Pre-Med's 1st Grow - DWC - Multi-Strain Journal - Spring 2016

Lol for a second there I was thinking, "Wth did GH do that he would be suing them?" :laughtwo:. Yeah, that's essentially why I haven't purchased any supplements yet. Plus, I'm on a budget so I don't want to be throwing my money away either. I have the liquid pH indicator and pH up/down kit from GH but I hate it so far! It seems to be doing the job for me but it's a ton of work to collect a sample from each bucket and test it with the indicator drops. I'm almost out of indicator and I've barely touched the up/down bottles. I also have a PPM meter thingy but I still don't really understand ppm anyhow.
 
PPM, at least how I understand it, is the amount of nutrients ( natural and added ) in your water. Your water will have a base PPM ( its PPM without anything added ), and then you will have a final PPM once your nutrients are added. Keep in mind, the final PPM reading is a combination of the nutrients you added and your waters base PPM. So, calculation of your PPM is
< Post Test Count > - < Pre Test Count > = < Nutrient PPM >
 
Bigbudsgood said:
Premed - my 2 typing fingers have dyslexia - i won't be "suing" flora blend at all:laughtwo:.Damn i don't know how that happens. Not like i am trying to do 50 words a minute.More likely about 15 if i am lucky .Are you nervous thinking you may do more harm than good trying out additives.Only 1 way to find out.Root additive will make quite a big difference. Definitely get yourself a PH meter - have you got a nutrient tester - both will make your grow much easier :;):.
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I agree fully about the root additive. I add RapidStart rooting enhancer myself, and from talking with a friend who has done a couple grows himself, it makes a huge difference. I honestly doubt I would even try it without after seeing my current results. I may do a test though at some point. 2 identical strains, 1 with, 1 without, but that wont be any time soon.
 
Flora Blend is @$30 for 1 quart where i am - would imagine the price there would be much better. Root additives are expensive - cheapest i have found is @60 for 1 quart but well worth from the results as they go a long way.The liquid PH tests are better than nothing and PH UP/DOWN is essential.PH tester prices can get over the top - depends whether you want manual or auto calibrated unit - $100 should get you a good one - you will need some PH 7 buffer solution also for calibration - not expensive. I like Bluelab from New Zealand.My budget is limited as well.As with anything try and keep to the basics till you figure what really works for you.
Are you using Tap or Distilled/RO water ? Tap water here is has an EC of 0.3 - 150 PPM and Distilled/RO is 0.You need to add more Cal/Mag for Distilled/RO. With the Nutrient meter it is testing the strength of nutrient salts in your solution - i use the EC (electro conductivity) scale since thats what i have got used to. PPM is just parts per million - equal on tester scale,hope that makes sense !
I use less than indicated on bottle - you can always add more if you think you need it but you can't take it out. Watch your plants - they will tell you.Get familiar with what plants look like when nutes are overused or there is a deficiency - there are plenty of pics out there to give you a good idea :blushsmile:.
 
I apologize for the shotty updates these last few days. As my username suggests, I'm a pre-med student and my academics require quite a bit of time away from my babies since I actually live near campus and not my grow room. This week has been especially hard since I was in Nebraska the previous weekend and had some exams this week. Blehhh time to smoke after all of that :bigtoke:

Anyway, back to the good stuff. I was able to do some PPM tests on my buckets. I've been using tap water then adding nutes and ph and SM-90. Plain tap PPM is around 145 while my nutrient filled reservoirs are at about 500ppm with a pH around 5.8-6.0 (hard to tell exactly with the liquid indicator). I've also noticed that my exhaust fan doesn't do a very good job at reducing the heat in my room but it does a fantastic job at getting rid of the humidity the humidifier pumps out to correct this dry dry dry Coloradoan air. I gotta work on fixing this system.

I've been doing some reading and I'm thinking about purchasing FloraBlend and BioAG Ful-Power to supplement the GH Flora series and SM-90. Anything else I should look into? How do I go about getting samples? Just ask the reps or wahhh

Spara and bigbud - If I remember correctly, most of the supplements were around $18-$25 for a 1quart bottle at my local store. I'm probably gonna go shopping Friday (or later today I guess) or Saturday. A real pH meter is on my list of things to buy haha. I've considered snagging one from a lab on campus but I fear bad karma. God knows I pay enough at this university though...

On another note, one of my brothers co-workers is about to reduce his grow operation size and has offered to sell us like-new condition ballast, MH lamp, and reflective hood for like $100. He even said he would throw in some clones. I'm really considering grabbing this stuff from him and setting up a second tent or something. The other day my dad was really drunk and suggested I buy this greenhouse from home depot to do an outdoor grow. He was like, "You could have a bunch of strains growing on the side of the house and then you'd have some budding and some growing and it'd be so cool! Maybe even grow some tomatoes and jalapenos for fresh salsa, mmm :thumb:" My dad doesn't even smoke btw, he and my mom just think this stuff is cool since our family happens to love pot too :).
 
A root additive/accellerator would be a good idea also and that should do you i reckon. Does your state allow you to grow a certain amount of plants for yourself with a med certificate ? Wasn't sure about that.
PPM of 500 (= EC of 1.0 /CF = 10 ) sounds fine for now .
Advanced vegetating stage should be roughly 650 - 850 PPM (1.3 - 1.7 EC) PH - 5.5 - 6.0 PH
Blooming stage - 600 - 1000 PPM (1.2 - 2.0 EC) > PH 6.0 and up - i usually like it about 6.0 - 6.3
Temps - 68 F - 86 F for Veg and / 64.4 F - 78.8 F for Bloom or as close as you can get it.

Hydro_PH_Chart.jpg


This should make things clearer for you. I would go a little lower on the nutrient stengths until you get the hang of it.
Cool family bud. My father now realizes all the shit he was fed many many years ago about the "Evil Weed" is false and it has some wonderful healing properties. He was born just after the "reefer madness" propaganda bullshit.What a ridiculous laugh that is.I have nothing to toke on ATM - so no sleep for a month or so.Fuck i was born in the wrong country ! :rolleyes3
 
Adult residents (21+) can grow up to 6 marijuana plants per person, with no more than 3 in the mature/flowering stage at any time. No more than 12 total plants are allowed per residence, regardless of the number of adults living there.
Registered Medical Marijuana Cardholders can grow up to 6 or designate a medical marijuana center to grow them (I typically designate a center so I can partake in their member specials). MMC can also apply for an increased plant count but that usually involves more money for your doctor evaluation and some strong evidence that you need more marijuana.

Thanks for all of the info, bigbuds! Ugh, I hate how the government controls the media but that's a whole other issue. I'm sorry that you don't have any buds :( I'd be so distraught without it.
 
Its cool bud - i can live without it surprisingly, but when i have got it i get stuck in.About an ounce for 6 weeks i would do if i had a continuous supply. Thats being "nicely toasted" all the time - just the way i like the world.Thats quite good really - have known people over the years who would do an ounce a week or would smoke an entire bowl in 1 sitting - just couldnt do that - a few pipes is sweet ! Cheap drunk and cheap stoner:laughtwo:.6 plants - Utopia !Hope the pH chart helps you:thumb:.
 
Week 4 Updates!

Here we gooooo ;) I had to do some volunteering for ResLife this weekend. If I didn't say this before, I'll say it now, I LOVE to talk about myself lol. I got to tell all of the admitted students about my life so that was a lot of fun. Then, I went supplement shopping for my babies aka the plants. I picked up a gallon of FloraBlend for $27 and a gallon of BioAg Ful-Power for $47. I probably could have gotten them cheaper online but I was eager to swap out the nutrient reservoirs with from fresh stuff. I guess that's just the price you pay for convenience!


Week 4 Nutrient Recipe
FloraMicro - 10mL per gallon
FloraGro - 10mL per gallon
FloraBloom - 5mL per gallon
SM-90 - 3mL per gallon
BioAg Ful-Power - 15mL per gallon
FloraBlend - 10mL per gallon
Surprisingly, my reservoir pH was perfect at 5.8-6.0 after I added the nutes! I will have to keep up on this and see if I need to add any pH up/down.

Here are some pics of the current progress, enjoy!





 
I swear I can't win with the weather around here. One day I'm wearing a tank and shorts to the 75*F ball game and the next it's 30*F with blizzard conditions :(. My poor plants are the one's who have to suffer from the temperature swings the most since my set-up is in the garage. I've been struggling with my exhaust system because it seems to blow out all of the humidity and very slightly lower the grow room temperature which is the main purpose of the system. I'm not quite sure what to do about it just yet.
 
LlamaBomb said:
Hey Premedgrow good job so far.... your using the system I wanna try next. Also how are you liking those lights? I do see they are very reasonable in price. Going to keep an eye on this one.

Cheers

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using 420
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Sorry that it has taken me so long to reply!


I'm loving the DWC system so far. It seems to be easily managed and it takes care of my plants nicely when I'm away. The lights have been pretty good. I feel like I could have seen some better results already if I had purchased from a more respected brand but my plants seem to like them and they're still growing fabulously!
 
Late post but I was able to change out my babies reservoirs earlier today. Last I checked, they were holding steady at 77*F and 60%RH. I'll be posting pics soon!

Week 5 Nutrient Recipe
FloraMicro - 10mL per gallon
FloraGro - 10mL per gallon
FloraBloom - 5mL per gallon
SM-90 - 3mL per gallon
BioAg Ful-Power - 15mL per gallon
FloraBlend - 10mL per gallon
 
Hey Buddy, Im the guy who bought the same lights as you did. Could I ask you to take some pix of your plants and upload them?
I want to see the current leaf sizes ,how bushy they are and so on. Last pix are already 11 days old O.O :D
Also:
-how far are your lights from your plants right now?
-everything perfect with nutes & PH?
-did the cold/warm air got ballanced?
Sorry for the trouble & thanks! :)
 
Hey man, very sorry I haven't been updating lately. I thought I posted these pics last weekend but I guess I never did. These are from Week 5 Day 37 (April 17)
Lolita2.jpg
Esme1.jpg
Camille1.jpg
Blossom1.jpg
Ariadne1.jpg



-how far are your lights from your plants right now?
I believe they are currently about 30"+ away from the plants. When they were young they were pretty sensitive to the lights. I even messed around with 1 or 2 light set ups when they were immature. I'm thinking about lowering them a few inches so they can really start to grow!

-everything perfect with nutes & PH?
I am loving my GH FloraSeries right now. I just bought the gallon size bottles of everything since my starter pack was about to run out. The hydro store gave me almost 10 sample bottles of GH ArmorSi which I added to this week's nutrient schedule that I will post below.

-did the cold/warm air got ballanced?
I honestly haven't tried hard to fix this problem other then putting some fans in the garage and opening it more frequently. This has really allowed the air to rush out and bring in fresh cool air; however, Colorado is really dry so this wipes out a lot of humidity.

I will make another post later today with Week 6 Nutrients & Progress Pictures!
 
Week 6 Progress Updates

Hello everybody! It's the last few weeks of school so things are pretty hectic. I can't wait for summer break so I can spend more time with my plants and learning about growing. When I got to my grow room today, I tested the pH in each reservoir and adjusted as necessary. I also took some pictures to show you all some of the progress. I am also going to list this week's nutrient schedule which know includes ArmorSi courtesy of my grow store.

Week 6 Nutrient Schedule
FloraMicro - 15mL per gallon
FloraGro - 15mL per gallon
FloraBloom - 10mL per gallon
SM-90 - 3mL per gallon
BioAg Ful-Power - 15mL per gallon
FloraBlend - 12mL per gallon
GH ArmorSi - 15ml per bucket
 
All looks good from my point view Premed, you're doing great with the dwc. Keep up the good work, and...
:thumb:​

KiG :green_heart:cheers
 
Quick Question

I'm doing some reservoir changes right now and was wondering if I should be snooping off these side shoots that are on side shoots to give more power to the main cola of this branch. Here's a pic to describe what I'm saying, look how there is a bud site underneath the v shaped buds
image11182.jpeg
 
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