DWC Hydroponic - Indoor - Autoflowering Narcotherapy - 2015

growchick

New Member
I'm growing out 5 Narcotherapy Autoflowering Feminized seeds.

Genetics: White Widow X White Widow X Afghan Kush X Rudelaris
Genotype: Mainly Indica
Suitable for: Indoor/Outdoor
Yield: Approx 550/m2 indoor & 900g/m2 outdoor
Seed to flower: Approx 60 days
Mould/Pest resistance: High
THC: 20%
CBD: 1.4%

I haven't grown in about 10 years, and I'm afraid I've forgotten most of what I knew in the past. Previous grows were aeroponic, and this one is hydroponic - deep water culture.

I've got one 600W HPS light and 5 5 gallon buckets with airstones and net bucket tops.

I've never worked with an autoflowering seed, so this is all brand new.

I use General Hydroponics FloraGro, FloraMicro, FloraBloom.
May add GH Rapid Start, GH Liquid Kool Bloom, and Botanicare Hydroguard next week.
 
Week One: DWC Hydroponic Indoor Autoflowering Narcotherapy Oct 2015


Seedlings going strong in seed starter (I usually grow basil and thyme in this thing on my kitchen counter - sacrificed some nice basil plants for these seeds :p)

This is 7 days after germinating seeds - seedlings moved into new basement home.

Day 2 under lights and with nutrients (5ml each floramicro, florabloom, floragro in about 4.5 gal water)

Day 3 - I think I see heat stress/nute burn

Day 4 - leaves are curling up at tips a bit - moved light up about 8 inches

Day 5 - more worried about heat

Day 6 - moved light up some and lowered ph of water (it was over 7.5)

Day 7 - the difference in size from day 1 til now is amazing. I think I've got heat stress - still some curling up on the older leaves edges and some whitish spotting. New leaves seem unaffected. Also, I see roots now out of the net basket.


Took this picture out of the grow room just to make sure my plants were actually green and not yellow >.>


One Week's Growth
 
Seat reserved to follow your grow! My hydro experience is limited to my current ongoing coco grow. Looking forward to following along. Good luck!

Thanks! Best of luck on your grow, too!!
 
I've had a similar "twist" from low humidity. You mention heat. What are your temps? what is your nutrient concentration? I would think 250-350 ppm would suffice for their size, if any. Anyway, keep working them. They should get a bit easier when the roots hit your reservoir. Good luck!
 
I rearranged my fans and the room is cooler, but I'm not sure the temps in there. I'm waiting on a thermometer to arrive. My guess is that it is in the high 70s when I shut the door and low 70s when I leave it open. It's plenty humid. I ordered an electronic pH tester and PPM tester which arrive tomorrow, so that will help. The roots (well the 1 or 2 that show so far) are out of the net pots and just in the water now. This plant grows so fast.
 
Days 8 and 9 I'm a little less worried about the heat and pH now. I put the light up just a little bit higher again. It's about 2 feet off the top of the plants now. Lowered pH in the water again.

Day 8

Day 9
I've only been taking pictures of the front left plant as reference, which kinda sucks, because the back right one is prettier

Day 9 back right plant

I think the discoloration is from having fed them too soon. It doesn't appear on the newer leaves. The slight curling up on the leaf edges was from the heat of the lamp being too low initially. It seems to have settled down also.
 
My fifth seed to germinate kind of came out weird. It's like the root went up and the stem went down, initially, before turning around and going the right way. It's always been shorter and floppier than the other four plants. If these were photo plants, I'd have waited a bit and cloned it from the top and gotten rid of the flimsy original base. I've been propping it up with gro rocks hoping it would sort itself out. I was reading another journal and they grower talked about LST (low stress training) and while I was down in the basement quite literally watching the grass grow this morning, I had a thought. I cleared the rocks away from the stem of this thing and let it lay all the way over - kind of an unintentional LST experiment on this plant now. I'm going to try to keep it tied down somehow as it grows up. It's like a bonsai already - it has the same number of nodes as its growmates, but it's half the size. Its leaves are 60% as big as the other plants.
 
Growchick,

I didnt know you had 2 threads going! So I see you have the nice big buckets, cool! Thats the same as what I use. I also see you have the tube on the outside of the bucket which is good as well! As far as the leafs curling up, they don't look bad at all! But I do believe it was a heat issue as well as magnesium issue as well. The leafs in hydro will curl upwards with a magnesium issue. Theres a real simple cheap fix for that though. I'd actually wait a lot longer though doing this as some of the issues were heat related. If they continue to curl its not a big deal at all! If they do continue to curl and the plant is getting bigger as well as the curls getting bigger. Go buy you a little box of Epsom salt. Its really cheap stuff and you can find it at Wal-Mart or any home improvement store. You'll only want to use a teaspoon or less per bucket. And providing your buckets have 4 some odd gallons of water in them, which I think you said they had 4 and a half.

Anyhow, if the issue continues then just add the Epsom salt at a little less than a teaspoon up to a teaspoon right into your buckets. Within 24 hours the leafs will be laying like they are suppose to! Its a simple fix for sure. One thing that will also happen by using the Epsom salt is a slight issue with your favorite topic, PH! It tends to make your PH float just a little. But just Like I told you in your other post, we don't have to be fixed on a single number, it can drift in a range! Well, keep us updated, take care!
 
Growchick,

I didnt know you had 2 threads going! So I see you have the nice big buckets, cool! Thats the same as what I use. I also see you have the tube on the outside of the bucket which is good as well! As far as the leafs curling up, they don't look bad at all! But I do believe it was a heat issue as well as magnesium issue as well. The leafs in hydro will curl upwards with a magnesium issue. Theres a real simple cheap fix for that though. I'd actually wait a lot longer though doing this as some of the issues were heat related. If they continue to curl its not a big deal at all! If they do continue to curl and the plant is getting bigger as well as the curls getting bigger. Go buy you a little box of Epsom salt. Its really cheap stuff and you can find it at Wal-Mart or any home improvement store. You'll only want to use a teaspoon or less per bucket. And providing your buckets have 4 some odd gallons of water in them, which I think you said they had 4 and a half.

Anyhow, if the issue continues then just add the Epsom salt at a little less than a teaspoon up to a teaspoon right into your buckets. Within 24 hours the leafs will be laying like they are suppose to! Its a simple fix for sure. One thing that will also happen by using the Epsom salt is a slight issue with your favorite topic, PH! It tends to make your PH float just a little. But just Like I told you in your other post, we don't have to be fixed on a single number, it can drift in a range! Well, keep us updated, take care!

Thank you! I have some epsom salts in the medicine cabinet, so I can definitely use that if the leaves still curl up. I figure I'll give them a few days and decide then - the newer ones don't seem to be curling at all. Thanks for all the support!
 
Just got home from work - pH at ~ 6.0 (closest color match) YAY
Here's some pictures of the "room" which is actually an unfinished closet in my basement. There's just enough room behind where I'm standing to build some kind of box to house a bucket for a mother and a bucket or two for clones. After I get ventilation/carbon filtering sorted out (I have a plan just need to like learn how to do what i want done first), I'm probably going back to photo plants. I don't like being dependent on ordering seeds, and I begin to suspect these plants won't produce the yield my photo plants did in the past.
2015-10-16_17_51_55.jpg
2015-10-16_17_51_42.jpg

:rollit:
 
The last 4 or 5 days I've been worrying that things aren't ideal. Today the ladies felt so happy when I saw them this morning. I think the pH/heat issue is handled. They just look so healthy today.
2015-10-17_07_14_26.jpg

The happy family.
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The reference plant
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The trippy, little floppy plant
2015-10-17_07_15_39.jpg

The real beauty
 
The thermometer/hygrometer came yesterday. It's 77 degrees at the base of the plants and 35% humidity. pH was still around 6.0 this morning. My PPM is around 300 - just got that meter this weekend also.
2015-10-18_06_03_51.jpg
2015-10-18_06_04_42.jpg

I added the root booster that came yesterday, also, 5 ml per bucket.
First picture is when I put it in, the second picture is about 12 hours later.
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2015-10-18_06_19_53.jpg
 
I definitely have to make a carbon scrubber/exhaust plan for this room. It's 77 degrees with the door open. I tried shutting the door for 15 minutes and the temperature shot up to 81 in that time. Also, I swear when I first come down the basement stairs before I get anywhere near this closet, I smell them, and they're not even in bloom yet. I got the light with the round glass tube over the bulb, so I can put the duct tube stuff on either end of it with the carbon scrubber in that line somewhere. I know I need a carbon filter, a fan to pull air through it and push that air through the light and out the other side. I dunno if I need a second fan pulling air at the exhaust end of the line where I will route that ducting up to/through the wall and out of the room. Then, I think I just need a pass through fan near the floor in the wall pulling fresh/cooler air in from the adjoining room. The idea is to take the hot air out of the top of the room and back fill with cool air from below.

I'd like my RH up a bit. Going to turn one of the 3 fans off and see if the temperature remains stable.
 
I added Botanicare Hydroguard 8mL per bucket. Also, I got around to calibrating my new testers.
My natural water pH is 7.14 and PPM 110

test fixed to
A pH 6.31 5.9
A ppm 324 762
B pH 3.09 5.97
B ppm 412 542
C pH 6.27 5.95
C ppm 305 534
D pH 6.45 6.07
D ppm 512 622
E pH 5.87 6.11
E ppm 530 637

Probably they need more nutes, but they look good as they are.
 
The humidity was very low this morning - down to 32%. I put a big bucket of water in the room and little cups of water under each plant. The sketchy little ghetto humidifier has already brought it up to 34%. I'll order a real humidifier next, though. I think I remember it needs to stay above 40% at least and is better nearer 60% in this stage of life.
2015-10-19_06_32_44.jpg
 
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