1st ebb and flow attempt - opinions and comments welcome

SwampThing

New Member
Hi All,
I'm a newbie so pls be gentle with me
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I've been growing with soil on and off for the last 20yrs and thought I'd branch out into 'ponics as I am sick of running dry or being ripped off with poor quality smoke. Anyway, I would appreciate your comments on my 1st attempt at ebb and flow. It looked the easiest method for a 1st grow so I splashed out on the following spec;
2* 600w HDS
1 * 100ltr res
4 * 30ltr tubs
fans,timers, led ec/ph/temp meter, water pumps & stones, water heater, nutes (sensi grow), ph up/dwn etc etc....anyway I don't think I'm short of any equipment is my point.
My growing area is 2m*1m. I'm growing in rock wool with clay pellets filling rest of the tubs. I have my lights on a 16/8 cycle. My nutes are currently at 700ppm. I have recently brought this down from >800ppm. ph is quite steady around 5.9. water temp around 20degs.
My tubs have 4 plants in each - grown from seed and although they have taken off like mad and the grow being 3 weeks old (from seed) is looking v good I'm unsure on what watering cycle to put them on and would be grateful for some of your wisdom. There are some really informative threads I know but from what I have read there seems to be a lot of variables to consider ref the watering cycle. In addition I've already seen some leaf burn appearing that I put down to over nuteing. See pics.

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So.... my questions are for you experienced ebb and flowers out there;
1. Do you think my set up is OK? - what changes would you make?
2. Is the leaf burn down to too much nute ppm? - what nute lvl would you recommend?
3. What watering cycle would tou recommend? the tubs take 2min to fill and 5mins to empty.
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Any comments\criticisms are gratefully received. I'm a 40+ thick skinned stoner so don't worry about hurting my feelings. Thanks a bunch in advance.
 
4th week of 1st grow.
Things have moved on at pace in the last week and I'm in utter amazement at the speed at which the girls have now taken off. I made some changes last week which I thought I would share. Please comment if you have the time.
1. I wrapped my tubs to protect roots from light - note to self; paint tubs if re-use after this grow
2. reduced nutes to ~600ppm - I thought had some nute burn which has now disappeared :)
3. lifted lights to avoid heat burn
4. increased watering frequency to 4/day
5. changed light cycle to 18/6 from 16/8
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I hope you like my pics and someone finds time to answer a few questions;
1. I don't have clue when to start flowering, but as limited space is a factor, I'm interested to learn how much more my plants will grow after I switch to 12/12?
2. Based on the above question when should I commence 12/12?
3. I chose not to grow in baskets and opted just for rockwool 3*4". Will this cause me problems later in the grow?
4. I know my plants are gonna be battling for space soon. My intention was to remove the male plants after flowering starts thus realising this free space. Is this a feasible approach or should I be making more room now?

I can't believe I haven't tried 'dro before. It has completely blown my mind how quickly and dramatically the plants veg. I am enjoying the growing experience as much as I am the expectation of what's to come. My hat's off to the experience growers out there - I'm starting to realise how much fun you guys have been having. Hope you can find time to respond.
 
Looks like some good growth you have there! It's all worth it if you're having fun doing it, sounds like hydroponics is a good choice for you.

I'm still learning myself, I would like to attempt ebb and flow if I ever get a place where I have the room.

For your questions...expect your plants to more than double in size when you switch to flower. Not sure of your strain but they look like Indicas which is good for your limited space. I would plan of making room soon.
I can't answer your rockwool question.

Good luck with everything!
 
Hey I have done ebb and grow quite a few times. I like hydroton you can almost never over water it. You look really crowded, when you flower they will be fighting each other. Your space is really small for all that light. I mean thats enough light for a space 3 times that size. A 600 watt would cover a 4x4 area no problem. IMO you are wasting money. In the future try using 1 large tub as apposed to 4 small ones. Man at this point I would trim those things way back and try to increase vertical growth. Then flower stat. Or move those to a bigger bed and get a serious yield. Good Luck
 
Looking in on your grow. Not familiar with Ebb and Flo. I use DWC Hydroponics. It will be interesting to watch. The plants will definitely double in size during flower. Maybe I missed something. You're growing from seeds?
 
SwampThing,

That looks like a 2'x4'x6' shelf system; is it? 20C is perfect temp and your ppm's are fine. You've got a good start but here are a couple of things that will speed you up.

1. Take down those lights and replace them with a couple shop lights. T8 or T12, doesn't matter. You plants will love you for it and so will your wallet when the power bill comes. If you're going to use the same space for flower then you can put the HID back up.

2. Keep the lighting schedule at 18/6.

3. For larger tubs that will fit in your space get the concrete mixing tubs from a building supply store. They are cheap, durable, and lightproof.

Hmmm...just noticed you're in the UK. Where at?
 
Hi Guys,
thanks for the comments - I'm learning all the time and I do find the feedback very helpful :):thumb:

HashAssassin, yep it's around 4*2*6 shelf system I guess (I'm going bigger next time). thanks for the advice on containers and lights - will incorporate into next gro. I'm in SW.
BootUmAll, yep from seed - got a few fem strains but most plants from a mates random seed collection (bad idea with hindsight).
castaway, you will see from pics that over crowding is really an issue now

I've started 12/12 (28/12) using A/N Bloom (got myself some BigBud for later too). I'm gonna follow the nute schedule on the A/N website as it it looks easy as for a 1st time 'dro grower.
I was a good boy and flushed to PH nuetral water only for 30hrs in dark with several waterings. Plants seemed to wilt a little after 30 hrs dark. I'm assuming this is natural - seem OK now. I'm hoping I see some signs of flowring this week so I can hook out the males and create some more room. How quickly do the first flowers show themselves? The sooner they show themselves the quicker I can give the girls more room (note to self - only grow females). I've removed all the lower fan leaves (against my better judgement really) and it doesn't appear to have harmed the plants any. Could this be because the lighting is way OTT? I wanted to get some light down to those lower growing branches.

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As you can see I've introduced a screen as I think this is my best chance of a good yield in this sort of space. It will only be 2days before all plants are up to screen. What do you think?
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I've kept a diary throughout and found it v useful as I know I'm making lots of errors and will be doing things differently next time. The key is to try and avoid the same mistake twice eh?
 
Bummer - just lost 30mins of typing with network error when I tried to post. So this little post is much thinner on content than planned. Do you think I should ask the mod to move this into the Grow Journals forum?

Here's some new pics with the screen turned round - this adds around 50% to growing area giving much need width for the girls (and boys grrrr). As you can tell I haven't planned this grow at all, apart from planning to learn as I go along. It most certainly will not be cost effective but looking at the health of the plants I'm confident of getting some quality meds at the end of it. Makes me smile as I PM for a living and would rarely prototype with an uncapped budget :).

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Day5 of flowering and I'm getting all excited about being able to weed out the boys and give the girls some much need room to "go for it". It's clearly not viable to grow from unknown lineage and I will be making sure I think things out a little more carefully next time. Having said that I've learned a awful lot and have really enjoyed my grow. It's a geat hobby!

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It seem that each hyrdo system is timer specific depending on grow container size, rez size, number of plants. How many times during the on light cycle were you flooding your tables durring veg and now during flower? Did you even have to change the timing. Currently setting up my hydro system and am looking for more and more and more information on feeding schedules :)

Wake~~n~~Bakin in NM
Hyrdo setup for upcomming cabinet- Suggestions?
 
Hi Pazuzu,
I've got watering on 2min cycle evry 3 hrs during lights on. Now in 7th wk of flowering and all is looking good in the garden. I think you're correct about each system is timer specific. Although I'm not experienced at all my best advice would be to watch your plants closely and try and "feel" for the best cycle for your configuration. Probably feels a bit hit and miss but you can't do too much harm and you will find a good schedule for your specific config. My golden rule above all esle would be to start of with nutes erring on low side of what's recommended and gradually increase as your girls become established. Oh, and of course always grow plants from a reliable origin and build your grow room around their epected finishing size when in full bloom. Lol - I broke all of those ruless with my current grow but have still managed a really nice set of ladies showing all the signs of a nice yield. I'm a few weeks away from a nice harvest, and even though I've probably spent far too long in the garden watching it grow (lol), it's been lots of fun!!! Good luck with your grow bud.
 
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