My first newbie grow

[JohnnyWisdom]

So I got some bag seeds from a friend, put them into a cup of water, and started growing them outdoors in miracle grow soil. I quickly realized two things (1) it was too late to start (early Aug) to harvest anything more than what I generally spill when rollin' a dubie and (2) the MG I was using wasn't the smartest choice of soil ... so, let the decisions begin. First, I decided I was going to move indoors. I bought a 5x5x6 grow tent (darkroom 150) and lit it up with a 600 watt switchable MH bulb. Right away the little buggers started soakin up the sun but I could tell something wasn't right. Had to be the soil ... so, I bought some Fox Farm ocean soil and transplanted from MG to the good stuff. I massaged off as much of the MG I could and then performed an open root transplant. The surgery went as expected and life was once again on the horizon. At this point I realized the grow tent was WAY too big for 2 plants so I recently popped the rest of the seeds and put them into rapid rooter (waiting for those to come to life). I plan to bring the total growth up to my legal limit of 6 plants. After spending 25+ hours per day on this board I came to the conclusion that soil is *good* but hydro is *better* ... at least for my situation. So, once again I was faced with a daunting decision ... the new seedlings would never taste soil but the 2 currently growing would become sloppy seconds if not in the hydro medium ... so, today I once again performed another transplant but this time I washed away the soil while being careful with the roots. Now I have no idea if this is a big no-no but like I said these are bag seeds and a trial run ... so if they make it, great, but if not then I have the other 4 seedlings on their way. I don't even have these 2 in any type of cube ... I just moved some of the rocks over, carefully placed the roots down, and then piled rocks to support the stem. One had to get buried pretty deep. So, that's where I'm at as of today (Sunday Aug 31). After this cycle I'm going to try my first *real* batch of feminized WW seeds I ordered online.

Additional info about the set up ... I have a 40 gal reservoir (currently using 28 gal of tap water) with 420ml of botanicare pure blend grow (about 2 tbs per gallon). The ph level is about 6.5ish (I'm using the cheapo tester for now until I get a digital meter) and I have some PH down stuff I plan on mixing in the morning. The lights are on a 18/6, I feed 15on/15off during light hours, an oscillating fan in the tent on 24/7, and a 4" vortex inline fan sucking out the hot air via 6" ducting (hooked up to the hood). I also bought a cheapo 5000btu AC from HD for $79 that I keep at the bottom of my vent shaft. The temps are high 70's/low 80's at night and 85-90 during the day. I know it's a little hot but the setup is in my garage and I'm still working on controlling the temp (the weather should cool within the next several weeks and I'm hoping I'll be fighting to keep it warm which should be an easier battle).

I've attached a couple of pics and I'll keep em coming as the story develops.

Any comments, praise, criticism, etc. is always welcomed :D

[LuciferN]

I have almost no knowledge of hydro. But These seedlings seem healthy, I saw that you are adding something to the water, just be sure not to over do the fert. In soil young seedlings should have 1/4 strength of nute. I'll be checking this grow, try to learn a little bit about hydro.

[JohnnyWisdom]

(in my best Robin Williams voice) .. Good evening cannabis dot com!!

So, it's been a week and it looks like the little buggers might actually make it! I've attached some pics below so you can be the judge.

I'm noticing some neon green in the area of new growth, is this normal? Also, please welcome a new addition to the family. :D

Only 1 of 4 made it past germination. I also have some WW seeds I recently started germinating, so hopefully next week will include some lovely baby girls!

ohh, does anyone know what it means when edibles say "THC FACTOR '5'"?? I bought some Oreo cookies and there were 3 in the package ... I ate one like 15 min ago and I think it's starting to creep up :stoned:

[JohnnyWisdom]

Oh yeah, I also picked up a Milwaukee SM802 SMART pH/EC/TDS Combined Meter/Tester from eBay ($148.99 w/ shipping) and it was delivered yesterday. I spent some time taking different readings:

Kitchen tap water (KTW):
PPM - 400
PH - 8.0

1 Gal KTW w/ 2 tea nutes:
PPM - 900
PH - 6.6

1 GAL KTW w/ 2 tea nutes & 1 tea PH down (waayyy to much PH down):
PPM - 1050
PH - 3.7

1 GAL KTW w/ 2 tea nutes & 1/4 tea PH down (bingo mixture):
PPM - 840 (I might have put less than 2 tea of nutes)
PH - 6.3

Grow tank
PPM - 1430
PH - 6.2

I must say, you definitely need a meter if you're going to be serious about hydro :weedpoke:

[JohnnyWisdom]

Since my last post I had 3 of 5 feminized WW sprout and moved to the tent. So now I have a total of 3 bag ladies and 3 WW's. The bag seeds are the oldest 3 plants.

Today I saw signs of stress on the 2 older ladies. :(

First thing I checked was the PH and it had jumped to 6.8 from a steady at 6.2. This was expected though because last night I added 3 new buckets of hydroton into the system.

So, I added 15ml of PH down. WOAH, big mistake. The pH shot down to high 4's. Luckily I had the capacity to add 20L of tap water to dilute it back to 5.8. Still, I don't think the curling up of leaves w/ drooping was pH related. Instead I think it was a 2-fold heat issue; heat and lights too close to the tops.

A slight heat issue was in part due to testing my new temp gauge that records high's & low's and not running the aux A/C to see how hot it'd get without it ... 91.2F. So, needless to say, I'll need the A/C on until the weather cools down even more.

I believe the overall stress culprit was the fact my lights were too low. I raised them a few inches so now they're about 20-24" above the tops.

However, I'm paranoid about the light nutes on the seedlings, so I flushed all 6 with tap water which added to the dilution of the pH down in the res (but added to the high pH of the medium). Tomorrow I'll flush more with pH'ed water.

I've got tons of pics to share coming right up :D

[JohnnyWisdom]

Pics of the 2 oldest; 1 & 3 are the same, 2 & 4 are the same

[JohnnyWisdom]

1. All 6 lined up
2. Current temp @ base level (notice the sensor in pic above)
3. Gauge at lamp level (4 degree difference from base)
4. tray
5. POV from tent doorway

[JohnnyWisdom]

1. inside of tent
2. exhaust
3. side of tent. Exhaust goes into an inline 4" vortex bolted to the wall and A/C next to bottom vent
4. fan
5. close up of A/C against lower vent

[Booyagrandma]

Nice, looks like your super sweet setup is getting dialed in, can't wait to make my own look like this, you know the funds.....

Cheers,
Booya

[SubLowe]

hey what kinda airconditioner r u using? ... im lookin for one everywhere, but theyre all window units and very expensive. right now ive just got alotta fans

[JohnnyWisdom]

hey what kinda airconditioner r u using? ... im lookin for one everywhere, but theyre all window units and very expensive. right now ive just got alotta fans

It's a Goldstar 5000 BTU window unit. I picked it up at home depot on sale for $79. I just took a look at their website and they have one for $99 (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Navigation?Ntk=AllProps&N=10000003+90401+503405+4294919527&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&langId=-1).

[JohnnyWisdom]

Here's this week's update. The 3 seedlings are the White Widow's and the other 3 are bag seeds. Coming along nicely :)

The WW's are pretty top heavy ... their little stems need to catch up :(

[JohnnyWisdom]

some more ...

[JohnnyWisdom]

So I topped all 3 bag ladies (the big 3 in the back) ... here are pics for the week ...

1. picture of all 6 (3 back are bag seeds and 3 front are fem WW's)
2. top right corner (biggest) and fastest grower
3. top middle
4. top left (short and stubby ... any guesses as to what kind?)
5. front right WW

[JohnnyWisdom]

2 more ...

1. center WW
2. left WW

[JohnnyWisdom]

If you compare the pic of all 6 from the 14th and 21st you'll see a huge difference in the WW's. Also, keep in mind I chopped the back right in 1/2 when trimming. I wish I knew what kind it was ... it'd be a great mom :thumbsup:

[Weezard]

If you compare the pic of all 6 from the 14th and 21st you'll see a huge difference in the WW's. Also, keep in mind I chopped the back right in 1/2 when trimming. I wish I knew what kind it was ... it'd be a great mom :thumbsup:

Aloha JW
Off to a great start.:thumbsup: Looks like you've done your homework.

Fairly new at this myself, so still trying everything to see what works for my style.
I offer you the benefit of my screw-ups
I still have 2 hydrotron girls left.
Got tired of the PH creep.
Damn hydrotron raises PH by almost a full point per gallon per day.
And that's after a 2 day presoak at 5.0.
Had to buy a PH MONITOR from aquarium supply.
(Probe hangs in the tub 24/7 and I get PH at a glance.)
My tap water's about 7.2 and quite hard, so I'm using rainwater and have switched the new potted girls to coco/DWC.
Will be using coco for the clones nursery as well.
You might want to have a look a Puffzter's thread to see why.:)

The water ladies are DWC to the max and are getting too big for their buckets.:cool:
Once you have this down, you might want to consider a second tent for vegging. It can save lots of downtime for the bud tent.

Good luck to ya braddah:)

Weezard

[JohnnyWisdom]

Here is this weeks update.

1. Picture of all 6; the back row was rearranged. The top left used to be top right, middle used to be top left, and top right used to be middle (in case any of you are actually following along).

2. Bottom left White Widow w/ yellow tips. I'm not sure what the exact problem is but this is the only one with this issue. I flushed w/ ph'ed water and refreshed the reservoir with new water/nutes so we'll see what happens this week ... hopefully she clears up.

3 & 4. Pic of top left (fastest growing) and my attempt of LST :D

Till next week :thumbsup:

[hydrocannabis]

well I am following now. as I just now saw this log the first time.

well I thing they R looking great. keepem going.:thumbsup:

[Hydroponic Cabbage]

Sweet looking setup..keep it up

[LuciferN]

Nice job on the setup and the plants look healthy, keep on the good work.

[Icabod]

What lights are you using? Have you said? My 1k hps I keep about 20" up. Also when your vegging put your lights up to 24hrs. They grow good and then 2wks switch to 12/12 for about 9-10wks. Your elec. bill isn't going to show it.
Take some white paper plates, cut to the middle and at the middle make cuts like a star and then slide one on each pot careful placing the plant in the middle.
This will reflect some light back and also stop the fugus flies.
Also it REALLY is all ph. You must control it at 6.8-6.2

[Icabod]

I just looked at your ac. Is the back of it throwing out hot air? It looks like it should be vented. Build a small cardboard box around the very back of it not the sides, and vent this out your room. 90 is to hot for the plant's trichromes to finish.

[JohnnyWisdom]

Here is the update for the week. You'll notice the plants are coming along nicely (the yellowing tips cleared up) and I added a 2nd tent for clones/vegging (4 t5 cfl's). One of the bag ladies (top right) snapped as I was trying to LST her so I got 3 clones from her instead of 2

[JohnnyWisdom]

What lights are you using? Have you said? My 1k hps I keep about 20" up. Also when your vegging put your lights up to 24hrs. They grow good and then 2wks switch to 12/12 for about 9-10wks. Your elec. bill isn't going to show it.
Take some white paper plates, cut to the middle and at the middle make cuts like a star and then slide one on each pot careful placing the plant in the middle.
This will reflect some light back and also stop the fugus flies.
Also it REALLY is all ph. You must control it at 6.8-6.2

In the big tent I'm currently using a switchable 600 MH ... I'll switch to 600 HPS when I start to flower. I heard that 18/6 vs 24/0 doesn't have any advantages and it costs an extra 8 hours of light .. also, the roots grow during the off hours? I'm sure some strains work better than others with the schedule differences. So far (crossing fingers) I haven't had any issues w/ flies. I have the yellow sticky paper down for preventative measures. I'll get an occasional fly here and there but I think it's more from when the tent is open while I'm working on the ladies.

[JohnnyWisdom]

I just looked at your ac. Is the back of it throwing out hot air? It looks like it should be vented. Build a small cardboard box around the very back of it not the sides, and vent this out your room. 90 is to hot for the plant's trichromes to finish.

Yes the AC does put out some hot air but the weather has cooled down a lot lately (I live in So California) and so the temps are staying in the 70-80's. By the time I'm finishing the flowering I'll be deep into winter and I probably won't need the AC at all ...

btw, I use a Milwaukee PH/PPM meter and yeah I'm keeping it steady at about 6.2

[Icabod]

As for the ph I meant 5.8-6.2- That's what I get for typing in the dark.:smokin:

[JohnnyWisdom]

First of all, thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions!

Now, on to the update for the week. I started using Liquid Karma last week and I definitely noticed a growth explosion as you'll see in the pics. Keep in mind I took 2 trimmings from all 6 plants AND the top right split in half as I was trying to LST. I'm in the middle of a reservoir change and this will be the last week of vegging. I'm going to run full strength nutes & LK for the next 2 weeks (1 week of flowering will be on the veg nutes) and then switch over to flowering nutes. Is this a good/bad idea? Should I instead change to flowering nutes as soon as I switch the lights?

[elskeetro]

Looking great my friend. I haven't read all the posts, but i see your pics and your "newbie" title...looks like you could be a natural. Good luck, i'll be watching.

peace
Skeet.

[JohnnyWisdom]

Wowzers! The babies are growing fast! Here are some close ups of the bud spots during the last week of their vegetative growth (flowering kicks in this Sunday! I'll be switching from 18/6 600wMH to 12/12 600wHPS)

How's it looking so far? :rasta:

[JohnnyWisdom]

Here's a shot from today showing a 2 day difference ... notice how bushy they're getting ... I can't wait until this Sunday to flip the switch!

[JohnnyWisdom]

So I have a small white fly infestation ... after reading the best ways to attack the problem I purchased a small bottle of Neem oil on eBay ... $10 w/ shipping. I took a new spray bottle (about 750ml) and filled it with PH'ed water (in this case about 5.9) and added 1 teaspoon of Neem oil. I had to first run the CLOSED bottle of Neem oil under hot running water as it was sorta thick (sorta like you might do with Magic Shell ice cream topping ... the kind that gets hard and is super yummy but way too fattening ... err, anyway). I also added a couple of drops Palm Olive dish soap per the labeled instructions.

I sprayed it lights off last night and I was a little nervous at first but then I woke up this morning to find the babies were perky. I sprayed them again lightly misting all the tops and under sides of the leaves. I'll spray them down again in a couple of days. Since this Sunday is the day I switch to flowering I have a 2-3 week window to get rid of these bugs. After that I'll stop spraying w/ Neem oil so that I have an opportunity for the oil to break down and allow the buds to get tasty!

Pic attached of the type of Neem oil I bought ...

[JohnnyWisdom]

Hi everyone ... Today is an exciting day! If you haven't figured it out from the pictures (specifically the color change) today is the first day of flowering! I've gone ahead and switched out the 600w MH bulb for the 600w HPS bulb. I've also topped off the 40gal reservoir with 4 gallons of PH'ed water & 1/2 strength veg nutes/LK. The 1/2 strength nutes is because water evaporates while the nutes don't .. and this way I'm not causing there to be a build up nutes (obviously I read this somewhere else and it makes sense). I'm going to continue running the veggie nutes until next weekend to help keep down the stretching. Then next week it'll be full strength bloom, liquid karma, and sweet. I'm also treating the ladies with Neem oil every 3rd day to treat a white fly infestation issue I've been having ... it appears it's working because I'm not seeing them buzzing around when I gently shake the ladies.

In one of the pictures I put a 1 gallon milk jug for size perspective. Also, I included an identical shot angle showing the differences in bulb colors. :rasta:

[JohnnyWisdom]

So today marks the beginning of the 2nd week of flowering. I'm not including any pictures of the bunch simply because I didn't take any ... however, I might post some later this week. The biggest girl is really starting to stretch her legs, I hope she stops growing in height as she's getting pretty close to the lights.

The biggest news is that I found a male!! He was starting to show his balls so I yanked him out of the garden. Anyway, he was one of the bag seeds so at least I'm still left with 3 white widows and 2 bag seeds. Below are the pics of the bastard ... check out his healthy root mass.

Also, I cleaned out the reservoir and I started using the Pro Bloom flowering nutes (35ml/gallon) and Liquid Karma (12ml/gallon). I also have a quart of Sweet but I opted on not using it yet.

[JohnnyWisdom]

Today starts the 3rd week of flowering. For the most part everything looks good. I changed the reservoir today (28 gallons) and here's the feeding schedule:

1000 ml Pro Bloom (35ml/gal)
560 ml Big Bud (20ml/gal)
420 ml Sweet (15ml/gal)
112 ml B-52 (4ml/gal)
15 ml PH Down (28 gal)

I have two pumps in the res, I unplugged the feeder while the other mixes the nutes till the morning. I'll take the PH/PPM reading in the am to make sure it's kudos before feeding the babies.

Attached are some pix ... check out the buds :thumbsup:

[JohnnyWisdom]

FYI I had to scrap my HydroHut vegging tent, turned out to be poisonous. I lost all my clones but I've since started some new grow from seeds (in a 4x2 SunHut). Three are White Widows (on the right) and four are random "free" seeds from when I ordered the WW's (on the left). I'm not going to make a grow log at this point since it's more experimental (I'll be practicing cloning) ... however, here are a few pix of the setup.

[c0mrade]

What do you mean the tent was poisonous? Also how uch approx did you spend on the setup?

[JohnnyWisdom]

What do you mean the tent was poisonous? Also how uch approx did you spend on the setup?

If you google "plants dying in hydrohut (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=plants+dying+in+hydrohut)" you'll see a lot of threads describing plants yellowing/browning before they can veg long and then dying. Apparently multiple reports (me included) of the hydrohut tents releasing poisonous gases! This being said I switched to a 4x2 Sunhut for my vegging room and I have 5x5 Darkroom for my flowers.

As far as the $ total, lets say much more than I thought I would spend ... latest count I was reaching mid 4 digits! Includes everything; seeds, tents, lights, nutes, PH/PPM meter, etc. ... but hopefully buying quality products will ensure years of growing pleasure :D

[JohnnyWisdom]

Sorry folks, been a while since my last post but it's because my Internet took a shit. Anyway, I'm back up & rockin' it again with some blazing speeds! (16mb down, 2mb up)

Attached are some pics from the beginning of the 4th week of flowering (taken 11-09-2008; lights had just turned off so you'll noticed the difference in picture colors)

Also, included an update of the new growth within the Sunhut ... so far so good. Btw, I've read tons about different tents. Basically stay away from the tents with the white inside lining ... apparently those are the poisonous ones. The new Sunhuts that use the same metalic colored inside lining as the Darkrooms are supposed to be safe. :twocents:

[TheSwordsman]

looks awesome, love the set up. how difficult was your hydro to set up? and how much did it cost you? just wondering cause I'm starting to plan out my first grow and I want to go into it prepared. I would rather go hydro (it seems that it produces better results, i.e. better yield) but soil seems easier and cheaper... a little strapped for cash.

Keep up the good work! :thumbsup:

[thinkgreen]

swordsman

if you look at the 2nd post up from yours you'll find your answer....:thumbsup:

[JohnnyWisdom]

Sorry, another late posting. Anyway these pictures were taken 11-16-08

[JohnnyWisdom]

More pix taken 11-16-08 (5th week of flowering)

[macnasty]

hey JW, what kind of cubes are those you're using to germ? rockwool with? i'm having shitty success rates with just plain 1" rockwools, so i'm looking for a better alternative. thanks.

[JohnnyWisdom]

hey JW, what kind of cubes are those you're using to germ? rockwool with? i'm having shitty success rates with just plain 1" rockwools, so i'm looking for a better alternative. thanks.

I'm using the rapid rooter plugs because they're supposed to have some micro nutrients good for rooting and then into 6" RW cubes once the tap root comes out.

[JohnnyWisdom]

Actually yesterday marked the beginning of the 6th week but I didn't have a chance to change the res until today ... nevertheless, attached are the pix for the week ...

nute schedule (28 gallon res):

1000 ml Pro Bloom (35ml/gal)
560 ml Big Bud (20ml/gal)
112 ml B-52 (4ml/gal)
15 ml PH Down

(Ran out of Sweet for this week ... Carbo-Load is on route courtesy of eBay) :rastasmoke:

[JohnnyWisdom]

Also ... a few more pix of the new growth, coming along nicely :)

[hydrocannabis]

wow. U seem to be 1 hell of a great grower.:thumbsup:

[JohnnyWisdom]

wow. U seem to be 1 hell of a great grower.:thumbsup:

Thank you for your kind words :jointsmile:

[sm0tp0ker]

... hell of a job for a newbie grow i must say, well done. :rastabanna:

i have been trying to find a thread like this; one frequently updated with an obvious knowledge of hydro. recently ive found myself reading and learning more.. it gives me the itch to produce something like this. awesome lookin ladies ya got, keep the pictures commin!!:stoned:

[JohnnyWisdom]

... hell of a job for a newbie grow i must say, well done. :rastabanna:

i have been trying to find a thread like this; one frequently updated with an obvious knowledge of hydro. recently ive found myself reading and learning more.. it gives me the itch to produce something like this. awesome lookin ladies ya got, keep the pictures commin!!:stoned:

Seriously thanks for the compliments, makes it all the reason to keep this thread updated :)

Random things I've learned:

- Search, read, search, read! So far most of my questions were easily answered just by searching directly thru this site or thru google. Chances are someone has already asked the same question many, many times.

- It's just a weed. Give her fresh air, proper nutes, sufficient light, and maintain temps ... she'll do the rest.

[JohnnyWisdom]

Beginning of week 7 ... Pics taken 12-2-2008

[JohnnyWisdom]

More pix from week 7 (con't)

[JohnnyWisdom]

More pix from week 7 (con't) and 1 pic of new growth.

Note the new growth recently got topped and will be ready for the flowering room right around the time I'm finishing curing :D

[Lit Up]

Your doing something right Johnny Boy!! First newbie grow...psshh

[brainfood33]

My first ever grow was WW in hydro and I remember it took about 9 weeks flowering.
Then I invited all my friends round to test the harvest and I destroyed everyone!

Your plants look wonderful and you don't have long to wait for a mind blowing smoke!!

How are the trichomes looking under the magnifying glass (if you have one. If not, you should get one)?
I didn't have one back then and just guessed by the colour of the pistols so the 9 weeks might not be correct but now I know better.

I currently have my 2nd ever Soil plants flowering and at 4.5 weeks they are a match for yours (bud size) so I'm very encouraged to see how yours look now!

[JohnnyWisdom]

Today is the start of week 8!!

I'm very excited ... most of the trichomes are cloudy and a few have gone amber (BTW I picked up a 30x microscope from eBay for $12). However, a lot of the pistils are still white?? I'm ready to pick them off today!! This next week can't come any faster :D

I started the flush yesterday, here's the nute schedule:

28 gal tap water
35 ml PH down (GH)
105 ml botanicare clearex

The res PH level is 5.9 and the PPM is 290

I'll probably drain & add fresh ph'd water w/ less clearex during the week.

Although next weekend only puts me at 56-57 days of flowering, I'm hoping they'll be close enough. We'll see how long the ladies last without nutes.

Attached are some pix for your viewing enjoyment :)

[brainfood33]

Cola-cular spectacular!

How tall are they and how fat are those colas!?!?
I am salivating...

[URfinest60oz]

awesome crop dude have fun smoking:thumbsup: