400W DWC Grow - 4 Sour Grape - 2 Blue Dream

[jjames]

now... heres just after 2nd defoliate, actually more like the first, the first time we just thinned a little... now you can actually see that we are growing in hyrdroton!
phd @ 5.8, PPM is between 1100-1200, they have drank about a half gallon each res...+/-
75-77*/50-60% during light, 65-70*/60% at night, not bad...

 

[jjames]

im switching to flower this sat... if i can manage to drop the RH an raise the temps things should go smooth... yea right, easy to say... have much more studying to do about flower cycle... PH level up a point or two? or down? last week to 3 days run with Ph RO water? harvest just before lights on? lower C02 last 2wks to reduce metabolism?

im sure most of what i listed is wrong, just noting for things to remind myself to study up on.

 

[jjames]

at my hydro store pickin up a HPS bulb, noticed that they had a used 70L/min air pump on the shelf they just got in(one ive had is 20L/min), so the guy let me return mine straight across for the 70L! i hooked it up just now and im going to have no problem adding an additional stone to each res(each will have 2 now)... all done today i paid $30 for my new HPS bulb and upgraded my pump and airstones

 

[Bassman59]

More air is awesome!

5.8ph is great!

did I read right res temps 75-77 day? git that shit down if you can. Bad shit starts growing at 68*. You and your plants will be happy if you get it down to below 68*

Plants look great. Coming along nicely. How tall are they now? 3x that in general to get estimated end height after the flip.

 

[jjames]

Thanks b, the temps were air only, my res temps have been 68* an below. Also noticed res temps have been lower since I defoliated and added the new pump... Going to flip to 12/12 tomoro! Pumpec for that... Finally

 

[GodSpeed]

Hi bro leaves are looking very healthy glad you got things optimum to switch to flower.

I have a feeling you may need somthing to prop the fruits up when they arive...

 

[Bassman59]

ahh ok, go baby go!

 

[jjames]

gs- thank you i think were as ready as well get for the space theyre in. now i just have to figure out how and what optimum environment to keep them at.
and yes we are going to add a screen so they should be supported well...

b- yesss!!

friday night will be the first full 12hrs or dark at which time i will switch to HPS bulb so lights on will be start of 12/12!
im thinking that taking the one hr of light out of friday night will let the flowering hormones start up so by lights on, they can gogogo... anyone have any opposition to this?
then saturday i can flush and theyll have nice fresh clean nutrients to start the cycle out
on a roll...

also going to grab a fly strip, think i have some flys munchin on my leaves! got to get em fast so im gonna try that first. ive also been misting the plants with neem oil every other day 2x/day, maybe ill up it to every day 3x...

 

[Bassman59]

When I was getting ready to start flower Yarddog suggested 36 hrs of dark then 12/12. I guess maybe it forces bloom a little more rapidly. /shrug But hey, I did it and it worked fine.

 

[jjames]

air temp/RH during flower... been reading alot of differing opinions. im adding CO2 so im getting that i should raise the air temp to 80-90*, prob be closer to 85*, then 10* drop at night. also been reading that i can have it the same as what i have now, 75-77*(light), down around 68-70*(night). and i know the RH will have to be lowered considerably(mold reasons), and more air circ will be key as well. RH now is 50-60%(light) and a bit higher at night. ive read to get it as low as possible, my goal is 30% and lower, ive read as low as 15%. but also if in fact its better to raise the temps a little for flower, then lowering the RH will go hand in hand with that so it should be easy...

anyone with some numbers from exp would be great... any input at all is appreciated

i flip fri night so i need to be as ready as i can, lots of time at the cpu in the very near future!

 

[StonedyCreek]

thanks B!

and yessir, check+record O2, RH, H2O, PH, and PPM once just after lights on, then right before lights off... and i check in the middle of the day once or twice just because im off work all day while light is on...

been great tho... O2 65*-68*, RH 60%-62%, H2O 66*, PH 5.8 am... and pm... 75*-77*, 45%-50%, 68*-70*, 5.8(adjust if need now), and PPM now is @ 950

the water temp is only touchin 70* for a few hrs, but i have mylar comin soon that i want to add to the tops of the res in between the plants(as well as the walls)... i will attatch it to the scrog frame im goin to add SOON!!!

you think you could tell me what your using to monitor all these levels? I need a good tester to get on track with my ppm and ph or Im gonna go frigging. nuts. I asked my girl to pick up a tester and she came back with a completely worthless soil tester that you have to drop a capsul in every time (only comes with 8) and its about as specific as.. good , normal, bad. Im assuming you have one of those pen style ones with a digital readout. everything looks sweet dude, sorry to bring any negativity onto your thread.. its getting a little frustrating...

S.C..

 

[jjames]

yea...

PH meter- digital pen
PPM meter- digital pen
digital therm./ RH meter x 2
aquarium therm x 3(one per res)

im almost positive you should be able to get a dig. soil ph meter, if im wrong, im pretty sure you would PH/PPM your solution before you fed your plants, then PH/PPM the runoff?

best thing i could say is get ready to have patience... im about as impatient as it gets so if i can do it, you surely can, and it will pay off. while youre waiting, read read read, learn about everything you can. it will be easier to make decisions based on that to best fit you environment/situation...

dont worry about it, im doin the same thing, learnin as i go... im in new territory myself

 

[Bassman59]

Well said jjames. You're very much like me. keep on learnin. +reps sir.

 

[jjames]

hey b... thanks for the reps brotha! im just tryn to remember when all these new things were converging down on you all at once(not really so far back for me), all of a sudden they know you by first name at the hydro shop and your budget starts to go outside the lines... it is frustrating, but the only thing to calm you down is to learn your way out of it... ok that last part was cheesy but im just sayin

 

[jjames]

one PH meter bites it! went out in the middle of flush today... now in addition to CFLs im plannin on addin, have to buy new one tomoro... but i think im gonna add two 26w CFLs to each side finally, one 2700k an one 6500k... was readin online today that in addition to HPS, a little blue spectrum is still beneficial to flowering...

Oh yeah... at 12/12 now!!!

 

[StonedyCreek]

whats up J, I dont know what happened but somehow a post I left on your thread never made it to print.. anyway I took a page out of your meditation book. Took a couple chill pills and remembered I'm in this for the fun factor with some benefits down the road... I finally said F the maddening search for that tester.. and just ordered it online. I guess I should've ordered one for you too !

I was thinking of adding a few cfl's myself but I'm in no rush since I'm borderline concerned my plants could be going through some heat stress. The new digi temp should help considerably. Thanks for you help bud, looking forward to your next pic update

S.C..

 

[jjames]

crap i know it, im headed to the hydro store in a min... i sent you a PM to a link... yea that could be some heat stress, or if its more of the whole leasf it could be pottsm def, or under or over watering, or nute burn? soo many other factors to add in... good luck...

i have two dig therm., one down in between the plants and one towards the back by the wall, kind of get a cpl diffrnt readings around the room...

plannin on puttin some postflush/first day 12/12 pics up a little later...

 

[Xlr8]

Hi JJames -

Just read through your journal, and you've really done a nice job of turning those gals around. You were right - organics aren't ideal for DWC. Looks like the Blue Planet nutes are working great and you've got some nice looking plants going now.

Not sure if you got all your answers on light, but based on the size of your grow, 400w should be fine, but I think you are wise to kick into flowering now. CFL's could be useful at some point to direct at some of the lower budsites, but you'd probably be better served for now by defoliating at 21 and 45 days and keeping it simple with the 400w. The more light the better, but be careful to be safe with electricity.

PH for both veg and bloom - Generally speaking, set it to 5.5 when mixing your nutes and let it drift up to 6.1 before adjusting back down. This works well most of the time and I've never experienced any problems by doing it this way. 5.8 is the sweet spot, but don't micro-manage that too much, as you could do more harm than good.

RH - For bloom keep below 60% at all times, and shoot for <50%. I'm happy between 40-50%RH in bloom. Make sure you know what it's doing during lights off, which is when a lot of high RH issues really present themselves. Keep a fan circulating in the room, and make sure you are exhausting moist air out as needed. Personally, I think you CAN go too low with RH as the plants will struggle some and stress if it gets too low. My RH is a little low right now, at around 30-35%, and the plants are stressed some from this, (though they are pumping out resin).

+rep for a nice turnaround and a good start to your first grow!

 

[jjames]

Hi JJames -

Just read through your journal, and you've really done a nice job of turning those gals around. You were right - organics aren't ideal for DWC. Looks like the Blue Planet nutes are working great and you've got some nice looking plants going now.

Not sure if you got all your answers on light, but based on the size of your grow, 400w should be fine, but I think you are wise to kick into flowering now. CFL's could be useful at some point to direct at some of the lower budsites, but you'd probably be better served for now by defoliating at 21 and 45 days and keeping it simple with the 400w. The more light the better, but be careful to be safe with electricity.

PH for both veg and bloom - Generally speaking, set it to 5.5 when mixing your nutes and let it drift up to 6.1 before adjusting back down. This works well most of the time and I've never experienced any problems by doing it this way. 5.8 is the sweet spot, but don't micro-manage that too much, as you could do more harm than good.

RH - For bloom keep below 60% at all times, and shoot for <50%. I'm happy between 40-50%RH in bloom. Make sure you know what it's doing during lights off, which is when a lot of high RH issues really present themselves. Keep a fan circulating in the room, and make sure you are exhausting moist air out as needed. Personally, I think you CAN go too low with RH as the plants will struggle some and stress if it gets too low. My RH is a little low right now, at around 30-35%, and the plants are stressed some from this, (though they are pumping out resin).

+rep for a nice turnaround and a good start to your first grow!

x, thanks for all the great advice an reps! yea i got all gungho and went full strngth w/ th organics before really readin at all... im surprised i have living plants, but they are resiliant arent they?

well i took out the humidifier at flip, and RH has been right around 30% since, maybe ill try turnin it on for a few hrs midday and off at night. the temp drops an RH shoots up at night(my dig therm/RH shows high n low so itll show the high @ night). i did have RH up @ 55-65% all thru veg. or maybe mist the leaves a few times a day, im lucky enough to wrk nights so im home all day during lights on... the last two weeks of flwr is important to get low Rh i think i read. supposed to make em frost up a ton... but we will see.

agreed abt the PH, i can usually get it right to 5.8 at flush without too much up n down, and i dont bal like a crazy person, although i still check it twice daily.

i got some mylar to attach to the pvc screen frame so ill see how much that will spread the light. i had to buy a new PH meter this morn so im kinda thin in th budget for extra lights...

im very impressed with Blue Planet Nutrients, theyve been easy to use and producing. ill use em again. ive jumped up the PPM pretty good w/ weekly flush and so far so good...

thanks again for stoppin by an checkin it out, feels good to have ppl with exp agreein with some of whats goin on here...

 

[jjames]

heres some pics from this am... PPM is 1350-1400+/-... thinned out a few fans, but not too many. added new pump an res are ready for another airstone each...
flipped to 12/12 yest!