First grow journal! LED+DWC+Winter (PICS! :D)

Trick of the light.

More battles with pH today. Even our bottled water (from the "water store") that we use to make coffee ('cause it tastes better) reads up at 8.5.

Starting to wish I'd just been blind of pH all this time!

Highocaine said:

Trick of the light.

More battles with pH today. Even our bottled water (from the "water store") that we use to make coffee ('cause it tastes better) reads up at 8.5.

Starting to wish I'd just been blind of pH all this time!

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the water in my area runs up 9 PH, how did the PH change from 7.8 to 6.5 affect your plants so far? i wish i could be blind to it too!

Jennylasting said:

the water in my area runs up 9 PH, how did the PH change from 7.8 to 6.5 affect your plants so far? i wish i could be blind to it too!

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Too soon to tell, I think! That, or it's fine. I can't tell.

'kay, normal light update pic, showing new growth site:

Very nice setup. looking forward to this grow!

JohhnyBlaze44 said:

Very nice setup. looking forward to this grow!

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Thanks! I've since added a PC power supply and two cheapass PC fans from China, as well as taped up my bucket with reflective tape (ran out.. should've done the lid first!)

Current status:

If you want a quieter option than the PSU, you could use mobile phone chargers at the correct voltage and around 500ma as a rule. I bought a pack of 3 off amazon for about £5.

SnotBoogie said:

If you want a quieter option than the PSU, you could use mobile phone chargers at the correct voltage and around 500ma as a rule. I bought a pack of 3 off amazon for about £5.

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Haha, spoken like a true engineer. I don't trust china with those power supplies, they're never very good.. For fans it's just fine though. I got these supplies for free, and they're also shuttle PC sized, so I'll stick with them in case I ever need to run other things at 5V or 12V.

I'll just leave some more porn here..



Noticing the leaves are lifting quite a bit (towards the light). Don't think it's trying to get more light though, just natural growth.

Still no roots out of the net pot, but we're only at 14 days since sprouting. I can see roots heading down through the hydroton, though.

^^^^Something is off here grower..........at 14 days since germ, they are really stunted by something....can you give me some info on current day-night temps/rh/ppms/ph/nute regiment/etc.......no biggie, your growing a photo strain so you can take your time to dial in your issues....nice photos btw.

Yeah, I kinda figured as much..

Day/night temps: 20 degrees Celsius for the reservoir constant, and around 18C night, 23C day for air.
RH in the room is about 30%
PPM at 450
PH at 5.6-6.0, but keep swinging back up. Did a res change tonight (2nd for this grow already..) and really light-proofed my buckets.
Nute regimen is 25 mL of Botanicare Pro Grow (3-2-4) for 5 gallons tap water, PH adjusted down with vinegar.

I'm also not growing a photo strain, it's an auto.. 24/0 light.

Im still worried about your tap water personally... Are you leaving it to stand overnight before using it? Id like to hear what other peeps say about this. Cant you use osmosis filters to remove chlorine and the other one whos name i cant remember? Maybe there is a lot of calcium in your water and this is contributing too? Might mean you have to add less vinegar, too.

Also, when you say "around" 18c at night - have you measured it?

measuring EC? not that i have a clue, but that is the reading that is missing i think

450ppm sounds like a little much...maybe too much salt for uptake? causing it to stunt

I germed two Tangerine Dream a week before you under T5 and now under LED, they are just hitting 6 weeks old this Friday and they're just now at 250ppm (.7CF), if I got any higher I get killer lockout and burn.

Visible roots yet?

I don't feed ANYTHING until I have a root about 1/2" out of the net pot (RO water-12ppm)

Then a little (100ppm) Cal/Mag+ kick starts them and growth explodes

LOVE the thread though, definitely subbed. a lot of commonalities between us so it should be interesting!

Good luck brother!

Also, since you're only running one seed, I'd be careful abotu dramatically fiddling with your setup only to find it was a dodgy seed.

EC is related to PPM, 450 PPM = 0.64 EC
I don't let the tap water stand 24 hours before using it, but I let it stand until it's clear and that initial chlorine smell goes away. And I REALLY don't want to have to buy an RO system, or 5 gallons of RO water every week. Not for one plant. It comes out of the tap at 100 PPM, which is pretty good for tap water.
Our house thermostat gets turned down to 20 degrees at night, and it only gets 2 degrees cooler in the plant's room, but I haven't measured directly since I started the grow.

It's not too late for me to just switch to soil (and it is quite tempting). But it would shock the plant, right?

What about more light? A family member has two 40W Grolux fluorescent tubes I could borrow, but no reflectors, and they're huge.. I doubt it would make much of a difference.

EDIT: There is a tiny tip of a root coming out of the bottom of the netpot, which is an improvement over nothing - Previously I could only see them coming about halfway through the hydroton.

Oh, if you're not fussed about putting the hydro on the back burner, I would suggest maybe just starting another seed in soil? Could easily start it off in a small pot and just put it next to your current plant. If the hydro takes off, then cool, if not, go to soil as a simple way of troubleshooting. Unless your seeds are in limited supply?

As for the CFLs - It could be another way of troubleshooting your spectrums. From what i understand CFLs have a pretty smooth spectral distribution curve, which could maybe help you identify a problem with the spectrum your LEDs are giving out. Having another look at your original post, it looks like you have nothing in the 660nm range?

As always, i'm just speculating based on what i have read, since i have essentially zero experience. my first girl is currently in 4 days of lights out before cutting!

Thanks for the PPM/EC info, been limiting my learning to dirt for now - Im sure at some point i'll feel the need for MOAR FIDDLING!

yea you don't need a RO, I would kill for 100ppm out of the tap- runnin well water at 394ppm wooooooo!!! lol

Just keep an eye on em, 450 does sound reallll high. rams horns, nute burn...all that good shit, you know.

The cfl's- what ive done in the past is wire those socket housing's to the walls of the cabinet/container and such. Ive been debating doing the same in my veg cabinet (getting lots of spots under PG180 and cant tackle it) think it may be too much of a specific spectrum.

or you can get those clamp reflectors and put em on each side of your panel, if youve got the headroom.

you could transplant and be alright... Ive considered soil for the flavour side of it, but I just cant let go of the cleanliness and efficiency of hydro. ( instead of just letting the excess water dry on the concrete floor or run to my floor drain...id be sweeping dirt, all the time.)

woot woot! Go root! keep an eye on that puppy..

first time grower + supersoil = BUDS

Scotch089 said:

you could transplant and be alright... Ive considered soil for the flavour side of it, but I just cant let go of the cleanliness and efficiency of hydro. ( instead of just letting the excess water dry on the concrete floor or run to my floor drain...id be sweeping dirt, all the time.)

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Drip tray?

Talking a soil flood and drain?

Enlighten me!