SOS HELP WITH EVERYTHING

There are two parts to this grow.:)

I have an ebb and flow system I think. The size of the room is 12 x 20 and i am using 4 inch pvc pipe with holes every 8 inches for a total of 16 plants per pipe. Pipe is 10 feet long I have a reservoir at one end with Air Stones and a small pump, and a 6 inch Pipe that sits on top of the 4 inch pipes and stores water until needed and drains into pipe as required.
I am using GH Flora Grow at 700 on Dip Stick. I have white plastic Mylar on Walls, Floor and Ceiling. I have 2 air intake Fans with 1/2 HP motor for Fresh Air. I have 4, 1/2 HP motors for exhaust connected to Can Am Filter. Water supply is great and the water is good.

I am using 4 HID 450 watt bulbs on 18 hours per day.

Other part of grow in same space is soil. No real problems to report NOW, had major problems with nutrients and not mixing properly Ph was crazy. Now have under control.

Today I was talking to a friend, and she said to lay it all out or I may lose all of my crop. So here goes.

I received the clones on February 7, 2009 and could not put them in Soil or in the Pipes until we passed an inspection by Health Canada, so kept under Tube lighting for 3 weeks 100 watt.

Placed all clones into pipes with Rockwool, dusted with root power. Did not have water flowing, I watered every 3 days, for about the first month. Used General hydroponics Flora Grow. I must have had a brain fart going on. Anyway I honestly don't know what I was thinking.
So, now this goes on for over a month well into March with only water every once in a while, when they seemed almost dry Plants. were not growing at all, and some were really sick, so the sick ones I took out of the pipes and placed in soil.
I had a problem with the plants all turning yellow, I mean a bright yellow. Added Pacifica Fish Food to the water and watered with this for 3 waters. The yellow went away. As time went on I had to take more plants out of the pipes and put into soil. Then the plants started to turn yellow on the outside of the leaves and the a dark brown and yellow ring around the leaves. Took care of that problem with All purpose 20-20-20 plant food.

Now for the past 2 week I have been watering at 30 minutes x 4 per day. I am still using Flora Grow, and the lighting is the same.

Plants in soil are doing fantastic, plants in pipes are so, so. but they are growing nicely NOW.

So do I put in a couple of 1000 Watt in the middle and the 450's on the outside?? And do I turn water on 24/7
I will post better pictures soon


Pay It Forward

How do you not know what kind of system You have? You are not ready to grow at all! The reason no one has answered your post is because it makes no sense. Try doing some research before you jump into things. My prediction is that on your first harvest you get an ounce of fluffy, hay smelling weed that barely gets you high

Alot of questions coming from someone with such an elaborate setup and room size. Had to been some help in that somewhere :wtf:

I am sorrey now that I did not learn more. I am using an NFT sysyem. Instead of telling me what I already know you could have answered some of the questions, it is pretty straight forward, I need help.

I joined your buckets club, and will continue to read and learn.

I do hope your perdiction is wrong, but will keep you updated to give you the HEY REPORT:rasta:

from your pics your plants are sitting in the flow chambers in r/w? my first guess among many problems and the one being the most important is you need to pull the plants out.find net pots that sit inside the tube so that when your water is pumping your hitting the roots and the base of rw. you can set your plants in there with out net pots and no r/w .get more air stones and a multi air pump and get a tone of oxygen going. start with one problem at a time.just make sure all of your water and nutes are perfect. perfect p.h perfect t.d.s perfect water temp. with out sounding like a jerk, i believe you took on 2 much at one time. i think a 4x8 tray ebb and flow system would help you learn and is much more forgiveable than nft, and you can grow a lot with that much space.good luck

I would second the idea of installing net pots

also consider installing spray emitters in between each grow hole, and do a aeroponic setup in your pipes.

NFT in pipes didn't work well for me, the plants at the feed end grew a lot better than the ones at the drain end.

I eventually threw away the pipe system,not enough root room.

thumbsup:Thanks for the info;
I have tried to pull the plants out of the pipe with no luck, the root mass is very strong. The only other option I would have had would have been to cut in between the holes and then I would be able to get at all of the plants, but destroy the Pipe, and stress the plants:
Here is what I have done. First off I went to feeding the plants 3 times per day at 30 minute intervals, now 20 hours water. Placed 2 - 1000 watt , in the middle of the 4 - 450 Watt that I have going.
I took a 1/2 inch PVC pipe and slid it under the Rock Wool all the way down the pipe, I thought this would give the root some air, and so far it has worked fantastic. Pics this weekend.
For the first time since I started this Grow I am excited about the weekly measurement. I have really noticed the growth in the last couple of days and well tomorrow we will see, if I am on the Road to Recovery. Yesterday discover spider mites used magnifies glass to confirm Today I went to Town and purchased Safers End All 2 and used as directed, this AM. I looked with glass about 1 hour later and there was no movement. Will keep close eye and them now.
I will post pic's after week measurement is official. Ha ha ha:hippy:

goog luck with your pipe dream, couldn't resist :)

use avid on them bugs,its spendy stuff ,I just paid $93 for 8 oz, but that should last a life time.

Shade Cloth, Muck Boots, Greenhouse Plastic, Nursery Supply, Generator

I wouldn't veg very long, if you already have roots that you can't seperate, better get on 12/12 and change nuits.
they will plug the pipes and you will get root rot from insuficiant drainage.
I feed 3 min on/40-80 min off,depending on amount of roots in bucket. longer off times the bigger the root wad.
used the same feed schedule in my pipe system also.

one other thing, have fun cleaning out the system between grows,its a beech with the roots all tangled up in them pipes.!
pics tomorrow when the lights come on

Thank you to everyone who has helped so far. The Ladies in the Pipes are doing 100% better, now that they are getting some air on the roots. They were a yellow color for about 2 weeks. I flushed the system for 2 days with water only, and then added all purpose 20 20 20 to the water and fed them only this and they seem to be on the road to recovery. This week they are looking real good.

Currently I have 25 plants in Soil and 28 plants in PVC Pipes

You mentioned that I should install spray emitters between the pipe holes. Can you explain. I have all the material for such an installation. And what advantage would I have at this stage in time.

I would like to start Flower real soon

Should I take some clones from each plant now?
And what is the best way to do this?
How long will I have to wait if I take clones, before kicking into flower.
Can I take the plants that are in the pipes and transplant them into soil pots and how long to wait before going to flower.???
I would like to have all plants in soil when I go to flower stage.
If I can do this, how long to flower??
:jointsmile:

with a 4 pipe system,one end of the grow (pipes) is capped and setting higher than the opposite end which is the drain end.run two 1/2 pvc feed lines connected with a T,one between each pair of pipes(parallel),install pairs of 1/4" tube-10/32 nipples in this 1/2" feed pipe.
they should line up with the 1/4" holes you drilled between every other grow hole in the 4 grow pipes,"on the top side" run short lengths of 1/4 vinyl(NOT CLEAR)tubing to 360 degree spray emitters poked in the holes between grow sites.
feed 24-30 emitters with 1100GPH or so, for a GOOD spray.
This will add more O2 to the root system than any amount of air pumps,and the growth rate will show this
you can not veg long with this system!
happy trails

Should I take clones now or wait till first week of Flower??

thumbsup: Thanks for all the help. I have added pic's today.

As you can see for yourself, the crop is doing 100 % better than 2 weeks ago. This is what happens when i get sound advice oh and read a ton of pages.

I still do not have deep green plants in the pipes. They are still a pale shade of green, but way better than last week. I have fed them All Purpose 20-20-20 Plant food all week at 30 minutes water on every 6 hours. Ph 5.5 to 7.0.

Should I keep up the same schedule ?

Weekly measurements: 4 plants grew only 1 inch most grew 5 inches or more from last week. Had 7 plants that grew 7 inches or more.

Putting in Lines today .

How long should I flower for???:rastasmoke: