First Grow - 2 x Guerilla Glue & 2 x Sour Diesel - DWC

[livepure]

Hi guys, this is my first post here but hopefully the first of many. I intend to regularly update this thread, likely daily in the beginning and less often later on, as the growth of the plants stabilizes. I'm a medical patient and I'm getting tired of spending tons of money on meds, so I'm growing my own now.

This is my first grow, going hydro because of neighbors. This is mostly for documentation purposes, although if you see me doing anything wrong, or have any comments, please let me know! I don't intend to screw this up. DWC was chosen as the method because it seems to be the easiest way for a beginner to grow hydroponically.

The Gear

Clones
I used clones purchased from the link below. The "creme of the crop" rooted option. Supposedly from the top 1/3 of the mother and in excellent shape. They arrived a bit droopy already but the roots and stem appeared healthy, although I am no expert. I would purchase from these people again if I needed to.

Tent

Ventilation
In:

Out:

Light

Buckets

Air Pump
Basic 4 way adjustable air pump.

Nutrients, Medium, etc
2x

Images of Setup

Finally some images so you can see how it all works together. No complaints with fit or setup, everything seems to work well and fit without much hassle.

 

[livepure]

re: First Grow - 2 x Guerilla Glue & 2 x Sour Diesel - DWC

Day 1

Plants arrived today, looked a little droopy but overall healthy. Did not have the foresight to take any photos today, so a text post is all. Transplanted the clones, in their small rockwool cubes, into the netted pots and surrounded them with the grow medium. Buckets filled up to a few inches under the net, bubbler turned on to medium. Light turned on 18/6 schedule, but far away from the plants for now. PH at 5.8 for all buckets, no nutrients added. I think thats it. Future posts will be more organized.

 

[livepure]

Day 2

Temperature: 77-88F

Humidity: 35-46%

PH : 7.0 all around

Plants have some yellowing and drooping of leaves, severity varying between plants. I believe this means I overwatered, the bubbler provides far more water than I had expected. So the bubbler has been turned off for now, until the plants have time to dry out and recover. When the bubbler gets turned back on I suppose it will have to be on the lowest setting, or it will need to be cycled during this stage of development.

I'm so scared of screwing up, it's difficult not to resist the urge to check on the babies every 5 minutes haha.

 

[Habitual]

ph seems high is it 7 for a reason?

 

[livepure]

ph seems high is it 7 for a reason?

ph was 7 when it was checked, I restored it to 5.8 after testing. I should have clarified.

Day 3

Temperature: 77-84F

Humidity: 35-46%

pH: 6.2-6.7

The plants are doing a lot better today. The medium is nearly dry now, and new leaves seem to be sprouting on all of the plants. I think the droopy leaves will stay droopy and possibly die, maybe they should be trimmed. I'll have to read on that. Regardless, they look healthier, some moreso than others. The smalles one still looks pretty sad but I think that'll improve.


I'm going to number the plants tomorrow. Should have done that earlier.

 

[livepure]

Day 4

Temperature: 77-84F

Humidity: 30-45%

pH: 6.3-7.0

The medium was very dry when checked today so I turned the bubbler back on. Later, when checking on the plants again I checked to see how wet the bubbler was getting the nets, its seemed only the very bottom of the nets. The medium was still very dry above the bottom level and, upon checking, the rockwool cubes were very dry. So I made some 5.8pH water and gave the top of each cube a quarter teaspoon, then covered them back up. The plants seem to be doing a little better but I'm still worried. I'm not sure if I'm over watering or under watering.

Also, nearly forgot, I moved all of the plants closer together, and tried to center the light over them all after noticing the plants in the rear were getting a little more light than the plants in front.

 

[Habitual]

re: First Grow - 2 x Guerilla Glue & 2 x Sour Diesel - DWC

When stems bend or droop its under watering when the leaves droop it could be over watering. leave the pump or air pump on always! soak the rockwool cube! It should never dry out you are doing hydro. Raise the reservoir volume level so its above the bottom of the net cup by 1/2 inch soaking the rockwool till the roots establish down. You want your ph in the bucket at 5.8 its to high.

 

[livepure]

I did as you said Habitual, and they're doing much better now. I was definitely under watering, I likely would have killed the babies But they're perky now, I'll post pics when the lights come back on in a couple hours with the regular update. Thank you for the tip.

Btw, the recorded pH is the pH BEFORE I restore it to 5.8. I record the initial tested pH but always restore it to the proper value.

 

[livepure]

Day 5

Temperature: 76-84F

Humidity: 35-50%

pH before fixing: 6.2-7.0

I followed habitual's advice and the clones stems have perked up considerably. Other than that, the babies seem about the same, besides clone 2, which now has a single, long root extending from the net pot. I believe it may be about time to give the babies their first feeding, and possibly move the light closer.

 

[livepure]

Day 6

No time for photos or stats today, had some family issues to deal with.

The babies are doing good, but seemed almost unchanged from day 5, besides clone 4 which now has a couple of roots sticking out of its net pot as well. I fed the babies nutrients today, 1/4 the bottle's prescribed dose for "seedings and cuttings". It came out to a teaspoon of each solution per plant. We'll see how this affects them. If they don't seem bothered, I will also move the light closer.

Tomorrow will likely be my last daily update, going to switch to weekly/whenever something important happens now that the clones have survived transfer.

 

[Habitual]

does your res not have any nutes in it at all ? man you need to put 5ml micro 10ml bloom / gallon in each phd to 5.8 . do some reading on lucas formua after you add as per in red. when you ph goes up every day it means you need more nutes if it goes down you need less .

 

[livepure]

does your res not have any nutes in it at all ? man you need to put 5ml micro 10ml bloom / gallon in each phd to 5.8 . do some reading on lucas formua after you add as per in red. when you ph goes up every day it means you need more nutes if it goes down you need less .

No, my res had no nutes in it. The place I got the clones from said to wait 4-7 days, as the rockwool cube was already saturated with nutrients and adding more too early might screw it up.

I'll go check out the reading you suggested, thanks.

edit: wish I had known about the lucas formula haha. I tried reading so much before doing this, and there's just so much information with no real replacement for experience. Thank you for the help.

 

[Habitual]

Thats why the one plant has yellow leaves its N def take my word 5ml micro 10ml bloom ph5.5-5.8 in the res. this will not burn your plants in any way. My word on it

 

[livepure]

Thats why the one plant has yellow leaves its N def take my word 5ml micro 10ml bloom ph5.5-5.8 in the res. this will not burn your plants in any way. My word on it

Yes sir. I'll report back later lol.

 

[Habitual]

No worries man! The one sour diesel looks pretty rough I dont see any new growth the rest look salvageable

 

[livepure]

Day 7

Last daily post before I switch to weekly. The plants are looking good, they all have roots sticking out through the net pot now, even the runt. I have hope for them.

I do have to ask, how often do I feed the babies? When do I know its time for a refeed?

 

[livepure]

A week has past, my update is a few days late but the timing of the photos is accurate. They were taken prior.

Minus the first clone, the plants all seem to be doing very well. They've grown quite a bit and are rooting like crazy, even the first clone, although more slowly. I am considering removing the first clone so that the other three plants can have more light. I gave the plants a full feeding on the week mark, of the lucas formula. They are handling it well, with no visible concerns. They're just growing like crazy at this point, with new leaves forming daily.

 

[livepure]

Took the first clone out of the grow. Just these three remain. End of week 3.

 

[Lazarus13]

When starting from seeds or clones always top feed at the very least daily until your roots hit the rez or keep your water level midway up the net pot and drop it when you see roots dangling down. I use a small submersible pump to pump nutes up from the rez, down through the hydroton 3 times a day. As soon as i see roots an inch or so out of the bottom of the pot i pull the pump and let the bubbles do their thing. Also as was already mentioned, keep your bubbler on from beginning to end. Keep your water level higher at first and once you have established roots you can drop it to leave an air gap. I usually leave 2 to 3 inches of air gap between the top of the water to the bottom of the net pot. This will give you those beautiful "fishbone" air roots that love the fine spray from the bubbles popping on the surface.
There is a learning curve to dwc but once you get it figured out you will be amazed by the amount of growth on a daily basis. Ive experienced 2+ inches a day when i have everything dialed in.
Happy growing man.

 

[livepure]

When starting from seeds or clones always top feed at the very least daily until your roots hit the rez or keep your water level midway up the net pot and drop it when you see roots dangling down. I use a small submersible pump to pump nutes up from the rez, down through the hydroton 3 times a day. As soon as i see roots an inch or so out of the bottom of the pot i pull the pump and let the bubbles do their thing. Also as was already mentioned, keep your bubbler on from beginning to end. Keep your water level higher at first and once you have established roots you can drop it to leave an air gap. I usually leave 2 to 3 inches of air gap between the top of the water to the bottom of the net pot. This will give you those beautiful "fishbone" air roots that love the fine spray from the bubbles popping on the surface.
There is a learning curve to dwc but once you get it figured out you will be amazed by the amount of growth on a daily basis. Ive experienced 2+ inches a day when i have everything dialed in.
Happy growing man.

Thanks for the tips, I'm starting to get the hang of it I think. Read all you want, nothing makes up for experience. They've been growing like crazy the last week or two, hopefully the trend continues