First Grow: Northern Lights

[Nightcrawler]

Hey all, I've just started my first grow, and thought I should post the progress here to show people how everything is working for me and maybe get some advice when I run into trouble.

I am growing 2-3 northern lights plants from seed in a 2x4x5 grow tent. Doing DWC with 5gal buckets and using a 600W LED grow light. Currently 1 week after breaking surface of rock wool cubes, and the first set of multifinger leaves is just starting to form. Nutes are currently at 1/4 strength, pH right around 6.0.

Nutrients are GH flora trio and CalMag. Using 2 eco2 air pumps for three buckets.

One of the three seedlings got really dried out before I put it in the bucket and growth has halted for the past 5 days, but there is still some green in there. Hoping it survives.

Anyway I appreciate all feedback and hope you guys can get some enjoyment out of seeing these beautiful plants come to life! Will post pictures ASAP

 

[Nightcrawler]

Pics are 1 week from sprouting. The one that almost died is looking kind of sad but still green in the middle.

 

[Nightcrawler]

If anyone has any tips on how to save this little guy please let me know!!

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[Bonez]

Got a zoomed out pic of setup?

 

[Nightcrawler]

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Setup and roots at 1 week

 

[Nightcrawler]

I noticed some scum growing inside the buckets. Stuck on the walls of the bucket, air stone and looks like the roots of one plant. Any suggestions? I just changed the water and scrubbed the buckets clean

 

[Nightcrawler]

The one plant that was struggling didn't make it. The other two are doing well, pictures below are two weeks after sprouting. I bought some Orca beneficial bacteria and the roots seem to be happy, no more brown tint to the roots except for a very small section.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Plants are looking healthy and roots are developing nicely. Changed the reservoirs this morning and am at 1/2 strength nutes.

I am considering mainlining for 4-8 colas per plant, but i'm a bit concerned about the stress resulting in a hermaphrodite (which would be a disaster since I'm only growing two plants). I would top and tie down according to this guide, starting when the 6th node appears. Any thoughts on this? I'm not sure how likely this type of stress is to affect the sex of the plant. The seeds are feminized, from a reputable vendor.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Such a beautiful plant!

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[Nightcrawler]

roots are not looking good. Does anyone have any advice? I could try H2O2 but i'm using Orca beneficial bacteria too.

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[redmud]

I just learned about brewing teas specifically for hydro that will help with your problem I copied a link to the thread on here here it is

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[redmud]

It won't let me post the link within the site for some reason but it's the Wonder Woman-grow journal-2016 Village Idiot goes into great detail to help a fellow grower with root problems in a dwc

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[Nightcrawler]

I just learned about brewing teas specifically for hydro that will help with your problem I copied a link to the thread on here here it is

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Thanks for the tip. Is this supposed to be more effective than Orca or just an alternative method for adding beneficial bacteria?

Any idea if adding more Orca would help? I added ~0.5ml/gal per the instructions on the bottle: Orca® | Plant Success

 

[Planter420]

Get hydroguard and tape up that bucket so no light gets in.


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[Planter420]

Also how are the rez temps


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[redmud]

Thnx Growchy

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[Nightcrawler]

Get hydroguard and tape up that bucket so no light gets in.


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

I actually switched to some thick black buckets, but some light may have been entering via the clear air hose tubing. I covered the tubing near the bucket with some opaque tape so hopefully this will help. I also added 1tsp per gallon of 29% h2o2. I'm thinking in 3 days or so at the next res change I will add Orca again, maybe a bit more than before. Do you recommend hydroguard over Orca?

Res temps have been pretty steady at 68-69F. I'm hoping the small amount of light entering through the air hose was the problem.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Nightcrawler]

Wow it looks like the H2O2 almost completely cleared up the brown stuff for the time being. The roots don't look quite as happy as before but they're white now!

 

[redmud]

Sweet! I would have used h202 and reintroduce the good bacteria,

h202 doesn't last long before it disapates a few hours if I remember right.

Brewing your own teas is so much cheaper in the end, the initial cost of amendments and equipment are usually less than one bottle of benificials.
I even add some Greatwhite to my mix to make sure all the good stuff is in there, not much but the whole point of the tea is to create an environment that they can breed and multiply in. So I basically turn a $70 container of Greatwhite into a year or more worth of benificials.

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[Nightcrawler]

Sweet! I would have used h202 and reintroduce the good bacteria,

h202 doesn't last long before it disapates a few hours if I remember right.

Brewing your own teas is so much cheaper in the end, the initial cost of amendments and equipment are usually less than one bottle of benificials.
I even add some Greatwhite to my mix to make sure all the good stuff is in there, not much but the whole point of the tea is to create an environment that they can breed and multiply in. So I basically turn a $70 container of Greatwhite into a year or more worth of benificials.

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Yeah the tea would be a little hard for me to brew in my apartment so I'm sticking to the Orca for now. I'll keep that in mind for the future tho!
I replaced the nutrient water last night, no more h2o2 and added the beneficial bacteria. I think I may have used too much h2o2 because growth has slowed to a crawl and plants are looking droopy. The bottom leaves on one plant are even starting to yellow.

Anyone know if this is a severe problem, or how if I should be doing something to help them improve? I will add some pictures tonight.

Thanks