Dave's First Grow - started Dec 8, 2010

System:

• Not sure what to call it, but it's going to be a combination of bubbleponics, DWC and aeroponics. Roots will dangle down into the water reservoir.
• Water will be aerated using an air pump and a Micro-Pore air stone.
• Plants will be grown in net baskets that will hang down into holes in the lid of an 18-gallon tote.
• Water will be pumped up to the net baskets intermittently and sprayed over the hydroton pellets to keep the roots moist, but also let them absorb oxygen from the air.
• Another small water pump in the reservoir will rest on the bottom sideways, to keep the water constantly circulating.

Nutrients:
Planning to use Advanced Nutrients (AN) nutes:
Sensi-Grow A+B
Sensi-Bloom A+B
Big Bud
Overdrive
Voodoo Juice
B-52

Grow Room Details:
Built an ordinary cabinet which is about:
. 38" wide
. 19" deep and
. 72" high
with a top shelf on top of which I installed a ceiling fan. A 6" hole through the shelf allows air into the fan and the exhaust is blown through insulated ducting and out the side of the cabinet. Another 6" hole at the base of the cabinet on the right side will let fresh air in. I'll attach another piece of ducting to that intake hole to keep light out. I'll also duct the air coming out of the exhaust hole up into my attic.
The fan is a Panasonic FV-15VQ5 WhisperCeiling 150 CFM Ventilation Fan. Very quiet.

Sprouting the Seeds:
I'm sprouting 3 seeds inside of coconut coir plugs surrounded by hydroton pellets inside of net pots. Placed each seed into one of the plugs, just below the top surface. The net pots are hanging into holes cut into the lid of an opaque container of water. I'm aerating the water with my Micro-Pore air stone. Added 8 ml of AN Voodoo Juice to 2 gallons of pure water. Water level is about 1 cm above the bottom of the net pots. I plan to let the sprouts grow for one week. Then I'll move the pots into my DWC/aero system without disturbing their contents at all.

Seeds:
3 Barney's Farm feminized "LSD". I selected these because of their high THC and other cannibinoid levels. I use pot to relieve chronic nerve pain, so this stuff should do the trick!

Here are some photos that should clarify what I'm doing:
This is my cabinet. No doors yet. I'll be putting this inside of my closet after I get someone to help me to cut a hole in my ceiling and install ducting from the cabinet to the attic. So far, I only planted the seeds today and they're inside of their net pots in my sprouting container. After a week, I'll move the net pots to the holes in the top of my DWC system, shown under the sprouting container.


Here is the closet that I'll move the cabinet into. Need to remove the shelves first.




Here is my sprouting container. Just a Rubbermaid container that I covered with aluminum tape to keep out light. I cut holes in the lid to hang the pots into. The plastic tube going into the lid leads to a Micro-Pore air stone.


If anyone has questions or suggestions, feel free to post here!

--Dave

nice work, looks well thought out. How many plants are you going to grow in that tub? two?

I forgot to mention, I'm planning to do the SCROG (screen of green) method to create a canopy of buds under the lights. I think this will help to use the small space inside my cabinet as efficiently as possible.

legallyflying said:

nice work, looks well thought out. How many plants are you going to grow in that tub? two?

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Thanks man! I've been reading here for a long time before I started and got most of the info that I need. This is a great forum!!!

I put 3 holes in the top of that 18-gallon tote (plus one with a door to allow me to add nutes and test/adjust pH). So just 3 plants this time. I just hope that all 3 germinate. This is my first grow, so I'll see whether I can fit more plants in that cabinet next time.

Great strain to choose. Had the chance to smoke LSD from a fellow grower, and it is the one that stood out in terms of quality of smoke. Wish you best of luck!

Check out my first grow too! Its a perpetual system with 2 bagseed for now. I've got critical +, a LSD/purple seed that was breeded from a friend, ready to take off next!

yeah, check out my SCROG as well. SCROGS are great but its all about the timing..

Grow it Organic said:

Great strain to choose. Had the chance to smoke LSD from a fellow grower, and it is the one that stood out in terms of quality of smoke. Wish you best of luck!

Check out my first grow too! Its a perpetual system with 2 bagseed for now. I've got critical +, a LSD/purple seed that was breeded from a friend, ready to take off next!

Click to expand...

Hey, I just checked it out. Beautiful plants! I hope that your breed is as awesome as it sounds like it should be. Thanks for your firsthand review of that LSD strain, I'm really looking forward to smoking some for the first time!

legallyflying said:

yeah, check out my SCROG as well. SCROGS are great but its all about the timing..

Click to expand...

Wow! legallyflying, I read through about 13 pages of your SCROG journal and learned a LOT! I haven't come across any books on MJ growing that have nearly as much info as there is on this forum. I'm really glad that you're sharing your knowledge with the rest of us. Thanks, man.

BTW, do you think that I should put a dome over my seed sprouting box to raise the humidity? I already have one that I can use. Probably a dumb question... but hey, I'm a newbie.

I really like your PVC scaffolding that holds up your screens and some fans. I gotta start building one now.
https://www.rollitup.org/members/legallyflying-283294.html

Okay, I was worried because nothing sprouted over the weekend. My organic starter plugs are too absorbent to use them the way that I did, so the seeds sat in soggy plugs for days. Turns out they aren't coconut coir afterall, just some kind of unnamed organic matter.

Anyway, I turned over my seedlings-to-be to my wife who has a green thumb. She emptied out most of the water from my little reservoir and squeezed a lot of the excess H20 from the plugs, then covered the container in plastic and put it in a warm room. Last night I also put it on a heating mat that I just bought, because our house is only about 66 degrees inside. (It's below zero outside.) This morning one of the seedlings finally sprouted. Whew!

Took these pictures a few days ago of my little sprout:



This is the only one that sprouted unfortunately. My own fault for planting them in a grow medium that held water like a sponge.

Got some more seeds en route from The Attitude, so that I can plant 2 more, hopefully before this one gets too big.

Took these pictures of today's developments:


Got help getting the duct run up into the attic. Works beautifully.


This is the inside of my growing cabinet with the hydro system all set up now.


My first little sprout, now in the hydro system getting 1/4 strength nutes.


I used toggle bolts in the lid to mount these hose holders that guide the nutrient hoses to the base of each plant.


Here's the hydro system. I decided to just squirt the nutrient solution over the roots from above. But the water is aerated by an air stone submerged in the reservoir. It's connected to an aquarium air pump running 24/7, so the roots will get oxygen that way.


Temp/humidity sensor for an outdoor digital thermometer/hygrometer. So I can check on my grow room's environment while I'm in the living room.


Cycle timer that I'm using (ART-DNe I believe it's spelled). I'm starting with 1 min on, 30 min off. Have to allow roots to absorb O2 from the air without letting them dry out. I'll play around with the on/off times to find the right balance.

Feeding began at 00:00 today (12-19):
3 gallons of purified H20
11 ml Sensi-Grow A
11 ml Sensi-Grow B
6 ml Voodoo Juice
6 ml B-52

I'm turning off the lights and the exhaust fan for around 6 hours each night.

9 pm: 45 hrs after adding first 1/4 nutes, added 2nd 1/4:

11 ml Sensi-Grow A
11 ml Sensi-Grow B
6 ml Voodoo Juice
6 ml B-52

2nd set of leaves just starting to appear:

hey, i love the setup and hope this grow is successful. I am also growing for the first time myself, but with soil. I'v had experience with a hydroponic system called the volksgarden growing other plants, but one problem i ran into was with the water temperature. With your system having such a small reservoir, pay close attention to the temperature. I subscribed, can't wait to see what comes out of this! if your system works out i might just build one like this myself. Good luck buddy!

bluntly hell said:

hey, i love the setup and hope this grow is successful. I am also growing for the first time myself, but with soil. I'v had experience with a hydroponic system called the volksgarden growing other plants, but one problem i ran into was with the water temperature. With your system having such a small reservoir, pay close attention to the temperature. I subscribed, can't wait to see what comes out of this! if your system works out i might just build one like this myself. Good luck buddy!

Click to expand...

Thanks, man. As it turns out, it's really quiet. After I close the cabinet doors and then the closet doors, you can hardly hear the exhaust fan, the air pump or even the flowing water when it's feeding nutrient solution to the plant. So far, so good. We'll see how it turns out over the next few months.
Good luck with your grow, too.

10 pm:

Added the third 1/4 strength solution of nutes:
11 ml Sensi-Grow A
11 ml Sensi-Grow B
6 ml Voodoo Juice
6 ml B-52

Took this new photo:

Leaves are looking a little odd. Light spots and a little curling. Here's a picture from today:



Anyone know what this means? Am I over-fertilizing? Under-fertilizing? ???

it looks like a little to much man. dilute it down a bit and back off on the watering schedule and see what happens.

Yesterday added last 1/4 concentration nutes. Then changed feeding cycle to 1 min every hour, instead of every half hour.
Plant looks a little healthier and leaves are growing faster.
If it continues to improve thru tomorrow, I'll consider the problem solved.
My uneducated guess is that the starter plugs I used are too absorbent, so that the roots weren't getting enough air.

bluntly hell said:

it looks like a little to much man. dilute it down a bit and back off on the watering schedule and see what happens.

Click to expand...

I backed off the watering schedule like you suggested and that did seem to help. The plant looks better now.
I think that maybe the roots were getting too much water & not enough air, but not sure what caused the white spots.
The new leaves are looking healthier than the first pair at least.
Thanks for the input, man.

no problem. the white spots could be mold spores, beware haha. If you notice white spots in your reservoir, then you will need to start running some hydrogen peroxide or some kind of fungicide. And next time i would get some rockwool cubes man. They can be reused and you can never over water But your doing great man, keep up the good work.