My First Grow: DWC in Grow Box w/ 250 HID Bulb (Open Thread)

First time grower and decided to keep a journal on here in hopes of getting help (and encouragement) along the way. Been reading through RIU for weeks studying the art of growing. This is the best site out there, so a "thank you" to everyone on here.

Feel free to post in this journal, I welcome any comments, suggestions or feedback that might help me along the way.

Background:
When the idea of growing first crossed my mind a month ago, it first started with the Aerogarden. I actually bought one on Amazon, but ended up canceling the order the next day after deciding to go DWC instead (save the money and put it towards lighting). After spending a few weeks learning about growing and setting up my grow box, I'm finally ready to go. I'm already 6 days in, so going to first catch up. I plan on posting pictures more frequently towards the beginning and end of the grow... seems that's typically when the most excitement takes place.

Box Setup:
- 3' wide, 2' deep, 4' tall grow
- 250W Agrosun Bulb (contains both halide and sodium)
- Four 23W CFL Bulbs (6500K bulbs for veg and 2700K for flowering)
- 6" airduct fan for exhaust (250 CFM)
- Passive air intake
- Two small fans for circulation
- Plan to make a homemade carbon filter

DWC Setup:
- 27 qt. plastic container (spray painted black)
- 80 gallon airpump w/ 2 x 10" airstones
- Three 3" netpots w/ Hydroton
- General Hydroponics Flora Nutes

Seeds:
Ordered my seeds from Nirvana Shop and got them two weeks later in a very discreet package. For my first grow, I will be growing:

- 1 AK-48 feminized
- 2 Master Kush feminized

Also going to mess around with two seeds in soil, don't know what kind... I have a bunch of seeds saved from stuff I've smoked in the past.

Day 1, April 14 - Started germinating seeds (2 feminized AK-48 and 2 feminized Master Kush, both from Nirvana Shop) using paper towels and plastic containers.

I had only planned on germinating one AK-48 for my first grow, but one of the seeds was cracked, so I decided to put this cracked one in there to see if it will still germinate.

In a third container, I placed a few seeds that I’ve saved, not great quality smoke. I’m just playing around with these seeds and do not intend on growing them out.

Day 2, April 15 - Checked the moisture in the containers thought the undamaged AK-48 seed might already had started sprouting the tap root… wasn't sure (was very stoned). Nothing from the other seeds.

Day 3, April 16 - Checked on the seeds again and the healthy AK-48 seed has a nice long tap root! The two Master Kush seeds started to crack.

I transplanted the AK-48 into Miracle Grow Seed Starting Potting Soil and placed it in my grow box.

Also stared (really stoned... again) at the damaged AK-48 seed, I can’t tell if it’s trying to sprout or just mashed up. Pretty sure that baby is done.

Day 4 April 17 - Checked up on the remaining seeds today and they all the rest sprouted... except for the damaged AK-48.

I placed all the seeds in the potting soil and into the grow box. The soil seemed to dry out within half an hour from the heat so I placed some plasti-wrap on there and pokes a lot of holes... wanted to allow it to evaporate, just slowly rather than instantaneously.

As for the damaged AK-48... carried out a toilet flushing ceremony with TAPS playing in the background. Okay, not really.

Day 5 April 18 - All five seeds have poked through the soil! The AK-48 and one of the Master Kushes have their first leaves. The other Master Kush and the random seeds have the seed leaves. Running on 18/6 lighting. Temperature in the box is around 85 degrees. Going to leave that plastic wrap on there for just one more night before I take them off to let the soil dry out a little more. I’ll take some pics tomorrow. A bit superstitious too so I'm thinking about naming the plants.

So I'm now all caught up to today. All the seedlings are coming along nicely. I removed the plastic wrap from all the cups and misted the cups. The AK-48 (2nd pic) and Master Kush twins (3rd and 4th pic) all have their first leaves.

I thought this was a DWC grow?

clovergs99 said:

I thought this was a DWC grow?

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yeah, you're right, and it will be. just sprouting the seed in soil first and then going to transplant into the dwc system. stay tuned...

the ak-48 and master kushes are doing well. i had my first casualty today with one of the street seeds. it looked like the dirt dried up completely around the tap root to the point where the dirt pulled away from the tap root, exposing a lot of it to the lighting. i moistened up the soil and pushed it back towards the seedling... let's see what happens.

Entering my second week of my first grow. That casualty I had yesterday? Not any more, it made a come back.

Nirvana plants continue their slow, steady progress and are about to start sprouting their second set of leaves. I really need to name these girls soon.

The AK-48 and Master Kushes are coming along and starting to come out with their second set of leaves. The stems on all three are purple... I know there are many causes for this, but any thoughts if this should be a concern for me?

As for the bagseed seedlings... they aren't doing well at all. The one that crapped out the other day decided to drop dead again. And the other had some promise early on, but seems to be giving up now.

Pic 2 is the AK-48
Pics 3 and 4 are the Master Kushes

I have a similar size box as you and a 250 watt HPS. Everything looks good. You should check out my journal, just click the link in my signature. Keep up the good work and good luck

tom__420 said:

I have a similar size box as you and a 250 watt HPS. Everything looks good. You should check out my journal, just click the link in my signature. Keep up the good work and good luck

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Thanks tom_420. I subscribed to yours, a lot of good info in there.

The second set of leaves are coming in nicely on the AK-48 and Master Kushes. I haven't watered the plants since Sunday and haven't even misted the soil since Tuesday... trying to increase root growth. I'll probably water them tomorrow.

The one bagseed is done. I took the opportunity to use it as a practice run for when I transplant the others to DWC.

The other bagseed seedling died on me too. But hey, my three main grows are doing really well. They're developing their second set of leaves.

I've been researching all over trying to figure out when to transplant from soil to hydro and there are so many schools of thoughts. I'm debating transplanting tomorrow. It will be day 8 of being a seedling.

My plan to start with the water about an inch below the bottom of the pot. Also going to start introducing nutes. Using the General Hydroponics Flora, will go 1/4 of regular amount... using the 3-2-1 method.

Any feedback on all this? Is it too early to be transplanting?

pic 2 - AK-48
pic 3 & 4 - Master Kush
pick 5 - RIP

What potting soil mixture did you use?

Yo man.... what's going on. I have never dealt with seedlings, nor soil, but I'm here to help anyways.

I think the little plants are looking good at the moment, I wouldn't want to transplant them right now. They are still fragile now, and while they will never 'like' being transplanted they will be able to deal a little better later, I would think. I guess from your 'two schools of thought' that would be one of them. I think slow and careful is best, especially if you aren't a pro.

And when you do switch, depending on where the roots are, I would have the water level right up to the bottom of the net pots. You won't be drowning anything, especially because there will be bubbles. Keeping it an inch below will probably be ok, I'd say maybe a half inch below if anything.

When I started my clones, they were in rockwool cubes. I had a layer or 2 of hydroton on the bottom of my net pots then the rockwool. I filled my water just a little above the bottom of my net pots, so the rockwool was almost touching the water. As my roots started growing, I let the water stay at the lowest hanging roots (so each plant had at least one root in water, all the time). I'm not saying this is the only way to do it, but it worked really well for me.

jigfresh said:

Yo man.... what's going on. I have never dealt with seedlings, nor soil, but I'm here to help anyways.

I think the little plants are looking good at the moment, I wouldn't want to transplant them right now. They are still fragile now, and while they will never 'like' being transplanted they will be able to deal a little better later, I would think. I guess from your 'two schools of thought' that would be one of them. I think slow and careful is best, especially if you aren't a pro.

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thanks jigfresh. what you said about them being fragile right now... that is exactly my concern about transplanting today. but some people say that you can transplant as early as the first set of leaves (true leaves, not the cotyledon) b/c they'll be dealing w/ stress either way.... but as a seedling, they'll have a better chance at recovery.

i'm torn about this and honestly, now i do have a little regret about not going with rockwool. i was raised helping out w/ my mom's vegetable garden when i was a kid, so through the years, i've developed a bit of a green thumb growing veggies and houseplants seedlings/clones in soil.

either way, it seems like the bottom line in transplanting is simply BEING CAREFUL. so i may have to do the transplant sober, but that would just be plain boring, wouldn't it?

any other opinions? if not, i may still try transplanting today. if they don't make it, i'm going rockwool next time. let's hope this doesn't happen.

Droski7 said:

What potting soil mixture did you use?

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Miracle Grow Seed Starting Potting Soil

Looks like you started your grow around the same time as me. Good luck with yours!

Nice stuff brother! Cant wait to see the ladies all grown up!

Crump said:

Nice stuff brother! Cant wait to see the ladies all grown up!

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Thanks Crump. You and me both... haha. But hey, I'm staying patient when I'm around the girls so I give then as much positive vibe as possible (if you believe in that stuff).

The transplant was disastrous... and I fear I will lose one of the Master Kush plants and the AK-48. The first transplant (a Master Kush) was the only one that went well.

With the second (AK-48 and third (Master Kush) transplants, I basically ripped the lifeline of the plants by tearing half their roots. For both of these, the roots got caught on the holes I drilled on the bottom of the cup.

Won't ever do this again and already looking into buying some rockwool online to prepare starting over again. Will check back w/ the girls in a few hours. I'm devastated right now. Gonna go smoke a bowl to chill out.

Alright... 6 hours have passed and they're all still standing... in fact, their leaves even perked up a little.

When the transplants were first done, the leaves on for all three were drooping. In the pics below, you'll see that they are standing up. I guess that's good news?

Here are the details of the DWC set-up:
- See first post for actual set-up
- 4 Gallons of tap water
- Used aquarium water conditioning for chlorine and chloramine
- General Hydroponics Flora series nutes
- 5ml (1 tsp) of each (Gro, Micro, Bloom)
- Tested for pH and lowered pH to the 5's
- 3" netpots filled with Hydroton

So let's see what happens in these next 24 hours, I'm thinking that's when I'll know if they're going to make it or not.

Here are the pics... and named them today.
1. Before the transplants
2. Six hours after transplant
3. AK48, my Lois Lane (LL)
4. Master Kush, now Mary Jane (MJ)
5. Master Kush, now Jean Grey (JG)
6. Inside the container

I'm not some comic book nerd... just think they are some good, sexy names.