My First Grow Ever!

[Rifleman]

Just checked out your journal mate, I think they really have picked up very well now compared to the last few updates the auto looks quiet happy.
Havnt had any issues with the pellets you are using in the hydroton?

Thanks. No problems at all. The roots grew right into the hydroton. I'm hoping by the 19th to have roots showing through the hydroton into the nute solution. That will be roughly 3 weeks old. I really should go back and look at my pics to settle on a birth date for each of my babies. Numbers 1 and 2 are around 6 or 7 days older than the autos.

 

[Rifleman]

Per my notes and photos each broke ground as follows:

#1 Nov 25 - now 14 days old
#2 Nov 26 - now 13 days old
#3 Nov 30 - now 9 days old
#4 Dec 1 - now 8 days old

This is my first grow, and seeds 1 and 2 are unknown from the same bag. Here are a couple of pics with the tape for size. This is number 2, the healthiest, most compact of the four. Hopefully someone with more experience growing will chime in and offer suggestions. I haven't been able to find any pics of a Bubble Kush Auto, or any grow reports on one either so I'm not sure what to expect with them or the bag seed.

I have been thinking of LST the autos and minimal trimming with light 18/6. Then when they are finished placing the unknowns into 12/12 and finishing them. I do however have a 36x45 screen I've made to set 14" above root level, and have also considered putting it into place to help spread the autos and train the unknowns while waiting for the autos to fini.

I'm playing "what if" and thinking out every possible choice way ahead of time because I just don't know what to expect. Any experienced growers with a word or three of advice, I'd love to hear from you.

 

[Sir Budlovski]

My first autoflower grow was a pineapple express,
I had about 6 colas, itrimed the bottom/weaker 2 early in flower for focus on main heads cause I was using cfls Imo with hps leaving all colas on an auto would help yield more
I did lst on my just before it flowered until about 4 weeks in flower and it never stressed her and helped heaps for light penetration.
Yours is a different strain so like you said someone more experienced would have better info

 

[Meriwether]

We seem to be doing more than a few things in common, besides being newbies here . Hydroton, auto flowers, even the same size pots by the look of things. With the understanding that I really have no experience with this, could your use of "nutes" possibly be the problem? What kind of water are you using?

 

[Rifleman]

We seem to be doing more than a few things in common, besides being newbies here . Hydroton, auto flowers, even the same size pots by the look of things. With the understanding that I really have no experience with this, could your use of "nutes" possibly be the problem? What kind of water are you using?

I'm in 5 gal buckets. My nutrient use has been very mild. Only 4ml of Humboldt's micro, grow, & bloom per bucket. I've only used my local tap water, ~8.0ph, after it has set in buckets for at least 5 days, then adding my nutes and adjusting ph to between high 5s and low 6s.

My problems have been all heat related due to the 600w hps and my inexperience. I'm now keeping the light ~12" from plant tops and have very adequate ventilation. Room temp is averging 78°f, and 86° at plant base. RH stays around 30%.

One thing I did to lower the in bucket temps 2° was to put my air pump outside the grow tent. I may buy some longer tubing and place it in the next room where it is several degrees cooler. Cooler air in has to cool the solution. Less chance of root rot.

 

[Rifleman]

Water change day again. I have the water temps down to 75deg F. Nutrients were again added in a very small dosage, 1ml per 1 gal. Next week everyone should be well into veg and I'm going to rev up the nutrients some then. #1 is still suffering the earlier heat damage. #2 is spreading wide, 12" side to side at only 4" tall. #3 what can I say? Thriving, lots of inside growth, best looking plant I have. #4 is lagging behind 3 a little bit, but is also a little younger. I think it might be suffering a small nute problem. She appears to have a slight yellowish tint to her. With the hps and a phone camera it's hard to get a pic to show it. I noticed this a few days ago but decided to let it go thinking it will clear up with the water change. Opinions? Needless to say I'm keeping a close eye on her. Water out ranged between 7.2 and 8.0 ph in all four buckets. Water going back in was 5.8 to 6.2

Now it's time for my favorite part, documenting the grow with pics ! Enjoy.

The entire garden.


Plant #1 Unknown bag seed


Plant #2 Unknown Bag Seed


Plant #3 Bubble Kush Auto, showing good inside growth.


Plant #4 Bubble Kush Auto, lagging a bit.



I hope you've enjoyed the update. As always comments, suggestions, criticisms, and general snarkieness are welcomed.

 

[Rifleman]

Show me a sign that says"wet paint", and I'll touch it every time. Can't help myself. With that said, I just couldn't stand it. #2 was growing 6th node growth, & has nice roots into the bottom of the bucket sooooo.... It's all education for me, and it was only bag seed ergo I threw caution to the wind and attempted a fim. I think I went too low and instead topped it. Big deal, can't learn if I don't try.


Pic is upside down, camera phone. <sigh>

 

[Khraevyn]

Show me a sign that says"wet paint", and I'll touch it every time. Can't help myself. With that said, I just couldn't stand it. #2 was growing 6th node growth, & has nice roots into the bottom of the bucket sooooo.... It's all education for me, and it was only bag seed ergo I threw caution to the wind and attempted a fim. I think I went too low and instead topped it. Big deal, can't learn if I don't try.


Pic is upside down, camera phone. <sigh>

I feel you on the wet paint sign. Looks like they are starting to get busy though. I just topped mine as well and did some pretty good defoliating. They have bounced back tremendously. Hope your topping works out for ya.

~K~

 

[Meriwether]

Good luck! I've thought about doing exactly that but have managed to restrain myself so far. . .

 

[choptop13]

Looking good rifleman the girls r coming right along

 

[Greenthumb J]

and did some pretty good defoliating. They have bounced back tremendously.

If you didn't defoliate, they wouldn't need to "bounce" back. What you did was stunt the plants growth. You lost probably a few days of vertical growth and node development, and would actually have a bigger plant.

Good luck! I've thought about doing exactly that but have managed to restrain myself so far. . .

Restrain yourself from defoliation! Theres no need for it, and does no good for your plant. Plants need their leaves for photosynthesis. People think its to open up the bud sites. But what "bud sites" are there when the plant is producing no bud?


I will follow along.. it seems that new growers on the forum here are getting nothing but crappy advice on defoliation and other things!

I applaud you for taking the plunge into cannabis growing, but your first mistake was choosing to grow in a DWC set up. With you already battling high room temps, you are now battling high water temps too. As a precaution and a preventative, i would HIGHLY suggest picking up Botanicare's Hydroguard. It will help prevent pythium (root rot). I would also highly suggest AGAINST using any sort of h2o2 or sterilization product, as a sterile environment does not always stay sterile, and is a haven for the bad bacteria.

If you could (since you're early on in the game) get a growing method that takes the roots out of the water. This way, water temperature wont be an issue, also, maintaining adequates amount of dissolved Oxygen (DO) wont be an issue either as your roots wont be sitting in a nutrient solution.

If you are hell bent on growing in DWC, with your temperatures, you are either going to need to purchase an portable AC to cool the grow tent down, which will in turn keep the water temps down too, or buy a water chiller.

My suggestion, would be to scrap the DWC buckets and the hydroton. Purchase some rockwool grow cubes (1cmx1cmx1cm) and grow the plant like a soil plant. In a pot, with the rockwool cubes as your medium, and water it by hand (hand water during veg only) every day. Transplant up from small pots, to larger pots a few times and then into a large, final flowering container. During veg you can re-use the nutrient solution, but i suggest watering to waste, meaning you dont re-use the water you just fed your plants. Make sure that you have at least 25-50% of the container size worth of run-off. So a 2gal container, you want about 1/2-3/4gal of run off when you water.. if you have house plants, or a yard, use the run off on the house plants or the grass, so you still some use out of it..

During flower, its much more automated. A water pump will do your watering during flower, and during this phase, you will recirculate the nutrient solution for one week before replacing the nutrient solution. you can irrigate as many times a day as you want, as it is impossible to over-water plants in rockwool. the flowering station will look like this:

Thats a hydro halo drip ring, but you can make the same thing with some 1/2" PVC for half the price of a Hydro Halo.

with an extended veg time of 8ish weeks, and then putting a plant on one of these systems, you can easily reach yields of 14zips per plant or more, under only a 600w HPS! you have a 1000w, you could get about a 25% increase in yield with this same method.


This is only a suggestion!! If you would like the difficult challenge with DWC growing, you're on the right path thats for sure. But if you would like some more information about this method of growing, feel free to message me on any one of my journals, or send me a PM.

PS, i have done a share of DWC growing, and its just a headache. Great growth rates in veg, but you can achieve that with a top feed system as well!

I wish you all of the luck i can find! i'll be lurking around!

 

[Khraevyn]

I find it odd that you would say not to defoliate when there are multiple threads showing the benefits and increased yield. Especially for small spaces or micro grows. That's how you can get the good return without having to let it grow for 8 months or have 40 plants. And when your pushing 1000W's, you're gonna have more growth over a lower watt CFL grow or even LED. You could take 2 plants the exact same growth media and feed schedule and push 1000W on one and 500W on the other and notice a huge difference. The first time I trimmed them, they were twice as big within a few days.

Before first trim and topping:

right after:

5 days after:

after 2nd trim:

It has increased the time I'll have to veg because of the recover time I agree. But, it does not appear to be having any negative effect on the plant. It bounces back so fast. Did the 2nd trim yesterday, and they hardly even drooped after. This morning I checked on them, and they are pretty as ever. Already inner growth starting to take off. I did break a branch trying to LST it into a different position, but that's all me. Wasn't fully awake and slipped. Taped it back up with some electrical tape(I know, I know, it's all I had though) and hopefully it will heal itself. Broke about 80% through the stem, so I'm not expecting much. The roots are getting more and more everyday as well.

I appreciate you expressing the need for restraint Greenthumb J. I am actually pretty impressed with how easy the Hydro setup actually is. Now, I don't have the heat issues that Rifleman is having and is one of the reasons I wanted to go CFL the first route. I didn't want to have to worry about dissipating heat in top- of learning a new grow style. I did look into some low heat, auto-cooled kits that tempted me, but not quite there yet. I know to really have a good flower, I am going to need to do something else with my lights.

I've seen the rock wool grow like you describe and was wondering about the roots. Doesn't all that rockwool take space away from the roots. I know it keeps O2 in and allows them to experience a dry period, but does having all that moisture in there with plenty of room for air cause mold and bacteria too?

I love that even if you do something wrong, people on this site are more than willing to help and they're not being total douches about it either. For me personally, this first grow is more about experience and learning the best way for my setup. If this were an outdoor grow or I had more room indoors I probably wouldn't be so finicky with the process. But as I have very limited room to try and grow as much as I can, I am going balls out for the best methods. They may not translate well to other styles, but I have to learn. Glad that there is a safety like this site out there.

~K~

 

[wildwelshman]

Hi I just had a read through and in subbed. You said on one off your posts about trimming the autos in my experence it will stun them. Autos are quite sensitive and find it hard to recover from it. hapoy growing mate and in glad you got your temps under control.

 

[Rifleman]

Rifleman's 600w Bubble Kush Auto and Bag Seed Grow

I applaud you for taking the plunge into cannabis growing, but your first mistake was choosing to grow in a DWC set up. With you already battling high room temps, you are now battling high water temps too. As a precaution and a preventative, i would HIGHLY suggest picking up Botanicare's Hydroguard. It will help prevent pythium (root rot).

........... water temperature wont be an issue, also, maintaining adequates amount of dissolved Oxygen (DO) wont be an issue either as your roots wont be sitting in a nutrient solution.

.........If you are hell bent on growing in DWC, with your temperatures, you are either going to need to purchase an portable AC to cool the grow tent down, which will in turn keep the water temps down too, or buy a water chiller.


.........This is only a suggestion!! If you would like the difficult challenge with DWC growing, you're on the right path thats for sure. But if you would like some more information about this method of growing, feel free to message me on any one of my journals, or send me a PM.


........I wish you all of the luck i can find! i'll be lurking around!

Thanks for the comments and info Greenthumb J. I had actually ordered the Hydroguard already. It arrived Saturday, and I dosed immediately. More as a prophylactic measure than anything else. I quit living the big life and lowered my home thermostat to a more economical level. That coupled with the exhaust fan has managed to bring the solution and tent temps down to 72deg F. With the temp probe at the base of the plants I average ~84deg for a high at 12" below the hood. I have also used some heavy foil to ensure no light leaks into the buckets. My air pump is turned up all the way, and produces rigorous bubbling action. It can be heard all over the house. lol

My initial heat problems were all due to my over zealous use of my 600 watts. A sealed hood and my inexperience led me to believe my small plants could take the closeness. It was however a good thing as it forced me to learn more about the heat problems I can run into later. I am keeping a close eye on my root growth and appearance. A change in growing method right now, before the first attempt is complete, would likely create household stress. Happy wife happy life. Drastic failure is a better demonstrator of fact and convincer of SWMBO. I am already seeing the benefits to other systems though and do see changes in the future. It's like any other hobby, one must sneak new stuff into the house and when questioned about it say, "oh I've had that forever". lmao

Again, thanks for the words of wisdom both current and future. I look forward to rewarding everyone's interest and assistance with some good pics, and a garbled disjointed rambling smoke report. Peace.

 

[Rifleman]

Hi I just had a read through and in subbed. You said on one off your posts about trimming the autos in my experence it will stun them. Autos are quite sensitive and find it hard to recover from it. hapoy growing mate and in glad you got your temps under control.

Thanks for subbing. Hopefully you will see me learn a thing or two over the next couple of months. I've decided to leave the autos alone other than some simple lst, basically just enough to spread them open a bit to get the light inside as much as possible. The bag seed, who knows... #1 is slightly stunted, I would say it's just now at the stage where it can begin it's first growth spurt. #2 is a fat beast, almost 14" wide tip to tip, and only 4" tall since I took the top 0.5 inch off. Wish I knew more about their genetics, but it's going to be a crap shoot.

 

[ClosedCircuit]

I'm subbing to see how your plants bounce back.

Like others have said, with autos it might be unnecessary to defoliate. By the time your plants bounce back it could have cut into your flowering time. I haven't grown any autos, but it would seem best to keep conditions simple a constant because they could start flowering at anytime. If you want to mess around with defoliation get some feminized or reg seeds and beg away!

 

[Rifleman]

Just a few quick pics on water change day. Finally got my ppm meter today. No more chasing nutes. LMFAO. Needless to say I'm learning everything the hard way. No time right now, but I'll post my ph & ppm readings tomorrow along with the nutes added. Until then take a look at my babies and let me know what you think. Especially about the leaf color on #1 (half & half), and maybe a guess on the genetics of #2? I've never seen a cannabis plant like it.

Thanks for your interest and comments.

 

[Khraevyn]

 

[wildwelshman]

heres a few charts that may help

 

[Pigeons420]

Don't forget! That 1000w is a gem but you can always use inexpensive CFLs you can get a package for 15$ this will assist greatly with heat without compromising grow. I use them for the first couple weeks then Switch to the HPS when your able to raise the high a little bit and get some air circ.