Danke. Frequent lurker, on my first-ish? grow (first grow died due to being on vacation and a friend who forgot to replenish my reservoir. Setup: 4'x4'x7' grow tent 900w LED lights (looks identical to Mars II 900w, same specs too, uses 5w led's) 27gal plastic tote/bin from Lowe's (Centrex Plastics Commander 27-Gallon Tote with Standard Snap Lid) 2x C.A.P. Vortex 4" 172cfm inline fans w/rheostat for each(one for intake, one for exhaust) 1x filter hooked up to inline exhaust fan 1x Holmes Vornado small fan 4x 3.75" net pots 1x EcoPlus 185 Submersible Pump (185 gph) 1x EcoPlus 2 Air Pump (with 2 check valves) 2x Large Hydrofarm Aqua Air Stones 1x Acurite Humidity Monitor 1x Hanna Instruments pH/EC/TDS Tester (model HI 98129) Strains: 2x Blueberry Strain 1x Berry White Strain (I've heard it also called Blue Widow, Blueberry x White Widow mix) 1x Green Tomato (not marijuana, this is an actual tomato plant; wanted some fruit or veggie to grow with this setup and was the only seeds I had available. I want to grow actual blueberries or strawberries but still trying to figure out best strain that can become fruitful quickly) Nutrients Used Botanicare Aquashield General Hydroponics FloraGro General Hydroponics FloraMicro General Hydroponics FloraBloom General Hydroponics CaliMagic General Hydroponics RapidStart History: My first grow was based off of growweedeasy's simple guide to bubbleponics, hence a lot of similar gear was used. I've never grown before so this is my first foray into growing. I have a terrible green thumb. For comparison, I decided to also start a vegetable garden outside this summer. Everything died. I had 4x Cherry Pie clones growing but went on vacation and friend forgot to fill up my reservoir. They all died. Fast forward a bit, did a little bit of an upgrade on the tote, went from 10gal to 27gal tote(useable 6gal to 18gal). Cut holes with a hole saw vice by hand, so the cuts came out very even and more aesthetically pleasing. Not to mention the net pots fit perfectly. I started with 2x Blueberry clones and 1x Berry White clone. The Berry White I have not seen before, but I've heard it's also been called Blue Widow. Not really sure if they're the same, but they share same genetics of Blueberry and White Widow parents. As these are clones, I have no idea who the original breeder is. It wasn't until day 11 that I started taking multiple data and keeping it updated on an excel file. Everything prior to day 11 was info I had remembered and nowhere near as detailed as it is after day 11. Some of the data I'm taking are everything I have access to using my humidity/temp monitor, pH pen, and any water/nutes I handle. I'm not sure if there's more data I should be taking, feel free to give me some advice. That's what we're all here for, right? Learn from and teach each other. I try and take the data at roughly around the same time for consistency, but sometimes it isn't always possible. For most of the readings, data is taken between 4pm-6pm. I plan on probably writing a simple python program to help me better keep track, but that's when I get a little more free time. For now, this is just a small (albeit slightly expensive) hobby for me to grow my medicine instead of hiking down to the dispensary, and gives me a little more confidence/knowledge for when I switch over to growing blueberries/strawberries/raspberries later in the winter. Day 1: The clones came in a solo cup with coco coir. I transferred into my RDWC setup and prayed that the transplant would take. I was told the Berry White loves a pH of 5.80, but I was unable to keep it that low without adding a lot of pH Down, which I wasn't entirely comfortable with. I kept overshooting, so decided to get as close to 6.00 as possible. Filled res w/18gal G/M/B:5/2.5/2.5 (ml/g), Aquashield 5ml/g Ambient tent: 75F, Humidity 35%, pH 6.08,480ppm Day 2-4: The first few days didn't look too good. After day 4 of the transplant, it looked like they were gonna die. Day 5: I went out and bought some CaliMagic and RapidStart. About 1/3 cup of CaliMagic and don't remember how much RapidStart, but it was the bottle's recommended amount for 18gal. Day 8: Whether it was the time, or the new nutrients, by day 8, things turned around. Roots starting to grow and the plants looking healthier. Day 10: First roots hit the water. Ambient tent: 88F, Humidity 42%, pH 6.12, EC .997, 697 ppm, res temp 82.5F Day 11: All plants have roots touching water. Start of tomato plants. Put 4 seeds into a rapidrooter plug and it's now taking up spot #4. Ambient tent: 81F, Humidity 48%, pH 6.18, EC 1.008, 705 ppm, res temp 76.8F Day 12: Roots explosion overnight, in a good way (sorry for lack of pics) Ambient tent: 82F (24hr low/hi 68/84F), Humidity 47% (24hr low/hi 41/67%), pH 6.14, EC 1.006, 702 ppm, res temp 76.6F Day 13: Roots have now taken a nice home in the reservoir so I did some trimming today. Cut off some dead/yellow leaves and hoped for the best. Did a little LST bending on some of the branches to help the lower branches receive some light. Ambient tent: 82F (24hr low/hi 68/86F), Humidity 46% (24hr low/hi 43/67%), pH 6.17, EC 1.006, 704 ppm, res temp 78.6F Day 14: A little bit of pruning was done on all the mmj plants. A sort of "lollypopping" for lack of a better word. Did a little bit more LST with some garden wires to hold the branches down, and get a little more light to the lowest branches (at least the ones that weren't pruned. The Berry White is very 'viney'. Added 2 gal of water with pH of 6.21. 1 gal was just water, the other was mixed with nutes @ G/M/B 10/5/2 ml/g. Ambient tent: 86F (24hr low/hi 72/86F), Humidity 57% (24hr low/hi 45/65%), pH 6.26, EC 1.011, 707 ppm, res temp 80.2F Day 15: Another pH spike today. Watching it for another day. Tomatoes sprouted. All 4 of them. Ambient tent: 84F (24hr low/hi 73/86F), Humidity 49% (24hr low/hi 49/72%), pH 6.32, EC 1.016, 711 ppm, res temp 79.4F Day 16: Decided to try and lower the climbing pH. Added 2 gal of water with pH 6.00, G/M/B 10/5/3 ml/g. Ambient tent: 86F (24hr low/hi 72/86F), Humidity 50% (24hr low/hi 47/72%), pH 6.34, EC 1.022, 715 ppm, res temp 79.7F Day 17: Trying to keep lowering the pH by adding a 1-2 gal a day with lower pH'd water. Added 1 gal of water with pH 5.80, G/M/B 10/5/3 ml/g. Tomatoes are crowding themselves in the 1 rapidstarter cube. I screwed up. I tossed in 4 thinking only 1 would make it, not all 4! Ambient tent: 84F (24hr low/hi 70/86F), Humidity 50% (24hr low/hi 47/67%), pH 6.20, EC 1.073, 753 ppm, res temp 77.9F Day 18: Went a little more drastic today. Added 2 gal of water with pH 5.32, G/M/B 10/5/3. Decided to kill 3 of the tomatoes, the weakest looking 3, and keep the bushiest and healthy looking one. It's roots are almost touching water, should be any day now before it touches and hopefully takes off like it's neighbors did. Ambient tent: 82F (24hr low/hi 70/84F), Humidity 50% (24hr low/hi 47/64%), pH 6.18, EC 1.105, 773 ppm, res temp 77.6F Day 19: Yesterday's add of lower pH'd water didn't help much. Berry White is growing massively, much more than the blueberries. But it's stem is very thin, so I need to figure out some sort of support system. When I switch over to flower, there's no way it will be able to hold up any colas. Tomato roots touching water. Ambient tent: 77F (24hr low/hi 70/84F), Humidity 53% (24hr low/hi 46/64%), pH 6.24, EC 1.135, 794 ppm, res temp 74.3F Day 20: pH is finally starting to creep back down, just slowly. I'll probably be doing a full reservoir change sometime this week when time permits. Ambient tent: 77F (24hr low/hi 68/82F), Humidity 58% (24hr low/hi 43/65%), pH 6.10, EC 1.149, 805 ppm, res temp 74.0F I will attach photos soon. Not many have been taken, but I'll try and get better at it.
Day 10 pictures. Top left: Berry White, right hand side blueberry, lower left green tomato. Sorry for the weird coloring in the pictures. With my little photoshop skills, I tried to color correct them against the purple-ish hue of the leds.
Day 19. A little bit better picture of my setup as well as the growth in the last 9 days. Sorry for some of the coloring in the pics.
Looks nice man, I was going to use that same container with the yellow lid for something else haha. Subbed.
Day 21: Berry White is getting a little ridiculous. I hate to do it, but he might need some pruning soon. Not really sure which branches to prune, but I guess that'll be my homework. I don't want to prune anything that'll give me a nice yield. Still trying to figure out how to provide support for her, once she goes into flowering. Speaking of, I will probably be switching to flowering by the end of the week, if not beginning of next. Also installed an led light strip, to better be able to take pictures without the purple hue of the grow leds. About the tote, yes I know the top is yellow. And yes I know it should probably be light proofed. I've been meaning to get around to it but havent had an issue. Is it luck? Maybe. Ambient tent: 75F (24hr low/hi 63/81F), Humidity 46% (24hr low/hi 46/71%), pH 6.14, EC 1.159, 811 ppm, res temp 71.6F Newbie question: shouldn't the EC/ppm go down eventually as the plants take up nutes? My whole thought was, plants will take up nutes, pH will rise due to this, and ppm would fall. But this isn't the case. What am I not seeing?
Day 22: Did a little bit of rearranging with my setup. Moved the tent around in my office, to better use the space, and decided to rearrange the inside of the tent as well. The plastic tote is now upside down (rotate the whole thing 180 degrees), so the Berry White is in the bottom right, green tomato top right, and the Blueberries on the left hand side. Ambient tent: 75F (24hr low/hi 68/81F), Humidity 44% (24hr low/hi 43/60%), pH 6.18, EC 1.194, 835 ppm, res temp 73.6F Day 23: No data today. Was away all day, and life got the better of me. Day 24: Have inlaws visiting for the next week so keeping up maintenance is gonna be tough, especially since I want to switch over to flowering soon. Interesting note, water level is lowest I've allowed it to go so far. I'd guesstimate 14 gal or so, and pH level dropped to more ideal conditions, with EC/ppm rising. Maybe what I needed was more nutes this entire time to keep pH lower? I don't think it was the rise in res temp that did it, as I've had higher res temps before with a much higher pH and similar nute concentration. Maybe I'll keep the levels a little bit lower (it'll definitely help with res changes), and nutes higher. Although the nute concentration will probably be higher anyway as I switch over to flower soon. As much as pH hasn't been at an ideal level, these babies are growing very well. One of the blueberries is showing a slight yellow discoloration on one of it's leaves, but the rest of her looks really healthy. I might just prune it if it keeps showing sign of deficiency. Berry White is obviously looking very healthy, but very thin. The weight of the leaves on some branches are starting to overcome its stem support, so much that one of the stems has bent completely; so I need to figure out something quick. It definitely will not be able to hold up the weight of the flowering phase. Anyone have a simple (and cheap) idea? Ambient tent: 81F (24hr low/hi 68/81F), Humidity 57% (24hr low/hi 40/58%), pH 6.05, EC 1.238, 867 ppm, res temp 76.7F
Keep up the journal notes. I do on a notebook in the room so there is no guesswork. I just got a custom spectrum Mars II 900w and am cracking beans now.