Hey whats up people? So I am new to GC but man I'm loving what I've seen so far! Ok, so here is the deal. I just finished my first grow with hydro where I only grew one plant, from seed. I germed the seed in rockwool, transplanting to a 3x3x3 rockwool cube, then into hydroton pellets in a 5gal bucket with a home-made drip system. This was a recirculating system as well. I have a small pond pump that was set to turn on twice during the light cycle for 15 mins at a time. I used full strength Dya-gro nutes under a 400w MH. Now, i admit, i was a bit lazy about checking ph daily... well lets say weekly .... My plant grew ok, but i came across a few problems: The main one being that the plant grew extremely tall (almost 7' in an 8' closet) I tried tying down her arms but the b*tch was strong, she loved the light i suppose. lol. I've done some research and decided that two factors probably paid a part in this vertical growth, her genetics(which im unsure of) and the light was prolly too far from her at first so she stretched??? The next problem was that the lower branches never really thrived. They were always skinny with lanky growth and produced very little buds while the top of the plant did par to just above par. It was literally looking like a tree lol, long trunk with bushyness at the top. The last problem being that the leaves developed a lot of spots and yellowness during the flowering cycle. I was careful to mix the nutes according to the directions but i wonder if i had nute lock up or if the ph swings damaged the plant? So I really dont want these problems for my new crop. I guess the first questions to address would be if I want the plants to top out at max 5'6" when should i top them?(i never topped the first gal) How often should I flush each plant when using a drip system? And do I do it for an entire week? Also, Should I go with a drip system again or should I try this ever so popuar BB system? (It looks bad ass) Ok, for the new gro I just bought 8 clones (4 are OG and 4 are Master) I was told they will all stay rather short and bushy. I also want to try the ScrOG technique to optimise my lighting. ( I have a 400w MH and a 360 HPS conversion bulb which will be turned on when flowering starts) My grow space is approx. 3x6x8. Any tips or tricks for the ScrOG tech? Should I add any Cfls? Any and all advice is highly apreciated. I know that this was a lot of random info but please bear with me. I have a pretty good idea of how everything works together but tips from experts with experience is invaluable. So.. all that beeing said I am def going to post some pics soon and keep this thread updated for the length of the grow. I really want these plants to thrive to they're fullest. RECAP on new gro: CURRENTLY they just got transplanted to 3x3x3 rockwool cubes where they rest about 28" under my 400w MH. The ladies were cut on Sept 4th so they are now almost a full month old with a good root structure forming. I am feeding them by hand every other day with a 50% strength solution of Dyna-gro Veg formula. Temp ranges from 75 at night to 85 with lights on(I know is a bit high-have an air cooler on the way) and humidity ranges between 45%-55%. Does everything sound like its starting off ok? Ill post pics soon of the entire gro room. Thanks for reading! and come back please
So here is a few pics of the babies. Pics 1-4 are the OG and 5-8 are the Master. 9 is the whole class.
Here is a few pics of the setup Pic one shows my table in the enclosed grow room. this opening has a roll down black plastic door with mylar on the backside that velcro's shut *thanks to Mr. Green on youtube Pic two shows my fresh air intake. the 4 inch hose taped to the wall is basically a vent to the outside, the 4 inch hose laying on the ground has a 6 in adapter with a 6 in inline fan sucking fresh air into the garden. Pic three shows my exhaust fan which is just a vortex table type fan that i mounted to the wall and taped it into the wall. It defenitely pulls more than the 6 in fan pushes bc there is a vacuum inside when i shut the door. Pic four shows my work table with my resevoir underneath. its a 30gal storage container that i was going to use for my drip system but im still trying to determine wether i should go drip or BB?? any input? Pic five shows my ballasts hanging and shoddy wiring job (Just so we are clear I know that this is dangerous if you dont know what you are doing. I am a qualified electrician and am confident of what I have installed, albeit not very pretty but whatevers) what do you think??