Dictate 1st grow skunk #1 hydro STEALTH CLOSET need suggestions [pics]

Backround info
I moved to the east coast recently and find it EXTREMELY hard to find good bud and trustworthy people. an ounce of some regular kindbud around my way is $450 - $500!!!! I tried to look on these forums to see if anyone around my area but thats just shady lol who the hell would trust me ? i sure as helll would not trust anyone pming me from a website lol. So i decided to begiin growing. I checked out my area got an aparment on the top floor in the corner facing the woods. I kept all my electricity on the last two months so my bill wouldnt bring any attention. I have read and studied these forums like a bible for the last month. EMAIL BILLYBOB WW - if it wasnt for you kind fellaz i would never have even dreamed of starting my grow. I ordered seeds from nirvana and recieved them promptly. My first grow(last week ) fucked up lol i put the seeds into rockwool without making the rockwool wet and put the less than 5in away from my 400w mh bulb waking up to BURNT seeds lol? 1 of them actually almost grew but i wanted to start from scratch and do it right. Im going to have questions at the end of this so please help a fellow grower out

i spent $1100 so far on this system. I know i got ripped off but i went to the hydro shop first. LOl they triple everything


what im working with

• 6 already germinated skunk #1 seeds in rockwool
• 400watt HPS/MH Ballast
• 400w HPS bulb
• 400w MH bulb
• electric timer to have light imitate sunlight hours of summer
• 3 CFL's
• 22in Cooltube
• Hydroton
• 4in inline exhaust 171 cfm fan with carbon filter from HTG for $149.95
• 10 gallon resevoir hydroponic drip system
• Flora grow and bloom nutes(dont think im gonna use these on my first grow ;/ need suggestions)
• 20 x 36 x 64 in Hydro hut(look at pic if this didnt fit perfectly into my closet i wouldnt grow)'
• 1 in Rockwool cubes
• Digital Ph meter
• Digital ppm meter
• moisture meter
• ph up and down
• hygrometer/thermometer
• humidifer
• small circulation fan

DAY 1 01/27/2008

Put 6 seeds in a paper towel with ph 5.7 PUR filtered water
Put 6 1 in Rockwool Cubes in ph 5.7 water to sit over night
its current 72 degrees and the humidity stays at about 32-34%
As u can see i set my incoming air vent duct very very low and my exhaust vent duct at the top right near the light.
DAY 3 01/30/08
took rockwool cubes out of water
seeds are germinated
put seeds (root face down) in moist rockwool put in my hut and turn off all lights until i see green!
DAY 4 1/31/2008
Checked rockwool cubes still very moist already seeing roots expand and one seed isactually about to break the surface and go green!
Currently 76 degrees humidity 35%
DAY 5 02/1/08
Same progress my girls are trying to come up humidity and degrees are at the same optimal level.


Questions

• When i transplant these babies to my hydro system.... how often do i water them by turning on the pump? Ive heard numerous answers for this the hydro shop guy told me to keep them on all day lol? From my studies ive learned 3 times a day is the medium? Ive also learned to check the moisture and just water off of that? If any one could clear this up that would be great
• As u can see i have not set up my carbon filter yet.. Im lost on this. I have a 171CFM inline fan takes heat out of the room. How often do i turn on this fan? by my calculations it should clear the whole room of the air in it in less than 2 mins.. how many times a day do i run this? and to just take the exhaust air coming out of the fan and duct it to the collar of the carbon filteR? does the filter stay in or outside of the hut? NEED help on this one
• c02 is my main concern. im on the east coast its fucking cold here. I cannot open the windows that much every day. I have 3 air ionizers/purifiers runnign around my bedroom.. is that enough? will i need a co2 suppliment?

WARNING: i suck with cameras. i was using my iphone and u can really tell lol. Sorry
I will keep updated daily with pics
Last pic of my closet closed shows what my room looks like when im not there. Kinda stealthy eh?

BUMP - where are my friends/supporters EMAIL BILLYBOB WHERE ARE YOU

i dont know if this will help you.. but if thats a rubbermaid tank .. that lid is crap when it comes to keeping light out. make sure to cover that crap with some good tape or somthing before letting roots grow in there.

I had a problem with that.

other than this.. looks like your having fun
for the co2 you can use yeast + suger + water.. works awsome! lets out a good ammount of co2 the cheap way put it all in a bottle with a hole on the top.. shake it up every day. lasts about a week.

wow nice, i just had the lights on to take pictures for the pics other than that the hydro hut keeps all hte light out i keep it closed all the time.

that c02 trick.... very cheap and effective... after shaking it should i spray it or just let it sit in the hut?

got some tape for the tank. sealed up all sides.

Bump. anyone can help me with those questions?

blah no help here for me ! thanks for looking anyways guys...i just transplanted them stilll need help on when to turn my pump on and for how long every day .. how easy is it to overdrown them... im only vegging these for 12-15 days when do i start nutes? should i only use bloom nutes>?

dictate101 said:

Questions

• When i transplant these babies to my hydro system.... how often do i water them by turning on the pump? Ive heard numerous answers for this the hydro shop guy told me to keep them on all day lol? From my studies ive learned 3 times a day is the medium? Ive also learned to check the moisture and just water off of that? If any one could clear this up that would be great
• As u can see i have not set up my carbon filter yet.. Im lost on this. I have a 171CFM inline fan takes heat out of the room. How often do i turn on this fan? by my calculations it should clear the whole room of the air in it in less than 2 mins.. how many times a day do i run this? and to just take the exhaust air coming out of the fan and duct it to the collar of the carbon filteR? does the filter stay in or outside of the hut? NEED help on this one
• c02 is my main concern. im on the east coast its fucking cold here. I cannot open the windows that much every day. I have 3 air ionizers/purifiers runnign around my bedroom.. is that enough? will i need a co2 suppliment?

WARNING: i suck with cameras. i was using my iphone and u can really tell lol. Sorry
I will keep updated daily with pics
Last pic of my closet closed shows what my room looks like when im not there. Kinda stealthy eh?

Click to expand...

I would keep the drip running 24/7 Make sure you have a good Tri Meter, I give 1/2 nutes to my babies untill they are about 3 weeks then I give them full nutes untill about 1 week from harvest then all they get is water.

You can get a good stand alone carbon scrubber on Ebay for under 80$ They do the trick well for alot of people. I keep fans going inside my grow 24/7 as well minus 3 times a day when I inject c02. Air circulation is crucial, also keep a small fan inside to promote stronger stems.

You dont "have" to have a co2 suppliment but it helps. An affordable Valve system is about 100$ on Ebay not too bad, If you cant get it right away I wouldent sweat it. GL and keep us posted on how it goes.

Mad Hatter said:

I would keep the drip running 24/7 Make sure you have a good Tri Meter, I give 1/2 nutes to my babies untill they are about 3 weeks then I give them full nutes untill about 1 week from harvest then all they get is water.

You can get a good stand alone carbon scrubber on Ebay for under 80$ They do the trick well for alot of people. I keep fans going inside my grow 24/7 as well minus 3 times a day when I inject c02. Air circulation is crucial, also keep a small fan inside to promote stronger stems.

You dont "have" to have a co2 suppliment but it helps. An affordable Valve system is about 100$ on Ebay not too bad, If you cant get it right away I wouldent sweat it. GL and keep us posted on how it goes.

Click to expand...

THanks man i really appreciate your advice and help. Wouldnt keeping the pump on overwater and drown my babies? Or is that not possible with hydroponics? is it possible to overwater with hydroponics?

No prob, an no its not really possible to over water unless your using a soil medium. There are different styles of hydro but the one you are using the "drip system" is made to stay on all the time. Ebb and flow is a type of hydroponic system that floods the roots with water/nutes only once evry few hours so you could get by only turning on your pump every few hours but once again the system you are usin is made to run 24/7. GL in your grow man.

just updating. I transferred to my hydro system. Two of the rockwool cubes the seeds have already sprouted each one being about 1-2 inch fron the rockwool. Still havent expanded to two leaves yet. I wonder why just two of them would sprout so quickly with identical variables. anyways after seeing them pop up and knowing the roots are deep in rockwool surrounded by hydroton i turned on my 400 watt MH bulb and put it about 23 inch away from the top of the hydro system.

Question:
im looking at some peoples plants on the pictures part of the website and see that the hydro plants do not have rock wool. It looks like the plant is just buried in hydroton. Do i haveto remove the rockwool cube later? or should the hydroton be covering the rockwool? on the instructions for my hydro system it says to keep the hydroton flush with the rockwool...... im confused.

Im guessing in those pics its just covered up, there is no need to ever remove the rockwool. If you plan on reusing your medium then you just get rid of the rockwool the same time you get rid of the roots. Post some pics of your grow when they get a little bigger.

i use straight hydroton,removing it from the rockwool if u wait to long can be trickky,im new to this thread but am a regular on the major otghers and fyi that hydro shop set u up at least with good high quality stuff.your flore nova "grow" nid use 2 weeks into veg and not use the "bloom" untill your ready to flower stick to the 1300 ppm range any higher may cause nutrient burn.any ?'s feel free too ask and pleeassssse.....keep cannabis chem free

ahhhh! lol 3 of 5 have sprouted !!!! 2 of them the stem are very long and stretched looking. like they need support just to be up right? the third one looks like a beauty! strong stem about 5 cm above the rockwool surface. WILL POST PICS TONIGHT!

Hi dictate101 - sorry for the delay in my response.

i have not had a lot of time to review your set-up but from what i can see it looks fine.

i will say that stem elongation is bad (as you know) and usually caused by lights that are either too week or too far away. since you're using HIDs, i'm going to assume the latter.

i will do my best to keep an eye on this thread so don't hesitate to ask some questions.

OK - had a look over some of your questions and it seems everyone has answered everything for you. again - sorry for the delay - let me know if you have some other concerns (you can use the thread or PM me).

here are pics from stem problems... so weird onyl happened to two of them. Can i save them? of so how?

i have the 400w MH bulb about 12-16 inches away from them. SHould i bring it in some? im thinking about starting nutes on monday. i started about 8 days ago today? Help is appreciated!

dictate101 said:

here are pics from stem problems... so weird onyl happened to two of them. Can i save them? of so how?

i have the 400w MH bulb about 12-16 inches away from them. SHould i bring it in some? im thinking about starting nutes on monday. i started about 8 days ago today? Help is appreciated!

Click to expand...

those stems look really stretched for being under 400w. I'd normally say 12" is good but your stems speak differently. I've never really had a stretching problem so i'm not certain how to fix it. I've never tried this but you could try (with one of them) gently bury the long stem in the hydroton up to near the leaves and lower the lights to maybe within 6"? i don't know - that seems close but your stems are really long.

hopefully somebody else has a better idea?

the thing is those two were stretched out before i turned the light on. Im guessing thats the reason. Im gonna tie toothpicks to the 2 to keep them upright. Anyone got any better suggestions??

you should be alright bro. Just keep at it and youll be fine. No offense but prbbly not the smartest Idea to do hydro on the first grow, but youll be fine if u keep coming here.

just added NUTES today. FloraNocva Gro series. It said 7.5mL per gallon at thsi stage. I cut that into almost a third lol(hearing too much about over fertilizing and over nuting) so for the 5 gallons in my resevoir i was supposed to put 37mL total. i put about 17mL in. Im gonna nute this for a week or two. When i switch to the flowering nutes do i haveto flush with regular water for a day? and is it ok to only use the grow nutes for a week - week and half? help please