i sold my 2005 mint cond zx10r to start all this up + pay sum bill so here goes nothin!!!
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i sold my 2005 mint cond zx10r to start all this up + pay sum bill so here goes nothin!!!
06-22-07 Day #3 of flowering.
Cab Temp: ?
RH: ?
Nutrient Temp: 75.4F
PPM: 1025, 1111, 1126
pH: 5.6 - 5.7
The plants are starting to increase in size. Now is the time that it is very important to make sure that we move the buckets around after each time we top off or check pH levels etc. This will ensure that maximum light distribution to all bud sites can be achieved. We are needing to get a new humidity / temperature gauge cause we don't think ours is giving accurate readings anymore. For example, yesterday at 12am the gauge read 80F in the grow tent which was not possible. The air was stirring quite well and there was very little heat to be felt at all with the hand, much less 80F temps. So, in the next few days we should get that taken care of.
The plants have also been drinking a lot of water causing the levels to get almost as half as full as they were the previous day, due in part mostly because of the heat that we have seen lately. We check twice daily but even this doesn't seem to be enough some days! Soon we should start noticing yellowish green colors showing up where the bud sites will be and then it starts to get really fun from this point on. Stay tuned!
right on dude yah.:D:D
thouse R lookin good.
I will fo sure stay tuned.
06-25-07 Day #6 of Flowering.
Cab Temp:
RH:
Nutrient Temp: 72.2F
PPM: 1102
pH: 5.7
It's been a few days without any update sorry about that. I have been pulling long 12 hour shifts at work over the weekend and have not even had time to look at the plants. My grow partner has been handling all the maintenance duties and performed a 2-2-2 nutrient change yesterday (6.24.07). The plants grew about another 3 inches in height since I even last saw them! We had to raise the light again another 4" or so so that the tops would clear and all the bud sites would get even light distribution. In the next few days I will try to start taking pictures of the bud sites when the light is off to give you an idea of how far they are coming along. Its a bit hard to tell until full fledged buds appear when you start to see some good progress.
some more pics
06-27-07 Day #8 of Flowering.
Cab Temp:
RH:
Nutrient Temp: 74.5F
PPM: 1125, 1150, 1159
pH: 5.0-5.3
Hey there, the plants are growing very bushy and tall. We have all the vertical height we will need but the plants are growing into each other a bit. It is not such a big deal since we topped all three plants, which makes the main colas and bud sites as close to the light as they could possibly be. However, we are able to move the plants to the precise area that gives them max light.
On the nutrient side we have been keeping the levels pretty consistent between 1100 and 1200. The pH has been kept around the 5.8 range but we started to see some blotches on the leaves that led us to believe that it was 1 of 3 things. It could either be wide fluctuations of pH levels (which has not been happening) or possibly 5.8 being too high for the time being. The last thing we were thinking that it could be is the possibility of our 2-2-2 nutrient strength being possibly a little too weak for the size of plants. In other words; perhaps the plants need more food for full blown flowering. The next nutrient change will definitely be a full flowering mix.
Based on the fact that our mix is a 2-2-2 strength we decided to raise and lower the pH levels every other day. We will drop all the way down to 5.2 in the morning and let it get as high as it can in the afternoon. This should allow the nutrient availability to have a wide range. If this helps we should have our problem narrowed down. If it doesn't we won't be too bent out of shape about it since the rest of the plants are really healthy and doing great.
6-28-07 Day #9 of Flowering.
Cab Temp: ~85F
RH: ~19%-30%
Nutrient Temp:
PPM: 980-1100
pH: 4.8
We are going on a short vacation for a few days and so, this morning we topped off all the plants with quite a bit of a higher water level. We are coming back in a day so we shouldn't see too many ill effects. Our worry is that it will be around 100F here and we don't exactly know how much will be evaporated and uptaken by the plants. The roots will always be immersed in the nutrient reservoir and natural aeroponics never hurt roots of course. The only other concern with these temps and humid moist air above the reservoir is the possibility of mold. Mould can ruin roots in no time causing them to turn a brownish color usually accompanied with slime. Mould cuts off the amount of nutrients the roots can uptake as the bacteria quickly spreads over the roots thus also limiting the oxygen exchange the roots need to maintain. As you might have noticed, we also dropped the pH to its lowest acceptable range ie: 5.0-5.5 again, because we won't be here to maintain it. It's always good to have a buddy that grows as everyone says, but at this point in time that's just something we don't have.
06-30-07 Day #11 of Flowering.
Cab Temp: 78F
RH:
Nutrient Temp: 73F
PPM: 1050-1100
pH: 5.5
The plants are coming along, with bud sites starting to develop into the first signs of buds. The lower leaves are dieing on pretty much all of the plants but this is to be expected during flowering. The rest of the plant looks nice and healthy and they are still growing close to a half inch in vertical height daily. I took some high resolution photos to show the bud development and I will continue to do so throughout the flowering process. We are due for another nutrient change tomorrow and at this time we will also need to raise the light again. The heat has subsided and there are no real negative effects on the plants up to this point so we might just hold off on our centrifugal fan idea for the time being. We were also having some different ideas regarding a new 600W light as well. Rather than buying an exhaust fan of high quality like we were, we are thinking that since most 600W and 1000W lights have detached ballasts, that we would put the ballast outside of the grow tent and have our current light exhausting fan just remove hot air from the top of the tent without being hooked up to anything. The fan is more than powerful enough to handle this task and we would also be benefiting the power of a 600W light. Maybe for the next grow but for now we are content.
7-1-07 Day #12 of Flowering.
Cab Temp: ~75 to 80F
RH: ~50%
Nutrient Temp: 72.3F
PPM: 1100
pH: 5.5
We performed another nutrient change today and switched to full bloom formula. The components are 1tsp grow 2tsp micro 3tsp bloom or 1-2-3. We put the pH at 5.5 this time so that we could start with a good baseline to see how the plants react during this stage of flowering. GH's web site states that for this phase in growth the PPM should be between 1100-1400 PPM.
The bud sites are plumping up and our topping jobs look to be paying off. We are glad we did not decide to do any more than 3 plants with the current light setup. Our light is decent enough, but more light could have maybe enabled us to do 4 plants with higher yields, but it's a bit early to start talking about yields. Next post I will try to get some good shots of the root systems that these babies got going.
more pics
lookin good can't wait till mine is at that stage
07-06-07 Day #17 of Flowering.
Cab Temp: TOO HIGH ~ 100
RH: 50%
Nutrient Temp: TOO HIGH 78F
PPM: 850-1000
pH: 5.6
Ok, we have run into a few problems here during one of the worst possible times. Flowering is not when you want to start having things go wrong. We have not been inspecting the plants as closely as we should have and discovered some spider mites and webs. Fortunately they have not yet hit their max production rate. We quickly went to the local hydro store and picked up some stuff called bugzyme by garden grow. We were told it enables you to spray all through flowering if necessary to kill spider mites and other types of pests. It is 100% all natural so we figured we would give it a shot. We have tried using neem oil in the past but neem is more useful as a preventative measure and not meant for full fledged infestations which is what we are on the verge of.
In addition to that little problem we have run into severe heat issues here in CA. The temperatures in our garage (which is where the grow is) are in excess of 100F and only hotter in the grow tent. We have a fan hooked up to the light if you recall, so a good deal of heat is being extracted there, but the problem still lies with the natural heat that is just a part of this time of year. We bit the bullet and ordered A vortex 4" centrifugal fan that is rated at 175CM. CFM stands for cubic feet per minute. In other words, a 70CFM fan will move the volume of 70 cu ft. air in a minute out of a given space. The fan we bought would probably be overkill if used strictly as an exhaust since we only have 14.07 cu ft. For our space theoretically we would need a 42CFM fan max. However, what were thinking instead is that it might be perfect for pulling air from the light and the grow tent simultaneously since the light is not air tight. What it will come down to really is seeing how well the fan pulls air, and if our grow tent can tolerate the undoubted low pressure that will be created inside the chamber. Either way it will be hooked up to the highest point in the grow tent so there should be some large amounts of hot air moving out of there. We also still have the passive 4" air inlet that is cut out of the table top (bottom of chamber). This inlet is probably a bit small as a passive intake but it will have to do for now. In the future we might end up making it 6" since you always want to have a slightly larger intake than exhaust. Being that our exhaust is 4", a 6" intake should suffice when we get around to it.
I'll check back in a few days with some better pictures. The fan should be here in about 3 or 4 days max.
why not an ac unit i bought a small one for 100 bucks at home depot but my rooms is 8x8x8
thanks for the idea palerider. We should be fine with just an exhaust fan since the summer won't be much longer, which would make a $100 kind of not worth it at this point. We needed a fan regardless so we will see how that does and then take it from there. We are trying to keep costs down as low as possible for the simple reason that we have already dumped so much money into this ongoing project that we would like to see some returns before we go spending any more money.
i here that
i just know i have a 8x8x8 area and even with the a/c in there on the hot days it's hard to keep it under 80 in there. so let me know if the fan works and how u set it up. cause i have mine set to run throught the light and it still gets hot in there.
Hey Deft ,
I know heats a real M/F there rt. now like 103-105 by Weedhound . Next go round you might try a 20-30 gal. res. and recirculating the sys. w/ a 7.00 120 gph pump . Im able to freeze 2 litre pop bottles of water and put em in the res. once or twice a day to keep water temps down .
Lookin good man :thumbsup:
Crispi :jointsmile:
thanks for the advice crispi, we were actually considering that for this grow by just didn't end up doing it. It seems like it be pretty simple though - where did you get the reservoir from? Only problem is that we wouldn't want to spend the time and money on this kind of a setup since during the next grow it should be cooled down quite a bit. We will just have to consider it for next summer.
Res. = cheap heavier rubbermade / stearlite container and add your own grommets / fittings , homedepot has 10ft. rolls of black tubing too = you'll never have algee in lines like w/ clear blue junk from gen. hyd. bet you could do it for less than 20-25 bucks total even w/ the pump cost . Via Aqua 302 is pumps pt. no. I get em cheap on Ebay - or a petstore etc...
Crispi :jointsmile:
07-08-07 Day #19 of Flowering.
Cab Temp: ~80F
RH: 45%
Nutrient Temp: 75F
PPM: 136
pH: 5.6
We did a nutrient replacement today with just plain pH balanced water. We wanted to try and flush out the roots for a day since they were beginning to show some rust coloring. We will do a full nutrient change tomorrow. We are still waiting for the centrifugal fan to arrive in the mail so we can get some serious heat relief and it couldn't take longer it seems!
We have also been spraying twice daily with the bugzyme for about two days now. The spider mites are very low in numbers and we'll continue to spray as long it takes to rid ourselves of the infestation. Spider mites can ruin flowering healthy plants in the matter of a week depending on how fast they spread. We don't want to take any chances, and ladybugs are not out of the question if the mites were to get that bad. We doubt it will come to that though.
some more
awesomely amazingly beautiful
I would go to WARRR with those little freeloading mother%#$@ers before its too late. I started noticing a few around a week until harvest... so i let them stay and didn't wanna spray my almost ready buds with neem... well I wasn't able to visit them for a few days and when I came back about 3-4 days later... There we're literlly webs over the ENTIRE CANOPY. There were webs on top of webs... most of the leaves were crispy as shit... It was scary as shit... I have no Idea how they exploded like that... I was starting to get consistently hot and i think that might have sped them up alittle but daMNNN. Lucky enough the buds turned out fine. They attack too late to really fuck them up... But right after that I moved the entire grow and flooded that room with neem... neem everywhere...Quote:
Originally Posted by deftdrummer
well from what I've read neem isn't safe to use during flowering either because it ruins your buds. This stuff that we got bugzyme is supposedly safe to use all through flowering. That is amazing your crop survived if it was as bad as you say it was. Damn
thats what i have a 30 gal res and pvc pipe hooked to a water pump u put in the bottem i have 4 set up and it cost 200 for pumps res tubing pvc sprayers and an extra 80 for and 385gph air pump hooked to air hogs air stones just to get the extra air flow in the res
7-11-07 Day #22 of Flowering.
Cab Temp: ~80F
RH: 57%
Nutrient Temp: 78F
PPM: 1100-1250
pH: 5.5
The pH went up today to about 6.3 as it usually does in the mornings. We added some pH down and got it back in the range. While the plants were out of the grow tent we decided to install our new centrifugal fan that came today in the mail. I included some pictures of installation to show you all what I was talking about. The fan again is rated at 175CFM and is very very quiet. We were really excited to hear how quiet it is since it will be near a ceiling vent. Apparently the fan only runs at 48dBA which is certainly a lot quieter than our current squirrel cage style fan. After installation however we have mixed feelings. Among our worries was the possibility of the fan being too powerful for our small space and thus sucking the walls of the grow space inward. This was the case when we took the glass out of the light to improve airflow and improve airflow it did - a little too well. Then the notion of bugs and other things getting up into the light without the protective glass so we started to change our minds. At the same time, we also realized that removing the glass actually created more heat in the room since the light was now nothing more than a passive intake through the bottom, and subsequently the light got hotter, which in return made the grow space hotter. Needless to say, we installed the protective glass again - for safety hazards if nothing else. This pretty much puts us back to square one again as far as ventilation. We have had a good few days where it has been overcast which is a nice change-up from the 103F heat we have been having consistently. If anything, we think in the long run having a more powerful fan hooked up to the light will remove even more heat which obviously keeps the overall temps down. If we really feel the need to install both fans then we will, but the weather should be getting gradually cooler and cooler here pretty soon.
As far as plant growth goes, it is good with bud growth being solid and having great color / smell. However, the spider mites seem for the time being very persistent with regards to our biggest plant. If it comes down to it and we really need to eradicate ourselves of these pesky bugs then we will resort to using a hot-shot pest control strip that can be found at the hardware store. We have used this in the past but have refrained for all of this grow due to health hazards associated with them if too close to your living / growing space.
heres the fan and buds
07-13-07 Day #24 of Flowering.
Cab Temp: 78F
RH: ?
Nutrient Temp: 74.8F
PPM: 1058, 1096, 1110
pH: 5.4, 5.3, 5.4
Hey all, yesterday we went out and bought a hot shot strip for the inside of the grow cab. I fear it is a bit too late however, since on our biggest plant nearly every bud has at least a few spider mites. We have had a grow in the past that got infested with spider mites and smoking the weed was not that great. The popping is horrible and every time you hear it it reminds you of the spider mites going into your body. We are going to try and get as many as we can off with Q-tips which will be a painstaking process, but hopefully we can minimize the damage. We know that the hotshot strips have kept 100% of spider mites off in the past, so we are hoping that it can kill 100% of them off quickly as well. Already we have seen lines of them like ants on the mylar seemingly vacating the area.
The fan is keeping the temps in very acceptable ranges, but we still don't have a temp gauge that we can read from so for now we are just estimating the temps, but they are definitely cooler even to the bare hand.
One thing I noticed this morning however is that one of our pumps is almost crapped out. This is pretty disappointing considering it didn't quite last one full grow. I don't know how it happened but the pump on the biggest plant is not generating enough pressure to make the drip ring work. So for now, the roots just get bubbling from underneath and no overhead watering. The pumps are cheap so we will have to just run out and buy another one in the next few days. I tell ya, I really am tired of spending money and am starting to get a little discouraged.
where did u get the strips at ? and the money issue thats to be expected going into trying new things. and the fan u have to buy anyways really for exhaust for the right set up so the things ur buying u would have to buy anyways.looks like u were going in half cocked or skimping to as low as u could go hoping it would'nt need more than that it's no biggie.i have learned long ago that the stuff that should be small end up big and the big well...it just stays big but the small end up biggest lol i know how it goes.
u know how it goes opps typo
7-17-07 Day #28 of Flowering.
Cab Temp: ~ 75F
RH: ?
Nutrient Temp: 74F
PPM: 1100
pH: 5.7
Ok, I apologize for not posting as frequently, but if you have been following along you know its been a bit hectic in the garden. I will attempt to catch everyone up.
First off, the pump that went out was replaced later the same day. The new pump is a lot better for now but I think for the next grow we will probably do a complete nutrient delivery and air stone overhaul with better pumps that cost only a few dollars more. You can get quality air pumps inexpensively at a local hydro shop.
Second, we had big problems with the spider mites on all plants. We have been spraying daily with bugzyme and we were beginning to think that it was not doing anything to the mite population. I also mentioned that we got a hotshot pesticide strip which we also thought was not working. We used one of these hot shot strips on our last grow however, and didn't see but one mite the entire grow. The only concern of ours (and others) is that these hot shot strips release pesticides into the air that are not suitable for human environments. If you are going to be eating, sleeping, breathing the chemicals from these it can be hazardous to your health - it even says so on the warning. We were faced with a difficult decision as you know, so we had to decide to lose the whole crop due to mites, or eradicate ourselves of them as quickly as possible. We even went as far as to call in to the local hydro shop to see what the pricing was for P. Persimilis which is the natural predator of the spider mite. Persimilis is also a mite but feeds on spider mites at a rate of about 10-20 a day. Our local store said they can special order them for us since they are very perishable and need to be used right away.
We were going to do this in the next day or so but when I woke up this morning and checked on the plants there was not a single mite alive. All the mites in the webs were dead and the ones walking were dead in their tracks. We are going to spend the next few days with Q-tips trying to get rid of as many mites as we possibly can so the smoke is better in the long run.
As far as the growth goes, the buds are starting to fatten up and smell like the stanky danky we all love and admire. There are trichomes all the way out to the tips of the leaves. Here are some pics
Here are some close up's of the buds. I know why they call it grandaddy purple now! :stoned:
and yet even more. Soon I will master my camera but it is a bit tricky, especially with the lighting.
thats what i like to see,
7-18-07 Day #29 of Flowering.
Cab Temp: ~ 75F
RH:
Nutrient Temp: 74.3F
PPM: 1160, 1198, 1240
pH: 5.38, 5.45, 5.51
The pH has lowered a bit since yesterday when we put it at about 5.7 but we are going to leave it and let it rise on it's own to about 5.7
Now is the time something with higher lumens than a 400W would come in handy but there's not much we can do. Actually, we are currently not using our mother chamber and could take out or T5 HO fluorescent but there is no place to hang it really in the grow chamber. That would be perfect for the lower bud sites, especially since we are moving the plants daily and rotating them.
7-23-07 Day #34 of Flowering.
Cab Temp: 78F
RH: ?
Nutrient Temp: 78.4F
PPM: 1205, 1246, 1351
pH: 5.8, 5.76, 5.5
Update, the buds are getting super crystalized and are looking great. We are half way through flowering so we should have something to smoke on here in the next month maybe a little sooner. I will probably go to wal mart some time today to buy another temperature / humidity gauge so we can be more accurate with our postings. We have been keeping the pH a little higher since they seem to be responding well and producing lots of trichomes. Lately the pH has been going down a little bit when the water evaporates from the reservoir so when we top off the pH goes back up which works out quite well with not having to add anything other than water. The day after tomorrow we will be going on a small two day vacation so we will have a friend come over and top off all the plants for us each day, then we will need to do another nutrient change when we come back on Friday.
yummmm... trichomes everywhere... You better order a bubblebag so you can make some hash... I can wait to get one.
What an amazing thread. Thanks. I had been looking for a good thread on a home made DWC bubbler. I have a few questions though. First, I don't want to utilize the drip system, just the DWC. So, would a lid like this more suit my needs?: Worm's Way - Bucket Lid I plan on using this bucket: Worm's Way - Black Bucket with Handle .
Assuming that would work, as soon as a I transplant a seedling into it, would I need to run the air stone 24 hours? Or, is it too young? Also, since I'm not utilizing the drip system I'd assume I'd need to keep the water level up to at least the net pot until it's roots grow, right?
Another question I have is what can I use to cut a hole for the tubing to the air stone? I don't plan to drill on the bottom, but a little underneath the lid, that way I won't have to worry about leaking, although I'll still use aquarium sealant to seal it. But the plastic buckets look pretty thick, so what do I cut them with to make holes?
I'm also wondering, when you change your reservoir, what do you do with the lid/net pot with the plant and it's root mass during that time?
Peace,
:rasta:
Wow. Those plants look very amazing. Only 34 days of flowering and those things are very developed. Love the trichome development. Deft I have a question, do you have MSN or AIM or something like that? I promise I will try not to annoy you :p.
Since the tubing is 1/4" could I simply use a 1/4" drill bit, and use that to drill my hole, and then seal it with aquarium sealant? Again, I'm using the bucket and lid shown in my above post as long as you think that will do.
Peace,
:jointsmile: