New Grower! - 5 Gallon DWC - 184W CFL - Mystery Strain - 2014

[Khraevyn]

Hello 420!!!

This is my first attempt at growing and I am starting with just a single bucket hydro setup. I am trying to keep this grow as cost efficient as possible so I am starting small and trying to keep it very simple.

I purchased a DWC kit from a local grow shop for $30 and it contained the following:

5 gallon black bucket with 6" net pot lid
3/4" 90 degree plug with rubber seal
12" Blue hose to use for level indicator
44GPH pump with plenty of hose and 4" Cylinder stone
clay pebbles for grow medium

I also picked up some General Hydroponics 3-step nutrients. I got 1 Liter of the FloraMicro, FloraGro, and FloraBloom. It came with a feeding and dosage guide. I got all three bottles for around $40. Not planning on using any other supplements.

I grabbed some Ph strips to keep a handle on Ph levels. I know low tech, but I've maintained turtles, fish, pools, and restaurants so I think I may be ahead of the game there. Still will keep a close eye on it. Plan on using baking soda and vinegar to correct any imbalances. Haven't seen anything about how this would affect the nutrients so any advice there would be great.

My grow space is going to be a closet that measures 4 feet x 4 feet x 7 1/2 feet. I will be prepping that over the weekend. Initially it will be pretty basic, but if this grow goes well, there is room for additional plants and customized storage as well. I will wrap it in Mylar and since it is mostly dark in that room already, I won't have to do as much light proofing.

One big thing left to figure out is lighting. I plan on using CFL since it is a small grow and I'm not really down to throw hundreds of dollars at a light setup. I stopped at Walmart and picked up 4 x 23W 2700K and 4 x 23W 5000K to use initially. I've seen a lot of the posts about CFL on here and other sites and it seems a multiple spectrums work better for vegging. However, I know as much about lighting as I do about space walking. Seen it done, but no actual experience. I am looking at several fabrication ideas for placement as multiple angles seem to also be better than a solitary source. Recommended spacing is 1" to 8" I so I'll have to have a way to adjust the height easily. Still not sure about once it starts to flower. 6500K+ seems to be the standard and lots of them. Once again, will continue to research and take suggestions from others.

The strain is something of a mystery. Found a couple seeds hidden away and put them to germinating on 11/5/2014 and all 3 have just popped this morning. Let them sit like that for a few days more, then put into pots or some sprout cubes. I think the seeds are from some Dutch Treat I had a while back, but honestly they could be some Skywalker as well. I guess we'll see once I post some pics and get some feedback. They seem to be coming along nice considering how small they are, but it is too soon to tell. Hopefully one is a female.

Not sure what other info you need. I think I covered it all, but if not, let me know what other info you want or need. This is my first time doing any indoor grow, and while I have been a gardener most of my life, I'm not sure of the learning curve to indoor hydro. Because of this I plan to over document the process and should have plenty of info to share. Will start putting bucket together and getting grow area ready this weekend. Really could use some advice on the lighting. I am disabled and support a big family, so budget is the word of the day. Will take any and all advice you guys want to throw my way though, so join in and we can be surprised together.

 

[Cannabelle]

Re: New Grower!!!! 5 Gallon DWC 184W CFL Mystery Strain 2014

Subscribed

Hugs and

on your grow, Khraevan. Looking forward to your pictures.

I'm disabled and low budget as well.

 

[Garage Grower]

Re: New Grower!!!! 5 Gallon DWC 184W CFL Mystery Strain 2014

I would think vinegar should be fine for lowering PH... but I'm not so sure on the baking soda for raising it.

I'm a soil grower, so take my input for what it's worth.... but I know with soil, baking soda - while it WILL raise PH - will also raise the salt level, which creates other problems.
Don't know if those same problems would present in a hydro environment or not. Hopefully some of the hydro guys will chime in.

Good luck

 

[Khraevyn]

Re: New Grower!!!! 5 Gallon DWC 184W CFL Mystery Strain 2014

Okay, so I put the bucket together and the closet mostly cleaned out. I have some pics for ya guys, but really not much to see. It looks like there are no leaks, so that's good. I have extra water sitting out open to get rid of some of that chlorine. Tested at at 7 Ph straight from the tap. Hopefully that comes down a lot when the chlorine dissipates. I may need to get better srtips or see what kind of budget digital ones I can find. It only tests in whole numbers and I need to be able to be more precise than that. Especially since I don't have a TDS meter either.

I've had the seeds on towels now for about 4 days and all 3 are doing good. One of them is close to an inch in length. Not really sure what to do with them here soon, but I think I'm gonna grab some sponge(natural and no processing or chemicals). It seems to work for others and it saves me having to buy a whole bunch of plugs or rockwool. At least for now. Any input, good or bad on the sponge idea would be nice. So here are some pics of what I got so far

 

[PirateBob]

Re: New Grower!!!! 5 Gallon DWC 184W CFL Mystery Strain 2014

Hey mate, I am doing my first DWC as well.

You can get pH testing liquid from hardware or aquarium stores for about ten dollars (more accurate and good for 400-800 tests). Your pH will probably go up over time and those strips aren't very accurate. Probably worth getting a small amount of pH down, I think its super cheap also (you will never need pH up).

Dont worry about the TDS meter though, if you just follow the nute dosage guide from your manufacturer and then lower it to about 40-50% of recommended then you will be fine on nutes (you will see very fast if you have any deficiency anyway). I only top up about one or twice in between a 9 day res change with some pH'ed and nuted water.

You have three beans and only one bucket, are they feminised? If they are just regular seed you might be raising a male, you might want to get 2 more buckets (or even just regular pots with coco peat/perlite, you can transplant later).

I would put your beans in rockwool and then into the hydroton. But if you don't want to buy cubes you can put them straight into the hydroton as soon as the taproot is established (an inch long) and top feed until the roots hit the res, it doesn't really matter. You could even raise all 3 beans in that one net pot if you wanted to.

CFLs are fine for a small grow, low temp and decent spectrum. There is always the possibility of adding more cfls or a small hps for flowering later Personally I prefer the higher K cfls around 6000-8500K.

Ideally you can raise/lower your lights and have a reflector above (can make a half-pipe shaped reflector out of cardboard and foil).

Are you considering any training methods? I am doing a combo of low and high stress training and then into a screen. I'm hoping its going to increase my yield quite a bit.

Hope some of that helps, nice grow so far dude!

 

[CO Finest]

Re: New Grower!!!! 5 Gallon DWC 184W CFL Mystery Strain 2014

Watching..

 

[Khraevyn]

Re: New Grower!!!! 5 Gallon DWC 184W CFL Mystery Strain 2014

Hello, again,

It's been a couple days now and things are progressing slowly, but smoothly. Got some pics, some updates, and some Green Crack, so light up, sit back, and relax.

Okay, so the 3 seeds have really gotten big now. Of the 3, 2 are still the towel in the dark. I took the smallest one and have placed it into a peat pellet and under light. I also used a root inoculant called VAM by BIOAG. I sprinkled some on the peat pellet sandwich I made(u'll see the pics and understand). I also have had the pellet sitting in just a slight amount of water treated with it as well so in case it needs to be soluble. It looks like it is popping it's head out already. I just placed it into the pet pellet about 18 hr's ago with a single 23W 5000K bulb. I really need to get my lighting situation handled. Hopefully it can wait til the wifey gets paid again.

I put it in last night at around 7pm under light. and I just took a pic at 6pm and u can see it jst starting to peek out

The other 2 seeds are doing fine and are kind of in a holding pattern as to what to do with them. I asked a buddy of mine who has s few grow under his belt and he said to just toss all three into the bucket. I'll have plenty of time to sex them and toss any males. If not, and I get all 3 females, he seems to think I can keep all 3 alive. SO...if the little one likes the peat pellets and I can get a little more growth out of them, I may do all 3 like that. But then again, the other 2 are already close to if not over 2 inches, so they may be able to go straight into the hydroton soon.

I did notice something with my setup. The fliter stone I have is 4" cylinder, but the air is only coming out the back side where the white plastic is for the hose to plug into. If I blow with my mouth through the piece, I can get bubble to come out the whole thing. but if I hook up the pump, it doesn't barely get any air into the stone it seems. I also tried blowing into the pump on high and it is definitely stronger than my lungs so air pressure is not an issue I don't think. And the hose itself is connected good. Forgot to call the shop earlier before they closed, so I'll have to wait till tomorrow.

Ph of the water is now 5.5 to 6 based on my low tech papers. I've now been using the balanced water on the seedlings so hopefully they'll like it better. I almost wonder if I should go ahead and place them in the hydroton and keep it wet with some spray bottle water until they get some more root base to them. Any thoughts??

alright, well so long for now. I leave u with some pics of my smoking tools. Enjoy!!

 

[Khraevyn]

Re: New Grower!!!! 5 Gallon DWC 184W CFL Mystery Strain 2014

I plan on using the SCRoG method with a trimming as necessary. I have a pretty good are to work in, so I have high hopes of a good result. I am thinking of putting all 3 into the bucket and top feeding with a spray bottle until the establish some runners.

 

[Khraevyn]

Got my first serrated leaves coming in on the one in the peat pellet. The other 2 are getting pretty long themselves. Really need a lighting setup. I think I am going to go ahead and place the other 2 in some peat pellets as well. Or I may try one of them in the hydroton. I will have pics of what I decide to do so stay tuned!!!

 

[Khraevyn]

Here's some pics of the one seedling in a peat pellet right now. I don't think the pic shows it clearly, but you can actually see the 2 set of serrated starting. So nice! I've decided to go ahead and place all 3 into the hydroton. Let them go for it. They seem to be wanting to go, so I'm not gonna stop them. The other 2 on the towel have broken 3 inches in length now. I will be doing this very carefully tomorrow. I will be sure and document thoroughly so you can tell me what I've done wrong or right.

 

[Khraevyn]

This is a pic of what I think these seeds are.

 

[Unfetteron]

Subbed.

My temp cfl setup for veg was very cheap. A poorly redneck engineered setup, but it works well.

Get a couple of power strips, some outlet to socket adapters ($1 and some change), zip tie them togother then hang it. It was hard to balance I had to put hooks in all 4 upper corners of the closet. I made the flat white side of some poster board into a makeshift reflector. In hindsite I would cut/bend some coat hanger wire to give it a skeleton. It looks like shit but works very well. I also used an old pc powersupply and some 200mm 110 cfm fans as well as ziptied 4 90mm fans togother to make one big square fan for the intake/exaust/flow over the plants. Check out my journal for pics. If you want to see more let me know and I'll get some. Again very ugly, but cheap and functional.

best of luck on your grow.

 

[a58dguy]

Def a decent looking startup. My concern is the room in the bucket/lid for 3 seeds at once...My very 1st attempt I did try 3 seeds at once each in a separate 5 gal DWC. They were all bagseed and each was in a 3in net pot spread out in the 5 gallon lid. Lighting and space is what I learned most from that 1st try. I ended up with 5 of 6 females, and it was way over crowded. By the end of the grow having to deal with trying to keep the plants separated, keeping the net posts from falling through the holes cut into the lid...it was a complete pain in the ass. Now I was moving the plants weekly to clean the buckets and change the water, which was extra work added just from being new..but I'd still recommend only 1 plant per 5 gallon bucket especially if they are going directly into the hydroton without a medium like rockwool. The next and what seems to be the biggest "topic" on this entire sight is lights... I was using 7-8 cfl's similar to yours in a 3x2 space for all 5 plants. While it did grow and flower it turned out to be exactly what I thought it would be...a great learning experience, but turned out no real smoke...Now I did have to pull them down early due to guest, but even if I left them out longer it would have been nothing really worth bragging about. Not that CFL's don't work, but you will need a legit size bulb if you're hoping for real results. Now I did purchase a "cheap"($99) on amazon Taotronic 45x3 led that I used on a single Trans Siberian auto in it's own 5 gal DWC and it ended up being over 5 ft tall and final dry weight was over 3 oz with another 1oz in popcorn and trim. Now I was also told numerous times by many on this site how I needed so much "more" light for the TSA based on its size, which I do agree on, but I did order the strain from the "shortest plant" section of herbies....So going over 5ft wasn't expected. Since then I have purchased the P300 from platinum led($350) with the intent on being more than enough light for 2 well producing plants. I also have the same 45X3 running next to it on its own plant to see if there is a real difference with the "light" strength. I really want to keep this "hobby" simple, I am a "newish" part time grower. I am a full time pilot and father so even though I have become very interested and attracted to growing it is still something I want to keep enjoyable, and not something I want to feel like work....even though the more I do it the more I would like to do it for a living...lol. Anyways getting back to the lights...personally I think you will need something better, honestly even though I just dropped $350 in a Platinum light that I hope to be the "best light ever" for my needs I still think there are great options at decent prices for those looking to grow for their own personal use. With a 4x4 space you have tons of space and the "sponsors" will gladly recommend how much and how many of their "lights" you need, but those seem to based on pro growers trying to produce "top shelf" product. Just going off of "overall lowest price per product with a lot of really good reviews" and nothing else(don't eat my lunch platinum guys, I'm very happy with the P300) TOPLED seems to be the way to go, I believe their 48x3 is listed less than $100 and there are many fans of their products and service on this site. Being on a tight budget can make this tough, especially with the unforeseens at startup..power bills extra supplies, etc... The good thing is you'll have almost everything on hand for the next grow if you continue with it after the 1st one. So best of luck, I'm subbed and sorry for rambling, but I also know what It's like to see "400 views and only 5 comments" with 3 being "looking good" "subbed" and "you need more lights" being the only responses...

 

[Khraevyn]

Subbed.

My temp cfl setup for veg was very cheap. A poorly redneck engineered setup, but it works well.

Get a couple of power strips, some outlet to socket adapters ($1 and some change), zip tie them togother then hang it. It was hard to balance I had to put hooks in all 4 upper corners of the closet. I made the flat white side of some poster board into a makeshift reflector. In hindsite I would cut/bend some coat hanger wire to give it a skeleton. It looks like shit but works very well. I also used an old pc powersupply and some 200mm 110 cfm fans as well as ziptied 4 90mm fans togother to make one big square fan for the intake/exaust/flow over the plants. Check out my journal for pics. If you want to see more let me know and I'll get some. Again very ugly, but cheap and functional.

best of luck on your grow.

Thanks for stopping by friend!! I am a huge fan of redneck intervention...lol I have been looking a free ways to make a shroud or reflector. I think what I should have done was instead of buying my nutes this early, I should have put that money into my lighting setup. I am also looking at rigging up and old Psu and some old case fans for my airflow. Seems like for a small grow that those would work well. I will definitely check out your journals. It seems like I've been reading for weeks already...lol. But the quantity and quality of the info on this site is invaluable, so no complaints here. Thanks for stopping by and hope you like what's to come!!

 

[Khraevyn]

Def a decent looking startup. My concern is the room in the bucket/lid for 3 seeds at once...My very 1st attempt I did try 3 seeds at once each in a separate 5 gal DWC. They were all bagseed and each was in a 3in net pot spread out in the 5 gallon lid. Lighting and space is what I learned most from that 1st try. I ended up with 5 of 6 females, and it was way over crowded. By the end of the grow having to deal with trying to keep the plants separated, keeping the net posts from falling through the holes cut into the lid...it was a complete pain in the ass. Now I was moving the plants weekly to clean the buckets and change the water, which was extra work added just from being new..but I'd still recommend only 1 plant per 5 gallon bucket especially if they are going directly into the hydroton without a medium like rockwool. The next and what seems to be the biggest "topic" on this entire sight is lights... I was using 7-8 cfl's similar to yours in a 3x2 space for all 5 plants. While it did grow and flower it turned out to be exactly what I thought it would be...a great learning experience, but turned out no real smoke...Now I did have to pull them down early due to guest, but even if I left them out longer it would have been nothing really worth bragging about. Not that CFL's don't work, but you will need a legit size bulb if you're hoping for real results. Now I did purchase a "cheap"($99) on amazon Taotronic 45x3 led that I used on a single Trans Siberian auto in it's own 5 gal DWC and it ended up being over 5 ft tall and final dry weight was over 3 oz with another 1oz in popcorn and trim. Now I was also told numerous times by many on this site how I needed so much "more" light for the TSA based on its size, which I do agree on, but I did order the strain from the "shortest plant" section of herbies....So going over 5ft wasn't expected. Since then I have purchased the P300 from platinum led($350) with the intent on being more than enough light for 2 well producing plants. I also have the same 45X3 running next to it on its own plant to see if there is a real difference with the "light" strength. I really want to keep this "hobby" simple, I am a "newish" part time grower. I am a full time pilot and father so even though I have become very interested and attracted to growing it is still something I want to keep enjoyable, and not something I want to feel like work....even though the more I do it the more I would like to do it for a living...lol. Anyways getting back to the lights...personally I think you will need something better, honestly even though I just dropped $350 in a Platinum light that I hope to be the "best light ever" for my needs I still think there are great options at decent prices for those looking to grow for their own personal use. With a 4x4 space you have tons of space and the "sponsors" will gladly recommend how much and how many of their "lights" you need, but those seem to based on pro growers trying to produce "top shelf" product. Just going off of "overall lowest price per product with a lot of really good reviews" and nothing else(don't eat my lunch platinum guys, I'm very happy with the P300) TOPLED seems to be the way to go, I believe their 48x3 is listed less than $100 and there are many fans of their products and service on this site. Being on a tight budget can make this tough, especially with the unforeseens at startup..power bills extra supplies, etc... The good thing is you'll have almost everything on hand for the next grow if you continue with it after the 1st one. So best of luck, I'm subbed and sorry for rambling, but I also know what It's like to see "400 views and only 5 comments" with 3 being "looking good" "subbed" and "you need more lights" being the only responses...

Hello friend!! Thank you for stopping by!! All of your info was of great help to me. I am going to look at that TopLed light you mentioned. Budget is the name of the game for my grow, so I appreciate you taking the time to share some valuable info to help me. And don't worry about rambling, I do it all the time! Stay tuned and I will try to update this thread as much as I can.

 

[Khraevyn]

Okay, so I just transplanted all 3 into the DWC. It went pretty smooth. All 3 seedlings are over 4 inches now and the water should be able to keep the hydroton wet enough to get some root growth going. If not, I do have a spray bottle with PH balanced water in it to spray from above. I went ahead and placed all 3 into the bucket. If I run into any issues with males I can just cut the offender out and be okay. I hope that all 3 will take to the hydroton. Did this because the 2 that were on the towel, while growing longer were beginning to turn brown and look a little shriveled at the top. Hopefully getting them some light will help. I now have 3200 lumens hitting them with 5000K light. I am thinking about puting some of the VAM Endo-mix into the spray bottle to help encourage the runners to get going when I spray them. Right now, i'm just gonna check it every hour or 2 to make sure the top Hydroton is staying wet and the added lights aren't causing any issues. The wifey is not gonna like I stole her hanging Tiffany lamp, but oh well. ;P So here's the pics of the process. Hope you enjoy and feel free to leave feedback!!!

 

[Gfcollective]

so i know your wanting to save on some money.. but if you go to your local hardware store you should be able to find a light socket attached to a outlet cord so you can just hang a cfl right above instead of leaning a table light over

ive always been afraid of hydro, watched to many issues with it to try it myself.

wishing you luck!

I&i

 

[Khraevyn]

so i know your wanting to save on some money.. but if you go to your local hardware store you should be able to find a light socket attached to a outlet cord so you can just hang a cfl right above instead of leaning a table light over

ive always been afraid of hydro, watched to many issues with it to try it myself.

wishing you luck!

I&i

No worries, the lamp is actually being held in place by some boxes. you just can't see them in the pic. LOL I would have to be a special kind of stupid to lean a lamp against a bucket of water like that. I will going to the hardware store closer to the end of the month when the wife gets paid. Plan on rigging up some bathroom vanity fixtures I found on Amazon for like 7 bucks. Each one holds 4 and with splitters I can have 8 bulb fixtures for about $15/per. Then I can just attach them directly to the wall and hang one overhead. That's the plan anyways. I will be using some higher wattage bulbs as well on the one directly overhead. Likely to go up to a 50W CFL minimum. I think WalMart had them for about $3/per. They each have like 6700K and like 3K lumens per. Just waiting on the wifey to get paid.

 

[Gfcollective]

thrift stores would be a good place to look first if you have the time. they usually have a lamp that can be torn apart for a few bucks or a bathroom vanity light set that can be taken off a mirror or by its self..

thrift stores are always nice for many cheap crafty ideas.

I&i

 

[Khraevyn]

Yeah, we have a place called The Restore. It has all kinds of diy supplies for hella cheap. Will be going there first, but if they don't have exactly what I need I can get it online. I was planning on heading over to there anyways for some other honey-doos the wifey has for me. May just have to take a scouting trip..teehee ;P