4 strains, hydro closet. 1st grow.

I got my seeds from Female Seeds.nl through Dr Chronic . I germinated 2 of each strain a week ago: White Widow, Ice, Grapefruit, and Sour NL X Neville's Haze (from Female Seeds X-line). I germed 1 of each strain in cups of water, and 1 of each strain using the paper towel method. All four paper towel seeds were soaked in a cup of water for three hours prior to placing them in the paper towels.

The Ice seed in water cracked first at 17 hours. Two of the paper towel seeds followed at 18 hours. The remaining two paer towel seeds cracked at 27 hours, and the last three cup o'water seeds took 33 hours. All cracked seeds then were placed in organic grow plugs.

I lost one of the white widow seedlings , so 7 of 8 have sprouted and seem to be doing well. I will replace the lost seed with a mystery strain I acquired, so there may actually be 5 strains in this grow.

The set-up is 2 microgarden ebb and flow units. They each have a 10 gallon reservoir and room for 8 five inch pots each. I will be using 4 sites in each unit. PH at first watering was 5.5, TDS was 24ppm. I am using no nutrients at this point, and am watering twice a day. I will be using Fox Farm grow, bloom, and tiger bloom.

Lighting is a sunleaves 400 watt switchable mh/hps. I am using an 18/6 lighting schedule. The light is 24 inches from the tallest plant.

My grow closet is 2'x 6'x 6'high. I have a semi-passive air intake from the outside, with a small fan helping draw air in, and a dual window fan drawing the air out. Temp with lighting is 82f, and 64f with the lights off. Humidity is at 48%.

For substrate, I am using hydroton rocks. I was going to do half in hydroton and half in an soilless organic medium that came with the microgarden set-ups, but I found the soilless medium very messy and difficult to work with. I had started the sprouts in the soilless, and I could see potential for problems with clogging, so I scrapped the organic medium and went with all hydroton.

I hope I didn't forget any key info, but it's very possible because I'm pretty stoned right now. Feel free to hit me up with any questions. I am interested in comments from all GC members.

Pics to follow.

 

First pics

 

Female Seeds.nl. Thanks Doc!!

 

Nice growth in a day.

 

Of my seven seedlings, the one White Widow I have seems like it may be damping off. The saw leaves and cotlyledons seem to be very healthy. The plant stands on it's own with no problem. But the lower part of the stem, just above the hydroton, is white and seems to be a little flat. Is this new growth that hasn't turned green (purple in this case) yet? I have a small fan blowing on the plants. I am flooding three times a day with ph adjusted water only (5.6 -6.0). I have to lower the PH daily. The water I am using started at 3ppm, (changed yesterday) and today is reading 20ppm.? Any ideas?

Sorry for the poor quality pics. Either my camera sucks, or I don't know how to take good pics.

 

Thanks for the reply BUDSLiNGER. I will cover with more hydroton. My 3 waterings are on 15 minute cycles each, fill to drain. The water I start with is purified water from a local source. I'm not using any conversion. PPM when I start is 3 on my TDS meter. I was using water right from my tap, but I couldn't get the PH under control. I kept adding PH decrease, but it wouldn't go down to 5.8. My res. does have a lid. A little bit of water stays in the flood tray after draining, but it's only a few tablespoons.

 

Started feeding nutes today, as the leaves were beginning to yellow. 1/4 strength, my PPM is at 175.

 

couple more

 

After adding nutes, I adjusted the PH to 5.6.

 

I was having some problems which I believe was attributed to under watering and not enough O2 available to the roots. (I hope) The plants are looking much better in the last few days since I made the corrections, thanks to a couple of experienced GC members. I have switched the plants to net pots, added an airstone to the flood tray in addition to an airstone in the res. and increased flooding to every 4 hours while the lights are on (5 times a day). The first set of 3 finger leaves are really taking off, with noticeable growth spurts in each of the last two days. The third set of true leaves began emerging as of today.

My next step is maintaining my electrical cords. I trippped over the extension for my MH light and it came unplugged. (Second time this has happened.) I don't think this will cause any major stress, as the lights were only off for about 10 minutes both times. The light won't come on if it's too hot when I plug it in, so I had to let it cool for 10 minutes before it would work again.

I will post new pics later.

 

Updates

 

Thanks, brah!


I increased the nutes today to 290ppm, PH is 5.6. I also increased the flooding frequency to every 3.5 hours.

 

Thanks for checking out my grow Captainjack . Good advice, I think I'll stick with the hydroton. It'll be cheaper n the long run, too, since it's reusable.

I came home today to find this:

 

I dipped them directly in the reservoir for a minute or two and a half hour later, they looked like this:

Apparently, my flood level wasn't high enough to reach the lowest roots of these two, so I adjusted it. They spent the entire day without water.

 

The best advice I can give at this point is: READ READ READ! When you've read enough to start your grow, READ SOME MORE! I read grass city and other forums every day for two months before I started, and I still have A LOT to learn. Granted, you will learn a lot from experience, and by making mistakes. But be as prepared as possible before starting.

Also, don't forget to read posts in the Sick Plants forum (not just where to order seeds, and how to set up a grow room). Learn from the mistakes of others before you make the same ones.