Starting first hydro

got a set-up from a friend of mine so here is what ive got
400w HPS w/ hood and ballast
3 5' cups
bag of hydroton
GH micro and bloom
ph test, up and down
4 26w cfls for veg
35w HPS
water pump
rubbermaid box pretty big one
timer
a window a/c unit

ok so heres what im thinking, i want to get 3-5 more cups and cut out holes in the lid of the rubbermaid. then i would just sit the pump in the box and have it drip circulate the plants. im starting from seed and hopefully we'll pick a mother and try my hand w/ cloning. some questions, ones the seeds crack do you just place it in with the clay balls? i was thinking maybe of using a dixie cup w/ some perilite to provide support for the seedling and then put the dixie cup into the bigger cup. is this necessary? what do you guys do? another thing, i was going to rig up some hosing to my window a/c unit and run it up to the light is the a/c filter enough to keep out bugs from the outside? i was thinking of venting out either to join up with my dryer exhaust vent or running another hose to the intake of the a/c unit. i can't imagine the a/c unit would help with smell, but maybe. i have easy access to kitty litter, so i was thinking of making a filter using that stuff, again has anyone any experience with this? if it doesnt work ill have to get a carbon one or something, but thats weeks away. so yeah, this is my first hydro attempt, im looking to go sog, or scrog. i noticed two seeds have already started to crack, so this is day one. :)

Sounds like you got a nice set started. Right now just worry about the seeds. You need to look into a product called a Rapid Rooter tray and humidity dome. Some use rockwool, but it has its issues. Gently put the seed in the rooter holes root tip down once it has germed and let it grow.

yeah ive used those while doing a cloning attempt w. hanyama unfortunately i don't have any sitting around...looks like a trip to the store, so ill make up a list.

alright so ive just gotten back from a few places and have done some upgrading to the grow op.
I went and bought some seedling starters, not rockwool cubes as they don't sell them at walmart but they should work well. I have one seed still in perilite which has now sprouted, and four more cracked seeds in the starter cubes.
I haven't gotten an exhaust system set up yet, but i do have an intake. I took a rectangle floor vent and taped it over the exhaust of a window a/c unit. then using dryer tubing i ran the chilled air into the closet. Its set up so it blows over the hps, which i think is cool.
For light protection i took a black flat sheet, folded it in half and velcrowed it up against the doorway. cut a slit on one side so the vent can move through and presto! its not 100% lightproof but it works well for me. I'll probably do some more fenagaling later.
I need to get more batteries for my camera and then ill post pics. so far so good.

So now i've 5 sprouts, which just came up yesterday morning. and one which had sprouted almost a week ago. its about 1 1/2" tall. So far I've just been giving them ph adjusted water by hand, I was wondering how long you should keep on just water and when to start with some hydro nutes. I was figuring on starting w/ a 1/4 solution of the FloraMicro either later today or tomorrow...thoughts?

how long do you plan on keeping them in the tub together

im planning on veggin till they are about 10" tall. hope i can get some preflowers and get a good mother.

i need to get pics up, thats my project for today. promise

dont be skerrrred...cubes en route
how are the youngin's looking?


you should bring up a clone or two next time you come up:dance::dance::dance:

P.S. dont make promises you cant keep
where dem pics at?

four of the 8 have started their second set of leaves, the other four look like they are just about to.

sorry hanayama, still no pics but an update
all 8 look to be doing pretty good, starting their second set of leaves on the other four. They are about a finger length from leave tip to tip, and anywhere from 1" ~3" tall.
two have root systems extending out of the cups.
I gave them some nutes today. 2tsp of GH FloraMicro and 2tsp of FloraBloom. I mixed it into a gallon of ph'ed water and then poured into the rez, which had ~6 gal already in it. So thats about 1/7 the strength GH has to provide clones. I don't think it'll cause any burn. I figure to move up to 2.5tsp/gal sometime next week. I figure to keep that as the baseline and adjust from there as I don't have a ppm kit.
One of my buddies dropped off a plant, it looks pretty sickly, ~7" tall and 3leaves on it. He went to burning man and didn't take care of it. In addition to using regular tap, which around here has a ph of 7.5-8. So I flushed that with a gallon of ph water ~6 and the runnoff at the end was ~6 so hopefully it'll come back to us.
Temps are staying between 75-83 which isn't too bad. I need to get some reflective stuff for the tub top, as the lid heats up to ~90
Water temps are staying cool. I place a frozen 2L bottle in the rez every morning. I think once I collect some more I'll go with 2-2L.
Hopefully we will get a good selection of females out of these 8. I'm figuring on 4 but am prepared to deal with getting 2 or 6....

I'm pleased with how covert our setup is also. Several people have walked into the room and none could tell a thing. The fact that the larger room is being used for storage provides an excellent place to grow, highly recommend it.
Try to get pics up, im gona see if i can find some AA's for my camera

ok so i found some batteries for my camera...but the POS won't take pictures. it turns on and focuses but the button is broken.....ARGH!

anyways time for an update. I WILL GET PICS UP some day.....

out of my 8 plants 6 are still in contention for being potential mothers, two have developed some problems....a few days ago one of the plants got spots in the lower set of leaves, they started out almost like a hole in the plant, but it didn't go all the way through, next the holes turned yellow... and the leaves curled up, while also drooping somewhat. i'm not sure whats wrong with it but heres what i thought. the two plants in question were the closest to the a/c vent into the room. I was thinking that b/c this air is low humidity they were water was being drained from the leaves, AT the same time they were getting overwatered b/c the cups are a bit small i think. plus the temps were heading up towards 85-90 which i didnt think to be good. so i raised the light.
I'm going to transplant into bigger cups ASAP. however i'm still confused about the spotting. I was looking at other posts and couldnt find any pictures which accurately portray my plants. could it be bugs??? IDK if its nute burn or def, the other six plants are looking good (some are a little droopy but no discoloration)

other things I've done, stopped running the water constantly (when the lights are on) to an on-off cycle. i need to get another timer but i was figuring to run 15min every 2hr

hanayama i got your package, thanks for all the cubes!!! I have some FF GrowBig, but its not the hydrotype...although I've heard that it can be used in hydro setups, i'll try it out at half strength next water change. Right now I have 7.5ml GH FloraMicro and 5ml of GH FloraBloom mixed into 7gal ph'd water (reminds me i need to check ph this morning) so far its been pretty stable around 6-6.5 from the color on the test (yellowish-green)

the other six plants are looking pretty good. a few are starting to develop the first branches.

im thinking this rubbermaid tub is only going to go so far...i just got a job yesterday deliverin 'za and once i get some cash money i might say uck it and get individual containers, which would mean all new hosing and valves (currently no valves just free flow) which kinda sucks but i think i can fit more plants in the flower room by changing the setup.

im gonna go caveman on my camera and see if some knocking around will get it to work.

took these pics w/ a friends camera. the first is my favorite one. it has 6 nodes spaced within an inch and a half...amazing

the second is the best looking plant. its taller and sturdy, i topped it two days ago, and the side growth is the largest out of the 8. 7 of the 8 are doing well, the other is growing, but clearly the runt of the group.

i think im going to start flowering next week. they are about 4-6" tall right now.

Here is a group shot

hell yea man
looking nice and green
how much longer are you going to veg for?

nice sticker 2

lets see they are 4 days into flowering now, i took 8 clones from the 4 biggest plants the other day, they seem to be doing well. the plants have gotten considerably bigger...im gonna post some pics up later tonight.

ok so heres some pics

the first is an canopy level shot, the second is a group shot. the lines are a result of my camera and not being able to handle so much light. 3rd shot are some roots. they look nice and white. and the last shot is another canopy shot.

they have been in flower for 5days now. one is def a female, another i have my suppisions to be a male, but im gonna give it another day or two...the other 6 im not sure. but the one my buddy moved in is also a female.

here are the clones. i took two clones from 4 of the plants with the longest branches. two of the clones are from the female, two from the male and the other four im still undecided.

Flowering day 21

Almost a month into flowering

Here are the girls. I found a hermie, it was the plant my buddy gave me. So its been moved out of the room.

yesterday i found a bug, some flying gnat type thing. so im going to work on bug killing today...

hopefully about half-way through flowering...

day 33

got an update for us?

This is the top of the second largest cola. after a trim it is 50.2g, probably 17 or so after drying.