ChunkyChunder's First Solo Grow

[chunkychunder]

OK - here are the latest pics. I've trimmed most of the yellow leaves and tidied up a little since I took them. Not too bad considering I've got a crushing hangover

I love this camera! Gonna take it out later and be a c**t.

btw - this is Gladys.

 

[GigaGrew]

looking good, but you do seem to have a lot of crap building up inside, you need to get rid of all that old crap that isnt needed any more and let it breath or it will cause you trouble later....

i see at least 20 little leaves inside the trunk area that needs to be cut away, warmth, shade and humidity, perfect conditions to start a plant plague of some kind

 

[chunkychunder]

Thanks for the tips. I will get them out tomorrow and give them all a good trimming. They are cramped for space mostly due to my oxy-pot experiment. Gonna leave it for a couple of weeks but may abandon it. Next grow I will have 3 soil and 1 hydro. If things work out the way I hope they will and based on what I have studied, the grow after that (if all goes well) will be 4 hydro. If THAT works out ok I will go for a whole new DWC system in a larger tent.

 

[chunkychunder]

Starting to smell a bit now. With warmer weather approaching and the smell increasing I need to get more air out. Gonna get one of these:

Larger with 2-speed switch.

 

[chunkychunder]

Well, I've give them all a trim this morning. Gave them all water (2-3L). Here are the latest pics:

Luath (the little hydro) does not seem to be doing so well. I emptied and cleaned out the bucket this morning - lot of gunge on the bottom and around the bubbler. Also the roots, although there are plenty of them, seem to be in one big lump. Maybe the gunge is responsible for this? Anyway, cleared the bucket out, cleaned it and put in fresh water+nutes.

 

[GigaGrew]

ok mate back with you now. not had much 420 time recently. bloody real world baggage slowing down progress again tying up my time. ah well, such is life, lol.

wanna give me a breakdown of the situation with your hydro.
water temps.
what air pump rating
what size
whats going into the tank and how often are you changing it.
PH reading and how often are you checking it.
can you read ppm or EC?
are you just giving nutes or adding enzymes or..?

not much can beat dwc for speed of growth if dialled in right =)

 

[bozzo420]

what camera do you have. good pictures. I just got a new one. a sony nex -3. hope for better bud shots than with old one. it did not even have a close up setting. great looking plants.

 

[chunkychunder]

what camera do you have.

It's a Panasonic Lumux (DMC-SZ1). Takes nice snaps even for me.

 

[chunkychunder]

Don't have the equipment to measure any of those things - even water temperature. Am using BioBizz BioHeaven following amount from a chart. The bucket is 17L max, but there is 15L in there at the moment.

The hydro was only intended as a little experiment. I thought I'd have room in the tent as I did not think the plants that were injured were going to recover so well. They could now do with the extra room, but I just wanted to see what the growth rate on the hydro would be. Obviously things are not perfect.

 

[GigaGrew]

Don't have the equipment to measure any of those things - even water temperature. Am using BioBizz BioHeaven following amount from a chart. The bucket is 17L max, but there is 15L in there at the moment.

The hydro was only intended as a little experiment. I thought I'd have room in the tent as I did not think the plants that were injured were going to recover so well. They could now do with the extra room, but I just wanted to see what the growth rate on the hydro would be. Obviously things are not perfect.

how full is the bucket with roots? you got plenty of room in there still? got an idea.

 

[GigaGrew]

im not sure BioBizz BioHeaven is even plant food mate. checking with some hydro guys.

 

[chunkychunder]

Plenty of room in there still.

 

[GigaGrew]

if you cant measure ppm and ph and cant chill your water then i reccomend using something like pop bottles to displace 10 litres of volume. then you can make a fresh batch of a mere 5l of fresh nutes and swap the rez twice as often.

this method will actually save you around 33% of the nutes your using now, keep your average water temprature lower on a daily basis and since the ph starts low and rises with depletion, this will tighten the variation to a degree.
if you happen to have some i would throw in 0.5ml of ph down too just to bring you closer. or a couple of drops of lemon juice.

your almost certainly running with a ph between 6.5 - 7 with your tap water after adding nutes.

over all your workload will get a little more frequent but a lot lighter and it should make some improvements to your hydro till you can start getting control equipment. =)

 

[chunkychunder]

Have I got this right? Remove 10L and replace a fresh 5L+nutes.

Then, every few days, remove 5L and replace with 5L+nutes.

 

[chunkychunder]

Have scoured the net for the best hydro nutes but of course, opinion varies greatly. People can only comment on what they've actually used and it's hard to find an impartial comparison. However, these come highly recommended and I will be using them for my next try at hydro:

Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect - Micro, Grow and Bloom.

 

[GigaGrew]

yeah basically same deal as the water tank for a toilet, i put bricks in my tank so that i use less water for each flush.
put something in the bucket that can displace 10 liters. so when its 'empty' you only need to add around 5 litres to hit the full mark.

this part is only to do with saving your energy and the cost of wasted nutes while your winging it. but for hydro you MUST get a ph meter, ppm or ec meters are optional in your method, but the longer you want to leave it between water changes the more important it is to have a ec OR ppm reader to help you know they are not starving.

 

[GigaGrew]

Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect - Micro, Grow and Bloom IS a good nute line....but dont be fooled by the marketing.
its only ph perfect if its mixed with ph perfect water and the ppms will still change almost hourly as the plants eat.

but other than the marketing spin, its a nice square meal that the plants will appreciate

 

[chunkychunder]

....but dont be fooled by the marketing.
its only ph perfect if its mixed with ph perfect water

So I need a pH meter for sure and perhaps some pH up/down?

 

[GigaGrew]

So I need a pH meter for sure and perhaps some pH up/down?

PH Down and a PH meter are considered a must to almost all hydro growers. they are as important as the bucket itself

 

[chunkychunder]

PH Down and a PH meter are considered a must to almost all hydro growers. they are as important as the bucket itself

Thanks for your help - much appreciated.