First grow attempt - my Grow room & DWC setup...

I gutted a bathroom that wasn't getting used in the basement. I just whipped this stuff out because my clones were ready to be planted. I spent about 30 of the last 36 hours finishing it up. My guess is about $1500 so far (don't tell the wife, lol), but that could be off by +/-300 or so. I lost count of the many 50$ trips to Lowes. I still need to add the mylar I have around the back and the extra bucket into the system.

In the picture with the air pumps, you can see a spigot I added into the floor. That is where a toilet was, and I put lexan over it with a spigot and a 1 inch O/D "p" trap held in with O rings like the DWC bucket attachments. A wax ring was used to seal it up. I will drain the buckets using that.

The reason I took these pic's before it being complete is to suggest that anyone layout the buckets to be sure the lines will work like they think. I created my extra rez, but really screwed up the valve placement because I didn't test bucket placement first. I really need to have the extra bucket sit off to the left where my Rumplecloner currently sits (temporarily) so it can run straight from it into my drain.

The first couple of pictures are of a box that I made completely from the old material I gutted from the old bathroom. I now plan to keep my mothers and clones in it. My first cloning attemt was only 25%, and that is why there are 3 plants in this box. My buckets and room weren't ready so I just planted it as a backup. I am trying to keep bonsai mothers, and that seems to be going well. They sure like that box. Growth rate went up about 50% when I put them in it. My basement is a little cool and drafty, so the box helped stabilize the temp.

I started with 5 seeds. 3 were completely different from the rest. One was simply stunted, one would wilt from water or lack of water nearly in the same day. The other just had skinny and unhealthy looking leaves and so I got rid of all 3. I kept two that were much more hearty, but one of the two remaining seems to be about 50% more hearty than the other. You can see it by the huge plant in the cloaner. I didn't use it because I figured it would be better to start of with nearly the same size plants. I have not sexed these, so I am using both remaining plants hoping for a 50% chance one will be a female. keeping my fingers crossed...

I decided to follow the Lucas formula and drop them right into 0-8-16 (GMB). Since the mothers seem to be doing ok, I am not worried about it if it takes me a couple of attempts. I think I am getting better at cloning, so starting over doesn't scare me a great deal.

I am going to veg 24/7. Roots are starting to poke through the clay stones already. I think it is a lot to expect for a first time grow in a new grow room to work out well, but we shall see...

My equipment:
19" Cool Tube & 400w Oracle electronic ballast
MH for veg/HPS for flower (Lowes special...)
449cfm Vortex with a duct fan speed adjuster.
2 6w air pumps and one Rena 400. Another Rena is on the way.
185gph Via Aqua to recirculate the extra reservoir
450cfm Odor Sock
6 stage RO filter with DI
DIY ONA bucket

 

I just thought I would post a few lessons learned & observations. Hopefully they will help anyone new. I will try to keep adding to it as I remember stuff. I should have written things down as I went along.

Lessons learned:

I would get feminized seeds!! If I could only change one thing, this would be it. Waiting and playing the odds isn't a great deal of fun and will probably "cost" more money in the long run in terms of electricity, time, dirt, pots, etc. Obviously this is only an isssue if you are just getting started. If I had something else to grow while going through the process, it would be no big deal.

On the Rumple cloner:

I would cut off the everything after the main ring of the 2" netpots. This will not leave them much larger than the neoprene inserts if at all. Some of the the roots tend to shoot straight out, and get twisted around that last ring. The roots are brittle, so unwinding them around that last ring without damaging them is nearly impossible.

I tried making a tight hole and pull the power cord through the side (replacing the plug), but it leaked anyway. I also tried using silicone, but that just pealed off the slick plastic when the power cord moved. If I were doing it again, i would try to run it through a net pot/neoprene hole or cut off the plug and make its own hole in the lid that is away from a netpot hole.

About just using water in the cloner:

When at least a half inch of roots were established on all of my clones, (on attempt 2) I added a small amount of bit of Pure Blend Pro grow (veg formula) from Botanicare. In 24 hours the root length had doubled on all the clones, and all the plants just looked significantly better. I was pretty shocked.

One of my 2 hopeful mothers takes a lot longer to root, and tends to look kind of rough before it actually grows some roots. My first clone attempt was 4 clones of two plants. On the first attempt, I could not get the more tempermental plant to root. On the second cloning attempt, I was able to root both clones from both plants though the more hearty plant has about 50% more roots. But both clones of both plants grew faster and looked healthier after adding the "small plant" dosage to the cloner.

On the Rumple DWC buckets:

I would probably get the premade lids with the netpots. I bought a spiffy tool that I will most likely never use again, and so it wound up costing me $40 just to cut those holes. That was really dumb on my part.

One advantage that making your own might have is if you cut the 6" net pot hole a little small. This would allow the basket to sit up almost as much as an inch, which would allow you to have more water in your bucket. I saw that some have it that way either intentionally or not I don't know. This might cause issues for the sight indicator though?

Get your buckets and lids from the same place. I have now purchased buckets from a few different places and they are just different enough to be a hassle.

Someone else mentioned this as a tip (can't remember who) but test your valves to make sure they open and close easily when you buy them. The one I happened to use to take samples for ph takes 3 people and a pipe wrench to open ;-) Seriously though, dig through the bunch and find the best/easiest ones.

On the grow in general:

My current plan is to germinate the rest of my seeds from this strain and always grow two plants (one old, one new) and just keep selecting the best plant from that strain (WW).

Kind of a biggie is that I wish I would have insulated the floor. That vortex fan is LOUD even though I hung it using this rubber gasket material I found at lowes.

I couldn't figure out where to get black tubing. I don't remember anyone else saying anything about it. Probably because it is obvious. If it is not obvious to you either, check the "pond" area at Lowes or HD. It is not with all the other tubing.

Odor:

No one really seems to complain about the odor during veg. My 8" mother plants stink up the whole house. The smell from my plants in bubble buckets was five times worse. I built one of the ONA DIY buckets described in the thread below. I keep it between the grow room and my mother box, and the smell is totally gone. I would not call it cheap, but it is certainly cheaper than many of the can fans that you can buy and very easy to build.

http://forum.grasscity.com/grow-room-design-setup/144976-perfect-odour-neutralizer.html

 

Thanks much for the company. At least now I know I won't be talking to myself. I hate it when that happens!

 

Thanks for stopping in! I will definitely have to make a couple of additional lids for the cloner that hold the bigger baskets. Thanks for that. At least it will give me an excuse to use my nifty $40 dollar bucket lid cutting tool, lol. I am going to have to make another bucket order anyway as there were a few unanticipated casualties of war

 

Well, there isn't a great deal to report. They have been in the bucket for a week. I have been keeping the air temps between about 65 to 75, and the water temp from about 68 to 75. The PH has been stable at 5.7.

I have one of the Ranco temperature controllers on the way, so that should help me keep temps more stable.

 

I got off work early today and felt like taking some pictures. It has been a lot of fun so far. I look forward to going down in my basement now.

I did manage to take a small via aqua (180gph) run it through the lid and hook it up to the top fittings on the other two buckets. It is just set up as a proof of concept for the moment. 180gph is powerful enough to fill one bucket and drain the other, but split and filling the other two buckets at once, the flow back rate is almost perfect. I could probably leave it on, but I don't see the need. I am considering putting it on a timer and running it for say 15 minutes before the time I usually go in and check on things. I am going to trim up the hoses and add hose clamps. Yet another trip to Lowes...

The plants are growing. I added a screen, and it is kind of low, but the plant that is not as bushy is growing taller faster than the other, so I thought It could benefit from being pulled over earlier. The pvc corners have a threaded fitting on the bottom, so I just used the leftovers from my bucket build, and now I can easily change out the length of the legs. We shall see how well that works.

I really wish I had insulated the floor. The vortex sounds like a big blow dryer in my basement. I need to think of something slicker to keep the noise down. I used rubber that is made for custom gaskets. I am sure it is better than it could be, but I want it quieter. I could rip down my panda film on the ceiling, but the thought isn't all that appealing. If I can't figure out anything better, I guess that is what I will have to do before my next grow.

 

1120 (@.7), so I am off a bit. I am supposed to be at 1326. I didn't have my meter when I put the nutes in at first, so I don't know how much of that is just from being utilized. I think I need at least another week of veg, so I may just let it go and drain and fill next week just before going to 12/12.

Glad you like the pics!

 

I am sure it is safer and smarter to start slow with the nutes. I had extra clones, so I figured I would give it a shot and see how it handled the full strength nutes. I probably should have tried soil first too, but I have spent most of my life learning things the hard way, so why stop now?

Since I don't even know if mine are female or not, I am trying to take this grow pretty lightly. If neither are female, I will surely be disappointed. Hopefully one will be the fairer sex, and if I wind up with even an ounce, I will consider it a great success. I have never really grown any plant other than watering my lawn, and most of my yard is weeds (not the good kind)!

Since I started a couple of weeks before you, I will try to give you a quick heads up if anything goes horribly wrong so hopefully you won't follow in my footsteps, lol.

 

I was trying to decide if I should dump my res and start fresh, or try to use the add back formula. It has been two weeks, but I figured that they really should have not used a great deal of nutes since they are still so small. I have probably only topped off a couple of gallons or so total.

Generally tending toward being lazy and not dissuaded by math, I decided to try the add back formula and see what happens. It really is pretty simple. You take what you want, subtract it from what you have and then divide it by what you want which gives you the multiplier for the amount of ml that you add back. Multiply that by gallons, and you have what you need. It worked almost perfectly for me. It was slightly low, but I think my DI filter is doing a pretty good job, so my water is quite pure.

The reason that trying 0-8-16 appealed to me is that supposedly ph tends to remain more stable than if you use 0-5-10 (if I understand correctly). I have been staying at 5.7 to 5.8 constantly so that seems to be coming true.

So we shall see. My bushy plant continues to get even more bushy, but has not grown in height much and my taller plant has hit the screen and I am pulling it over already. In a few days I will take more pictures and the difference will be obvious even with my camera.

 

The plants are looking good after the new nutes were added. It seems like growth has increased and I was getting some brown on some of the leaf tips which has now stopped on new growth. Also, the new growth looks like it is a more healthy green to me.

My Truncheon is cool, but I am not sure I would buy it again if I had it to do over. It is long so sticking it into the bucket is easy. However depending on the type (.7/.5/etc) it is in increments. So if the measured amount is between the increments, you get two lights that flash. It has a 5 year warranty and I am sure it is accurate, but I would kind of like to see a number such as 1330 instead of 2 lights that flash indicating that it is somewhere between 1240 & 1400. Just something to consider.

I don't like my ph meter much either. When this one dies, I will be sure to get one that has a temperature calculation adjustment. It may not actually amount to much difference (though I don't know that) but I just don't like the idea that it doesn't have it.

 

Thanks man, I appreciate you checking out my grow!

 

I must say that I am a little anxious about that myself. With the two different plants, I have a 50/50 chance of one being female. I should probably be starting new seeds now just in case neither are female.

If they just happened to be female by a huge stroke of luck, the plants are so different, it would be interesting to see the difference in the bud. I am keeping my fingers crossed.