Kabbal's First Indoor Grow Journal In 6 Years

[Kabbal]

Hello all. This is my First Hydroponics Journal and I plan to update this as I go. Please go easy on me but also give the harsh reality if I am doing something you pro's would not. Also I had to dump my first 30 days as I have started this in December but had trouble finding a happy home. This website has been the best hands down!



About me:

I am going to reveal some basic information about me because I am a very busy person and will more than likely talk about details and ask questions regarding my day to day operations along with answering questions.



I am a 32 year old male residing in beautiful Northern California to be exact. I operate a small business as a broker and work 12 hour days Monday-Saturday. My passion for marijuana has been there since I was 14 years old. I have always been fascinated with the properties and effects of the beautiful plant. This will be my first time growing a Indoor Hydroponics system. I have done my fair share of researching and getting suggestions from friends. I will do my best to make this as informative as possible along with explaining things that I feel may be confusing for new growers, so they do not make the same mistakes I have. It all started (December 15 2016) when I was high and drunk with friends. One of them said he will drop off a good strain clone for me and I jokingly said I will take care of it and make it grow. Next morning I wake up hungover making breakfast and doorbell goes off. There he is with this beautiful clone of Platinum OG (Indica). I could have easily just potted it and used basic skills that I had in the past and grew it with soil. Instead I saw this as an opportunity to relive a past hobby and learn something new at the same time with Hydroponics. Oh and not to mention me and my business partners come up with great business sessions high so why not grow our own supply?! And so here we are... 5 Weeks later... My build has changed ever so much as the 5 weeks have happened so I will break down below what it currently is now.

Room: 5x5 Grow Tent 60x60x80 (5ftx5ft 6.7 ft Tall)
Light: 4x200 W LED COB
Chip quantities: 2pcs 64*3w
Chip size: red:blue: 42mil-45mil
View Angle of reflector: 90 degree patent reflector cup
Input voltage: AC85~265V
Current: 600ma
Air Flow: 6' Inline Fan Carbon Air Filter And 25-Feet Ducting Combo and Charcoal Activated Carbon Filter.
3 ft oscillating fan at base.
PPM and PH Meters
Nutrients: Botanicare Pureblend Pro, Liquid Karma, Cal-Mag, Clearex
Grow Medium hydroton and Soil (read later for explanation of why soil)


Strains: 1x Platinum (Linda) OG, 3x Chernobyl (Larry, Curly, and Moe)

Day 1: (Seed or Clones Stage)

This was basic... I had the clone (Linda) in a Dixie cup on rock wool and decided I would go with some basic CFL's. (This is fast forwarding the research and the basics of knowing how to grow a plant). I used the toothpicks to keep the roots from touching the plastic bottom.

Day 3 :

I knew I would need to transport her ASAP, so I put her in soil. No nutrients or anything just basic soil and 2 CFL bulbs 6500k (Bright White) 26 Watt Each bulb. She does not look very happy but so far so good.

Day 6:

I decided on this day I would start Hydroponics on it. It is Veg time! SO I purchased a 4 gallon Top Drip DWC System. Lights are on 19 hours and off for 5 hours. I am pretty sure she is in shock now... Hope she makes it!

Day 12:

On this day I started taking things more seriously I wanted her to thrive and after 12 days of seeing if I can commit I decided I would. I got 3 other clones of Chernobyl. I also went into building a DWC system for the 3 clones (The Race Track). At this point I wanted to use a better nutrient supply and decided to go with Botanicare products. on day 8 I was running into Calcium Deficiency and Nut Deficiency (I think). The closet they are in is at 72 degrees and the reservoirs water temps are at 74 degrees.Changed out the reservoir and added the new nutrients. This will hopefully be fixed with these products. PPM was at 720 with a PH of 5.7. Using tap water with 120 PPM and 8.0 PH. Below is a list of items purchased today:

PPM Meter

More CFL's

CalMag

Pure Blend Pro
PH up and PH down

Day 16

On this day I am getting more serious about things and I know I will eventually need better lights and really a better way to grow these as they are currently in a small closet. The new clones are thriving with the new nutrients! But I know I do not have enough lighting. Growth may stunted and this is why it is time to get serious, if I want my babies to be healthy. All 4 plants were topped on day 17. Here's an update:

Day 18
Today I noticed alot of buildup on the hydroton and around the inside of Linda. After researching this, I think it was because I did not rinse out the hydroton well enough. I bought new hydroton equivalent and really washed everything out and put her back in. Hope this stops it!

Day 20

Today I am over the crazy hump of Christmas and I also got secretly married. Oh and it's New Years ! Happy 2017! Since I have big personal and professional goals for 2017, I have decided I will be making dedicated grow rooms just need to plan things out. GO big or go home right ?

Here is a photo of the Platinum OG

Day 24

It is time to get really really into this.

List of known issues:

-Not enough light, growth has been stunted with the CFL's and by day 24 I am not too happy.

-Roots are looking brown and not setting the way I want

-Light Holes in my cuts on the custom DWC (my buddy calls this the Race Track) this is a concern as light is VERY bad for water as it can cause algae and other unwanted stuff in your water.

-Temps are not consistent because it's freezing here and I blast the heater and its on and off.

-Leaves on the bottom get no light causing death to the lower part of Linda.

I am now just waiting on my grow tent and LEDS and my new setup. I will be taking them into their own dedicated room because at this point I have fallen in love with them!

 

[Kabbal]

Day 26
My stuff came in woohoo!! Check out the new setup! Got a 5x5 Grow Tent. 6" Inline Fan and Carbon Filter. Also got 1 400 Watt COB LED with 90 Degree Cups supposedly full spectrum. I ended up purchasing another one and am awaiting for the 2nd LED to come in. I am hoping that the babies settle in with this new environment.
I will use this room ofor flowering and will be creating a separate tent for vegging/cloning.

Here's a closeup of the lights on:

Here's a zoomed out photo:

 

[Kabbal]

Day 27
Here is a finished tent so far with the Airflow and Filter:

Temps have gone up and down but that will get fixed. I hope I dont shock them and stress them with this

The rez temps are also fluctuating, I am scared I will get root rot! I will check tomorrow for this.

 

[Kabbal]

Day 28
The 2nd LED came in. I am so happy for this! I heard that you want atleast 1000 Watts in a grow room of 5x5, I was only able to afford 2x LED 400 watts each. Is this enough guys? Also I checked the rez on the racetrack DWC and I think I am getting root rot!! I don't think that is discoloration from the nutes because there was a spot that looked a little slimy and dark brown. I will be purchasing things from the local Hydro store to stop this. Thinking Hydroguard? I also started to put in a frozen water bottle in the rez in the morning. If this doesnt get fixed (Rez temp on the DWC racetrack is 75 degrees, I will be swapping them into Soil and keep Linda the way she is. Also her mainline stem has a white coloration around it going up and it looks dry, (is it because I didn't wash the Hydroton out enough?)

My water is 8.0 Tap. I use Pureblend Pro, Liquid Karma, And a little Cal Mag. My waters PPM by itself is 120. When adding in nuts it ends up at 810 PPM so deduct the 120 from the original reading im getting 690 PPM is that enough for Veg? I dont want to overdue with Nutes.

 

[Kabbal]

Day 30
After using the Hydroguard, it did not help much... I must be managing something wrong. This made me pretty sad for my plants. I ended up purchasing some Fox Farm Ocean Soil and 3 Cloth buckets. For now I will be just watering them with PH'd water and adding a litte of the nutes and Hydroguard. Prior to replacing the whole setup of the DWC, I did some LST and topped some of the plants and cleaned them up a bit. Here are pictures of the roots. I really am hoping I did not over react by swapping them into soil. I just dont want the root rot to continue. I will be keeping Linda in the Top Drip system and watch her.
Here's a photo of the roots, what do you guys think? Was it a mistake to put them in soil? :

Also here is the new soil setup.

I am praying to god that I did not just make a fatal mistake by doing this...

 

[Kabbal]

Day 34 (Still vegging)
I am happy to report that the soil plant transfer looks ok! I think they are doing ok! I dont see change in growth much. Is that because they are acclimating? I don't see any wilting or anything. Also It is time for a Rez change for Linda. Here's a couple closeups of her before she goes back in the room!
See the white stuff on the stem? The scratch mark was from me scratching that off. Anyone know what this is? Salts ? Someone please give me some feed back on what I am doing wrong or any advise at this point would be very helpful. The 3 plants are Chernobyl (Sativa dom) and Linda is platinum OG (indica):

I also got a Germination Tray with heatpad to test some seeds that I got from a bag of my favs. Unfortunately I do not have strain or name information. I will be planting them in there today.
Dont mind the other seeds lol. My wife wants me to grow other herbs. Can I do this in the same tents ?

 

[Kabbal]

Can someone PLEASE comment to see if I am on the right track with things ? Am I in over my head? Now that I have caught the journal up, I will be posting live updates. It's been a month and 5 days and I am hoping the community can help me out. Thanks for reading guys.

 

[Mono]

I think you are doing really well fella!

Hydroponics is quite a difficult growing method, especially for a first time grower. It can be very unforgiving to any slight change in pH levels etc. So I think the move to soil is a very good choice.

Your very much on the right track, the plants have gone through a few changes, so it might take them another week or so to really kick into high gear. The main thing is they are alive, and very healthy looking.

How many watts of LED do you have in the grow tent? And does your extracted air remain in the same room as the tent?

 

[Kabbal]

Wow thank you for the reply! That makes me feel so much better!!! The LEDs is 400 each and there are 2 of them. I didnt want to post the model because I saw it was not on the LED approved list. The extracted Air is recirculating but I have a window open in the room and it's about 35-45 degrees out with this crazy California rain weather. I have not mustered the courage to drill a hole to the attic yet. How necessary is this at this point? I can do it but the smell is not too bad yet. So to answer your question, yes the air is recirculating but new air is also coming in from the outside.

 

[Mono]

Wow thank you for the reply! That makes me feel so much better!!! The LEDs is 400 each and there are 2 of them. I didnt want to post the model because I saw it was not on the LED approved list. The extracted Air is recirculating but I have a window open in the room and it's about 35-45 degrees out with this crazy California rain weather. I have not mustered the courage to drill a hole to the attic yet. How necessary is this at this point? I can do it but the smell is not too bad yet. So to answer your questing yes the air is recirculating but new air is also coming in from the outside.

Sounds like you have more than enough light to flower these plants and get your thumb green, I'm sure someone with some LED knowledge will come along and offer some advice.

If you own the house, or have no issue with cutting a hole into the attic then I would do this sooner rather than later. Air has a habit of taking the path of least resistance, so air will be coming in and going out the window. You might not smell it, but your carbon filter will not be doing anything if there isn't negative pressure within the tent.

Running the ducting so it extracts outside the room will mean no smell, and plenty of fresh air for your plants.

 

[Kabbal]

Thanks again. I will be doing this today! Loved the Mono Monster 4.0 BTW. I need to learn how to subscribe lol

 

[Kabbal]

I hope this is what you meant! Bottom is coming from outside sucking fresh cold air in with a woman's leggings as a screen outside to prevent bugs. The top has a hole drilled for the hot air to come out side of hole in wall. What I would like to know is if this is normal the way it looks? It's like a vacuum in there... The tent is being sucked inside of itself like a popcorn bag in reverse. I had to open the screen window so it doesn't completely suck itself in. Anyone have thoughts on this ?

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[Kabbal]

oh and my temps... This is scaring me... Is my fan too strong ? Here are the stats :

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[Mono]

I hope this is what you meant! Bottom is coming from outside sucking fresh cold air in with a woman's leggings as a screen outside to prevent bugs. The top has a hole drilled for the hot air to come out side of hole in wall. What I would like to know is if this is normal the way it looks? It's like a vacuum in there... The tent is being sucked inside of itself like a popcorn bag in reverse. I had to open the screen window so it doesn't completely suck itself in. Anyone have thoughts on this ?

Sent from my Nexus 6 using 420 Magazine Mobile App

That's exactly what you are looking for. Since the sides of the tent are being pulled in, you have created negative pressure - this means all the air that contains any smell is being pulled through the carbon filter and directly outside so there should be no smell and an abundance of fresh air!

Your temps are a little low, your really want them sitting between 21 and 27 degrees Celsius (70 - 80 degrees Fahrenheit) The easiest way to bring the temperature up is to have your intake coming from inside the room, rather than outside the house. And once the weather gets warmer, pop the intake outside to bring the colder air in.

 

[Pat999]

Subbed up brother. I agree with Mono it should look like that. Nice idea for those bugs! I need to buy me a pair of stockings then wear them and use them like a drag queen.

 

[Kabbal]

Day 37
Today was. After making some adjustments to how the airflow worked, I got my temps at exactly 72 steady with lights on with humidity at 50 %. And at night time for the 6 hours off , the temps have stayed at 66 degrees. I have not done a watering in 3 days because the soil pots still feel heavy. I used the knuckle method and the soil is still moist. I'm going to wait for it to get dry and light before next watering. I don't see much growth but I also don't see anything dying. I'm thinking they are still adjusting to the soil? Here's a couple photos of the triplets.

Meanwhile I used the old closet to start about 14 seeds of unknowns. These were from a bag of seeds of nothing but goodies. Maybe later someone can help me figure out what they are ?

I had these under the LED for a day and now they are all in the closet with the CFLs. They were reaching too much for the light. I kept the shortest one under the LED just for expirament reasons.

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[Kabbal]

Here's the babies from seeds

and here's a photo update with regular lighting for more detail. This one's Linda (platinum og)

here's are the triplets

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[Kabbal]

Day 38
I hope I'm not posting too much. These girls have gone through so much. Today it was time for a Rez change and watering. On soil I added Liquid Karma, a little Hydroguard, Pureblend Pro and a little Cal mag. pHd at 6 for soil. The top drip hydro got the exact same except with a little bit more concentration at 800 ppm. Water temps are at 65 degrees.

On Linda I did some training with her. Since I topped her a week ago she seems to be finally acclimating well. I did a little bit of trimming and drilled 4 holes on the corners of the bucket as seen here, the main stem is bushier then the rest. Any suggestion on how to handle that ?

Also here are the triplets:

And the 9 unknown seeds from the bag of goodies have ALL broke ground and are under the CFLs that I will use for vegging later and eventually turn into LEDs.

Here's a close up of on of them

Suggestions on when I should start flowering ? Linda is 8 weeks old from Clone. The triplets are about 4 weeks from Clone.advice would be greatly appreciated!

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[Kabbal]

Can someone please look at Linda? Is it possible that clones autoflower? She is 8 weeks from clone and I am seeing what I think may be pistils?

Also can someone let me know if I should start flowering these girls? The triplets (Chernobyl Sativa Dominant) are about a month out from clone and just finished healing from being transplanted. Linda is Platinum OG and is 8 weeks out from clone. Suggestions PLEASE

 

[Torst]

Nice grow! Just my opinion but I would let them veg longer. You have a decent sized tent, let them use up the space! Just because you see pistils doesn't mean it is full on flowering. You can't clone auto's!

I am running DWC (first time hydro) in a 5x5 with 600w MH/HPS and have 9 5 gal. buckets going on in a 5x5. Expanding to the whole room for flowering!