Merkabah's First Hydroponic Grow

[merkabah]

I'm a relative beginner when it comes to growing. I managed to get one good grow in back in the overgrow days. A nice Shiva Shanti II grow that yielded some of the nicest bud I and my associates had ever come across.

Fast forward nearly seven years to today: I'm trying my luck at gaining my green thumb once more.

Circumstance finally smiled upon the patient and I was able to acquire a supercloset for my first attempt at a hydroponic grow. I figured that the slightly beefed up price tag was worth getting my feet wet and my roots settled in hydroponics so that in the near future I can cook up a custom set DIY set up.

The system is a standard 16 plant DWC.

Out of ten seeds(3 blue dreams and 7 gdp's): one didn't germinate (blue dream), one seedling died (gdp) and three were males leaving me with five plants (4 GDP's and 1 Blue Dream)

As the pictures indicate, these were taken 61 Days from Seed and 14 Days into Flowering.

Updates every week!

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[merkabah]

Re: ::Merkabah's First Hydroponic Grow::

Figured that I'd share this little guy with you. It's from a male plant that I had to kill, but I wanted to get a picture of this 13 fingered leaf! Blew my mind! It was from a blue dream male. It breaks my heart that I had to kill it off seeing as how I found the seeds in an eighth that I had received. And I wish now that I had let the male live a few more days so that this fan leaf would have opened up completely, but I didn't want to take any chances of my girls being pollinated.

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[Heirloom]

Re: ::Merkabah's First Hydroponic Grow::

 

[merkabah]

Re: ::Merkabah's First Hydroponic Grow::

As promised, the first of my weekly updates.

Here's a full shot of my cabinet. Not bad for a first time, if I do say so myself. Granted, I know next time I intend to knock it out of the park instead of just getting base hit.

As you may can tell from the pictures, I think they are a little sensitive to the nutrient levels. Right now I'm running at about 650 ppm, which I think may be a little high for this early in flowering as the top of the Blue Dream looks a little burnt I guess (some slight yellowing and a bit of blotchy coloring on the older fan leaves, though no necrosis as of yet) and some of the leaves on the GDP are curling down which I have read can be a sign of too much nitrogen I believe it was, which seems likely as there are slight signs of nutrient burn on the tips of the leaves on the BD.

Any opinions as to what the issue might be would be helpful. I like to catch all problems early on. At the first sign of any issue I try to correct it asap to minimize the effects it will have on the grow. How's the saying go, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"? Yeah! I take that to !

At this point in the grow I've opted to cease any pruning of fan leaves and instead choose to tuck them out of the way so that lower bud sites can get ample light. It's work that needs to be done everyday, but I feel it will be worth it in the long run.

Also, I've noticed that when fan leaves touch another that bits of water start to collect on the leaves. I'm guessing this is from the plants breathing the water vapor into the air. Needless to say, I'm pretty vigilant when it comes to moving the foliage around and spotting up any water that has collected on the leaves as I don't want to give mold any kind of foot hold on my grow. I simple take a small piece of paper towel and lightly soak up the water. Again, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I've got two fans for circulation, one up near the light and another just above my makeshift screen.

I wanted to experiment with a scrog and so far I like the level of control as to the placement of bud sites. A very groovy technique when trying to utilize a small space.

Well guys and gals of the 420 forum! I bid thee farewell until next week!


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[Heirloom]

Looks good my friend. I don't know that I would change a thing. Couple of questions though....

What nutes are you using?

How long until harvest?

 

[merkabah]

I'm using the nutes that came with the cabinet, Technaflora. Included are B-1 Red, BC Boost, BC Bloom, Awesome Blossom, MagiCal and Sugar Daddy with BC Grow used during the vegetative state.

I'm actually planning on doing three harvests with this plant, though I may have to only do two as I've heard that flushing for more than a week or two is over kill in hydro, but I want to be able to get three different kinds of bud; mostly cloudy trichomes, fifty fifty cloudy and amber and then mostly amber. A little experiment to see if I can maybe increase yield by letting the smaller popcorn buds go for another week and fill out some more.

 

[merkabah]

Ah, forgive me, I meant to state that I will start harvesting with in the first or second week of September!

 

[merkabah]

As promised, another weekly update. I know, kinda slow and boring at this point, but I'm getting really excited to see these girls fill out to their full potential. The next few weeks should be exciting. She only gets frostier and frostier as the days go by.

I've been having some extreme pH fluctuations, but I've been here to handle it well. And honestly, my girls seem to LIKE it. I don't have my pH meter hooked up this grow so I can't tell exact levels however with the testing kit it will come out red orange with in just a day, but the kicker is, as I stated, that my lovely ladies seem to like it. Their leaves look a lot more lush and they seem perkier when the pH drops. Still, I raise it back up to the recommended levels just to be safe and they seem to be doing alright despite the wild mood, I mean pH swings.

I trimmed a few more fans leaves to free up light penetration to a few of the lower bud sites and she seems to be responding fairly well.

I'm hoping to get nice yield, I would LOVE a pound, but I'm realistic with my expectations so I'm aiming at somewhere around eight ounces. With the massive yielding Blue Dream taking up well over 40% of the grow space I'm optimistic with what she can do. She's getting really good light penetration on all of her bud sites. She did hermie at one spot near the bottom and I think that I caught it in time, but I wouldn't be upset at a few seeds from some popcorn buds seeing as how Blue Dream seems to be clone only.

Well, until next week community, I bid thee a fond farewell!

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[Heirloom]

I've been having some extreme pH fluctuations, but I've been here to handle it well. And honestly, my girls seem to LIKE it. I don't have my pH meter hooked up this grow so I can't tell exact levels however with the testing kit it will come out red orange with in just a day, but the kicker is, as I stated, that my lovely ladies seem to like it. Their leaves look a lot more lush and they seem perkier when the pH drops. Still, I raise it back up to the recommended levels just to be safe and they seem to be doing alright despite the wild mood, I mean pH swings.

Looking good! On the PH swings.....

How many gallons does your system hold? Are all 16 sites full? How often do you change the nutes?

 

[merkabah]

15 gallons, though I rarely fill it all the way.

5 of 16 sites are being used.

I change the nutes weekly, though some times I've let it go for around 10 days before changing it.

 

[Heirloom]

Well, can't say they look unhappy, so I guess continue on! More volume of water/solution would keep it stable. I started getting quick PH swings towards the 7 day mark when I was at 11 gallons for 2 plants. And that's not in flower!

 

[merkabah]

That's an interesting point, I shall experiment with keeping the res filled up more and see how it responds. Thanks for the input and continued interest in my grow. I've been checking out some of your gals and

What's interesting still is that during vegetation I had almost no pH fluctuations at all. I had to bring the pH down maybe twice and it would remain stable the rest of the time.

How do you like BPN? I seem to come across the name quite a bit. How many parts to the solution?

 

[Heirloom]

That's an interesting point, I shall experiment with keeping the res filled up more and see how it responds. Thanks for the input and continued interest in my grow. I've been checking out some of your gals and

What's interesting still is that during vegetation I had almost no pH fluctuations at all. I had to bring the pH down maybe twice and it would remain stable the rest of the time.

How do you like BPN? I seem to come across the name quite a bit. How many parts to the solution?

My friend, BPN is the best. For various reasons. Blue Planet Nutrients is owned and operated by Corey Stover. He studied Plant Science at Texas A&M. He's a really great guy. He'll take all the time needed to help you out if you have questions. He offers three different lines of nutrient.

First is the two part, which is what I am using on my current grow. It's your basic 2 part, has the micro's in the part A. It costs $35 + shipping for the gallon size. Not $35 for a gallon or A and $35 for a gallon of B. No, no, you get a gallon of each for $35.

Next there is the 3 part. Grow-Bloom-Micro. $50 + shipping for the whole line in gallons.

Last is his Farmers Pride Organic line. The whole line has 7 parts and it costs $75. The main 3 organic components (grow-bloom-micro) can be had for $50 + shipping. Again, that's for a gallon of each part.

Of course he also has add-ons like a bloom booster (chemical or organic), guano, soil enzymes and such. Go to blueplanetnutrients.com

You can see in my thread the results so far. My first girls are happy and healthy and I owe it to BPN.

Hey, you are welcome for the interest, and thank you for yours! You have nice bud porn!

 

[Sky Rocket]

Looking good. What size light do you have in your cabinet? And my suggestion next time you grow un the cabinet. If you want to use all 16 sites I would suggest you go sog method.

 

[merkabah]

600w HPS.

And I would most definitely set up a sea of green if I could but I don't have a mother/cloning station just yet. I have considered that with a sea of green I could potentially pull an ounce per plant and get a cool pound out the harvest. But I want to see what I can do with a scrog grow. If I can pull the same with a scrog as I could with a sog then I'd probably opt for a scrog, even though a sog is potentially leagues quicker. A lot to consider...and I definitely like to hear all point of views.

I like to consider myself a traveler and nomad of thought to a certain degree. I like to experience and hear all methods possible to see what is easiest and most comfortable for me.

 

[Heirloom]

That's what it's all about brother. Do what works for you, THAT is the correct method. Everything else is just guidelines. I just cloned off my mothers and afterwards, when I was doing final clean up and training/pruning I had a very 'zen' like moment. Sitting there carefully trimming them was very similar to bonsai pruning. Peaceful. Gentle water fall sounds. THAT is another medicinal quality of cannabis.

 

[merkabah]

A quick update, no photos...but I trimmed the plant extensively to allow for full bud development on the lower bud sites. I moved the CO2 Boost tube to above the canopy and as a result the remaining foliage has really improved in color and vigor. The frostiness continues to develop daily and the smell grows by leaps and bounds. Getting really excited!

Temps have been dropping down to the upper 60's during lights off and the GDP has already begun to show signs of extensive purpling. In about a week or two I plan on putting a frozen 2 liter on top of the reservoir and moving one of the fans to below the canopy to circulate the cold air during lights off in a hopes to drop the temperature another ten degrees during lights off. This is a hope to bring out some nice blue and purple hues that have already started to develop on the blue dream.

And she is covered in bud sites, it's insane!

If you find a blue dream seed in your bud GROW IT! You won't be disappointed!

 

[merkabah]

Okay, so I know I haven't exactly been keeping up with the weekly updates, but at this point it's kinda slowed down just waiting for the buds too fill out and for the trichs to show readiness. And speaking of which, I just stopped by Radioshack today and picked up a nice little hand held microscope for less than $20.

Gonna try to see if I can managed to snap a pic or two through the scope to get some nice shots of the trichs in development. If not, I know an associate with a macro lens who can help me in that department!

Also, the one of my GDP's is showing more purple every day it seems. I already know that when the bud dries and cures and is broken up that it will be one frosty little purple pile of goodness!

I'll try to get another session of bud porn here next go around, probably tomorrow when I change out the reservoir.

Until then

Happy Growing Community!

 

[merkabah]

It's PICTURE TIME!

Some groovy little shots I managed to take with a cell phone and a hand held microscope acquired through RadioShack.

So far so good! I even saw a couple of purple trichs but I wasn't able to get a shot of one. But something tells me that I won't be able to avoid them once the crop is done.

And here are various shots over the last couple of weeks.

 

[Heirloom]

Damn. It looks like you sprinkled them with sugar! Very nice, bro.