My first Hydro grow! tips and comments are appreciatied

[Weedhound]

fyi.....can't substitute stuff like that in hydro. Instead of lime you need to get a good ph up/down for hydro apps. In a BIG pinch you can use distilled white vinegar to lower ph but I personally have never heard of using lime in hydro apps. You need to find a good nute program and follow it .......no improvisations. In my humble opinion that's the biggest problem I see......everyone likes to add/change/substitute etc..... The newbies (and not so noobies) that follow direction are the ones who will get the best grow.

Good luck with your plants.

[Krimet]

thanks weedhound, instead of using lime, ive mixed distilled and tap water along with doing the 3 part nute, hope this take care of the spots on the plants. cant make it to the hydro store that is 5 hours away today, or in the next week for that matter,which is the only place i know to have cal/mag plus. ph is now at a stable 6.0

[Weedhound]

Now you're cooking! If you can use your tap water and the ph stays stable then you don't need CalMAg at all......CalMag replaces calcium, magnesium, iron etc that is taken out of your water when it is distilled or put through an RO system. Plants NEED these minerals and ingredients for good health.....and they are usually in abundance in tap water.

When using tap water....check ppms BEFORE you add nutes, add your correct number of nutes in ADDITION to that number, then check and adjust ph last....always ph last.

The largest issue people have with certain types of tap water (and why it is often not used in hydro) is that certain types of water will not stay at a stable ph.....so when you remove EVERYTHING from the water you can control ph any way you want. But the catch is that certain things the plant NEEDS will have to be put BACK in with supplements like CalMag.

IF your tap water will stay stable (at close to whatever ph you put it at to start with) then you are good to go and don't need CalMag at all......just your nutes.

[Weedhound]

PS.....I'd probably try just tap water and nutes instead of adding any distilled.....tap water and nutes is a more healthy mix for your plants.

edit: you can raise ph with baking soda.......but like vinegar neither is a good thing to use on a normal basis.

[Krimet]

The whole point of going distlled was to lower the ppms for my seedlings, my tap is at 320 ppm, just over the recommended amount.
i also got a little dial from lowes that tells me how many lumens im getting, it says around 500 next to my plants with the t5 n t8, is that good enough for veg?

[Krimet]

weedhound, whats your opinion on me keeping these plants in this bucket till harvest? even if i might suffer on plant size, is it big enough?

[Weedhound]

With a ppm of 320 a fifty-fifty mix of water might work for you......definitely worth trying.

Can't help you with the lighting I'm afraid....reaper can tell you about that way better than I can.

There's a thread around here somewhere about keeping those things in small containers......let me look around......

[Weedhound]

Ok....couldn't find what I was looking for BUT imo....that's not enough room. Are all your plants female?

[Krimet]

I have no clue, i want the most yield in the shortest time possible being that its my first grow, so i dont think i will take the time to find out if they're female or not before hand.after reading around i think something like LSTing would help with yield, even tho i still have no clue what LSTing eactly is.

[Weedhound]

Well you have several issues getting in your way........your lighting really is not enough to flower with decently. With the size of your system, your resevoir and your lighting you'll probably end up with a few grams per plant if all goes well. :wtf: That's not a lot of ganja for several months work, time and money is it? Growing on a budget.....especially in hydro.......usually doesn't work too well. The only REAL way to grow low budget is outside in soil. Just my :twocents:


If you grew from seeds you'll still have to get rid of the males after you've sexed them and by that time the roots will be all tangled together which will make removing the males from the system a lot tougher without harming the remaining females. Sometimes you can just cut the males off and leave the roots.....but I've seen issues from that as well.

By the time you are well into flowering with that system you'll be having rootbound issues due to the size and ALSO (due to the res size) you'll be having to check levels, adjust ph constantly and continually add water to keep the plants nute level sufficient and balance for the plants.

Wish I could find that old thread.......it was a perfect example of a crash and burn from someone trying to do too much with too little. I'll keep looking......