Donatello's Blueberry Hydro Attic Grow Journal 2011/12

[Donatello]

First time growing, just to see if I can. Here we go!

Strain: BLUEBERRY SEEDS (FEMINIZED)
INDOOR Attic Grow (well, indoors with outdoor-ish temps outside grow space).
TYPE: Indica / Sativa mix (not sure on %)
PLANT HEIGHT: Medium, 75-120cm per website
YIELD: Up to 400-500g/m2 per website
Seed Source: Marijuana seeds from 420-The best quality F1 Marijuana seeds
Number of Plants: 2

SETUP:

Hydroponic. Ebb & Flow (Or Flood & Drain, whichever you prefer)
two approx 2' x 3' concrete mixing tubs (plastic)
Pea gravel medium (seedlings germ'd in small rock wool cubes, straight tap water sprinkles to keep moist)

two approx 15 gallon reservoirs with 2 EcoPlus Submersible Pumps - 396 gph - 6.3 ft. max - 25W - 1/2 - 3/4 in. ID (HydroHarry's) - one pump in each res.
One (1) Hydrofarm TM01715D 7-Day Digital Programmable Timer - Runs both pumps. Right now, set up to Flood 4 times / day for 15-20 minutes each Flood.

Lights:
LED Wholesalers GYO2002 4-Piece 400 Watt Hydroponic Reflector Grow Light Set. 120V/5.1A
Total Luminous Flux: >41,000Lm. Comes with two bulbs: One High Pressure Sodium (HPS) and Metal Halide (MH) bulb. (Can only use one at a time).

Also currently starting off my seedlings with some concave reflector focused 23W CFL 6400K screw-ins, positioned about 2 inches above the leaves in the bathtub (for now). My first n00b mistake was placing my first two seedlings about 18 inches below my 400W bulb in cups in the attic grow area... roasted. Way too intense for them. Started off with a 2700K "warm" CFL for my next 2 seedlings for 2 days, then switched after to the 6400K... They seem to be liking that a lot more.

I also have four (4) of these LED panels on hand, though not in use yet.
LED Wholesalers 2501MX Blue/Red 225 LED 13.8 Watt Square Grow Light Panel 110 V

Nutes:
General Hydroponics Flora Series QT - FloraGro, FloraBloom, and FloraMicro. Starting off with 1/4 tsp per gallon of all three like it says for seedlings.

PH Test kit: General Hydroponics GH1514 pH Control Kit
PH out of tap: 7.5 ish
PH adjusted: 6.0 (I think, hard to tell exactly with this color chart. Would recommend something more sophisticated, digital)

Reservoir water currently not temp controlled. Not sure if I will need a heater since it will be flowing over rocks heated by my 400W light, and only for 15 mins at a time. We will see.

Acu Rite indoor humidity/temp monitor

Grow Space wrapped in this stuff:
Thermal Shield Reflective Mylar Material
(100 ft. x 3.5 ft.) Silver and white poly-mylar infused with metals

RH: ~55% right now
TEMPERTURE: This will be my biggest challenge. Waiting for a cold snap to see how far down my grow space temps go with the light on. Right now it's mild outside, temps w/ lights on 75, off 65, as recorded by 3 high/low thermometers placed in different spots in the grow space. Outdoor temps in the 50's. Attic temps low-mid 60's.

Ventilation:
LED Wholesalers GYO2301 6-Inch Hydroponic Carbon Air Filter 470 CFM With Air Scrubber Oder Control
Powered by: Hydrofarm Active Air 6 inch In-Line Fan 400 CFM
Not installed yet. Little worried that when it gets really cold outside and my ladies are flowering, this fan will suck out needed heat from my light along with the smells.

Before I wrapped in thermo blanket:

After:

Seedlings: Started Sprouting 12/2

 

[kamykazi3]

prety nice setup you have there my firiend , i wish you good luck growing this babies

 

[Donatello]

Still trying to figure out the best way to battle low temps.

I tried an experiment the other night... it got down to 37 outside; inside the attic and grow space (which is not completely sealed off - sealing it off will be a b***) it got down to 45. Turned the light on, only an increase of a few degrees... still way too cold for the plants.

Last night, i tied in my 25 ft, 6" I.D. duct to my master bathroom exhaust fan. The output was just being vented into the attic atmosphere through a ~3 inch smaller duct. I sealed the interface of the 3" and 6" duct and pointed the other end into my grow space. Then I went and cut my bathroom exhaust fan on and left it on for an hour, thinking that it would suck up the 73 degree air near my ceiling and spit it back out into my grow space and increase the temps a little.

After one hour, I went up in the attic and the temps hadn't even budged. :-/

I guess the 45 degree air surrounding the 25' duct run was enough to completely cool the air off before it made it to the grow space. Felt like cold air blowing out.

I will attempt to try an oil filled radiator tonight if I can find one at Lowes. Kinda worried about the amp draw; it's not supposed to be plugged into an extension chord, but I don't have much choice in the attic unless I splice into an existing outdoor flood light wire (and how is that really any different than an extension chord?)...

If the radiator doesn't work, I don;t know what I'm going to do about the cold temps...

 

[Donatello]

UPDATE 12/11

OK... I decided to say screw the attic... just too hard to control temps up there. I do not feel comfortable leaving for the weekend with a heater running. Not worth burning down the house.

SO, we've moved into a spare bedroom. It's a nice 72 in there all day long. Here are some setup photos:

And some CFLS on the babies:

I also got a fancy water tester and started a log.

Chemical Monitoring Log
Equipment Used: Hannah HI 98129 Combo Meter
Recommended Ranges:
pH 5.5-6.1
EC .75-1.5 mS (or 750-1500 uS)
TDS 500-1000 ppm
Temp 68-78 (75 optimal) F

Date 12/11 1 = Left Res, 2 = Right Res
pH 1/2 6.80/6.82 ... after adjustment, 5.8/5.9
EC 1/2 617/589 uS
TDS 1/2 308/293 ppm
Water Temp 1/2 65/64 deg F

Couple questions:

My leaves on my babies are curling under. From what I've read, that means "too much" of something, but until right now, they haven't had any nutes. Just tap water (7.5-8 pH). Started curling under almost immediately, btw. Are they too close to the CFLs? It's not really hot, 74 deg right next to the stem. Both are approx. 2.5-3.5 inches from the lights. 6400K 26W bulbs. Am I too close?

And my nute levels in my reservoirs are lower than recommended... but is that recommended for more mature plants? I followed the recommended dosage for seedlings on the packaging.

 

[Donatello]

And MODs, could you possibly change the thread title by replacing "Attic" with "400W HID"? It doesn't seem to let edit the OP.

 

[Hugh Splith]

For a novice, you sure got a good looking setup. Should be interesting to see.
I am also trying my hand at some Blueberry. Come check me out.

 

[kamykazi3]

Donatelo your setup is looking realy good

 

[420Farmer]

How bad is the curl? My critical mass was like that as a seedling but it went away and she's looking amazing now. Try moving the lights back a bit. Might straighten the leaves. Right before I burnt one of my plants, it was droopy the day before, then I woke up and the leaves were black lol.. And idk anything about hydro, I grow in coco.

 

[Donatello]

How bad is the curl? My critical mass was like that as a seedling but it went away and she's looking amazing now. Try moving the lights back a bit. Might straighten the leaves. Right before I burnt one of my plants, it was droopy the day before, then I woke up and the leaves were black lol.. And idk anything about hydro, I grow in coco.

Actually they are looking a lot better today.

I stared two more seedlings in germination last night. How many plants do you guys think I can realistically cultivate in this system? 6 ft long x 2 ft wide, 12 sq ft. Footprint, 400w MH + 2 x 23w CFLs + 4 of those LED panels @ 13.8w each on the sides?

 

[420Farmer]

If it were me, I'd do 6 plants. That gives each plant a 1 ft x 2ft area. Just make sure the roots have enough room to grow down. I'm sure a few ppl on here would say stagger them and try to cram like 9 in there lol but I'd want my plants to be comfortable.

 

[Donatello]

6 just seems greedy. I was going to stop at 4... but I may do six if you think I have enough light and will be wasting the excess.

Check out the frame I built last night for light support and hanging reflective material:

 

[420Farmer]

6 just seems greedy. I was going to stop at 4... but I may do six if you think I have enough light and will be wasting the excess.

Check out the frame I built last night for light support and hanging reflective material:

Looks good!! Then do 4 man! It's all what you feel comfortable with.

 

[Donatello]

PH Questions:

Every time I check my reservoir water PH it has creeped up. From 5.8 up to 6.3 in 2 days. I keep adding PH Up but it's not very strong and I've almost used the entire bottle.

1) Why does my pH change? More specifically, what's making it go up? The pea gravel medium?

2) What's a safe, inexpensive way to lower my pH without ordering more PH down solution from the internet? (Don't have a local hydro store I can run to).

 

[Donatello]

UPDATE: 12/17

started two more plants.

left/right

pH: 6.0/6.25
EC: 780/792 uS
TDS: 390/394 ppm
water temps: 69/69 deg F
air temps: 71 deg F current, 68-75 low-high
RH: 57-71% low-high

this one hs some slight discoloration in two of the older leaves. Turning light green on the tips/edges of two leaves... the younger leaves look healthy though. Maybe they are too close to the light. I will raise it some and see if it improves.

 

[Donatello]

Update 1/1/2012

Happy New Year!

 

[Donatello]

 

[Sky Rocket]

Skyrocket is all aboard. Looking good man

 

[Donatello]

Update 1/10 - Gettin' bigger!

At which point do I need to worry about watching for males? I bought fem seeds but just to be sure... is it after I switch to flower?

I'm not in any hurry... won't be flowering till they are much bigger.

 

[Donatello]

Update 1/24

Ones on the side are growing really slow compared to the two directly beneath the light. Added a CFL and another LED panel to the smallest one. It has also shown some signs of nutrient deficiency, though I've been keeping my PH as close as possible to 5.8. recalibrate my pen every week wth 7.01 and 4.01 solution and keep it stored in the proper solution; it's usually within .1 or .2.

Have a separate PH meter now too because my original PH/ppm/uS meter wasn't stored in solution and I think I ruined the PH electrode. It's not even close. Still double check with the PH liquid test, though its impossible to guess within .5 of what it really is with that.

My tallest plant is probably 24" now. the ones on the side are maybe 10". Not getting near as much light; i need to add more CFLs on them... but I doubt they wll be anywhere near as tall as the middle 2 when I'm ready to flower. In retrospect, I should've gotten two 400W HID ballasts/bulbs for 4 plants.

Running out of the liquid nutes - need to buy some more quick like!

 

[Donatello]

1/31 Update

Switching to Flower today. 12 on night/12 off day

Replaced MH bulb with HPS. Still have a couple 6400K CFLs and 3 piece of crap cheapo LEDs for the little guys on either side, who in retrospect were not close enough to the 400W footprint to grow adequately. They are only about 12" tall at this point, compared to the center 2 plants, which were started from seed ~5 days prior.

2 big girls have been in Veg mode since 12/11/2011... so about 7 weeks. Also flushed this weekend, used tap water that had been sitting out in buckets for 36 hours, not PH adjusted (I figure the PH is only important for nute uptake, so why bother adjusting for flush water?).

Switched to Blue Planet Nutrients after flush, which just arrived.

I don't know how much taller they will get while flowering, but I hope it's not too much! I have about another foot or so to spare.