1st timer, w/Hydroton, could use a little help...

Thank you very much, here is what's going on. I gradually cut the water. Went from 3 hour intervals/15 minute duration to 4 hour intervals/10 minute intervals, then to 5 hour intervals/10 min duration. yesterday I went back to 4 hour intervals and here are some pics from about an hour ago.

The leaves at the bottom are all starting to yellow and are not recovering from the droop. The leaf tips at the top are yellowing just a little bit, right at the tip. A few leaves have some brown spots, maybe 3 or 4 leaves total and 1 or 2 spots on them. The vertical growth seems a little slow, I'm on day 27 from seeds and they're 6 inches tall or so... the space between each new growth on the main stem in really small, and a lot the branches seem to have new growth on them too. Do they need more water?


400w HPS Light is about 20 inches from top of plants.
2 daytime CFL's are 3 or 4 inches away
Temp: Light on-68-77
Light off - 64-70
pH is 5.5-6.0
ppm is 585 (the RO water from the store was 120 to start) DO I need to increase this???
Technaflora nutes - Boost, Grow, Thriva Alive red, MagiCal, Sugar Daddy

Just added Mylar too

i still think u should put the drip tips on and run 24/7. not not to big a fan for that system myself i like dwc/aero.and the bottom leafs that sit on the bottom and touch the clay balls will die as they tend to stay wet and get to much nute build up on them

have u stoped spraying them down like i said?

yep, no more spraying

Only 1 of them really recovered from the droop after today's dark cycle. The rest look a little better but not like normal. They also got droopy a little early today, around 6am they were already looking a little down.

also, i may have done something at the very beginning that could have a hand in this. The hole in the rapid rooter plugs seemed a little shallow once the plants sprouted, I could see the hairy part of the root through the top. When they were 2-3 inches tall, I took another rapid rooter, cut it in half and put it around the stem and on top of the existing plug. About 1 inch of the stem got covered and eventually started rooting into the new piece of rapid rooter...??? Did I read somewhere that this stunts vertical growth???maybe i'm wrong...

I haven't had time to get the tips yet. The hydro store didn't have them.

The light came on an hour before this, they recovered ok.

any kind of shock can stunt/delay growth i take it that when u did this it broke sum of the roots?? i did something like that kindda b4 there was 1 not showing roots so i ripped the plug open but careful not to rip the roots and looked inside and a just left it in the plug and closed it back up and after that it would'nt grow anymore after that so i don't know but i know it's not good to mess with it after it's rooting in the plug

no, i didn't mess with the existing rooter plug or the roots, i just made the rapid rooter plug "longer" by putting another piece on top of it. Essentially, it made the plant an inch shorter, the roots started coming out of the stem that was covered by the new piece.

oh ok i got it, u know it's not good to keep ur stem wet/damp.

how old r they now??

I know about the wet stem thing now, they were just so shallow.

Day 28.

They look great today, got the ppm to 850, been there for about 24 hours and they seem to love it.

u say u have a 400w on them now?? i can see sum has lot of growth did u top or fimm them?? from what i see the ones with alot of outwards growth will be nothing but a good thing as i fimmed the ones i had and out of 6 tom plants i had 40 tops so..is the 400w a 400w or abunch of cfls to make 400w?? i'd say drop the lights a lil closer if u can just do the hand test to see how close u can get the light if its cfls u can get them about 5inches away and be fine.

no, I havent touched them, no topping or fimming. Since this is my first grow, I want to do it without fucking with anything. Figure I learn the basics first, like keeping a plant alive and healthy AND growing it to maturity- something I've never done. I would consider LST but I don't think they're tall enough, nor do I really know how to do it, so I'm sure you understand the reluctancy. I'm trying to play it safe, as long as I can get a few oz from them(total), I'll be happy

I have a 400w Eye Hortilux HPS and 2 CFL's in there.

How much more veg time would you say I have left?

most go 12/12 when the plant hits a ft tall or 4 or 5 good sets of leafs but u have good growth but no height at 30 days mine was close to 2ft tall urs is still under a ft so i'd wait till they were lil over a ft unless u have alot of space then u can let them grow bigger i mean the taller the better as more can grow but the least is a ft i would say

I have about 32 inches from the top of the pot to a safe distance from the light.

i'd flower at around a ft maybe a lil bigger

Is LST something to consider? if so, when should I do it? They're about 8 inches tall now.

Will this slow the process down?

Also... when I switch the lights from 18/6 to 12/12 do I still cut the water during the dark? 12 hours seems like a long time without water.

taken tonight. They're looking great. I've been at 90% nutes for 2 days and they seem to be happy. They still droop a little before the lights go out, but they recover pretty quickly.

I took some of my unused, flexible airline and made drip rings out of the straight tubing and t connectors. there are 4 holes in each ring and the water ALMOST comes out in individual drops. Its pretty steady, but its spread out to all 4 sides of the pot. This has kept the rapid rooter plugs from getting wet and all the roots get water, every watering. I have the pump on for 15 minutes every 3 hours now, actually I just switched it to 15 minutes every 2 hours. The temp in the box has been 65-75 with the lighs on and 58-64 with the lights off. Reservoir is 19c-20c.

The tallest one in the back left is 10 inches tall, the smallest one, the front left, is 8 inches. I plan on starting the flowering cycle next sunday. I only have 32 inches before I'll be too close to the light so I figure I start flowering at about a foot like palerider suggested. By the way, palerider has given me SOLID advice for the past couple weeks. Much Respect!!!

ty tmusic lol most of the time i get deemed the prick or don't write in perfect english on these forums nice to see i can help someone.anyways thats good that u made the ring and i'd say u should up the time on the feeding a lil more as there gettin bigger and will need more and i can't tell if it's the pic or not but are sum of ur leafs yellowing?? if so u might want to back off the nutes abit what are ur ppms at now?? and ur ph??

I don't give a fuck about your english...and ... prick or not, you've still given sound advice and the plants can prove it. Thanks again.

no, the leaves aren't yellowing, just the few that are closest to the bottom, its just the hps light on the rest. There is about 1 cm between the top of the hydroton and the lowest set of leaves, and about 2 cm between each new growth on the main stem, is this normal? They seem really compact.

For watering, I'm using a timer with 15min increments, so i have to increase it to 30 mins, is this ok? ppm is at about 1000. ph is rising higher and more frequently with stronger nutes, but I try to adjust it to 5.5-6.0 at least 2 times a day. I just changed this tank of water on sunday and it got cloudy by monday afternoon, smelled bad again.

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Originally Posted by TMusic

I don't give a fuck about your english...and ... prick or not, you've still given sound advice and the plants can prove it. Thanks again.

no, the leaves aren't yellowing, just the few that are closest to the bottom, its just the hps light on the rest. There is about 1 cm between the top of the hydroton and the lowest set of leaves, and about 2 cm between each new growth on the main stem, is this normal? They seem really compact.

For watering, I'm using a timer with 15min increments, so i have to increase it to 30 mins, is this ok? ppm is at about 1000. ph is rising higher and more frequently with stronger nutes, but I try to adjust it to 5.5-6.0 at least 2 times a day. I just changed this tank of water on sunday and it got cloudy by monday afternoon, smelled bad again.

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the bottom leafs that are burnt are prob touching the clay balls from time to time, if so thats why as it sits on the wet hydroton and the nutes burn the leafs, i would cut them back so they don't touch the bucket or hydroton. and if ur wanting to trim ur plants up nows the time to do it.i would'nt do much but sum to clean things up.

and from what i've read, sum strains have tight nodes and that can be a good thing, so i would'nt worry bout that and i'd say 30mins is fine, there getting bigger now and as they do they want more food as well.with all the growth i see i think u will have sum good thick growth when u go 12/12, so there lookin nice keep it up and i would 'nt go higher than 1000ppm right now and that might be alil much as it is so watch them. and the bad smell can be from dead plant matter in the res im guessing as it happened to me as well.

Day 36 from seeds. Pics just before the light came on today. the tallest point is 11 inches tall, grew about an inch yesterday.

would any other trimming help? ...probably should leave them alone.

now would be a perfect time to fimm them it's great i fimmed my plants and man can i say it works bigggggg time put it this way i had 1 plant that had 20 tops to it, no lie it's hard for me to explain it but i'll try if u don't understand it look it up on here it's real easy to do and u will love the results believe me what u do is u see in ur picc the very last growth coming out the top the lil leafs sprouting out the top u cut about 80% of them off leaving the stem that there growing from and about 20% of the leafs left look it up on here i think theres sum pics on it to to show just how much to cut but it's really worth it if ur not sure do just 1or2 and leave the rest and u can see the diffrence fo sho....

but only if u have the room cause they will slow down upwards growth for about a week or less but it will start growing outwards u will def yeild alot more by fimming

I had considered this and if these were clones I would do it, but they're not. I don't want to waste the time not knowing which ones are female.

But can a take a cutting or two from each plant? If I keep track of them I can only grow out the females and do something different next time.

i started all mine from seed too and i fimmed half of them i got lucky and 2 turned out to be fem if u have the space i'd go ahead with it it won't hurt and if they turn out to be males just toss them anyways so no harm but u will be able to see the extra growth just to see what and how it all works

If you don't want to stress them at all just bend them down into the right shape for max light penetration....if you dont know how a strain will react to FIM or topping I wouldn't do it.

Have any shown sex yet? Should be soon....look very close on the nodes.

They look really good by the way....I only use a 80watt for veg mine are way more lanky than yours then on to the 600 digital HPS for flower.

Nut sure if your doing any bene. bacteria but your res should not smell bad....add some hydrogen peroxide to clear it up. You dont want to pump festering nutes to your plants, its bad news.

Hydrogen peroxide will kill good and bad bacteria, mostly bad since most good bacteria are aerobic but add enough and you kill them all. try 8ml 3% H2O2 per gallon....do it for a few days and see how they react, you might be pleasantly surprised.

When I switch the lights to 12/12, do I still cut the water for the whole dark cycle? If not, how many time should I water them?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cyclonite

If you don't want to stress them at all just bend them down into the right shape for max light penetration....if you dont know how a strain will react to FIM or topping I wouldn't do it.

Have any shown sex yet? Should be soon....look very close on the nodes.

They look really good by the way....I only use a 80watt for veg mine are way more lanky than yours then on to the 600 digital HPS for flower.

Nut sure if your doing any bene. bacteria but your res should not smell bad....add some hydrogen peroxide to clear it up. You dont want to pump festering nutes to your plants, its bad news.

Hydrogen peroxide will kill good and bad bacteria, mostly bad since most good bacteria are aerobic but add enough and you kill them all. try 8ml 3% H2O2 per gallon....do it for a few days and see how they react, you might be pleasantly surprised.

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As for the sex ?... I have a few close ups on this website. International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums - 1st grow, need a look, PicsThe pics were too big for this one. Please take a look (they're at the bottom of the page) and tell me if i'm looking in the right place. Thanks everyone!

looks like a fem to me can't really tell but it looks like there is a white hair there

I'll get some more pics this afternoon...

I just got laid off/fired for being early to work and opening my mouth about some bullshit that I saw. I am so disappointed in the people I work with. I loved my job. What a shitty day...

fuck umm,,it sucks i know but fuck umm

you're right... fuck em!

My day will get a whole lot better if my plants respond well to the first day of 12/12. The largest plant was about 12 inches last night so I decided to do it this morning. I would have liked to get the smaller one a little bigger but I only have 32 inches to work with before I get too close to the light.

How long do I keep up with the veg nutes? I've read 1 or 2 days-2 weeks, just want your personal opinions.

i'd start out slow and add alil at a time i went from veg to 12/12 i changed out my nutes from around 500 i took it to 750/800 then after about 2 to 3 weeks i went to1200 over the 3week time span and i never got any burn or anything like that but depends on ur plants too i would'nt go from say 500 to 1000 but over time work it up to that

I'm at 1000 right now. Day 42, 3rd day into flowering. The largest plant looks like a female. There are a few sets of little white hairs on the main growth tip.

Is it too late to clone or take a cutting? Will it slow down the flowering process?

Still on veg nutes. I'm changing the water today and switching to the flowering nutes. Still using the Technaflora BC line.

Flowering Nutes
BC Boost
BC Bloom
Awesome Blossom
Thrive Alive B-1 Red
MagiCal
Sugar Daddy
Hygrozyme - I asked the guy at the hydro store and he had nothing but good things to say about this stuff.

hygrozime is the best i use it too most on here will say don't cut anything in flower stage as it can turn hermi but stinky said she takes clones early in flower sometimes so and i myself have taken a couple within the first week and it did nothing to my plants and i trimmed them up through out the flower stage and nothing has happened to mine so just be easy i would'nt take alot maybe 1 from each and u can grow them out and toss the males as u find them say u take 1 from each and label as what went with what plant and as u see sex on the main plants u can toss the ones that are male and the clone that went with it.eveybody has good safe info on here but i have found that this whole growing thing no one has it down 100% as iv'e done things that everyone has said to never do and mine are fine even down to how u start them i started all mine in the rr's under300w of cfl's in a dome and had 98% success everytime. but i listen to most of what is said on here and tweak it from there to fit u. as long as u don't go crazy with it.

should I take them from the bottom or top? do I put it on 24/0 or 18/6 and for how long?

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Originally Posted by TMusic

should I take them from the bottom or top? do I put it on 24/0 or 18/6 and for how long?

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24/0 is for development above ground only, or at least slowed root development. 18/6 is for balanced development as needed. Plants draw in the stuff they need during light hours, and process it for development during dark. Plants will do better overall if they eventually get some dark time, otherwise roots will not develop properly. I never do 24/0.