PC Case Micro SCRoG Grow

[PlayLoud]

Day 7

No pics today. Too tired from a long day of work. One of the girls (crossing fingers) is growing noticeably slower than the other. Case temp is staying right around 79.5 to 80F. Plants are both basking in the warmth, they're both standing at attention with new fan leaves beginning to form. I checked the reservoir and it was still nice & clean, airstone flowing, and the water level has reached below the net basket. However, with the airstone it's keeping the rockwool cubes nice and damp, but not wet.

I have a damp towel rolled up on top of the reservoir to keep the water cool and introduce some humidity because my humidity was reading low. Now it's back up to normal, so I feel comfortable going to bed.

Just thought I'd give a typical veg day update

 

[PlayLoud]

Day 8

Well, it's officially one week and one day. And I'll say that it is really cool, amazing and a moving experience watching something grow with no soil. It sort of boggles the mind in a way. I know I know, I've seen tons of videos of elaborate hydro setups, but when it gets down to it, it's really just amazing that the plant grows like it does. So far, the girls have had no nutes, no nothing except pH balanced distilled water and 2 of my 4 CFL's on.

You'll notice the wash cloth on the reservoir tank. My case temps are running high at about 80 degrees right now. the temp/rH gauge says 90 but that's because it's close to the lamps and I have nowhere else to mount it. (Space is sorta limited)

Saturday will be the day of the first reservoir flush, I'm going to buy a larger air stone to really get the air bubbles flowing. This is really, really exciting. I'm just really entranced with this whole process.

So without further rambling, here's are the girls. One is growing slower than the other, but I think when I flip on all the lights and introduce nutes, she'll take off too. (My weak attempt at hope)

Cute thing huh?

This one isn't wilting, it's growing towards the light.

Electric green.

Isn't she proud to stand up pretty and confident?

 

[PlayLoud]

If those pics are too big I'll re-size.

 

[BigLo]

Looking good so far.

 

[BigLo]

So how are things going playloud? Any new updates?

 

[PlayLoud]

Hi all...okay, major update...

So Thursday night I began my nutes. I flushed the res, cleaned it well, did a 50% nute solution mix in distilled water. Plants are looking great. Checked the pH last night..it's holding steady between 5.8 and 6.0. The big problem I was having was too much heat in the case. In earlier pics, I had the CD spindle holding the reservoir & plants up to the CFL's. The issue here was that the res was actually higher than my fan & ventilation path was, so the temp was rising upwards of 96-100 degrees. Well, the plants fared just fine but I knew that's not the best option and I needed to come up with something fast to drop my lights down rather than raise my plants & res up.

So I thought first that I'd go to Home Depot and get some of those magnetic hooks and string up a light rail to hold my lights exactly where I wanted them. Well, those little things are expensive! About $5 a piece, so while walking around HD, I was doing some thinking on how to do this economically and way under $20.

I came up with getting some regular bulk magnets and some string and creating a suspension system rather than stringing lines to the front & back of the case. After about an hour of tinkering and a few other methods that weren't going to work, I came up with what you see in the pics below. It cost me a sum total of $7.38 at Home Depot and works like a champ.

It actually turned out better than I thought because with the magnets, I can literally place these lamps where ever I want them. Just string up some guy wire type strings to hold the lamps in place once they're adjusted to the level I want.

Plants are loving it, these pics were taken last night. Today the plants are noticeably bushier and intense green this morning. Case temp is sitting at 79F now.

I'll probably veg them for another week at least, maybe even two. Then start the flowering so I can see if they're girls.

 

[The Butcher]

Foil is made to absorb heat and retain it for long periods of time. So the foil will actually bring your temps up and keep them there. Try using A flat white reflective surface. Growers use paper, cardboard and pretty much anything that will take a coat of flat white paint if needed, I know it sounds small, but in a PC case heat builds up fast.

 

[PlayLoud]

Butcher,

Thanks for the tip. I'll scrounge around tomorrow and see if I can find something that will suffice for a flat white surface. Anything to keep my temps down.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[BigLo]

Butcher,

Thanks for the tip. I'll scrounge around tomorrow and see if I can find something that will suffice for a flat white surface. Anything to keep my temps down.

Thanks for the tip!

I was going to bring that up PlayLoud. I just got so busy with my grow it slipped my mind. The foil does create hot spots and increase heat homie... Look for that flat white surface or if u got the cash mylar.

 

[PlayLoud]

Happy Easter everyone

Well, all I had that was flat white was regular printer paper, so I took down all the foil and replaced with paper. We'll see what happens.

Added some water and nutes to the res tank today. One thing I did notice was the roots are a little discolored; slightly brown. I don't know if I should be concerned about that or not.

I'll do a pic update tomorrow. Plants have definitely gotten bigger now and look really healthy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm expecting at any second the other shoe to drop and things taking a turn for the worse. I'm just a little weary I guess because I've learned first hand how fast things with hydro change.

 

[GrumpyGrower]

The general consensus seems to be that hot spots are not a concern when using CFL lights. The more reflective a surface the less heat it will absorb. Dark surfaces waste light by absorbing it and converting it into heat. IMO the foil (vs printer paper) has an advantage because it is not a fire hazard. My local dollar store sells mylar balloons for .50 cents, wouldn't take many to line a PC case.

You should post a pic of the roots. Discoloration may be normal with the technaflora nutes, I have no experience. My GH nutes discolor the roots a bit but only after I have upped the PPM to full strength. With high temps and a small res you have a real risk of root rot. Be watchful for slime and odor to accompany the discoloration.

Prevention of root rot is key in your case because I believe technaflora nutes are organic(?), which means sterilizing your rez to kill root rot would be a little tricky, and adding h2o2 probably isn't a good idea. So keep those res temps in check and keep plenty of bubbles in the water.

 

[PlayLoud]

Grumpy,

Thanks for the info. I think I need to buy a bigger air stone. Maybe a bar that goes all the way across the bottom of the res to produce a bunch of bubbles.

Since I put up the white paper, the case temp has dropped from the mid 80s down to 76F.

I'll post some pics in a few.

To my knowledge, Techna Flora is not organic unless I've missed some fine print on their website.

 

[PlayLoud]

Well...we have a problem.

The roots have gone from a light brown to a dark brown in a matter of 8 hours.
So Grumpy, it looks like you are dead on with the root rot. There's no smell as of now but the res is looking somewhat dirty and I'm wondering if I should change it.

Well, I suppose I probably ought to take the paper down due to the fire hazard. You're right about that...

Looks like I have some maintenance to do.

 

[drabSTAB]

I'll be keeping an eye on this grow, thinking of setting up my own PC case. Did you buy yours pre-assembled or did you DIY? And are you using a power adapter for super stealth?

 

[PlayLoud]

drabSTAB,

I bought it professionally built. PM me for info if you are interested.

Yes, it has the power adapter. It is the best case setup for the price I've seen. Super stealth and great post-buy support.

 

[GrumpyGrower]

Ack, i'm really sorry but that looks a lot like root rot. You should do some research on your nutes tho, and see if discoloration is common, and also if they are chemical or organic.

Root rot has become a generic term for lots of specific root problems. Root rot has a smell ranging from earthy moss to old sneakers to a putrid death. When you run a DWC you have to be careful to be sure that what you are seeing isn't brown slime algae. It's much less common but looks very similar. Brown slime algae can make energy via photosynthesis or chemical conversion, in other words it doesn't need light. If you treat the water with an enzyme to kill/displace rot you could actually end up feeding the algae. That is why some ppl with root rot will say an enzyme based product saved their plants, and others will say that it killed them.

You should change the water right away and keep it cool and oxygenated. Some people use ice packs in the water. If you do, I recommend you use an old water bottle (the kind without a glued on label) and drop a few fishing sinkers or marbles into it to give it weight, and tie a string to it to keep it from floating into the roots. If your nutes are not organic based, then you can add h2o2, which will help kill the nasties as well as elevate oxygen levels. I have actually let the roots dangle out of the water and sprayed h2o2 (3%) directly onto them.

The best fix I found was a product called Dutch Masters root zone conditioner. This is a sterilizing agent that wont harm your plants, but will keep your water fresh and clean. This is effective on both classic root rot and brown slime algae. It really works great. Of course you should do some research and determine if your nutes are compatible with a sterilization. If they are, you can run root zone in your rez non-stop. If they are organic, youll probably want to flush with root zone for a day and then try adding the nutes back in.

There is no reason to think your plants can't be saved. Act quickly and you will be just fine. Good luck!

 

[GrumpyGrower]

Just to give you some hope, this is what my roots looked like a few weeks ago, just before I added the root zone

And this is four days after adding root zone,

 

[drabSTAB]

drabSTAB,

I bought it professionally built. PM me for info if you are interested.

Yes, it has the power adapter. It is the best case setup for the price I've seen. Super stealth and great post-buy support.

Yeah I've been looking at them but most seem to be in the $200 range, too pricey for me right now. Plus I get an extra kick out of DIY, call me crazy! I'm really interested in building my own, but obviously I'd like it to be super stealth. How's the smell and are you doing anything extra to combat it?

EDIT: Just realized I'll have to wait a few months for that answer!

 

[PlayLoud]

Well okay. I hope the crisis is averted.

TechnaFlora is organic, so here's what I did. Flushed the res and cleaned it real well. Added 3% H202 to the res and did not add nutes since TF is organic. I sprayed the roots down with straight 3% H202 and it immediately started eating away the garbage.

I'm convinced that the high temps I experienced before the modification of taking the foil off caused this to happen. Fortunately I have the case temps down in range now and I hope the girls will rebound. If not, lesson learned.

I will def. look into the Dutch Masters Root Zone, even if just a standalone flush every other reservoir change or what not.

drabSTAB,

Yeah, I'm about to build my own veg box so I can keep harvest times down if my yields for my personal consumption are low. If I can space it out where I don't have to grow year round, that's my goal so when I build my veg box, I'll post pics & methods. It's not difficult, especially if you're decent at wiring. Fan placement is absolutely essential. I'm thinking of later on down the road putting an LED in the case for the reduced heat, increased harvests and reduced power consumption.

I'm using ONA pro gel. I just put a little in a solo cup with holes poked in it, a small bit of the ONA gel at the bottom and it does the rest. ONA is super strong and it does exactly what it says: Odor. Gone. You have to be careful with it because too much will become way too strong.

 

[PlayLoud]

OK, update.

Well the good news is the girls made it through the night, although not without some damage. The roots look 50% better than yesterday and there's new growth on the roots that wasn't there yesterday and they're nice & white.
However, the plants look a little stressed. I have a couple of leaves curling a bit, but others on the same plant that are fine. I'm still getting new growth out of the top, etc. but this concerns me.

Right now, I'm still running the res with the H202 and water mix but was planning on cleaning the res tonight and recharging with my 50% nute solution. I'm wondering if the shock of going from a nute solution in the res to straight H202 and water mixed caused some issues.

Any suggestions on when I should introduce the nute solution again?

I'm going to my local hydro store this weekend and getting the Dutch Masters root zone.

here are the pics..I'm sure hoping the girls are going to make it. They look tired and a little less perky than yesterday.

Notice the yellowing of the fan leaves...I'm assuming nute deficiency?

A little yellow for my liking

Still a little brown, but definitely going away and new roots are springing out that weren't there yesterday.

Any thoughts?