First Grow

[morebuds4me]

Hey, I've been soaking up information to start my own grow. I kinda got ahead of myself and just jumped into it. I started with 4 plants but only one has sprouted from the RW. I think that has to do with how they were put in the rw.

I've got a 4'x4'x8' room painted flat white
I made a DWC setup out of some tote things and some net pots
I only have a bath exhaust fan in my room for ventalation
My light is a 250w HPS that I got from gutting a street light
Dyna-Gro Neuts

I have one of those wireless outdoor weather monitors so I can keep track of the temp and humid. Temp stays around 75F-80F and the humidity stays around 25%.

Any advice that could help my grow would be greatly appreciated.

Trey

[lordsoth666]

Did you light-proof the tote? If not you should. Algae will grow if light gets to the nutes, algae will kill your plants.

http://www.overgrow.com/article.php?articleid=2 <--- read this if you have not already

good luck

L0rdsOth :D

[morebuds4me]

Yeah, Thats one of the things I didnt think about before jumping into it. The totes really thick and the lid locks on all way round, Is my humidity too low? and what types of ph testers do you all use? I want a decent digital one, but im curious to see what everyone else uses.

[Zandor]

You do need to raise the humidity to above 70%. There is some silver insulation wrap for water heaters. It works great to wrap your tub with it helps to keep heat & light out. Build a carbon scrubber to place at the top of your room so when you change the air it handles the odor. Did you enclose the light in an air-cooled hood with a glass bottom? Are you drawing the hot air out from your light to keep the temperatures down? Just a few things I can think of for now.

[Zandor]

As for testers I use the Hanna 4 in 1 model. It cost a little more then some of the others but worth every penny. You need the full range of calibration solutions and if anyone tells you different (they are wrong) This is a scientific internment and should be treated like one. I calibrate mine once a month at least and it has lasted me for 3 years with no problems. There are others cheaper but you get what you pay for.

[morebuds4me]

My exhaust is vented up thru the roof via an old flue pipe!!! Im thinking of cutting a hole in the room for a filter and vent to supply fresh air in. Also even a larger exhaust fan. So I should get a definatley get a small humidifier, or is there some cost effective way to do it? My light is just mounted on an adjustable cable used for office florusent lights and it is kept high so the plants dont see too much heat. I'll try to get some pics on here sooner or later. Im looking on spending around 120 for a decent ph + tds tester, if anyone knows of one please let me know. I dont know too much about them but from what I have found from surfing around hanna is a good brand. But I'm open for suggestions. Thanks for all the input.

[morebuds4me]

First of the many pics

[Sensi Super Skunk]

First of the many pics
Nice looking setup. Did you buy the hydroponic system or did you construct it yourself?

[morebuds4me]

I bought the kit from ebay, then put it together. Seems to work ok. The only place i see air could possibly get in is throught the net cups. Im probally gonna put some white circles over the cups to cover the RW.

[kuri]

how many gallons is the Dwc setup?

[morebuds4me]

The kit was a 2 stage the first stage is for 2.5 gal and then the larger one is 7 gal for 4 plants. Once the plants get large i'll put em in the large one.

[Zandor]

Yes you do need to bring in fresh air and have air moving around your plants is a must. I would check the humidity and see where it averages. If you are above 60% then I would say no. I good temperature / humidity controller is strongly suggested. You just plug in your fart fan and a mister and set the dial. It will turn on and raise the humidity then turn it off when it reaches the set percentage. You lower the humidity for flower so you donâ??t get mold on the buds. You can have a constant humidity but you need to also have a sulfur burner to combat the mold and a controller for a dehumidifier. The more you use automatic controls to monitor your environment the less work you will do and the larger, better, and happier your plants will be in the end.

[morebuds4me]

Cash plays a big factor on automatic controls. My humidity is low, around 20% Zandor whats the mister your talking about, a humidifier? Whats a fast way to raise humidity without a humidifier?

[lordsoth666]

Hang some wet towels in the room, small towels, as they dry, the air gets moist.

L0rdsOth :D

[bonker7]

more light dude more watts more bud thats the rule and more a fact.stay slippery

[heartsurgerysurviver]

Hi Morebuds4me
I noticed you said only 1 out of 4 seeds sprouted. I soak my rockwool cubes in 4.5 ph water over night then wash them out in the sink for a few minutes before use. rock wool has a tendancy to be high in ph [over 7.5] which is not good for growing. Soaking and washing has taken care of that problem for me.
good luck in your grow
peace
heart

[morebuds4me]

I added 1 other plant to the setup. Its about 10 days younger but its kool. Plants look all droopy, but a nice green. The oldest plant has a little yellowing on one of the bottom leaves. PPM is 440 including the 150 from tap. pH is 5.6 and 70F Temp stays around 75 and humidity around 45%. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[bonker7]

looking good

[morebuds4me]

Just another update. Plants are around 18" tall and a few days over 1 month old. I just switched to bloom neuts yesterday. Plants look good to me so far, Im happy I made it this far on my first time. Any advice as I try to flower them and hope for girls!!!!

[thechronic]

dam thats nice

[thechronic]

look out for males!

[morebuds4me]

look out for males!

Ahhhhh!!! Looks like one to me, but then again I aint too sure because I've never seen one before except pics on the net. Hopefully the other is not one so I can get some more knowladge (I cant spell) about how they grow. And mabey some of my first buds I've ever grown. Not gonna hack it yet I wanna wait to see for sure what it is. Also me jumping into the growing has come back to haunt me. I had to take out a piece of the shelf it was sitting on because it was too close to the light. Hopefully that wont hurt them. Enough of my babbaling. Pics!!

[Torog]

Ahhhhh!!! Looks like one to me, but then again I aint too sure because I've never seen one before except pics on the net. Hopefully the other is not one so I can get some more knowladge (I cant spell) about how they grow. And mabey some of my first buds I've ever grown. Not gonna hack it yet I wanna wait to see for sure what it is. Also me jumping into the growing has come back to haunt me. I had to take out a piece of the shelf it was sitting on because it was too close to the light. Hopefully that wont hurt them. Enough of my babbaling. Pics!!
Howdy morebuds4me,

The center pics,#23 and #28,are of a male,#24 is a female. Males are easy to spot,they have a cluster of grape-like pods,the females have 2 spurs..and no pod clusters.

You're doing great..keep up the good work..as time goes by,you'll figure out how to tweak yer grow-room and grow big,stinky,sticky buds...lol.

Have a good one ! :D

[morebuds4me]

I woke up this morning and went to check on my friends, and i found something that kinda worries me. On the large fan leaves off the bottom of the plant the stem out to the leaf is split right down the center. Also I found my pH dropped way down to 3.9. Yesterday it was at 5.5. Very confused about that. All other post I can find only talk about the ph raising. Here are some pics of the split plant. Using Dynd Bloom neuts at 700ppm.


Torog All the last pics are from the same plant. It is possible it's a hermi, plant fell over when it was younger and it made a full recovery. The last me pic this post is the other plant. Thanks for the info.

[Zandor]

If cash is a problem them you cant afford a mister or the controller. You need to control the environment not just enhance it.

[newgroweroldsmoker]

since you are into flowering just make sure that the fan is in constant operation.....mold is generally created when the air does not circulate.....if you have a good airflow then you will be fine and no mold will appear anywhere.....the first signs of mold will be in the upper corners of the walls into your growing room......i still have the spots (mold) as a result of the elevated humidity rate during vegetation.....thanx to better airflow and a window wider open during flowering the humidity dropped and the mold stayed in there and did not spread anywhere else....see the pics.....hehehe....lucky huh? i did not have any organs to measure anything else apart from a mickey mouse thermometer to check temps.....lol :)
one more thing i noticed is that if you have good ventilation, exchange of air, the smell of the plants is reduced somehow.....if they are closed with no fresh air they stink.....has anyone ever noticed that?