Hey everyone. New to forum and growin in hydro, made my own Budget dwc cheap leds and somebagseed because these are generic leds and I didn't want to waste $$$ if these were bad lights. So far idk if it's the lights or me. 3 plants one is 3 weeks old the other two are 5. All bagseed and the 3 week old has already surpassed in height the older ones. They're all from different bagseed different places so I'm assuming 3 different mystery strains. All them grow, but barely vertically. Had a bit of PH lockout a week ago due to my error but even then, they never even stopped growing. 5wk olds 5.5 inches tall, 3 week old at 7 inches. All they do is get bushy they already have like 12 nodes less than an inch apart. Am I doing something wrong? Bum lights? All im using is GH flora trio and hydroguard all of them currently at 1.2 EC in 5 gallon DWC buckets. 49-55% humidity 91F air temp (which I'm struggling to lower), 77F Reservoir Temp. Lights: 2x SYGAVLED 600w full spectrum leds (264w actual power draw each unit) Here are the pics:
Newb here almost no vertical growth. Too short?
- Thread starter tripleJ
- Start date
JAMO_Grow
Well-Known Member
I grow primarily in coco 90/10% so I have no experience in DWC. But If you could find out how many lumens the LEDS you purchased emit that would be great because it could be a light issue however then i think there would be a bit more stretching to get to the light source if that where the case.But the air temp being 91F is not so good, I read some where that the plant goes dormant when temps reach that high (stunted growth).
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
swaggersDlite
Well-Known Member
What's your water temperature inside the bucket at the roots ???
77 degrees F. They''ve been growing A LOT! Getting bushy and just lots of horizontal growth. Just not up lol. Root growth has also been very good from what I see. I've had to prune in order for it to not go out of control sideways. Last week my PH meter broke and it took me 3 days to find one so they suffered a little bit of lockout before I could adjust. Though when everything is under control they're always fluctuating at the 5.8-6.0. Rez water temps always between 75F never going above 82F. I've noticed a little bit of heat stress but not so much as to see them not growing. During the day temps fluctuate a lot and I have little to no control of it. from 84F al the way up to 93F. I try to avoid the hottest part of the day but there are nights of 93F as well.
swaggersDlite
Well-Known Member
Well that's it! It's your water temp it's way to high, you want to have your water in the 60's . At that temp there is not enough dissolved oxygen. Fix this and let us know in a few days to a week how your plants are.
No way I can lower it. That's why I went the hydroguard route. The lowest I can get is 77F thw roots haven't complained however as you can see in the pics. Also they have 2 pumps (4 hoses on each bucket) But I guess those are the current limitations of this room. I have like 3 fans, but I can't afford a chiller. Some people might say it's a miracle I haven't gotten root rot but I'm just pouring in the hydroguard and beneficial bacteria. Also I see 2 new sets of leaves every day and vigorous side growth. If I add Armor Si you think I can overcome the heat?
kratos015
Well-Known Member
Growth is typically strain dependent. Some strains are single cola dominant and others just grow more bush-like. Give it another couple of weeks and eventually they'll grow upward as well as bush out, just the way these bagseed strains must grow is all.
You have to find a way to control those temps though, especially with bagseed. Otherwise you will end up with seeded airy buds.
You have to find a way to control those temps though, especially with bagseed. Otherwise you will end up with seeded airy buds.
Bushing out check! These little monsters only look small cuz I have to prune every 2 days. I regret putting the rockwool so close to the bottom of the mesh. But I'm seeing 1" of horizontal growth a day maybe .3 inches of vertical a day.
I was also thinking that cuz they all bagseed. The youngest one is definitely a different strain and is growing very differently and faster than the others. also the leds are like 18" away. I'm just a noob so I wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong.
The lowest I could maybe get it without AC is like maybe 88 during the day. and that's pushing it. It's been getting really hot now and I cant afford AC or chiller. Hell we're still recovering from hurricane maria. But this grow is telling exactly what I want. I don't wanna buy a good strain and then find out my lights and temps suck.
So i'm guessing Auto's are out of the question? would I be better off with heat resistant photo strains?
drsaltzman
Well-Known Member
Sativas take the heat better than Indicas.
But I'm not sure it's heat ... not to the point of stress anyway. They look pretty good.
They'll stretch in flower and those nodes will separate.
Let em grow ... see what happens.
But I'm not sure it's heat ... not to the point of stress anyway. They look pretty good.
They'll stretch in flower and those nodes will separate.
Let em grow ... see what happens.
kratos015
Well-Known Member
What kind of water are you using? I'm noticing some tiny brown spots on your leaves after re-analyzing the photos you provided so that's why I'm curious. That heat is also having a negative affect on your growth, as plants typically slow down on photosynthesis between 92-95 degrees and completely stop past 100 degrees. Considering your situation/budget though, you're doing the absolute best you can.
You have the right attitude though, just keep at it, ask all the questions that come to mind, and keep trying. Keep up with all of that and someday you'll have the money to get the equipment you actually need, and by that time you'll have the needed experience to use it. Depends on how serious you want to take things. I firmly believe that literally anyone is capable of producing top shelf medicine, getting above average yields is where experience begins to play a part in the equation though.
Definitely go with a heat resistant strain in the future if at all possible, fortunately some of the strain's seeds are cheat enough to come by. A good Skunk or Afghani can take the abuse. DNA Genetics has a good Afghani Kush that can take the abuse, Blue Dream is another resilient strain. Consider posting a grow journal so that you can get advice every step of the way. Hope it keeps going well my man.
Terps
Well-Known Member
Way way too hot
Terps
Well-Known Member
Look for a cheap chiller used on craigslist
Thanks!!! Im using filtered tap water at 147ppm. The brown spots happened last week during a rez change I dropped the PH meter and it died while doing the corrections. The plants started to get those spots from PH lockout. 3 days later I found a PH meter and strips and was able to correct them all from 6.9 to 5.8 and they bounced right back up within a couple of hours. I haven't noticed any new spots after that. But what worried me most is the temps. Mid march is getting hot as hell and I feel limited with both money and local options. Would I be better adding like 4-5 more fans or is the chiller the only viable route at this point? Looking at chillers I dont see anything in my area at a price I can afford.
Another question since some of the plants already have like 15-16 nodes about half an inch to an inch apart, does that mean in flowering they wont stretch much either? They short bushy and LOTS of packed tight nodes. I haven't see them that stumpy yet bushy so Im curious at to stretching.
THANKS Worse case scenario I'll give them 3 months of veg see hat happens LOL. I think the 3 week old since it's the tallest one compared to the 2 5 week old will out do them. A friend told me that afte they develop 32 nodes in veg the will not grow anymoe is this true?
grandvapor
Active Member
Looks like what happened to me when I was overfilling my DWC buckets. Make sure there is at least a couple of inches of gap between your water level and the bottom of your net pot. Also, keep your LED's 18-26 inches away from the tops.
Been keeping at barely an inch. Thanks grandvapor I will try that. Asides from slow verticle growth I feel they could be doing worse considering that I still see the size difference everyday I go in there to do a quick EC/PH Test. last 2 weeks when the temp was at 88F they exploded even more than now. almost lost an airstone to the roots.
kratos015
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately my experience with hydro is quite limited, so I never could have given this kind of advice. This very well could be the issue because everything else seems good from what I can tell.
That's quite a relief about the spots, furthermore it already sounds like you're quite capable of troubleshooting issues. Where is it you're living that it gets so hot in March?? I'm in Arizona and even out here it isn't that hot yet and we get 120+ degree weeks in summer. I suppose where you're living isn't what I'm most curious about, but your locations average RH? Have you looked into evaporative cooler/swamp coolers? You can DIY for a pretty reasonable price, and the main costs are from the startup as they use significantly less electricity than an AC does. The down sides to evap coolers is they only work reliably if humidity is 15% or lower, and they will add humidity to the room they are cooling. I highly recommend looking into one as it sounds perfect for your situation. If possible, avoid triggering flower until you get some form of cooling down. But if you can't, it is what it is.
What's important is that both your roots and foliage look gorgeous. If you can keep the roots and leaves looking that happy you will be just as happy come harvest.