First time growing in 10 years, tell me what you think of my setup

[berkman858]

REPOSTED DUE TO DATABASE ERROR:

Hello RIU,

I haven't attempted to grow anything for about 10 years and this is the first time I am working with deep water culture. My setup is:

• 5 x 5 Secret Jardin grow tent
• 1000 watt lamp with digital balllast
• Vented reflector
• 6" Max-Fan ventilation fan
• Wall mount circulation fan
• 4 bucket HumCo hydroponic system
• 1/10 HP water chiller (water temperature is @ 68 degrees)
• Thermometer/Hygrometer (air temperature is @ 78-80 degrees with light on, Relative Humidity is @ 30-45%)

I still need to pickup a carbon filter but I think I have pretty much everything else covered. I am using House and Garden's AquaFlakes A & B nutrient solution. I appreciate any feedback since I haven't done this for a while and wasn't all that successful back then anyway.

 

[mr.green123]

very nice set up mate i hope it brings you loads of green fun

 

[berkman858]

very nice set up mate i hope it brings you loads of green fun

Thx, I subscribed to your SCROG thread. I am interested to see how that turns out because I have been thinking of multiple ideas for a adding a screen to my tent. I think I may do a test on just one plant to see how it goes and to see the difference side by side to plants not being SCROG'd. One of the 4 plants in my setup was added a week before the other 3 so I think that is the candidate for SCROG. Good luck bro!

 

[ru4r34l]

No need to scrog with your setup, looks like you have ample room and light for four plants (monsters!), I concur the setup is quite nice!

 

[berkman858]

No need to scrog with your setup, looks like you have ample room and light for four plants (monsters!), I concur the setup is quite nice!

What about SCROGing to get more bushiness out of the plants? I have plenty of vertical space for growth but I also have LOTS of lateral space that can be used. It is nice to be able to get into all parts of the tent when I need to do work but I think I may be happier if I couldn't get in because all the room was taken by a giant hedge of pot. I envision a green block of pot leaves and buds using pretty much all free space in the tent.

 

[skunkd0c]

looks very nice n tidy

happy growing

 

[berkman858]

UPDATE

I have had some issues with over fertilizing my little girls. I now have them sitting in some fresh, PH'd water with some flush and H2O2. The good thing is that they aren't dead and they do seem to be doing better now that they are not getting any additional nutes.

Here are some pics of one of my girls after I FIM'd it and trimmed the dead crispy parts of the leaves:




Here are the same plant's roots 3 days ago and today:




Wish me luck, I am getting really OCD about this shit and its kind of taking over my life. Not that I am complaining, I just want to make sure all of this effort doesn't go to waste. Thanks for reading.

 

[Thedillestpickle]

It looks good, a very clean setup.

5x5 with 1000w HID is a little low on light. If I were trying to light a 5x5 I would aim for at least 1500 watts. You could double your wattage if you have the budget and think the ventilation can handle the extra heat.

As for H&G I don't like the idea of having only one nutrient for both veg and flower, you may run into nitrogen overdose problems during flower. I would have on hand some micro nutrient complete high PK nutrients(CNS17 Ripe is 1-5-4 for example though maybe not the best choice for hydro).

Always good to have Epsom salt on hand as well as cannabis can use quite a bit more magnesium than many nutrient lines will provide.


Try not to let your grow take over your life lol, same thing happened to me. It's springtime now, don't miss that.

 

[berkman858]

It looks good, a very clean setup.

5x5 with 1000w HID is a little low on light. If I were trying to light a 5x5 I would aim for at least 1500 watts. You could double your wattage if you have the budget and think the ventilation can handle the extra heat.

As for H&G I don't like the idea of having only one nutrient for both veg and flower, you may run into nitrogen overdose problems during flower. I would have on hand some micro nutrient complete high PK nutrients(CNS17 Ripe is 1-5-4 for example though maybe not the best choice for hydro).

Always good to have Epsom salt on hand as well as cannabis can use quite a bit more magnesium than many nutrient lines will provide.


Try not to let your grow take over your life lol, same thing happened to me. It's springtime now, don't miss that.

Wow, you are the first person to tell me that I was under wattage. Either way I am pushing the limit of what I can run in my garage due to electrical constraints. I am running everything off of one 20 AMP breaker and I don't want to run extension cords from other breakers.

I am with you on feeling a little weird about using the same nutes for veg and flower but I am doing so much new stuff right now so I don't want an overly complicated feeding schedule for a couple reasons. The H & G line is really pricey but from what I read is worth it. I also already burned my plants with just the two part nutrients so imagine what I would have done if I had added all of the other 7 or 8 recommended additives? I am definitely planning on switching to the complete H & G line AND adding CO2 for the next grow but I would like to get one successful grow under my belt first. I haven't had all that much luck in the past.

I am still enjoying life but this is always on my mind and I think it will be until I get really good at it and its second nature. I am still having fun with this so it is a positive thing.

 

[Phatman]

Im thinking of doing a scrog.. be nice to see a side by side if you decide to do it
Well now you have all the gear.. hopefully you get the idea.. lol

I would just use the one light for now personally just to make sure you can keep temps right but thats just my opinion

Looks good ill check back

 

[1337hacker]

To help quell your fears that you may be undersizing your lights... whats your humidity at ? The more humid the are you might need a little extra light, but at 25 sq. ft your at 40 watts per sq. ft which isn't bad by any means. 50 watts per sq. ft is optimal with anything over 75 being too much light... risking bleaching the tops of your plants. Don't over think it too much it sounds like you have it fairly well dialed.

As far as a scrog it really depends on how many plants and how long you want to veg... Less plants longer veg times = same yields as more plants less veg time assuming you can fill the canopy. It also depends on strains, some are great for scrogging (stretchy plants with tons of nodes that love to be bent) while other squatter single cola plants should not be scrogged in my opinion.

I have run scrog, supercrop and untouched at all the same yield / sq ft, with the main limiting factor being how much space the roots had to grow..

Good luck.

 

[1337hacker]

Btw I don't grow hydro anymore... but theres some sort of trick to knowing if you are over fertilizing....

if your EC is going up and your ph is dropping you have over fertilized
if the opposite is happening you could use some more ferts
if the EC is staying constant with a slow ph increase over time you are on the right track to feeding your strain.

Don't worry too much about the h202 with your chiller, unless your getting brown roots or the such.. though it's not a bad thing to use either way.

good luck sir

 

[cues]

Nice setup. RH is a little low for veg.

 

[berkman858]

To help quell your fears that you may be undersizing your lights... whats your humidity at ? The more humid the are you might need a little extra light, but at 25 sq. ft your at 40 watts per sq. ft which isn't bad by any means. 50 watts per sq. ft is optimal with anything over 75 being too much light... risking bleaching the tops of your plants. Don't over think it too much it sounds like you have it fairly well dialed.

As far as a scrog it really depends on how many plants and how long you want to veg... Less plants longer veg times = same yields as more plants less veg time assuming you can fill the canopy. It also depends on strains, some are great for scrogging (stretchy plants with tons of nodes that love to be bent) while other squatter single cola plants should not be scrogged in my opinion.

I have run scrog, supercrop and untouched at all the same yield / sq ft, with the main limiting factor being how much space the roots had to grow..

Good luck.

Good info, thank you. My humidity stays between 35-45%, should I be looking into a humidifier? I heard that although my humidity may be a little low for veg, it should be perfect for bloom.

Also, my tent is 5x5 but my hydro setup takes up about 4x4 of space so if I were to do the math with those numbers my coverage should be around 62.5 watts per sq. foot. That should be pretty good, right?

 

[berkman858]

Nice setup. RH is a little low for veg.

What kind of problems could I have with such low humidity for veg? Just curious so I can keep an eye out.

 

[1337hacker]

I find running that low of humidity in veg is ok with some strains. Other strains really do prefer a higher veg humidity. (Wonder if it's a equatorial sativa vs. high country indica trait)

For instance, I have a Chocolope that leans heavily on cannalope haze and the growth rate with a higher humidity is quite noticable.

Generally when your humidity goes much below 35 % , you will get the plants stomata closing, which inhibits the co2 uptake and proper plant metabolism (photosynthesis).

At the end of flower it's not bad to drop your humidity to 35 % or lower to increase resin production, but I'd only do that the last couple weeks (many environments in nature get dry as winter approaches)

 

[berkman858]

I find running that low of humidity in veg is ok with some strains. Other strains really do prefer a higher veg humidity. (Wonder if it's a equatorial sativa vs. high country indica trait)

For instance, I have a Chocolope that leans heavily on cannalope haze and the growth rate with a higher humidity is quite noticable.

Generally when your humidity goes much below 35 % , you will get the plants stomata closing, which inhibits the co2 uptake and proper plant metabolism (photosynthesis).

At the end of flower it's not bad to drop your humidity to 35 % or lower to increase resin production, but I'd only do that the last couple weeks (many environments in nature get dry as winter approaches)

Interesting, I am going to look into getting a humidifier.

 

[researchkitty]

Low humidity in veg can be combated by watering them more often. They'll sweat more losing the water, which is why low humidity = bad. Or, just leave a 5 gallon bucket of water in the tent and that'll help humidify the air. It should be more than enough for your size tent.

 

[berkman858]

Low humidity in veg can be combated by watering them more often. They'll sweat more losing the water, which is why low humidity = bad. Or, just leave a 5 gallon bucket of water in the tent and that'll help humidify the air. It should be more than enough for your size tent.

I can't water them anymore than 100% of the time. They are in an undercurrent DWC system so they are in water all the time. As for the open bucket of water, I will trip and knock it over. I am too clumsy.

 

[1337hacker]

Yah when you run an open system it is hard to maintain the humidity.. humidifier might be required.