Mech's 2nd Grow- Watch this idiot try to go hydro. . . 400w MH/HPS 2'x5'x8'

Finally, my grow thread. . .

First thing I want to say is thank you to all the folks here on GC for inspiring, teaching and helping me to get one step closer to never buying bud again- I can't mention you all by name (hhrumphh) for fear of leaving someone out- Peace, Brothers-

Now on to my ridiculous grow!

So I finally figured out how to gets pics uploaded correctly. This is the space that I started with.


I installed an outlet on its own breaker and 2 6" ducts in l and r corners.


Fast forward, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy into the future, actually about 5 weeks, and you've got my closet as it is today:


Some pics along the way:

The closet is five feet wide by two feet deep by eight feet tall. I took the carpet and pad out to make sure no matter what I spilled I would be able to replace pristine carpet in the closet at will.


Oh Shit! Theses bagseeds sprouted way better (and faster) than I expected!


I got 'em in rockwool right away. I learned later that might not have even been the right move. Fuck it's hard to know what to do when you're a noob.


My first setup with the modified Hydrofarm light (DIY Forthcoming)


They grew for a while, then went into 16 oz cups.


At least while I'm forced to buy brick weed, my dealer at least has a sense of humor. . .


As you see in the thread in my sig and here, I upgraded to the DIY cooltube. I have a box fan on a speed controller, a 240 cfm blower pulling through the light, reflective lining, etc.


After a month in 16 oz cups, and in preferted Scott's soil which I'm now totally aware is too hot for seedlings, the bottom leaves were crisping up nice like this:


Rather than worry about it, I just went ahead and transplanted to what I hope is better soil:


I put everything in 2.2 gallon pots


And I made a tray out of triple thick cardboard covered with 2 layers, 8 mils of poly- no spills here!



And here they are in my closet:


So, what noob mistake did I make to cause this?


I value all opinions. I have a ton more pics of this grow, and there were a lot more steps than I'm showing here. Really, I've noticed people just glance at a thread and comment, so I'll wait to see what people are interested in before I get into specifics.

I guess it would be a good point to indicate my intentions for the grow. I'm raising this group of bagseed babies because they are all I have access to genetics-wise and because Rump told me to do a soil grow for practice, before I moved on to hydro. It's been invaluable experience, so far- I'm glad Rumpleforeskin persuaded me to start this way.

Hopefully I will get a few females from which to take clones and start a hydro setup. That is the goal. But I also hope that I will be able to flower the soil mothers to get some bud soon-ish.

What should I do from here?

As always, appreciate you folks.

-Mech

 

1st thing- Welcome BudSlinger.

Strong are you with the force.

Honored to have you looking in my first grow!

(By the way- your lady's avy and titles are hilarious. I saw the comedian that does the "doin Yoda" routine at a comedy club in Dallas a few years ago)

The last thing a padawan should do is question the master, but let me give you some more background.

I'm one of those noobs that's so scared of overwatering, I might have underwatered. When those were in 16oz cups, I watered them about once a week. I usually wait 'till the leaves start to droop slightly, then water them. I let them get plenty dry before transplanting to aid in removing them from the cups. You can see how droopy they are. When I transplanted and watered them well, the perked right up overnight.

So , is it possible they are underwatered?

Cause if they need to be dryer than I'm running 'em now, they must be desert plants.

As far as nutes, watering schedule- I'm watering when they start to lose a little turgor pressure and droop slightly. Is this bad practice?

I mixed a gallon of GH nutes at what the bottle said to use for seedlings, and waterd in the 16oz cups one time, and that's when the leaves really started to get crispy and turn yellow. I'm not saying it's all because of the nutes, but it had to be part of it.

So now I'm just giving them distilled water.

What do you think about watering with tap water treated with chlorine/chloramine remover?
What about water from my fish tank water changes- wouldn't use it for hydro but it's loaded with Nitrates and Nitrites?

What should my watering schedule/ nute schedule look like?

Any help appreciated-

-Mech

 

Thanks for helping, Slinger.

Let me answer a few questions:


I don't know the PPM of my tap. Yeah, Yeah, I need a meter but I can't decide which one. pH meter comes first anyway. Want to make sure I make a good investment there. Using drops, the soil runoff is 6, as is my tap water.

I use that remover because it removes chloramine as well as chlorine. Chloramine will not evaporate out on its own like chlorine.

My fish tank water would be ideal but I'm worried it would interfere with nute schedules due to be high in notrogen.

This pic is them right after the transplant, last night:


This morning they perked up considerably, leading me to believe they want more water.

Here are a few close ups and an "aerial" shot to show you the layout.




And the setup:


Here you are looking down past my DIY Cooltube at the 10 soil bagseed plants, and my experimental bubble bucket plant on the right. There is a 20" box fan w/ speed control hanging to the right of the light, and a panasonic whisperline fv-20 inline blower sucking 240 CFM through the light and exhausting in to the attic. The exhaust blows on my ballast, keeps it cool to the touch.

I'm thinking of adding another of the same blower, one closed-loop on the light and one sucking air under the door and out the top. Soon as I get an "extra" $126. pH meter first- though. Which one should I get? Do you really need 4 and 7 and cleaning and storage solutions? I find conflicting info everywhere.

Right now, if you close the door the temp stays between 72-75, a little hotter at the canopy right under the lights.

Earlier, when they were in 16oz cups I had the light about 8" over the plants, and the canopy temp was about 85. Rump said put the light about 16" away. Am I right in thinking that inches away is more a CFL thing, and I should back off with the HID?

What is the ideal ambient temp?
What is the ideal canopy temp maximum?
How cold is too cold?

Seems basic but everyone says wildly different stuff.

I'll quit rambling on now, Any help is appreciated and I appreciate your time. It is certainly more valuable than mine.

-Mech

 

Hi Folks. 2 Days after the transplant, they seem happier.



#5 is the current best-


Here are a few bad leaves. There are a few types, but hopefully all the new growth on the plants will all be good.




I think my pH and soil makeup are at least adequate now. I'm going to lower the light to 16" over them like Rump said, and see what happens. They had really stopped growing in those 16oz cups and I was surprised by the amount of roots they had.

Well, I guess they were 5 weeks old.

Hopefully the growth rate will kick back up again, because everyone else's stuff seems to grow a lot faster. Maybe that's just subjective since I stare at my plants, willing growth to occur, for hours. . . I bet no one else here ever does that.

Looking forward to some good conversation on GC tonight.

Later y'all,

-Mech

 

'Sup fd-

What kind of meters do you use? Did you buy all the storage and cleaning solutions and all that?

I definitely need both meters but it wouldn't have made any difference here as the soil was pre-ferted. I shouldn't have used it but someone on here said it would be fine.

Thanks for saying my setup looks nice. I appreciate it.

-Mech

 

Slinger,

This is the soil: "Natural Guard" organic soil


It says on the back:

"Organic"

and

N .70 %
Phosphate .20%
Potash .30%
Calcium 1.50 %
Mag .20 %

it says free of "composted material"

I thought FF OF was expensive at 20 a bag, but this shit was $16!

Thanks for taking the time to read through. I'll be right here to answer any questions you might have.


I'll have an updated pic as soon as my camera battery charges.

-Mech

 

Just to be clear, they spent their first 5 weeks in regular Scott's potting soil. The Roots looked like this:


Now they are in this soil and they seem to like it. I think the problems were from the Scott's, which I will never use again.

Lots of folks are still saying overwatering, but man, I doubt it.

Thanks for bringin' your friend if you do. Let me know what you need pics of.


-Mech

 

Hi , Myles - Thanks for taking the time to come by my grow.

just exactly how old are these plants as of today?? obv the issue aint just a watering problem cuz your roots looked healthy at transplant and sounds like you are doing it correctly. Its a ph problem, a deficiency or a toxicity due to too much fert. So lets get to the bottom of it bro
As of these pics from a few minutes ago they are 35 days from seed. The light is now 16" off the tops, ambient temp is 69, canopy temp is running 74 with the door closed.



Tell me the feeding schedule you've been using (saw you used the recommended seedling amount.... was this just once?) The original soil you used had fertilizer in it already? What was the amounts of said fert in it?
Correct, I only nuted once and that made it worse. I was watering about every 4-5 days, when the cups got light. This is the soil I used:


The water source you use come chlorinated I see... rather then add shit to get rid of the chlorine you can let the water sit for 24 hours and the chlorine will evaporate out on its own. Thatll just help narrow down the possibilities of what could be causing it not that the product you use is necessarily causing any issues.
I don't know if my tap water has chlorine or chloramine. I will treat it either way if I use it. Up to now (and still) I'm using distilled from the grocery store. Uggh! I just measured my tap water twice, and it comes out off the scale high, over 8.5 so forget that unless I get an RO filter. Or should I just use pH down (I have some) and still use it?


Do you keep track of ph? Many think it aint needed growing in soil but its just as importent. you want all water given to the plants to be at 6.5-6.9 watering with high or low ph'd water over time changes the alkalinity/acidity of the soil and causing certain nutrients to be unavailable to the plants' root systems.
The soil runoff measures 6.0 ph, near as I can tell with drops. Shouldn't distilled water be at 7? I'm out right now so I 'll measure when I get some.

It's wild how different the soil plants are from the bubble-experiment plant. They came from the same seeds but are really different looking.



interogation reound one complete get back to me whenever with whatever info you got for me. Sry i took so long ta stop in... had to kick an exams ass first

'Luck on the test, glad I'm done with school. Thanks for coming by to help, Myles.

-Mech

 

Now that they are in new soil I really have no idea about the runoff- I checked it with the transplant runoff but I didn't write it down- and well, you know how that goes with people like us. I put a pad by the pH stuff so I'll keep track from now on. They've been in new soil about 48 hrs or a bit more now, so maybe I'll water tomorrow.

-Mech

 

Thanks, Soapman- I appreciate you saying that stuff.

Perhaps you have picture of your space you want to share here?

Thanks for dropping by and check out my DIY threads.

Later -Mech