About to start

[StuV]

My first ever soil grow is about to finish and ut;s looking quite nice, with some pretty nice buds. However, after discovering Bubbleponics soon after starting my first grow I quickly decided this was the way forward.

So, I will be putting my kit together this afternoon and there was a few things I wanted to check first of all.

I use a 400w HPS light, is this ok to use straight from the off (having placed seeds into the rockwool) on 24hour lighting. Or will it be too much for a seed?

What size rockwool should I be using? I intend on vegging for a very short amount of time, then putting it to 14/14 ASAP.

Am I right in thinking only one strain can be grown in each bucket?

Hope to do a full grow journel for this one, so fingers crossed.

Cheers,

Stu

 

[fatflathead]

My first ever soil grow is about to finish and ut;s looking quite nice, with some pretty nice buds. However, after discovering Bubbleponics soon after starting my first grow I quickly decided this was the way forward.

So, I will be putting my kit together this afternoon and there was a few things I wanted to check first of all.

I use a 400w HPS light, is this ok to use straight from the off (having placed seeds into the rockwool) on 24hour lighting. Or will it be too much for a seed?

You dont need light until your plants have leaves.

What size rockwool should I be using? I intend on vegging for a very short amount of time, then putting it to 14/14 ASAP.

2" cube is fine, but how big are your net cups. Use the stuff that came with the system.

Am I right in thinking only one strain can be grown in each bucket?

Im growing 3 different strains in my 6 plant tub system. yes it ok. Just remember not all strains will harvest at same time!

Hope to do a full grow journel for this one, so fingers crossed.

Cheers,

Stu

Happy growing

 

[sophanox]

Seedlings are fine under a 400hps (consider getting a metal halide if you have 20 bucks lying about). Just make sure you start them off with the light at least three feet away and move it down a couple of inches a day till they are used to it. There is some debate over which lighting schedule is best in veg, with many different opinions. Recently I have started using 20/4 as I read a post where an experienced grower had tested the effects of the different cycles, and found 20/4 to be the best by a considerable margin.

If you really want to dial in your setup, you are best off only having one strain per tub. Different strains have different nute requirements, so you may not be able to unleash the full potential of one plant, cause another is holding it back. Ideally you'd want to use bubble buckets for multiple strains. However, if this is your first hydro grow - don't worry about it, just be careful with your nutes!

 

[Lt Shiny Sides]

14/14? do you mean 12/12? I don't think they will flower with 14 hours of sunlight...

 

[StuV]

14/14? do you mean 12/12? I don't think they will flower with 14 hours of sunlight...

Posting on forums when high is hard work, I did indeed mean 12/12!

Right, well everything is set up and I've built the system, just waiting for the PH meter and Irrigation Hub to arrive in the post and everything will be good to go. (I'll get some pics up when the gf comes back from work as the cam is in her bag)

My only problem is I sent my flat mate to the hydro shop to get me some hydroton balls, she came back with Clay Pebbles, is this going to make a difference, or should I take them back to the shop and get some hydroton balls as planned?

Also a little advise with regards to Nutes would be well appreciated, I will be growing some Alaskan Ice, I know about starting them off slow etc, but was wondering if anyone had some advise with regards to particular brands for root growth/vegging (although this perdiod will only be for a few weeks) and budding.

Cheers in advance,

Stu

 

[StuV]

Right some pics.

First of, the res and cups. A £3 box from ASDA holds 9Gallons tapped up with some normal black masking tape that is 100% light proof. Once everyting is going I will also be masking around the edges of the cups to ensure that they are also light proof around the edges also. The cups are also not perfectly placed, I'm aware of this and will be fixing it whilst everything is soaking in PH balanced water. I also know the box needs a damn good clean, it got some dust on it earlier when I was drilling holes for intake/extraction fans. Will be getting a proper washdown/soak before use.

Here we have the inside of the box, pretty standerd, two air stones (will be attacked to a pump that will sit on a nice cool window edge to keep the water temp down.

Will post more pics up once things are up and running, hopefully Royal Mail won't f me in the a and this should all be up and running tomorrow evening.


Any advise that will help will be greatly appreciated!

Stu

 

[Lt Shiny Sides]

How different are the clay balls from hydroton? Even if they are different, they will still work. If you come look at my grow, I'm just using aquarium stones that I had already and they're working fine. Your setup looks very good. Can't wait to see it all in action. Update us when everything is up and running. Good luck! Oh and I subscribed so I'll be here to watch.

 

[StuV]

Cheers man, they are like small and stony like, although they are hydroton clay pebbles.

Anyway everything is in place and ready to go, apart from the fact my irrigation hub is yet to arrive, so I've had to hold things off which is annoying, really want to get this going.

Will crank the light on and take a pic of the box fully kitted out in a bit.

Had already been following your grow LT and quite a few others.

Anyone know a decent brand of nutes that work well with Alaskan ice?

Keep cool,

Stu

 

[StuV]

Reet, my internet has been down for a while and I had a small distraction of a nice trip to Dam (Greenhouse didn't have any Alaskan ice, I cried a little.

Anyway, things are starting to explode, got some serious roots taking shape and the plant are starting to look like plants.

Sadly only 3 of the 5 sprouted, oh well, I'll do away with the SCROG and just beef these babies up a bit. As you can see 1 of the 3 grew really tall before any leaves showed through, however she seems to have recoverd. How far away are these babies from being ready topped.

 

[StuV]

I've just put a towl in the box hanging up and sprayed the plants with some Ph balanced water, hopefully that will help with the curling leaves.

 

[Lkmyblz]

what kind of nutes are you using?

 

[StuV]

I'm using 2 part Aqua Vega made by canna.

The guy in the growshop said it was perfect for a DWC/Bubbleponics system.

If anyone can suggest anything with regards to what that curling of the leaves although I have raised the humidity in the box which seems to have had a positive impact on my babies.