First Grow - Hydro - CFL Cabinet

[CrunchieGreen]

Hey all and welcome to my first grow !-

Germination - I have germinated 10 seeds using the cup of water then onto a wet paper towel method, I scuffed 5 seeds with 100 grit sand paper, so far the scuffed seeds are doing awesome with the other 5 falling behind a bit and a few not even showing a tap root.

What strain is it - regular bag seeds advertised as Critical Skunk

Veg stage for 3 days.

Indoor hydro grow.

Size of light - 2x 130w CFLs & a few 23w

Temp of Room/cab - 70-75
RH of Room/cab - 30 to 50%

PH of media or res - rockwool was soaked in 5-6PH water

How often are you watering - a bit unsure on the watering any advise would be great, at the moment I'm just making sure the rockwool is damp and I mist them once or twice a day.

Type and strength of ferts used - I haven't introduced and nutrition yet but have just got some AG-GROW that I will be putting into the res when the plants are old enough.

Im a bit concerned about my leaves curling down Iv uploaded a pic.. should I be worried ?

All advise and tips welcome

Here's some pics, I will be updating daily.

 

[CrunchieGreen]

Iv currently got them under 2 23w CFL untill they get a bit older, when should I add the 2 130w's..

 

[dunc014]

Subbed. I'm not a hydro grower. I would say you shouldn't be worried. There still so young. Don't quote me on this. Wait for one if the hydro pros to come in. They will know what to do.

 

[CrunchieGreen]

Thanks for the reply, hopefully it's because they have just sprouted. Off to bed will see how they look in the morning

 

[CrunchieGreen]

Update - nothing much happened over night, a couple more seedlings have appeared. I sprayed them all before I left for work, will be adding a 130w globe tonight and re-positioning lights for more coverage. Will post pics after work.

 

[guttamane2486]

Cool man looking good

 

[CrunchieGreen]

Rearranged a bit to suit lighting and added a 3rd 23w Cfl, wanted to set up the 2 125w globes but realised they require an E40 fitting so I'll be on the hunt for something tomorrow and hopefully have them up and running asap. Here a pic of my homemade cabinet with some wood from work, ignore the dodgy "reflector" it's gone now and I'm making a new support and reflector now.

 

[CrunchieGreen]

My DWC/Drip feed set up, I would of done it different now Iv had a real good look around but this first grow will just be a do and don't grow lol, yep I ran out of tape

 

[CrunchieGreen]

My big CFLs !

 

[dunc014]

Nice set up. I'll see if I can get lab or kjc to come over and check this out for you.

 

[HunterHunt]

Looking good. I see you only have a 3 pot system there with a lot of sprouted seeds? Whats your plan with them? Ive also noticed you have 2 different spectrums on your small cfl's. 5000-6500k is all that is needed for veg. You want to use the 2700k for flowering. 2 CFL is good for now since they are seedlings but you can increases the lighting as they get bigger. You could put them under one of the big CFL's im sure! Also dont add any nutes until around week 2-3! I dont add them until week 3.... They will show u signs of needing nutes if for some reason she needs them sooner. I have no experience with the drip feed system only DWC. Good luck! Im in!

 

[CrunchieGreen]

Cheers for the reply guys, I'm going to put the 3 healthiest plants in the system and depending on my budget I was going to build another small cabinet and try some in a DWC set up. Sadley I might have to get rid of a few.. the only reason I have so many is because my first lot of seeds didn't go so well so I thought this time I'll just do the lot and see how they turn out I didn't expect this many to germinate and sprout lol. I have some feminzed seeds I got from herbies, they will be my next grow.

The reason I have only 1 6500k is because my others smashed, I will be going to the hardware store today to pick up some more and set them up, hopefully find a fitting for the big ones as well.

Any recommendations on the nuts I'm kind of on a budget I orginally got this ag-grow bloom for a soil grow but changed to hydro so I'm not sure if I can use it anymore.

Thanks for the advise.

 

[HunterHunt]

Not familiar with those nutes but did a quick search and it looks like they will be ok for hydro also. Only nutes ive ever used are the botanicare line with great results. You may need a "base" nute with some nitrogen also for vegging. I didnt see the NPK rating on your nutes so i dont really know. Maybe someone can reply with a cheap base that will be good for you. My botanicare KIND lineup for all 3 bottles was $32 and for my 3 gallon reservoir i havent used hardly any on day 61 and day 32 flowering. Good Luck!

 

[CrunchieGreen]

Cheers man, I'll ask my local store and see what they can set me up with.

 

[CrunchieGreen]

Cleaned it up a bit, took away all the ones that weren't growing, picked up some basic plant starter to get the roots going and applied it this arvo. Added 2 more cfls, hopefully have time to pick up a small fan tomorrow to get some cool air blowing over them.

 

[guttamane2486]

I have 8 seedlings in soil now man I know that I have to get rid of at least 4 it sucks knowing that , I removed 2 last night and set them outside i still have to remove 2 more eventually , I guess I germinated to many seeds as well with high expectation that many would not sprout

 

[CrunchieGreen]

Yeh man it sucks, wish I had room for all of them !

Nothing much happening at the moment, I'm not sure if the seedling are growing slowly. I'll leave it a week or so and let things get interesting before I update agiain. Cheers

 

[CrunchieGreen]

After doing some reading I decided to mix some nutrients in with my water, PPM before the nuts was around 100 after I added a few ml it was around 300 I lightly misted the plants and rockwool with it so I'll see how they look in the mmorning.

I also moved them closer to the light as advised, they are roughly 2inch away now. Ill just have to keep a closer eye on them now I guess.

 

[ashpac]

You do not need any drip setup, man. Use it only for first week with fresh water (you do not need to add ANY nutes for first week, only vitamins or some other additives for seedlings), after adding nutes simply take all that drip off, it will not give you anything except over watering. I've been practicing with this in my previous grows and had problems. In this grow i watered my net pot only once, after root riot cube with baby plant was transferred to it's place and did not have any problems at all. Simply let your plants to get water with nutes for themselves, they will, believe me. You do not need to feed em and help em, they will put stronger roots this way and will be able to take what they need even from half-empty tank very soon, you will see. Bubbles and roots will always keep your net pot moist, you can simply forget about it. So, i suggest you to take off all drip system, it will only make things uncomfortable to you at later stages. Also never let your water to reach bottom of net pot, let roots breathe and fight for food, it will only make your plant stronger. Keep your plant a little hungry all the time (not too much hungry) and they will be super healthy. Nature is magic, man

 

[ashpac]

P.S. consider flowering of 2 plants, not three. There will not be enough space and light for 3, you will see it for your self. More plants does not mean bigger harvest, that is the fact. You will go crazy to feed 3 beasts and they will cover light for each other, result will be miserable.