOOOO! I'm stoked!


Here's the specs I ended up going with in terms of equipment;


1 x 600W HPS (Block Buster 6" Hood w/ Apollo Bulb)

NOTE: I originally went with a $170 Apollo 600W Light Kit off of Amazon, but I'm returning it due to UPS cracking the cooling tube, and it overall just being a piece of shit. Oh and they didn't even send me enough nuts & bolts to assemble it. Derp. I highly suggest not buying that unless you are on a seriously tight budget.

1 x 600W Quantum Digital Ballast

2 x DIY DWC 5 Gal Buckets using the GH Hydrofarm kits

2 x 10" Net Pots

1 x 6" 400 CFM Inline Fan

1 x 6" Carbon Filter

1 x Hanna EC/TDS/PH Meter (The $180 one off of amazon. Figured if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right!)

1 x Windowsill Heating Mat

And a bunch of other shit that isn't very relevant right now.


I germinated my ladies using 2 different methods;

The first one (Started on the 30th of last month), was started via Rockwool and was a little slow to germinate. Roughly took 6 days to crack and pop the tap root out. I was too excited and didn't wait till I got my PH kit to start it, so it got started in ~6.3 PH water for the first 24 hours. Then down to 5.8 for the rest of the time.

The second one (Started on the 4th), was started via moist paper towel in a tupperware container with a VERY tiny amount of rooting hormones (made sure to leave the lid taped halfway off as to not get too much humidity in the container). This one cracked in 24 hours and germinated in 72 hours or so. 5.8 PH as well.

Today I decided to plant my ladies straight into 2 x 8oz Cups filled with Coco/Hydroton (75/25 Custom mix I made) as to prevent any possible infections from occuring. I made sure to poke some drain holes in both cups so in case of an overwater I wouldn't drown my babies.

Now after planting them, I realize my heating mat wasn't effectively warming their new homes. So I decided to move them into the grow room where it is on average mid 80's with the light on at 50%. I am still keeping the heating mat underneath them as to help speed up the process, but the Coco still feels rather cold. Is it okay to keep my ladies underneath the light for additional warmth? I planted them about a inch to an inch and a half down into the coco.

Here's some pictures of my space and setup currently. I have yet to install the Inline Fan & Carbon filter. I will probably be doing that tomorrow, but we will see.


My space with my volunteer Tomato plant I found in my backyard, basking in the HPS light.


My volunteer Tomato plant again. This little shit was HALF the size it is now 5 days ago! I've been giving it nutes/friendly bact and lots of love. It just exploded in growth! Just transplanted it to its new home today


My NL/BB Auto's in their new homes. Hoping the sprout up in the next couple days. Gave them a tiny tiny tiny bit of rooting hormones again today. Thats okay right? I read a couple of places that it will help speed things up.


Dat sexy inline fan.


And dat sexy CF


Any and all advice is welcome and wanted! I'm entirely new to this, but I have been studying for the last year into the cultivation of this beautiful plant.

I'll make a grow jounal log eventually when things get moving and shaking!



- DWC4Life

 

Thanks for checking everything out! And yes I will be using HPS for veg, all I have in terms of bulbs is HPS currently. Should I be using MH instead for veg? I've read that its fine to use HPS for both veg and flowering, and so far my tomato plant is loving vegging under it, so I would assume so would my ladies once they are big enough.
 
I ended up going with the iPower 6" Carbon Filter off of Amazon. I'm going to be mounting the carbon filter to my light (I think at least, unless someone has a better idea). I'm installing my inline fan today to help with temperatures in there. I checked last night and with the door closed its about 93 degrees in there, which is hotter than I would like.
 
Not worried about smell till flowering as you said, so I'll keep the carbon filter off until its needed. My babies haven't sprouted up from the Coco yet, and probably wont for another 2-6 days I'd say.
 
And thank you sir, I try to do my research before buying anything that will be a semi-large investment. Want to make sure I'm getting my bang for my buck . That ballast has yet to even remotely heat up whatsoever haha. And its quiet as all hell!
 
How do you like the Bluelab meter? That was my other choice.
 
Thanks again for checking everything out! Advice is always welcome

 

UPDATE: So I started germinating 2 of my Bubblegum seeds last night. One of them already has germinated, but the other (the bigger seed) hasn't cracked. There is a odd smell coming from the container when I open it. Wondering if the big seed is infected or something. Anyone have this problem before?

EDIT: Nevermind, just checked on the Bubblegum seeds, and the big one has cracked. Still smells really odd, but I'm just going to shrug it off for now since one has germinated and the other has cracked.

 

Thanks man!

I actually cheated a little and modeled nearly everything after an amazing grower on youtube. I HIGHly suggest checking out his how to DWC series. This guy pulls at least 1lb to 2 1/2lb's per plant. Granted he's using a MUCH bigger space than I am, but all the same I had to model it after him after seeing his results. I just couldn't resist haha.

Hygro Hybrid How To DWC Series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxqP0ADX5jwH-b8uVG-CPM257j0FGBoym

My space isn't that big sadly. Wish I had a larger space to dedicate to it, but seeing as where I am they aren't friendly, I have to keep it where it is. I believe my space is 8 feet high, 5 feet wide & 2-3 feet deep. It's the depth thats killing me honestly. I won't be able to fully utilize the height unless I get some serious Sativa going

Thanks again for checking it out. I'll be updating with pictures the whole way through. Next update will hopefully be of pictures of my Auto's in Coco . Fingers are crossed!

UPDATE: Inline fan is nearly installed. I'll be finishing that tomorrow ASAP. I'll post some pictures of the setup when that is done!

 

YES! That is very good news to hear! Thanks for letting me know, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to utilize the height of my space, guess I don't have to worry about that now haha. Whats your growing medium and nute regiment if you don't mind me asking. PS: You should link me your grow w/ pics. Very curious to see how my babies are going to look!

Thanks for stopping by

 

Holy shit man. That tall in soil? Wowza. Yeah, I'm rather new here, so I'm pretty fuckin clueless on how to upload pictures in replies. Your guess is as good as mine! Crossing my fingers for you for that zip! No nutes and getting as tall as you. Shit, must be really good genetics! Well, keep me posted on how they are doing brotha!

 

UPDATE #1 of the day: So I just got up, and first thing I did was check on my bubblegum seeds. The heating mat had caused (despite really soaking the papertowel) the papertowel to really dry out last night. I'm hoping that this didn't cause any damage to the little ones. I'm going to share all the problems I encounter on the way as to maybe help others avoid any that I encounter. The smaller of the seeds has progressed alot futher over night, but as for the bigger of the two, it looks like the taproot actually went back inside the seed, guessing from it drying out quite a bit. Again really hoping and praying that this problem didn't kill or hurt anything.
 
As for the coco, nothing has sprouted up yet, but its only on day 3 of being in coco after germination. Keeping my fingers crossed.
 
Finishing installing the inline fan today. Will post pictures on how I mounted it and installed it so others can get an idea of how to do theirs.
 
UPDATE #2: So not long after re-wetting the paper towel both the seeds are fine. The one that already has a nice long tail developed remarkably fast in the hour since I re-wet the paper towel. It looks like it may of grew 2cm+ in an hour! What the hell! As for the bigger seed, it's starting to re-emerge back out of its hull again. YAY!
 
So I moved the germinated seed into its new rockwool plug home where it will be moved into a 4"x4" rockwool cube shortly after that to go straight into my DWC bucket with a drip ring on. Anyone have suggestions as to a watering schedule using the drip ring?

 

Yeah, I remember that, just was asking if anyone else does it differently. Sorry should of clarified that/worded it better!

 

UPDATE #3 of the day:
 
So I finished installing the Inline fan today  My back is killing me, even after a massive bong rip of Watermelon Kush
 
Close up of fan in place. Doh, just noticed the duct isn't all the way on, on the fan. Gonna go fix that in a minute here lol:
 

 
Temp's are looking good & humidity has dropped a ton too:
 

 
Flex duct is up, in place and secured, and the fan is actually REALLY quiet. I did insulate all the slightly lose areas where there is metal meeting metal, so that helped with the potential vibrations a ton. With the door closed it blends in perfectly with the AC in the house. You can barely even hear it in the room...success!
 
Flex Duct is locked & loaded:
 

 
Seeds germination progress:
 
So the smaller of the Bubblegum is on friggen steroids (It pretty much is; using about 1/12th the recommended light dose of GH's Rapid Root), I SWEAR TO BOB That little lady has an inch long tail already! HUZZAH. Put her in her new rockwool plug home. Shes already growing into it. This one is by far the fastest seed out of the 4 thus far    Amazed quite frankly. The brown on her tap root is where it was this morning when it was very dry in the container. These little buggers are tough! Thought for sure they would be hurting.
 
 
The little Bubblegum seed. That brown spot is normal correct?:
 

 
The big Bubblegum seed:
 

 
Whats left to do on the space still:
 
I'll be mounting a 2x4 or 1x4 on the ceiling with some ring hooks screwed into it to attach the pulley's to. That bar won't be there come tomorrow or so. In addition to that within the next 2 days I will be putting up the Mylar all over the space. So shiney

Picture of the overall space:
 

 
My first of two DWC 5 Gallon buckets. Drip ring in place. Will be moving the small Bubblegum seed to it within the next 2 days I think. ~15 or less minutes on every hour until it sprouts. Waiting on the GH WF kit to get here still to finish the second one:
 

 
Here's my nute regimen:


 
Annnnnnd a picture of my tomato plant again, because cat's are blue
 

 
 
Cheers!
 
- DWC4LIFESON...oh&coco2.

 

Awesome man. Hoping mine take well to the nutes I'm using. I'm going to do 1/3-1/4 strength nutes on them this run. Using "a little goes a long way" for all my plants since its my first grow. I may experiment or deviate a bit, but we will see.

 

If you don't mind me asking (bear with me I'm a newb to these forums still), how do you subscribe to a thread?

And wicked man! I'm hoping it just nukes 2 really big DWC fem's and 2 medium coco's. I'm gonna rip my bong a few times in my space tomorrow before the coco's sprout and see how the carbon filter works it magic.

 

Final update of the day:
 
So I popped the the furthest along BG seed (lets just call it seed BG-A from now on) in its rockwool plug into a rockwool 4"x4" cube that I've been soaking in PH 5.8 water for 2 days with 1/10th GH Rapid Start in it. Was previously using 1/12th strength. Now that the root is so far along in germination its really going to start sucking up those hormones.
 
BG-B is coming along quite nicely as well. Nearing the half inch mark, when it wasn't even popped out of the seed this morning due to it drying out a bit too much! This one will get transplanted into a rockwool plug in a few minutes here, and then in a day or two into another 4"x4" cube.
 
No signs of the Auto seedlings yet in the coco since I planted them. Keeping fingers crossed. We're going to be on day 4 here in a few hours. Hoping I wake up and find them popping out of the coco haha.