400w hps Skunk #1 in dwc

Discussion in 'Hydroponic Grow Journals' started by blaze_125, Mar 26, 2014.

  1. #1 blaze_125, Mar 26, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 26, 2014
    A new round has started.

    1 Seedsman Seeds Original Skunk #1 in a 5gal dwc
    I have a dimmable ballast, so veg will be under 200w mh. Bloom will be under 400w hps.
    In a 32"x32"x66" tent.

    The seed has sprouted already.
    I'm also re-vegging my Strawberry Cough. So we may end up following 2 plants this time around.

    from the gc app on BlackBerry Playbook!
     
  2. #2 blaze_125, Apr 2, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 2, 2014
    New growth has started showing up on the Sc. Hopefuly the Skunk seedling will quickly catch-up.
     

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  3. well... things aren't looking too good right now.
    The Sc reveg is starting to grow mold in the root zone, and the Skunk is taking its sweet @ss time to show improvement.
     
  4. How come you decided to reveg, is it a bit of an experiment of seed vs reveg? I think it can be really difficult to get hydro seedlings started (based on my little experience), how is it doing? Any pics as it's been over a week
     
  5. I revegged the Sc mainly to see if I could pull it off. Its kickass smoke and I wouldn't mind another harvest out of the 1 seed I bought.

    The Skunk seedling I think I overdosed. I switched it to plain water and this morning the thing stands strong and proud.
     

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  6. #6 The Letter 3, Apr 14, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 14, 2014
    This is how I get my seedlings started. I germ the seeds in paper towels and then transfer it to a small bubbler. Its the size of a plastic mini Folger's can.

    I cut a hole out of the top and stuck a tiny net pot in it with an airstone and line. Put the sprouted seed on a bed of tiny hydroton pellets so it doesn't fall through. Cover the seed with a few more small pellets and you are good to go.

    Lastly I cover the top with a piece of dark plastic to keep it from drying out.I don't know if the plastic is required but it helps me sleep at night.

    Anyways after that its just keeping an eye on the pH of the water for a few days or so until it has a base root structure. From there I take it out of the tiny cup and move it to a net pot where it will stay.

    I like this method because it eliminates any need for rockwool. Also, if you must fiddle with it you can see the tap root growth by moving a few stones around.

    One thing I have noticed is that sometimes you may have to move a stone around once it starts trying to lose its shell. It just doesn't seem to be strong enough to move it.

    http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1290525-400w-MH/HPS-mixed
     
  7. Hey bud this is my 400 hps 20 days in soil sour d

    Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
     

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  8. TheLetter:  I sprout my seeds in wet, folded paper towel, shoved into a ziplock bag stored on top of the fridge.  My germination rate so fare is 100%.  Once the sprout is a decent size, I move it to the net pot and put the netpot in a temporary soup holder(5gal here is simply too big for no real reason).
     
    SocalGreenThumb.  That's looking pretty good.
     
    Journal update:
    The Strawberry Cough is gone.  Mildew had started growing on the trunk of the plant.  I'm not quite sure what happened with it.  I just know sh!t started going down hill right after a soup change, so I must have done something wrong to it.
     
    The skunk, as you can see in the picture, is still taking its sweet time to show real signs of improvement.  I see it getting bigger, but very slowly.  I'm a bit afraid of feeding it anything right now.  Yesterday I switched the soup to plain water and a bit of Calcium(my base PPM is 72).  I will likely turn off the MH bulb for the next week or so, or until the plant is big enough.  It seems to like the CFL bulbs better.  The CFL bulbs are 6500k, while the MH is way below that.  If I compare the MH and CFLs, my CFLs seem to emit way more blue than the MH bulb.  Anyway, I'll toy around with that later tonight, or sometime this weekend.
     

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  9. that's how she looks atm.
    turned off the mh. the single cfl will do for a couple days. then 2 cfls for another 4-5 days. the remainder of the veg will be under the mh again.
     

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  10. #11 blaze_125, Apr 18, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 18, 2014
    I have been playing with the idea for a while and I finally did it.
    I'm currently running an array of airpumps that adds up to 7.5w. It will soon be replaced with a 35w pump. It should be delivered sometime next week.
     
  11. Is this the strain that has 120 day flowering time? 
     
  12. #13 blaze_125, Apr 19, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 19, 2014
    Wooha. I hope not.
    After verification... 7-11 weeks of flower.
     
  13. it's currently in 2 L of soup.  I'll probably switch to a full bucket soon cause I'm already sick of the ph swing.  I have a hard time dialling it, in smaller soups.
     

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  14. Just got back from the "nutes" shop. I've been running Nutri+ nutes since I first started this grow journey a year ago. I went through 2 complete cycles using them and, although I have nothing to compare against, I am satisfied with the results I am getting. They are basically the cheapest nutes I could find locally and they happen to have, very little but, pretty decent reviews overall. This time around I'm adding Pure Black and Pure Gold to my feeding chart, and I'll be following Nutri+'s recommended ratios as I've been doing since day 1–give or take a couple ml–.

    This is the chart I'll be following. 12L of soup brings the soup level right below the netpot, so I do 12L soups.
    http://nutri-plus.ca/nutri-PRO%20Feed%20Chart.html

    This is the list of nutes I'll be running.

    SuperThrive
    Start - http://nutri-plus.ca/start_en.html
    Grow A+B - http://nutri-plus.ca/grow.html
    Bloom A+B - http://nutri-plus.ca/bloom.html
    CMPlus - http://nutri-plus.ca/cmplus_en.html
    Thrive - http://nutri-plus.ca/thrive_en.html
    Pure Black - http://nutri-plus.ca/pure-black_en.html
    Pure Gold - http://nutri-plus.ca/pure-gold_en.html
    Bud+ - http://nutri-plus.ca/bud_en.html
    Carborator - http://nutri-plus.ca/carborator_en.html
    Clear - http://nutri-plus.ca/clear_en.html

    I may, or may not, decide to include
    FinalDrive - http://nutri-plus.ca/finaldrive_en.html
    Pure Ocean Seaweeds - http://nutri-plus.ca/pureOCEAN-seaweeds_en.html
     
  15. She'll be getting her first complete soup tonight. I filled a bucket up with 16L of fresh tap water this morning and I'm letting it sit for a couple hours so that chlorine evaporates a bit, and the water temp will go up to room temp. I also dumped an airline in the bucket to keep the water moving. I usually do soups of 12L but, there aren't any roots dangling down the netpot so I gotta raise the water level for a while. So yeah... first full strenght soup, hopefuly she'll handle it well, and hopefuly she'll be asking for more.
     
  16. If i can offer some advice....

    A metal halide bulb is not designed to be dimmed. Read up on it, may surprise you.

    You will greatly diminish the life of the bulb and slow your plants growth to a crawl.

    I have quarter sized clones under a 600w mh on full setting with no detriment whatsoever.

    They do seem to grow half as fast under mh as hps, IME.

    Other than that, all looks well so far. Keep up the good work!
     
  17. Hi pokesmot. I did read some time ago that pretty much any bulb should not be dimmed,or to expect a shorter bulb life if the bulb was to be dimmed. I was willing to give up some life expectency from the bulb. The intent to dim the bulb was not reduce the amount of heat; it was just to lower the electricity consumption.

    The first time I dimmed the MH bulb, there was a –not very loud but– very annoying whine coming from the bulb. So annoying that I even used fkin ear plugs to do whatever it was I had to do in there. That lasted a couple days. I ended up running the bulb at full power, and ditched the ear plugs.. So I'm actually running the whole 400w. With all the people saying you should veg under MH and flower under HPS I figured I'd see greater results switching from CFLs to MH. I'm starting to think my 200w CFL setup was that much better for Veg than the MH bulb.

    At the moment, I'm running 400w MH @ 20" above the plant, and I also have 60w worth of CFL 4" from the plant(I threw in the CFLs a couple days ago). I may try switching the MH with the HPS and see if I get any better results. Though the results may not be worthy of a comparison since the feeding will change drastically too. So who knows which change will have had the greater effect on the growth–the lights or the meal?–...

    For this grow, I will try to stay away from any type of screen. Therefore I will try your lst method, pokesmot. I don't think I'll actually break the stem for the initial bend, but I will try to make the plant go around the pot lid.
     
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  19. #20 blaze_125, Apr 24, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 24, 2014
    The food.

    The actual power draw of each dim level are as follow

    On a 400w low budget dimmable ballast
    50% = 230w
    75% = 336w
    100% = 450w
     

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