Vapoholic's Skunk 2016 - First Grow

[vapoholic]

Hi all,

so let's see if I can get this started.
I germinated last weekend already and in all honesty I didn't think of a journal. I was so caught up in reading, calculating, measuring, building etc

First of all, I hope it's ok to write with metric measurements. I just know that I will screw up the conversion sooner or later with all the numbers and you'll go "wtf, it's 200 feet?!?!?1"?
Also, the iPhone has serious issues with the LED. I will try to use a halogen to light up with when I take further photos, so I don't have to turn off the LED every time.

I got 4 skunk plants, 35 % sativa, 65% Indica.

Equipment:

SilverBox DR v3. I built a support for this with legs (see picture), so I can fit a box on wheels below. Very handy and allows you to keep all stuff in one place and in order.
Exhaust fan attached to top exhaust.
DormGrow G8 240W.
DromGrow G8 90W flowering ufo.
Atami Wilma large 4 with 11L pots, modded so roots have plenty of holes/room to go into the tank.
Air pump with two air pipes (don't know what they are called, they are 45cm, made of a soft material with a lot of very small holes in them, distributing the air very nicely in the tank).
1 small fan.
1 larger fan.
Timers and fan controllers.
Temp/RH meter.
EC/pH meters.

I opted for Advanced Nutrients. Some might think they are overpriced or even overkill/bloated, but in general they seemed like a safe bet.
I also preemptively got stuff against spider mites, fungus, larvae and general parasites (neem oil for a broad spectrum basically, specific stuff for the spider mites and fungus).

I started out in Eazy Plugs, which worked very well. After about 6 days however I noticed that the leaves were curling down so I tried to dry out the plugs almost completely and then soak them. It worked like a charm and the plants sent me a thank you card. Was cute and all, with small joints dancing around saying thank you.

I kept the plants in a small germinator all the time, until the 6th day when I decided to dry out the plugs. After that it didn't seem to be needed any longer.

The pictures are from day 9. I planted them into the clay pebbles today (Gold Label Hydro).

I started soaking the pebbles on Sunday in pH 5.5 water. Even after several rinses I still have some red in the water, but I opted to go for it anyway. I think some is actually also released when you rinse and scrub the pebbles against each other.
To facilitate soaking I got one large 60L barrel and one small bucket for rinsing, which I drilled holes into in the bottom.

I now have 50L of water solution in the Wilma with
50ml Grow A
50ml Grow B
30ml Voodoo juice
30ml B-52

It gives me an EC of just around 1, which would seem appropriate for this stage.
I have adjusted the pH to 5.8, down from over 7 (tap water).

Temperature in the tent is about 25C with 50% RH.

I actually got a small inverse osmosis apparatus, but I then noticed that my tap water had quite a low EC already and I didn't want to fiddle with actually adding minerals etc. because of the osmosis.
I therefore decided to go with the tap water this time.

The pots are modded with 2 hooks/rings fastened on each side. I plan to use these for mainlining. I bought the "padded" steel wire to use to mainline and this will be fastened in those rings.
When the plants grow taller I will put in a scrog net instead of tomato rings (which I am not that fond of).
I believe a net should be able to accomplish the same thing basically, I just have to attach all the 8 colas per plant evenly.
I will, as mentioned, mainline so I get 8 colas per plant, it seems appropriate for the space and to start with.

Mainlining might not be a starter method, but I am very methodical and have an engineering mind set, so I think I can make it work. I'll just be very careful and meticulous

I am currently watering manually, I am not really sure what schedule to pick yet, seems like the opinions vary a lot on this subject.

Now when the lights are off only 6h I was thinking of having the water off during that whole time and just water right before lights are turned off?

So basically:

06:00 Lights on
06:00 15min
09:45 15min
13:30 15min
17:15 15min
21:00 15min
23:45 15min
00:00 Lights off

 

[TanR]

Hi vapoholic,

Great looking set up and since I have not previously had the opportunity, Welcome to 420 Magazine and community of folks that gathers here!

Great instinct on letting the Eazy Plugs dry out a bit when the plants showed signs of distress. And what great manners they showed in sending the thank you card.

Speaking of instincts, as this is your first grow, do you have gardening (indoor or out) experience? I ask as I'm curious how one individual might "just know" what to do or at least a first step worthy of trying, when we see so many new growers posting questions about what are often concerns that might be resolved using a little life experience or plain common sense. Might you credit any of the reading done prior to starting your grow?

Looking forward to following along with your endeavor. I suspect you will enjoy the journey and reward for your efforts when complete, and I know you will find plenty of support from the other members following along as well.

Be well and happy growing!

 

[vapoholic]

Thank you for the warm welcome

I would like to think of myself as someone with a fair amount of common sense, so that probably helps in general, but most of the knowledge for this I have read up on. I spent many evenings reading up on forums and guides.
There's so much to read basically, so at one point you just have to go for it

But yeah, I feel like the basics are there at least, so I am looking forward to whatever this grow might bring in terms of curve balls and experiences.

 

[Stinky Snid]

Pretty fancy setup, far too advanced for me. But I love to learn so I'll sub up for this journal. Glad you decided to attack this grow with reinforcements. Hope we can be of service at some point. Good luck and..

KiG cheers

 

[vapoholic]

Uh oh, my tank water is basically milky white at this point. I think this is simple blooming since it happened so fast, I've had it in my aquariums.
I don't think it's root rot, but I'm going to try a little H2O2 and then Hydroguard.

Also, my pH is going crazy (up), but it might be excessive aeration in addition to the blooming since I'm getting a bit of foam on the water as well (which I recognize from the aquariums), I have turned the air pump off for a while to see how that works.

Worst case I'll probably just start from scratch using R/O and cleaning everything with bleach (if I can find a "natural" bleach without added soap etc).

 

[vapoholic]

Actually before doing anything drastic such as redoing everything, i will try once with a full tank of R/O water as well.
If its a simple bloom it should go away.

 

[TanR]

Wow vapo, really sorry to hear about the challange with your resevoir. I hope that turns out to be an easily fixable issue.

I realize your running LED lighting which doesn't usually introduce temperature issues, and I'm having difficulty in determining from the photos and desription, but is your resevoir inside the tent? The containers actually sit on top of the res. - correct? If so, I'm wondering if appearance of a bloom might be exacerbated by the temp of the water/nutes inside? I'm don't grow hydro, but have read quite a few journals and it seems as though water temps in the resevoir is a bit of a challenge for most who do.

Be well and happy growing.

 

[vapoholic]

When summer comes, I will inevitably have 24C-25C indoors, with air conditioner running (30C+ outside) and I can't bring myself to buy a chiller for this first grow, maybe next year.
I will try to keep the water aerated as much as possible and I even got a small UVC sterilizing pump in case there are issues with algae and other nasties.

The reservoir is inside, the tent is covering all sides, so you cannot have that outside.

For now I think I will simply empty it tomorrow, wash everything properly, flush the pots with R/O water and fill the tank with R/O water.
I realize that the inconsistent pH I'm having is also due to the tap water (it's hard water as well, which doesn't help) and even if I get the bloom to go away I can't keep adding so much pH- as I do now all the time.

I'll keep you posted

 

[vapoholic]

The plants seem ok so far however. I'm talking to them in a calm and reassuring voice, so hopefully we'll get through this

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Ah a journal & a fine choice indeed

Foam on the water that might be a nutrient issue whether it is organic based as these may cause foam or a slick on water surface & may well clog up pipes, pumps over time etc.

If not !

Might be the air stones/pump, pumping a large volume of air in the water to cause it to foam up... some air pumps have dials to adjust the air flow tho.


Not overly worried about root rot tho with the wilma which is drip feed system with inert growing mediums most of the time, but temp of res is more of an issue with DWC or true water based type of set ups where the roots are based in the water/nutrient solution.



PH swing ah depends on how large the difference is ?

Most nutrients will work with in a given range so you don't have to be so precise all the time which some come in chelated form mainly micro nutrients which means the can work on larger range of PH...

 

[vapoholic]

Yeah the pH swings have been quite radical. From like 5.5 to 6.5 in not even half a day. At the moment I'm having a rather hard time judging what it is, if it's the bloom/bacteria, or the water etc.

I have a R/O system, so I guess I can very well use it. I just have to add some cal/mag I think. At least then I can be sure the water is ok and I probably don't have to use so much pH adjuster either.

 

[vapoholic]

I have very hard water, but since the ppm seemed to be within acceptable margin I thought I would give it a go.
I think in general I will probably do myself a favor by starting to use the R/O. It should at the very least promote easier control the values of the water.

 

[TanR]

I completely understand not investing in a chiller for your first grow. I remember after I finished purchasing most of the major needed items for my first grow thinking it had become more expensive than initially anticipated.

I've seen others rotate frozen water bottles once or twice a day in the resevoir to avoid purchase of a chiller. Might be an option worth considering?

 

[vapoholic]

Yeah ice bottles might me a cheap solution. I'll see what kind of temp the reservoir will land on.

 

[vapoholic]

Alright, so the h2o2 didn't arrive as planned yesterday, so I've watered the plants manually, with a freshly mixed solution instead of the white goo in the Wilma. They seem content so far.

I have now started the R/O system and I should have all water needed this evening. I have drained all the old water from the Wilma and I am going to clean it thoroughly before adding new water.

Unfortunately I don't have any cal-mag yet, but I'll try to keep the ppm up with the other nutrients. It should arrive Tuesday.

If I still manage to get a bloom i am simply going to try with the h2o2 and also a UV sterilizer pump I got. Hopefully the R/O water should work out however.

 

[vapoholic]

Note to self: If you don't secure the filtered output tube to the reservoir it will pop out and water your floor instead.

 

[vapoholic]

Alright... Everything cleaned, R/O water in the reservoir, nutrients added. pH for now stable at 5.9.
Plants seem to be happy

Now on day 14:

 

[vapoholic]

Switched to timer on the watering.

I am going to try keeping it off during the 6h lights off (00:00-06:00). I start at 06:00 for 15m and then with 3h18m intervals, which results in the last feed being at 23:45.

 

[vapoholic]

Errr, I just discovered I bought non food grade h2o2, containing phenacetin, which is known to cause cancer.
Yeah, I won't be putting that anywhere...

 

[vapoholic]

Last night I added two air stones in the reservoir and this morning I had a pH of 6.6.

I know this is a hot topic even with aquariums, but it depends a lot on the source water. Some don't get any change at all.
It seems to stabilize after a while though, so I'll just aerate my R/O water next time for 24h before putting it into the reservoir, before adding nutes. The nutes should be able to buffer the pH after aerating.