Hi guys,
Just joined the forum after a while of lurking. I live in South Africa and have been smoking for years and have decided to try my hand at growing my own bud with hydro. I started by using a plastic storage container, fitted it with two fans (one pushes air in, other one extracts it), and put it on top of another smaller plastic container for my reservoir. The seeds are very questionable as I just took them from the outdoor I usually buy from my guy. For nutrients I use a liquid fertiliser for geraniums from Pokon (Pokon - Geranium) with what looks to be a good NPK ratio for what I've read is needed for veg stage.
I struggled with some overwatering in the beginning, after which I increased the drainage on my little pots (they're filled for perlite). I think I've also put the lights too close to the plants, causing them to dry out/burn a bit. I use 6 daylight 23Watt CFLs (plus another two 15watt CFLs with slightly different colour temps). At the moment they don't look too great, but hopefully when I get the hang of it I'll get some decent plants growing.
I also didn't have a proper pH meter or PPM meter when I started (I had a manual fishtank testing kit which was useless), so it was impossible to keep the pH and PPM correct. I got hold of a pH meter and also a TDS meter a few days ago. Currently I try to keep my pH between 5.5 and 6.5, with PPM range not exceeding 600ppm.
Currently I water 6 times a day for 15 minutes - this is a new schedule. It used to be just once a day, but since the drainage is much better now, I need to give them more water.
I'll post some pics of my setup and plants next (note that they are not doing so well). If you have any comments to help, it would be appreciated.
Just joined the forum after a while of lurking. I live in South Africa and have been smoking for years and have decided to try my hand at growing my own bud with hydro. I started by using a plastic storage container, fitted it with two fans (one pushes air in, other one extracts it), and put it on top of another smaller plastic container for my reservoir. The seeds are very questionable as I just took them from the outdoor I usually buy from my guy. For nutrients I use a liquid fertiliser for geraniums from Pokon (Pokon - Geranium) with what looks to be a good NPK ratio for what I've read is needed for veg stage.
I struggled with some overwatering in the beginning, after which I increased the drainage on my little pots (they're filled for perlite). I think I've also put the lights too close to the plants, causing them to dry out/burn a bit. I use 6 daylight 23Watt CFLs (plus another two 15watt CFLs with slightly different colour temps). At the moment they don't look too great, but hopefully when I get the hang of it I'll get some decent plants growing.
I also didn't have a proper pH meter or PPM meter when I started (I had a manual fishtank testing kit which was useless), so it was impossible to keep the pH and PPM correct. I got hold of a pH meter and also a TDS meter a few days ago. Currently I try to keep my pH between 5.5 and 6.5, with PPM range not exceeding 600ppm.
Currently I water 6 times a day for 15 minutes - this is a new schedule. It used to be just once a day, but since the drainage is much better now, I need to give them more water.
I'll post some pics of my setup and plants next (note that they are not doing so well). If you have any comments to help, it would be appreciated.
