Here we go! I am very excited. My first grow (not counting a seed I sprouted as a kid). Would love some suggestions from some of the experienced blades. Attempting to growing some Blue Dream. DIY grow closet. Separate chamber for res. Grow area is 30" x 24" X 72". See guide in my signature if you are interested in the build. Helios 420W (actual) LED, RDWC - 2 5gal buckets, 18g rubbermaid tote. Connected with 2" pvc with return back to top of res. Will scrog with home built screen using 1/2" pvc and 1/16" vinyl coated braided steel cable. 2" holes. Botanicare Nutes - Pure blend pro, grow and bloom. GERMINATION May 19, Placed seeds in moist paper towel. May 20 Sprouted the next day and put in rockwool. May 22 Sprout emerged. May 23 Cotyldons, placed under LED at 18" below light. May 24 First true leaves, began fanning. May 25 Roots emerge from bottom of rockwool. Placed in bubble buckets. Temps range from 70-82. Res temp gets as high as 72. Trying to keep it cool with frozen 2 liter bottles, but I can tell it is going to be a challenge. I am going to need a lot more bottles. Using plain RO water until roots make it into the water, then will aim for around 300 ppm to start. Here is one of my baby girls. View attachment 157055
Good luck man! Your building topic was very awesome, really detailed with all the pictures and information
Thanks, Weedle. I wanted to do something to help give back. Since I know how to build cabinets better than grow plants, I figured it would be nice to share.
Quick update. Not much going on. I probably jumped the gun since it is going to be a bit before the seedling hits veg. Second set of leaves are just barely starting to emerge. No roots through net pot yet. Cabinet temps are 82-71, res temps 64-75 (thanks to frozen gallon jugs of water). Freezing all that water is taking up an entire shelf on my freezer and the humidity is making it ice up. Battling that res is going to be a headache. I will probably rig a fan to blow over the top of the water in the res. Unfortunately, a chiller is not in the cards for this grow. I am keeping an eye on ebay, craigslist, etc for a cheaper used one.
That's the only thing that turns me to coco. I use a res for cuts and fighting it is no Bueno with a res inside a tent I'd go bonkers.
Seedling day 14. Cotyldons are shrivled up. Added CalMag and Botanicare Grow. 296ppm. pH 5.8. Second set of leaves beginning to develop. Sorry for no photos. I will add some tomorrow.
I am excited to have subbers! Thanks everyone. If you have any suggestions, please don't hold back. Things are moving slow, but WE HAVE ROOTS through netpot in little girl #2!! Looking forward to hitting veg stage. Day 16 Seedling day 11 Temp min/max humid min/max pH pH Chng pH adj. ppm ppm chng ppm adj. Res min/max H2O added Size 73.2/87.3 39/56 5.8 5.8 0 295 0 295 73.4/80.8 0 1.25" View attachment 157472 View attachment 157474 View attachment 157473 Very happy to see roots emerging from #2. I have been top watering every couple days, and will be happy to not need to do so. My res temps are getting high. The cab is in a climate controled room. However, unfortunately, my AC went out a few days ago. The unit will be repaired Friday, but in the meantime, ambient temps are a bit higher. Also, I forgot to freeze the gallon jugs, so no ice in the res. I cant wait until I can get a chiller. On top of the temp issue, the res soup looks a bit murky. I am not sure whether this is normal after adding the nutes a few days prior or if I am getting contaminates.
Day 17 Seedling day 12 \nTemp min/max humid min/max pH pH Chng pH adj. ppm ppm chng ppm adj. Res min/max H2O added Size 74.5/86.4 40/59 5.7 -0.2 5.9 305 +10 305 77.9/80.1 0 1.25" \nGrowth is speeding up. Leaves are cupping a bit. Should I be concerned? \nRoots on #2 continue to grow. Roots from #1 have not yet emerged. \n View attachment 157514 View attachment 157513
Day 20 Seedling day 15 \nTemp min/max humid min/max pH pH Chng pH adj. ppm ppm chng ppm adj. Res min/max H2O added Size 69.8/82.2 436/52 5.5 -0.3 5.8 492 +22 492 61.7/76.3 1g (yesterday) 1.25" \nGrowth is speeding up. Several issues and a scare. \nIssue 1. Possible deficiency. Yesterday, I noticed a yellowing tip of the lower leafs. I thought maybe a deficiency as it did not look like burn and overnight ppm dropped from 310 to 263 and pH went from 5.8 to 6.1. I stepped it up to 470. \nIssue 2. Roots not emerging from net pot in #1 and it is beginning to lag behind #2. I made the noob mistake of putting too much hydroton under the rockwool. I have been top watering it as regularly as possible. I gently picked out hydroton until I verified that there were roots growing down somewhere but I did not dig deep or mess with the roots at all. I did not want to damage anything. \nIssue 3 (Scare). When I checked my roots on #2 today, they had a brown tint. I got super worried about root rot. My AC was out for 2 days and temps in the res got warm. In an attempt to cure issue 2, I raised the water level until it was a couple inches above the bottom of the net pot. I am hoping that it will hit the roots and encourage downward growth. \nApparently after research I discovered that it is possible for hydroton dust to stain the roots if they are not thoroughly cleaned. I sprayed the brown roots with clean water and voila, snow white again. I am fairly confident that you cannot spray off root rot. Also, #2 continues to develop quite fast. \nAnyway, here are the photos of the girls and the roots on #2 before spraying them clean. \n View attachment 157646 View attachment 157645 View attachment 157648 View attachment 157647 View attachment 157649 \n\n
Day 22 Seedling day 18 \nTemp min/max humid min/max pH pH Chng pH adj. ppm ppm chng ppm adj. Res min/max H2O added Size 73.8/84.9 40/52 5.4 -0.4 5.9 533 +33 517 63.7/78.4 1g 1.25" \nCentral AC went out again. Have a bad fuse box. Getting fixed tomorrow. Roots continuing to develop in both plants. #2 is still ahead in development. 4th node is emerging. \nRes has some brown buildup in it. I am worried about cyanobacteria due to the hot res temps. I am hoping to change res, sterilize and use some H2O2 to clear it up. I really hope this is not the doom of my girls. \n View attachment 157753 View attachment 157751 View attachment 157752
Day 23 Seedling day 19 \nTemp min/max humid min/max pH pH Chng pH adj. ppm ppm chng ppm adj. Res min/max H2O added Size 71.1/85.6 35/48 5.6 -0.3 5.8 500 -14 500 63.7/79.7 0 1.5-2 View attachment 157797 View attachment 157793 View attachment 157794 View attachment 157795 View attachment 157796 \nAC fixed in house, again. Things continue to develop. 4th node coming out on both plants. I believe this node will be 5 finger leaves and I will start counting days as veg. \nI added 1/4 tsp bleach to 15 gallons of soup to combat the brown deposits forming on side of res. Roots look good. Not sure if it is slime or clay dust. There is no gelatenous stuff on the air stones or roots. Plants growing well so I dont think it is root rot.
Lookin like you got good setup, and just so you know in the grow in my sig the res has stayed between 70-74 its entire lifespan, I put a single drop of peroxide in once a week and have not has any issues with anything building up on the roots. Of course I waited till the root systems was a lil more substantial to start peroxide. Tis a non circulating dwc in a shoe box shaped two gallon tub and a little over 6 weeks into flower on an 11-12 week sativa dominant phenol that's getting way larger than I had hoped. Not turning out nearly as difficult as I thought it would. Subbed, doing better than I did, fought ph issues the first 2 weeks
Looking good, Nice color looks strong and healthy. Seem to be growing pretty slow tho? day 23 from Germ? Do you mist your plants in the mornings or w.e time they would consider morning? I find it helps my plants quiet a bit. Also do you have a fan blowing on them? This will help strengthen the stock at a young age and helps them grow much faster. This was day 18 or 20ish with florescent from when they hit soil. And day 30 Every time i look at LED grows the veg speed and size is never really there probably the main reason i havent spent the 1000$+ to replace my lights. I havent seen 1 grow ( non professional) with LED that has compared to what comes from the Florescent vegging, Ive seen some pretty decent yields from using LED in flower but it has to be grown with an even canopy. LED has zero penetration power, so if you have any undergrowth get rid of it for sure. I have never been partial to hydro either, way to much up front cost in nutes, hydro for not that big of an increase in yeild, i did two cycles using hydro and only ever pulled minimal amounts more for almost double the cost in nutrients.
Hemp, Thanks for the comments. It is 23 days from seed in the wet paper towel. I am about a week behind I think because I made two noob mistakes. After germ, I waited way too long to give them any nutes, several days after the cotyledons yellowed. They were just on RO. I also put them too high in the rock wool and the roots had to really fight to get down to the nutrient solution. As soon as I wet the rock wool with a 1/4 strength solution, they started developing and once the roots hit the water, growth is now moving quite fast. I have not misted them, primarily because I am afraid of mold and other nasty stuff. I watched purplemonkeys grow get that mold infestation, and I am real worried about it. I do have a 6" clip fan aimed a couple inches over them. They are slightly fluttering from the air movement. I agree that LED's are probably not worth the price. I got mine at a steep discount from a shop. It was a display for a model they are no longer carrying. It was not that much more than a decent ballast, MH, HPS, and reflector. Perhaps it would still not match what you have seen with florescents, but I think the light would appear to work better if I was a better gardener. I am aware of the penetration issue which is why I am going to scrog. I will do my best to keep the canopy even during flower (if I get that far). We shall see.