Seamus' - Anxiolyticure - First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

[anxiolyticure]

Howdy folks!

This will be my first grow of medical plants for my family.
Since I am a total newb, I would appreciate and welcome any constructive criticism!

Edit: No longer organic.

What strain is it?

• Green House Seed Co. White Rhino Fem (x2)
• KC Brains KC 36 (x2)
• Barney's Farm Liberty Haze Fem (x2)

Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages?

Vendor website reports:

• White Rhino at 11% THC, 1.6% CBD, & 0.5% CBN;
• KC 36 is not listed; &
• Liberty Haze is listed at 25% THC & 1,8% CBDs.

My goal was to produce medicine for my family, so I wanted good CBD production.

Is it in Veg or Flower stage?

Pre-grow. Seeds should arrive tomorrow.
I am mostly following Tulip's DWC Tutorial.

I've set up my grow station, and things are looking good:

Indoor or outdoor?

Indoor. I'll post photos as soon as I figure the system out.

Soil or Hydro?

Hydro, with General Hydroponics^TM Flora series nutrients.

Size of light?

• 2 of Hydroponic Full Spectrum CFL Grow Light Bulb 60 Watt Bulb 5500K H60
• 1 of CFL @ 2700k
• 1 of CFL @ 6500k

Is it aircooled?

I'm going to throw in a fan in there once things get going.

Temp of Room/cab?

It's running at 73 F without the lights on, I'll keep you posted.

RH of Room/cab?

It's at 65 at the moment, I can humidify if folks think its necessary.
Thoughts?

PH of media or res?

I adjusted the PH to yellow, its started running slightly red after a few hours. I'm going to get a better PH meter immediately, the color adjustment is ok but not great. The system is bubbling right now with water inside the acceptable zone, which was my goal.

Type and strength of ferts used?

Well, I had purchased a GO Box, but since then I researched more closely only to learn that General Organics nutes are not suited to deep water culture systems at all. Just won't work.

Thus, I am forced to either change my grow medium, or to change my nutrients. Ah, newbie problems.

I'm going to get the Flora series box and deal with it!

Any input on this from ya'll is appreciated. Like, don't like, etc...

 

[Light Addict]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

Welcome to 420 my friend. Your in the best place possible for getting every bit of info you will ever require. This really is the best site of its kind in the world. So well done for making the most important decision for a successful grow. ( joining 420)
You seem like your planning everything well. I dont do hydro so I cant really aid you, but dont worry someone on here will have all the answers.
Good luck and enjoy your time with 420.

 

[anxiolyticure]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

Thanks, LightAddict, I appreciate the comment!

 

[KingJohnC]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

subscribed. make sure you wash any medium you are going to use in the net pots well.

 

[anxiolyticure]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

Ok, folks, I'm getting a little concerned because now I'm doing more reading, and I'm wondering if I can even use General Organics fertilizers in a deep water culture setup. It's looking like these nutes won't work for me.

Anyone have experience with this? I can do the Flora series, but I was really hoping for organics....

 

[anxiolyticure]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

Thanks, KingJohnC. I have the SH kit, which came with clay pebbles, which I have rinsed the heck out of...

My main concern night now is that the nutrients aren't going to work for hydro/dwc.

 

[anxiolyticure]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

Well, folks, it looks like I goofed. I have edited the original post to update the fact that I am not doing organic anymore, due to poor research.

My gaff was that when I read that General Organics nutrients could be used in "soil less" media on the GH website, I assumed that meant hydro and that any hydro would be fine. Well, of course it didn't.
I was wrong, the GO product is not recommended in hydro setups really, and explicitly not in DWC setups.

Now, I did find a few mentions of people doing it, but they were few and far between and they didn't seem as reliable as I would like.

Therefore, I'm going to put the organic requirement aside for my first grow, since my DWC setup is already ready to go, and go with Flora series nutrients.

I would prefer organic, but I believe this will be fine. Criticisms & concerns as always will be appreciated.

 

[anxiolyticure]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

Okay! First,

Second, seeds came in today! :-D

Also, took a little trip to the mart & upgraded the air stone situation in my stealth hydro kit:

The cross you see above are two air bars. The pump that came with my kit is driving them, but it could stand to be a little more powerful, perhaps.
I used them, crossed over and suctioned to the bottom, to anchor the provided air stone as well. Truth be told, I don't think this setup is much better than the air stone alone, but perhaps every bubble helps.

So, I soaked the seeds for a few hours. Ate this delicious chicken pot pie that my lovely wife made for me.
After that, drained the test water, and took my kit to the tub to fill her up.

PH was about 7 from the tap, pretty green. As usual, one whole squirt from the dropper of PH Down got my tap water to yellow, which as best as I can tell is good enough until I get a real PH meter.

Then I adjusted the length of my water delivery hoses that run into the cups from the irrigation hub. Trimming them should be better, because at their stock length they are quite long and things in the box were getting pretty crowded.

Then I was ready to pull out the clay pebbles and rockwool cubes. The pebbles I rinsed in the shower five times. The rockwool cubes had been soaking for 24 hours in water with a PH of about 5, per Tulip's HowTo. At least I hope that's right.

Anyway, this is what it looked like:

So, I took it in to my grow closet from the tub. Then, I dropped my seeds into the rockwool.

I should note that my wife really enjoyed that part. It was cute, but then she had been partaking.

Anyway, I fired up the pumps, which worked as expected, fired up the lights, which are bright as hell, and we were off!

As per Tulip's instructions, I created some shades from paper plates and some painters tape.

I sure hope these seeds sprout...

 

[KingJohnC]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

is the water splashing the bottom of the rockwool? i would consult General Hydroponics to whether their General Organics line can be used in your Deep Water Culture.

here is General Hydroponics contact information

Contact us

Use the form below and we’ll be in touch as soon as possible We’re here to help 2877 Giffen Ave Santa Rosa, CA 95407 Front Desk & Deliveries 1-800-374-9376 Product and Technical Support 1-888-808…

generalhydroponics.com

 

[anxiolyticure]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

First off, KingJohnC, for helping me on my first grow.

is the water splashing the bottom of the rockwool?

I have the feeder tubes butted up against the side of the rockwool cubes. I have been testing them at least every three hours to ensure that they're getting their water & remaining moist. I have read that one of the benefits of rockwool is that it will retain 18% air at all times no matter what, so since they are staying wet and things look & sound good, I am going to be happy and wait for sprouts...

This is pure PH'd water, with no nutes at this point yet. I should have mentioned that.

Also, this morning I noticed that my relative humidity was waaaaaaay too low. So I added wet towels all around the top of my resevior, and a couple of bowls of water in the grow room besides.

i would consult General Hydroponics to whether their General Organics line can be used in your Deep Water Culture.

here is General Hydroponics contact information

Contact us

Use the form below and we’ll be in touch as soon as possible We’re here to help 2877 Giffen Ave Santa Rosa, CA 95407 Front Desk & Deliveries 1-800-374-9376 Product and Technical Support 1-888-808…

generalhydroponics.com

Ok. I just sent them an email to confirm. I'm fairly certain what they will come back with, and thus have already ordered the Flora product.
We'll see.

Thanks again!

 

[anxiolyticure]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

More on water

I am using tap water. The bubble ponics DWC system aerates the water so much that I am certain that the vast majority of chlorine is gone in minutes.
I'm going to get a PPM reading on the PH'd water in res at my lunchtime check, and I'll post photos too.

 

[anxiolyticure]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

Day Two
Still no sprouts.

Before work, I noticed that the humidity was too low, as I mention above. It was around 43% or so.
So, added bowls of water and wet rolled towels to the grow area, then went to work.

I went home at lunch and, the humidity was back up!

Unfortunately, I measured PH and it was too high, so I had to adjust it down.
Took it a little too far, and had to add a touch of PH up, but now it is in the yellow.

In this image you can clearly see the low RH of 43%, a high of 64%, and a current humidity of 62% which is not too shabby for two bowls of water and two wet towels with a personal fan blowing over them.
Also, tested the PH'd res water for total dissolved solids and it looks like it settled at 147 ppm, as you can see.

At any rate, the numbers look ok to me, what do you guys think?
Still waiting for sprouts!

 

[anxiolyticure]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

Lights

I forgot to mention that I turned off the two 60 watt grow CFLs, in favor of just the 20 watt CFL @ 2700k and the 23 watt CFL @ 6500k...just until we get sprouts with a few leaves. I don't want to burn the babies, or make things too hot.

Thoughts?

again to all my frients!

 

[Light Addict]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

The right path my friend with the lights. Your set up looks nice and organised, cant wait to see how things go. Sending thoughts of busting beans to you.

 

[anxiolyticure]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

i would consult General Hydroponics to whether their General Organics line can be used in your Deep Water Culture.

So, I did email General Hydroponics:

Folks,

Just a question on your General Organics GO box product.

I purchased it to use as nutrients in a Deep Water Culture 6 gallon system, which is a combined drip & dwc kit from Stealth Hyrdo.
Only to later learn, upon further research, from the GH blog and others, that the General Organics line is not suited to DWC systems.

However, I have seen posts from people out in the wide world indicating that they are using the product, excepting BioMarine, in such systems.

I have also since purchased a Flora series pack, but was really hoping to go Organic.

Can you please confirm that I should not use organics in DWC?

Thanks in advance,
Seamus

And this is their complete reply, which they got back to me in about a day. Great customer service!

TL;DR: You can do it but it stinks and it's a PITA.

Hello,

Yes, some people have had success (to varying degrees) using the General Organics in DWC systems. We do not recommend it however due to the high degree of skill and experience required to properly grow organically in a DWC system. It tends to be very messy and also heavily dependent on living biology in the system. That can also lead to issues such as, wide pH fluctuations, bacterial slime build up, foaming and bad smells. These make for less than optimal conditions for an indoor garden. But, if you really want to try it, go right ahead.

Thank you,
Jesse Pennington

 

[danklover79]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

Subbed, I'm attempting dwc myself, though on a smaller scale, maybe we can learn from each other.

 

[KingJohnC]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

I use the General Hydroponics Flora series myself, you can have a look at how it works in soiless grows in my LA Confidential grow in my signature.

 

[anxiolyticure]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

Day Four
Well hello, my little ladies.

And ... baby sprouts!

These girls (mmmmmk, hopefully girls) showed up yesterday. I wish I had a better camera to show you close ups, but I don't.

Five of the six seeds that I put in the system have popped, and the sixth may have, I can barely tell.
That one, and one other, seem to have been upside down in the rockwool because they grew down first...

The seeds on the left are feminized White Rhino from Green House Seed Co., and they're going crazy.
The seeds in the middle are the KC 36es, it was one of those that hadn't popped, although I thought I might have seen a bit of white coming out of it today. Just in case, I started another one of them in a paper towel method on Saturday.
The seeds on the right are the Liberty Haze from Barney's Farm. One of them is going nuts and the other's lagging a little & upside down.

Five of six! It's almost like a miracle, how well this setup works.
From seeds, in four days, to see things grow like this.
I'm so impressed. Very happy with my success so far.
I feel as though all the research was worth it.

I've decided to go ahead and fire up the grow lights, but off to the side.

In this photo you can see my small fan.
Also, in the interim I have procured nutrients, I have installed a larger oscillating fan which I don't quite need yet, I have set up a drainage system for my weekly water changes, and I have procured a PH meter.

Water PH is at 6.2 at the moment, and seems stable. This is only PH'd water, no nutes yet.
I'm happy with things so far.

I'm looking forward to seeing real leaves develop soon!

to my friEnts for sub'ing and I've returned in kind.

Happy growing, all!

 

[anxiolyticure]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

Some Concerns
A post in which I over think things out loud, then mostly likely do nothing

First, the system is working. It's really impressive how efficiently this system shows off the miracle of life.

From seeds! Just wow. Now, I will say that setup was expensive, it's true. But, I think the return on investment, if I can keep things in order, will definitely be worth it.

Second, I am anxious about when precisely to add the nutrients. I feel like I should get nutes into the system soon, but I don't want to kill the fragile seedlings.

In Tulip's tutorial--by the way, what happened to that guy?--he suggests that nutes should be started slowly as the 3rd and 4th fan leaves are beginning to appear. He errs on the side of using less nutrients, to avoid nute burn.

But I am using GH's Flora products.

When do you guys think I should add nutrients to the system, and should I add precisely as much as the feeding schedule lists, or take it slow?

Third, I splurged on a drill pump drainage system.

I will post pictures and a description of it after I test it for the first time.
If it doesn't work, I won't want to waste your time, but I believe it will work quite well. We shall see.


~Seamus

 

[danklover79]

Re: Seamus' (anxiolyticure) First Grow: Hydro Organic White Rhino/KC 36/Liberty Haze

You should start at 1/4 strength, and gradually increase the dosage. But you should definitely not start them yet, wait until they are like 4 inches tall, or until they show signs of a def.