Off To The Races

[lassus]

OK folks, I have just put together my first hydroponic kit, the Rain Forest 66, and I already have questions.

I've filled the tub with tap water and letting it sit for 24 hrs. to let the chlorine evaporate. I've lined the baskets with the CocoMat and filled them with hydroton and placed Rapid Rooter plugs in the center of each basket and placed the CocoMat lids over the top (with the center cut out to allow the plant to grow). I added the GH 3 part nutrient solutions as per manufacturer instructions for seeds and checked/adjusted pH. I have germinated 5 seeds (i'll keep one basket without a plant so I can peek inside the tub), and planced them, tap root down, into the Rapid Rooters.

My first question is, when I plug in the "vortex sprayer" of the RF, it pulses, but it seems like nothing is happening. Should I be able to see a spray?

Second question is, the seeds are sitting in the Rapid Rooters but in direct light, since there is nothing covering the seeds. Is this ok?

Last, while the bottom of the baskets are immersed in the water, the Rapid Rooters are above the water line. Do I need to wet the hydroton or Rapid Rooters? Any advice or pointers are appreciated

 

[lassus]

Problem one solved. I had not assembled the vortex seals properly which prevented it from spinning properly. It is spinning away, and so my third question, about moisture is solved also. How about number two?

 

[lassus]

Day 2. Wife is in panic mode. This may take several trips to nice restaurants and some flowers to settle things down. It didn't help that the dog loosened the outer water level tube and a couple of gallons of nuted water soaked into the carpet....

There doesn't seem to be any "how to" manuals for this crap. We must persevere.

 

[PitViper]

rapid root plugs need to stay wet .roots on seedlings can never dry out.as long as the plug is moist your fine.

 

[Hotsause]

I dont think your supposed to be nuting seedlings.....

 

[Trunk5]

grab some solo cups cut it half way down or in half so you only have the smaller bottom of the cup, add a small hand full of hydroton to that cup, now take a second full size solo cup cut a few slits in it or take a pen and poke holes in the bottom, fill it half way with hydroton then put the plug in it, fill around the plug with hydroton but dont cover the top. spray it twice a day with a spray bottle once in the morning and once befor the light goes off. youll have strong seedlings in a few days.. then you can take your well rooted seedlings and put them in your system. works for me every time.

 

[ChicagoJoe]

Day 2. Wife is in panic mode. This may take several trips to nice restaurants and some flowers to settle things down. It didn't help that the dog loosened the outer water level tube and a couple of gallons of nuted water soaked into the carpet....

There doesn't seem to be any "how to" manuals for this crap. We must persevere.

good luck with the wife.
mine was in panic mode multiple times due to smell and other issues.
sometimes she would just flake out for no reason at all.
Persevere my friend.

 

[SanibelGreen]

Stay strong, and try keeping the dog out of your grow area. They can bring unwanted pests in from outside and such.

SG

 

[lassus]

OK, we're creeping forward. Of my 5 seeds, all germinated, several accidentally fell out of the rapid rooters when I was watering them and I didn't realize it for several days....I did retrieve them from the baskets and put them back in the RRs. Right now, 3 of them have small stems and have just shed the seed coats. They appear to be very green and healthy.

I have 2 new considerations. First, I'm in the process of changing my lighting. I have the HPS lamp over my plant potted in dirt and the RF right next to it with a 110 watt CFL panel light within 6" of the RF. I have decided to switch to LED lighting. It seems to be the most economical, coolest burning, and idiot proof system. When I described my grow situation to the lighting/hydroponic guy at HTG Supply, they strongly recommended the UFO LED grow light with Red, Blue, and a few white lights. They said that one fixture would be appropriate for me. I ordered 2 UFOs and two LED 225 panels. I plan to place the UFOs above, angled in, and the panels on the sides, when the plants get larger, in order to provide light for the lower parts of the plants.

The second matter has to do with the nutrient bath. Right now, with seeds/seedlings it's not quite so critical, but how often should I be emptying the RF and filling with fresh water/nutes? Also, since I'm using tap water, although it is not particularly hard water, it has some ppm reading even before nutes. If the RF recommends 440 ppm for seedlings, do I add that to whatever the base measure is for the "plain" water? Why is it necessary to drain the reservoir? Why can't I just top it up and maintain the proper pH and nutrient ppm? Inquiring minds want to know ;-)

Wifey is not quite so hysterical anymore, and I think she will like my getting rid of the HPS beacon. The earplugs help too.

 

[StinkFinger]

Sf

 

[lassus]

Time for first res change, about 2 weeks in. I took some photos and welcome comments, advice, constructive criticism, etc.

Here's my insane setup:

It is a shroud of white fabric my wife uses for making heat resistant brickabrack to protect the setup from curious dogs and reflect some light.

Behind the curtain lies the *****'s work, my one potted plant and my RF66 hydro grow. I have a 600 watt HPS lamp I've used for the potted plant. I have had a lot of trouble with this light as far as burning leaves vs inadequate lighting. It also is hotter than hell, sucks electricity like a high class whore, and is visible to low flying aircraft even with my shades drawn.

I have a 110 watt T5 fluorescent over the RF. On Tuesday, I'm expecting delivery of my new batch of LED lights which I will use to replace my current fixtures. I ordered about 2 or 3 times the suggested amount since they burn very cool, I can place them far enough from the plants/seedlings to allow for a wider dispersion of light, and since there are primarily red and blue bulbs, it will not blaze away with the intensity I've been dealing with.

The potted plant has been through some wars with lighting problems, spider mites, etc., but while not exactly bushy and lush, it doing reasonably well. It is a white widow plant and starting to get nice sticky buds.

Of the 5 seeds, two have sprouted to seedlings, one began to sprout, but seems to have gone into a coma since I removed the seed shell (perhaps too soon?). The other two have really not shown any growth, even though a little tap root was showing when I put them in the Rapid Rooters. Not sure why.

One suggestion I got was to skip the cocotek basket liners and just use hydroton in the basket with the RRs and the cocotek cover to shield the roots from light. So today when I changed the res, I carefully removed the RRs, hydroton and basket liners, and put it back together without the basket liners. I did this with 4 of my 5 seeds. I left one of the sprouted seedlings as is since when I replanted the first seedling, it had a very delicate forming network of roots and I was afraid of doing more harm than good by pressing my luck with the second seedling. Here are the two seedlings:

and the comatose sprout...

I'm wondering if I should get rid of the 3 seeds that seem stunted and germinate new ones, perhaps letting them get longer tap roots before moving to the RRs?

Anyway, it was a fun day, playing with my new submersible sump pump and having the hose fly around soaking me and everything near me before I quickly learned to hold it in place. I don't know why my wife is so unenthusiastic. You'd think any woman would love a garden in her bedroom?? Dames. Go figure.

Also, I have come up with a sure fire cure for Spider Mites!!!

 

[SanibelGreen]

If anything I would suggest buying a tent, would definitely take up less space than your using now along with making your grow safer and overall just better.Also clean the dead stuff from the bottom of the plant in the soil, stuff can break down and wreck havoc on soil Ph I believe. Other than that looking good.

SG

 

[lassus]

Thanks SG, I thought the decomposing leaves in the dirt would nourish the soil. I'll get them out. As for the tent, they seem to cover a pretty broad price range and I don't see how you would hang a light or fans etc. Any recommendations?

 

[SanibelGreen]

Grow labs are my favorite, real sturdy, carry a lot of weight as well! There was a tent comparison a couple months back on the equip forum i'll try to find it. A 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 or a 3x3 would look great there, plus it solves thermal issues and less likely to get a bug problem.

SG

 

[lassus]

The grow tent arrived yesterday and after a brief Marx Brothers montage, I had things finally organized. The RainForest inside the tent, which I'm happy to say is just the right size for my situation, set up with a pair of UFO LED lamps, a small fan, and all my lovin'.

Today, just over 24 hours later, I can tell you that the seedlings seem to have becomed possessed by vigor and health. Sanibel, thanks for the suggestion, dude. I think that the intense reflectivity in light cycles and the more complete darkness in dark cycles makes a much greater difference than I imagined. I hope things continue to look this good.

I'll take some photos soon and put them up.

 

[SanibelGreen]

The grow tent arrived yesterday and after a brief Marx Brothers montage, I had things finally organized. The RainForest inside the tent, which I'm happy to say is just the right size for my situation, set up with a pair of UFO LED lamps, a small fan, and all my lovin'.

Today, just over 24 hours later, I can tell you that the seedlings seem to have becomed possessed by vigor and health. Sanibel, thanks for the suggestion, dude. I think that the intense reflectivity in light cycles and the more complete darkness in dark cycles makes a much greater difference than I imagined. I hope things continue to look this good.

I'll take some photos soon and put them up.

Rock on man, tent just makes things easy condensing everything together! Now that space is dedicated to just grow and no light is wasted. Props man keep it going! +reps

SG

 

[lassus]

OK boys and girls, here's the latest. I've abandoned my ridiculous contraption from the photos above, in favor of a grow tent. Voila!

What you see here is my RF 66 with a Hot Shot insecticide strip on it, 2 UFO LED lamps, and I threw in an LED panel to help the little critter next to it. I have a small fan on the floor blowing indirectly to keep a little breeze and air circulating. Note the small sump pump outside the tent for rapid draining of the tub. That's it, baby.

There are 4 seedlings growing. The two largest were started at the same time, and the other two were started separately, each a little later than the other. Not for any particular reason, other than some of my initial seeds were mishandled and failed to pop. Here are some shots of the seedlings in order of maturity:

There is a mixture of different strains including White Widow, Cheese, and "Medijuana" (a 20-25% indica strain). Here are a few other shots of the setup:

I have a few questions for the growing community.

1. My initial plan was to raise the plants to maturity in the RF, but looking around at how bushy and large the plants may become, is this a realistic plan?

2. Given the limits of my grow tent, will I have other options??

3. The plants don't appear to be stretching and the UFOs seem to throw off a tremendous amount of cool light, do you think I should either have them closer to the young plants, or leave them as is, which seems to be working?

4. I've seen a lot of discussion about CO2. Is this important? How important? My sense is that it's an enhancement, but lower down on the list of priorities for raising good weed. Or do you think I'm discounting it too much?

5. I do have two of the LED panels, one of which is seen in the photos, as well as a 110 watt T5 fluorescent. Perhaps some side lighting would help things out when the plants become dense. Whattya think?

I got some more seeds yesterday from Europe and I couldn't help but put one in wet paper towels to fill one of my 2 empty baskets. Probably a mistake and the RF will become a crowded jungle.

 

[lassus]

OK, a week has past since the last photos, and here are a few more....

Remember that, for better or worse, my seeds were planted at different times. The two largest (in the "para" position, for those who still have nightmares from organic chemistry) were obviously the first planted. Followed by the one at 11 o'clock (in "ortho" position), and then the plant at 2 o'clock, and the baby at 9 o'clock. It was probably a mistake to plant the baby since it may be so shadowed by the larger plants its survival may be jeopardized...but I couldn't resist. I may free up more room if I discover males along the way.

Stoney says, "Cheese"

Stoney says, "Medical Indica"

More Cheese

White Widow

Northern Lights x Skunk

Looks a little stretchy, but I think it's because I had to peel of the seed coat which was stuck and blocking the light.

A couple of more shots....

Still hoping for some replies to my questions from my previous post (2 back, I think). Any ideas?

Note the duct tape to the level tube....My only gripe thus far with the RF is that the tube is so flimsy that it falls out of the upper support, and when it does, the reservoir starts to empty. I woke up one morning to a very quiet RF to discover that several gallons spilled onto the floor of the tent and the water level in the res was too low to work the vortex sprayer. A major hassle to clean and replenish while racing out to work. Another wrinkle for the iron.


Ciao!

 

[SanibelGreen]

lol man, btw throw those lights a lot closer like 8-12 inches, see tighter nodes and more growth

SG

 

[lassus]