So, this will be my third grow. My first one was a single OG Kush plant from a seed that I found in a gram from a dispensary that will remain anonymous. Grown under shop lights with Miracle Grow, it gave me a halfway decent yield and result for what it was. It was experience under my belt. That led to my second grow(which I just tossed out). I stepped it up a little this time and picked up a 400 watt MH\HPS setup. I guess you could say I was a bit on the generous side of things with the water and nutrients though. I burnt and over watered those plants into an oblivion and even 7 weeks into the grow, they are still under a foot tall and the buds were pathetic... I threw it all out last week in sheer disgust and decided to stop screwing around and attempt to 'do this right'... So today, I finished my setup and trial run of my new 'homegrown' DWC hydro setup. This will be my first ever hydroponic based grow as my two previous ones were both soil. Please keep in mind, this grow is completely budget based and is built entirely off of equipment found through various classifieds and things I had laying around the house. I'm learning as I go from both my previous grows and from what I read on this and other forums. So what do we have? First off, it's a small closet... approx 3x4. I'm not using anything fancy on the walls... just semi-gloss, white paint. Using a 400 watt MH light, it heats up pretty quickly. Water temps seem to be stressed in several forums and the hydro books, so I designed this system keeping air and water temps as the first thing in my mind. To keep the reservoir temperatures under control, I am using a modified subwoofer speaker box to cool the two 5 gallon reservoirs(black buckets). Notice the 'sightglass' on the front of the box for viewing reservoir levels. Fresh, 63-65F degree air, provided by a 6" Hydrofarm fan, enters the box via the right side duct where it air cools the reservoirs. The air then exits the left side duct where it then cools the light and offers air flow for the plants. When running at full tilt(24/0 light schedule), the closet air temp remains fairly steady in the mid-high 70s and the reservoirs stay at the same as the outside air temp(63-65F). I.E, I think(hope) my conditions should be ideal. I'll be using General Hydro Flora series for nutrients and a GH PH adjustment kit. I also have a calibrated and accurate PPM meter. For media, I'm using Hydroton. All very basic, inexpensive, easily found products. Our local tap water PPM is approx 110 and since this is a budget grow, that's what I will be using. Many say distilled or RO is the way to go, but what can I say... I like to try things out for myself. So far, I'm about 200 dollars into this setup. $50 for the 400 watt MH ballast, hood, Hortilux Blue(MH) bulb and a Horilux HPS conversion bulb(red). $50 for a used 6" Hydrofarm fan. $20 for the ducting. $30 for the buckets, net pot lids, hydroton, air line, and stones and another $50-ish for the nutes, PH adjuster, PPM meter. I already had the air pump, box and foil tape(foil tape may or may not be necessary but it certainly doesn't hurt in keeping temps down in the reservoirs). When running my trials to make sure the system was sustainable, I was having problems with the Hydroton upping the PH in the reservoirs. I tried rinsing the Hydrton and re-PH'ing the water multiple times and the problem still would not go away. To correct it, I baked the Hydroton in an oven at 350 degrees for 2 hours to remove ALL moisture. I then soaked it in PH adjusted(6.0) water overnight. I then put into the net pots which are sitting in the PH adjusted reservoirs; it's been running for 24 hours and I now see no appreciable change in PH(woo hoo!). I think my problem was that I was rinsing with tap water, which ours naturally has a high PH(about 7.5), and it was leeching out of the Hydroton and into the reservoirs. I have two Hindu Kush plants coming from the Clone Queen tomorrow and will be putting them into the system. They recommended them to me for being good for my setup, easy to grow for a beginner and having a good yield. I plan to veg them under the MH light for 3-4 weeks on a 18/6 light schedule, then switch to 12/12 with the HPS conversion bulb to finish them out. I'll update this thread frequently as I know there are a lot out there like me that want to grow something quality for cheap. We'll see how it goes... stay tuned.
Tap is fine, mine is PPM of 160 -- 200. I bought a new chiller for 185.00 I think with shipping, well worth it for me. Run the Lucas formula, but at a lower PPM because of the low wattage light. I ran it at 5 & 10 for veg, and 6 & 12 for flowering. Try 18\6 the first week, then 24\0 for a week, plus a few days maybe, then 12\12. 3 weeks may be to much for veg in a 3x4, it will at least double when you hit 12\12. My .02 worth.
You very well may be right... but I have more space if needed. If all goes well, I might have more growth in the first few weeks than I am expecting, or at least, used to. Either way, I'll be taking it extra easy on the nutrients and will probably start out at 1/4-1/3 of what GH recommends. I'm taking the safe route with this grow as it's my first hydro experience and my first real attempt at making something out of this. I was planning on putting the clones(rooted in rockwool cubes) straight into the Hydroton with the water level approximately 1 inch above the bottom of the net pot. Will probably run just straight water for the first few days(or is it ok to start with mild nutrients right off the bat?), then start a mild feeding schedule. After roots start to peek outside, I'll lower the water level down to about an inch under the pot. Anyone see any problems with that?
No problems good plan, just add some nutes, go to 300 -- 350 PPM's for a few days. That ain't much nutes but will give em' food.
My Hindu Kush clones came in today and look good... Got them put into the Hydroton and everything is up and running. Air temps are right at 75F and water is at 65F. PH is running right at 5.8. Nutrients added at 150PPM which I will slowly increase 100-ishPPM every week with a complete reservoir change. Keeping the light(400 watt MH) at about 20" to take it easy on it as it adapts to its new surroundings. Never tried 18/6 before, but I think I want to try that route. Most of the hydro shops around here say it's every bit as good as 24/0. It's debatable I've heard, but since I'm changing everything up, I might as well change the lighting schedule also. The slightly cheaper electric bill doesn't sound bad either. Excited!
Really like the simplicity of your setup. Looks very neat, clean, and well thought out. Looking forward to watching the grow man.
Thank you! It may not be the flashiest setup out there but it's simple, it's easy and best of all, it's cheap. I love to tinker and make things using nothing more than cheap and/or free resources around me, creating something awesome. I'll post pictures of other little tricks and pieces of gear\equipment\etc I'm using as the grow continues... and if anyone sees anything that is like "WHOA, DON'T DO THAT", please say something!
ingenious chiller box man! i was like wtf is that? but you explained! good job! keep those nutes low bro....i like where you at now...when your roots hit the water, id let it set in the solution a couple of days...atleast 2 before moving them up to the 300-350ppm range... +rep!
First 24 hours(18/6 lighting) went smoothly and so far, so good! I checked the PH, temps(air and water)and PPM when the lights came back on(just a few minutes ago); all are stable and the plants seem to have taken to the Hydroton just fine. After reading some less than stellar reviews on where I purchased my clones, I went over with them with a fine tooth comb this morning looking for any signs of spider mites or powdery mildew. Thankfully, I found none. I guess the next major update will be when I start to see roots poking out... hopefully within the next couple, few days. I'll update with some additional pics then.
Hey guys... quick update. Today is day 7 of the grow and a few kinks aside, everything is going smoothly. I had some moisture control issues with plant 1(left side of the box). On day 2, it started to wilt and I discovered that the rock wool cube was TOTALLY saturated. I carefully dug it out of the Hydroton and soaked up as much excess water as possible till the rock wool was damp but not soaked. I slightly lowered my water level and re-potted it slightly higher in the media. Day 3, it looked great. Day 4... wilted again and laying on its side! Damn! This time, it wasn't getting enough water. After some more careful tweaking, I think I got it mostly stabilized. A few haggard fan leaves aside, it has been slowly improving the last couple of days, now standing up on it's own again and I'm seeing a TINY bit of new growth. I think it's gonna make it. Should I trim those bottom two leaves that are pretty much gone? Plant 2(right side of the box) is looking great and has nearly doubled in bushiness. It seems to have rooted well and has substantial new growth popping up all over it. Besides the moisture problems with plant 1, everything else has been going smoothly. I did a complete reservoir change on both this morning leaving plant 1's nutrient mix the same(150PPM) and increased plant 2 to 250PPM. I want to take it easier on plant 1 because of the shock, and it hasn't rooted completely yet. Better safe than sorry... even if it means a slightly smaller plant.
glad to hear you were able to recover brother! remove those dead leaves from the first one...it will help it get sorted with concentrating on the new growth and it wont worry so much about whats dead
Looks very good. I agree with NaughtyDread, those leaves won't improve and aren't doing much for the plant anyhow. If she's got new growth coming in, you're headed in the right direction. She'll start bushing out in no time.
I usually keep the water level below the net pot, and hand water the plant from the top until the roots start to poke out of the bottom of the net pot.
ive done both and i found that keeping the water right below the net pot gets those roots going quicker than immersing the pot...takes anywhere between 4-5 days without the net immersing...longer with it immersed..
How long does it take roots to grow when you stunt em' from drying out? Or if the clones dies? If you have to go to work and cant stand over the plants, put the water a inch or so up into the pot, no worries then. The roots live in water anyways.
I agree with both fyrhazzrd and NaughtyDread. Best to keep the water below the netpot, the hydroton needs to be moist, not saturated. The roots will grow out faster searching for water.
As I'm discovering. I'm on day 9 and I still don't have roots out of the bottom of the pot. They're getting close though; plant 2 has a couple very faint roots just starting to peek out the side of the pot towards the top. I lowered the water level to about 1/2 an inch under the bottom of the pot and we'll see if that speeds things up any. Should have some more update pics in a couple\few days.
cool we can put this to the test...just put a dr.greenthumb dope clone in a 5 gallon bucket...i have the water level about an inch below the pot...i say ill see roots poking out within the next 4 days
Day 10 First root is out(plant 2)! Nowhere near the bottom of the pot though... I think my next round, I'll use 4" pots instead of the 6". Also need a bit of diagnosing here guys. After my last nutrient change(3 days ago), I kept plant 1 at 150PPM. I trimmed the dead leaves off and this is what I currently have. I think for the most part, considering it was probably shocked twice(over and under watered), it's doing OK. Plant 2 is got some funky stuff going on however... the new growth coming is is twisted and snarled. I'm not really sure what's going on here. I kinda looks overwatered but the rock wool cube is only ever so slightly damp. I'm seeing a fair amount of yellowing... too much nitrogen?? PH in both reservoirs is 5.8. Temps are in check. Only thing that I changed with this plant was I bumped the PPM to about 200. Should I flush with plain PH'ed water and if so, for how long? Are these salvageable?