Alaskan1's Flo n Gro Mixed Bag Grow

[Alaskan1]

I am 51 yrs old....that said, the last grow I had was in high school. BOY things have changed!
My first grow which is still in progress has been a disaster. So saying that I have some words of wise for the newbs. RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH!!!!!!
I wish I would have listened to my own advice. My stumbling through my first grow thou has been my greatest education. That and the reading and help I have been given on this forum.
My first grow is a DWC system and so far I have had to battle root rot AND spider mites and of course it just had to be at the same time. The root rot started with the blueberry. When you read on here how to get rid of root rot FOLLOW IT! I read on here to use bleach and when you think you have it all cleaned DO IT AGAIN. Well, I didn't listen....and of course the rest of my plants came down with root rot. I now clean my buckets with a 20% bleach to water solution and I DO IT TWICE. I used H202 to combat the root rot and I lost 2 of 6 plants. The H202 though did battle the root rot on the rest and are now growing new white roots. Although the plants root balls are still mostly tan then new roots growing are white so I have hope.
I got the root rot from not knowing anything. Who knew you were suppose to lower the water level as the root ball got longer and bigger? I do know. I was drowing my plants.
Now onto the spider mites. I found those pretty quick. We set off a bug bomb in the room and waited 24 hours. Then hit it with a product from General Hydropinics called AzaMax. It's liquid neem oil. I drowned those poor plants and every plant in my house with that stuff. Then we hung Hot Shot no pest strips in the house and we haven't seen a bug since. That was over a week ago.
I'm not going to cronicle this grow as I'm not so sure how it's going to come out. I will though my next grow which should be starting within the next week. I have a bunch of new clones ready for the pots. I will be using my new Flo n Gro system!!! I'm stoked. I will also use some DWC buckets because I don't trust my clones that came from the sick blueberry I had to toss. Rather be safe then sorry!
So here are the stats
I have a complete mix of plants I will be growing
Peanut butter kush..... OG Kush x Big Bud Indica hybrid
Lemon Kush.....Master Kush x Lemon Joy Indica hybrid
Blueberry....Purple Thai x Afghani Indica dom hybrid
God Bud.....Purple Haze x Hawaiian Indica hybrid
Urban Poison..Durban Poison x Northern Lights back crossed to Durban Poison Sativa dom hybrid
AK47... Columbian x Mexican x Thai x Afghani Sativa dom hybrid
Head Cheese....Headband x Cheese Sativa dom hybrid.
I also have 2 plants I'm having a very hard time getting info on. Hawaiian Big Bud and Joe

Currently in rooted clone stage using Grodan cubes.

Will be an indoor grow hydro

Will be in a 4 x 8 x 7 tent with (2) 1000 watt MH & HPS lights using dimmable ballasts lights are air cooled. Air intake is thu a 6 x 24 Phat filter 6 inch fan, goes through the lights and exits out the top of the tent.

Average temp of the room is 70 degrees

Average RH of the room is 50%

Media used will be Hydroton

Pests?? not anymore

Will be watering 3 times during light phase for 15 minutes, will get watered once during dark phase for 15 minutes.

Will be using Technoflora nutes and I'm still working on my calculations on what I will use

That's it for now. Tomorrow I will try and get some pictures up!

 

[253Chiefin]

nice you got alot of plants going in this grow! im sad to hear you lost 2 plants to root rot. ive had root rot before and its horrible. i did the same thing. i raised water level untill clones roots hit and never lowered untill i realized it had root rot.
i hope this next grow goes better for ya. ill be wtaching. looking forward to seeing some pics sometime

 

[Alaskan1]

As promised I have some pictures of our grow room. If you see anything and have a tip I'd appreciate all the helpful advice I can get!
First picture is of our grow room. We currently have 3 tents in there

next few pictures are of the tent we will be using in our next grow

This last picture is of our mix of plants. The bac 2 are head cheese and recovering from root rot. The rest are all our mother plants

 

[Xlr8]

Couldn't miss this now could I?

Good luck with the grow and nice start to your journal. +rep for surviving some initial challenges, and a good start to things. Your plants are looking pretty healthy now from what I can see! Nice roomy tent and looks like you'll have a great set-up.

 

[Alaskan1]

Thanx Xlr8!
I finally got some info on one of the plants. The answer to the Hawaiian Big Bud is pretty self explanatory. Hawaiian x Big Bud.
The MoJo on the other hand is a different story. The grower is a local guy who likes to "play" with genetics and cross breeding. Apparently he bred the plant a few different times and then back crossed the plant a few different times so this will be interesting to see what happens. I am told though it's indica dom and a pretty powerful high.

Later on in the grow I will be adding some new things to the room such as 3 20 amp outlets with thier own breakers, a attic fan that will actually vent into the attic to cool the room as needed and then some controls to automatically adjust room /tent temps and RH.

 

[Aaron Quix]

Wow bud, even WITH your recent problems, it looks like you're well out of my league in growing. You'll get this thing dialed in over the next year, and soon be one of the high rep growers here. I'm just a small closet dirt grower, but I'll watch you learn, so that I can learn from you learning (Learn smarter, not harder)
+reps to ya for starting the journal, and welcome to the community!

-Q

 

[Alaskan1]

nice you got alot of plants going in this grow! im sad to hear you lost 2 plants to root rot. ive had root rot before and its horrible. i did the same thing. i raised water level untill clones roots hit and never lowered untill i realized it had root rot.
i hope this next grow goes better for ya. ill be wtaching. looking forward to seeing some pics sometime

I appreciate that ! Yes, root rot is the root of all evil. Any plant loss is a terrible thing but it had to be done. They were drooping SO bad. It was sad just to look at them because ya just got bummed for them.

 

[Alaskan1]

Wow bud, even WITH your recent problems, it looks like you're well out of my league in growing. You'll get this thing dialed in over the next year, and soon be one of the high rep growers here. I'm just a small closet dirt grower, but I'll watch you learn, so that I can learn from you learning (Learn smarter, not harder)
+reps to ya for starting the journal, and welcome to the community!

-Q

Thanks Quix,

I somehow doubt you will be learning much from me anytime soon but, learning smarter never has been a bad thing so right back atcha!
I myself will be in the garage tonight cleaning the place up so I have access to my breaker box and then I will start running wire for my outlets.
Since I have a computer out there I'll check in from time to time.

And yes, I'd appreciate the info on how to put that in a signature. If you could message me that I'd be in your debt.

 

[Bassman59]

Welcome to 420mag alaskan1.

Being an old timer like myself and having not been around this in many years I too was surprised about the times a changin. Yet us old guys like to do it right too and we'll read our asses off to get it right.

Since you're doing dwc, and had a root rot problem once already, I thought I'd chime in.

COOL them tubs baby! Most likely it was caused by high water temps. Keeping water below 68f will not allow those baddies to grow in the water. Once I added a chiller, and basically turned my grow into R-dwc (recirculating) I have not had root rot issue.

Also an excellent preventative to mites in that bedroom is buying a gallon of Home Defense at walmart, home despot, whatever. Spray your carpet in the room, and 15' of entryway. Do it once a month minimum, but on first spray do it 3-4 times in a week. And never go into the room wearing close you were outside in.

I live in an area known for huge issues with mites and on 2nd grow now with no issue.

Hope this helps and best wishes.

 

[253Chiefin]

Welcome to 420mag alaskan1.

Being an old timer like myself and having not been around this in many years I too was surprised about the times a changin. Yet us old guys like to do it right too and we'll read our asses off to get it right.

Since you're doing dwc, and had a root rot problem once already, I thought I'd chime in.

COOL them tubs baby! Most likely it was caused by high water temps. Keeping water below 68f will not allow those baddies to grow in the water. Once I added a chiller, and basically turned my grow into R-dwc (recirculating) I have not had root rot issue.

Also an excellent preventative to mites in that bedroom is buying a gallon of Home Defense at walmart, home despot, whatever. Spray your carpet in the room, and 15' of entryway. Do it once a month minimum, but on first spray do it 3-4 times in a week. And never go into the room wearing close you were outside in.

I live in an area known for huge issues with mites and on 2nd grow now with no issue.

Hope this helps and best wishes.

hey bassman, i been reading alot of people saying things about these chillers? where can i get one? im hearing so much of them im starting to think its a good idea to invest

 

[Alaskan1]

Thanks Bassman, I appreciate the tips. I will have to wait a while but yea a chiiler might be in order. I will have (3) 55 gallon drums so hopefully I can find a chiller to handle all that. My 5 gallon DWC buckets have been running 68/69 degree temps. That info helped me a lot thanks.

253 you and I both need chiller eddyu cashun! lol

 

[Bassman59]

hey bassman, i been reading alot of people saying things about these chillers? where can i get one? im hearing so much of them im starting to think its a good idea to invest

I bought a sunleaves brand aqua 1/10hp for about $225 with tax from my local hydro store. The best I could find online for any brand was about $185 or so and with shipping added in it made more sense to have the support from my local store. The 1/10hp can handle 132 gals it says and requires a 245gph pump. My store had just sold their last two of those that afternoon so I bought a 396gph pump. Works great.

I live in an area with super high heat in the summer time so a chiller is pretty much a must. But I run it all year. Keeps my temps 65-67 right where I want it.

 

[Bassman59]

Thanks Bassman, I appreciate the tips. I will have to wait a while but yea a chiiler might be in order. I will have (3) 55 gallon drums so hopefully I can find a chiller to handle all that. My 5 gallon DWC buckets have been running 68/69 degree temps. That info helped me a lot thanks.

253 you and I both need chiller eddyu cashun! lol

Don't take this wrong, I'm no pro. But I dont see a need with those 3 tents for 3x 55g drums of nutrient. Seems like a super waste of $$ on nutrients tbh. I'm thinking about a 4x8 tent addition myself and I would run only 20g main res with a 5g feeder for 8 x 5g bucket plants. I'm sure it depends on if you plant on being away for a few days or were running 5g buckets close together and squished 16 or something into that space. But even then 55's might be overkill.

Also, as far as I know, each tent would need it's own chiller. The nutrient gets pumped in through an external pump, just recirculating through the chiller and back to the res. So unless all 3 tents were on the same nute mix, growth cycle, you would use one for each cycle/tent.

 

[Xlr8]

Chillers really are a great way to go with DWC if you aren't able to keep the temps in the reservoir(s) cool. 68f or less would be ideal.

One of the reasons I really like the Flo N Gro, is that I can keep my reservoir outside of the tent, and the water stays plenty cool. The nutrient solution doesn't spend enough time in the tent to get heated up due to lights, etc. If I were to do DWC again on a larger scale, I'd probably invest in a chiller, but I don't find it necessary at all with the Flo N Gro. This is an area where I think this type of system has an advantage over DWC.

 

[Xlr8]

Don't take this wrong, I'm no pro. But I dont see a need with those 3 tents for 3x 55g drums of nutrient. Seems like a super waste of $$ on nutrients tbh. I'm thinking about a 4x8 tent addition myself and I would run only 20g main res with a 5g feeder for 8 x 5g bucket plants. I'm sure it depends on if you plant on being away for a few days or were running 5g buckets close together and squished 16 or something into that space. But even then 55's might be overkill.

Also, as far as I know, each tent would need it's own chiller. The nutrient gets pumped in through an external pump, just recirculating through the chiller and back to the res. So unless all 3 tents were on the same nute mix, growth cycle, you would use one for each cycle/tent.

I just don't think he'll need a chiller with Flo N Gro. DWC, possibly, but not with the Flo N Gro - as long as the reservoir is outside the tent.

Here's an idea - this is what I did: For the Flo N Gro, do a test run with hydroton/no plants and plain water to see how much water/nutrients you'll need. You might need a little more than 20 gallons in your reservoir for 8 plants. If it were me, I'd fill it with about 30 gallons or so, and make note of how much is left when they are all flooded. I prefer to have a little extra in there to account for what the plants will use (once they're grown a bit they can take up quite a bit in a day). I agree though, you definitely won't need 55 gallons for 8 plants. For a lot of reasons, a "dry?" run like this would be a good idea.

Each reservoir would need it's own chiller I believe (if you were to use a chiller). (I don't have chiller though, so take that with a grain of salt...)

 

[Bassman59]

I just don't think he'll need a chiller with Flo N Gro. DWC, possibly, but not with the Flo N Gro - as long as the reservoir is outside the tent.

Here's an idea - this is what I did: For the Flo N Gro, do a test run with hydroton/no plants and plain water to see how much water/nutrients you'll need. You might need a little more than 20 gallons in your reservoir for 8 plants. If it were me, I'd fill it with about 30 gallons or so, and make note of how much is left when they are all flooded. I prefer to have a little extra in there to account for what the plants will use (once they're grown a bit they can take up quite a bit in a day). I agree though, you definitely won't need 55 gallons for 8 plants. For a lot of reasons, a "dry?" run like this would be a good idea.

Each reservoir would need it's own chiller I believe (if you were to use a chiller). (I don't have chiller though, so take that with a grain of salt...)

Well put and should be done (test run).

I see your point Xlr8 on the flo n gro not needing a chiller. I personally would have to use one from May-Oct at an absolute minimum in the desert here. The electric bill on keeping an ambient 68 or less would be $600 month easily. So the res being outside the tent would make little difference really. But that's for me an my area.

Also my bad for not recalling this is flow n gro, not dwc.

 

[Alaskan1]

Don't take this wrong, I'm no pro. But I dont see a need with those 3 tents for 3x 55g drums of nutrient. Seems like a super waste of $$ on nutrients tbh. I'm thinking about a 4x8 tent addition myself and I would run only 20g main res with a 5g feeder for 8 x 5g bucket plants. I'm sure it depends on if you plant on being away for a few days or were running 5g buckets close together and squished 16 or something into that space. But even then 55's might be overkill.

Also, as far as I know, each tent would need it's own chiller. The nutrient gets pumped in through an external pump, just recirculating through the chiller and back to the res. So unless all 3 tents were on the same nute mix, growth cycle, you would use one for each cycle/tent.

As my grows grow I will need more water and nutes. I figure as time goes by and I learn this better I will be able to stuff more plants in each tent. Also understand that water will be evaporating from the system as time goes on but yes, I understand that the less plants I'm growing the less water/nutes I will have to use. Some basic math should get me in the ball park of how much water I will need per plant/bucket.

I plan on having (3) 4x8 tents in that room. The 4x4 is going into our bedroom and will host all the mothers and our clones only.

I will have 3 different grows going on at the same time so the different nutes/water demands they all need may be different hence the need for possibly having the 3 55 gallon drums. I just don't know I can see I'm running out of room already. I may have to give up my garage for more space

I will have to watch the temps of the resivior to make sure the stay at the right temp. The room temp is always beteween 70 to 75

 

[Bassman59]

As my grows grow I will need more water and nutes. I figure as time goes by and I learn this better I will be able to stuff more plants in each tent.

Or maybe less plants in each tent yielding far more.

I thought for some time I would expand and get 18-20 or even 30 avg size girls rotating through veg & flower. Then I started my current grow with same medium, but different technique. It isnt perfect yet. But I think I have it figured out to 7-9 plants yielding more than the 20 plan and using less nutes to boot. Last grow I fed at 1100+ ppm in flower. This grow I am at 750-850 ppm and the plants are loving it. In veg I was even lower.

Cautionary note. Get the conversion factor for your ppm meter. You'll want this when referencing ppm during your journal so everyone is speaking the same language.

 

[Alaskan1]

Or maybe less plants in each tent yielding far more.

I thought for some time I would expand and get 18-20 or even 30 avg size girls rotating through veg & flower. Then I started my current grow with same medium, but different technique. It isnt perfect yet. But I think I have it figured out to 7-9 plants yielding more than the 20 plan and using less nutes to boot. Last grow I fed at 1100+ ppm in flower. This grow I am at 750-850 ppm and the plants are loving it. In veg I was even lower.

Cautionary note. Get the conversion factor for your ppm meter. You'll want this when referencing ppm during your journal so everyone is speaking the same language.

Yea I was following Xlr8's thread on lower ppm's and I think I'm going to follow suit. I was also thinking of doing the green lantern lighting at the same time. Lower nute use and lower the electric bill at the same tiime. BONUS!

 

[OG13]

You can use one chiller for all 3 reservoirs but you need a 4th reservoir (small) to hold water or coolant, you could actually use larger size hose to be the "res". You also need 3 coils, one for each res, all connected together. You use the pump to circulate the the coolant thru the 3 coils installed in the 3 res's, the coolant drops the temps in the res's (and absorbs heat), the chiller cools the coolant.

I agree w/ X that you probably won't need a chiller if you can keep the outer room cool enough. We run 3 flo n gro's and about 60 buckets. Keep the room cooled w/ AC and the nutrient temps have been good.