I'm a first time grower and almost all my knowledge on what to do has come from these grasscity forums (thank you). I want to post what I'm starting to do with my hydroponic scrog setup and maybe get some feedback to make sure I'm on the right track. Room: I have a 5'x14' veg room and a 10'x14' bloom room that share a 14' wall. The bloom room shares 2 other walls with the outside walls of the cinder block basement while the veg room only shares one 5' wall with the exterior. The ceiling is 7' tall and an extra 8†between the ceiling joists. The walls are unfinished drywall but the bloom will have mylar around it come bloom time. Medium: I have clay pellets filling black plastic net pots sitting in 3gal black buckets for the veg and moving to 5gals for bloom. Water: My tap water is around 7.2ph, has rusty old galvanized piping, tastes bad, and that's what I used to fill these pots up about to where the bottom of the nets land. Nutes: I used about 400-600ppm of Floranova grow, then about 50-150ppm worth of floraliscious plus. Plants: I started with a variety pack of 12 clones that were in the clone tank too long and nute deprived. Air: I have a large 110W air pump pumping an air stone in each bucket. Mostly I used 3.25†starfish, but I also have a couple 6†sticks, and a couple 4†discs. At first, 3 of the 12 lines were gummed up with something, but after a few days I cleared them out with a pin. Lights: I have 1 600W MH bulb with an adjustable ballast and a reflective hood with the potential to ventilate but I have not yet set up ventilation. The light is 29†above the top of the buckets and 24†from the top of the tallest (5†tall) plant. pH: I have been testing the pH two or three times a day. I try to keep it around 5.7-6.0. Temp: The room temp fluctuates between 62 and 68 degrees depending on if it's day or night since its cold here in the winter (10-25 recently). All degrees in F. Humidity: The room has been as low as 40% humidity but up to 56% sometimes. I feel like It is too low so I added a small humidifier that I had and it seems to stay above 45% now. SCRoG: I want to do a SCRoG as described by greenmonster714 here http://forum.grasscity.com/plant-training/48363-scrog-method.html . But I don't know how tall above the buckets (12†ish?), and if that extends my veg time or what. I was thinking I might have to veg for nearly 6-7 weeks in order to get the screen nearly 50-75% full before switching to bloom, right? Also, I wanted to do more than 1 (thinking ~8) plants under 1 screen (4'x8') under 1 (600W) HPS light. This gives each plant ~75W to itself with a potential to grow into a full 4sqft (2'x2') space without touching another plant at all. This is where I feel the least confident that I know what I'm doing and advice will really help me. Trimming, Pruning, Topping, Fimming, Wha: I have been pruning(?) off the really dead leaves ~1/2†from the base. I've been leaving the semi-â€might come back†type leaves alone. I topped 1 plant so far (1/4"-1/2" from the base)but I feel like the rest are too short to do that with. Journal: I've been taking TDS measurements twice a week and pH measurements 2-3 times daily and keeping records of where each plant is at. Also, temp, day/time, and humidity with each ph measure. I've been taking high-res photos every day or so. If any of this data will help figure out why some of my plants are failing, I can supply it as needed. Lastly I have a few pictures for you guys that may or may not help. I have a nice camera so I can take more close ups of specific ones if needed. Also we can watch as my crop blossoms I've attached a picture from day 1 when I got them and day 5 (yesterday). Please tell me what you think. Thank you, ~Zeratul
I think you're confused on what a dead leaf looks like. If it's brown and dried up, or fert burned then it's dead, but it'f it's just lost some green and looking a little yellow like some I see laying on the sides in your pics... that just means they need some N and they will green right up. All up your plants look a little light like they could use some N. I'm not a hydro person so I can't really help with adjusting your feeding schedule.
sounds like you have all the stuff that you need, and you're on the right track! I don't use the floranova products, but I do use the general hydroponics 3 part llne up with the addition of florablend, diamond nectar, floralicious grow and floranectar in my recirculating DWC (waterfarms)and that shit works awesome. I'm subscribed! good luck, I'll be hanging around and hopefully can help if you need anything!
Thanks for the feedback. I wont be cutting so many good leaves off anymore >.<. I just did my first full flush (day 8) but almost immediately after, someone told me I don't really need to flush? so... 1. Do I have to flush the water/nutes every 7-10 days? If I don't, then am I supposed to check my nutes daily like I've been checking my pH? I haven't checked the nute levels at all between my first fill and my first flush today. 2. My tap water is about 220ppm TDS. When someone suggests going to 600ppm, does that mean 600 or does it mean 820? 3. Do I need a fan in my veg room? 4. I started fimming some new growth on a couple plants (illustrated in a pic). How often can I do this? Should I only do it on the top or can I do it with side growth as well? Any advice will be a huge help. The 3rd pic is of #12 where I topped and fimmed. The 4th pic is of #7, my strongest looking plant. Enjoy the updated pics ^_^. ~Z
1. ould recommend changing the water/nutes in your bucket every 7-10 days. In my waterfarms, which have a 2 gal. rez, I did it every week and have had no issue. now that they're 9-10 weeks old, they are drinking a gal. every 2 days so I have to keep topping it off. they say once you top off enough to replace the entire rez. you should refill with fresh. 2. thisa good question. the way I've approached it is to get it somewhere inbetween 600-820ppm from your example; 700. you'll find your own sweet spot for your ppm. I found that when mixing most nutes per the recommended instructions, even with distilled water with 5 ppm, it's always around 130% of what it's supposed to be, so be careful of that as well. 3. you definitely need some type of fan, preferably an oscillating one, in your veg room 4. do it infrequently enough that the plant can bounce back and be healthy before you do more. you can do this on any growth, but I typically just do it once, and have found better results topping than fim'ing, but to each their own. good luck!
Flush when changing to flower. that is it other than at the end if you want to or if you have problems with lockout or deficiencies. Flushing pretty mush returns the medium to normal without excess salt buildup and ph instability. Flushing and res changes are totally different things.
Thanks for all the advice. From what you've said, I think I've definitely been overfeeding them since most of my plants are between 800-900ppm. I did ass an oscillating fan and hopefully that will give my branches some strength. I noticed they are a bit weak. Also, I was getting ready to fim every 2nd or 3rd new growth shoot I saw so I'm so glad I didn't mutilate my crop! Thank you again. I have more pics coming but my card reader is currently borrowed out. Can't wait til they're tall enough to start the scrog! Thanks again. ~Z
Once again, thank you all for the help. I noticed after putting the fan in the room (or by coincidence) that my platns are really growing fast, have deeper roots, and the pH is more stable! I do have a few more inquiries and pictures though. 1. Some of my plants are 3-leaf and some are 5-leaf. ... Aren't they supposed to be 5 or 7? My 3s are taller and smell like pot and the 5s are bushier and smell like plant. What's up with that? 2. Some of my leaves are yellowing near the outside while others on other plants have like speckles or spots on them. Is this normal? I took a picture of the most stark 2. Thank you again for your help. I'm so excited my grow is going well and that I have some people I can talk to about it. ~Z
as far as the leaves, they grow how they grow. Generally when they get past the seedling stage the leaves are all 7 or more fingers. but they always start with 1 then 3 then 3 then 5 or something like that.
alright guys I've run into a bug problem. I've got chewed leaves and eggs going on. im working on posting pictures soon but freaking out a little. Will post in a bit
i've noticed webs, small black and white eggs on the bottom of plants as well as tiny, mobile things on the undersides. leaves are wilting, some are chewed at hte edges, and some have holes. im posting pics and going out to get some bleach, rubbing alcohol, a spray bottle, a bug bomb, etc. If anyone has advice it is most appreciated. merry christmas to you. ~Z
Since the stores where i can get a bug bomb today are closed, i ended up mixing about 60% water with 40% rubbing alcohol and put into a spray bottle. Then i completely coated my plants several times (over about 15 minutes) focusing on the bottoms of the leaves and bases of the stems. I turned my light off (leaving off for a few hours). I raised my humidity way up to 80% (was 50%) via "water all over the room with a fan on high"-type method. rubbed off many of the leaves with the alcohol solution. heading to get a bomb tomorrow asap. How often should i alcohol spray until i can get the bombs? how many bombs? I heard dr doom bomb rocks. any others i should look for? I heard hot shot pest strips own. again, any help, thoughts, comments, etc. are appreciated. ~Z Also, where could i have gotten these from? its been around 20deg F around here for quite some time, around 62-65 F in the building. 68ish deg in the room. 1 cat 2 floors up, isolated. and a couple dogs that i sometimes involve with. or do they just come around from anything?
I've never had mites, but I was wondering where the hell those fungus gnats came from just like you are. I think they just find there way in there and hide out until there's something that attracts them. I wonder if they can lay dormant?
I made a new mite-specific thread here: http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-m...9-spider-mites-slay-them-all.html#post9116031 This thread I will continue to update with progress and other grow updates. I will post pictures too but unfortunately my camera is broken. It ate the lock slider off one SD card I had and now I cant get another in there. >.< Thanks for the support, ~Z
Mite problem solved - check the link in my previous post to see how well the vapor strip worked! Next issue: Algae. I'm not sure what other hydro growers use, but I use clay pellets. I think there is some algae growing on the bottom of the nets. Is this something to be concerned with? Should I buy rocks/stones? Maybe cover my medium with black garbage bag? If I fix the problem, do I then need to remove the algae? Also, I fixed my camera via hacksaw (believe it or not) and will have more pics soon. They are coming along great! They're much huger than I'd expect after that bug invasion. Again, help very appreciated. ~Z
ive never had major problems with algae, but I hear that best way to combat it is to lower reservoir temperatures, and make sure there are no light leaks in your reservoir. I picked up some drip irrigation tubing from homedepot that was clear. big mistake: within 4 days of using it, you could see the algae building up on the inside of the tubes. I'll be changing that tubing as soon as the new black tubing shows up in the mail good luck
Thanks for stickin' with me DD. Here's some more pics and updates. -I just hung my mylar and rearranged the room. -I set up the scrog table but haven't laid the fencing over it yet. -I found 1 bug chillin at the top of one of my plants. see pics -Reinstated the vapor strip Plans for tomorrow: -change all the buckets to 5gal (flush) -up the nutes to 1000ppm -add the screen and start scrogging the plants that are tall enough Future: -ventilation system Also, I found out what plants I am growing: Bubblegum, G13, Grapefruit, and maybe Professor X. So this'll be a good bloom cycle! Comments always welcome even if it's just "sounds good". One last thing, I was mailed 2 bulbs, one MH and one HPS. One was broken on arriaval and the pictures are included. Can anyone tell me if this is a MH or HPS bulb? Thank you, ~Z