White Russian - First Deep Water Culture Grow

[Rocknrolla]

Hey guys,

Last was on here in early June... and since then I've been extremely busy with all sorts of aspects of life. Anyways, the start of my first grow has finally begun. Throughout this thread I hope to show some methods that worked for me, though for the most part I'm entirely following Roseman's tutorial (thanks!) but thought additional insights into my personal dilemmas that have already arisen may help other bubbleheads.

I first started by ordering parts individually (but collectively shipped), as I wanted to take a complete hands on approach and learn the art of growing some nice bud (which in this case will supply a green card holder). While most of my stuff was bought from stealthhydro, I purchased a different reservoir container that is sold (sadly) at Walmart and is within 0.5-1" in dimensions (W,L,H) of the same tub on their site. The reason I liked this reservior is the holes were already drilled on either side of the handles and was perfect for 1/4" tubing from my two air stones to pass through.

Pre-cut airstone 1/4" tubing holes:

1/2" tubing connecting pump and Dig splitter that was bent so I took a empty pen casing cut it down to size and zip tied it to the pump/tubing to stabilize/keep a constant flow:

Finally the seeds! Got them from the attitude/ are serious seeds:

Within 24-48hrs I should be able to begin posting photos of what the setup looks like and how the plants are doing. Already I made a rookie mistake and accidently left the lights on for the first 24hrs after putting the seeds directly into the pre-soaked Ph'ed rockwool, hydrotron (spelling?) rocks, and airstones. I have turned the lights off in hopes they will still be alright. Water temp is room temp, Ph = 6.0, room temp = 75-80F. Please let me know if you think my seeds will still sprout... I have spares if I killed them, but really hope I didnt.

Again look forward to this first grow and will post pictures soon of the rest of the setup. I'm trying to do it as organic and pesticide free though I couldn't pass up the home defense killer; don't need ants, mites, or spiders lol

 

[Lost Forever]

Good luck with your grow! There is always a lot of learning with the first grow. (I am in the middle of my first grow) I look forward to seeing your progression.

The one thing I would think is that you would want your temp to be about 65-70. I don't think the res water should get above the low 70s, 65-70 would be better. It can cause a lot of problems with bacteria growth and root rot. You could do a res chiller or just air condition the room you are growing in.

 

[Green007]

to 420!

Lost Forever is correct. Air Temp 75°-85° is OK, but get your res temps down to 68° optimally. Res temps over 72° opens you up to root rot. Obviously not a problem yet, but get it figured out now. Raise the res off the floor with 2x4's for example and have a fan blow under it.

I think you will be OK with the seeds, don't sweat it. Did you soak them until they sank first? This seems to help them crack sooner. Also, like many others do, soak till they sink then use the paper towel method until you have about 1/4" long tap root, then put them in the rockwool root down and cover the hole so the seed is just barely covered. (some don't like this method because it is easy to damage the tap root, use tweasers on the seed shell and be very gentle) After thought at this point, but hey, many different methods seem to work. Again I think you'll be OK.

 

[Rocknrolla]

Thanks for the input guys!

Just checked on the plants, 3 have sprouted and I'm waiting for the other 3 to hopefully germinate and take root. I'm hoping within the next 24hrs that the rest will germinate and grow, if not I'll have to substitute some others seeds I have. The reservoir has been in the dark for probably 36hrs water temp = 65ish room temp = 70-75 and Ph is still around 6.0, have a fan running on low to provide a nice breeze.

Any other input is greatly appreciated, hope to get this thing going and spam you all with bud porn lol

 

[Green007]

You are on your way brother!

 

[scaredeecat]

great start bra

 

[Rocknrolla]

EDIT: Disregard my post if you previously read it...

5 of the 6 seeds have sprouted! Since it has been a little over 48hrs in darkness I turned on 2 of my 65 (Dual Spectrum 65 High - Vegetative) lights, and in a few hours will have my other 2 65 (Dual Spectrum 65 High - Flowering) lights going too.

A pic of some of them sprouting, hopefully the last one does too!

I'm using leftover mylar as covers for the plants to reduce root rot and hopefully reflect light to the under leaves as they grow.

Here's my wiring, thermometer, and air pump hanging up:

 

[dirwin85]

beautiful sight when they first peek their little heads out of the rock wool

 

[Berry Knot]

Off to a good start, They will be buds before you know it.

 

[Rocknrolla]

Just 5-6 days after first poking through and all of them have germinated 100%! Sadly one grew upside down... lol I had to take it out with tweezers and gently insert right side up, you can see the front left one is having issues since then, but I continue to pray for its speedy recovery. The back right and back left one seems to be a runt, but the middle and front right are doing fantastic.

Ph is around 6.0, Room temp = 78F, Humidity = 46, Reservoir = 60-65F

I'm hoping this weekend after closer to 10 days in to do the first res. change and begin adding very small portions of nutrients. I have chosen botanicare's organic line, as I'm trying to be as natural and organic as possible (though achieving that 100% successfully is impossible so its more like 85-90% organic).

 

[Green007]

Good Job! +reps

 

[Rocknrolla]

Well guys, sadly the one that grew upside down went through too much shock, so I've replaced it with a northern lights seed that is already just popping through the rockwool.

PH = 5.8ish, Room Temp = 80F, Reservoir Temp = 60-65F, Humidity = 55

On 9/14 I introduced them to their first batch of nutes, and they love it! Planning a res. change this Sunday. Please let me know what you think or if you have any advice.

 

[Green007]

They look great!

A lot of people fight a hot res when starting. Not you, well done. But don't let it fall below 60°F, everything I've read says it will stunt growth. Never had to find out personally, my res stays in the 69°F range.

If you just feed those babies 3 days ago and they perked up and they still look that good or better come res change day, keep em at the same nutes or bump it just a little. They still only have 2 sets of full leaves in those pictures and should only be getting 1/8 dose of nutes now. 1/4 if they really like it. But its always better to give less and add more in a few days than to over do it. But don't panic if you do, as soon as you notice, dump your res, flush, and refill with straight ph'd water and see how it goes before adding more nutes in.
Read this: 8 Step Recovery

Agent Green

 

[Rocknrolla]

Thanks Green007 for your help I read the 8 step recovery and it's already helped me out tons. I accidently ran into an algea bloom literally the day of my first scheduled res change. Luckily it was only around for 16hrs max so I feel I avoided disaster reading that tut and performing a full clean res. change.

Anyways, did my first res. change 9/19 and going off of the Botanicare Hydro Garden Formula PDF (found via Google) added my Week 1 dose of nutes as so far I've done 1 week clean, 1 week Clone/Seedlings feeding, and now the current Week 1 (3rd week in) recommended dose. I added based on all the lower recommendations so as to avoid root burn and overfeeding related problems.

Here are my roots:

Here are my plants:

Few Questions:
1) The back right corner one is a runt and still doesn't seem to be growing or sprouting roots, is this normal?
2) The front left is a baby northern light (only non white russian) and seems to be doing great, is this because the nutes are ok?
3) I ask this because, the 4 bushier ones seem to show signs of leaf burning/a cripsy orange brown color, is this normal? (I raised the lights 1 inch since and total = 4" from plants)

Just looking for advice, and thanks for all the help!

Edit: Temp = 75F, Res = 65F, Humidity = 50, Ph = 6.25

 

[Rocknrolla]

I'm really confused, hope this bump gets some help.

My pH is 6.5, res temp 66F, room temp 76F, and humidity is 50...

I've used 3 teaspoons Pro Grow (botanicare), 2 teaspoons liquid karma, and 1 teaspoon cal mag (for 6 gallons of water) on 9/20 and they still look like the above... I read the 8 step recovery method and will be performing that shortly but want to know specifically what the problem is, because I've been as clean as possible and stuck to a regime but they seem like they're hurting.

Please note the runt still hasn't sprouted roots, but all other plants including the only healthy looking one (northern lights) have sprouted roots. Color is white and/or beige.

 

[Rocknrolla]

Did a full res change, gave the ladies an air bath, filtered the rockwool with ph'ed water, cleaned the air pump, replaced the 1/4" tubing from the manifold to the grow cups, and gave the runt 2 pipes while the rest of the plants will now live off the oxygen (2 airstones) and water since their roots already are fully submerged.

Main Point - Believe I did have slight nute burn and had the lights too close. I'm going to be doing res changes twice a week at this point, and will continue to monitor their progress. Aside from the slight case of nutrient lockout they seem to be rebounding will post pics in 48hrs to note progress.

 

[funnystyle]

hmm glad to see youre following those steps, im sure theyll be lushin in no time... do they really need all those nutes right now?

 

[Kotton Mouthe]

Rocknrolla, Just found you and got up to speed on everything u have done so far. Now, I am no expert on growing or hydroponics, but I am on my first grow 9 week in. I would have to say that your thinking of Nutes burn would be correct. I would agree with funny style on this one, do u really need all those nutes right now? You should take it one at time, again I am not expert, but sounds a lil overkill all at once on such sized plants. Other than that man you are going to be a fun one to watch. Hope you don't mind I brought my chair for this grow. Are you planning on doing any LST, FIM or suppercropping? they hall help improve overall yield from what I have heard, seen on this site, and read. I am lil medicated now, so don't remember if you told us what kind of lights u are running... Keep up the hard work, and it will pay off in the end.

 

[Rocknrolla]

Yeah, I'm extremely new to nutes and thought what I was giving them was small when really it was too much. They've already shown more growth, and are perking straight back up. Finally understanding the nutes now haha.

As a recap, I was going for an all white russian grow, but now it is 5 white russians and a northern lights (all feminized). I'm going for organic as possible so chose botanicare nutes. I've never heard of LST, FIM or suppercropping, but I'll look into it, unless you have some links. I'm using 65 watt CFL's (2 - 2700k, 2 - 6500k), a humidifer, couple fans, and have mylar hung in the closet. If you've seen rosemans tut, thats what I've chosen for my closet grow.

Thanks for the pointers and advice! I'll post pictures when they've gotten bushier and show more height.

 

[Rocknrolla]

The ladies are doing great: