First Grow - Scrog - CFL - Hydro Top Feed

[Dzordz]

Hello fellow growers. First post and straight as a journal. I have chosen to start growing for the first time, I don't smoke or consume cannabis products but would like to test them for their medicinal benefits (migranes, wifes menstrual pains, as a muscle relaxant due to back/neck pain).

I have previously grown hydroponic lettuce and failed with ebb and flow and DWC but made a lovely score with NFT system with gullies. So I will be using what I have learned up to now to employ a hydroponic grow. As I would like to minimize the amount of light/electricity/heat I have opted for SCROG with the assumption that I would get more g/m2 and g/kWh used.

The space I have assigned to the grow is 130cm wide and 76cm deep and 270cm tall(obviously using the metric system).


Here is a picture of the space:

And this is what I am aiming to achieve:

What strain is it?
1x Auto Purple by Pyramid Seeds, 1x Auto East Rider by BulkSeedBank, 1x Auto Bubblegum by BulkSeedBank

Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages?
No idea.

Is it in Veg or Flower stage?
Just germinated.

Indoor or outdoor?
Indoor.

Soil or Hydro?
Hydro, top feed, coco as main media but will need to have a layer on the bottom of something that will not wash away.

What size pot?
Starting with 5cm net pots to migrate to 3l bucket to 10l buckets.

Size of light?
Currently 4 x 60cm neons 6400k about 30cm from pots. Plan to add one more 4x60cm (which I have) and to go to CFL for bloom. Planning on 2x larger CFLs.

Is it aircooled?
No cooling no ventilation at the moment. Will need to consider a filter as it is right next to my apartment entrance door.

Temp of Room/cab?
N/A

RH of Room/cab?
N/A

PH of media or res?
N/A

Any Pests ?
No.

How often are you watering?
Twice a day dip them into a 1:1000 of rooting solution from Advanced Hydroponics of Holland

Type and strength of ferts used?
N/A


Questions:
As seen in the drawing I am hoping to achieve 130cm x 40cm SCROG canopy and would like to use CFL for flowering. My assumption is 2 x 125/200/250W would be sufficient just not sure how strong I should go? The plan is to position them slightly skewed (left to right): skew to the right from plant 1 and skew to the left from plant 3 like in the picture below:

You will see in the drawing estimations of size that I had to make, all three plants are classified up to about 1m so I assumed due to SCROG 60cm from media for the plant + 20cm of buds and have the lights on top of that. How close am I to the real sizes?

Filter wise (odor masking) I have no current availability to push air out of the room, if I put the filter to push/pull and leave the air in the room will it do a good enough job?

 

[MrMiracleGro]

Dude, awesome...

Growing cannabis is an extremely fun thing to do that doesn't require TOO much effort.


Here is a pH chart that you may deem useful.

Do you have any idea what ferts you plan on using?

If not, dude... You should totally look into using Cyco products. Pharmaceutical-grade fertilizers.

They are wonderful products.

Best of luck in your endeavors.

Popping the corn as I type.

 

[Dzordz]

Thank you for stopping by

I have my chemistry here in the pic.

Waiting for a set of sensors that I got from a startup should include PH/EC/Light/4 sockets/web interface/possible camera add/outside connectivity. But that is the story let's see how it works when it arrives.

 

[Dzordz]

And there we go, auto purple sprouted. I can see the Bubblegum trying to come up also. Total 3.5 days since planting.

 

[Dzordz]

5.5 days from putting the seeds into the media. East rider didn't sprout and has been discarded.
Lights a bank of 4x24w 2' (54cm) t5 HO which should give out about 7-8k lm @6400k distance 25cm (10'')

While reading and thinking I decided to go the full flourescent route and just at one moment change the bulbs on the sets I have (4 sets of 4x24w 2' by envirogrow) should be more then enough to support these two.
From last night after transplant started watering with 50% of suggested solution and they seem to be taking it well. Watering every 12 hours by hand as it is coconut and although it buffers a bit it does need to be fed often. Will probably work on preparing the top drip over the weekend but no rush.

 

[Dzordz]

As I go forward I add what I learn by reading the forums there is definitely a lot of information

I have now used my ebb and flow tray from my lettuce grow to make an easy drain to waste and covered it with clay pebbles. Additionally I have covered the top of my coco medium with pebbles to stop it from being washed away. Plants are now 7 full days from planting and growing pretty fast (but what do I know, my first grow). On the left one (hatched 12-24h sooner there is already a visible start of the 2nd set of true leaves.

Feeding 2 a day 50% solution of suggested dosage. Bought also some grow bags which I didn't even know about and planning now at one moment to move these to 15l bags (bought the 3l too for some future grow).

As I love automation I will be making the top feed probably in a week or two but who knows maybe even sooner time permitting. Keeping the plants at about 13cm (5'') from the light now after transplant. They were about 18cm (7'') before.

 

[Dzordz]

Added a 25l tank with 5ml per liter of solution all advanced hydroponics of holland as per recipe (1ml root stimulator, 2ml grow, 1ml bloom, 1ml micro). Currently on 6 x day even spacing 15min watering cycle. As it is coco from what I have read should be ok.

 

[Dzordz]

Growth is intensifying, still on the same schedule of watering. Leaves looking good. Measuring tape in cm. 10 days old.

 

[Rifleman]

 

[donmayn]

So so impressed with all the planning and attention to detail you've put in this grow so far! wish id of done the same before I started mine

Also doing a scrog my first time, will be subscribing! cant wait to see how you go on

 

[Dzordz]

Thanks to those following

@donmayn
Planning helps but I have already altered the drain by using the plastic tray I had left over and clay pebbles. And I changed from wanting to do CFLs to using the same fluorescent just changing the bulbs.

Will see how it works out as we go along.

 

[Dzordz]

Not much to add, no changes in feeding lighting or anything.

Progress looks healthy, not sure about the speeds they are autos. Left is Purple (the bigger one) right is Bubblegum.

 

[unforgiven]

nice lil setup you got there.

 

[Dzordz]

Thanks @unforgiven, I try and read a lot and implement the best solution that I am aware for the moment.
Watering by hand doesn't work for me, short term memory is crap But hey why should I think about it if a machine can do it!

 

[Dzordz]

Saw @Rifleman put a self reminder, I think I am going to need it soon as I see some tiny changes in the leaves. Not going to overthink it, will wait for it to manifest itself clearly.

 

[Dzordz]

Feeding time for the ladies

Purple (left) close up with secondary growth on bottom leaves.

Diameter of the Purple (in cm so about 5'').

 

[Dzordz]

Per chart could be Nitrogen deficiency? Doesn't seem to be increasing or increasing fast.

 

[Dzordz]

So had time yesterday and spotted roots coming out of the 3l bucket so went ahead and move them to the tex pots of 15l. Mix is about 50/50 coco/pebbles, maybe even more on the side of pebles. Keeping the same watering frequency as I can still feel the wet pot at the bottom before the next watering starts. The picture has a bit too much light from the t5s

Purple is progressing faster and seems like no issues. Just about possible to top her above the third node if I follow what Beast is suggesting. Although ATrain suggests LST, I would like to do less so might do neither and just put lights around them.

Bubblegum is developing its deficiency, interestingly enough they feed from the same tank, same substrate, same light and only one has the spots? Waiting for my measuring tools hopefully they arrive next week and will be able to produce some numbers to base corrective decisions on.

 

[Dzordz]

Full 17 days from planting. Purple going really well while bubblegum a bit stunted. Doing daily shots of the deficiency and will put up changes in a couple of days.

 

[Dzordz]

Below is bubblegum and its deficiency, three days in a row.
I would say maybe fractionally getting better but definitely not getting worse. When adding solution to the tank I put some extra micro as I am using advanced hydroponics of holland and micro or 3 from 1/2/3 has a bit extra nitrogen.


Day 1

Day 2

Day 3