First hydro! Whats next? Some beginer questions.

[Growgood2]

Hey every one! Its been awhile but im back in action! Just got my first Hydro setup! The pictures posted are of my seedlings and my tent setup.
I have a secret Jardin Darkroom I belive its 4X4X5. Secret Jardin Clone room 4x4x3? something like that :stoned: So Im only doin 2 plants and as you can see I have them in Rockwole cubes. started 6, 4 are up, 2 are open but having trouble compleatly opening.....no bigy might take a razor to them in the next day or so if nothing pops up. My main question here is what should I do with my seedlings to get them trew veg? there on 18/6
right now under t5 floro's. Should i transfer them over to my GH buckets and start them on a light nute? I have a good feeling there a liitle to small for the GH buckets. I guess my main worry is the roots being exposed in the bottom of the rock wole cubes ligh/air burning. humidity in the tent
is around 65% temp runs about 78f. Should I just leave the seedlings in the rockwool cubes? confused and stoned lol any advice would be much
apreciated!!!! :thumbsup: P.S. I had to shorten these pics down quite a bit...[attachment=o278705][attachment=o278704][attachment=o278706][attachment=o278707]

[Growgood2]

I guess I should have been more clear on questions lol:stoned: So I know what feeding sched im gonna run with these gals, im using the GH flora 3 set. I guess im just woundering what i should do with my seedlings now that they have sprouted. Should I look at getting a cloneing bubbler? should they go strait to the buckets? Once again this is my first hydro grow! Thanks for any input/Ideas! Im so used to soil grows were i wouldnt have this stoner problem of what to do lol i would just transplant into a biger pot. same idea...just not sure what to transplant to i guess??? can I go strait to the GH buckets with them??

[ZiggZagger420]

first hydro :( have i got a story to tell you !!! Any way you were wondering how to get your seedlings to 12 12.....its no secret I'll let the chicken out of the bag from seedlings to your line up is roughly three months you cannot clone or stress the plant in any way EVER !! So if you have a good hydro store and they carry it get gro terra by super natural brand and soak the first watering then let the baby grow some adventerous roots wich means you let the pot/container completely dry out until you see the plant stress a bit then start the gro terra half strength...=10 10 10 NPK its designed perfectly for hydro/soil no need for Ph testing like goat shit nutrients IE General Hydroponics <-------GARBAGE !! any way...its super natural brand from the cradle to the grave ....
oh no...
i see your using GH first thing you do is throw the cup and the soil IN THE TRASH!! GH is goat shit someone charges 20 dollars any way umm if you follow these instructions you will have a rippin mother plant...true story well until next time up up and away !!:S1:

[SmokeMyPiece]

I guess I should have been more clear on questions lol:stoned: So I know what feeding sched im gonna run with these gals, im using the GH flora 3 set. I guess im just woundering what i should do with my seedlings now that they have sprouted. Should I look at getting a cloneing bubbler? should they go strait to the buckets? Once again this is my first hydro grow! Thanks for any input/Ideas! Im so used to soil grows were i wouldnt have this stoner problem of what to do lol i would just transplant into a biger pot. same idea...just not sure what to transplant to i guess??? can I go strait to the GH buckets with them??
Nice start Growgood :thumbsup:
- Once you see some roots spreadin the outside of the cubes, you can transplant to your system. Make sure the water underneath is bubbling enough to wet the tron; You can also manually water from the top if its gettin too dry. Also, dont leave the cube exposed above the tron else you may get some algae.
-IMO, hydro is easier than soil, but can go downhill much quicker.

-GH is fine, thats all ive ever done hydro with, never a problem. I only use Micro&Bloom as per the 'lucas' formula.
-Also, dont feed them anything directly. When you transplant, use a 1/2 strength solution in your reservoir.

[Salvein211]

Yeah exactly what SMP said. Im currently in my first hydro grow, done soil a bunch of times prior like yourself. I use RR plugs to germinate, then I use those grow through pots(roots grow through them) you can buy at home depot or lowes that are maybe 3-4" in diameter to start them before I transplant into my system. Once you transplant into your system, you will need to hand water for a while. 4-5 times a day. But once the roots start to find themselves down to the water, you will be good to go. It is imperative you hand water though! I think I had to do that for 4 days.

[Growgood2]

Right on! thanks for all the input! So I would transplant them into the hydro buckets and then top feed with 1/2 strenght nute mix? That sounds
right to me! When top feeding how many times a day do you think is necessary?:thumbsup:

[Growgood2]

opps 4-5 times a day got it! thanks again!! ill keep this post runnin to show my grow! I ll have some new pics up when i get things transplanted over!!! Thanks
a million!!!!!

[Growgood2]

What should my ppm be for starting out? Iam very unfamilar with ppm. I purchased the truncheon meter. have yet to use it but i think im going to transplant 2 of the little guys today with a 1/2 nute strenght mix. So just to make sure im doing this right..... start with water then mix my nute 1 at a time, check pH, then check ppm. again what should my ppm be at?

[Growgood2]

Okay so to day was my first day of the seedlings in the GH buckets. I went a little lower than half strenght, only because the gals are still pretty
small (if there gals at all.....) so I did 2 and 1/2 gallon of water with 1/2 tea spoon of the three part GH flora (half a tea spoon of each). Ph was at 6.0 ppm was only 200. checked it an hour later ph had gone up to about 6.8. used GH ph kit to lower the ph back down to about 6.0 ppm was up to 300. checked it an hour later ph was back up to 6.8. once again i used the ph down to get it back to 6.0. ppm is now at 350. is this okay? is this
fluctuation normal? should i excpect my ppm to be low because of low nute mix? should i up my nutes a little? Also is it okay to use the GH pH up down kit all the time to change my ph? or should i just whip up a new batch of nute soup? any advice or information would be very helpfull thanks again!!!!!

[Salvein211]

Ut oh..... When you bought your hydrotron, did you rinse the holy crap out of it? Did you soak it in a bath of good pH'd water? If not, this is your problem. THANK GOD my nursery guru told me to do this BEFORE I use the stuff, as you will have INSANE amounts of trouble with pH if you do not. If you go to the forum search button and type in hydrotron, you will see a few threads explaining it better. You are so early in the game that you could pull your plants out, and fix it. I recommend you do so, because if not, you will have a battle on your hands. All that red residue on those clay pellets needs to be rinsed off heavily (garden hose). I then used like a 30gal tote to soak them in at a pH close to 5.8 and such. You may need more then one soaking.. As you will see the pH rise in the bath..

Ok 2nd! I dont know anything about GH nutes, so hopefully someone else will chime in.. BUT.. I use fox farms, and my ppm in the very beginning was 400. When you add pH up or down to your resevoirs, or anything in the matter that isnt clean and fresh water, your ppm rises. ppm is parts per million, and it measures the metals in the water, the concentration of them. The more additives, well I think you get it. that meter should be fine.. i dunno. Yeah when mixing a batch of nutes up, add one nute to the water at a time, stir, then pH. Checking ppm after is a great way to see where your at. Im not as good on it as I should be, but every other day, checking ppm, will tell you how much your plants are intaking in form of nutes to water ratio. If the water level in your resevoir goes down and ppm goes up, its taking all the nutes it can, but its mainly just taking in the water. If the water level goes down and ppm goes down, thats great! means your plant is taking water and nutes at the same level or so. One thing I just learned though, if that is the case, when you top off, top off with a nute mix because if you dont you will dillute the resevoir even further.

[Growgood2]

Hey thanks Salvein211! I have some questions for you! I am a huge fan of foxfarm and am more comfortable using there products. do you use half strenght on your seedlings? (on foxfarm sched). Also about the tron i rinsed it pretty good but did not give it a bath of ph corrected water.......uh uo! but your right im still pretty early on so i think i will pull the little gals and soak the hydrotron in about 6.0 pH'd water? Thanks again!!!

[Salvein211]

On seedlings, I just hand water them with pH'd water. It will take a few days when they are in your system to reach the water. The nute mix that I make up for them when they get to the water is full strength week 1 nutes that FF has on their "hydro" feeding chart tables. I think its like 3tsp per gal BB and 2tsp GB per gal. And again, it comes out to about 400ppm, and im NOT using distilled water. Some say 5.8 pH is the true number, but generally a 5.8-6.3 is the golden range imo. When you give the tron a bath, it will most likely raise the pH of the water the first time, so a 2nd bath may be needed. But when you get it to hold at about 6.0 pH, then its good to use.

[Growgood2]

Thanks again! ya I gave the tron a good bath got it to hol at 6 ph. Im going to be switching over to foxfarm tomorrow!

[tinytoon]

Actually there is nothing wrong with GH 3-part I have had great results in the past. You said half a tsp per 2 1/2 gals water? Thats way below half strength but good for lil ones. By rights u should not have to give ur babies any nutes till their 3rd to 4th set of "true" leaves appear. Full strength on GH would be more like 5ml of each part per gal of water. 5 ml = 1 teaspoon. Biggest thing is dont try and rush them. I use to start mine in Rapid Rooters and then put in 16oz plastic cups with holes poked for drainage and fill with Tron. Hand water till ready to put in whatever system u using. The water solution I used was water, clonex solution and GH Subculture for root growth. Just that will take them to nutes. I would water mine 3 times a day.

[2011Tamara]

GH is what I decided to use with my ongoing hydro growing project.

Most people I have talked to tend to be quite happy with their GH nutes, so I use that as my guide. I'm actually setting up one of their hydro systems, so I'll keep a close eye on how well this system, and the nutes, perform.

I have no idea why ZiggZagger420 would say this -
>> "oh no... i see your using GH first thing you do is throw the cup and the soil IN THE TRASH!! GH is goat shit someone charges 20 dollars" <<

In all the conversations I have had with anyone, growers and folks in the hydro biz universe, I've never heard anything remotely like this from anyone.
I don't know what ZiggZagger420's agenda is, but I would be curious . . .

[2011Tamara]

For what this might be worth, GH is what I decided to use with my ongoing hydro growing project.

Most people I have talked to tend to be quite happy with their GH nutes, so I use that as my guide. I'm actually setting up one of their hydro systems, so I'll keep a close eye on how well this system, and the nutes, perform.

I have no idea why ZiggZagger420 would say this -
>> "oh no... i see your using GH first thing you do is throw the cup and the soil IN THE TRASH!! GH is goat shit someone charges 20 dollars" <<

In all the conversations I have had with anyone, growers and folks in the hydro biz universe, I've never heard anything remotely like this from anyone.
I don't know what ZiggZagger420's agenda is, but I would be curious . . .

[polishpollack]

If you put them in the buckets soon, you will have to pour nute mix down the pebbles close to the plant because the rings are too far away from the roots to do much good. I think the real purpose in drip ring is to put oxygen in the water, not necessarily wash the roots with nute mix. You'll have to keep hand feeding until roots are established down into the bucket where they get nute mix.
Is that a fan at the bottom? If so you might want to hang it up top because heat rises and in such a small space you want to suck out most of the heat as quickly as it's made. This means placing a fan at the top of the grow space.
Your grow bucket are a dwc type system except where dwc shoots air into water, drip ring puts oxygen into water by having it pass or hydroton pebbles. You can take you ppm's higher in dwc methods because there is actually less oxygen than aeroponics, which uses a lower ppm. You could probably take your ppm up to 750 or so. The ppm goes up as you see it doing because pH down is actually a fert. It's causing your ppm to go up and pH to go down. If you use actual fertilizer to raise your ppm, you should see your pH drop some, giving you a more balanced ppm/pH ratio.
If you don't pour nute mix over the hydroton several times a day, you're going to have to find a way to get the roots down in the water like remove alot of the pebbles and raise the water level. I suspect you might be giving too much light in such a small space, you'll have to cut them back frequently to keep them contained in that small space. If this works right, they'll start to grow like crazy.

[Lazy Haze]

im using gh 3 part. what recipe deid you use for those juicy buds?