First Grow, DWC StealthHydro Bucketeer

[SteveMcGreen]

After a few minutes...And a whole lot of ... I finally got all my pics moved to 420magazine.com. It actually went pretty smooth, well for those of you who didn't catch my grow elsewhere. Here are the pics, hopefully in the correct order lol. I'll also add the main info from my first post to give you a heads up of what the heck I'm trying to accomplish here.

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I have finally gathered what I think to be enough information to get started with a 1 plant grow. I ordered the Bucketeer DWC kit from Stealth Hydro along with PH up and PH down. I don't have a PH meter or a TDS meter because I'm pretty much over budget already. I do have PH test strips from Stealth Hydro, and assuming my lovely wife can help me check the colors since I'm colorblind, I should be alright!

I also opted out from the Stealth Hydro dry nutes packets and grabbed the GH Flora series micro, grow, and bloom. From what I read this would be a small step up, hopefully in the right direction.

I had a small water pump laying around from an old pet waterfall drinking fountain that I figured I could dump into the bucket and have a 1 plant drip system like the Stealth Hydro Deep Water Culture multi drip tubs.

The PH of my water right from the tap seems to be in the ideal range so I have my stone and pump soaking for the past 12 hours or so.

My hydroton has been rinsed, strained, rinsed strained, rinsed strained, rinsed strained...... well about 30 times or so. The water now strains clear so I think I have ccovered my butt on that end!

My rockwool has been soaking in the same ideal ranged PH'd water for the same time the air stone and pump has been.

My seed, which was a freebie from my order from the good folks at attitude seed bank is a DNA feminized Hashplant Haze, has also been soaking in a cup of water for around 12hrs as well.

I plan on using multiple 6500k 65w CFL's for the veg stage. I currently have 2 but will be making a trip to the Home Depot this evening to binge on CFLs and maybe a couple reflectors if the budget allows.

I know the odds are against me with only starting one seed at a time, but due to my budget and restrictions on proper ventilation and choice of grow space I have no problem doing it until I get it right.

I have a Greenhouse Seed Co. feminized Indica mix pack that has A.M.S., The Church, Train Wreck, White Widow and White Rhino, but I wanted to try the freebie seed first to allow any mistakes on a first grow go to her, hopefully her!

I also know I could have saved money building my own bucket, but I really wanted to at least have a solid proven platform to start with. I'm pretty handy and now that I see how the kit works, I will be able to build my own in the future.

 

[Roseman]

Remember to spray a good pesticide around the grow area on the floor and up the walls.

I'll be watching and praying for a female!

 

[SteveMcGreen]

Hey Roseman, thanks for stoppin in

The room was properly cleaned, and sprayed for bugs as stated in the awesome tutorial you wrote. Thanks for the reminder and the time and wisdom put into that write-up!

I also clean up every Sunday when I do my drain and replenish. It's by far the cleanest room in the house.
Thanks to my OCD, cleaning takes no time at all. lol

 

[SteveMcGreen]

I should also warn everyone now that sometimes the pics and updates come in like clockwork, and other days...not so much.

They also vary in quality based upon my morning dosage... my desired level of accomplishment for the day, level of battery power on the camera and well, stuff...

Consider this a disclaimer of sorts.

 

[Roseman]

Hey, I think we all undertand, we're all stoners here.

I can't type after 8:00 pm.

 

[SteveMcGreen]

Hey, I think we all undertand, we're all stoners here.

I can't type after 8:00 pm.

lol, I knew I was in the right place!

 

[SteveMcGreen]

Day 21 -

Root development is crazy to watch, it's so fast. After a day of root shots yesterday, today the lens is moving back up top. Check out the pics, and feed me some advice. 74 high room temp, 63 low room temp. humidity 60-70% lights on, 40-50 lights off. Expecting a package from the UPS man any day now...

 

[MataGrowa]

Lookin good steve, The detail in those pics is amazing.
I also ordered from attitude and must say I was very happy I did.

So you are 21 days from soaking?

 

[SteveMcGreen]

21 days from surfacing from the rockwool.23 or 24 days since being put into rockwool as a seed, and add another 24hrs or so of soaking to that mix. I forgot to move over those details lol. I also had a little mishap with a leaf getting torn which i think slowed me down a pretty decent bit. Trying to get back on track though!

 

[TheAnswer1776]

Day 21 -

Root development is crazy to watch, it's so fast. After a day of root shots yesterday, today the lens is moving back up top. Check out the pics, and feed me some advice. 74 high room temp, 63 low room temp. humidity 60-70% lights on, 40-50 lights off. Expecting a package from the UPS man any day now...

Hey Steve, love the homemade setup and the name brother!! I noticed in the first pic that your feeder tube is above the hydroton. What is common for most of the bubble systems, is placing the feed tube at the base of the rockwool cube. That way it is a direct flow to the root base. The only reason I mentioned something was becuase, although the plants look healthy, they seam a little stunted for 21 days. Not trying to insult, just want to help you out buddy!

 

[TheAnswer1776]

Oh yeah and what kind of camera is that your using? I see it is a computer cam of some sort. Thanks!

 

[SteveMcGreen]

Oh yeah and what kind of camera is that your using? I see is is a computer cam of some sort. Thanks!

Thanks for stoppin in, and thanks for the advice on the feed tube. The thing is, the flow on the pump I used was a bit much to put at the base of the cube, and had no way to adjust it, so I went with a sort of hydroton feeder tube waterfall thing lol. The water sort of trickled down the hydroton into the rockwool. I think my stunted issues have something to do with the torn leaf, lights being too close, and the amount of hydroton they had to dig thru to get to the water maybe? It took a pretty decent amount of time for the roots to get out of the bucket, but since they have found the way, growth has really increased.

The camera in the picture is part of my webcam plant surveillance system lol. Basically the webcam faces my hygrometer, and over the top of the plant and streams a password protected feed to my iPhone so I can keep tabs on the room conditions whenever I want.

 

[SteveMcGreen]

Not trying to insult, just want to help you out buddy!

And, no offense taken!! I dig all the help and suggestions I can get. Keep em' comin

 

[TheAnswer1776]

Thanks for stoppin in, and thanks for the advice on the feed tube. The thing is, the flow on the pump I used was a bit much to put at the base of the cube, and had no way to adjust it, so I went with a sort of hydroton feeder tube waterfall thing lol. The water sort of trickled down the hydroton into the rockwool. I think my stunted issues have something to do with the torn leaf, lights being too close, and the amount of hydroton they had to dig thru to get to the water maybe? It took a pretty decent amount of time for the roots to get out of the bucket, but since they have found the way, growth has really increased.

The camera in the picture is part of my webcam plant surveillance system lol. Basically the webcam faces my hygrometer, and over the top of the plant and streams a password protected feed to my iPhone so I can keep tabs on the room conditions whenever I want.

Ok I understand now, I was going to say the flow was a little much! They will definitely take off once the roots hit!! Good luck to you brother!

 

[Roseman]

Did ya get your additional Lights?

NEXT Time you start a new grow, I want to walk along through it with you. When my seeds have sprouted 21 days, my plants average 21 inches tall....an inch a day in growth.

 

[onthe420train]

she looks like the burn took a lil toll but don't give up on her she'll come around.

I got a hashplant haze going as well

 

[SteveMcGreen]

Did ya get your additional Lights?

NEXT Time you start a new grow, I want to walk along through it with you. When my seeds have sprouted 21 days, my plants average 21 inches tall....an inch a day in growth.

I currently have 6 of the same 6500k cfl's. Just got an e-mail that my 400w hps has been shipped, so in a few days I should have a new toy to add. The plan was to get this one big enough to get some clones, and get them started in smaller net cups this time, with better lighting from the git go. Plus, I still have a few seeds of different strains laying around, so I may put together a veg cab with the cfl's and use my current space for flowering with the hps. Big dreams... little plant lol.

After the first week she was above ground I got a little upset about not seeing any roots, so I pulled the rockwool out and noticed some nice roots coming out of the bottom, probably around 4" in length, I had to slip them back between the hydroton and cover them back up... Probably the main reason and first mistake I made. Being patient probably would have left me with a bigger plant today. Live and learn I suppose.

 

[SteveMcGreen]

she looks like the burn took a lil toll but don't give up on her she'll come around.

I got a hashplant haze going as well

Thanks for stoppin in , I'll be keeping an eye on that grow you are doing as well, I haven't really been able to find many other people growing it!

I don't plan on givin up on her, I really want to see my first grow all the way til the end, no matter what the outcome is. The more mistakes I make with this one, the happier my future plants are gonna be...hopefully lol.

 

[onthe420train]

that is definitely the right spirit to go at it with. Its always frustrating to stunt a young one with too much or too little nutrients or too much water early on is another big one cuz they really don't need more than like 30 ml a day until they have roots all over out of the cubes. rockwool is kinda finicky (easy to over water and crush, btw rw isn't very good unless its pristine cubical form is maintained) but I like it well enough - even though I don't use it.

 

[MataGrowa]

After the first week she was above ground I got a little upset about not seeing any roots, so I pulled the rockwool out and noticed some nice roots coming out of the bottom, probably around 4" in length, I had to slip them back between the hydroton and cover them back up... Probably the main reason and first mistake I made. Being patient probably would have left me with a bigger plant today. Live and learn I suppose.

Thats almost exactly what happened with my one small plant Steve except I did it because the feeder tube had come loose and she only had one root sticking out of the cup. I figured that was all there was and that I could take everything out rearrange and stick that one root back thru. That was until I got the rockwool cube out and realized she had a whole system of roots that were just about to poke thru. I rearranged the best I could but it still stunted her growth for about a week. She came back strong now though. Yours looks healthy so you should be off and running now. I bet neither one of us will ever do that again.