First Grow - Criticism Wanted

[5BY5LEC]

Hey all. I will keep it short. I decided I wanted to grow because my wife and I smoke a bit. With her approval I bought all the stuff I needed. Out of pure luck I scored TWO 315 LEC SunSystem units with the bluish bulbs for under 200. I got the rest of the stuff I needed from Amazon.
I have not ever really grown ANYTHING, save for a nice stand of Kentucky Blue in the front yard.
Yes, I should have started simple. But no.......I built a pretty nice RDWC from scratch.. I studied the concepts of a hydro system for a couple of weeks so I know I got it right. I put plants in it, went a couple weeks and realized I had no clue what I was doing, and I should have started with something easier. I read about what to do with PH and PPM ect....those were all pretty simple concepts to grasp. Building the thing and getting it going was easy. Growing I can see, not so much.

Any criticism would be appreciated. About the plants or system. Specs:
5x5 Tent
2 x Ecoplus 1 air pumps 796gph pumps.
2 x 315 LEC
6" fan/filter (400cfm)
4 - 5 Gal bucket RDWC with 5th bucket outside of tent as control bucket.
1" feeder lines. 3/4 return line. ecoplus 396 pump.
lightproofed/insulated


The inside before I had anything in it






The control bucket and pump/filter

 

[5BY5LEC]

I got seeds from Seedsman. The first seeds in were the mama mia's I got for free and an OG to fill the spot. I figured I would sacrifice the free seeds first haha.
I soaked them for 16 hours July 6. After soaking I placed them directly into Rapid Rooter Cubes and planted them into the system.
They sprouted 2 days later. One of the Mama Mia's grew its root above ground and before I realized what was happening it had died before showing the sucker leaves.
I made a mistake and did not turn the LEC on them until they were kind of tall. I realized they need light sooner. Next time they get the light as soon as they go in the system.
The OG took almost a week to sprout, but it did. It is short and fat and you can tell it was happy having the light on before it sprouted.
At this point, I was running 5.8PH water and Hydroguard only.





MAMA MIA - I piled grow rocks around the stem until it gets stronger. This is like day 7 after putting seeds in.


This is the little OG Kush on day 7



The main root of the top Mama Mia. It goes almost to the bottom of the bucket. It looks white and healthy.

 

[blowincherrypie]

Nice snag on the 315s! I never grew hydro but it does look like you bit off a shit ton. Ppl tend to say there is very little room for error with rdwc. Personally, Im back to using hempy buckets. I tried soil a couple runs and roottrapper fabric pots but the plants love the hempys and its as easy as it gets. Maybe think about something a little more simple and then when youve got a few grows under your belt you can dust your rig off?

Looks like a really nice build..

Good luck!

 

[5BY5LEC]

I realized my first picture covers up some the piping for the rdwc. Here is one without the insulation so you can get of idea of what the water is doing in the system. The white PVC are feeder lines. The black irrigation tubing coming from the left is the return water line back to the reservior. The water flows evenly throughout the system and the water level is even through the system with the pump on.


BTW I tried using these pictured Uni-Seals. They did not leak, but I noticed one had split down the factory seam earlier in my testing phase. I REDID the system with 1" bulkheads.
It may have been a fluke. I will not accept this system leaking even a drop.


As I said, this was all figured out in testing. The bulkheads were like 50 bucks or something all together.

 

[5BY5LEC]

Thanks a ton!! I have a steep learning curve and plenty of patience. I will let myself fail a few times before I decide to go coco or something. I did bite off a lot. I tend to do this.

 

[5BY5LEC]

I dont know what to do with the second one but I am going to keep it around. It was kind of "buy them both or not".

 

[5BY5LEC]

July 20th
So, I have read that you need to give nutrients when the suckers start to yellow. I noticed some yellowing so I began nutrients. I am using GH Trio, Armor SI, HydroGuard and SM-90.
I pulled my first dumbass move at this point, surely the first in many to come. I think I fed them too much. I thought, I dont know. Here was my mix
20 Gal Res.
26 mL Armor SI
100 mL HydroGuard
60 mL SM-90
480 PPM. (My tap water is 55-65ppm. SI makes that 90-100 so thats my baseline) Basically 380 PPM
PH'd to 5.8.
They looked dead in the morning.


From this


To THIS, literally in 12hrs. This picture does not do it justice. It yellowed badly and the leaves were touching the rocks.

 

[Delztronics]

Looks good man!

 

[5BY5LEC]

Nutrient Lockout?? Beginner Mistake haha? Too High PPM??
It took me about a day to realize this shouldnt be happening so I remixed the res the next morning. Exact same but with my starting base of 100, plus 150ppm nutrients. I did some reading and I think what was happening was a nutrient lockout from a WAYYYY too high PPM? At first I thought they looked like the pictures on here of dirt seedlings people overwatered. But in Hydro that equivalent would be low oxygen in the water, which didnt make sense to me; I just waited for a day at this point. To my eyes they looked better yesterday evening.

Here is the same plant tonight, the light just turned on. The LEC is like 30 inches from the plants BTW.


Its sister plant. The leaves were totally yellow, drooping and touching the rocks. Now they are only half yellow and looking up.



The little OG Kush. Strange with this one, it never yellowed. Could that be a sign it is a more nutrient friendly? It just soldiered on. It is growing so much slower than the others but honestly I am rooting for it most of all. For sure can see that some plants grow faster than others.



This was a total dipshit move because I read everywhere that you start low with nutrients. Lesson learned.
Also, when people say stuff happens fast in hydro, holy shit take it from me they are not kidding. Your shit could die overnight. It can also thrive.

 

[Delztronics]

Nutrient Lockout?? Beginner Mistake haha? Too High PPM??
It took me about a day to realize this shouldnt be happening so I remixed the res the next morning. Exact same but with my starting base of 100, plus 150ppm nutrients. I did some reading and I think what was happening was a nutrient lockout from a WAYYYY too high PPM? At first I thought they looked like the pictures on here of dirt seedlings people overwatered. But in Hydro that equivalent would be low oxygen in the water, which didnt make sense to me; I just waited for a day at this point. To my eyes they looked better yesterday evening.

Here is the same plant tonight, the light just turned on. The LEC is like 30 inches from the plants BTW.
View attachment 4170628

Its sister plant. The leaves were totally yellow, drooping and touching the rocks. Now they are only half yellow and looking up.

View attachment 4170630

The little OG Kush. Strange with this one, it never yellowed. Could that be a sign it is a more nutrient friendly? It just soldiered on. It is growing so much slower than the others but honestly I am rooting for it most of all. For sure can see that some plants grow faster than others.
View attachment 4170631


This was a total dipshit move because I read everywhere that you start low with nutrients. Lesson learned.
Also, when people say stuff happens fast in hydro, holy shit take it from me they are not kidding. Your shit could die overnight. It can also thrive.

You will be fine. Just give it a little more time.

 

[5BY5LEC]

I have been leaving them alone for the last couple days pretty much. My reservior has stayed at 300 ppm and my PH drifted slowly up from 5.8 to 5.9 over the course of about three days. I think that sounds about right. I decided to leave the PH alone until it gets to be around 6.2-6.3. Does that sound about right to everyone? Until the plants tell me otherwise I am going to stay the course.
PPM - 300
5.8-5.9 PH
Tent Temp- 79 at the top of the buckets.
Water Temp 73-75. (I know I know) We are having a heat wave and I have no chiller. Not bad considering.
RH 48%


Anybody have any good advice about beginning to up nutes each reservior change? Is 50ppm higher each week a good plan of action.

This Mama Mia is growing fast. This is only two days from the top picture in the above post. That plant has the black ring around it so you can tell it apart. Will update in a day or two!

You cannot see it in the pic, but there is a monster white hair covered root about to pop out the side of the pot. It is beast. I sanitized my hands and felt around inside the bucket and airstone. No slime or slipperyness whatsoever. My res kind of smells like what the green bottle of my GH Trio nutrients smells like, only stronger. Not eggs or sulfur or anything. I think this is looking good.

 

[5BY5LEC]

Just a pic of the Little OG. It is wanting to catch up.

 

[Delztronics]

I have been leaving them alone for the last couple days pretty much. My reservior has stayed at 300 ppm and my PH drifted slowly up from 5.8 to 5.9 over the course of about three days. I think that sounds about right. I decided to leave the PH alone until it gets to be around 6.2-6.3. Does that sound about right to everyone? Until the plants tell me otherwise I am going to stay the course.
PPM - 300
5.8-5.9 PH
Tent Temp- 79 at the top of the buckets.
Water Temp 73-75. (I know I know) We are having a heat wave and I have no chiller. Not bad considering.
RH 48%


Anybody have any good advice about beginning to up nutes each reservior change? Is 50ppm higher each week a good plan of action.

This Mama Mia is growing fast. This is only two days from the top picture in the above post. That plant has the black ring around it so you can tell it apart. Will update in a day or two!
View attachment 4171409
You cannot see it in the pic, but there is a monster white hair covered root about to pop out the side of the pot. It is beast. I sanitized my hands and felt around inside the bucket and airstone. No slime or slipperyness whatsoever. My res kind of smells like what the green bottle of my GH Trio nutrients smells like, only stronger. Not eggs or sulfur or anything. I think this is looking good.

View attachment 4171410

How long do you plan on leaving these ladies in veg? 50ppm works but I usually up my by 100ppm every week.

 

[5BY5LEC]

I have absolutely no clue how long to leave them in veg or if they have even reached veg yet, other than the advice I have read.
Some places I have read to leave them until maturity ie. growing branches that are not directly apart on the stem.
Other places say to go by height due to stretch considering how much headroom you have in the tent.
Also, I am about 20 days in. I read seedlings need 8 weeks before you can consider veg.
So honestly I do not know. But I will soon enough. So much to learn.

100ppm a week? I have a res change coming up on sunday so I may try that. I am only using Hydroguard at the moment, but I ordered some Orca today. I read Heisenbergs tea thread and decided that I would try that route. I have a feeling that bene's are the way to go. I ordered a bottle of Physan-20 just in case lol. I felt my airlines tonight and they are a bit slippery.

 

[5BY5LEC]

BTW if anyone if curious about cheap PH meters, I ordered a Dr PH meter off Amazon, along with 7.0 and 4.01 solution. The Dr. Meter was dead on from the box. Just FYI. $13. something shipped.

 

[5BY5LEC]

Update for today. Looking Good. I ordered some Orca in order to get a more diverse population of organisms in my res. The Hydroguard has been working well on its own though. Here is the Mama Mia Skunk. Hoping she turns out nice and skunky.

 

[5BY5LEC]

Here she is tonight. The others are similar.

 

[RelaxedGrandpa]

Good friggin grief.....

I'm looking at your pics and in one, the first thing I noticed was the pink tricycle in the background. I have a young granddaughter and I'm thinking, "yeah, that would be nice to get her". God I'm getting old.

 

[5BY5LEC]

Your not the only one. We have had that bike since she was a baby and I don't have it in me to get rid of it yet. She is much too old for it now.

 

[5BY5LEC]

I have a root picture a couple posts up. Just a quick update on how much they have grown since then