1st Hydro Grow

[Retired One]

Nute bounce is common. As your plants use up the nutes the Ph will change this change maybe a little or a lot it depends on the amount of nutes used each day. I check certain tanks 2 or 3 times a day every day I have to add ph up or down depending on the state of the tanks. A jump in the tank ppm is how the judge when to change tanks.

Pan4

Allright, I'll keep a close eye on ppm spikes.

Water nute info:

Ph 5.7
Water temp 68
nute ppm 525

 

[Retired One]

^ Good call.

You should check at least 2 times a day. If you notice that 2 times a day isn't working, then up it to 3. You have to stay on top of it. ;-) It seems like a lot of work, but you will be well rewarded at the end of your grow.

There is alot to keep up with...one things for sure,when you grow hydro, you are INVOLVED...lmao

 

[Retired One]

Day 13

Ph 5.7
room temp 74
water temp 71.5
Rh 44%
nute ppm 530

Going great...Vertical growth averaged 1/2" last night but the root developement was astounding. Seems to work that way...give em nutes and they'll spend a little extra time putting down roots. Still getting a bit of leaf curl...ph is good and nutes were within limits...let me know if I need to do anything different.

Well only one pic today. It's not the best pic...my camera has limits, as my wife has pointed out, but I believe you'll be able to see what I was trying to show.

What does that look like to y'all...
Very early signs on the rest but I just couldn't make the shot work.

 

[Ms.Fox]

There is alot to keep up with...one things for sure,when you grow hydro, you are INVOLVED...lmao

Lol!

Lookin good!

 

[Tyrone Hamilton]

There is alot to keep up with...one things for sure,when you grow hydro, you are INVOLVED...lmao

Amen to that brother.

I think of Hydro like the exotic sports car of growing... very fast, but lots of maintenance!

 

[Retired One]

Lol!

Lookin good!

Thanks Ms Fox

 

[Retired One]

I think of Hydro like the exotic sports car of growing... very fast, but lots of maintenance!

Very good analogy...lol

 

[TorturedSoul]

What does that look like to y'all...

Well, if it's twin pistils stigmas coming out of the gynoecium, then it's a sign that it's a girl.

If it's those single spike things that I never can remember the name of, then it's a sign that it's a marijuana plant.

 

[pan4gold49]

Looking good.

Your doing a great job.
Your not kidding about the involved part, lights on check takes about 30mins and for changing tanks 2 hours thats for 4 tanks now going to 5 tanks soon. Midday checks 30 mins and light off checks 30 mins so 1hr 30mins a day.

Pan4

 

[Retired One]

Day 14

Ph 5.9
Water temp 70
room temp 73
Rh 43%
Nute ppm 540

Well, everything is going great. Plants are growing fast and healthy. Yesterday I posted a pic of what looks to me like pistils beginning to show. Reading up on the White Dwarf strain told me that the plants commonly show sex in the third week, which makes it just a few days early. Even though my seeds were feminized, it's encouraging to see the little girls doing what they are supposed to.

One of the reasons for this journal was to show new or non-hydro growers what is involved in moving from dirt to hydro on a shoestring budget, so here are a few observations after two weeks.

1-This is a very involved way of growing, even with the most basic setup. You need to check and adjust ph 2-3 times a day...every day. This well may be the most critical factor in your grow. If you go back in the thread and read where I first added nutes, you'll see that when I added them, my Ph spiked up to 6.4. This set off a flurry of PMs between me and Pan4Gold49, instructing me on how to properly maintain the PH. 6.4 is well within soil growing limits, but to high for hydro, and nearly caused some serious problems for me...between 5.5 and 5.8 is what you are shooting for for maximum nute absortion.

2-As I said earlier, this is a very involved way of growing, which brings me to my next point. By and large hydro growers are using a spare room or, like me, a spare bathroom. This obviously means the plants are inside with you, which sets off, at least for me, a completely unexpected feeling...paranoia. When I grew outdoors, the plants were nowhere near me and the only time there was any risk was when we planted and harvested. Not so now. All I can say about this is to deal with it as best you can and keep your mouth shut. Most people that get clipped, talked their way into it because they could't keep their pie hole shut.

3-This is a facinating and rewarding way to grow. I think Ms. Fox said it best, "every grower should try hydro once, just to see where your true calling is." If you like micromanaging you grow, hydro is a wet dream for you. You control everything.

Well thats about all of my profound observations for now...bet y'all would rather look at pics than read what I have to say, so here you go...

That's it for today folks...

 

[Retired One]

Looking good.

Your doing a great job.


Pan4

Thanks a bunch Pan...couldn't be doing this without your guidance.

 

[Tyrone Hamilton]

hydro is a wet dream

Wet Dream... nice pun, and good name for a hydro shop!

Amen about keeping the pie hole shut - not easy when you put so much effort into something... helps to have this forum eh?

Looking good SouthernWeed... I'm looking forward to the growth explosion you'll see during the next few weeks.

 

[Retired One]

Wet Dream... nice pun, and good name for a hydro shop!

Amen about keeping the pie hole shut - not easy when you put so much effort into something... helps to have this forum eh?

Looking good SouthernWeed... I'm looking forward to the growth explosion you'll see during the next few weeks.

Thanks OBX...this has really been interesting...and I'm looking foward to that growth explsion myself.

 

[TorturedSoul]

By and large hydro growers are using a spare room or, like me, a spare bathroom. This obviously means the plants are inside with you, which sets off, at least for me, a completely unexpected feeling...paranoia. When I grew outdoors, the plants were nowhere near me and the only time there was any risk was when we planted and harvested. Not so now.

More paranoid indoors? I guess it affects some differently than others lol. Have you ever been outside in your garden and heard a chopper fly over? The plants closest to you might get a little extra-concentrated nitrogen from such an experience. Or... Tending your garden and you suddenly hear an army of the D coming crashing through your world sending you DIVING into the middle of the one sticker-bush that was so dense you didn't even consider spending hours painstakingly crawling into the middle of it with a folding shovel to make a planting space... And so you're laying facedown in the middle of it afraid to move while the blood trickles out of the many tiny puncture wounds you've just gotten... Trying to learn how to breathe dirt because they apparently haven't gotten you yet but you're afraid to raise your head even a quarter-inch... Only to realize a half-hour later that they somehow passed you by. And then spending another half-hour crawling backwards out of that mess to find... That the noise you heard was actually just that group of vegetation - that you tied off together earlier in the season so your garden could get more light - suddenly grown too much for the cord you used to hold them and breaking free & springing through the other vegetation that had since grown up.

When I was growing inside and heard a chopper overhead I thought, "I hope there's not a lost child somewhere," and if I was in my garden and heard a strange crash in the house I went to see what the animals had knocked over.

I guess both situations could have their paranoid moments. If I had been carrying my harvest from an outdoor garden to the trimming area and a cop had passed by he'd have at minimum taken most of the crop. If I had been carrying my harvest from an indoor garden to the trimming area and a cop had passed, he'd have been on the way to tell my neighbors to turn their stereo down lol.

 

[Retired One]

More paranoid indoors? I guess it affects some differently than others lol. Have you ever been outside in your garden and heard a chopper fly over? The plants closest to you might get a little extra-concentrated nitrogen from such an experience. Or... Tending your garden and you suddenly hear an army of the D coming crashing through your world sending you DIVING into the middle of the one sticker-bush that was so dense you didn't even consider spending hours painstakingly crawling into the middle of it with a folding shovel to make a planting space... And so you're laying facedown in the middle of it afraid to move while the blood trickles out of the many tiny puncture wounds you've just gotten... Trying to learn how to breathe dirt because they apparently haven't gotten you yet but you're afraid to raise your head even a quarter-inch... Only to realize a half-hour later that they somehow passed you by. And then spending another half-hour crawling backwards out of that mess to find... That the noise you heard was actually just that group of vegetation - that you tied off together earlier in the season so your garden could get more light - suddenly grown too much for the cord you used to hold them and breaking free & springing through the other vegetation that had since grown up.

Damn Tortured, you and I have vastly different versions of growing outdoors. Reading that post made me want a stiff drink, and I quit drinking years ago...lmao.

From the sound of your post I'm gonna take a guess that you live near a large population center. I am not encumbered by such a burden. My outdoor gardens were all on LARGE tracks of private land 95 miles in a straight line from the nearest Heli-Pad. I had a very nice setup all for the price of some of the finished product. But death catches up to everyone, some sooner, some later and the land was sold and there you go.

I never had to be concerned with most of the issues that seem to be a very valid concern for you. But now I have 5 pot plants and a 600w HID light five feet from my bed and it does give you somthing to think about.

 

[pan4gold49]

SouthernWeed is the rockwool green and slimy? I think your are having some algae issues that would also explane the spike in Ph. Check it and if its you'll need to get some of this from petsmart.

My worse nute burn ever was caused by algae. Follow the directions and it will stop it dead and you will see the dead algae in your tank.

Pan4

 

[TorturedSoul]

Yeah, different situations indeed. Our "woods" are generally just a few acres here and there and I listened on the scanner last week when they called out a chopper to search for a suspect that had fled on foot and it seemed to take less than 15 minutes before the chopper was circling the area looking. Not a large population center by a long stretch but (sadly) close enough.

Like you've already mentioned the #1 concern indoors is talking to the wrong (any) people.

You definitely sound smart enough not to have many monster lights in an uninsulated part of your home, to leave bags/bottles of feed laying around outside, to be seen carrying large amounts of planting medium in and out by your neighbors, or to get to the point where you can turn down your street and smell your crop.

But still, (a little) paranoia is a good thing lol.

For a first hydro grow your garden is looking great and this thread is going into one of my "Keepers" subscribed folders so that if/when someone locally asks me how hard it is to do, I can just let them read. So...

Thank you for sharing! And wishing you continued success.

 

[Retired One]

SouthernWeed is the rockwool green and slimy? I think your are having some algae issues that would also explane the spike in Ph. Check it and if its you'll need to get some of this from petsmart.

My worse nute burn ever was caused by algae. Follow the directions and it will stop it dead and you will see the dead algae in your tank.

Pan4

Just checked the bottom of the rockwool, and couldn't visually detect any but I'm going to pick up some of that anyhow and give it a dose...may still be the problem.

Thanks man

 

[Retired One]

Yeah, different situations indeed. Our "woods" are generally just a few acres here and there and I listened on the scanner last week when they called out a chopper to search for a suspect that had fled on foot and it seemed to take less than 15 minutes before the chopper was circling the area looking. Not a large population center by a long stretch but (sadly) close enough.

Like you've already mentioned the #1 concern indoors is talking to the wrong (any) people.

You definitely sound smart enough not to have many monster lights in an uninsulated part of your home, to leave bags/bottles of feed laying around outside, to be seen carrying large amounts of planting medium in and out by your neighbors, or to get to the point where you can turn down your street and smell your crop.

But still, (a little) paranoia is a good thing lol.

For a first hydro grow your garden is looking great and this thread is going into one of my "Keepers" subscribed folders so that if/when someone locally asks me how hard it is to do, I can just let them read. So...

Thank you for sharing! And wishing you continued success.

Thanks for the kind words...the whole point of this is to show people what its all about.

 

[pan4gold49]

You bet.

I'll be checking back.

Pan4