GrowJunikie's Critical Mass Hydro Grow Journal - 2013

[GrowJunkie]

Hi there, this is my first post and so my first grow to. Ive been lurking around here for some months and finally plucked up the courage to start for myself. There have been many members on here that have inspired me with there setups and results so first off big up to those people as you have started me on my growing journey.
so here goes i guess:

What strain is it?: Critical Mass and a unknown? help to identify (#1)
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What percentages?: unknown(noob)
Is it in Veg or Flower stage?: veg
If in Veg... For how long?: sprouted on 25th Oct
If in Flower stage... For how long?: n/a
Indoor or outdoor?: indoor
Soil or Hydro?: hydro once properly rooted
If soil... what is in your mix?
If soil... What size pot?
Size of light? 2x 40W 2foot CFL tubes
Is it aircooled?: no ( will be )
Temp of Room/cab?: 70/80 F
RH of Room/cab?: dont know yet.
PH of media or res?: distilled water not measured
Any Pests ?: none
How often are you watering?: twice a day or when dry
Type and strength of ferts used?: none yet not bought any.

sprouted: 10/25/2013
Day 11
100% sure that #3 and #4 are critical mass but i dont know what #1 is, im thinking brothers grim or another i cant bring to the front of my mind so any help on that as they grow would be much appreciated. The babies are currently 11 days old and havent grow very much i think due to a weak light which was the only thing i had available at the time ( they caught me off guard as i was away ) ended up having to use a 1 foot cfl light until i got home. #2 in the background seems to be doing nothing and im pretty sure has a little damp so going to scrap it. All thoughts and advise is much wanted. As you can see space is pretty tight till i get paid and can move into the garage.
Also i should probably talk about my plans or future ones anyway. I plan on sectioning off a third of garage space into a growing area. It will comprise of two tents one for veg, one for flowering. I'm going hydro because ive seen good results and it's quite simple. I will show a full setup when i move into the garage but it will be similar to the skooter clown bro's who have blown me away with some of there northern lights. Anyway enough talk, pictures:

 

[KingJohnC]

subscribed. you still need to pH adjust distilled water as it varies what the actual pH will be. you want pH 5.8 for hydroponic and soiless (peat moss and coco coir) and pH 6.5 for soil.


here is a nutrient availability chart

 

[AZ007]

Youre watering wayy too much, thats why their growin slow, the cube should hold enough water for a few days, specially under weak lights. do you see roots yet down or around the cube? Let it dry out before u water again

 

[GrowJunkie]

Hi KingJohnC welcome to my first journal. This is why i love this community it is packed full of both helpful people & information. It is literally invaluable, thank you. I shall get a ph meter and ph up/down when we move the babies into the garage. For now ive been letting the water stand for 24 hours as i have read that's the best thing to do if you don't have a meter.
I'm going to check out your grows now cheers again.

 

[GrowJunkie]

Youre watering wayy too much, thats why their growin slow, the cube should hold enough water for a few days, specially under weak lights. do you see roots yet down or around the cube? Let it dry out before u water again

oh i see, may i ask how you can tell? im not questioning you i just like to learn from mistakes i shall not water them till the cubes feel really light. And the roots are just coming out of the bottom i'm going to get the bigger size cubes tomorrow first thing anything else im missing or doing wrong? more info the better.

 

[AZ007]

You said yourself youre watering it twice a day , which is too much for a plant that little, even once a day itd be too much at this point, i was doing the same mistake in the very beginning until i finally learned and saw it for myself how much faster it goes if you let it dry out. I had mine before under a 400mh, and it took 2-3 days to dry out.. What do you plan on transplanting them to?

 

[GrowJunkie]

You said yourself youre watering it twice a day , which is too much for a plant that little, even once a day itd be too much at this point, i was doing the same mistake in the very beginning until i finally learned and saw it for myself how much faster it goes if you let it dry out. I had mine before under a 400mh, and it took 2-3 days to dry out.. What do you plan on transplanting them to?

cool, i shall let them dry out a little and see if growth improves. The plan is to transplant them into big cubes in the morning and then once the roots out grow that i should be into the garage by then and i can put them in net cups with clay pebbles and start them on hydroponics. I'm not sure on if there is a time scale or a certain way in which to start putting the roots directly into water any help on that would be cool. I've also read that no nutrients until 3 or 4 nodes have grown or around the 3/4 week mark.

 

[GrowJunkie]

Day 12

hi there, well something new happened today. The babies 1,3 & 4 have been moved into 3" cubes of rockwool as the roots just started to appear out of the bottom last night so they are all good now. I have also on Stonerb's advise stopped watering them so often, well i won't be watering them till there pretty dry. It's a big change and i cant really tell if im starving them lol so any advise on this would be good. Also i have another question to someone up on hydroponics. How long before i should put them into clay pebbles? not sure if im going to go with a ebb & flow system or a direct system where by they sit in the water 24.7 like the skooterClown grows. suggestions/discussions all very welcome here i want this thread to be a positive place where all opinions are welcomed. I learn and maybe someone else in time to come will learn from my first grow to
I will be making my posts as detailed as possible to help newer members learn in the future and for my future reading on my next grow.

 

[AZ007]

If i were you, i wouldve just transplanted the small cubes to net pots and pebbles, instead of putting them in bigger wool cubes. But since u did it like that, after the roots outgrow the cube, and you see them coming out and around the cube, just drop it in the netpot, and make sure ur water level is a few inches below the bottom of the netpot. Youre using 5gal buckets right? 6" netpot?

 

[GrowJunkie]

If i were you, i wouldve just transplanted the small cubes to net pots and pebbles, instead of putting them in bigger wool cubes. But since u did it like that, after the roots outgrow the cube, and you see them coming out and around the cube, just drop it in the netpot, and make sure ur water level is a few inches below the bottom of the netpot. Youre using 5gal buckets right? 6" netpot?

Hey stoner havent decided upon tub size yet but it will be a largest one i can find probably 2 plants in one and the other plant in the other. Will most more pictures and designs when some money comes through and ive worked out a few details. Thanks for coming round and giving further advise, many thanks

 

[wildbill38]

Welcome to GrowJunikie. You have some fine people looking and helping with your grow. Keep em green.

 

[GrowJunkie]

Welcome to GrowJunikie. You have some fine people looking and helping with your grow. Keep em green.

Hey wildbill38, im already loving the feedback and lessons which im taking full advantage of. I installed a small fan today to. Hopefully that will encourage them to grow thicker stems plus help keep the temperature down. Seems to have worked so far im staying at around 74F

 

[GrowJunkie]

Day 13

So today i found an old fan in the garage roof space and decided to put it to good use helping the babies get a little circulation and hopefully make them stronger. I also planned out my setup for once i move into the garage, so its as follows:

please look up skooterclown's first few grows using CFL's that is the kind of setup im going for by which i mean roots sitting directly in water/nutrients with air stones. But i will be using a big 600w hps. Again i know this could be used to 6-8 plants but my theory is you would get the same yeild from 8 plants under one 600whps as you would with 4 under the same light.

84 Litre box - £25.20 Each x 2
i know 84 litres is alot but i want maximum space for roots as they will fill the box eventually.

4 nozzle adjustable air pump x 1- £22.00 Each

6 way air pump manifold x 1 - £6.35 Each

Air stone straight 8" - £1.30 Each x 4

PVC airline tubing - £0.45 per meter

140mm net pot - £1.65 Each x 4

clay pebbles - £14.95 per 45ltr bag x 1

1.2m 1.2m 1.8m budding tent - £99.95 Each x 1

0.9m x 0.6m x 0.6m veg tent - £65.00 Each x 1

air cooled 150mm light reflector with fittings - £120 Each x 1

grolux 600w hps lamp 90k lumens - £22.95 Each x 1

futuretech 600w dimmable ballast - £99.95 x 1

6" inline duct fan - £72.50 x 1

6" rhino carbon filter - £85.95 x 1

6" acoustic ducting 5 meters - £17.95 x 1

6" clip on circulation fan - £10.95 x 2


all in all comes to around £723.00 which isnt to bad at all i think for some good kit. Opinions and thoughts please discuss..

i found some alternate prices elsewhere but these are fairly accurate

 

[KingJohnC]

that would be a good setup for a Deep Water Culture system.

 

[AZ007]

Day 13i will be using a big 600w hps. Again i know this could be used to 6-8 plants but my theory is you would get the same yeild from 8 plants under one 600whps as you would with 4 under the same light.

Thats based on your grow style, i would say DWC all the day, with dwc you can grow monstrous plants, at a good fast rate, as long as you plant environment is right, and along with a nice set of nutes, because ur plants will get hungry

 

[GrowJunkie]

that would be a good setup for a Deep Water Culture system.

ah so that would be its official name! i can now actually do some specific reading! thanks

Thats based on your grow style, i would say DWC all the day, with dwc you can grow monstrous plants, at a good fast rate, as long as you plant environment is right, and along with a nice set of nutes, because ur plants will get hungry

well the bigger the plant the better and yes i will start to look into some good nutrients soon. Just concentrating on keeping the babies nice and healthy at the moment something which is actually harder than i thought lol. leaves still look a little droopy and im only watering them with the smallest bit of water when the tops of the cubes feel dry.. been like once every 28-30 hours or so.


Day 14
a little change since the last photo. the newest set of leaves is beginning to overtake the original sprouts leaves, cant wait to see its first fan leaves start to appear in the coming days/week. Here's a photo out of the grow space. It would seem camera doesn't like CFL tubes. #4 has a bent stem, not sure if thats from how it came out of the rockwool but how can i straighten that up or will it do it on its own as it grows ? is there a safe way to help it out?

 

[GrowJunkie]

Day 16

Hey guys! they are coming along slowly.. although i can tell a good difference since 5 days ago. still just feeding them a a little water when the cubes feel dry on top. They are looking good though no? any thoughts opinions anyone wishes to share?

 

[GrowJunkie]

hey guys well today i woke up to silence and usually i wouldn't mind but today this was bad. Fan didnt come on and so when i opened the door i found temperatures at well over 90F. infact the pointer was as far as it could go round. #1 was not happy at all infact i dont know at this point if its going to make it due to the heat stress. Both leaves are facing the ground and hugged into the main stem. I put the fan on and opened the window to bring temperatures back down to 75F and after half hour it was back to normal. i fed #1 some water as it was bone dry on top, worried at this point because it doesn't look healthy. Only time will tell. going to keep a close eye on them over night and in the morning. Need to get them into there permanent home ASAP so the temperature and other factors can be controlled better. Is there anything i can do to help #1 onto a quick recovery? or is it just a case of wait and see? hellpppp =/

 

[KingJohnC]

if the soil is dry I would water with only pH adjusted water until it improves.

 

[David Bowman]

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