First DWC grow

Someguy15 · May 2, 2012

firsttimeARE said:
I tried to just use a piece of wood as a pole and wrap poly around it for 2 walls as it was going into a corner of a real room. Problem after problem. Then had to take something out of the area which I should have done before, but i'm an idiot and I ripped the poly in a spot, rather than repair it like a sane person I tore it down. Waste of 20 dollars and 3 hours. So I take the 3 big plants out of the tent and put it in the room, slap a timer on the hps turn it on and call it a day.

With the tent closed up not much light leaks, a few spots like where the zipper is for the side door and tiny pin holes where the velcro vents are. Problem is now the tent is getting hot. Going to have to buy a fan for it to circulate air through a few elbows to try and trap some light leaking out. Got 2 clip fans blowing around the air and will check temps in the morning for now.

My choice of time spent today was poor and I would have been better off buying a cheap 250cfm fan and hooked it up for a fraction of the time and aggravation.

Totally stewing right now.

HPS light looks mean, I need sunglasses.

Instead of making a pole, just hang the poly from the ceiling using wooden strips / screws. Roll the poly around the 1/2" x 1/2" trim wood and then screw it to the ceiling. Leave extra material to 'wrap' around the corners (3-5" each side) and then just fold it over and install some velcro. To keep the wall(s) from moving all over, roll the bottom up and place a 2x4 or 2x2 in it so that the weight holds it taunt. Best part is, my walls arent fixed. When I need to pull the wall 'open' and move something large out I can easily without damanging the structure. To 'restore' I just move the 2x4's back into place and re velcro, wala! Just a tip if you ever need to build a bigger one.

firsttimeARE · May 2, 2012

Yeah I was thinking of that but figured the corners would be weak and fold in. So I decided to wrap it around the pole. Typical me making things hardeer than they should be.

Good tips in there though if I want to. I did do the wood technique just to keep it in place to cut the extra off and tape to the floor.

The plants in the open space is nice. Light leaks out the room a tiny bit but that's not a big deal really. I just need to get an exhaust fan to keep the temps down in the tent.

The room is completely dark. I did like the idea of sealing it off so I could get better airflow over the plants by directing it to go to the bottom up over the plants to the filter at the ceiling. And so I could go and check veg plants at any time.

Plants going into flower hopefully won't triple in size cause that'd be huge. I was tempted with the idea of making the hps vertical and putting the t5s overhead. I trimmed most of the budsites not at canopy level though.

Think I'm going to run into size problems.

firsttimeARE · May 4, 2012

Getting a weird smell coming from the FCJ res, not very foul like a really concentrated calmag smell mixed with root smell. I havent changed the res in a few weeks and have just been topping up with nutes once its been getting low like 3 inches of water or left. And I have been slacking on the aquashield dosages and last gave them some around 5 days ago. Hasn't had tea in probably 2 weeks.

I did that to them all. But thats the only one with an off smell.

Whats a good bath that I can give my roots while I clean their buckets and give them fresh water and nutes?

Every time I change the res I get the foam that was on the roots in the new res, seems counter productive.

Bigz2277 · May 4, 2012

mix up a h202 bath. strong conc of h202 and then into new bucket. I personally Airbathe my plants when i rez change. they seem to love the air for the 10 minutes i clean the rez.

firsttimeARE · May 4, 2012

Yeah I started off putting them in non ph water and bubbles for the 10 min while I washed the buckets. Making sure to change the water out after each plant soaked in it.

I then decided it didn't matter cause I was still bringing over foam. So I just started putting them in buckets of just air while I washed their buckets. But the last 3 weeks or 2 I've just filled up new water.

I do have some 29% h2o2 left over from my "sterile" days. Just wondering if I should use it since I've been using bennies and will continue to use bennies just more religiously.

I know the problem I have is my own fault due to thinking things didn't matter for me because they didn't for some other people. Hell I never had a problem with my roots just using water...I may switch to the easier route next grow. I did enjoy theroot growth or perceived root growth the bennies gave me. Though I have not much to base those claims on.

Bigz2277 · May 4, 2012

h202 bath. then rise the extra off. wont effect benes if all the h202 your using is just the bath and rinse.

BigBuddahCheese · May 4, 2012

Bigz2277 said:
h202 bath. then rise the extra off. wont effect benes if all the h202 your using is just the bath and rinse.

I agree and have done this numerous times for the plants and never an issue. I use a bucket bigger then needed so i have room for my hands to get into the roots and shake em up. I usually use like 5-10ml per gallon of 29% h2o2 for the bath.

Since going to AquaShield and DynaGro I have yet to do this though (never needed), except for clone transplants from someone else.

firsttimeARE · May 4, 2012

I notice you said shake the roots off, my roots are like tangled to one big mass and I feel if I try to separate it they'll rip apart.

So I know you love your AS, but was wondering if you had a scientific explanation on how it works, I read its a composting agent, but what does that mean, just breaks down organic matter in the res?

Thanks Bigz and BBC, i'd rep yall but I have already.

Going to post some pictures later! Been a while. Going to sneak in there just before lights on and snap some.

Excited to start seeing some buds forming!

firsttimeARE · May 5, 2012

Day 3 of Flower(yesterday)

Cleaned buckets last night, I let the roots soak in h2o2 at 2ml/L 29% then took them out and rinse them off before transplant.

FCJ @ 1.3EC
Veneno @ 1.3EC
Bubba 76 @ 1.1EC
PE @ .6EC
AK & CH @ .3EC

Bubba 76 - Whats with all these battle scars?

Fruity Chronic Juice - Same ripping at edges of new growth as Bubba 76 just in that one area though, maybe the leaves growing into each other?

Veneno - Still a bit weak in the stems.

Pineapple Express - Looking good. Forced into flower due to not having a fan in that tent and the water was getting really hot, only 8 or 9 inches so far.

Afghan Kush (L) - Chronic Haze (R)
2nd Picture - Flower area

antonmacx · May 5, 2012

Hi:
1- Have you used Tap Water at some time? Chlorine is really high in Tap Water and can produce this Holes.
2- Make sure that you don't have any Grasshopper around because they love to eat the Leaves and make this Holes... Also make sure you check for Insects under the Leaves and everyplace of the Plant although Mites don't do this Holes, Mites Suck the Whole Plant till kill it.
3- I highly recommend to Foliar Spray them with some Neem Oil and any Bug will dissapear right away, make sure to Spray undersides of the leaves where the Stomata's are located, it's better to Spray at the end of the day when your Lights turns off. You should some Surfactant such as AN Wet Betty or Dutch Master Saturator and you'll be impressed with the results. If you don't have Co2 running do not exceed 80F when spraying or 86F with Co2, Stomata's aren't open when you exceed this Temp. That shit stinks a lot. I use 1tsp of Neem Oil for 1 Liter of Warm RO Water and 1ml of Wet Betty.

Good Luck

firsttimeARE · May 7, 2012

Thanks anton...I do use tap water and check daily for bugs under the leaves of any leaf that has tears in it and the main stalk I check, I just feel like i'm going to notice a caterpillar or a grasshopper. I don't check every leaf, but I have at one point when I first noticed the rips/holes. Going to beef up my intake with a screen and try and seal the door more.

Day 6 of flower:

FCJ @ 1.3EC - all at 20C, finally some ideal temperatures
Veneno @ 1.24EC
Bubba76@ 1.17EC
PE@ .6EC
AK & CH @ .4EC

Rinsing stones overnight in buckets for the AK and CH. Want them in buckets week 2 of their growth and in flower week 5 hopefully. Plan anyways.

Bought a fan for the veg tent 300CFM mixed flow inline fan. Be here mid next week.

Going to try cloning the way I read on ABF's cloning with RW once the PE bushes out a bit more and needs a trimming. The 2 new tops are coming in on the PE, i'm regretting flowering it so young, but had to be done.

Nothing exciting yet, I know people only care about the bud porn, :lol:

Exciting for me to see my hard work paying off with a beautiful plant. Anxious to see the fruits though. Well thats it.

firsttimeARE · May 8, 2012

Found some amber hard thing underneath a leaf that had a rip on it during my morning scan.

Had to roll it off the leave as it was too tiny to pick up.

I took out the scope and it looked just some kind of debris, had 2 black lines on it. But it was hard, I had to press my fingernail into it to break it. Upon googling spider mite eggs it sorta looked like that, but not really. It was less red and more brown/golden/amber and less liquid filled looking. This just looked dead.

Definitely strange. Possibly debris kicked up by fan.

ch1ppz86 · May 8, 2012

firsttimeARE said:
Found some amber hard thing underneath a leaf that had a rip on it during my morning scan.

Had to roll it off the leave as it was too tiny to pick up.

I took out the scope and it looked just some kind of debris, had 2 black lines on it. But it was hard, I had to press my fingernail into it to break it. Upon googling spider mite eggs it sorta looked like that, but not really. It was less red and more brown/golden/amber and less liquid filled looking. This just looked dead.

Definitely strange. Possibly debris kicked up by fan.

Not that strange... Last week before adding nutes, I noticed a small dried up fly or something lying on one of my colas.. It was no doubt dead as it seemed to get stuck in the trichs. Anyhow, I did a whole sweep of my plant and couldn't find any others. Must just be a random occurrence of one insect. Keep an eye out, but don't stress over it too much.

firsttimeARE · May 9, 2012

Day 8 of flower:

45 minutes in the room and an hour outside of it and I still reak. Love it.

Pineapple Express - 9 inches

Bubba 76 - 26 inches

Fruity Chronic Juice - 26 inches (4ft x 4ft tent, wow shes huge)

Veneno - 24 inches

Afghan Kush - Day 12 veg - 2-3 inches

Chronic Haze - Day 12 veg - 3-4 inches

[video=youtube;mrsbiKVreaI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrsbiKVreaI[/video]

graab187 · May 10, 2012

killer. i love how your stems are so goddamn thick and healthy. and how you got two colas perfectly growing out of the top. big ups.

Bigz2277 · May 11, 2012

Looking good man!

firsttimeARE · May 11, 2012

Thanks guys...The PE is growing quicker than the Veneno, B76, and FCJ despite it stunting in the beginning due to not enough nutes and the Chronic Haze and Afghan Kush I got going in cubes are doing even better than them all, no deficiencies yet and its going at .4 EC spitting out 3rd real node which is a 5 pointer.

Definitely getting the hang of it, wish I could have snagged a clone off of the FCJ, plant is beautiful and bushes out so nicely. The bubba 76 sucks, the leaves are too big and they allow virtually 0 penetration into the growths below, it might be fine for people who LST/scrog so they can train the branching horizontally, but just vertical growth it sucks. I got 2 tops and 1 node underneath that barely gets any light. Unless those colas end up the size of my arm, it'll be a small yielder.

The veneno is finally standing tall and not droopy and is bushing out, has yet to spit out pre-flowers, must be a sativa dom.

Got my new fan in the mail so now I don't have to open and close the tent everyday to allow air flow and I can put buckets in there now without worrying about the water reaching 75F. A proper veg/mom area now and I can finally put the CH and AK in buckets which they were ready a week ago for. Trying to avoid 8 week veg times lol.

Things are finally looking up for me in the room and I feel my $4,000 room is worth something now :bigjoint:

firsttimeARE · May 14, 2012

Day 13 Flower:

Added a fan(300CFM mixed flow inline) into the veg tent today(sucks that tent in something crazy when I close the door), the water temperature in there is 27C(80F) and outside they're 21C(68F). Raised the t5's to 2ft above pots and put a fan blowing on the surface of the pots to try and cool the water inside, if not i'm going to just refill them and look into those Coleman 5gal coolers for veg and use the flood table for flower this summer.

Put the Chronic Haze and Power Africa into buckets in the veg vent Saturday(Day 15 veg). They're starting to show a deficiency. Its about time I up them to .6EC.

The fruity chronic juice is showing some buds finally. Small things so far, but they're getting bigger.

Veneno is also showing buds now also

Bubba 76 got topped a 2nd time during flower and I think I did it too late, sluggish on putting out buds, and it almost looks like theres 1 pollen sack where some hairs are. Hermie maybe? Try and snap a picture tomorrow. Cameras dead.

Pineapple express was also topped in the beginning of flowering so its sluggish on bud output.

I filled the B76 to 1.35EC from 1.2 and added PK booster per bottle instructions.

I upped veneno and FCJ to 1.5EC from 1.3EC and added PK booster to it also

Going to change the PE bucket out tomorrow and up to .8EC and up to 1EC as the week goes on if it likes it from a current .6EC. Not showing def. but I figure it should be at this stage by now.

firsttimeARE · May 14, 2012

I also could just exhaust that reflector air somewhere other than the room to cool it off better, had it this way cause I needed the heat in the winter. That would probably make the most substantial impact, just don't know where to exhaust it.

Thats my next project for the room.

firsttimeARE · May 15, 2012

Fruity Chronic Juice(AKA Tons o' Tops) - 14 days flower

Veneno - 14 days flower, wish it had stronger stems.

Bubba 76 - 14 days flower, trimmed the big leaves off the top to give this bottom growth some light

Pineapple Express - 12 days flower

Afghan Kush Special - 19 days veg(5 days in buckets) should be spitting out roots soon

Chronic Haze - 19 days veg(5 days in buckets)

Res temperatures inside tent have gotten to 24C(about 75F)
Res temperatures outside tent(flower) have risen to 22C(about 72F)

Thinking about them coleman coolers....but $120+ on coolers, wtf, ouch. Not to mention how ridiculous i'm going to look buying 6 coolers.

Heres a picture of my new exhaust setup for the tent.

I'm going to need to get a Wye and connect one end to the exhaust thats just hanging right now in the air (--->)

and run the other out the room for main exhaust. Going to have to make sure I take in air from a different room(no problem there) and make sure no leaks are in there that would suck in unfiltered air out through the reflector or attached ducts/fittings. Then during winter get a cap and cap the wye off so I can keep some heat in.

I wanted to avoid this option for risk of catching some smell through the reflector, but i'm left with no other choice.

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