Greenthumb J
Well-Known Member
Hello everyone and 
to my first online grow journal!
This is actually a copy and paste from one i started the other day, but I didn't like how it turned out in the end so i'm re doing it to be a little more organized. Hopefully it garners some attention from some wise growers here in the forums.
I welcome all to give me their feedback and subs if you want to follow along on my first attempt at hydroponic growing!
I am growing 4 strains currently. 6 Malawi gold (Malberry Seeds, non-fem), 4 White Rhino, 3 White Widow and 1 Great White Shark, the last 3 all being Greenhouse seeds, feminized. 14 Plants total.
My growing setup is as follows:
Its a BC Northern Lights "Producer" model:
- Dimensions: Width: 54"
Height: 51" (on wheels)
Depth: 28"
- 2 400w HPS for flower, 2 400w MH for veg, 1 125w CFL for propagation and two 4' T5 lights for lighting to the lower canopy.
- 35 litre, 18 site hydro tub, irrigation controlled by the water pump, watering via drip whips.
- "Silver" package of nutrients. Future Harvest Plant Life brand Grow(1-2-5), Common(2-0-0), Flower(0-4-4), Bud Boom(0-6-5), Carbo Blast(0-1-0) and Super B+(0-2-1). got some rooting gel also
Also curerntly using AquaShield in my reservoir as well @ 1.5ml/litre
- Can-Filters Can 250 carbon scrubbing filter and my co2 regulator
The two 400w HPS bulbs (my MH are currently in as I am still in veg)
This is the 18 site hydro tub with top feed irrigation. Please excuse my lazy dog using it for a pillow!
Growing Medium: Rockwool
Using tap water. I have very clean drinking water here in the lower mainland of British Columbia, and I especially have a great local source even in my suburban city. pretty low chlorine
Okay lets get to some grow details. YES.. none of this was cheaps.. I did some research (not enough i feel) and talked to some people and given my current location (11th floor in a 27 floor highrise) I feel i got kind of swindled, but at the same time not really, into buying what I did. Hey, theres always a silver lining right? this is a quality built machine, Professionally wired by journeymen electricians, reasonable airflow to the growing chamber. guaranteed odourless, the machine has internal ballasts for the lights and each light chamber is individually cooled separate from the other and separate from the growing chamber. I also have to say its designed by some really cool guys. I have some seen some pretty sweet DIY setups that are pretty good, however, I feel i'm going to benefit having all the components put together by professionals of their specific trade, Sheet metal fabricators, electricians, plumbers etc, and especially since i dont feel that i possess the skills to create a piece of work like this machine (although i am very ambitious, i'm sure i could if i really tried and had a lot of time and money to be able to take on such a project) Plus, it just plugs into my wall and its good to grow!
However.. I have some cons as to the design. Mainly just the hydrotub.. so far this is my only issue i have had and i have scrapped it. It is just too F*CKIN big and inconvenient to change the res. Say you have 18 mature plants, after you flip a switch to override the water pump, the pump only removes about 98% of the water out into a Rubbermaid mixing tub with a hose they give you with the machine. Then somehow you have to prop up the lid and remove the res tub which is about 4ft wide by about 2 1/4ft wide approx. One person by themselves with no aids i dont feel can accomplish this task. You cant even prop the lid open cause the 18 site lid sits on the tub.. you have to remove all the plants somehow and then remove the airstones in the res then the water pump and then take the fuckin thing out. Just to clean it properly before putting in fresh water. This is my only issue with this machine. The inconvenience of weekly res changes.
So, I scrapped the hydro tub.. After i deemed it caused root rot in my early seedlings because of the inability to give it a proper cleaning after each res change and i felt it was just to difficult to change the water. This was also after i had a damping issue with my expensive feminized seeds i bought. (20 white widows @ $250CAD 10 Rhinos @ $125CAD and 10 GWS @ $125.. the seed company slightly messed up the order so i got a freebie of 12 malawi gold (reg) from Malberry seeds. These saved my first attempt i feel cause of the damping off of my widows and most of my Rhinos. 3 widows survived in the end. i had 6 WW when i first used the hydrotub, thanks to root rot, when i transplanted them to their current DWC homes there were only 3. I have 4 Rhinos about 7 days apart. my GWS is super runtish and the same age as the oldest Rhino. I still have 9 beans of GWS sitting on my bookshelf for next go round i'm thinking.)
Yes, i scrapped the tub. It sits on my patio catching sun rays in the spring here in BC. Contemplating doing strawberries and basil and herbs as i'm a chef as per my day(nights actually) Job. And since i have literally turned green(says my girlfriend) from profound interest in horticulture and especially the cultivation of fine quality cannabis. And as someone who HAILS from British Columbia, I smoke some top quality marijuana and am now on an endeavor to cultivate my own masterpieces!
Shit, off topic! I went to walmart and purchased 3, 38 litre (sorry for being a Canadian, eh!) Rubbermaid totes in a dark blue colour. and drilled 8 - 3.5" holes (as my net pots are apparently 3 5/8" cause the pots dont slide all the way in, they fit very snug tho) in 2 of the 3 lids. I chose this number as i have 14 plants that have survived and 8 holes works better in the lids than 7. I could actually get 12 holes per lid, but that will be for another grow!
My Producer has a built in airpump (I will email the company tomorrow or very soon and get all the exact specifics for those who are hungry for those numbers.) that has two main lines that each attaches to a T splitter and powers 4 - 12" airstones. So i am utilizing those in my DWC containers by having 2 airstones per tub. when i put more tubs in there i will arrange the airstones accordingly. Right now there is a ton of air being pumped into each res. My plants have finally adjusted to their new homes and are finally taking off.. i feel i should be much farther in the process, perhaps getting closer to a flowering cycle, but the terrible conditions they had before as well as the recovery process from those conditions and the transplant to new homes, I'm sure thats whats attributed to my delayed grow. But i'm on my first go round, I'm not going to assume anything. and my plants are looking healthy now and i'm feeling Much Much Better!!
So here i am making this journal on a fantastic website for some collective knowledge.
lets get everyone caught up:
My White Widows are currently 47 days from seed. (on the top in the picture taken today 05/05/2014)
The Malawi Gold in this picture are 40 days from seed. Theres one White Widow in this picture which was mentioned above
The oldest White Rhino and Great White Shark are 33 days from seed. its hard to see the GWS and the runt of the younger Rhinos in the next picture as the exploding growth of the others are almost overgrowing these two.
Heres a shot of the oldest Rhino and her younger sisters. which are at 28 days from seed.
The Rhinos have been getting the same level nutes as the older plants and they have taken very well to it. I have recently upped the amount of N the plants were getting about 11 days ago and they have loved it. Pretty sure i wasn't giving them enough in the beginning. Problem is i should have done this a long time ago.
So last week, my Girlfriend came home from the hydro store (on my request of course) and returned with a MagniWing fixed socket light shade all wired up, a 600w Gavita dimmable digiatal ballast, a new PH and TDS pen (although the tds pen says CD600 on it and my ph pen says PH600. i'm hoping the hydro guys gave my GF the right meter. But its all good.. they threw in a $30 yo yo system for my magniwing for free.. she forgot to get hydroton rocks for my cloning goals, but that can come next check. i dont have calibrating solution for it so i'm not sure if any readings with it will be accurate but it does read measurements of PPM so i'm guessing i got the right one... I do have 7.0 buffer solution for my ph pen, and it was bang on calibrated. So maybe the TDS pen is too. They are made by the same company (Milwaukee) She also brought home 36 2" net pots for my cloning set up i plan to build. and i think that it all she got. Tried to get a hygrometer as well but they were sold out. Pretty sure the humidity in my grow box was way too low since they came out of the propagation dome this entire time.. I have supplemented with a tupperware container with water in it (read this on the forums here) .. its evaporating at a good rate and the plants seem to really love it.
Heres my new gear that i bought.
And the ballast:
My plan is to convert one of my 2 closets in my master bedroom for a Mother Plant/A cloning/Vegatative area as i would strictly like to use my Producer with its carbon filter for flowering and constantly be pumping it full of clones. My original plan was to make a huge DWC tub that sits in my bathtub in my Ensuite bathroom (i have a separate shower, and the tub never gets used) that would hold 3-5 mother plants with a wooden structure rested on top the the bathtub and sitting flush with the wall, a light/yo-yo system and some good fans for airflow.. However, the GF doesn't want the apartment to be taken over by my crazy addiction to want to grow cannabis, so i opted to make the mother area in her larger closet!! haha compromises right?! Also, my Rubbermaid DWC tote plan is to make 3 new lids for the tubs with 12 sites per lid and do a 36 plant sea of green.. i do have 4 airstones, so i'm thinkin of somehow putting a 4th container, perhaps a smaller Rubbermaid tote, like 12-25 litres or something that holds 4-8 plants to do a lush SOG with 40+ plants in a small confined space.. Also wanna build a screen for the Malawi Golds as i have read they can turn into a jungle quickly! Really thinking about Topping or FIM'img them.. but probably will just LST them to keep them from hitting the glass that contains the lights in their chamber.
This next part was written 2 days ago :
Its 5:30am currently and the lights are about to go on at 6. I am just mixing up a little top feeding solution. This week its very custom as i havent really read much about the nutes I am using, but apparently the Super B+ i should have used from germination (says Future Harvest Webpage) but i'm gona see what adding some does to the top feed this week. I'm mixing into a 1L ratio. the bottle doesn't say really for the time i have been growing the oldest plants for, the bottle says i should be flowering. but these babies aren't ready i can tell. so, (see nutrient list above) i'm going to give them a decent dose of Common< cause its got nitrogen for the young babies, the regular amount of Grow according to the week 2 which is actually week 4( it goes week A,B,1,2 on the bottle) and a dose of Aquashield (which i haven't done before on waterings but its got to do some good on the upper root ball that could be susceptible to rot or other issue and its done nothing but wonders for me so far) and I am going to add in some of this Super B+ in a 1/3 dose, just to see how they take the change. I have been giving light waterings as the rockwool starts to lose its dampness. it isn't near dry, theres some moisture, but this time between fluctuates now as i have noticed that the tupperware container i put in the grow box has kept the rockwool nice and moist and clearly the humidity is up too. Im only giving them a feeding cause i feel they could use some of this Super B+ stuff.. and its been a few days since they have gotten some watering and they looked a little droopy last night as the lights were turning off. So hopefully a nice early feeding before they soak up some light for 18 hours today will make them burst open today and stretch for the sky!! I will also be going to see if i can get me a hygrometer, and a thermometer for my water res's that i can monitor without having to take manual readings.. AND i want it cheaps!! As well i am buying eye screws ( you know the screws with eyelets on them) and some plant friendly twine to begin my LST on the plants. My tallest Malawi is probably 7" this morning.. the tallest widow is right behind it. BC Northern lights suggests when the plant is 8" tall to start flowering as you dont want the plant to grow into the light housing and get burned/heat stressed, however, thats based on their hydro tub which is about 7 inches from the bottom of the grow box to the top of the rockwool cube (approximately!!!) and my DWC setup is approximately 9 inches from top of rockwool cube to the bottom of the grow box.. so about a 2" height difference. i'm thinking of actually moving my plants closer to the light housing so that they get better light penetration and dont stretch too much, however i know when i flip to HPS and a 12/12 schedule, they are going to stretch like mad!!
6:30am update: I have been up all night doing this damn Journal, but holy hell has it been fulfilling. I am about to give my babies a morning feeding.. I mixed up my nute solution which was 2ml of grow for my 1L amount, 5ml of common, 1.5ml of aquashield and .75ml of Super B+. mixed it good and hit water with the Ph pen and it read 5.5 on the dot.. my TDS pen is taped together for easy readin and it read 168, seems like its calibrated just right. going to go water them and get a couple pictures to post here.. be right back!!
Okay.. babies look good this morning. nice and perky. Will show you all some pics of their current state. I think they look absolutely gorgeous.
Had to throw that in there as it had a load of information i just dont have the time to retype in a present tense manner.
This is really all i have time for at the moment. I am going to learn how to post a link to my other Grow Journal so you can take a look at the couple updates that i have done there.. I will most likely abandon that journal and continue with this one.
Until then, i do not know how to post a link to that journal, so seach "BCNL" in the search threads of Journals in progress and you should find it.
Will give an update later tonight.
Peace out all!
-Greenthumb J
to my first online grow journal!This is actually a copy and paste from one i started the other day, but I didn't like how it turned out in the end so i'm re doing it to be a little more organized. Hopefully it garners some attention from some wise growers here in the forums.
I welcome all to give me their feedback and subs if you want to follow along on my first attempt at hydroponic growing!
I am growing 4 strains currently. 6 Malawi gold (Malberry Seeds, non-fem), 4 White Rhino, 3 White Widow and 1 Great White Shark, the last 3 all being Greenhouse seeds, feminized. 14 Plants total.
My growing setup is as follows:
Its a BC Northern Lights "Producer" model:
- Dimensions: Width: 54"
Height: 51" (on wheels)
Depth: 28"
- 2 400w HPS for flower, 2 400w MH for veg, 1 125w CFL for propagation and two 4' T5 lights for lighting to the lower canopy.
- 35 litre, 18 site hydro tub, irrigation controlled by the water pump, watering via drip whips.
- "Silver" package of nutrients. Future Harvest Plant Life brand Grow(1-2-5), Common(2-0-0), Flower(0-4-4), Bud Boom(0-6-5), Carbo Blast(0-1-0) and Super B+(0-2-1). got some rooting gel also
Also curerntly using AquaShield in my reservoir as well @ 1.5ml/litre
- Can-Filters Can 250 carbon scrubbing filter and my co2 regulator
The two 400w HPS bulbs (my MH are currently in as I am still in veg)
This is the 18 site hydro tub with top feed irrigation. Please excuse my lazy dog using it for a pillow!
Growing Medium: Rockwool
Using tap water. I have very clean drinking water here in the lower mainland of British Columbia, and I especially have a great local source even in my suburban city. pretty low chlorine
Okay lets get to some grow details. YES.. none of this was cheaps.. I did some research (not enough i feel) and talked to some people and given my current location (11th floor in a 27 floor highrise) I feel i got kind of swindled, but at the same time not really, into buying what I did. Hey, theres always a silver lining right? this is a quality built machine, Professionally wired by journeymen electricians, reasonable airflow to the growing chamber. guaranteed odourless, the machine has internal ballasts for the lights and each light chamber is individually cooled separate from the other and separate from the growing chamber. I also have to say its designed by some really cool guys. I have some seen some pretty sweet DIY setups that are pretty good, however, I feel i'm going to benefit having all the components put together by professionals of their specific trade, Sheet metal fabricators, electricians, plumbers etc, and especially since i dont feel that i possess the skills to create a piece of work like this machine (although i am very ambitious, i'm sure i could if i really tried and had a lot of time and money to be able to take on such a project) Plus, it just plugs into my wall and its good to grow!
However.. I have some cons as to the design. Mainly just the hydrotub.. so far this is my only issue i have had and i have scrapped it. It is just too F*CKIN big and inconvenient to change the res. Say you have 18 mature plants, after you flip a switch to override the water pump, the pump only removes about 98% of the water out into a Rubbermaid mixing tub with a hose they give you with the machine. Then somehow you have to prop up the lid and remove the res tub which is about 4ft wide by about 2 1/4ft wide approx. One person by themselves with no aids i dont feel can accomplish this task. You cant even prop the lid open cause the 18 site lid sits on the tub.. you have to remove all the plants somehow and then remove the airstones in the res then the water pump and then take the fuckin thing out. Just to clean it properly before putting in fresh water. This is my only issue with this machine. The inconvenience of weekly res changes.
So, I scrapped the hydro tub.. After i deemed it caused root rot in my early seedlings because of the inability to give it a proper cleaning after each res change and i felt it was just to difficult to change the water. This was also after i had a damping issue with my expensive feminized seeds i bought. (20 white widows @ $250CAD 10 Rhinos @ $125CAD and 10 GWS @ $125.. the seed company slightly messed up the order so i got a freebie of 12 malawi gold (reg) from Malberry seeds. These saved my first attempt i feel cause of the damping off of my widows and most of my Rhinos. 3 widows survived in the end. i had 6 WW when i first used the hydrotub, thanks to root rot, when i transplanted them to their current DWC homes there were only 3. I have 4 Rhinos about 7 days apart. my GWS is super runtish and the same age as the oldest Rhino. I still have 9 beans of GWS sitting on my bookshelf for next go round i'm thinking.)
Yes, i scrapped the tub. It sits on my patio catching sun rays in the spring here in BC. Contemplating doing strawberries and basil and herbs as i'm a chef as per my day(nights actually) Job. And since i have literally turned green(says my girlfriend) from profound interest in horticulture and especially the cultivation of fine quality cannabis. And as someone who HAILS from British Columbia, I smoke some top quality marijuana and am now on an endeavor to cultivate my own masterpieces!
Shit, off topic! I went to walmart and purchased 3, 38 litre (sorry for being a Canadian, eh!) Rubbermaid totes in a dark blue colour. and drilled 8 - 3.5" holes (as my net pots are apparently 3 5/8" cause the pots dont slide all the way in, they fit very snug tho) in 2 of the 3 lids. I chose this number as i have 14 plants that have survived and 8 holes works better in the lids than 7. I could actually get 12 holes per lid, but that will be for another grow!
My Producer has a built in airpump (I will email the company tomorrow or very soon and get all the exact specifics for those who are hungry for those numbers.) that has two main lines that each attaches to a T splitter and powers 4 - 12" airstones. So i am utilizing those in my DWC containers by having 2 airstones per tub. when i put more tubs in there i will arrange the airstones accordingly. Right now there is a ton of air being pumped into each res. My plants have finally adjusted to their new homes and are finally taking off.. i feel i should be much farther in the process, perhaps getting closer to a flowering cycle, but the terrible conditions they had before as well as the recovery process from those conditions and the transplant to new homes, I'm sure thats whats attributed to my delayed grow. But i'm on my first go round, I'm not going to assume anything. and my plants are looking healthy now and i'm feeling Much Much Better!!
So here i am making this journal on a fantastic website for some collective knowledge.
lets get everyone caught up:
My White Widows are currently 47 days from seed. (on the top in the picture taken today 05/05/2014)
The Malawi Gold in this picture are 40 days from seed. Theres one White Widow in this picture which was mentioned above
The oldest White Rhino and Great White Shark are 33 days from seed. its hard to see the GWS and the runt of the younger Rhinos in the next picture as the exploding growth of the others are almost overgrowing these two.
Heres a shot of the oldest Rhino and her younger sisters. which are at 28 days from seed.
The Rhinos have been getting the same level nutes as the older plants and they have taken very well to it. I have recently upped the amount of N the plants were getting about 11 days ago and they have loved it. Pretty sure i wasn't giving them enough in the beginning. Problem is i should have done this a long time ago.
So last week, my Girlfriend came home from the hydro store (on my request of course) and returned with a MagniWing fixed socket light shade all wired up, a 600w Gavita dimmable digiatal ballast, a new PH and TDS pen (although the tds pen says CD600 on it and my ph pen says PH600. i'm hoping the hydro guys gave my GF the right meter. But its all good.. they threw in a $30 yo yo system for my magniwing for free.. she forgot to get hydroton rocks for my cloning goals, but that can come next check. i dont have calibrating solution for it so i'm not sure if any readings with it will be accurate but it does read measurements of PPM so i'm guessing i got the right one... I do have 7.0 buffer solution for my ph pen, and it was bang on calibrated. So maybe the TDS pen is too. They are made by the same company (Milwaukee) She also brought home 36 2" net pots for my cloning set up i plan to build. and i think that it all she got. Tried to get a hygrometer as well but they were sold out. Pretty sure the humidity in my grow box was way too low since they came out of the propagation dome this entire time.. I have supplemented with a tupperware container with water in it (read this on the forums here) .. its evaporating at a good rate and the plants seem to really love it.
Heres my new gear that i bought.
And the ballast:
My plan is to convert one of my 2 closets in my master bedroom for a Mother Plant/A cloning/Vegatative area as i would strictly like to use my Producer with its carbon filter for flowering and constantly be pumping it full of clones. My original plan was to make a huge DWC tub that sits in my bathtub in my Ensuite bathroom (i have a separate shower, and the tub never gets used) that would hold 3-5 mother plants with a wooden structure rested on top the the bathtub and sitting flush with the wall, a light/yo-yo system and some good fans for airflow.. However, the GF doesn't want the apartment to be taken over by my crazy addiction to want to grow cannabis, so i opted to make the mother area in her larger closet!! haha compromises right?! Also, my Rubbermaid DWC tote plan is to make 3 new lids for the tubs with 12 sites per lid and do a 36 plant sea of green.. i do have 4 airstones, so i'm thinkin of somehow putting a 4th container, perhaps a smaller Rubbermaid tote, like 12-25 litres or something that holds 4-8 plants to do a lush SOG with 40+ plants in a small confined space.. Also wanna build a screen for the Malawi Golds as i have read they can turn into a jungle quickly! Really thinking about Topping or FIM'img them.. but probably will just LST them to keep them from hitting the glass that contains the lights in their chamber.
This next part was written 2 days ago :
Its 5:30am currently and the lights are about to go on at 6. I am just mixing up a little top feeding solution. This week its very custom as i havent really read much about the nutes I am using, but apparently the Super B+ i should have used from germination (says Future Harvest Webpage) but i'm gona see what adding some does to the top feed this week. I'm mixing into a 1L ratio. the bottle doesn't say really for the time i have been growing the oldest plants for, the bottle says i should be flowering. but these babies aren't ready i can tell. so, (see nutrient list above) i'm going to give them a decent dose of Common< cause its got nitrogen for the young babies, the regular amount of Grow according to the week 2 which is actually week 4( it goes week A,B,1,2 on the bottle) and a dose of Aquashield (which i haven't done before on waterings but its got to do some good on the upper root ball that could be susceptible to rot or other issue and its done nothing but wonders for me so far) and I am going to add in some of this Super B+ in a 1/3 dose, just to see how they take the change. I have been giving light waterings as the rockwool starts to lose its dampness. it isn't near dry, theres some moisture, but this time between fluctuates now as i have noticed that the tupperware container i put in the grow box has kept the rockwool nice and moist and clearly the humidity is up too. Im only giving them a feeding cause i feel they could use some of this Super B+ stuff.. and its been a few days since they have gotten some watering and they looked a little droopy last night as the lights were turning off. So hopefully a nice early feeding before they soak up some light for 18 hours today will make them burst open today and stretch for the sky!! I will also be going to see if i can get me a hygrometer, and a thermometer for my water res's that i can monitor without having to take manual readings.. AND i want it cheaps!! As well i am buying eye screws ( you know the screws with eyelets on them) and some plant friendly twine to begin my LST on the plants. My tallest Malawi is probably 7" this morning.. the tallest widow is right behind it. BC Northern lights suggests when the plant is 8" tall to start flowering as you dont want the plant to grow into the light housing and get burned/heat stressed, however, thats based on their hydro tub which is about 7 inches from the bottom of the grow box to the top of the rockwool cube (approximately!!!) and my DWC setup is approximately 9 inches from top of rockwool cube to the bottom of the grow box.. so about a 2" height difference. i'm thinking of actually moving my plants closer to the light housing so that they get better light penetration and dont stretch too much, however i know when i flip to HPS and a 12/12 schedule, they are going to stretch like mad!!
6:30am update: I have been up all night doing this damn Journal, but holy hell has it been fulfilling. I am about to give my babies a morning feeding.. I mixed up my nute solution which was 2ml of grow for my 1L amount, 5ml of common, 1.5ml of aquashield and .75ml of Super B+. mixed it good and hit water with the Ph pen and it read 5.5 on the dot.. my TDS pen is taped together for easy readin and it read 168, seems like its calibrated just right. going to go water them and get a couple pictures to post here.. be right back!!
Okay.. babies look good this morning. nice and perky. Will show you all some pics of their current state. I think they look absolutely gorgeous.
Had to throw that in there as it had a load of information i just dont have the time to retype in a present tense manner.
This is really all i have time for at the moment. I am going to learn how to post a link to my other Grow Journal so you can take a look at the couple updates that i have done there.. I will most likely abandon that journal and continue with this one.
Until then, i do not know how to post a link to that journal, so seach "BCNL" in the search threads of Journals in progress and you should find it.
Will give an update later tonight.
Peace out all!
-Greenthumb J
