Hello everyone, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Trey, but my internet tag has been H8tter (Hater, not hatter) for as long as i can remember (don't worry, I'm actually a really nice guy ) I'm a relatively new grower, i have 1 crop under belt, 4 "guerrilla farming" plants and 4 soil/indoor under a 150HPS. This is my first in depth grow journal. I've Built a 4 plant Hydro Drip/DWC which is running under a 400w MH/HPS with 6" cooling tube/reflector in a 24"x34"x 52" Mylar reflective chamber. I have two 6" inline duct fans, one for intake the other for exhaust on cooling tube. 160GPH water pump, drip rings, air stones, air pump, netted pots, res etc... I went to a local dispensary and picked up some clones. One Raspberry Kush, 2x Sour Grape Haze, and a Mr. Nice Guy. FYI - I started Dec 4th, so I'm already 20 days into veg. I'll try to give a accurate synopses of the mayhem that was the first two weeks of this grow. I appreciate all comments, advice, and criticisms ya'll have to offer. Tri Meter, 400w Ballast, Timer, PS My closet grow chamber Day 1 I was so nervous, knew nothing about hydro really other than what i read quickly on the internet and forums.
The first week is coming to an end and i they're still alive! I had a few issues arise. Due to the design of the DWC, the pump needed to be running non stop in order for the system to stay charged and not overflow the res. (the 1/4" drain lines at the bottom of the individual plant tubs weren't plugged and would slowly drain down in to a res that's too small to hold 12 gallons of fluid - space limitations) so the plants suffered from over watering during the first 5 days. I defiantly kept the rock wool too wet. Plugged the drain lines, went through a plethora of timers before i found one that could handle the work load. I bought a used Trimeter off Ebay, plugged it in and assumed it was correct. (Calibration fluid? what's that?) about 8 days in the Trimeter wouldn't hold a pH reading (constant fluctuations) went to hydro store, guy explain i needed a new probe or calibrate the one i have. Bought the PH 7 and 4, Youtube'd the "how to" and discovered that what originally read as 5.8-5.9 was actually 6.2-6.3. Another mistake i made was using full strength nutes from day 1 . Not sure the impact this had on the health/progression of the plants, but they look decent. If my trimetere was reading correctly (and i'm sure it wasn't) it said the water was at 100ish and nutes raised it to 550-600 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 7 Ph 6.2-6.4 PPM - Not calibrated Res Temp - Avg 64F Low/High Chamber Temp: 70F - 82F Low/High Humidity: 42%-60%
I started off week 2 by remaking the drip system. Instead of 1/4 line flowing freely down the hydroton, i made drip rings out of 1/4 soaker hose and installed a 4 port flow regulator. established a feeding schedule. 26 minutes of watering followed by a 3 hour off period. I pruned the older fan leafs off around days 10-11 to uncover more light for the new growth, which was starting to come in quite nicely. Day 8 Vid:Day8.mp4 video by H8tter - Photobucket By day 14 all the plants roots had reached the res below them. Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Ph 5.8-5.9 PPM - Not calibrated Res Temp - Avg 63F Low/High Chamber Temp: 69F - 81F Low/High Humidity: 39%-53%
Greetings ya'll. It was a great week and the plants are looking strong! After the roots hit the water they really blew up quick. I topped 3 of the 4 plants, the one in the bottom left corner is diagonal and already has multiple side shoots. Swapped out the MH for my HPS and changed the lighting to 12/12. feedings have also changed. Now doing six 30 minute feedings with an hour and a half between each feeding from 6am to 4:30pm. I also included one feeding during the middle of the dark period (12:00am-12:30am). Swapped out the water in the res and mixed my "transition" nutes for one week. 50% veg formula/50% flower formula. Day 15 Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20 Day 22 Avg. PH - 5.8-6.0 PPM - Still not calibrated Avg. RES temp - 62F-65F Low/High Chamber Temp: 69F - 79.5F Low/High Humidity: 32%-60%
OK... We're finally caught up! Let me introduce the plants: This is plant right here is my boy, eh, er...girl..um, yea! But seriously look at that creature. This Raspberry Kush hit the res first in 12 days. Illustrates the difference in growth rates after roots hit the water. It's stem is thicker than my fingers! This is the first of twins of Sour Grape Haze. Didn't mean to get two, but oh well, sounds yummy! Here's my other Sour Grape Haze. I refer to this one as SGH 2 Last but not least it's a Mr. Nice Guy!!! Took longest to reach the res (14 days) but is catching up. Here are a few pictures of the root growth: This is the Raspberry Kush roots at day 19 of veg (been in there approx 6-7 days) This is the Raspberry Kush a mere 3 days later, Day 22. HOLY CRAP! This is the SGH 2 Day 17 Been in 3 days, maybe 4. Here's the SGH 2 Day 22 From here on out it's up to date day to day action pack goodness~
If your not already, You need to cover your Reservoir with something dark 2 layers duct tape, 1 layer of aluminium foil tape, couple coats of black paint, dont suggest doing that with live pant in it tho
I only have thick towels havnging down to prevent light form getting through. Works decent. That's a good idea. I have some duct tape laying around i can sheath those containers with. Now that i've had the pleasure of watching the root progression over the 3 week veg period, I'll seal everything up tight.
As long as you dont tape you lid and container together then youcan open it up and check them out, in my Bubble bucket I see her roots every day
Hehe, well it's not exactly the most thought out hydroponic design. It's loosely based off of Blunt 69's "magic trays" Basically, my roommate, who's much more experience grower than i, told me hydro would be much more fruitful and he would help be build a system. When i started getting the parts together, he got busy with work and i was left to construct this device on my own. A few weeks, a couple floods and multiple trials later i finished this: The trays are screwed to the bottom of the board and won't be removable until after the grow. I have a larger "overflow" valve/tubing on each tray, water line comes within 1 1/2 - 2 inches of the bottom of the netted pot. There's also a smaller 1/4" drain tube that remains plugged until i want to drain the system and replace the water/nutes. I know i'm going to get some guff for how well lit the res area looks. It's really dark most of the time and i plan on taking RepusReworg advice of covering up the tubs with tape.
My humidity hovers in the 60-68% during the dark period. I keep my two 6" intake/exhaust running 24/7, is the movement of fresh air and low 80's during the day period sufficient to detour molds? Daytime humidity has been 35-55% during first 3 weeks, but it's been rainy this past week and 50% has been as low as its going. it's only 2nd day of flowering, are certain weeks more sensitive to mold? later is flowering? Dehumidifier? if so what size for 21 cubic feet grow chamber?
I have the same probs with humidity. I even have that same brand hydrogmeter you got, lol. mold can hit any time but the worst is during the last few weeks when the buds swell up and get denser. i have a 25 pint dehumidifer on constantly on the highest setting and my humidity hovers around 48% in the day and in the high 60s at night so im wondering the same thing about what to do. Maybe try investing in some damp rid to set around the grow room.
Here's another question. If I'm worried about humidity and i want to use a dehumidifier, but my grow chamber isn't very big, would running the unit in the room, that the closet chamber sits in, be sufficient or does it have be inside the chamber to be effective?
I have a 6x6x6 wood frame box that has mylar walls that serves as my grow tent. I keep the dehumidifier running right outside of the box. It's sufficient for me at least. The grow tent is in a bigger basement room, not sure on square footage and too lazy to measure. Like i said my humidity hovers around 47% to 50% range most of the time so I dont feel the need to put it in the tent itself but if you tried everything else and still have high rH levels maybe try it.
The stormy weather has passed for now and humidity has resumed acceptable margins. I defiantly want to eventually purchase a dehumidifier for the room. If not for the humidity control, wouldn't it also help increase resin produce to help preserve water in dryer conditions? Started 12/12: Dec 26 (day23) Day 23 Day 24 Day 25 Day 26 Day 27 Day 28
I had no idea how much the plants would grow after cutting back their light from on 24 to 12/12. I'm so glad i didn't do the entire 4 weeks of vegetative growth i had planned for. In fact, i plan on only doing 2 weeks only for my next crop. Now that the first week of flowering transition is over, i have switched the nutrient formula and up'd the strength. Forgot to get the damn PPM calibration solution again! Plants all look healthy and robust. Due to the high humidity i've been facing these past few weeks, i've invested in a 45pint dehumidifier, should be here in less than a week. I really want to make sure mold is not an issue. I've pruned a bit of under growth to help airflow and redirect plant energy. First time pruner here and space is limited for the 4 plants, if you have any suggestions, i hope the pics give clear enough indication. Day 30 Day 31 Day 34 - Top View Day 34 - Side View Day 35 - WOWZA Day 35 - Side View Sorry for the gap, i got lazy for few days. (damn you snowcap!) For the PH, i've been lowering it to 5.3-5.5 and letting it slowly go up over the day on it's own until it reaches 6.1-6.2, then i repeat. Seems to be working well and less PH management for me to worry about. It's been cool cloudy/stormy and pretty wet. Have been on the prowl for any signs of mold but everything seems fine for now going into the third week of flowering. PH Range - 5.4-6.1 PPM - STILL not calibrated Avg. RES temp - 59F-63F Low/High Chamber Temp: 68F - 78F Low/High Humidity: 49%-70%
Looks Great Man, Cant wait to see what your gonna get, i just put my girl into flush for her last week of life. I make sure my ph is right on 5.8 twice a day, so i know how much work goes into it, id suggest on your next grow go with just a DWC system instead of DWC/Drip seems like alot of work/problems/water for pretty much the same result.
OK, finally got the forum formatting thing down Now i can take a break My 3 weeks vacation has ended and now I'm back to work. I'll only have access to them for a few hours of light time a day. Should have thought more about which 12 hours i wanted the light cycle to be. Friend gave me a good idea of having during the nights when it's colder to keep temps more optimal (it's been a cold January) Things are going as expected. The stretching has halted and the flowering is starting to become much more noticeable. Inter-nodal lengths have shortened at top section of all the bud sites. I did some major vegetation removal on the bottom 1/3 of the plants. I tried taking a picture of the buds up close but my cheap camera can't handle enough close-up detail to do the plants justice. The video is still not great, but somewhat cooler: Day39.mp4 video by H8tter - Photobucket Day 37 Day 39 Day 39 - Some Others PH Range - 5.4-6.1 PPM - STILL not calibrated Avg. RES temp - 53F-59F Low/High Chamber Temp: 65F - 72F Low/High Humidity: 55%-70%
Nice grow! Your setup seems way complex but it seems to be working great! I have never seen a tray system in use before though. I love the way that cabinet is filling up!