My first hydro grow, 600W HPS, White Widow, Blue Mystic

So, I thought I would share my grow with anyone who is intersted. I have grown soil before, and oh boy that was a hoot. I thought for a while about what I was going to do, and how, and eventually I came up with this. Here is my basic set-up:

1) I have three plants. To start, I have them in three gallon buckets. My system is a DWC.

2) I chose 2 different strains, mostly because I though the differences would be interesting to see, and I like to have some variety. I have White Widow Feminized from Seedsman, and also Blue Mystic from Nirvana. Blue Mystic is a cross between WW, Blueberry, and Northern Lights (I THINK).

3) My equipment:

a. A 600W HPS bulb and a Lumatek Digital ballast.
b. A 6" vented hood
c. A 30W Commercial air pump, black vinal tubing
d. Four 12" air stones
e. Three 3 gallon tubs, and a 30 gallon tub
f. An ocillating fan, a 6" inline duct fan, and some random computer fans wired to a AC/DC adapter
g. A digital thermometer, a high capacity power strip, and a digital timer
h. A set of B.C. Technaflora nutes, 17% H2O2, pH up/down
i. A Hanna pH and ppm/EC digital meter, which I am ordering tonight
j. Groton, Biorooters, net pots

Overall, I ended up spending wal more than I planned, mostly because a local shop FU*Ked me over. I had to go though a TON of bs with them after they sold me a non-working ballast, and they would not take it back. I then bought the Lumatek (from a different shop) and ended up paying $275 more than I would have had to.

My first idea was to make it 'STEALH' by putting it all into a hollowed out dresser, however, once I got everything in there, I realized that there wasn't very much room, it was much to hard to cool the light in there, and numerous other factors. I ended up devoting less than half of a giant closet to this, and I think it will work well.

More to come soon, including pics, but I have to go soon......

So I know that I am a horrible about writing a journal, as I haven't posted at all since I started it. But after so long, I have been growing these plants since the start of October...2 months. On December 1st, I switched in flower. Nutes kept at roughly 1050~1070 since they were over 6 inches tall. I also topped them at about 4 inches tall, or on the third node. Now, here they are...

those are some long roots.

Here are the pictures after the plants have been in thier flowering cycle for three weeks. The one on the right is the White Widow that looks to be a bit more sativa dominant, the middle is Blue Mystic, and the left is the WW that is more Indica dominant. At the start of flower I was going with the nute ppm of about 1100, and I am slowly ramping it up. About 1350 now. pH is still kept at about 5.80, and I also add a pint oh 3% hydrogen peroxide every other day.

hey man... awesome plants... how far are your lights from the canopy?

ettubrutus said:

hey man... awesome plants... how far are your lights from the canopy?

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I think they are about 8 to 10 inches, which may be a bit far, though adjusting the lamp height is a BI%CH. So, yeah.

The other news is that I have ramped up the nutes a bit, to 1350 ppm, and now after only about a day, they are really responding! I'll put some more pics up soon.

Looking forward to seeing your Blue Mystic. I just ordered mine. Nirvana Seeds too, but from Seed Boutique. Keep the info flowing for us.

I have been taking pictures periodically, and today I am going to upload them today. I had my nutes all the way up at about 1600 ppm, which may have been a bit too much because their tips started to burn. Also, I suspected a calcium/magnesium deficiency, so I have been adding cal mag after I changed my resivior. I have also been using a supplementry nute called Sugar Daddy, which has the same or better effect then molasses. Now they are sitting at about 1400 ppm, and nice green growth is returning. pH is kept at 5.77-5.83. As you will see, they haven't grown vertically that much, but their buds have been packing on the weight! The plants, from left to right, are white widow (more indica), Blue Mystic, and White Widow (more sativa or at least 50\50). I will also put dates on when the pics were taken.

First round was taken on 12/23/2008.

I also forgot to mention before that I periodically trim the fan leaves so that more budding sites are exposed.

Newer pictures.

Your plants are looking good, Gigabyte!! Tell me what you think about the Blue Mystic. Also, what size are you containers? How far into flowering?

lol is that a bubbleponics system?

those are some good pictures you have. are you a professional photographer?

oregonguy said:

those are some good pictures you have. are you a professional photographer?

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Kind of a strange comment.

Other than that, great grow so far. Can't wait to see how your yield is on that 600!

The tub it is in is a 30 gallon resivior, and yes, it IS DWC. I would have gone aero, and I will next time, but a local hydro store screwed me over and I got stuck with some equipment. I really haven't had many problems at all with the DWC, and the growth rates were in fact real good. I think there would be an improvement with aero, however, and I would not have to worry about bacterial slime. That was the only problem I had, and it was an easy fix. They are now 37 days into flower, and I plan to take them down at about 56 days, depending on how the trichomes look. As for yeild, I hope to achieve an effieciency of at least 60% ( about 12 oz), hopefully into 75% or better so I can get a pound. I'll take some more pics soonish, probably Sunday.

Yesterday I started the first half of thier flush cycle. The first half consists of pH'd water with Sugar Daddy at a rate of about 6 tsp a gallon and Cal-Mag at 4 tsp a gallon. My overall ppm was 795, and the pH, of course, is 5.8. The second part will be of pure water at 5.8 pH and flora-kleen to get all the nutes I can out before smoke, and I hope to do the switch in probably about 5-7 days. Probably only about 10 days left!

I also bought on Friday a radioshack magnifier, which does 60x-100x with focus, and over the past 2 days the number of trichomes seems to have doubled! I am going by the trich method for harvest, and I am aiming for a half amber, half cloudy harvest to give me a strong mix of the two associated properties. Right now they are 95% cloudy, so not too much longer. And they are SOOO STICKY haha.

Anyway, here are the first round of pics. Tell me what you think guys!

...of the 60/40 sativa/indica WW. This was my favorite plant, it was the runt in the start! It had the best tolerance to nutes, pH, and heat, and was the biggest yeilder (I think it will be anyway).

the 40/60 or whatever. More indica dominant WW. You can see there be some nice crystals forming! This one smells almost sweet, very much like a rose!

She isn't too blue yet, though when I look closer in a natural light it is certainly there. This plant smells most like 'pot' to me, and it looks to be more indica prevalent. This is my last picture posting, post away and tell me what you think!

NO replies? NEW PICTURES! -BUMP