AspenCultivator
Well-Known Member
Hi Everyone! I have today my one-week-old feminized Blue Dream from HSO, from seed. Welcome to my grow journal! I'm glad you've taken the time to check it out. The equipment used for this grow is listed below.
Tent: Mars Hydro 27"x27"x63"
Ventilation: iPower 4" filter and fan, with controller and Lasko Curve 5 speed fan
Lights: Horticulture Lighting Group - 135 Quantum Board
Nutes: GH Flora Series with GH Defguard
The system is a 2 bucket undercurrent recirculating deep water culture system. 1 site for the plant, and 1 site for a control bucket. Plant site uses a 6" net-pot lid. I'm doing this for a few different reasons, namely I want the consistency which comes from bigger reservoirs in PH, temp, and PPM counts. On to the progress!
Day 1 - November 26th, 2018
The tent is setup and the seed was placed in a damp paper towel. I originally started with just a DWC system, hence the single bucket.
After 36 hours in the damp paper towel... November 28th, 2018
The seed is completely out of the hard shell, so it's definitely time to go into the Rapid Rooter and straight into the system.
Day 4 - 2 days after placed into the rapid rooter - November 30th, 2018
Things are coming right along. The light is around 20 inches away from the seedling at this point.
The next few days are fairly standard, other than the fact that I began work on the undercurrent RDWC system. I transferred the entire net-pot lid into a blue bucket and started building the new system.
Here's a shitty cell-phone pic I took as my "shopping" list at the shitty big blue hardware store down the road. I got impatient, and sprang for the 1 1/2" Uniseals and completely changed the entire system because of it, on the fucking fly. Anyway, I got all my pieces and parts, and spray-painted the white PVC parts black. I didn't get any pictures of the system, because it looks exactly like the above pic, and I've already torn it down.
Why? Well, I added 3.5 gallons of water and ran the pump. The pump is a 370 gph pump, and for only 3 gallons it rips. The circulation rate is awesome, however I very quickly started getting a bigger-than-small leak on the elbow directly above the pump in the above pic. I probably didn't cement the joint well enough. After cementing it a little more and giving it some time to cure, the leak was fixed. Yay. I added the rest of the water (another 3.5 gallons, for 7 total) and left the pump to run for a while. I came back about 30 minutes later, and there's water around the base of the right side bucket (not the pump side).
Fuck Uniseals!!! No, seriously, fuck 'em! I have extensive experience in the trades, and know how to debur, smooth, sand, etc to get a clean fit. I added silicone on the outside (after draining the water) and allowed it to cure for 8 hours. I added 7 gallons and ran for 15 minutes to test for leaks. Wouldn't ya know, there was the smallest of drops forming at the bottom of all the silicone. Welp, fuck that, bulkheads it is. I'll have the new parts in the next few days and it'll be up and running. For now, though, it'll stay a DWC grow. (I used the required hole saw, and ran it backwards so as not to split the plastic. I used a very sharp x-acto knife to debur, and used 220 grit sand paper to take the smallest bit of material off to smooth the edges down. Still leaked.)
Day 7 - December 3rd, 2018
She's really taking off, and it seems like that first set of real leaves are doubling in size every single day.
Root shot. I only see one, and it's around 5-6" long. Here you can see the blue air tubing which is going to my 2" air stone. You also see the brown tube, which is acting as an air lift. Buried under the hydroton, around 1/2" under the rim of the net pot, is a drip ring. I'm pumping air into the top of the brown tube, which is forcing water to rise and then flood into the drip ring, and drip around the roots without saturating the rapid rooter or drowning the roots. I've buried the drip ring because I don't want any growth on top of the hydroton.
That clear tubing you see in the above pic at the bottom of the net pot is a hole I had to repair. I cut the net pot wrong, and had to somehow allow roots to pass through, but not the hydroton. So, I tied some clear tubing to bridge that gap.
I have done one water change since I started. I tested my PPMs yesterday, and it was up at 536! My water comes out around 230, so it was all the PH down and also not cleaning the temporary bucket. I changed the water and added 1/4 tsp of Defguard per gallon (so 3/4 tsp total, the res has about 3.5 gallons of water.) I then PHed down to 5.7. Now, fast forward to tonight, I'm getting a layer of bubbles on top of my res water. Is this from the Defguard? I went to my local hydro shop looking for Hydroguard. He had some, but talked me into Defguard instead. As far as I know, this is essentially the same stuff (the labels are almost identical, Defguard just has a higher concentration of the main ingredient.) There is almost zero information online about Defguard, so I'm not really sure what to expect using it.
Res stats:
Water Temp: Consistently 73*F
PH: Corrected down to 5.7
PPM: Starts around 236. After using PH Down and adding Defguard, it's around 337.
I'm also slightly concerned about this pale-yellowish buildup I just noticed today. I faintly remember reading about beneficial bennies causing this, but I want to throw the pic up online and make sure that's what it is and not some other deficiency/issue.
Some other information I haven't included yet:
Air temps are maintained at 79*F while light is on, and 72ish F when lights are off.
RH stays a steady 43% throughout light cycle.
Whew, we made it! First post down. I'm sure I forgot some things, so please please ask me! I'd love to have conversations with everybody about growing, as no one around me is interested in it. Since this is my first grow, I'm looking to make some new friends, and also have a second (and third, fourth, etc) pair of eyes on my plant to make sure I'm headed in the right direction. I built an 18 site NFT hydro system a few years ago for romaine lettuce (just got a pet rabbit at that time) so I'm familiar with hydro in general, but not cannabis cultivation. Thanks so much for stopping by, and please feel free to make ANY comments, good or bad!
Tent: Mars Hydro 27"x27"x63"
Ventilation: iPower 4" filter and fan, with controller and Lasko Curve 5 speed fan
Lights: Horticulture Lighting Group - 135 Quantum Board
Nutes: GH Flora Series with GH Defguard
The system is a 2 bucket undercurrent recirculating deep water culture system. 1 site for the plant, and 1 site for a control bucket. Plant site uses a 6" net-pot lid. I'm doing this for a few different reasons, namely I want the consistency which comes from bigger reservoirs in PH, temp, and PPM counts. On to the progress!
Day 1 - November 26th, 2018
The tent is setup and the seed was placed in a damp paper towel. I originally started with just a DWC system, hence the single bucket.
After 36 hours in the damp paper towel... November 28th, 2018
The seed is completely out of the hard shell, so it's definitely time to go into the Rapid Rooter and straight into the system.
Day 4 - 2 days after placed into the rapid rooter - November 30th, 2018
Things are coming right along. The light is around 20 inches away from the seedling at this point.
The next few days are fairly standard, other than the fact that I began work on the undercurrent RDWC system. I transferred the entire net-pot lid into a blue bucket and started building the new system.
Here's a shitty cell-phone pic I took as my "shopping" list at the shitty big blue hardware store down the road. I got impatient, and sprang for the 1 1/2" Uniseals and completely changed the entire system because of it, on the fucking fly. Anyway, I got all my pieces and parts, and spray-painted the white PVC parts black. I didn't get any pictures of the system, because it looks exactly like the above pic, and I've already torn it down.
Why? Well, I added 3.5 gallons of water and ran the pump. The pump is a 370 gph pump, and for only 3 gallons it rips. The circulation rate is awesome, however I very quickly started getting a bigger-than-small leak on the elbow directly above the pump in the above pic. I probably didn't cement the joint well enough. After cementing it a little more and giving it some time to cure, the leak was fixed. Yay. I added the rest of the water (another 3.5 gallons, for 7 total) and left the pump to run for a while. I came back about 30 minutes later, and there's water around the base of the right side bucket (not the pump side).
Fuck Uniseals!!! No, seriously, fuck 'em! I have extensive experience in the trades, and know how to debur, smooth, sand, etc to get a clean fit. I added silicone on the outside (after draining the water) and allowed it to cure for 8 hours. I added 7 gallons and ran for 15 minutes to test for leaks. Wouldn't ya know, there was the smallest of drops forming at the bottom of all the silicone. Welp, fuck that, bulkheads it is. I'll have the new parts in the next few days and it'll be up and running. For now, though, it'll stay a DWC grow. (I used the required hole saw, and ran it backwards so as not to split the plastic. I used a very sharp x-acto knife to debur, and used 220 grit sand paper to take the smallest bit of material off to smooth the edges down. Still leaked.)
Day 7 - December 3rd, 2018
She's really taking off, and it seems like that first set of real leaves are doubling in size every single day.
Root shot. I only see one, and it's around 5-6" long. Here you can see the blue air tubing which is going to my 2" air stone. You also see the brown tube, which is acting as an air lift. Buried under the hydroton, around 1/2" under the rim of the net pot, is a drip ring. I'm pumping air into the top of the brown tube, which is forcing water to rise and then flood into the drip ring, and drip around the roots without saturating the rapid rooter or drowning the roots. I've buried the drip ring because I don't want any growth on top of the hydroton.
That clear tubing you see in the above pic at the bottom of the net pot is a hole I had to repair. I cut the net pot wrong, and had to somehow allow roots to pass through, but not the hydroton. So, I tied some clear tubing to bridge that gap.
I have done one water change since I started. I tested my PPMs yesterday, and it was up at 536! My water comes out around 230, so it was all the PH down and also not cleaning the temporary bucket. I changed the water and added 1/4 tsp of Defguard per gallon (so 3/4 tsp total, the res has about 3.5 gallons of water.) I then PHed down to 5.7. Now, fast forward to tonight, I'm getting a layer of bubbles on top of my res water. Is this from the Defguard? I went to my local hydro shop looking for Hydroguard. He had some, but talked me into Defguard instead. As far as I know, this is essentially the same stuff (the labels are almost identical, Defguard just has a higher concentration of the main ingredient.) There is almost zero information online about Defguard, so I'm not really sure what to expect using it.
Res stats:
Water Temp: Consistently 73*F
PH: Corrected down to 5.7
PPM: Starts around 236. After using PH Down and adding Defguard, it's around 337.
I'm also slightly concerned about this pale-yellowish buildup I just noticed today. I faintly remember reading about beneficial bennies causing this, but I want to throw the pic up online and make sure that's what it is and not some other deficiency/issue.
Some other information I haven't included yet:
Air temps are maintained at 79*F while light is on, and 72ish F when lights are off.
RH stays a steady 43% throughout light cycle.
Whew, we made it! First post down. I'm sure I forgot some things, so please please ask me! I'd love to have conversations with everybody about growing, as no one around me is interested in it. Since this is my first grow, I'm looking to make some new friends, and also have a second (and third, fourth, etc) pair of eyes on my plant to make sure I'm headed in the right direction. I built an 18 site NFT hydro system a few years ago for romaine lettuce (just got a pet rabbit at that time) so I'm familiar with hydro in general, but not cannabis cultivation. Thanks so much for stopping by, and please feel free to make ANY comments, good or bad!
