Closet DWC Blackberry Nov. 15th 2010

[Hydrogrown]

haha wow I believe I just saw a stealth hydro ad whats up with that?

 

[turttle]

Wooow was that 770ppm in your res.Lol sorry I got a glimps of that and its a bit much.Start with about 150 when you start your nutes then raise it 50 every week.Stop at 4 or 500 then take her slow to see if she can handle it.
But any way I see you got some mango.How is that working out for you.I purchased some from quality seed and There not sprouting.I complained and they sent me another pack and still no sprouts.Took 2 days just to get them to sink.Bummer.Realy looking forward to seeing how your mango does in the hydro.

 

[Hydrogrown]

Yeah it is a little high, I was going for around 500ppm and I checked today the level is dropping to the bottom of the net pots and the roots are hanging slightly and the growth is speeding up, I guess they are doing good besides a little burn on some leaf tips probably from the nutes. my ph is solid at 5.8 though and the res. temp is 81F.

As for the mango I decided to keep those stored until I start a new grow in the summer, I have soaked one feminized blueberry and its in a paper towel now. I hope my mangos will sprout when I do decide to pop them though I'm definitely concerned now. That sucks about the two days to sink though wow, I wouldn't keep them in the water that long. I usually soak with slightly warm water and just put it in the closet for 24 hrs then move to a paper towel.

 

[turttle]

Yeah I here you on the mango it is more of an outdoor.Big plant if grown indoor you half to flower asap.I am hopping to get a sprout cross my fingers.A good fresh seed will usually sink in a cup of water with in an few hrs or overnight.Usually when there no good they dont sink.The last one took 2 days.
Is this the first nutes you are giving on your grow.I think 500 is still a little high.I am growing some ice and on a 5ft plant my ppm is 500 using hanna tds.I would try 250 to start then gently raise it till tips start to burn then back off a little.Then with your best judgment bump it up 50-100 every other week or so.Less is more.
I think I read you were talking about the drip pump and water level.
What I do is keep the water level a little under the net pots.I let the bubbles pop up and soak the nets roots like the extra oxygen and they branch out and grow much more rapid and healthyer.As for the drip irigation its realy not needed but if you are using it I would sit it on a slight trickle.When your roots hit the res I would take it out all togeather.After a while it gets build up in the filters and messes with ph.

 

[Hydrogrown]

Ok I need help ASAP
While cleaning up the wire in the grow tent I unplugged the MH lamp.. plugged it back in and no go... I decided to check the connections near the ballast and as I pushed in the connections an extremely frightening noise came from the ballast, I'm pretty sure it almost blew up. Did I just blow the ballast or something? Im pretty sure Im screwed I really wish I could afford an LED light damnnn. Im going to the help forums with this as well.

 

[turttle]

what kind of ballast is it.When you unplug the light I dont think you are suppose to turn it back on until the bulb cools.

 

[Hydrogrown]

Makes sense, I should've kept it unplugged. Hopefully I didn't break the ballast because I need to order it and Ill get it later this month =/

here is the same one I got in a kit, 400W Low Noise MH/HPS Digital Ballast w/ Cooling fan - eBay (item 370461685983 end time Dec-06-10 1802 PST)

I guess Im going to try to plug it back in in 2 hrs because it has cooled, if its a no go this time its staying unplugged until I take it apart, get it fixed or replace it. This makes me want an LED so bad right now.

 

[Hydrogrown]

My 400w ballast is down for the count. I have a 600w one does anyone know if they are compatible? Its whatever though I complained to the seller of this light kit, found a replacement just incase, and am waiting to here back about a replacement/refund soon. For now I have my two 14w led panels letting the plants know its day time, and Im sticking my 4 t5's back in there asap. =/ They were just starting to get used to the MH.

Day 21
PPM is at 590 EC.9 PH5.8. The ppm are high but I see no burn at all yet, and res is gonna need topped off so Ill dillute it to around 2-300

In the meantime Im going to try super hard not to break anything else.
So far this week Ive broken a bong, a ballast, what next?

 

[turttle]

I looked into your ballast.I would get your money back and get a lumatek.Its better quality switchable with wattage inpute and outpute has digital chipset run mh hps built in breakers and reset button.On ebay you can get one for about 150 for a switable 250 watt -400 watt super lumens.Safe and reliable.As for your 600watt you would need a 600 watt bulb.You can run a smaller wattage bulb but it will burn up pretty fast IDK 400 watt bulb running 600 watt my opinion its a bit much.You should be good with t5 until you get a replacment.

 

[Hydrogrown]

Ok cool man I feel much better about that ballast just by looking at it, I just don't know if it is safe to use with my reflector...

Thanks for the info I will just keep the 600w in storage I could hook it up in all hps but Im leaving for a few days and i feel better about the fluorescents. Hopefully I can have the MH back on when I get back once i figure out compatibility with the reflector/ballast.

 

[Hydrogrown]

I can't decide where to put the blueberry, in a 5 gal hydro bucket setup, or in an organic soil/perlite mix with DM nutrients and Mater Magic? I would like to have a vote because both sound awesome.

 

[Hydrogrown]

Couldn't wait the seed had to go so its in soil!
Anyways I'm getting the ballast replace by the company I should have it back soon, so thats sweet.
Other than that the 3 bb's are doing good all three have roots in the water I lowered the res and diluted it more hopefully by tomorrow the ppm will be around 350 and possibly lower Im starting to see some burn. Will post pictures soon.

 

[Hydrogrown]

Sup guys quick update Day 23
PPM 300-350 PH 6.0-5.8
The plants are liking the lower ppm a lot and growing roots pretty fast. How are my temps doing? The one on the left seems to be more accurate. 82 degrees was before I got this fan now they stay around 73. nights are around 66. I know the temps are more important in flowering but I also read that low temps encourage females.

The light also has one mixed spectrum bulb now. Im not ure if these LED are even going to help because they are only 14w each.. idk. Res change tomorrow, and then friday Im leaving for a week or so. out

 

[Hydrogrown]

Im getting ready to change the res. and I notice a little bit of green developing on the rock wool which is pretty soaked. Plus I found a little flying bug in the tent=( This is gonna be shitty if I come back in a week and theres bugs everywhere and rot on my stems. Im going to go try and find some type of spray for these bugs to be preventative and possibly find a way to dry out the rock wool even though the roots are pretty much filled out most of the space.

 

[Hydrogrown]

I guess its just algae because I didnt cover my wet rock wool from the light. phew
I also picked up some neem oil for the insects, added water and a little soap and sprayed the leaves, all the soil plants in the house, and sprayed a bit around the tent to discourage anything from coming in. Hopefully it works. Bout to go do the res. change now and this res. hopefully will be good in 5 days when I get back.

 

[Wingman420]

Looking Good

Do not worry about the algae on the cube tops it is 420% normal. If you do not like it cover the top of the pots with paper or plastic reflective cover they sell in the grow stores.

 

[Hydrogrown]

Looking Good

Do not worry about the algae on the cube tops it is 420% normal. If you do not like it cover the top of the pots with paper or plastic reflective cover they sell in the grow stores.

Thanks wingman, I like the 420% haha, I covered em with Hydroton on top hopefully that helps keep it away. The slime just makes me nervous like its gonna take over the res. while im out for a few days haha.
I plan on picking up some of those covers though for future prospects as well as this one.

 

[Hydrogrown]

Time for an update! I received a replacement ballast. Im gonna keep it boxed until flowering near the middle to beginning of january just because Im going away again and I'm just not ready to leave that ballast and light on while I'm not here.

I came home last night and saw an explosion of growth in my tent! These are pics 6 days after the res. change to around 280 ppm, ph started around 5.5 and when I checked it last night it showed 6.2, this was awesome I was expecting something radically base or acidic.

Day 31 at 18/6 from seed (been in veg. for about 1 week)

Holy Foliage!

In this pic I moved the large front plant to show the two smaller ones. The one on the right isn't looking as healthy as the others, its growing about the same, and the color is pretty similar, but the leaf structure is off on this one, the leaves droop more, are twisting slightly, and aren't symmetrical(not the nodes but the opposite sides of the leaves themselves). Any ideas? This plant also has the smallest root structure even compared to the shorter plant on its left. Anyway here it is.

The root growth exploded!

Temps and rh

This pic is of the original res. just before its first change, and before I left. The bottom of the res. was filthy because my nutes were at almost 800 ppm... Oops at least they didn't react too bad to what should have incinerated the roots

I'm glad I didn't leave it like that well I'm off to enjoy a Jamaican Rum spliff

 

[HashAssassin]

The slime in your rez is from light penetration. Paint your lid with 1 coat black and then 2 coats of white.

 

[Hydrogrown]

The slime in your rez is from light penetration. Paint your lid with 1 coat black and then 2 coats of white.

Thanks Hash I was thinking about duct tape but it didn't sound too clean paint is a good idea