Stealth LED DWC cabinet grow

1st time grow. I setup a nice grow cab with ultra stealth in mind. Please give me your constructive criticism and expert advice. If there is interest I will log my grow here.

Equipment:
- 12 place top feed DWC
- mini 10 place DWC (bottom germ/veg chamber)
- 6" inline fan and carbon scrubber
- Flip 360W LED
- 3 air pumps with 6 airstones (4 top, 2 bottom)
- T5 light (bottom chamber)
- nutradip continuous tri-meter
- 10,000 BTU portable AC (45 sq ft room)
- additional air pump and 2 more air stones in DWC res.
- Generic drug store heat mat for germination dome

 

I`m 8 days into a grow from seeds. I picked up a bunch of different seeds from a couple of sources. I have been planning on getting this little grow op going for a while now and collected seeds from reputable breeders. I have a bunch of different strains but only a couple beans of each.


I started out with 16 seeds. Out of the 16, 15 have germinated and most are ready to be transplanted to DWC. I started with so many because I figured as a noob I would F some of them up. Also, 14 of the 16 are regular seed (not feminized), so I planned on half of them being males. I have a bunch more awesome seeds but I figured this would be a good start since real estate is at a premium in my tiny cab.

Gentetics:
- 5 La Plata Labs, DGOG reg
- 5 La Plata Labs, Budha`s Delight reg (1 did not germ)
- 1 G13 Labs, Chocolate Heaven fem
- 1 Emerald Triangle, Cheesy Headband fem
- 2 Grand Daddy Purple, Grandpa Larry reg
- 2 BC Bud Depot Girl Scout Cookie

I`m planning on a perpetual grow going. These plants will obviously have to stay very small because of the limited space. I have a small DWC system for the lower chamber to keep mother/vegging plants. If my garden is a success and I enjoy gardening I will eventually get a 2nd larger cab for flowering plants and just veg and propagate in the current cab.

I was planning on switching them to 12/12 light when I can see roots coming through the bottom of the net pots. Would this be ok for taking clones? I would have to take my clones during the flower period, I know this is possible but would the experienced farmers recommend this? or would there be a better way?

 

DAY 8
Problem I have been having with cab is that bottom germ/veg chamber gets much cooler then upper chamber because cool air is drawn from bottom chamber. After I started running the portable AC temps were 66-71 (lower chamber) and seedling growth was slow. I put a generic heating pad on med heat under germ tray and they grow so fast now you can almost watch them.

Been giving them RO water with a small amount of B vitamins. PPM around 100.
Transplanted 4 of my babies (3 Budha Delight, 1 DGOG) into DWC.

Environment (top chamber):
- Temps 70 - 77
- Res Temps 67-71 (been using a frozen water bottle once a day to try and keep under 70)
- LED light 19" above plants on "veg" mode, 20/4 light.
- PPM around 250... Thought this was high but plants seem to be responding well, nutes at 1/5 strength and small amount of B vitamins and cal/mag)
- PH 5.5 - 6.0... constants battle keeping PH down, keeps wanting to rise. I have been putting a few oz of res water in a cup, mixing my acid in there and pouring diluted water/acid into the res. I was worried about shocking or stressing plants by dropping straight PH down acid into the res. Is this right? or do I not need to worry about it and just drop undiluted? or maybe a completely different method of controlling PH?

 

One of the DGOG is growing weird and not sure if it will survive. Don`t know if I did something, I had a hard time for the first couple days getting the air temps right. I am wondering if they were stressed from temp changes or if that one just has some "special" genetics. What do you guys think?


The GDP Grandpa Larrys are looking amazing already. They look happy, healthy and their stalks are like a redwood compared to all the others. I`m thinking they have the best genetics of the bunch. Even the seeds were bigger, more striped and just better looking then the rest. Both GDP sprouted within 24 hours.

 

My gimp, only plant I`m not sure what happened. 14 look heathy, 1 gimp and 1 no show. Not bad I guess for 1st try.

GDP Grandpa Larry day 8.... I think they are going to be super stars. They better be girls or else!!!

 

A few of my plants have developed these orangish looking spots. They seem to be happy, healthy and growing fairly fast. Are these anything to worry about? Any input would be much appreciated.

 

Stopped posting because there didn`t seem to be any interest. Since you would like to follow I will continue logging. I have learned a ton already and feel like I`m getting the hang of this. When I get a chance I will get some current pictures up. I will tell you right off the bat some issues you will probably run into.
- One of the toughest things is temperature control, the LED omits a significant amount of heat. I have a portable AC in a 45 sq ft room set to 70 degrees blowing at the closet. This keeps the top chamber with light on at 75 and bottom chamber at 68. Light off keeps both chambers at 68. Without the portable AC and my home AC set to 77 (I live in the desert) the temps can get as high as 90 with the light on.
- There is a problem with clone/germ chamber on bottom. The cool air is drawn from there and you cannot keep the temps high enough. It is a bad design. It would be better if the germ chamber was on the top so it could make good use of the heat from the light. Unfortunately I did not realize this before I purchased. My plan to be able to clone/germ and keep mothers is to buy a micro grow tent ($60 on amazon) with a couple of T5s in it and use that. I will remove the bottom shelf from the cab to allow more room for flowering. This will allow a perpetual grow, it is impossible to maintain correct temps the way it comes.
- The instructions are very vague and the nutrient chart supplied is why I had the problem with my plants. They had nute burn. Regulate your nutes by PPM and not the chart. After you transplant to DWC start with no higher then 150 PPM


You may also want to add a couple things like a digital PH meter, heat mat for germ/cloning and I added an extra air pump and 2 more air stones to big DWC tank.


I am currently 4 weeks in. Things are going really good now that I got the nutes figured out. I will get some current pics up soon.

 

My pleasure buddy! I was excited about this grow and thought it was pretty sweet setup and I'm def working with some awesome genetics. I was really surprised that I had zero response from the forum. Started to feel like the ugly girl at the prom...... Yeah, I didn't expect the prob with the bottom either and I liked how the shelf was adjustable, but now that I'm working with it, it would be totally impractical to try and move the shelf around.

Yes, I got the CNS 17 nutes and they seem to be working very well, but I don't know any better since this is my 1st grow.

You can def germ on bottom and transplant right up top, that is what I did. The prob with this is after u get rolling u need the bottom tank to keep a perpetual grow going.... If time is not an issue and u don't mind waiting months in between harvest, it will work fine. The LED has a veg and a flower mode, it seems to be a very high quality light, the plants are growing very fast, thick and full.

I also ordered the side 45W LEDs but they were out and have them on back order. They are hooking me up with a couple hundred bucks in free goodies for the inconvenience.

 

Budha Delight 3 weeks of veg

 

Girl scout cookie

 

Once u get the environment and nutes dialed u will be shocked how fast they grow, u can almost watch them. I have to admit though, it's trickier and more work then I initially thought. I think soil would be a lot easier and less maintenance.

 

The plant front and center is the cheesy headband. I only have one. It def looks like it could be a taller plant. My DGOG in the back left corner is super short and bushy.

 

I just got a bunch of goodies in and will be making some big changes to the setup tonight.


I will be completely removing the bottom veg/clone chamber. I have a mini tent that will take over for propagation and veg that is considerably larger than the chamber in the cab. This will allow more space and solve the temp problems I have been having. I will be running a 150W 7500K CFL and the small DWC bucket in there.


I am at 3 to 4 weeks of veg in the cab and they are still growing at an incredible rate and look great. I switched the light to full wattage (bloom mode) and will be adding more lighting. Since switching the light, the plants seem to be growing even faster and the leaves are praying to the light like I have never seen. I will be adding two 45W LED side lights (finally got them from back order!) and one T5 tonight to the cab.


I will be switching them to flower tonight after completing the new setup and a res change. I have been reading about giving them 36 hours dark before 12/12 and the science seems to make a lot of sense, I`m going to give it a try. I have had my PPM around 500 and it is still dropping every time I check. They have been consuming about 2 gal of water a day. They are hungry! I will bump up the nutes.


I am hoping I could now have a perpetual harvest every 4 weeks with the additional veg tent. I am planning on taking clones at day 14 of flower, from what I have read this should be ideal for the style of growing that I am doing and the timing should be good to keep the harvest rolling. I would love input from some of the experienced.



I will post lots of new pics tonight. Super stoked to start flowering.

 

This pic was taken 4 days ago (depending on plant 3 to 4 weeks of veg, 9/21)