3 Bagseed in DWC, 400w mh + 250w hps in my crawlspace

Cabinet: 59" x 34½-35½" x 34"
Lights: Old 400w MH and a newish 250w HPS
Weed: unknown crusty old bagseed
PH: unknown (meter ordered)
Water temp: unknown, but insulated
Ambient temp: ~77

I just started day one of flowering, one day after starting on the Lucus Formula. The mh is over 10 years old, from when I used in on my first (and last) hydro grow. It's been around to different friends projects, with the same bulb.

The cabinet I built from available scrapwood and I'm the worst carpenter ever, so it's wider at the bottom than the top. It ain't the best but it'll do. I'm sure I'll be making various improvements to it before the year is out.

The plants are all I could get to germinate from an old collection of seeds I found in the back of a forgotten toolbox. They first sprouted around the 1st of April. I haven't grown anything in 5 years, and that was just bagseed in my backyard. I have kids now so I made it half assed stealthy in my crawlspace. I have about 59 inches between concrete floor and joist, so we'll see how that does and less than 3^2 feet girth.

Two are doing fairly well, despite me fucking up nutrients and transplanting from soil. The third is a runt that cracked late, and has continued to grow slowly although it has shown some recovery from a bad nuet shock because I got tbsp and tsp confused.


Flowering - Week 0

My shiny little room.


Two biggest plants


The runt

I've ordered a cheap ph meter so I can start monitoring that and I may get a cheap tds meter.

I'll post pics again next week.

 

Got my new ph Meter. Apparently my nutrient solution has been at about 6.3. I ph downed to 6 last night, and it climbed back up to 6.2. I ph downed it to 5.7. Will check again tonight before bedtime.

Edit: just checked it @ 10:47 and it's back up to 6.0. Fuck.

 

Day 4 of bloom, explosive growth


The one on the right especially


The runt is picking up

 

I know no one is actually reading this, but for posterity:

I have the ph nailed down to 5.8. Checked the soup last night and this morning and it's holding steady.

I'm now designing an irrigation system that will last 7 days so I can go on vacation.

 

Just checked ph before bedtime, 5.3. I pulled the plants out, added some light nute solution and ph up'd to 5.8.

Fucksocks.

E; was planning on dumping res this weekend to maybe install a recirc system ala Budslinger. Plants are looking p good though.

 

Thanks for checking my grow out. Yeah, I'm still figuring out high ph/high nutes and vice versa. Any and all advice is welcome.

 

And then there was one.

So, the runt and the healthiest plant turned to both be males. Compost. The final plant has shown her hairs. Scrog in place, irrigation system complete-ish.

Week 2
As of Saturday, switched to 0-7-14 Lucus.
pH: ~6,
Water temp: ~72 F

 

Here's a little mspaint about the reservoir system:


I made it to explain it to a friend of mine.

Basically the res is about 8 gallons to stay below the return line, and pumps for 1 minute every 2 hours or so. The pump does 185 gal/hour, which is way too fast for the return line, which why I only pump for a minute. Next time, I'd use 1" or 3/4" for the return line, but keep the 1/2" fill line.

 

Spilled coffee in my res, made it cloudy and sudsy. Flushed and up to 0-8-16, with tap water. *fingers crossed*

 

Week 3
Everything is going well. Buds are starting to show. I have about 28 'tops' above the screen.

 

Week 4 of flowering
I have a tds meter (.5) and I feel like I've really dialed in topping the res with tap water then using

((desired - current) / desired) * microgrowML * Gal

My tap waters pH tends to be around 7.5, after top off and nute addback, it reads about 5.9. The funny thing is, the tds will drop but the ph stays about the same. I'm going out of town next week, monday-saturday, so the nutes will drop but I'm confident that the plant will stay healthy and my res won't be completely empty when I get back.

Pics:




I now have about 32 bud sites above the screen

 

Thanks

Only about 6 more weeks till harvest!

 

Day 42. Had a burn/lockout problem because I underestimated the displacement of my unwieldy root mass.

 

Dumped the res & bucket, and I'm glad I did. I was able to get a better read on total gallons of my system (with the mature root system) and an ideal ppms on my .5 tds meter. I thought it should be ~1000ppm, but it was actually closer to 800ppm.

Before adding nutes, water was 86ppm @ 7.8 pH.

Woops. Live and learn.

 

Day 57 (week 8)
Trimmed damaged/fan leaves from canopy. Trichomes are 20% clear / 80% cloudy.
Water temp hovers around 73f.
PPMs are 800ish, pH wants to hover around 5.7; I've been adding pH up to try to maintain closer to 5.8-5.9.

Pics!

 

Threw a couple of smaller buds in a nescafe jar with tap water.