First Grow -- Journal Time

Day 1

This is my first grow, and therefore I would like to document it and keep track of my progress.

Here are some things to know about my grow:

• I am growing 12 plants, all from clones
• I will be using a CAP, 'Ebb and Grow,' ebb and flow hydroponic system
• I am using a DR150 grow tent produced by SecretJardin
• I will be using one 1000 watt Metal Halide bulb for veg and a 1000 watt HPS bulb for flowering
• I will use the LUCAS FORMULA for flowering, but not for the vegetative stage. For veg stage I will be using the nutrients that shipped with the Ebb and Grow system
• I am using tap water, last time I checked it, was 500 PPM out of the tap.
• Phresh filter, 6" HO CAN fan through an air-cooled hood. Intake through a booster fan linked to the exterior of the structure (outside air)

Reservoir Info:

• 500 PPM
• 5.7 pH
• 72 Degree room temp
• 53% humidity

When I first received my Ebb & Gro system, I set it up and ran cycles through it for about a week while I monitored the conditions in the grow area. I organized everything into one area, putting the res/controller unit together and mounting my ballast and tdm/ph gauge on the wall. I covered the tent and divided the space from the rest of the garage with a tent for stealth purposes. I think it turned out pretty well.

Clone Info:

Today I picked up the clones from the dispensary. They were rooted already so I was immediately able to throw them into their prospective buckets. Here are the strains:

3x Blue Dream
3x Green Crack
2x Utopia Haze
2x Soul Ass
2x Juliet Ceased

I don't know much about Soul Ass or Juliet Ceased, nor have I smoked either. Doing a little research, I know that Juliet is a cross between Cinderella 99 and NYCD, however I'm not sure exactly what the 'ceased' part represents. Nevertheless, this is my first grow so I wasn't too picky on the strains. We'll just see how they turn out.

The cuttings weren't as healthy as I expected them to be, however I expect for all of them to survive after some tender loving care. The Blue Dream looks the best at the moment, as does the Green Crack. On the other hand, one of the Utopia Haze is struggling, as are both of the Soul Ass. The Juliet Ceased looks alright but not great. I'll give them a few days and hopefully their root systems expands and they recover. Look below for pictures.

The Plan

Because my tap water blows and my PPM's are near 550, I might need to do something to lower it so I don't kill my plants. Filtering it seems like too much work, so I might go out and buy roughly about 10 gallons of distilled water and add it to 15 gallons of tap water for this first res cycle. This should bring my ppm down to a reasonable level (250 or so?), and I can keep low enough to support the plants until they're able to handle straight tap water.

That's it for now--check out the pictured (strains listed on the picture on the bottom right). I'll be back with an update in a few days.

Feel free to post anything you like--questions, comments, thoughts, worries, ect.


FattyCaps

Subb'd!! Will be watchin this one very closely buddy!

Day 2

The plants are struggling. No point in listing my res vitals considering I'm going to wait a few days before I run another flood cycle. When I first received the plants, I put them directly into the system because they were rooted and ran a flood cycle. However, because my ppm was around 500, I believe this may have hurt them.

I went out and bought some distilled water (around 15 gallons) to add to the res to see how it would affect the ppm--I added about 9 gallons to 10 gallons of shit tap water and the res stabilized at 320 ppm. I suppose I can live with this.

I misted the leaves with 0 ppm water and saturated the rookwool last night to try and flush the plants out and get rid of the nasty tap water. This morning they looked the worse that I had seen them, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they pull through. I'll give them some time to react, however I'm sure by tomorrow morning we'll see whether or not they've made it.

Update in the morning.

FattyCaps

Day 3

Checked on the plants this morning and they're doing a lot better. I let them go all of yesterday without any water because I was afraid that I had over watered them from the start. On the other hand, the healthiest of the plants was the Blue Dream, and now the strongest looking plant looks the worst.

Because this plant was a little further ahead, I was thinking that maybe it needed more water than the others so I diagnosed it as being under watered. I figured that it couldn't have been over watered considering it didn't receive any yesterday and it looks a hundred times worse than it did yesterday. I took a water bottle and poured some on the rockwool of each of the plants, so we'll see how it affects them.

The weakened Blue Dream is also the one closest to the air intake, so it may have gotten too cold for the plant considering it had 60 degree air blowing on it all night. Check out the picture below and feel free to comment on what you think.

Hopefully all of the plants start to look a little more healthy and I can start running flood cycles soon.

More updates to come.

FattyCaps

Day 9

Been almost a week since my last update. The girls are doing better, not great, but better. I'm still waiting for their roots systems to develop so I can overload them with nutrients. It's day 9 and the roots still haven't poked through the bottom of the bucket.

The PPMs were climbing in the res to an uncomfortable number (around 490), and I'm not sure why. I added some "root 66" formula (1-1-1) at about half strength a few days ago to try and get them jumpstarted, so maybe the plants aren't taking it in and that's what causing the PPMs to rise. It's also possible that the hydroton is having some dust runoff and that's leaking back into the res. I'm not sure. Either way, this evening I emptied the resovoir completely, cleaned it out with a H2O2, and refilled it with distilled water. I added some BC Boost and BC Grow nutrients (25% strength), and balanced the pH to bring the res level to a 5.8 pH and a 270 PPM count. I've yet to see the roots come through, and the plants were looking a little yellow, which leads me to believe that there is a nitrogen deficiency. We'll see how the plants react to the new solution.

I'll have a new update soon, after I see how the plants react to the new changes.

FattyCaps

cant belive no one is commenting on this

Probably waiting for some more picture updates and for something to actually happen with these plants!!!! haha

BTW for my one and only viewer, the plants looked a lot stronger this morning. The res flush and nutrient boost looks like it was a good idea

Day 15

ROOTS!! Checked the plants this morning and one of the Juliets had her roots poking through the bottom of the 2-gallon bucket. Definitely good news. The plants are look like they're doing well--coming along nicely.

A few days ago, I added a little bit of nutrients to try and give a kick start to these plants for root development. I only added 25% strength of the BC boost/Veg nutrients that came with my ebb and flow system. This brought my ppms up to about 270. They have responded well.

I'm going to wait for the roots to come in on the rest of the plants before I boost the nutes. Right now my vitals are:

Gallons: 21
pH: 6.2
PPM: 370
Temp: 72 degrees
Humidity: 60%

On the other hand, one the green cracks is not doing too well. She's struggling and I'm not sure why. I don't believe the nutrient level is too high, because my ppms are still relatively low and she wasn't doing anything when I was running straight water. She looks a little better than yesterday, so I guess we'll just see how time will lay it's course. Check out the pictures for a visual update. The first ones are the Juliet and her roots, the last three in line is the sick GC.

FattyCaps

heady as fuck!

Day 14 Flowering

It's been a while since I've updated the journal. Flowering now (obviously), and I'm two weeks in. Thought I'd post some pics and let everybody know what was going on in case anybody was following.

I'm running the LUCAS formula with GH nutrients at the moment, keeping my PPMs around 1440. Plants are thriving, however I've run into a spidermite infestation. I've been treating over the last 3 weeks or so with different things, and I seem to be keeping them at bay. I tried the Doktor Doom fogger (did that twice), while spraying with a concentrated alcohol spray. When that didn't seem to be working too well, I moved on to an SNS-217 spray (rosemary extract) and I'm still looking for the results of this expensive spray. Should have an update in a few days on the results.

In the meantime, i purchased a few pest strips from Home Depot and thought I'd give them a try. Like I said, it doesn't seem like the infestation is getting worse and I caught it early enough to contain it.

I change the res every 5-10 days, and I top off almost every night. I'm also using about a tablespoon of H2O2 every day to keep the res clean and the water oxiginated. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be back with an update in a few days!


FattyCaps

nice man! Hope those mites are all dead before they start budding!

Day 37 Flowering

Been a few weeks since I've updated. Plants are thriving and it's safe to say that the spider mite problem has been eradicated! Thank goodness for the no pest strips.

Still maintaining my feeding schedule and changing the res every 5-8 days. Keepings the ppms around 1400. Ran into a little bit of a cal/mag deficiency, so I've been supplementing for that. Adding 1 mL per liter of Cal/mag and it seems to be doing the trick.

The leaves that had the most spotting on them from the spidermites have been dying, so I just pull them off when the stems get weak. Doesn't seem to be affecting the plants much.

The buds are developing well. Very very sticky, smelly and there are quite a few crystals forming. Looks like it's going to be a decent harvest, but who knows, this is my first grow so I really have no idea what i'm talking about lol.

Please post comments/questions/concerns and check out the pics.

Update soon!

FattyCaps

sooo sexy