PowerpuffGirl's 1st Bubbles Grow

[PowerpuffGirl]

Long ago (okay, October) and far away in some other forum, I came across Roseman's 80ish page thread about how to grow with Deep Water Culture. That's when I got excited about growing. I'd been thinking about trying a grow longer than that, and here was a step by step guide for how to grow WITHOUT DIRT. Yeeeesssss!!!!

I get along swimmingly with water, and I'm on good terms with air (I mean, I breathe, right?) but every time I've tried to keep something alive that involved dirt, it's ended in disappointment and death. Growing with bubbles and no dirt sounded like a dream come true!

So I spent November and most of December reading Deep Water Culture grow threads, and planning. I wound up with:

1 closet, cleaned, lines with mylar and sprayed for mites, etc
1 4', 4-bulb T-5 fixture from HTG Supply (getting second for bloom-time)
4 T-5 2700K bulbs @50W/5K lumens each
4 T-5 6500K bulbs @50W/5K lumens each
1 irrigation hub from Stealth Hydro
1 160 gal/h water pump
1 2 outlet 120 gallon air pump
4 12" airstones
15' 30# load chain for light management
Assorted snap hooks for chain management
2 10" square fans
1 cool mist humidifier
Hydroton pellets
rockwool
5" net cups
power drill
utility knife
1/4" and 1/2" tubing
Fox Farm Grow Big, Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom nutes
pH Up and pH Down
pH/PPM meter
timer
min/max temp/humidity gauge
6mL oral medication syringes (for measuring pH concentrates and nutes)
washcloths, duct tape, pliers, tweezers, bonsai shears, Sharpies, spray bottles, styrofoam plates
2 spare 5-gallon buckets with lids
2 1-gallon jugs with screw on caps

*deep breath* Okay, I think I got it all.

I started with a 10-gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck container for my reservoir, but realized once I had everything assembled that it just wasn't tall enough to hold water deep enough to submerge the water pump and still allow 2" of clearance from the bottom of the 5" net cups. If I'd gone with 3" net cups, It probably would have been okay.

For Bubbles Mach II, I used a Sterilite 10-gal container from Wal-Mart. That stuff is at least twice as hard to cut through with a utility knife, and my cup holes are raggedy to prove it.

End result for Bubbles Mach II, 6 gallon water line marked in Sharpie.

 

[proudstoner]

nice set up what strain r u growing?

 

[PowerpuffGirl]

I know what I forgot! SEEDS.

I went crazy Attitude Seed Bank and wound up with a surplus of strains since I only planned to grow 3 plants. I did two orders, both using stealth shipping, and both orders were delivered a week after I put them in with multiple free seeds, including Attitude's Xmas bonanza.

My initial plan was:

1 Greenhouse Seeds feminized Super Lemon Haze
1 Nirvana feminized White Castle
1 Greenhouse Seeds feminized The Church

After soaking my seeds for 24 hours, I added them to rockwool soaked in 5.2 pH solution with hydroton soaked in 6.0 pH solution.

Ta-da! 12/23 10:00pm, Day 1, Minute 1:

You'll notice my water lines sticking way out of the cups, and the water stream was a little strong at the start. Total noob beginning, and my plants started slower because of it. It just goes to show that you can read expert advice, but nothing can teach you like doing and learning from your mistakes.

At this point, I went off for two days and enjoyed Xmas, and fully expected to come home and see babies poking out of my rockwool. That did not happen. (See above mention of the word 'noob.' )

I then did something that I hope other anxious 1st-time growers are guilty of - I peeked in the rockwool to see if I had roots. I did on the Super Lemon Haze (a maze of loop-de-loop roots) and White Castle (one inch-long taproot). The Church was a dud. Ever since I peeked in the rockwool, I've kicked myself a little for being so impatient.

On the bright side, I knew I needed to put another Church on to soak. I had a bad feeling, though, because the second seed didn't float, and I think I'd read two other threads where ppl had had trouble germinating Church seeds. It's a shame, because it sounded like a neat smoke.

 

[PowerpuffGirl]

nice set up what strain r u growing?

I'm on day 16 of the grow since putting into rockwool. I'll be making posts in this thread til I catch up to the present.

 

[proudstoner]

you should post a link on the Deep Water Culture home of your grow

 

[TheAnswer1776]

I know what I forgot! SEEDS.

I went crazy Attitude Seed Bank and wound up with a surplus of strains since I only planned to grow 3 plants. I did two orders, both using stealth shipping, and both orders were delivered a week after I put them in with multiple free seeds, including Attitude's Xmas bonanza.

My initial plan was:

1 Greenhouse Seeds feminized Super Lemon Haze
1 Nirvana feminized White Castle
1 Greenhouse Seeds feminized The Church

After soaking my seeds for 24 hours, I added them to rockwool soaked in 5.2 pH solution with hydroton soaked in 6.0 pH solution.

Ta-da! 12/23 10:00pm, Day 1, Minute 1:

You'll notice my water lines sticking way out of the cups, and the water stream was a little strong at the start. Total noob beginning, and my plants started slower because of it. It just goes to show that you can read expert advice, but nothing can teach you like doing and learning from your mistakes.

At this point, I went off for two days and enjoyed Xmas, and fully expected to come home and see babies poking out of my rockwool. That did not happen. (See above mention of the word 'noob.' )

I then did something that I hope other anxious 1st-time growers are guilty of - I peeked in the rockwool to see if I had roots. I did on the Super Lemon Haze (a maze of loop-de-loop roots) and White Castle (one inch-long taproot). The Church was a dud. Ever since I peeked in the rockwool, I've kicked myself a little for being so impatient.

On the bright side, I knew I needed to put another Church on to soak. I had a bad feeling, though, because the second seed didn't float, and I think I'd read two other threads where ppl had had trouble germinating Church seeds. It's a shame, because it sounded like a neat smoke.

Very nice setup my lady friend!!! Best of luck to you on your journey!

 

[PowerpuffGirl]

On 12/28, Day 6 from putting in rockwool, and I got my two babies poking out into the big, wide weed world:

It's a baby White Castle!

It's a baby Super Lemon Haze!

I gave up on The Church after the second bum seed and started soaking a Green House Seeds feminized Bubba Kush. It floated! Hurrah! I know that's not a sure-fire sign of a good seeds, but it did relax me a little.

Another noob thing I have learned from my pursuit of a 3rd plant is I would have been better off leaving that third cup slot empty in my larger reservoir and used one of my 5-gallon buckets for the third plant. I realize now that waiting for that third seed to pop out of the rockwool delayed me starting nutes by probably 4 days. Another reason for a slower start.

Water pH: 6.1 Water temp 70.1F
Air temp 75, RH 33%

Two challenges in my environment have been keeping the water temp under 72 and keeping the humidity up. My humidity is normally 20-25% in the winter when I'm running heat and @ 35% the rest of the year. It'll be great when flowering-time comes, but for now I'm running a humidifier, using cups of ice and soaked washcloths. I've yet to get the humidity over 40%, though.

Day 9 from rockwool, my Bubba Kush seed has now also been in rockwool for two days.

Water pH: 6.2 Water temp 70.4F
Air temp 74.8 RH 36%

The trio. I have light going 24-0, but the lights are raised so I'm not putting full light on the babies. I also forgot to mention I'm using 3 6500K tubes and 1 2700K to have a mixed-spectrum.

Baby Super Lemon Haze, Day 9 (Day 4 out of rockwool)

Baby White Castle, Day 9 (Day 4 out of rockwool)

 

[Chevyman]

very nice job powerpuff. for a noob it sure sounds like you know whats going on. i'll be pulling up a chair for this one. keep up the good work. oh yeah i use foxfarm as well and it has treated me very good. i am on my first grow also . stop in and check it out. do you have the foxfarm feeding schedule ? if not, they have it on their website for hydroponics.

 

[PowerpuffGirl]

1/1, Day 10, Day 5 out of the rockwool for my SLH and WC

pH: 6.2, Water temp: 72.3F
Air temp 80F, RH 31

I've had my 2 10" fans running to reduce the Air temp and help give my babies strong stems Looking at my setup, I started thinking... (kind of scary when it's a 1st grow)

I'd put my rockwool lower in the cups with the intent that my roots would hit water sooner. The thing is, I noticed there was a good inch of trench between the top of my hydroton/rockwool and the rim of the net cup, effectively shielding the stems from the fans.

I hadn't done that with the Bubba Kush cup. I decided to soak some more hydroton in pH 6.0 water and prop my two baby plants up to be level with the rim of the net cup. I'd love some feedback on whether this was a good, bad or indifferent thing to do.

My main qualm was when I resettled my White Castle. Earlier I mentioned it had a long taproot? Well, now it was a good 4 inches of root poking out of the rockwool. I was worried that I could have stressed it with any kind of agitation at this point, letting the baby root out in the open as I moved it and poured in the new hydroton.

Anyway, the end result:

 

[Chevyman]

i dont see any problem in raising up the rockwool. thats what i do and it works just fine. i use a 5 gal bucket setup with a 10 inch net pot. imagine how long it takes for my taproot to hit deep water. but i find that using a netpot that big makes for a real stable platform later on. When urs get a lil bigger id cover the pots with plates or something to stop light from getting in the res.

 

[PowerpuffGirl]

you should post a link on the Deep Water Culture home of your grow

I will!

Very nice setup my lady friend!!! Best of luck to you on your journey!

Thanks for the well-wishes!

very nice job powerpuff. for a noob it sure sounds like you know whats going on. i'll be pulling up a chair for this one. keep up the good work. oh yeah i use foxfarm as well and it has treated me very good. i am on my first grow also . stop in and check it out. do you have the foxfarm feeding schedule ? if not, they have it on their website for hydroponics.

I think it's great that the Deep Water Culture have put out so much information on their grows and made their wisdom accessible. It's inspiring. I've been following your grow, chevyman, and you've got some beautiful buds over there. I hope I can do half as well!

I got a copy of the FF feeding schedule when I picked up the nutes at HTG Supply. I've just got to work my babies up to full nutes.

I had some styrofoam plates on standby to cover up the hydroton. They've been covering the base of the SLH and WC for a couple days now.

 

[PowerpuffGirl]

1/3: Day 12, Day 7 out of rockwool for the SLH and WC, Day 1 for the Bubba Kush.

pH:6.4, Water temp 67.1F
Air temp: 76F, RH 36%

Baby White Castle

Baby Super Lemon Haze

Baby Bubba Kush!

This was the date of my first res change. I followed the advice from Roseman's tutorial and used the water pump coupled with a length of 1/2" tubing to dump my res into one of my 5-gallon buckets. It was a breeze and fast! Thank you, Roseman!

I'd delayed starting nutes 3+ days waiting on a third sprout, and I couldn't be patient anymore, even though my Bubba Kush didn't have a pair of leaves yet, only the cotyledon. I definitely didn't want to give them even a sixth of a dose with that teeny BK sprout, though, so my first nutes were more like a hint of a taste.

Base tap water PPM: 80
With 2 mL FF Grow Big: 110

 

[PowerpuffGirl]

1/5: Day 14, Day 9 out of rockwool for SLH and WC, Day 3 for BK

pH: 6.3, Water temp 72.1F
Air temp 77.5F, RH 30%
PPM: 160

Baby White Castle

Baby Super Lemon Haze

Baby Bubba Kush

1/7: Day 16, Day 11 out of rockwool for SLH and WC, Day 5 for BK

pH: 6.1, Water temp 71.9F
Air temp 80F, RH 20%
PPM: 215

Baby White Castle

Baby Super Lemon Haze

Baby Bubba Kush

My humidifier ran out of water while I was at work. As soon as I saw that 20% humidity, I whipped out the washcloths. Got the humidity back over 30 pretty quickly.

It's obvious to me now how much my Bubba Kush has benefited from the nutes. I think it's gained 2 days of development time on the older plants.

Another thing is I gradually lowered my lights each day. Now they're about 4" from the tops of the older plants. I'll move them down to 2-3" away depending on how they grow by tomorrow. On the older plants, I had a little bit of stretch, maybe an inch of stem? None on the Bubba Kush in comparison. I won't be quite as tentative starting the light next grow.

Another milestone! I had my first hint of root poking out of my Super Lemon Haze Cup tonight!

That's it for now! I'll post more of my grow when it grows more!

 

[MataGrowa]

Very Nice
Great setup and super posts
This looks like it will be a fun watch, I'll definitely be pulling up a couch for this one

 

[maxamus1]

lookin good so far cant wait to see how this turns out!!!!

 

[SteveMcGreen]

Looks like they are off to a good start. Sorry about that Church seed! I just started one of them this week. The seed sank instantly just like the ones you had, but popped up just fine so far.

 

[The Weed]

PowerpuffGirl, Love what you are doing. Great detail and Great pictures. Thank you for sharing and Huge to 420. It is great you are doing 3 strains your first time. I am planning a multi-strain grow for my first Bubble try too. You don't mind if I put my Lazy-boy right here..OK?
Rep+

 

[Tyrone Hamilton]

First root - that's a good sign! I'll be watching...

 

[FryingPanFlyer]

Hey Girl, great to see anew grow starting up, I'll be looking in too.

 

[Roseman]

We all put our best suits and clothes on to give you a warm welcome!

Sure am glad to see you here.
Glad to see you raised the cubes and lowered the tubes, they are best butted into the sides of the cubes. Butting the tubes in the sides of the cubes slows the flow and hides them from the lights!

You're doing great!