First Indoor Hydro Grow

[5chord]

Here's an update...............It's still very boring The growth is pretty amazing....I've been experimenting about how close to keep the lamps and it looks like they need to be at least 4" away at this point....I upped the nutes according to the Recipe and hope the plants will be shifting into high gear! I had a friend of mine re-wire the original lamp with ceramic sockets and heavy duty anchoring nuts..

Just shy of one month.....

 

[420Steve]

Growth looks really good after one month compare to mine, i am about 2 - 3 weeks in and mine are still really small, i think this is down to the temp being low but brought a heater recently to bring the heat back up, your PH is really high for hydro i have done alot of research and optimal for hydro is 5.8 but give or take depending on what nutrients your plants need more some are avaliable at 5.5 and some at 6.0 i will leave a picture of a graph hopefully it helps. Subbed good journal i look forward to seeing more.

 

[BuddroGreen]

Looking good 5chord. 5.8 pH is ideally the spot where the plant has all the elements available in hydro, maintaining a constant pH helps with the root zone, along with oxygen..that's where you start to have healthy plants that will grow big & strong.

One thing I noticed on your pictures were the roots, in the later pictures they are becoming darker,

What is the temp. of your reservoir? try to maintain a reservoir temp of 68f-72f with a few air stones/bubblers, if you temps go over 75f that is where root rot problems can start to show up...if you have high reservoir temps, get some Botanicare Hydroguard, stuff works.

Do you use nutrient supplement that is dark and stains the roots? (for instance ...I use GH Floralicious Plus and it is very dark in color and stains the roots amber color)

 

[420Steve]

How do i subbed to this Thread?

 

[go4snypr]

How do i subbed to this Thread?

Once you make a post in the thread you will get emails when someone else does. or check your control pannel for updates

 

[5chord]

Thanks Steve and Budd! (Steve I think you're automatically subbed when you replied to the thread)

I'm going to shoot for a lower PH and see what happens.....I have not paid any attention to the water temps at all.....I do use a fert that colors the water and subsequently stains the roots ....It's called Thrive Alive B2 Red

 

[5chord]

.

 

[Growmanzilla]

Great looking set up. Ready to watch them grow

 

[Alienpus]

I agree BuddoGreen about those roots. Could you post a few pics of your roots, I think you may need to take action soon, bringing down the PH to a proper 5.8 won't do much for root rot.

 

[5chord]

No it's the nutes that are staining the roots....Hey that rhymes!

 

[Alienpus]

Well then that's great, just wanted to make sure, that pic you posted yesterday had a spot that worried me.

 

[Growmanzilla]

How old are your plants?

 

[5chord]

How old are your plants?

One month tomorrow since the seeds were dropped into the Rockwool cubes

 

[5chord]

I recently found a great grow shop in nearby Yonkers.....it's called Follow The Sun.....They have everything you could want plus a friendly staff....I'll be there often............I picked up some Mylar while I was there and decided to take the grow-shower-stall-room up a notch

First I had to dismantle the lights, then apply the Mylar......Yeah it's not a great job lol

Then I put the whole RWDC up on a stool for easier maintenance and eliminated the second shower rod, making it less complicated.

The plants really looked like they needed a hair-cut and I was going to trim them back heavy, but I was in awe of the dense foliage and just cut off the most retarded looking leaves leaving most of the plant untouched

I bought a PH meter too! The test tube thing gets old after the 6000th time

So I changed out about 1/3rd the res and adjusted the PH to 5.8

Then installed the door back on and left them alone.....OK i snuck back in again a few minutes ago and misted them

 

[5chord]

I attached a hose to the pipe where the shower head used to be for easy filling and rinsing.....I also added a Boost Buddy C02 bag..........I'm not sure how effective but it can't hurt right? Also, I got a new set of bulbs for $25 each......Considering you can just screw these things into a clamp light, 20,600 Lumens for about $100 (clamp lights included) is a pretty good deal. So anyway, each set includes a 5000k, 6500k and a 2700k 105watt bulbs. I swapped out the 2700k for a 6500k......So now I'm using 2-6500k bulbs and 1-5000k in the middle of the lamp......When I switch the lights to 12-12, I'll swap out the 2-6500k bulbs for the 2-2700k (red)

The growth is still amazing and there's new nodes all over.....Should I prune these guys back, or let them go crazy??

 

[Alienpus]

They look really good. Are you going to flower them all in that tub or are you going to transplant some into a second tub?

 

[5chord]

Thanks Alien,
Since it's my first grow and I really don't know what I have sex-wise, I'm going to finish the grow out of the tote. I figure I'll have 2-4 females (as the seeds are not feminized) left out of the original 6 after sexing, so there will be a substantial amount of space for growth in the 8gal res.....It will be interesting to see how big they will get as the growth so far is mind-boggling. The tentative plan is to set up a veg tent and start another grow, either with the "free" seeds, or wait for clones from the best female of the batch.....The seeds will be quicker and I don't have a lot of patience, so there's that :-D

 

[Alienpus]

Just keep in mind that during flowering they will double and triple in size, also when plants grow bunched up together and light does not penetrate the canopy they will stretch like crazy as they compete for light, especially in the center.

 

[5chord]

Just keep in mind that during flowering they will double and triple in size, also when plants grow bunched up together and light does not penetrate the canopy they will stretch like crazy as they compete for light, especially in the center.

Do you think I should prune them now? They're still less than 6"

 

[Alienpus]

With pruning and clones its not so much the height of the plant, focus more on the number of nodes left below the cut.

Personally at this stage I would prune them back and defoliate a bit, not all would agree.

Your growth rates and spacing resemble mine in the veg box, maybe take a look at pages 6-7 in my journal where I did my pruning.