Jman49 400w Double Chunk Strawberry First Grow in DIY Cabinet

Originally Posted by Jman49

Looks good cannatari! Is the light still effective that far from the canopy? Granted I have a 400, but I have it maybe 12" for tops of plants. I think I am either over or under watering. I have few leaves that stand straight out. Figuring out a watering schedule is my current problem. Going out of town this weekend, so I have to figure something out soon.

Subscribed to your journal. I think I need to move mine to the grow journal section.

I quit growing in Ebb&Flow because of that same issue. I've since switched to Deep Water Culture. Your goal is to keep the top 1"-1 1/2" of the containers dry. The plants need a smooth transition from wet to dry where the main stalk emerges from the substrate. Honestly you need to get the idea of overwatering out of your head. As long as you have a good airstone in your resivoir you can keep 1 inch of water circulating constantly in your flood tray. It only takes one spike of heat in between watering to kill everything in an ebb&flow tray. Try 15 on/ 15 off and see if it helps your plants. Definately figure it out before you leave it unattended for a few days. Top your resivoir off just before you leave, especially as it's getting warmer outside. If you trust somebody to check on it, premix a few gallon jugs of nutrients to make it easier for the babysitter to top it off. I've had those trays evaporate in an afternoon!

I am finishing with my 2nd grow of 12 plants and have this advice. If you are getting clones from a friend make sure they are hydro clones and not started in dirt. Dirt always have a shock factor. Make sure that the provider is not giving you any that in anyway have started the flower process, it happened to me and it takes about 3 weeks to pop out of shock. Make sure your water is about 75 degrees, this will help alot. I usually start out will little to no nutrients. And yes there is no such thing as overwatering in DWC, i have had water flowing out the top and it was still fine.
DWC is the way to go, each plant will grow at its own pace and is nice when you can give one less nutes than another. I would say the other 3 probably got nutes when they were not ready for it.
Please keep in mind I am a noob.

Originally Posted by cannatari

I quit growing in Ebb&Flow because of that same issue. I've since switched to Deep Water Culture. Your goal is to keep the top 1"-1 1/2" of the containers dry. The plants need a smooth transition from wet to dry where the main stalk emerges from the substrate. Honestly you need to get the idea of overwatering out of your head. As long as you have a good airstone in your resivoir you can keep 1 inch of water circulating constantly in your flood tray. It only takes one spike of heat in between watering to kill everything in an ebb&flow tray. Try 15 on/ 15 off and see if it helps your plants. Definately figure it out before you leave it unattended for a few days. Top your resivoir off just before you leave, especially as it's getting warmer outside. If you trust somebody to check on it, premix a few gallon jugs of nutrients to make it easier for the babysitter to top it off. I've had those trays evaporate in an afternoon!

Hey Canna,

Today, I started to put a large frozen aquafina bottle in the res to keep the temps down. I have been watering 1x a day, and it looks like I will only be gone from Friday night to Sunday morning. I will give a good watering before I leave, and then have the timer take care of Saturday.

My original plan was to use the standard 3" cubes and have 3-4" of hydroton below that would get 3-4 floods for 15 min per day. The guy I am getting my clones from is a pure RW guy, and ended up getting the tall 3" cubes. Therefore there is only about 1-2" of Hydroton below. If I did a full 15 minute flood the water level would be about 3/4 the way up the RW. Seems like that would saturate the RW too much. Keep in mind the tallest plant is only about 6". I will figure it out.

What is the best way to tell the difference between over and under watering? Anybody's response is welcome.

Originally Posted by mr2kuhl

I am finishing with my 2nd grow of 12 plants and have this advice. If you are getting clones from a friend make sure they are hydro clones and not started in dirt. Dirt always have a shock factor. Make sure that the provider is not giving you any that in anyway have started the flower process, it happened to me and it takes about 3 weeks to pop out of shock. Make sure your water is about 75 degrees, this will help alot. I usually start out will little to no nutrients. And yes there is no such thing as overwatering in DWC, i have had water flowing out the top and it was still fine.
DWC is the way to go, each plant will grow at its own pace and is nice when you can give one less nutes than another. I would say the other 3 probably got nutes when they were not ready for it.
Please keep in mind I am a noob.

Hey Mr2,

Yes, clones were for hydro. The guy is starting a nursury/dispensary/grow education. No mature plants, he only sells clones and various stages of veg plants. Well he grows the plants to maturity off-site to be able to tell you how long to "cook" them for and other details. He is a friend of a good friend and offered plenty of help since it is my first grow. Problem is he is fighting our lovely city which in is the process of closing all the dispensaries. He got a visit form the Code enforcement, 8 cops and a local newspaper reporter last week and has been a little preoccupied.

BTW, no DWC, it's a turbogarden ebb and flow. I just need to find some good info on under/over watering, as I am not sure which is happening. Any ideas or what to look for?

They do look good, I just expected quicker growth from past research. No 2-3 inches a day, but I do believe the strain has something to do with that. He said they stretch a max of double in flowering, and I have at least 2-3 feet of room to grow, so I am going to veg another week or more.

Originally Posted by Jman49

What is the best way to tell the difference between over and under watering? Anybody's response is welcome.

It's the 3" RW cubes. They should not be soggy and run like a faucet when you pick them up. Your challenge is keeping the roots growing out of the RW wet without over-saturating it. In the future you need to aquire clones in 1 1/2" cubes. The cubes you have are better suited for a bucket system, be it drip or DWC. The cube needs to have 2" or 3" of hydroton underneath it and only receive moisture from the capilary action of the hydroton. The reason you can't nail down under/over watering is because your dealing with underwatering your roots to not overwater the RW. My plants root systems are completely submerged all the time in my DWC buckets. But as in my last post, I maintain a smooth transition from wet to dry at the stalk of the plant. Overwatering is a stalk condition not a root condition. Figure out a way to get an inch or more of hydroton on top of the RW around the stalks, maybe a cut-up partycup or something.

Originally Posted by cannatari

It's the 3" RW cubes. They should not be soggy and run like a faucet when you pick them up. Your challenge is keeping the roots growing out of the RW wet without over-saturating it. In the future you need to aquire clones in 1 1/2" cubes. The cubes you have are better suited for a bucket system, be it drip or DWC. The cube needs to have 2" or 3" of hydroton underneath it and only receive moisture from the capilary action of the hydroton. The reason you can't nail down under/over watering is because your dealing with underwatering your roots to not overwater the RW. My plants root systems are completely submerged all the time in my DWC buckets. But as in my last post, I maintain a smooth transition from wet to dry at the stalk of the plant. Overwatering is a stalk condition not a root condition. Figure out a way to get an inch or more of hydroton on top of the RW around the stalks, maybe a cut-up partycup or something.

I was thinking the same thing. Fortunately the next batch will be different. I am getting into a collective where I will be able to go in and cut my own clones (after a 8 hour instruction class) and put them in whatever medium I want. I will use the smaller RW and then run them with a lot more hydroton surrounding the RW.

For these, I don't think i can pull them out of the pots with out harming the roots(most have been in there for over a week). Hopefully they will start drinking enough so the RW does not stay to wet. Until then I will manually flood the tray once a day to the RW and 2-3 times just the hydroton on the bottom. It's going to be more work, but this run was mainly to pop my cherry and get a grow under my belt.

Originally Posted by Jman49

... this run was mainly to pop my cherry and get a grow under my belt.

Wise words. I'm in the same boat. Though I have a few grows under my belt, my new cab needs its cherry popped. Sacrafice reveals potential. When I move into a new place I put a plant under a CFL and wait to see what kills it. The more things that go wrong the better at that point.

Well start of week 3 of veg. Found a digital timer I had lying around and have set it to flood the table for 1 minute every 4 hours. One minute gets the water level about 3/4-1 inch from bottom of pots, so just hydroton, not RW is getting flooded. Then in the morning and evening, I manually flood it 4-5 times until the water level is just below the RW to give the roots some time to sit in the nutes. A 1.5 minute flood would be perfect, but of course 1 minute intervals is the lowest the timer has. I started this yesterday at lunch and they seem to be perking up a little. I figure I'll try and get the roots to cover the very bottom balls and feed like this until their thirst can keep the RW from staying saturated. Still some drooping leaves, but less of them and the ones that are drooping are drooping further out on the leaf. We'll try this for a few days and see the results.

Other than that everything is looking good. The res is no longer getting the white foam and floaties. pH is remaining pretty stable and the box temps are maxing at 85-86 (the weather has been pretty pleasant lately, but today and this weekend when I am gone is supposed to be warm).

The runts are even starting to join the party. #6 is still tiny and kinda yellow, but what are you going to do?

One week left before the magic begins!!!

I took some pics, but forgot the camera, will post later.