I live in Vegas and we have VERY hard water. So, for my first grow I purchased the GH series of nutrients with the Hard Water version of the Micro Nutrients. I germinated last week and on Sunday moved my sprouted seeds into their new home in Sure to Grow under my 400W MH lamp. I use 5 gallon buckets for the reservoir. I cut holes in the lid just large enough for my drain tube and drip tube / airline. Since the seeds had not done much, I figured maybe the hard water was too much for them. So, I grabbed some RO water from the water cooler at work and brought it home. Today, I mixed a new batch up. I used 2 gallons of RO water and 1.5 of tap (let sit overnight to de-chlorinate.) (EC of .3 after subtracting starting EC) and went to change it. Here's what worries me: There was a thin white slime on my pump and lines. Without getting much light, what could this stuff be? Is it bad? And, what are some fixes for it?
the water had an ec of 3 before nutes? if so it is garbage i wouldnt drink that if i was you. get some RO water out of the machines they have outside of seven eleven and places like that. and buy some standard nutes you wont be successful with that terrible water. good luck
I too live in the mohave...............water is unuseable.........RO only. Dont know about your slime, but I would clean everything and start over with RO. peace B
That was a little misleading, sorry. What I mean is I raised the EC of my water by .3 using nutes. So, I have .3 worth of nutrients in the water.
how old are these seedlings? you dont need to feed seedling for 10-14 days. make sure you got that 400 watt light up about four feet. seelings need very little light and are easily damaged by to much light. if you got a dimable ballast you can dim it and keep it closer to save money on electricity
They started germination 10-11 days ago. Planted 7 days ago. I followed the GH guidelines on seedlings and put it 1/4 tsp per gallon of water. It is a very low concentration of nutes. (I measured the 1/4 tsp accurately using a 10ml syringe.) I can't dim my ballast but the buld is really old. Not sure if thay will help at all. Should I just go to the (2) x 4 foot flourescent fixture in the room? It is at celing height of 8 feet. I will raise the height of the lamp tonight. Thanks for the tips. This is the info a first time grower needs to learn. It's impossible to know everything to read up on / search for. Thanks again!
couple quick newbie tips. let any water you use sit for 48 hours to let the chlorine evaporate. dont follow the instructions on the labels of bottles they are ususally twice what you need for mj. look into the lucas formula it is a great and easy nute formula made for gh line. from personal experiance with sure to grow. the top part of the seed starter plugs, the extra dense part, will mold. i just used my triming sissors to cut it out. be carefull not to cut into the plant or the roots. you should cover the sure to grow with something to keep light out of the root zone.
i too live in vegas... RO for the win or distilled from the store.. but thats just expensive... RO is the only water you should use if you can get your hands on it... the longer it sits, the better is will be... if you have slime in your bucket.. thats bad.... if feel your roots... if they have a slime on them.. you have root rot... the cheap way is to use hydrogen peroxide... but once you start you have to continue to use it... its a 5ml per gallon every time you mix nutes... the lucas formula really is the way to go...
Thanks so much for the tips. I think the light or the water killed them. Pics below. I am definitely going to use RO water only from here on out. Do the seeds look killed by light? Should I go to my overhead flourescent in the laundry room where this is? It's your average 2 bulb 4 foot flourescent overhead light. I guess I could swap it for something bigger if need be. Or, buy another light for seedlings. I also took pics of the drip placement. Is this OK?
thats a pretty strange setup... which hydro store sold you that? why not use hydroten? and how did you germinate? i would start over with smaller pieces of that white stuff cut out of those larger white blocks. germinate via paper towel and then transplant to your chunk you pulled out.. and put that in a type of humidity dome.... once the roots sprouted threw the smaller piece, then i would use your ebb and flow system.... germinating directly in your medium you have there might be drying out your seedling and killing it... it must be moist but no wet.. and NO nutes.. until the third set of leaves is showing
It's a drip system. Not ebb and flow. The pump runs full blast for 15 min every 2 hours during lights on. I am beginning to think the guy at Plant World's Hydro section (he was the manager) just sold me whatever he had. Is this even correctly set up? I did germinate w/ paper towels. Can you point me in the direction of what I am looking for w/ this humidity dome? Or, should I scrap the sure to grow (white stuff) altogether? I spent 3 seperate occasions at the store for approx 2 hours each learning from this guy. Something tells me I might need to scrap everything I learned from him.
watering every two hours with that stuff seems like a lot. sure to grow is a quite wet medium. you could probably get away with top watering daily for the first couple weeks untill they sprout and get a root systems
Best off Ann? Dude named Jason. Maybe spend a minute an talk to a guy named max. Awesome dude. Same stores unless max's store opened off blue diamond
I'm in Vegas where it's super dry. I don't have anything to regulate humidity in the room. So, I imagine it stays pretty dry. I will check into the other stores to get advice. Do you folks think the seeds are dead? Should I scrap them? Or, wait a few days and see how it pans out?
fine.. skip over my comments... wait a few days... it might turn around... get a tent... you cant just be walking in your room trying to do laundry when your light is suppose to be off..... hermie.. besides.. how are you going to control smell??? like i asked before.. did jason at best off ann road sell you that?
get a clone/seed starter tray and some smaller seed starter plugs. if you want to stay with sure to grow use their brand otherwise use whatever one you want. i recommend try ing to sprout twice as many seeds as you plant to grow plants. just choose the best ones of the bunch and scrap the rest. you dont want to put all your eggs in one basket.
It was Plant World's Hydro Section. Sorry, I should have pointed out that I said that earlier. Plant World Nursery I will not be doing laundry during light off period. I chose my laundry room for the tile floor, availability of water and a drain, and space.