Im currently growing 1 plant under a 600w hps. I only had 1 seed to use that i got out of some real good smoke.... hopefully its a she.

germ went good, started under a small flouro. its been about 2 weeks... 8 leaves, 7 or so inches tall, looks healthy.

I just invested in a ph kit... found out the ph of the water I was using was a little too high, problem fixed.

Now my question(s).

The plant I currently have is in soil. I will be building my own hydro setup Basic Hydroponic Garden Setup - a photoset on Flickr
Found this, seems pretty simple. Its it just me or is that tub way too deep, im thinking it would be better to have something shallower, maby a foot/foot n a half deep. I will be making one this week. Is it necessary to have it drip fed from the top? this system doesnt seem to have anything like that.

Once the plant I have gets a little bigger im going to take 1 clone a day (ive read it minimizes stress) and just continue flowering it in soil,while the others start in hydro. I have a 250w hps that i will use for veg, plus a barrier between rooms.

I have some nutes, not sure if they are good for growing pot, Shultz 20-30-20. I used a small amount the last time I watered, 2 days ago... seems fine.
Should i toss em and just get new stuff?

Im sure I'll have a ton more questions once I start building this thing... I'll post them in this thread. I do have some experience, friends and family that have grown in the past. Also, im working on getting a digital camera, hopefully soon.
Thanks in advance for any help. Comments welcome.

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The hydro unit is a bubbler. You want to keep the bottoms of the net pots about 1/4 inch above the solution in the rez. As the bubbles break on the surface, the root zone in the pots will stay wet and the roots will grow down into the solution as well. The large rez is a GOOD thing, as it will reduce your maintainance time. Smaller rezes require nute changes and top-ups more frequently.

Now with all that said, if I were you, I'd grow a few rounds in that unit just to get my feet wet (no pun intended), then convert the unit over to aero. It would be a pretty simple thing to do ... and you will grow more healthy plants as a result. Not that you can't grow healthy plants the way it is ... but if you want KICK AZZ plants, go aero.

On the nutes ... If I were you, I'd go to the hydro store and buy:

1. Pure Blend Pro "Grow."
2. Pure Blend Pro "Bloom."
3. Cal Mag.

Use the "Grow" for vegging at 15ml per gallon of water.
Use the "Bloom" for flowering at 15 ml per gallon of water.
Add Cal Mag with the "Bloom" at 5ml per gallon of water.

Also, use RO water instead of tap water. If you don't have an RO unit, you'll need to lug some distilled water home from the store.

Good luck with the grow.


Vi

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Liberals are people that will believe anything twice.

Your post about aeroponics really got my wheels turning. why settle for second best when all i need is some tubing, spray heads and a submersible pump.
I found this projects.bootstrap - Aeroponic Unit V1.1 seems very simple to build. Hell, im pumped up about this. I already have most of the materials needed, just need to pick up a pump and some tubing.

Never really considered aeroponics an option thinking it was too complicated, but now that ive read up on it... nothing to it. I just half to be extra carefull with water characteristics (ph/ppm) and im set. also, do you think the system i linked would have problems with cloging? anything the pros would suggest to prevent this? perhaps making some filter screen where the pump takes in the water.
Im just going to need some net pots, and a growing medium- and the innerworkings (tubes, pump, etc.) any suggestions/ things to avoid?

Im getting a web cam, hopefully i will be able to post results.

Love the site!

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also, im thinking that a second lower tub (resevoir) might be a good idea, to make water changing a smoother process. This way i would just half to mix up my new solution, remove th pump and tubing to the new tub, then just put on the lid/plants.. just a thought.

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I might need to build this thing sooner than i tought, next few days. just looked at my plant, its got so much more growth since last night. Its amazing seeing how much it can grow day to day. How long into flowering can I take clones? Should i take them immediatly once i can sex the plant?

Im just hoping its a female and i can get a good 6 clones off it. If not, well, guess i'll be ordering some seeds then damn it.

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