Hey guys. First official grow!

[Azraelstrom]

I've posted before in the "problems" section, but I thought I should participate fully.

Strain: Big Bud Auto Fem

Setup:
2x2.5 grow tent, 5'11 in height.
KINDL300 grow light
Self-contained hydroponic system fashioned out of a 10 gallon bin that I fill up to 5 gallons as a res, and four potential spots for plants(I only use two at the moment). Drip manifold is feeding water/nutes to the rapid rooter plug at all times.
Two large airstones connected to a 126 GPH air pump.
Using General Hydro Flora Trio nutes, and Hydroguard as I'm having difficulty keeping the res water cool, so there's some signs of root rot(which you can see in the photo) that are ideally being controlled by the Hydroguard. I'm currently freezing a few water bottles to use as makeshift ice cubes to lower the res temp.

Temps are always 70-73 at "night" and 75-79 during the day. Humidity ranges from 30-45% most days.

I fluctuate the pH between 5.8 and 6.1 to make sure nothing is ever locked out, or even partially locked.

PPM is currently 381.

I had some early issues, as people from the Problems forum know, since I had no means of keeping track of my PPM and pH efficiently. These photos are four weeks from seed as of tomorrow. I know it looks stunted, and some of the leaves look discolored from previous error(I had to remove some really necrotic ones), but I'm hoping she's making a full recovery. I'm already prepared for the likelihood that my yield suffers from my early mistakes.

Anyone have any thoughts on what she looks like so far? Any tips? I didn't want to grow more than one or two my first time since I knew it would be a learning experience, and so far it has been. Big thanks to all the guys on the Problems forum for helping out. This has been a great community so far.

 

[rkymtnman]

has the hydroguard solved the root issues? they look nice and white down low but very brown close to the netpot.

healthy roots=healthy fruits.

 

[Azraelstrom]

Haha. I actually just posted about the root rot in the Problems section. The lower stuff is all golden, but the brown stuff near the netpot I can't seem to get rid of. I'm freezing a few waterbottles to use as ice cubes to lower the temp, but other than that, idk what else to do.

 

[rkymtnman]

I'd keep the pH from 5.5 to 6.1 to give it a bit more range for all nutes to be in proper range for uptake. google pH range for hydro and it shows a chart of what nutes get used in different pH ranges.

 

[rkymtnman]

where is your water level at? you could raise it up to just below the netpot and that might help with the upper roots

 

[Azraelstrom]

I've been keeping it 5.8-6.1, so I'll try to lower it a bit from time to time.

 

[Azraelstrom]

where is your water level at? you could raise it up to just below the netpot and that might help with the upper roots

I could definitely raise the water level a bit. But I also don't want it to become unmanageable for my airstones.

 

[rkymtnman]

put the stones right under the netpots so that the bubbles break right below the netpot.

i like having a waterfall and airstones in my dwc's. a waterfall actually adds more dissolved oxygen than the stones.

i just took a waterpump and some PVC and built a simple one inside the tub.

 

[Azraelstrom]

put the stones right under the netpots so that the bubbles break right below the netpot.

i like having a waterfall and airstones in my dwc's. a waterfall actually adds more dissolved oxygen than the stones.

i just took a waterpump and some PVC and built a simple one inside the tub.

You can't tell from the photo, but there's actually a small spout hooked up to the drip manifold that shoots water out kind of like a fountain. I don't know if I have enough ingenuity to build a waterfall setup myself, though. Haha. I had a hard enough time getting everything working properly with just this stuff. Do you have pics of how you set it up?

 

[rkymtnman]

You can't tell from the photo, but there's actually a small spout hooked up to the drip manifold that shoots water out kind of like a fountain. I don't know if I have enough ingenuity to build a waterfall setup myself, though. Haha. I had a hard enough time getting everything working properly with just this stuff. Do you have pics of how you set it up?

don't think i have a pic. very simple to build. you could even do it with plastic tubing. water pump at bottom of tub. plastic tubing coming straight up from the pump to just below the lid. put a 90 deg elbow to a short piece of same tubing adn then another 90 elbow pointing straight down. the more splash, the better. you would just have to figure out how to secure the whole thing so it stays upright. my pump had suction cups on bottom so it stuck pretty good to the tub.

i also liked dutch master zone for my root problems. if the hydroguard isnt' working like you think and you can find it, try it

 

[Azraelstrom]

Hey guys. Wanted to do an update now that we're at 5 weeks from seed. Overall I'm pleased with how she's turned out, but I still have a couple of concerns. For one, pH keeps going down, almost constantly. I have to add pH Up every morning, as it shifts about .5-.7 points if I'm not monitoring it.

Here she is, after doing some LST to the left(not sure if I'm going to pull in other directions yet given the space I have). If you notice, the old discolored leaves are still present, but there's some yellowing happening on some of the newer growth near the tips. Is this nute burn?









The weird thing is that if this IS nute burn, her little sister isn't exhibiting nearly any symptoms. She's had almost no discoloration to speak of. They've had the same water, same nutes, they're just one week apart in age.

 

[Azraelstrom]

Hey guys. Update. Not much to report, still having pH issues with perpetual drop, but I've got it down to where the drift from 6.0 to 5.5 is timely and I just adjust it back up once it's finished.

Interestingly, the younger girl seems to be entering flowering first. The older has plenty of pistils showing, but isn't quite in flowering for whatever reason. Wondering if I should be concerned at 6 weeks from seed.

Anyway, here are some pics.


And here are the flowering comparisons. First the youngest.



And now the eldest.



Thoughts? Any advice for the older girl? Disregard the discoloration, it isn't happening on new growth.

 

[Azraelstrom]

Hey guys. Sorry for the lack of updates. Life got a little hectic with a new job and whatnot. So, this is my slightly delayed update for week 8.

Growth has been a lot more than I expected and these girls have exceeded the advertised height of 3 feet. I actually had to rig my own pulley system because the one that came with the tent combobdidn't allow me to raise the light high enough.

They're definitely in flowering as you can see, and I'm hoping they don't get much taller or I'm going to completely run out of space. As always, feedback is appreciated. When should I start pulling the nutes back and flushing? Planning to do a one week flush as opposed to two. I figure I have a couple of weeks before she's finished, but you guys are the experts.

 

[Azraelstrom]

Nobody? I'd really appreciate feedback on how they look and whatnot. My first go, so when I don't see anyone commenting, I wonder if I'm just messing up so badly no one's saying anything.

 

[monkey5]

shit looks beutifuul

only 2 plants??
is it a auto ? edit: i read it again lol yup auto

how old is it now?

 

[Azraelstrom]

Yeah, just two. It's big bud auto fem.

Advertised height was 2-3 feet. These girls don't seem to care. Lol. I seriously can only raise the lights another 6 inches maybe. Then I have no idea what to do. And as you can see, they're filling up the tent completely so I can't bend them anywhere.

 

[monkey5]

i think it will do fine but if you want ,i think it woulld be a good idea to do a scrog/trellis and lst the branches down horizontally

 

[Azraelstrom]

Do you have any recommendations for how to manage that? I know how scrog works but I'm really not very much of a handyman. Haha.

 

[Azraelstrom]

Oh, and it'll be 9 weeks old from seed next Wednesday. Just saw that question.

 

[monkey5]

you dont got to be handy man ,, u could just buy a trellis net from a hydroponic shop or home depot, lowes ext.
ziptie the net to the edge/frame of your tent