2nd HYDRO Drip System Attempt, 420w CFL; Il Diavolo, White Russian, & Easyryder

Hello again everyone here at GC!!!

This will be my second attempt at a HYDROPONIC Recirculating Drip System that consists of 5 - 2 gallon buckets. Four of the buckets are for plants and the fifth is the reservoir with access hole for adding additional water/nutrient solution. This bucket also has the water/solution level indicator tube attached to it. Pictures will follow when they come into use.

I will be using a soil-less growing medium called Sure To Grow that I learned of from 77401. Thank you 77401 for that discovery. Please see his thread and sig line for the link in his sig line for his longer experience with the starter cubes. I think I will be pleased with their products. The first of the S2G products that I will be using are the 1.5" X 1.5" seed/clone starter cubes that I will then use as an insert into a 6" X 6" X 6" cube called a "Squall" from the "Storm" S2G line of products. I will be modifying (cutting) the 6 X 6 cube to fit my 5" mesh pots. Pics and more on that later on when needed. The starter cubes can be used as an insert like I will be doing, or it can be placed in hydroton, as I believe 77401 has done. The starter cubes can even be used and "planted" in dirt for that type of grow. I will be using the starter cubes with seeds as opposed to clones.

The seeds I have came from The Attitude Seed Bank. It took 10 calendar days to receive my order from the day I ordered them with a credit card to the day I got them in my mailbox. All 4 seeds are auto-flowering and feminized. I will be attempting to grow 2 - Delicious Seeds "Il Diavolos", 1 - Lowrider "Easyryder", and 1 - Lowlife "White Russian".

I will be using the Technaflora Plant Products "Recipe for Success Starter Kit" for the nutrients throughout the grow. I also purchased additional "BC Boost", "BC Grow", and "BC Bloom" from the TF line as the BC Boost is used throughout the whole grow, except during germination. During a normal, non-auto grow, the BC Grow is used through the vegetation period and the BC Bloom is used during the flowering stage, so more of these products will be needed in future grows. There are also a number of "micro-nutrients" that are used and details of those nutes will be given when and as used.

I will now end the "suspense" as to what light I will be using! I will be using the new 420 watt Multi Spectrum Pro 420 CFL setup. That's 420 actual watts, NOT equivalent, with 23,400 lumens. Two 50K tube style bulbs are used in both stages, along with two 65K Spirals during vegetation, and two 30K Spirals during flowering. Each bulb is 105 watts. I will be using the vegetative setup for only around 2 weeks or until first signs of flowering for this first auto-flowering grow and then switch the 2 - 65K bulbs out for the 2 -30K bulbs for the remainder of the grow.

The seeds have been soaking in cups of water for a little over 24 hours. I can tell through the water that all of the seeds except for the Easyryder have cracked open and I will be transferring all the seeds to the S2G starter cubes tonight. The 1.5" starter cubes have a small hole in the very top layer of the cubes and in that hole is an"X" cut in the material from the top to the bottom. I have taken a toothpick and inserted it through the cube, in the "X" slits and wallowed it open to separate the fibers of the cube to make it easier for the tap root to exit through the bottom. I ran a test with the starter cubes with some bag seeds, and one sprouted. I had not opened the "X" any on them and the tap root did not penetrate the fibers and grew upwards instead of down and out the bottom of the cube. The starter cubes have been saturated in a solution of 3 ml of Thrive Alive B-1 Red to 1 quart , 32 oz, of reverse osmosis water. The "recipe" did not specify pH balancing or recommend a PPM reading as it does during the vegetation and flowering process, so I did not worry about that process. I have placed the seeds within the slitted "X" and placed the cubes in a used but sanitized Jiffy Puck tray with lid to use as a germination "tray and dome". The germination tray was then set on top of my satellite receiver for heat purposes and covered with a folded dish towel.

Pic 1 is of a top view of a dry starter cube.
Pic 2 is a side view of a dry starter cube.
Pic 3 is the 4 saturated cubes with the seeds in place in the open germination tray.
Pic 4 is a top view of a dry starter cube with a toothpick in the "X".
Pic 5 is a side view of a dry cube with a toothpick going through the cube from top to bottom.
Pic 6 is a preview of the light.

And so the waiting begins!

 

Thanks Nike...good to have you on board!

 

Thanks 77401! I'm SURE I'll need as much luck as I can get.

THX 4 the +rep 2!!

 

Thank you konaguy, it's good to have you in on this!

 

You have piqued my interest!. I'm interested in ALL kinds of grow. I'd love to be able to grow in soil outside, if I only could. I've considered growing in soil inside too. I just know less of that than anything. I got started in hydro 20 years ago, but due to issues with a GF back then, I lost all my equipment due to her. I've only gotten back into it just recently. I'm having to learn all over again. Not that much has changed, I just have forgotten. Too many burnt and drunked up brain cells I guess.(Drunked???)lol but ya!

ROFLOL!. I am FAR from a Guru at any kind of grow. Sometimes, some of all the useless info and trivia that I have acquired over the the years that are stuck in my head does come back to me and becomes useful, but that is a rare occasion! What do you have in mind? I'm always thinking of the next grow, just like most of us here at GC.

Waiting interestingly...

 

I did notice those seeds, except I was checking out the feminized ones...rather pricey!. The whole Sagarmatha line is pricey for some reason. The must be very proud! I might try them one of these days. I'm pretty sure that the infamous White Widow is on my next grow list though.

I can hardly wait to see what that light can do. I hope it does well.

Thanks for stopping by and all your support!

 

Konaguy,

I appreciate the offer, but I am trying to grow all auto-flowering strains from seeds and they are all feminized. From what I have read, it's not worth it to take a clone from an AF as it only has 1 grow life to it and its done. That's just a part of the hybrid genetics. It doesn't grow through a typical vegetative then flowering cycle. It more or less starts flowering from the start. If I am wrong about this, I hope someone will chime in here!

I'm pretty sure I will be growing some White Widows on my next grow. If you are still around then, and still interested, I will take you up on your offer. The AF strains grow through their life cycle pretty quick. The Il Diavolo claims to be "diabolically" quick and be through in 60 days from germination! The others are suppose to take 70 - 75 days or a little longer. That's one of the reasons I chose all autos, so I can have something by Christmas and New Years. I was shooting for Thanksgiving to begin with, but it took 3 weeks to get my light, and I didn't want to start anything until I had the light in hand. They kept putting me off saying each day that I called that it was going out that day. They had given me a FedEx tracking number that just kept returning "Shipping Info Sent". But I did finally get it. The guy I was talking to supposedly wasn't aware they didn't have the reflector in stock and they were waiting on it to come in.

Well, take care and good luck with your educational endeavors! Who knows, maybe you'll be the one to perfect a biological computer chip and a living artificial intelligent computer.

 

My seeds came from The Attitude seed bank. They are in the UK. A LOT of GC growers use them and the do seem legit. I used a credit card and got them in 10 calendar days from date of order. They have a "stealth" option that I used(candy), that they "hide" the seeds in. They claim to be a gift/souvenir company. I also ordered a coffee cup(just wanted it). They will send the original breeders packaging if you wish and you ask/tell them to. The candy and coffee cup just makes it look a little more legit when going through customs I guess. They also sell a t-shirt. Nothing printed about a seed company on any shipping label. I'm just not so sure about if and how much they get x-rayed. It sometimes seems I have difficulty in germinating seeds from overseas, and a strong enough x-ray will kill a seed. But like ALL things...buyer beware. But if you order a souvenir, I believe they guarantee you will get your order. If you don't, they will re send them. From my reading though, most people here at GC use the Attitude, IMO. I do recommend them.

 

I do have 3 Diavolos left from my Tude order plus the freebies from them. They are all Dinafems, 1 each of: Moby Dick, Blue Widow, Roadrunner, and a Power Kush. I had kind of forgotten about them. I'm not all here today. My gut has been hurtin, and I've taken a "few" hydrocodones and a couple Finagrins today. I slept half the morning away and most of the afternoon! I still also have a few Carmelicious and Le Fruit Defendu from my first Amsterdam order(not femmed) and some unidentified freebies from that order too. So I don't really have to make an order for my next grow. It's just I've seen so many pics of SO MANY people growing it here at GC and it looks and sounds so good!!! Now that I remember about my others, the White Widows just might wait a while. I do have plenty of seeds on hand to deal with.