1st Gro! Closet Bubbleponic CFL/HPS - Blue Mystic

Hey i've been doing a lot of reading here and decided to start my first gro journal 6 days into this. Im having some trouble and im eager for tips.

I got the stealth hydro bubbleponics system and 2 sets of dual spectrum II 85w CFLs (2x65k and 2x30k). I want to use 4 of the 6 pots. Got 5 Blue Mystic feminized seeds from Nirvana. I would like to have a 400w HPS cooltube setup by the time im ready to flower.

8.19.2009 - I put 4 seeds in 4 rock wool cubes, put them in the system. Put 5 gallons of tap water into the system and PH seems to be about 7 (using dye testing kit; need to get electric device soon). Left water alone and poured water over cubes. Cut styrofoam disks and put 1'' holes in the top over the cubes. Left lights off.

8.21.2009 - 3 of the 4 are showing white dots.

8.24.2009 - One plant showing two serrated and two rounded leaves. I think i put two of them in upside down. The roots are showing on top of the rock wool but one is also showing the leaves. The other one showing leaves, i played with too much and ended up throwing the cube away. The last one in the system didn't crack and i dropped it on the floor in another room and lost it. So far, strife with failure! great. Anyway, turned on two of my lights (one from each spectrum) and put them about an inch and a half above the healthy one. Also, added my last seed to a cube, put it on a dish, put some water on it, covered it with a clear bowl, and put it in a dark place.

8.25.2009 - With a box fan running, the temp of the room is ~80F. I can leave the door open all day. Need to get oscillating fan. Fan leaves on the healthiest one look a little bigger, but the edges are slightly yellow and im not sure what that means or if its relevant at this stage. Today, while taking pictures, i dropped my phone on the healthiest plant in horror, but i picked up the phone and it bounced back up showing no signs of trauma.

Any comments are appreciated.

First image is at 2 days with the light on just for the picture.
Second and third are the two plants from the side.
Last two are top views of the two plants.

Best of luck to you,spr0ck3t . I just ordered my Blue Mystic seeds, and am waiting. In the meantime, I am experimenting with tomato, lavender, and parsley seeds and a hydroponic basil....One thing I learned when buying rockwool today....the glue is very acidic, and they should be soaked a day before planting then the water changed...I opted for bioplugs instead.

Also, I found a killer light on Amazon, 400w switchable so you can use MH for the grow and HPS for the bloom...only $155 if you haven't got your light yet...

How long did it take for your seeds to arrive?

lilynightly: Thanks. I ordered the seeds on a friday and they shipped next tuesday. Took about a full week from what i remember. Checked on amazon and saw an hps light with balast and reflector for $159, but seeing as how i regret purchasing SH hydro stuff, when after getting it realized i really could have built something better for cheaper, i am going to wait until i have enough for a cool tube with a nice inline fan. I am only using one 85w cfl (65k) for both plants atm because i broke the other light by screwing it into the splitter too hard and broke the wire from deep within the cfl. so im waiting on another one.. (im fucking things up at every turn.. so i might as well not invest in more cfls if this grow is going to fail.. i'd like to start over with new seeds and a great light.)

planting them upside down seems to have fucked things up from the start... i can't even find threads where people have done this.

well this is my gangly excuse for a plant at 8 days with the root still showing above the rock wool.. the leaves on the plant seem to be getting bigger but dont see roots emerging from the bottom of the cup like my other one

IS THIS ONE GOING TO MAKE IT?! i imagine it will just die regardless if the root doesnt eventually disappear into the rock wool.. or will this part of the root just fall off or something?

Oh well, maybe you can add some wool to the top of that little plant to cover the root....
I built my own hydro tank from a storage bin and put in an air pump. Cut a little hole out the top for just the basil at the moment. will start the mystic in there and then cut it bigger when I move to the high out put lights...
My seeds shipped yesterday, so they should be here next week. I am gonna try to germinate mine prior to planting. And I think I am only gonna try one plant, which I want to LST into a monster.

8.31.09
Day 12:
Today, changed the water in the tank. Tested the water with liquid tester which at first was dark green indicating above 7.0. Used 1/2 tsp of crystal Ph down for my 5 gallons, stired and wonderfully, the PH level is at a "yellow" with a slight brown tint, indicating 5.5 - 6.0 PH.

I am using frozen water bottles changed daily (one in the freezer, one in the tank).

Have 3 plants now:
one new sprout looking good. Not sure if i should remove the membrane holding the leaves together and/or remove the broken seed laying at the base.

Second two are a bit gangly, i'm hoping they can recover. Not sure if they are fucked up due to the high PH level for the last 12 days, or the upside down germination, or dropping a cell phone on the one with brown leaves, or the fan too strong(just replaced the box fan with an oscillating set it on low and moved it far enough so they look like they barely twitch.. hopefully this is better). I covered the bases with cut rock wool to protect the roots from light. Both have roots showing beneth the cup with the shortest plant's only a few mm, the other one 6". I am going to keep the light at ~6" from the top of the shortest to maybe stretch it... my second veg light was supposed to come today, but didn't.

Day 13:
The PH went up to approx. 6.5 in the last 24 hours. I'm not going to alter it and see what it is tomorrow.

I removed the split shell casing from the base of the stem. I could see the white of the root through the pocket the seed made in the rock wool. This is perhaps natures mechanism to protect it from light? I closed the small hole by gently pushing the rock wool up against the stem.

The shell membrane is still holding the rounded leaves together at the top and the fan leaves are growing out of it. I'm not going to touch it for now..

The second light will definitely come today.

They seem different now.. crisper and greener, slightly. Maybe it's just me looking too closely at the plants for extended periods. When i look into the center of the plants, i see green and not yellow, though the veins have a very slight touch of it.

Day15:
This morning, ph was 7.0 according to color test. Drained water, made the ph 6.0 and refilled the tank.
The newest sprout is not showing any negative signs i can see. it is directly under one of the lights.

The lights are about 2.5 inches from top of plants. The 85 watt CFLs seem too warm to go any closer.. or am i just coddling them.

Day whatever: I have 2 giant bushes now. The seedling i started late, is huge and healthy. The one i thought would die from the root twisting in the air is only a little shorter than the newest one.

The one plant is 15 inches in width and a little less than a foot high. The Stealth Hydro bubbleponics bucket is way too small for even 2 plants. The biggest of the two could easily use this entire system im sure.

Also with the 100 dollar waste of money aka SH bubbleponics system, i noticed a few weeks ago there was algae in the water.. like tubes coming off of the roots and floating around.. red and alive.. the most disgusting thing ever... i wrapped the system in duct tape and since then, no algae in or weird stuff in the water.

Also moved the air conditioner into the room that the closet resides in and the temp reflects what i set the conditioner to.. right now at 75 at the canopy, nice and cool.

I've been sick for a week, but even though i cant smell very well atm, im suprised i can pick up that these things have a smell to them even though they arent flowering.

I am ordering some sweet shit wednesday.. 600 watt HPS cool tube with timer from htg supply, a 400 something cfm vortex fan, and some ducting. For now, i'll hook the fan right up to the left side of the tube, then connect some ducting on the other side of the tube, leading out of the closet. I'll put it into flower on the next nute change day.. which is usually monday morning. Today i should have changed nutes but am too drunk and will have to do it tomorrow. So next monday morning i start the flowering cycle with my new gear barring any hiccups in the process.

I see no signs of anything negative with these plants.. they are a nice, dark green, thick stems, and straight leaves with no yellowing. The two plants fight for supremacy in this system hehehe... they mash leaves together to see who will win or something. Next grow, i'll have a closed system tent for sure with a 20 gallon bin maybe with 4 plants.. thinking about trying white widow. Hopefully the vortex doesnt keep me up at night.. acoustic ducing maybe?

Day 41:
Replaced water/nutes today.
Some pics on how they are doing..

updat3z? Pictures?

got my cooltube, 600 watt hps and ballast, semi rigid ducting, soft clamps, and yo yo hangers. I have it hanging there but not putting it to use until the fan comes.. MAN! it is bright.. i turn that thing on for about 30 seconds and the entire room fills with light and blinds me completely for a second.. love it cant wait.

The plants growth is pretty incredible, but scary.. now, only 9 days after the last pics, the entire surface of the bin is covered.. the biggest one is nearly covering the smaller one.. i gotta get this up soon because most leaves on the very bottom are dying. I bet the smaller one will be hermie.. the new growth on the main stem is not as vibrant green as the other and the new leaves there are skinnier.. the other plant looks great and the ph is the same as it always is so i suspect something affecting it from when it was young.. the smaller one again had that root sticking up at birth and it forced the main stem to grow kind of horizontally like lst and the shoot that grew from the side of that is now the main stem.. that could be good or bad i guess, but next time it's isolated buckets for sure. They still look really awesome though.

i made a new bin for the other one, mimicking the SH bin i have, but after i made it, i realized i couldnt separate the plants because of the roots which do look good on both plants (really white). I wonder if when i do get them under the hps, if they'll just form one giant massive bush..

I'll post pics once i get it under the HPS.. I have 6 bloom packets and one grow left.. im going to have to start feeding every 10 days to time it right.. i'll use the last grow packet into the first 10 days of flowering. Then i have 60 days of bloom nutes.

Day 50:

Installed the 600 watt hps and 449 cfm vortex fan and have it over my babies... a lot of work trying to accomodate my space. At 6pm today i'll start 12 hours of darkness.

I know there is a better way to mount the fan, but this seems to work.. i have the light 20 inches above the canopy.. this semi rigid ducting is hard as hell to work with.. and the acoustic bracers suck balls so i just wrapped all the connections in duct tape.

I have the fan pushing air through the system and have ducting on the other end wrapped over top of the door which will stay open.. may even take it off and get a light proof blanket. I have chains suspending the fan where the clothes hanger/bar thing is.. was worried that it wouldnt pull any air being nearly up against the wall, but the air coming out of the other end is nice and cool.. i can keep my hand on the glass forever.. it is hot, but doesnt burn my hand.

The babies are looking good : )

Day 57 total
Day 7 of flowering

Started bloom nutes today.
All female, showing small pistils.

nice grow dude I will subscribe, i'm also on my first grow if you ever want to check it out.

nice grow im doing blue mystic as well 24 days in bushy as hell but short lovely leaves though..very durable so good luck will be following your grow +rep..peace pot prosperity

Day 16 Flowering:
Day 66 Total:

Refreshed bloom nutes and water.
the bush is now a little over 2 feet high by 3 feet wide.

White fuzzy pistols at every node and the tops are turning white.
I counted 17 tops which are all white. The main stem of the big plant is like a pool stick at the bottom.. wonder how the buds will fill out on that.

Day 25 Flowering:
Day 75 Total:

Refreshed with five gallons water with an sh micro and bloom nute pack. have been topping with ph adjusted water every couple days. Last week, they drank 2 1/2 gallons in 4 days.

Quarter and dime sized buds are everywhere from the top to about a foot down with long white hairs. The leaves around these are looking dusted with crystals. Wondering if i should trim fan leaves below this where there won't be buds?

Todays pics:

I'd like to post you a INVITE to join the BubbleHead Club here, is that OK?


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DO NOT CUT THEM.
Get some paperclips and hold them back, if you insist on doing anything, but DO NOT CUT THE FAN LEAVES OFF.

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, When a large FAN leaf starts yellowing, say it is half yellow, that means in the photosynthesis process, that leaf has ate nutes, sucked in some LIGHT and made food for the plant and buds and NOW, half of that is gone, or used or consumed. Well, what about the other half? Can it not it's energy still be used or consumed?
AND when it is ALL consumed or used, that leaf will naturally just fall off.

AND you say it is blocking LIGHT?
GREAT and GOOD, that means it is getting the LIGHT it needs and deserves more than the other leaves do, to do it's job.


Years ago I tried removing lower fan leaves to allow more Light to penetrate in. When i did, the plant went into shock for a day or two, and quit eating or only ate half as much, and just went on "stand by" mode. Then, after a day or two, suddenly, I saw that big fan leaf replaced by a new leaf, and I saw my plant use the energy to replace that leaf, more than it used it to grow bigger and make more buds or bigger buds.

I now believe that removing fan leaves is pointless, and that a leaf has a purpose and will serve that purpose until it is dead. Then it will fall off.


Don't ever remove fan leaves before harvest for several reasons.

1. The fan leaves MAKE AND STORE energy for the plant. The fan leaves are doing a process called photosynthsis, and it is the most important part or task or job the plant does, to make it grow. They make the FOOD, the sugars and carbs needed to grow.

If you remove a FAN leaf, the plant will stop growing taller until it can replace that removed fan leaf.

Removing a healthy fan leaf is a big waste of time..they are rapided replaced,, unless you are in the last few weeks of flowering.


2. Even if the fan leaves are yellowing in late bloom I do not remove them until they are almost ready to fall off. The yellowing in the fan leaves at late harvest is the plants metabolism at work. She is transferring all stored energy in the fan leaf to bud production. It is the easiest source of energy she has late in life.



From the Growers Bible by Jorge Cervantes:
Leave leaves alone! Removal of healthy leave hacks up a healthy plant. Removing large or shade leaves DOES NOT make plants more productive. This practice DOES NOT supply more light to smaller leaves and growing tips. Plants need all their leaves to produce the maximum amount of chlorophyll and food. Removing leaves slows chlorophyll production, stresses the plant, and stunts its growth. Stress is a growth inhibitor. Remove only dead leaves or leaves that are more than 50 percent damaged.

Roseman said:

I'd like to post you a INVITE to join the BubbleHead Club here, is that OK?


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Questions about Bubbleponic Growing Thread

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Sure, i'll join the club.. thanks!