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deftdrummer · #76 (**permalink**) Jun-20-2007, 13:38

06-20-07 Day #1 of Flowering
Cab Temp: 80F
RH: 58%
Nutrient Temp: 75.5F
PPM: 1093, 1103, 1126
pH: 5.2 - 5.4

we switched to flowering today by going on 12/12 lighting. The centrifugal exhaust fan is coming soon so we can't wait to start seeing buds!

palerider7777 · #77 (**permalink**) Jun-21-2007, 00:30

i love the thread i just read the whole thing at one sitting wow that was alot.nice im a noob at this to but i have been reading everything i could find on this for the last 3 months.so i know a good bit more than i did to start.i read about all the diffrent type of setups my set up is dwc. i set up mine in 30 gal rubbermaid tubs fill 20 gal each i setup 4 with 8 plant sites each.i made a pvc spray bar with 14 360*sprayers each. i have it to where the water is right under the spray bar. and sprays all over the bottem of the 5inch net pots. then in the bottem i have the dual air hog stones so it's a 2 in one but from the bottom.

i was having a lil trouble with a lil alge. im guessing that was alge. a thin slick film so i was guessing the light was getting through the clay balls around the edges. so i went out today and bought sum emergency blankets. a buck each instead of using my good mylar. and i laid it over the whole top 3 layer thick and cut holes at each plant site and put the baskets back in for a nice tight light proof fit.i know i should have done something b4 all that but i didn't see any light getting through so thats done.i have my seedlings under 2 of those curling type lights the bigger ones not the lil ones i just bought 1 of those ceramic pull chain lights and wired it to a replacement ext cord and put a 2 way in then the lights my stuff is sprouting in about 3 days but i don't know when i should put into the dwc i have thick white fuzzy roots starting to poke out but they still look to lil to put in yet any thoughts on this? and 1 other ? i read that u (topped)ur plants how is that done? just cut off the top at sum point? i have well water it is 25 or 250 ppm by itself i guess ro/is the only way around this? or is it that big a deal to mess with? keep up the good work

deftdrummer · #78 (**permalink**) Jun-21-2007, 00:52

hey palerider7777 thanks for posting and learning! A lot of people just ask questions that have been asked a million times but at least you take the time to read a learn a little. Sounds like a good setup you have there with the sprayers and all that. If you started a thread and posted some pictures it would be very cool to check out! If you are having trouble with algae then you are taking the right precautions it sounds like. The first step is to block out all possible light (zero light being best) and the next step is to keep the reservoir temperatures below 78F being ideal. This is something I'm guilty of myself but for us DWC growers there is very little we can do due to the limited space in the reservoir. The best that can be done is put reflective material also on the outside of the buckets or reservoir to lower the temps 1-2 degrees and also you can frequently put ice in the reservoir rather than topping up with water. Or, when you do top up you can use the coldest water you can find (which is mainly what I do, in the form of refrigerated water).

To answer your other questions, I do think that your plants are ready for the DWC by the sounds of it. If you say you have thick white roots poking out the sides then they sound like they are ready. As far as the topping goes, topping is a very simple process that only seems complicated. All you do is wait until you have about 6 or 8 nodes and cut the top most sprout off just above the node. This lets the lower growth have all the light and it branches into about 4 or 5 colas instead of just one big cola. It is better use of the light is all. The best way to tell when you are ready to top really is dependent on the light you have. We have a 400W so we wanted to make sure the top got good light and also the sides, and also the underneath bud sites as well. Granted the lower growth won't get as much light but you cut your losses at some point ya know?

palerider7777 · #79 (**permalink**) Jun-21-2007, 11:39

ok i see i new it was something along those lines i just did'nt know where to cut.i have a thread going it's not much of one yet no picks yet but i don't know how to put the link in here for u to see it.+i don't know how safe it is to post pics in here i here u have a mmj card i don't and i don't know much about how safe it is here.but what i started out with as im new to growing anything at all this is my first grow of anything. but with anything else i do in life i like to read read read and then read sum more b4 i jump into anything.so i started out 5 each of watermelon,carrots,lettuce,bell peppers,hot peppers,toms,and i got sum crippie seeds from my brother he smokes like no other lol.this is just to start out of coarse the veggies are on there 8th day doing great.there growing like crazy no wilt just good solid growing(and by the way i like the jiffy plugs from gh better alot better cause i have noticed that i put half in rocwhool and the others in the jiffy plugs and the ones in the jiffy plugs not only sprouted 3 days sooner but seem to have more roots i dunno why?) im using advance nutes micro,grow,bloom,then i have hygrozyme,bud blood,doc horn'sby big bud ,kool bloom,enngy's f1,and lq carbo load.it's neat how u can smell the roots and it smells like what ur growing the watermelon man i smell the roots and i want to eat the whole thing plug and all lol j/k.the seeds i got from my bro they are like a 1to 2 inches tall with a redish strip on one side of the stalk and a nice green on the other and the leafs are small but thick. i just wanted to start out on sum free seeds b4 i go to the good stuff

palerider7777 · #80 (**permalink**) Jun-21-2007, 11:43

well i guess i should start off by telling u what i have first so u will know whats what and not have to ask to many?.i have a 7x7x71/2 ft rmwith half for the grow space. a space for the seedling dome, and i have my 3 ballast boxs up on a shelf to the left 5ft up. and my light in the middle to back of the room. and an ac unit on the right side about 4 ft up right in front of the light. so as it can blow through the hood's 4 inch duct. and i have it set up on a carbon filter/same duct meaning i can hook up that sides duct with the carbon filter or take it off and let the a/c run through to the other side. where the duct from the inline fan is to suck the air out of the rm. i have a dwc system i made but not in the buckets. i have 4 30 gal rubbermaid tubs that holds 8 plants each. with a pvc set up with 14 sprayers each i got the 360*ones. as i have bought others and the 360*ones just out do the others by alot. it sprays all over and the back side of the spray hitting the walls and bouncing off. and with the bigger openings it looks like they might be harder to clog up on me.

anyways my lighting system, i was online looking for the ballest lite hood and everything. and found this guy on cl an online trade site. and a guy had a 400wmh set up. (ballest lite 2 bulbs lite hood with 4inch duct and a box of air stones about 5 with 5 air pumps 3 inline fans for the ducting then 2 set ups of the 1000w mh and one a 1000w hps/mh set up with a ballest box and hood each and a bunch of other stuff) like a tds tri meter ph ppm temp. and other stuff he was wanting 2300 for all that was a good deal in it's self. so i went to meet him at his storage cause he was moving up north. and had it in storage i had to travel a good ways out of town to meet him. but he had me waiting for awhile. so when he got there he was way behind. so i told him i would help him pack his stuff up if he would give me a better deal. so i did i did most of the work i might ad. at the end he just gave me all the stuff for free well i helped him move but no money. so thats why i have all this stuff. and was trying to put it to good use. all the stuff for the lites are from diamond anyone know of that type of lite?? they seem good to me i like um.

so what i did cause of the limited space i have.i took all the lite out of there hoods.and i picked the biggest one.it was the one with the hps setup.and it had room for all three.and for sum odd reason it already had the hole cut out and set up for 3 lites.so i mounted the other to mh (1000w and 400w)on the sides of the hps.now im not gonna run all at once but 2 at a time won't hurt like the 1400w of mh or 1000 mh 1000 hps or what ever so thats my set up pretty much now my ? is and im sure i'll have others. but 1st one is how can i change the humidity? it's been staying around 65 to 80% with most of the time around the 70 mark. is there a way to dry it up a bit. i know how to make it higher that part i know. but how do u lower it is there an easy way. and the reason it's been so high is because it's been raining for a few days. will that hurt at all or is it ok to be humid for a few days. and i keep the room spotless it's clean. any input would be great!! oh and 1 more ? what is ur thoughts on well water/hard water well im sure it's hard i put my meter in just the water and it's around 23ppm (230ppm) is that considered (hard)oh and the ph on that water is around 7.8 to 8.1 and sumtimes lower

thats my thread so far lol not much but a start

palerider7777 · #81 (**permalink**) Jun-21-2007, 11:44

i sold my 2005 mint cond zx10r to start all this up + pay sum bill so here goes nothin!!!

deftdrummer · #82 (**permalink**) Jun-22-2007, 14:37

06-22-07 Day #3 of flowering.
Cab Temp: ?
RH: ?
Nutrient Temp: 75.4F
PPM: 1025, 1111, 1126
pH: 5.6 - 5.7

The plants are starting to increase in size. Now is the time that it is very important to make sure that we move the buckets around after each time we top off or check pH levels etc. This will ensure that maximum light distribution to all bud sites can be achieved. We are needing to get a new humidity / temperature gauge cause we don't think ours is giving accurate readings anymore. For example, yesterday at 12am the gauge read 80F in the grow tent which was not possible. The air was stirring quite well and there was very little heat to be felt at all with the hand, much less 80F temps. So, in the next few days we should get that taken care of.

The plants have also been drinking a lot of water causing the levels to get almost as half as full as they were the previous day, due in part mostly because of the heat that we have seen lately. We check twice daily but even this doesn't seem to be enough some days! Soon we should start noticing yellowish green colors showing up where the bud sites will be and then it starts to get really fun from this point on. Stay tuned!

hydrocannabis · #83 (**permalink**) Jun-22-2007, 14:52

right on dude yah.

thouse R lookin good.

I will fo sure stay tuned.

deftdrummer · #84 (**permalink**) Jun-25-2007, 15:15

06-25-07 Day #6 of Flowering.
Cab Temp:
RH:
Nutrient Temp: 72.2F
PPM: 1102
pH: 5.7

It's been a few days without any update sorry about that. I have been pulling long 12 hour shifts at work over the weekend and have not even had time to look at the plants. My grow partner has been handling all the maintenance duties and performed a 2-2-2 nutrient change yesterday (6.24.07). The plants grew about another 3 inches in height since I even last saw them! We had to raise the light again another 4" or so so that the tops would clear and all the bud sites would get even light distribution. In the next few days I will try to start taking pictures of the bud sites when the light is off to give you an idea of how far they are coming along. Its a bit hard to tell until full fledged buds appear when you start to see some good progress.

deftdrummer · #85 (**permalink**) Jun-25-2007, 15:16

some more pics

deftdrummer · #86 (**permalink**) Jun-27-2007, 14:07

06-27-07 Day #8 of Flowering.
Cab Temp:
RH:
Nutrient Temp: 74.5F
PPM: 1125, 1150, 1159
pH: 5.0-5.3

Hey there, the plants are growing very bushy and tall. We have all the vertical height we will need but the plants are growing into each other a bit. It is not such a big deal since we topped all three plants, which makes the main colas and bud sites as close to the light as they could possibly be. However, we are able to move the plants to the precise area that gives them max light.

On the nutrient side we have been keeping the levels pretty consistent between 1100 and 1200. The pH has been kept around the 5.8 range but we started to see some blotches on the leaves that led us to believe that it was 1 of 3 things. It could either be wide fluctuations of pH levels (which has not been happening) or possibly 5.8 being too high for the time being. The last thing we were thinking that it could be is the possibility of our 2-2-2 nutrient strength being possibly a little too weak for the size of plants. In other words; perhaps the plants need more food for full blown flowering. The next nutrient change will definitely be a full flowering mix.

Based on the fact that our mix is a 2-2-2 strength we decided to raise and lower the pH levels every other day. We will drop all the way down to 5.2 in the morning and let it get as high as it can in the afternoon. This should allow the nutrient availability to have a wide range. If this helps we should have our problem narrowed down. If it doesn't we won't be too bent out of shape about it since the rest of the plants are really healthy and doing great.

deftdrummer · #87 (**permalink**) Jun-28-2007, 11:09

6-28-07 Day #9 of Flowering.
Cab Temp: ~85F
RH: ~19%-30%
Nutrient Temp:
PPM: 980-1100
pH: 4.8

We are going on a short vacation for a few days and so, this morning we topped off all the plants with quite a bit of a higher water level. We are coming back in a day so we shouldn't see too many ill effects. Our worry is that it will be around 100F here and we don't exactly know how much will be evaporated and uptaken by the plants. The roots will always be immersed in the nutrient reservoir and natural aeroponics never hurt roots of course. The only other concern with these temps and humid moist air above the reservoir is the possibility of mold. Mould can ruin roots in no time causing them to turn a brownish color usually accompanied with slime. Mould cuts off the amount of nutrients the roots can uptake as the bacteria quickly spreads over the roots thus also limiting the oxygen exchange the roots need to maintain. As you might have noticed, we also dropped the pH to its lowest acceptable range ie: 5.0-5.5 again, because we won't be here to maintain it. It's always good to have a buddy that grows as everyone says, but at this point in time that's just something we don't have.

deftdrummer · #88 (**permalink**) Jun-30-2007, 14:00

06-30-07 Day #11 of Flowering.
Cab Temp: 78F
RH:
Nutrient Temp: 73F
PPM: 1050-1100
pH: 5.5

The plants are coming along, with bud sites starting to develop into the first signs of buds. The lower leaves are dieing on pretty much all of the plants but this is to be expected during flowering. The rest of the plant looks nice and healthy and they are still growing close to a half inch in vertical height daily. I took some high resolution photos to show the bud development and I will continue to do so throughout the flowering process. We are due for another nutrient change tomorrow and at this time we will also need to raise the light again. The heat has subsided and there are no real negative effects on the plants up to this point so we might just hold off on our centrifugal fan idea for the time being. We were also having some different ideas regarding a new 600W light as well. Rather than buying an exhaust fan of high quality like we were, we are thinking that since most 600W and 1000W lights have detached ballasts, that we would put the ballast outside of the grow tent and have our current light exhausting fan just remove hot air from the top of the tent without being hooked up to anything. The fan is more than powerful enough to handle this task and we would also be benefiting the power of a 600W light. Maybe for the next grow but for now we are content.

deftdrummer · #89 (**permalink**) Jul-01-2007, 17:16

7-1-07 Day #12 of Flowering.
Cab Temp: ~75 to 80F
RH: ~50%
Nutrient Temp: 72.3F
PPM: 1100
pH: 5.5

We performed another nutrient change today and switched to full bloom formula. The components are 1tsp grow 2tsp micro 3tsp bloom or 1-2-3. We put the pH at 5.5 this time so that we could start with a good baseline to see how the plants react during this stage of flowering. GH's web site states that for this phase in growth the PPM should be between 1100-1400 PPM.

The bud sites are plumping up and our topping jobs look to be paying off. We are glad we did not decide to do any more than 3 plants with the current light setup. Our light is decent enough, but more light could have maybe enabled us to do 4 plants with higher yields, but it's a bit early to start talking about yields. Next post I will try to get some good shots of the root systems that these babies got going.

deftdrummer · #90 (**permalink**) Jul-01-2007, 17:18

more pics

palerider7777 · #91 (**permalink**) Jul-04-2007, 19:30

lookin good can't wait till mine is at that stage

deftdrummer · #92 (**permalink**) Jul-06-2007, 17:16

07-06-07 Day #17 of Flowering.
Cab Temp: TOO HIGH ~ 100
RH: 50%
Nutrient Temp: TOO HIGH 78F
PPM: 850-1000
pH: 5.6

Ok, we have run into a few problems here during one of the worst possible times. Flowering is not when you want to start having things go wrong. We have not been inspecting the plants as closely as we should have and discovered some spider mites and webs. Fortunately they have not yet hit their max production rate. We quickly went to the local hydro store and picked up some stuff called bugzyme by garden grow. We were told it enables you to spray all through flowering if necessary to kill spider mites and other types of pests. It is 100% all natural so we figured we would give it a shot. We have tried using neem oil in the past but neem is more useful as a preventative measure and not meant for full fledged infestations which is what we are on the verge of.

In addition to that little problem we have run into severe heat issues here in CA. The temperatures in our garage (which is where the grow is) are in excess of 100F and only hotter in the grow tent. We have a fan hooked up to the light if you recall, so a good deal of heat is being extracted there, but the problem still lies with the natural heat that is just a part of this time of year. We bit the bullet and ordered A vortex 4" centrifugal fan that is rated at 175CM. CFM stands for cubic feet per minute. In other words, a 70CFM fan will move the volume of 70 cu ft. air in a minute out of a given space. The fan we bought would probably be overkill if used strictly as an exhaust since we only have 14.07 cu ft. For our space theoretically we would need a 42CFM fan max. However, what were thinking instead is that it might be perfect for pulling air from the light and the grow tent simultaneously since the light is not air tight. What it will come down to really is seeing how well the fan pulls air, and if our grow tent can tolerate the undoubted low pressure that will be created inside the chamber. Either way it will be hooked up to the highest point in the grow tent so there should be some large amounts of hot air moving out of there. We also still have the passive 4" air inlet that is cut out of the table top (bottom of chamber). This inlet is probably a bit small as a passive intake but it will have to do for now. In the future we might end up making it 6" since you always want to have a slightly larger intake than exhaust. Being that our exhaust is 4", a 6" intake should suffice when we get around to it.

I'll check back in a few days with some better pictures. The fan should be here in about 3 or 4 days max.