Dr. Hydro's White Widow - Shark Shock 400W Hydro Grow - Fall 2011

[drhydro32]

After a tragic mishap with nosy neighbors and human error, I'm attempting my 2nd grow with Shark Shock(aka Great White: Hybrid of White Widow x Skunk #1) from Mr. Nice Seeds and Feminized White Widow. I'm hoping this journal will help pass the time and keep track of dates.

I've got a homemade top feed system setup with a 22-gallon reservoir feeding into net pots. I've been studying this for years now, but it's impossible to know everything about growing so any feedback is greatly appreciated.

I've posted pictures of my last (failed) grow op, and today I've started the germination process of the Great White and White Widow (picture included).

A breakdown of my setup:
Containers: 5-Gallon buckets w/ 10-inch net pots inside
Medium: - 1in. Rockwool cubes for Germination
- Hydroton Expanded Clay Pellets in net pots
Lights: -(2) 60 Watt Fluorescent for Germination
-400 Watt HPS/HID Cooltube
Strains: White Widow (Feminized-Sativa) and Great White (Predominately Sativa).
# of plants: 4
Nutrients: Gen. Hydro. Flora Series (Flora Micro, Flora Grow, and Flora Bloom)

Room:
I'm growing in a 2' x 4' Grow Tent in a walk-in closet that's about 5' x 7'. It can get pretty hot in there from the lamp(upwards of 84 degrees), but I just installed a fan/ducts to the Cooltube to try to keep the temperature between 70-75 degrees(Fahrenheit). The humidity is usually b/t 40-60%. I'm considering adding an Air Conditioner and CO2 generator at some point.

Water:
For my last grow I used the amount of nutrients that General Hydro suggests with no problems. I keep the water at about 5.5 pH. Also, I pre-soak the Rockwool for about 10 hours in 5 pH nutrient solution to bring down the high pH of the Rockwool cubes.

Pictures:

This is my first grow attempt. I got about 7 weeks in before I had to get rid of them for outside reasons. I'm using the same setup this time, just a different location.

These are the seeds I just started germinating today. Great White and White Widow.

I'll be updating this pretty often. Stay lifted.

 

[drhydro32]

Re: Dr. Hydro's White Widow/Shark Shock 400w Hydro Grow- Fall 2011

A bit of an explanation on how my system works:

I've got two pumps in the reservoir (264gph and 185gph). One pumps the water from the reservoir to the drip stakes in each pot. Along the bottom of the tent there's a PVC pipe connected to tubing from the bottom of the buckets so that as they fill up, water is pumped back to the reservoir via the second pump. I prevent back-flow with a check valve right outside the reservoir connected to the PVC (I'll add pictures later today). I honestly wouldn't recommend this EXACT setup to anyone just because of the time/work/money I had to put in to putting it together (I'm on a college student budget lol); but it's efficient and low-maintenance, which fits the setting I have to work with. It took me what seems like forever to find the necessary parts and answers for this setup so finally getting it right feels sooo good.
I may post a price list later on to sum up the cost of this whole operation.

I know this is pretty in-depth, but I would have liked this kind of information before I started so hopefully someone else can benefit from it.

Stay Lifted

 

[drhydro32]

Re: Dr. Hydro's White Widow/Shark Shock 400w Hydro Grow - Fall 2011

The girls have been moved to 1" Rockwool cubes and they're doing great. Also I decided to add two more seeds to the mix. Thunder Bloody Mary and Holy Grail 69 both from Samsara Seeds. They're all slowly emerging from the hole in the rockwool and one of the Great White's has grown its cotyledon leaves and a couple true leaves.

White Widow seedlings:

Holy Grail 69 seedling:

Thunder Bloody Mary seedling:

Great White seedling:

 

[drhydro32]

Re: Dr. Hydro's White Widow/Shark Shock 400w Hydro Grow - Fall 2011

Right now they're under 2- 60 watt compact flourescent bulbs

 

[drhydro32]

Re: Dr. Hydro's White Widow/Shark Shock 400w Hydro Grow - Fall 2011

I've been away for about 3 weeks, but the girls are doing great. The reservoir and pumps are all setup now, so the plants are on timed water schedules, and they require a lot less maintenance. They're setup to water Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 5 minutes every 3 hours. Below are pictures taken 11/14/2011: 3.5 weeks from germination.

I don't understand what's wrong with this WW. It's been growing wonky since it germinated.

 

[drhydro32]

Re: Dr. Hydro's White Widow/Shark Shock 400w Hydro Grow - Fall 2011

Tomorrow I'll be adding more recent pics of the plants at 5 weeks. I had to leave my gals alone for a week so I'll be coming home and seeing how the setup held up on timers.

 

[drhydro32]

Nice Thanksgiving Leap!

While I was gone for Thanksgiving my girls must have eaten as much as I did.

They've got some good growth on them. My Shark Shock(below) are about 5-6in(13-14cm).

Shark Shock #1

Shark Shock #2

One White Widow is doing great at about 5in.

The wonky WW is growing surprisingly well. I just think there was something wrong with how it came out of its seed, so I'm pretty sure it'll grow out of it.

The Thunder Bloody Mary(below) is probably growing the fastest, as I figured it would because I hear it has a pretty short growth period.

Finally the Holy Grail 69 is about 3in tall, coming along well.

They all seem to be in the rapid foliage growth stage. Today I just changed the water and nutrients. The pump system worked amazingly while I was gone so things are much more low maintenance. I'm excited to see what happens in the coming weeks!! Till then....

 

[420GodsTrichome]

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