First Indoor Hydro Grow

[5chord]

Thanks Alien,

I got impatient before reading your post although I actually read your journal this morning

I hacked off a TON of fan leaves that were interfering with their neighbor plant(s) and/or blocking lower-new-growth of the plant I was pruning...

The stems and foliage are as thick as any 3 foot plant, as well as leaf size, but they're only 5" tall!

So we went from this.....

To this.......

To much? Too little?

Here's to my first trim! One month above ground today!

 

[Alienpus]

That's pretty much what I would have done, you now have control, keep the larger ones in check until the smaller ones catch up over the next few days, they may be your females.

You can also let some shoots grow taller and take a clone instead of pruning.

 

[5chord]

Thanks, I'm going to take clones of the best girl as soon as they are sexed

 

[5chord]

Well it seems to have worked.....The pruning seems to have spurred vertical growth! I hacked a lot of foliage off these little plants and I was worried, but they came back stronger than ever, growing over an inch a day in one case! He/she (probably a he) grew from 4 1/2" before pruning to almost 7" today, only 2 days later!

 

[420Steve]

Nice and dense roots abit shady but looking healthy you got more root growth then me how many weeks you in again?

Does any one know why his plants are short and bushy?

 

[5chord]

Hey Steve,

It's almost 5 weeks since seed drop and things are still going strong.....Not much to do but prune again!

 

[420Steve]

There looking good and healthy, when do you plan on sending them into bloom 12/12 ?

 

[5chord]

Maybe next Wednesday!

 

[5chord]

Well it's my day off and my plants probably hate that because I mess with them all day and today is no different...........It's 7am ET and time to clean the res for the first time is 5 weeks......First I marked the 5 and two gallon buckets so I can coordinate the water change....I didn't want to (or know what would happen if I) just empty the container completely, So I did in 4 - two gallon buckets changes, one after another, mixing the nutes and Hygrowzyme as I went.

Then I gave them a break for a couple hours to make sure I didn't screw anything up and the plants were happy.....

These guys are bushy and out of control...........

Time to cut...

They are now leaner and meaner!

It's been several hours now and they seem to be responding well!

 

[Growmanzilla]

Looking good ready to see these beautiful ladys bloom

 

[5chord]

Thanks man! I'm not sure which ones are the ladies yet though lol........I'm cutting the light back one hour everyday until Wednesday when they'll be at 12-12.....Then the fun REALLY begins.......Anyone want to guess which ones turn out female?

 

[Growmanzilla]

Oh i gotta do the same thing as you lol are you sexing them then going back to 16-8 or just letting them flower from then on out.

 

[5chord]

I'm just going to grow them out.....According to the seed bank, this White Widow only grows 2' indoor....They also say it's 65% indica which is contrary to most other seed banks that say it's a Sativa dominant. They also claim it will yield 19oz!! Yeah right, I'll be happy with 2 lol.......Another claim that I will test with the clone of the best girl is that the strain will grow to 5' outdoor and will yield a Kilo!

 

[5chord]

I gave them a decent pruning about 4 hours ago, but you can hardly tell......TONS of new growth everywhere

For every leaf I cut, two growth nodes appear!

 

[5chord]

It is now 6 weeks and one day since I dropped seed and frankly I'm a little worried as to why they are still so small. They have grown only an inch or so in the last week, but they have gotten much denser. The largest is 10 1/2" and the smallest is about 6", but they have 7-8 branches due to early FIMing and can probably support a bowling ball if rested atop one (not really). They are starting to resemble Bonsai trees after trimming.

So, yesterday I changed out the res, added nutes for flowering, changed out the two outer 6500k bulbs in the lamp for 2700k bulbs, installed the 6500ks in Clamp lights and dropped them down from the shower rod in anticipation of flowering. The light has been pulled back an hour since last week and we're at 13-11 today

When I gave it a root inspection earlier, I got a bit of a shock. The healthy, mostly white roots I was used to seeing were replaced with stained ones and definite signs of rot! I realized later that the new recirculating pump might have been rinsing older rotted roots out of the net-pots as the old pump had stopped working an undetermined time earlier, but at the time I was panicking.

(Is there way to rotate pics on this site?)

I had purchased a larger pump for my next build and un-boxed it for emergency service. I drilled another hole into the container and added a second airstone to the mix. Then I added a dose of Hygrozyme and crossed my fingers. There is no bad smell, but the fresh hay smell is gone too

So...Is there a benefit to adding more airstones?
Did I do the right thing?
If I raise the light would they stretch?
Should I raise the light?

ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!​

 

[Alienpus]

More oxygen and cooler water temps, so yes the airstone will help, a few suggestions, place your res on the ground, should lower temps a couple degrees, drop your water level to 1 inch below the net pots leaving upper part of the roots exposed to air and no stagnant water in your growing mediums. Gently rinse off as much slime as you can and if you can/want soak the roots in a proper strength water/H2O2 solution for a few hours. A daily regiment of H2O2 will help but its no miracle cure. Cool water temps and lots of aeration is your first line of defense. I never tried it, but I know people that swear by using a root inoculant, so maybe look that up.

As for them being short, they look just fine to me, the more shoots the less vertical growth and you got plenty of light keeping them dense, they do double and triple in size during flowering. They do seem to be getting paler but that could just be the light.

 

[VladimirPutin]

Yes! You did well to add a larger pump that handles 4 stones, poopy roots will recover in as little as 3 days. The worst is behind, now just let the recovery take place.
On a side note, interesting that you found an indica dominant WW. If you were expecting them to be taller, it is because usually WW is sativa dominant, a tall tree rather than fat bushes like you have. I'm growing a pure sativa right now in hydro, check it out.

Subbed,
Vladimir Putin

 

[5chord]

Thanks Vlad and Alien for excellent advice and calming me down......I really do need to pay attention to the res temps! It's been so damn cold lately.....But I'm gonna need a tray of ice a day to keep things cool in the summer!

Yeah I was pretty confused about the Indica dominant WW.......They are dense, pretty little plants! I can't wait to see what they look like at harvest

 

[5chord]

Well it's now 1 month and 19 days since seed drop and 2 days since adding the second air-stone to the container in response to signs of root rot. The plants have never looked healthier and the roots are much better, but no signs of flowering despite pulling back the lights to 12-12 4 days ago.

These tiny trees need another major haircut! The canopy is too dense for light penetration to the lower branches..

Also, (I can never leave well enough alone) I bought an Apollo 3x100 LED panel for $139 which included free 2-day shipping

Good deal? Piece of crap? It seems less bright than the 3 105w 6200 Lumen bulbs it replaced and much redder. There is also less heat. The plants seem to like it. Here is the new pruned canopy under the LED

What is a good distance for the light? I heard an LED lamp will kill a plant if kept too close.

 

[VladimirPutin]

Start at 24 inches! plants are looking good, glad to see you beat the root rot.