Full journal of my 1st grow. Indoor aeroponics. Big Bud seeds. 400w HPS/MH

eagleClaw

Well-Known Member
Slow down there cowboy. I think it is way to early for nutes. I know the feeding chart says different but..........
I'll be keeping a real close eye on them, if I see any sign of nute burn, I'll flush them asap. Thanks for the tip.
 

eagleClaw

Well-Known Member
Morning of Day 7. Sprouts are looking alright, looks like 3 of them are growing strong. Trying to rescue the other 2 but they aren't looking like they're making much progress.


Here's a picture of the progress on morning of Day 7. This is after they spent their first night on nutes and in the aero chamber. I can see little roots sticking through the bottom of the net pots!

 

LimPShoT

Well-Known Member
thats great that you can see the roots already, is that tinfoil i see?? I thought tinfoil was a nono possibly causing burn spots.
 

eagleClaw

Well-Known Member
Checked on the babies this morning, looking really healthy!!! They seemed to have grown quite a bit through the night. :weed:


Went through an iffy time this weekend when the pH was waay too high (~6.8 range) and the leaves started curling back, but I seemed to have rescued them with some "pH down". It's still above 6.0, but I'll lower that gradually this week.

Yeah, the roots are coming through nicely, you can clearly see them coming out the bottom of the net pots. I'll try to snap a pic and post it tonight.

thats great that you can see the roots already, is that tinfoil i see?? I thought tinfoil was a nono possibly causing burn spots.
I'll replace the tinfoil as soon as I get them under my MH lights (hopefully tonight), I don't think that the CFLs I'm using are giving off much heat.
 

eagleClaw

Well-Known Member
Finally got my lights in the mail a 400w conversion MH and a 400w HPS running off the same balast. I hooked up the MH and holy mother of that thing is BRIGHT!!
Initially I hung that thing at about 1.5 feet above the plants, but the temps soared to 106! after a few minutes. I kept a careful eye on it and raised the light right away to about 3.5 feet above the lights. The temps are keeping at a steady 80 now. Need more ventilation!

Still battling my rising pH levels. Not sure what's causing it but every time I check, the pH seems to have risen. I'm not sure how much it is safe to lower the pH by with pH-down without shocking the plants. If anyone has any input on this issue, I'd love to hear it!:confused::confused:

Sorry, shitty picture. The water jugs are temporary weights to keep the leaks down.


Here's a close-up at day 8:
 

LimPShoT

Well-Known Member
I cant comment on the ph thing new to growing myself but somebody i am shure somebody can chime in, yeah i was wondering what is needed to keep the lid from leaking with the tub setup. I cant wait to get my setup going but it will still be a while still gotta get a grow tent and lights etc. Looks good sofar though.
 

eagleClaw

Well-Known Member
I'm sure someone here has battled rising pH issues in the past. Any insight would be appreciated! :cry:

This morning I was still looking at above 6.7pH in my res. Lowered it to 6.2pH before heading off to work with liberal amounts of pH-Down. Hope that wasn't too much of an adjustment and a shock for the young plants! :-?

Water out of my tap is testing out at above 8pH. Takes over 1mL of pH-Down/gallon to bring it down enough to be usable. I'm surprised it takes that much. Am I using the wrong kind of pH down???

The plants seem to like the new MH bulb, looking healthy and at attention! The temperature at plant level is holding steady at 83 F.


...i was wondering what is needed to keep the lid from leaking with the tub setup.
I got some weather stripping along the lip of the tub and cut out a little hole for the power cord and caulked around it. That seemed to have stopped all the leaks. Just keeping an eye on it now, but seems pretty leak proof.
 

eagleClaw

Well-Known Member
Well, I think I've gotten my pH down to the level I want it at for now, right about 5.8. The plants seem to be doing alright and liking the new light. I have that 400w MH about 2 feet above the plants on a 18/6 schedule.

The temp at plant level is 83 F, which is a little high. I plan on getting a fan going full time on the plants. Right now I just have a humidifier blowing their way.

Here is what the kids are looking like. I have 3 that are about the same and 2 that were stunted a little by the pH problems and are smaller, but rebounding nicely now.


Here is what the roots look like
 

eagleClaw

Well-Known Member
Checked on the kids this morning. All looking good and they seem healthy and making definite progress. The roots really took off and are now hanging a good 6" long below the net pots.

I did notice that the water is a little smelly. Not sure if I should be worried about that. I plan on emptying and refilling the res in a week's time anyway, so I'll just keep an eye on the water in the meantime.

pH in my res seems to have stabilized a bit and holding in the high 5's.

I had to top off the res with a gallon of water. I got a gallon from the tap and it came out at high 7's pH. Had to use almost 2mL of my pH down solution to bring it down enough to be usable. I must be using crap brand. If anyone has a suggestion for a good quality pH-Down solution, please let me know!!

I'll post some pictures of the progress tonight.
 

eagleClaw

Well-Known Member
The plants are looking nice and healthy. Seems like they're definitely growing. I see signs of progress every time I check.

It is 84F at plant level, hope that's not too high.

Got the pH down to 6.2, ppm is at low 600's, and water temp is at 28C (again, hope that's not too high)

Here is the plant progress at Day 10


Here is the whole family group shot
 

eagleClaw

Well-Known Member
Got my roll of 2mil mylar poly film in the mail today and went straight to work with it. I glued it to a 4mil black poly film and then made 2 square braces out of pvc and connected the 2 braces with taped together poly films mylar side in. i kinda mcguivered it together to .. fuck it i'm stoned and this doesn't make any sense!!..here's a picture:






The plants are doing just fine. The pH seems to have stabilized. To keep the temp down I add a gallon of refrigerated pH adjusted nute pre-mixed water per day. That seems to have made the plants happy, they aren't shy about growing.


:joint:
 

SunDime

Active Member
hey man, tap water isnt really the best to use, but if u are using it then you should let the water stand in a jug ur bucket for about 1-2 days so that all the chemicals go away.
btw nice grow so far man
peace
 

eagleClaw

Well-Known Member
The plants are probably around 2 inches tall, and not stretching so far!! Starting to show the 4th set of leaves already. They've really taken off past couple of days. :leaf:

I let my tap water sit in the fridge overnight. Helps air out the chlorine and chems and chill the water down so it cools down the rest of the res water a bit. When it's time to completely flush the res, I'll use RO water from the local grocery store. Thanks for the tip.
 

eagleClaw

Well-Known Member
Well, the plants are doing just great. No problems so far and they are showing lots of progress every time I look at them (which is pretty damn often, can't keep my eyes off those beuties)

I am controlling my pH levels by mixing up a fresh pH'd and nuted up gallon of cold water every morning. I drain about a gallon out of the res and add the new fresh cool gallon to replace it. Seems to be working out ok, helps keep the water temp, pH and ppm levels right in the comfort zone.

The temp at plant level is still about 85 which is a bit high so it'll be the next issue I'll tackle.

Here's what the kids look like at Day 13!


Here's a side view of one of the other ones. Oops, sideways, fuck it.
 

LimPShoT

Well-Known Member
Looking good as usual. Hey i have a question are you having an leaking issues, i have been testing my system out and got some weatherstripping and plugged some holes on the sides but still getting some slight leaking on the top sides of the lid, i am using the same brand of tub as you but 33 gallon, any tips you can offer? Thanks
 

eagleClaw

Well-Known Member
Looking good as usual. Hey i have a question are you having an leaking issues, i have been testing my system out and got some weatherstripping and plugged some holes on the sides but still getting some slight leaking on the top sides of the lid, i am using the same brand of tub as you but 33 gallon, any tips you can offer? Thanks
Yeah, mine does leak a little too. It's not a problem the way I have it set up though. It's in the basement in a room with a drain and I top it off every morning with a fresh nute mixed and pH'd chilled gallon of water. That has the added benefit of keeping the res water cooler.

I did put some 3M weatherstripping around the edge and that helped cut down on the leaks big time. I also have the lid weighed down with jugs of water but will replace that with some bungee cords instead. I'll put up the pics after I do that.
 
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