1Fox's 400W HPS & 250W MH & 390W CFL - DWC - First Grow!

[1Fox]

First off, let me start by saying that I have grown once before about 5-6 years ago in a tiny cabinet. I didn't know too much about what i was doing, and home growing was still in it's infancy (as compared to today). I used bagseed that had no real potential....

Fast forward to now, I finally took on a challenge to try hydroponics for the first time. I went with DWC as per recommendation by a friend that grows with years experience..... Everything I have done is on a tight budget, so I don't have any top of the line equipment.....

This is my setup:
Strain: Grapegod (Grapefruit x God Bud) from soil clones, to my hydro setup.
Apparently this strain has two phenotypes, lime green and then a deep purple at the end til harvest. I am super excited to see this, but I could have a variation so I guess we'll have to see... Estimated flower time is 60-70 days.
5x DWC 5g buckets, arranged in a circle around the lights, top feed drip, bubbler stones in every res.
18g Reservoir (system holds about 19 gallons)
6x 65watt (actual power usage) Spiral CFL's (Daylight) with home made reflectors
1x 400w HPS in a DIY cool tube (hung vertically)
1x 250 Metal Halide in open gullwing reflector

I am using General Hydroponics nutrients using the Lucas Formula @ 0-8-16 (mL's) (started on 0-5-10)

The clones were about a foot tall when I started. I had 6 total, so 5 went into the buckets, while the bushiest of the bunch went into a pot with 1 part each of Peat Moss, Vermiculite, and Perlite to be a mother for clones.

I haven't decided when I want to throw the switch to 12/12, I had super cropped the plants heavily because when I got them, they were bushy and had at least 2 tall off shoots. I bent the tall shoots opposite of each other, and they have since knuckled up and healed perfectly since then. The stems are pretty beefy now as a result of super cropping, which is exactly what I wanted; A short bushy plant. My ceiling height is very low, I have to work in the room on my knees or in a chair. I need to conserve space, yet I want to maximize yield.

Since this is an indica dominant strain, I don't expect it to stretch 2/3 like sativas do. I figure I should grow it out and train it low as the grow. I will veg for at least another week (this is currently the 3rd week) depending on size. In the meantime my next purchase will be a small grow tent to house my cloning bucket and mother plant, all before making the switch.

I will post back with additional info as time allows.... Stay tuned....

 

[1Fox]

This is what everyone likes, PICTURES.

This is one of my 65w bulbs. I made a reflector from some polished stainless steel.

The overall setup.

Here you see the 250w MH with the vertical 400w HPS in a pyrex tube.

 

[1Fox]

re: 1Fox's 400W HPS & 250W MH & 390W CFL - DWC - First Grow!

I started out with the basic GH 3-part formula on a 1/4 dose with soil clones in solo cups. I have been doing a TON of reading, and had come across the Lucas formula. I opted to give it a shot due to it's simplicity, and that fact that it is specifically tuned for cannabis.

I started out by doing a flush of the original 1/4 dose nutes I started with. I drained the res and refilled it on a 0-5-10 dose. The plants seemed semi-stunted for a couple days, then I noticed some growth spurts. Three of the plants took off and exploded in growth. I noticed how much wider the leaves became, in what seemed like an overnight transformation. The plants looked great, my PPM's were around 700 @ .5x (also counting my 100ppm well water). I decided I might be able to run my PPM's a little higher based on what the plants were telling me. The roots were showing in 4 of 5 of the buckets, so I knew growth and nute uptake would surely be at it's max.

I mixed up an 0-8-16 batch @ 5.8pH, but it wasn't until two days later that I realized I mixed the batch opposite! I put too much Micro nutes and not enough Bloom.....dammit!!! I checked my PPM's and they had dropped by about 200ppm so I know the plants were eating, but I also noticed they were drinking a lot of water. I said fuck it, I'm leaving it and see what they do.....

I am still on that batch of improperly mixed nutes, but I have since added the difference in Bloom formula, while I am still quite a bit over on the Micro.... The Micro contains a lot of Nitrogen so I figured it couldn't hurt too much, and it doesn't seem like it is. The plants are showing growth every day, but it seemed to have slowed, maybe due to nute shock, or maybe it's just a placebo effect going on in my mind.....

Either way, things are looking great, and that makes me happy.

 

[KingJohnC]

Subscribed. Can you please take some photographs of your plans? I would either use a waterproof tarp or a pond liner to minimize the possibility of spilling liquids into the carpet. Carpets can hold mold spores and humidity that they may release into the grow area.

 

[1Fox]

It's been a little while since my last update, but things have been going well. Since then I have added a small 4'x2'x4' grow tent for my mothers and clones. I lost one plant that suddenly wilted one day and never recovered, I tried to take as many clones as I could from it to save it. The clones are doing well but no roots yet. I just built an aerocloner a few days ago so I am expecting roots within a week. 4 clones already have roots.

KingJohnC, good idea. I did have a spill once which stained the carpet, but it's not so much a problem as it was a mistake.

You can see how much the growth has exploded. I noticed some fungus gnats around the netpots but they were very scarce. I put out sticky traps to try to catch them, treated with H2O2 and did a water change with new nutes and pH balanced water. The plants haven't been eating much over the last 2 weeks, but they are growing and drinking. I suspect that the gnats may have killed the wilting plant which affected the system as a whole. Things are looking up right now though so I try not to interfere with tough love and let them stabilize.

Everything looks healthy, I'd just like to clear up the bug problem before I switch to flower. I also supercropped again a few days ago so I want them to heal up and recover first.

Look how dense and bushy the growth is. They were very bushy to begin with when I started. I supercropped the shit out of them and the result is these nice dense bushy plants. Flowering should be interesting. I can't wait.

 

[KingJohnC]

I have a much different understanding of defoliation applied at the proper time line to enhance vegetative growth and flowering. You can see examples of how I defoliate and train my plants in my Grow Journals and Reviews. I would defoliate in vegetative growth 10-14 days before flowering to remove excess fan leaves and open more light to branches and nodes that become bud sites and colas. I defoliate in vegetative growth by removing any fan leaves that are excessively shading the branches and nodes to encourage the nodes to grow larger and produce more colas. I use Low Stress Training to tie the branches of my plants to the outer edge of the rim of the pots and each branch becomes its own bud site and cola. When I defoliate in preparation for flower I leave no more then 4 fan leaves at each growing top and remove the majority of the fan leaves, any fan leaf that shades a top and lower growth, this is a perfect time to select cuttings to root as clones from the plants you are about to place into flower. I defoliate in flower at days 21-25 of flower when the stretch phase has ended by removing lower growth that will not produce anything except for popcorn bud and any fan leaf that shades a bud site and again if required at day 45.

KingJohnC's 400 Watt LA Confidential Seed Cabinet Soil Indoor Grow Journal

KingJohnC's Brainstorm Haze Soil Indoor Grow Journal

KingJohnC's Lush Lighting LED Dominator 2x Soil Indoor Grow Journal & Review

KingJohnC's Lush Lighting LED Lumenator 2x Black Widow Grow Journal & Review


There is a good example of how I defoliate in this Grow Journal and Review

KingJohnC's Twilight Groups LED 432W Spider COB Seed Cabinet Grow Journal & Review

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Is this grow still alive?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read our Photo Gallery Tutorial.

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.