Growing 3 Akorn/Snowbud GH grow/micro/bloom question

[smitroc]

Hey all, finally have a DWC going and 3 Akorn/Snowbud seedlings showing second sets of leaves.
8 gallon res 2 circular airstones
3 inch net pots hydroton
5.0 pre-soaked rockwool cubes the 1 inchers
PH 5.7-5.8
TDS reading 120-130 .5 conversion
Aquashield
1 ml rapidstart
18/6 L300 Kind led in homebox
77 f at tub top with 38% humidity
Res temps showing 69-70 consistently

I have the GH grow and bloom nutes. I don't have the micro. Will it be a problem to add grow now at the first res change and not put micro in then at the second res change add the micro along with the grow? Concerned about the lockout... Can't believe I forgot to grab the micro bottle, silly of me.
Thanks in advance everyone.

 

[Antics]

I don't see any real issues with it, other than your plant will be growing without the micro nutes, and may, or may not show deficiencies associated with a lack of those nutrients in between now, and the next res change when you add the micro.

I don't believe you'll experience lockout unless you actually have an EXCESS of the nutrients contained within Grow and Bloom. Lockout shouldn't happen with normal levels of them.

 

[Papageno]

In general micro nutes aren't necessary for growth rather necessary for optimal growth. Without some, deficiencies will form but the plant rarely dies. And it takes a "long" time for deficiencies to form which are easy to identify and fix. In Hydro it comes on much faster but if you check regularly you can find it fast. So you are good to go.

Lockout is a totally different thing. As long as you follow the bottles instructions at a lower dose then recommended and monitor your res then you will be fine. You can add your micros when you get them and things will be fine.

I would ask if the roots hit the res yet? I would recommend, for the very beginning at least, to run Elanor's VF-11 as it is a complete nute product. Macro and Micro and it works very well, I have used it myself in DWC. It is dirt cheap and can be found anywhere. You can use the fancy stuff later on but if you give it a chance I found Elanor's worked great for me for veg so far...but I use larger veg lamp. Using VF 11 you can dump every week and not care... but you wont need to.

Best of Luck!!!

edit: If you do try VF11 get some Cal Mag and some Silica/potash additive. You should be adding silica no matter what.

 

[smitroc]

Well I guess may as well have this moved to the journal threads... Got three Akorn/snowbud currently going and just germed three more hopefully they don't cause too much of a problem being a week later on the grow. That's my setup though and Nutes/water additives. I'll update again her soon. And thank you for the help gents with the micro question, much obliged

 

[smitroc]

I've got a smaller home box right next to that one and if I see a hearty mom develop considering throwing her over there in a single 5 gallon pot DWC single airstone and 4-5 cfl 6500k. Clone her and use the six site 3 inch net pots for flowering clones under the led.

 

[smitroc]

 

[smitroc]

Lights about 19" from top... No idea with this led if that's sufficient... But it got the seeds sprouted fairly quickly so I'm guessing we're in the ballpark on that. I've seen lots of posts that this light is cheap and not worth the $$$ and time to use it for a grow but it's what I got so we'll see how it goes. Always taking constructive criticism so fire away if you see something that's different than you'd normally do.

 

[Papageno]

so no nutes before 6 fan leaves...right... you know that?


That looks like 3 feet roughly grow space? That indeed looks like is best suited to quick turn clones.


For sprouting you can use really any light. The sooner you get the best light you can afford on there the better off everything is. It is totally overkill and you can easily bun plants putting them under a HID as a baby...but works. I have no idea if that LED if it will be capable of optimizing your plants genetic capabilities but I doubt it. Your space is limited it would seem to an LED. Get your light as close as possible without burning the plants or messing with air flow.


The instructions on Nute bottles are for optimal conditions... so like lets just say for example their recommended dose of 4mL per L is for a properly controlled enviro running a 1000W HID or roughly comparable LED. Anything less then that and you probably need to lower your nute concentration. You will want to keep that in mind when mixing your res up. I think most people run between 1/8 to 1/2. Also every company making this stuff has charts showing that the concentration is optimally different over the life cycle but bottles only have one dose labeled. There are many charts showing concentration change over the plant cycle posted on the web site of all products. Specifically follow that near the end when the pant is not absorbing like it did in the peak of growth.


Best of luck

 

[smitroc]

Yeah, actually after having read Antics grow journal I moved the LED to the almost top of the tent seeing the damage he had early. Says its a "full" 12 spectrum light so we'll see. I do have a 150w HPS with ballast but no bulb atm and four single bulb cfls with the cans on them I was thinking of using in the smaller tent with a mother if I can keep them alive long enough haha.
I've only added the aquashield, rapid start and ph down in that order to date to the res just haven't got a chance to grab the micro bottle yet. I was thinking its cheaper than the local hydro stores to wait for amazon. Can't believe the mark-ups they do at those places. I did grab the rapidstart from there and it was $10 more than at amazon. One could make a killing just marking up 15-20% ala costco margins and beat these hydro stores around here...
Thanks village i'll keep you updated on my progress. Hope to still be around here and harvesting with everyones help

 

[smitroc]

Also Only 1ml of rapidstart was put into the 8gallon res. was erring on the side of caution with that. Anyone think I should add more? That enough?

 

[Papageno]

I remember when I started my first DWC there was no good sticky on the sprouting phase.

You don't need anything really if you have a sterile environment... which you should. If there are no nutes in the tank then nothing can really grow including bad stuff. If the roots have not gotten to the res and you are not top dripping, then there is no reason to worry about it. All you are doing is getting water transported threw the medium which is not, in any comparison, nute rich. The earliest point to care really is when the roots get exposed to the tank. If you top drip you could argue that it matters earlier but you look not to have top drip. You want them to stretch for the res.

Also honestly until you start adding nutes the pH doesn't really matter so much. It is fine enough to be neutral. Obviously you don't want to be to acidic or basic but pH level is about the nutes ability to absorb. So if you don't have any then whats it matter. If you want to use microbes, especially in the beginning, they like it closer to Neutral. You only need to pH it down when you are going to add nutes. I believe the aqua shield is enzymes (or fungi) which will be good when the roots arrive but are not necessary until the roots arrive.

I'd just run sterile good water until roots are seen AND after you see your third set of leaves. It really depends more on how your environment allows the plants to thrive. Then you can dump the res and clean it and put in a fresh tank with light nutes. If it is a healthy seed it can go far on some light and water alone. Nutes too early or too stiff will make you sad.

 

[420Steve]

Smitroc you should make a journal, i would be interested to see how far you have come and to get help from professional growers doing the exact same as you (like me).