First Hempy, First Grow Tent Grow!

[Jlac]

Its a quiet journal but im feeling like I have learned a fair bit. I got a little confidence back now that its been on RO water for about 12 hours. Even diluted it still wasn't looking great but now I geel it kinda straightened its leaves out a bit. Everything is a bit perked up.

When I look back through the pictures and what I did. I feel like maybe it was doing well on 1/2 strength but then started looking waves when I went to full. Then my approach was to prune it which may have escalated the N toxicity? Guess another day will confirm that or keep me searching!

 

[Jlac]

Oh and also put the tinfoil down to control the algea on the perlite a bit. Don't imagine the reflective light will hurt it either

 

[Jlac]

Back in business I think! I see very normal new growth. I let it drink approx 700mls of RO water and decided to put it back on 1/4 strength nutes. Give it a solid week and see what im working with. Id like to flip it soon just because of the longevity of this veg. But I feel like I'm still at least a few weeks away.

 

[Jlac]

Havnt posted for a bit as berly no new growth. Ordered a ph pen and ppm pen which will be here in a few days. Switched over to well water which is extremely hard. Hoping many the ph is closer or a chance on getting the plant some calcium if that has anything to do with it. Hoping to work this out by the time the pens come. I just pray it's one of those issues because if not I'm stumped

 

[013]

Hey Jlac,

Plants look good but your wording seems to indicate you’ve had some problems. Got a quick question for you - does your tote tub have a drain hole on one side about 2 inches up from the bottom?

 

[Jlac]

Yes it does 013

 

[VetSmoke85]

Yeah let her veg longer. You have space. Checking the pH will help. I'm not sure how trustworthy these pH perfect nutrients are. I think with using RO water you should've been adding some calmag too. Always mix that in first before your other nutrients. Perhaps @bluter will have a minute to look things over. He's a great hempy grower.

 

[bluter]

tote sides are translucent. you want them to block light. the roots won't be liking that.

AN is not a great nute line anymore. super expensive for what they are. you will eventually run in to problems if you rely on the "ph perfect" part. you should learn to ph, it is crucial in hempy or coco, and that line has shown itself to have issues on this board.

you're gonna want a better light moving forward. with only one plant though you should be fine.

hempy runs on a schedule. you're kind of jumping all around with your nute strengths and feeding schedule.

plant looks good over all. nothing mission critical is sideways from what i see.

 

[bluter]

oh yeah the algae won't hurt nothing. the tin foil isn't harming anything really.
plants aren't much thrilled with light bounced from the bottom. it doesn't happen in nature and the undersides of the leaves are far different from the top.

 

[bluter]

oh and scrog is generally a photo approach. you need to determine the veg time as the grower in scrog.
the plant determines veg time as an auto, not you.

 

[013]

Ok that great just checking another hempy tip I picked up is this.... I know periodically the successful hempy growers will plug the hole then add an abundance of feed liquid to cause the perlite and roots to float for about 20 minutes. After that time has elapsed they remove the plug and allow it to drain back to the normal reservoir level. Suggest that you dive head first into Bluters journal, he grows some impressive plants

 

[Jlac]

Wow thanks for all the reply guys and I'm going to take it all to ❤. So it is a photo period Bruce banner with fast genetics so that when you flip its only approx 6 to 8 weeks bloom. Not sure how this will effect the stretch.

Also choose the tinfoil as my other option was black garbage bags but I worried of res heat. But maybe I'll get creative on the material as I didnt realize light bouce was a thing to consider but completely makes sense.
Okay for the nutrients your right i was all over the place. It was the curled leaves making me back off and switch to well water. Still just going at about 0.25 ml per liter until I feel it's back on track then try to increase slowly. Also waiting on the ph pen to get more accurate information to try and diagnose things.

013 thats a really good idea about plugging the hole. I'm sure it would benefit the air roots to get a little more wet and soak the perlite better. I'll try that next watering!

Ok that great just checking another hempy tip I picked up is this.... I know periodically the successful hempy growers will plug the hole then add an abundance of feed liquid to cause the perlite and roots to float for about 20 minutes. After that time has elapsed they remove the plug and allow it to drain back to the normal reservoir level. Suggest that you dive head first into Bluters journal, he grows some impressive plants

oh and scrog is generally a photo approach. you need to determine the veg time as the grower in scrog.
the plant determines veg time as an auto, not you.

 

[Jlac]

So recap

1200w LED @ about 16 inches now
Heat approx 24c with lights on and 20 off
Hunidity pretty stable around 45%
Unsure of the size of my exhaust but it's replacing the air at a very good rate on low power.
An three part @0.25ml per lt now in my hard well water rather then RO. Going to grab a bottle of cal mag as I would prefere to continue with RO water so I know exactly what they are getting.

Another thing on the wish list is mini clip fans as that big one needs to go soon

 

[Jlac]

tote sides are translucent. you want them to block light. the roots won't be liking that.

AN is not a great nute line anymore. super expensive for what they are. you will eventually run in to problems if you rely on the "ph perfect" part. you should learn to ph, it is crucial in hempy or coco, and that line has shown itself to have issues on this board.

you're gonna want a better light moving forward. with only one plant though you should be fine.

hempy runs on a schedule. you're kind of jumping all around with your nute strengths and feeding schedule.

plant looks good over all. nothing mission critical is sideways from what i see.

What do you reccomend for more light? I do have access to a 400/1000w hps/mh only would have to buy the appropriate bulb but that would take up much more space and create much more heat (which I'm willing to deal with if it's worth the effort.)

What nute line would you suggest moving forward for hempy?

 

[Bill284]

What do you reccomend for more light? I do have access to a 400/1000w hps/mh only would have to buy the appropriate bulb but that would take up much more space and create much more heat (which I'm willing to deal with if it's worth the effort.)

What nute line would you suggest moving forward for hempy?

The 1200 led you have, do you know the actual draw. And I apologize if you have stated already whats the ph of that ro water when you add nutrients.
I'm thinking the light is probably only 400 w actual which is enough for 1 girl.
But nothing beats hps for quality bud. Just heat and hydro r too much.

 

[013]

Thanks but not my idea just passing on what I picked up from reading Bluter, he can advise as to how often the flood & drain trick is best utilized, think it’s every 3rd or 4th feeding but let him guide you on that one

 

[Jlac]

The 1200 led you have, do you know the actual draw. And I apologize if you have stated already whats the ph of that ro water when you add nutrients.
I'm thinking the light is probably only 400 w actual which is enough for 1 girl.
But nothing beats hps for quality bud. Just heat and hydro r too much.

I think when my buddy tested it. It was somewhere in the ballpark of 270w. I havnt checked myself. Also the best I can say for my ro after nutes is somewhere below 6.8 but I don't know how low. Using litmus paper right now. Ph pen due in tomorrow. Also have some calmag comming home with my wife (god love her)

Hoping the LED is enough so I can avoid the heat. Maybe use it this run then compare next run with the hps

 

[bluter]

the light should be ok for 1 plant. that light is old tech for led and may be near the end of it's peak efficiency. you really won't find anyone building with those types of diodes any longer.

i'd use it for a single plant. you'll want to upgrade and expand at some point though. worry about it then.


there are loads of great nutes for hempy. pretty much anything suited for hydro or coco type media works. i'm running mega crop currently but there's tons of good ones out there. mc is easy to learn and use for most new folk.

if you have access to RO use it. better to start with a blank slate and be in control of everything the plant gets / needs. hempy is technically hydro and all hydro grows run better on RO hands down. run the calmag with AN and RO.

learn the hempy feed interval schedule and stick to it. at the beginning you need to feed every 2 - 3 days , then ramp to every other day, and finally everyday once in flower. don't wait til the res is dry at first, the steady feedings are designed to keep your ph in check more than feed the plant. stick to the schedule. by mid veg they'll be bone dry by feeding time every second day.

i ran either 1/2 or 1/4 bottle strength when i used AN. i think it was 1/2 but has been a while. AN's bottle chart is far too hot, you'll burn them up, so dial it back.

 

[Jlac]

the light should be ok for 1 plant. that light is old tech for led and may be near the end of it's peak efficiency. you really won't find anyone building with those types of diodes any longer.

i'd use it for a single plant. you'll want to upgrade and expand at some point though. worry about it then.


there are loads of great nutes for hempy. pretty much anything suited for hydro or coco type media works. i'm running mega crop currently but there's tons of good ones out there. mc is easy to learn and use for most new folk.

if you have access to RO use it. better to start with a blank slate and be in control of everything the plant gets / needs. hempy is technically hydro and all hydro grows run better on RO hands down. run the calmag with AN and RO.

learn the hempy feed interval schedule and stick to it. at the beginning you need to feed every 2 - 3 days , then ramp to every other day, and finally everyday once in flower. don't wait til the res is dry at first, the steady feedings are designed to keep your ph in check more than feed the plant. stick to the schedule. by mid veg they'll be bone dry by feeding time every second day.

i ran either 1/2 or 1/4 bottle strength when i used AN. i think it was 1/2 but has been a while. AN's bottle chart is far too hot, you'll burn them up, so dial it back.

Perfect! I tried doing a lot of reading on hempy before I started. Read most information here I.e tutorials but not journals. And never come across that strict schedual but the way you explain it makes sense to me. So where my schedual was chaos until this point. Looking at my plant how often would you be feeding / what details can I give you to help figure that out. Got the cal mag now. Where I just fed today with the well water would you wait to feed again with the ro and cal mag or just feed it now to flush that out?
Also ya I will run this light for this run... only thing is I had a couple clones a friend didn't want so I threw those in with in their own hempys in hopes they would root and veg a little to catch up for flower.

As for flower stretch I was gonna fill a couple squares on the grid before flipping then keep on with the stretch? How do you approach that taking in my light to consideration.. maybe just flip earlier and keep a smaller grid to keep the light closer?

 

[Jlac]