Drip to Flood Hydroponics Grow Journal

I am starting this grow with a drip setup. I have grown one hydroponic crop with somewhat stunning results and I believe that I have the core basics down.

I will not be trying to go super high tech and this will be my first attempt at ebb and flow.

I am starting out with a drip setup mainly because I already have the equipment, I have the rooted cuts and I wanna get it going ASAP.

Last night I set up the drip table with 8 Dynamite cuttings supplied by a friend. They have a few little roots poking their feet out of the rockwool on each cube. I will idle them at relatively low PPM for a week or so to let the roots spread out then I will crank them up to about 600is ppm (over a couple days)

My last grow (himalayan gold) ended about 5 days early due to my blower dying and mold forming on several buds. That is OK, they were close enough that all was well. They were also banana city. Every bud had bananas, some completely saturated. Ironically I only found one seed in the whole shebang and it was perfectly mature. Will keep that little gem for later use.

THE PLAN:

I will run them on drip in 6" pots/hydroton until they take off nicely, perhaps 2 weeks. While they are running on drip I will design and setup an ebb and flow table.

The drip table is 2'x4' and I want them to run on 3'x6' drip table. Right now I have two borrowed lights, a 1000 watt halide and 400w sodium.

I will transplant them into 10 or 12 inch pots for the flood table. I am doing this to let the roots spread out nicely before turning them to flower.

Pictures forthcoming later today

Well, here are some pictures of my little clonettes:







This is a 2'x4' drip table with the resevoir directly below, there is no shield from light going into the water thus must use hydrogen peroxide to keep water sterile and slime free! you algae!!

Stats:
Water temp: 70
Room temp: 74
PH: 5.7
PPM: 470

I have to get some PH Up and PH Down tomorrow. Using white vinegar for now to knock down the ph.

Using a General Hydroponics copy formula made by a local hydroponics shop. He duplicates the flora series formula exactly, and it is dirt cheap. About 15$ per gallon US. Right now going with 1 grow, 1 micro and 2 bloom. Will run that for a week to get some roots going then go with 3-2-1 ratio.

Not sure what formula I am going to use for bloom, will do some research. Went with the Lucas formula last grow with stunning results. Tempted to try it again.

Questions? Comments?

Do you have problems with humidity?? Seem like if you had a think piece of wood covered in fiberglass resin with holes cut for the pots to drain to the res your ambient humidity would drop and you could avoid a bunch of shit

Also, are you worried about snapping roots when you transplant.. When they root in the rock its very easy to harm the roots trying to transplant.. Why not go straight in the large pots .. You seem to have the room..

By the way, the Lucas Formula can be found here: https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/4387-lucas-formula.html

And here is Lucas himself here answering questions:
https://cannabis-world.org/cw/showthread.php?t=892

Very nice grow setup subscribed. I like how u are using egg crate, it gave me some ideas.

what strain did you get/??? egg crate will cause humidity problems ... dont you want everything sealed up tight.. all the algae growth and humidity.. oh my

Looks good. I,m pretty much doing the same type of setup, with the drip for veg, and the ebb n flow for the flowering. Glad to see that your not saturating those rockwool cubes directly. That was one of my first lessons learned. People say that you cant over water rockwool. BS . When you switch to the ebb side, make sure you keep the water level about a 1/2 below the cube. Have a good grow.

doniawon said:

Do you have problems with humidity?? Seem like if you had a think piece of wood covered in fiberglass resin with holes cut for the pots to drain to the res your ambient humidity would drop and you could avoid a bunch of shit

Click to expand...

I really havent had problems with humitidy, only when the blower died. That is OK, this setup is temporary until I build my ebb and flow table.

doniawon said:

what strain did you get/??? egg crate will cause humidity problems ... dont you want everything sealed up tight.. all the algae growth and humidity.. oh my

Click to expand...

I am using a commercial drip setup I bought at a hydroponics shop, it is basically a 2'x4' flood table with a removable grid over it. The unit holds 18 gallons of solution. I have had no problems with humidity except when the exhaust fan died the last week of my previous grow. I had no algae problems because everytime I topped off the resevoir I added 1-2 tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide, 1 tablespoon when they were little and 2 tablespoons when they got big. Evaporation wasnt a big problem because the water temp was usually in the 50s.

The strain is Dynamite from Next Generation seeds

http://www.druglibrary.org/strainguide/Next_Generation_Seeds/Dynamite/992/index.html

nice your gonna do good + reps
never heard of the dynamite sounds bomb

doniawon said:

never heard of the dynamite sounds bomb

Click to expand...

Dynamite: Squat growing Indica, the Dynamite is well known for its heavy yield of consistently high quality bud. Very fruity, resinous, thick smoke, very popular locally. One week vegetation for sea of green. Can be harvested in six weeks- seven weeks, pink / purple colors will show as the buds ripen. Indoors: 50 days Outdoors: Early October

Sounds like the bomb indeed! We shall see!

Well, my little cuttings have been idling for the last week. They have all put out some new growth at the top and the two that had a few pistils at the top have reverted back to vegetative.

As you see by these images they have about doubled in size. I have had them at about 350 PPM running mostly bloom with just a little grow and micro. Looks like they have some roots now so time to turn up the volume a little.





Here is a mother plant that had been in a cold room under floro for a couple months, stayed wet the whole time and had some root rot. I transplanted it and gave in a good shot of hydrogen peroxide, seems to have done the tr.ick, lots of new growing tips popping everywhere



Today I am turning the volume up to about 600 PPM or 650 PPM. I expect they will take off like gangbusters over the next few days.

-GTS

OK, I have turned up the volume to 600 - 700 PPM and the plantletts have taken off. I had to give them tap water yesterday because I didnt have time to run my RO unit which takes about five hours to fill up my RO storage container (20 gallon). My tap comes out at 29 ppm and I let it sit over night so it should work out. I gave them a little too much H202 the other day and burned the tips slightly but they are growing so fast they will grow right out of it. I have eight total plants and they are all roughly the same size. This table I am using will only hold six at the size I get them. I need to build a flood table soon. Perhaps I will get two 3x3 tables and build them as seperate units and just push them together.

I bought a 1000 watt HPS the other day and plan to get a second one. It has a switchable ballast so I can use my MH bulb for veg then switch to HPS for flowering. I have to wait til I get paid to get a second lamp. Then I can turn them.

I owe the guy who gave me the cuttings some cuttings back so I am thinking of making an aero cloner. I will attempt to build one this weekend.

Later tonight I will show some new pictures. What a difference five days make! I am absolutely happy with the way this crop is coming so far, H202 burn aside.


At the end of my last crop the exaust fan died and I am using a crappy one now, need to get a new blower. I have also had some trouble with my cheap PH meter. I notice that if I dont keep it wet enough with storage solution, I have to calibrate it a lot. Am starting to keep it totally soaked now.

PH: 5.7
PPM: 675
Room temp: 73
Water temp: 65
Humidity: 55%

Plants in room for about 11 days now

New pictures forthcoming!