First Bubbly system-24 pots/4 tanks + Rez. May the Good Lord & Rollitup help me...

Hello,

As stated this is my first attempt at a Grow. I have been lurking for quite sometime now and made the plunge in posting. I have the 4 tote bubbler with the two base and main rez's. I am aware this system may be homemade and is quite small to actually utilize all 24 pots but i decided to go ahead and give it a try since im not looking to grow that big of plants and just give her a test run for the potential of this type of grow, learn and maximize on future grows.

I have done my preventive work in my growroom and have done as much reflecting as i can to say the least lol. There are two sides to my closet and i have made the system symmetric to the reservoirs. Each side contains 8 CFL bulbs ranging from 20k to 65k and 40w to 105w bulbs. It is an exact replica of each other as mentioned earlier. I also have numerous 20 watt bulbs i will be using underneath the plants so that they may obtain light from all areas. I have also "ghetto" built hoods that house 8 bulbs and have attached a fan at each end of the hood to help keep it cool as well as a fan on the plants and on the rez's themselves. The area has mylar all around and since its an open closet with no doors i made a mylar door per say that rolls out and encloses the area. I will upload pics soon just trying to explain what i got going. I will be attempting to grow mainly white widow and a couple pot of gold (i am aware it is not wise to grow different strains together) but my majority grow are white widow.

I am starting with clones and and am using CFL lighting with ordinary grow/bloom/micro nutes. I just picked them up to me and to my surprise they were transferred into little soil cups. So this is my first hiccup being that i was not ready to do a transfer from soil to my rockwool, or straight to my hydroton, nor have any idea how to correctly transfer if even possible. I have them at the time sitting under 4 cfl lights with a damp cloth to help in humidity so they may eat and root some more. Than again i am not sure if the best thing for me to do would just to transfer them now or wait till they root a bit more...I have also been told to not use any nutes at first so they may adapt to the new conditions and after 3 to 4 days to them give them nutes (water is at 5.8ph)

Anyway, i hope you all can partake and help me learn and hopefully pump out some butes in my first attempt. Pics will follow.

that last picture looks all bent etc, im no photographer as you can tell. I was trying to take a panoramic photo and wasn't able to align it correctly. Anyway , that is my setup, Once i am able to get it going, i will have the mylar doors enclosing it on all sides. Now my first question as stated above is how the hell should i go about transferring those clones over to the system? I also have Clonex rooting agent to help but am just afraid to make a move and therefore am stuck with the clones just sitting under light. Temp is 75F with 51deg humidity... Any help would be much appreciated.

Also its been mentioned that i start them off if i do transfer over with no nutes just water for a couple of days so they get use to it. Is this the best solution? 50 views and no input on the transfer and nute question? Come on fellas, help me out

may want to block that window so no light leaks in or out.

You only do plain tap water or R/O water for the first week or so to make sure seedling are well rooted, then 1/4 strength, 1/2 strength so on...

Ghxoxst said:

Also its been mentioned that i start them off if i do transfer over with no nutes just water for a couple of days so they get use to it. Is this the best solution? 50 views and no input on the transfer and nute question? Come on fellas, help me out

Click to expand...

for me the easiest way to transfer clones from soil to hydro is to very carefully run luke warm water over the root balls. making sure to get all of the dirt off with out damaging the roots. I do all of my cuttings in a bubble cloner, but i've. swapped with friend who grow in dirt and never had any problems.

as far as nutes are concerned, my first week I run a half strenght ff big bloom solution.

what strains are your clones?

Ghxoxst said:

Also its been mentioned that i start them off if i do transfer over with no nutes just water for a couple of days so they get use to it. Is this the best solution? 50 views and no input on the transfer and nute question? Come on fellas, help me out

Click to expand...

I would do 1/4 strength nutes with seedlings then check daily and bump up if needed. As Weedler said you want to make that bitch pitch black when your plants go "lights off" . What kind of water and nutes are you using?

thanks for the responses guys. Im using regular tap water at a ph of about 7.2 67 degrees on average. Of course i bring it down to and between the 5.5 to 6.2 range but i try to hit 5.8. The temp in the room is about 78 degrees and i have enough air movement to keep the plants, room, and rez's cool. As i stated i did not know i was getting dirt clones. This is the second day i have had them and they all look green and healthy although i know i am going to put them under major stress and shock once i try to transfer them. I have taken notes on a weekly basis both at night and day for averages on the ph and temp of water.

So when attempting to transfer should i transfer them into the ph soak and adjusted rockwool that i have had soaked for a day or should i just place them in the hydroton? Also since i have a rez that feeds 4 tanks one pack divided by the 4 tanks would equal 1/4 per tank correct. I am mixing my nutes in the two base and main tanks which disperse the water along with nutrients to my tanks below. Is that correct. ONE WHOLE PACK IN MAIN REZ would equal 1/4 in each individual potting tank? Thanks really appreciate it. Kind of stressing over here because im stuck.


20 of the strains are white widow and 4 are pot of gold. Im using the stealth hydro grow bloom and micro nutes...

Ghxoxst said:

thanks for the responses guys. Im using regular tap water at a ph of about 7.2 67 degrees on average. Of course i bring it down to and between the 5.5 to 6.2 range but i try to hit 5.8. The temp in the room is about 78 degrees and i have enough air movement to keep the plants, room, and rez's cool. As i stated i did not know i was getting dirt clones. This is the second day i have had them and they all look green and healthy although i know i am going to put them under major stress and shock once i try to transfer them. I have taken notes on a weekly basis both at night and day for averages on the ph and temp of water.

So when attempting to transfer should i transfer them into the ph soak and adjusted rockwool that i have had soaked for a day or should i just place them in the hydroton? Also since i have a rez that feeds 4 tanks one pack divided by the 4 tanks would equal 1/4 per tank correct. I am mixing my nutes in the two base and main tanks which disperse the water along with nutrients to my tanks below. Is that correct. ONE WHOLE PACK IN MAIN REZ would equal 1/4 in each individual potting tank? Thanks really appreciate it. Kind of stressing over here because im stuck.


20 of the strains are white widow and 4 are pot of gold. Im using the stealth hydro grow bloom and micro nutes...

Click to expand...

I never transferred but yeah if they are in soil you are going to have to wash that shit off very gently though you dont want any dirt to fall into your reservoir and cause you problems. I dont use rockwool ( its a hassle) I use rapid rooter plugs. If you decide to stick with rock wool then yes you should soak it in PH water and then shake it so you get a lot of the water out if you dont you will probably have over watering problems .. Just give it a few shakes to get most of the water out dont make it too dry .. Take a chill pill dude I was the same way at first but you just have to be patient.

So i moved the clones over to a T5 fixture out of the cfls and set up so i could get everything primed. I sprayed them with some 5.8 ph tap water and added a little fan for circulation. Its 76 deg F and at 55% humidity for them right now till i figure out when to transfer them. Also included are some pics of my notes wall where i keep a calendar and record ph/ppm/temp as well with time of day and any portions used to bring the tap ph down in the res to 5.7 to get it primed for transferring to the plant rezs. Temp, ph, and ppm are crucial so i will be sure to document everyday the temp of the water as well as how the ph changes. There is also a shot of the little white widows...

So when should i make this transfer of the plants ? Should i wait a couple of more days till they root? And if i do transfer them to the rockwool do i just pull them through the rockwool after i run them through warm water and remove the dirt?

I would cut the rock wool open so you don't damage the roots or not even use them and just fill the net cups with hydrotron rocks with the roots halfway up

if i do just transfer them with just hydrotron rocks, how would and where should i place the tube that feeds them being that its now no longer on the hydrotron which would absorb the constant trickle of water... has anyone here ever had to have done this? there has to be some people who have ran into this

well, transferred three over today. The three weakest looking ones. See if i can revive them and if it works. Cleaned the stems/roots with warm water. Dipped them in clonex, just feeding them ph water at this time with light on and air circulation...lets see what happens.

...day 3. 3 test clones arent looking to good. Got home from work today saw that temp was way too hight at 88 and humidity was at 33. both not good. Checked ph of water and it was at 6.4...no good at all. took off the pots, drained tank, refilled with water which i ph'd to 5.4, and decided to add some micro and grow nutes being that the clones were showing yellow and they were starting to curl up... added 1/4 nutes to fresh ph water ... place fan on bottom end of tank so it could blow the hot air up and placed two fans near bulbs to blow heat away from plants...the rest of the clones are looking fine with a little discoloration but mainly all healthy green. Im having a bad feeling... hopefully the 3 testers do a turnaround tomorrow. Realized that a teas of ph down brings my water ( around 7.0 ) by .5... made note of that....

anyway. hopefully there is a turn around tomorrow...

heres a pic. Any suggestions or help would be much appreciated...trying to work out the kinks before i make the transfer of the other 22 white widows...