First ever grow, dwc, succeed, fail.. what ever it will entail

Hello there my fellow growers! I'm currently starting my first ever grow after around 250 hours of research finding a wealth of knowledge and then buying absolutely everything with in my budget for my first grow/attempt/failure.... What will be will be

In my set up;
Sf2000 Evo
2ft x 4ft grow tent
nutrient heaters..I live in a very cold climate
Oxypots
Xl air pump
4 inch fan and filter
Oscillating fans
Humidifier
Heater
All of cannas aqua nutrients + EC ph meter ect.........
And a huge amount of hope,lack of experience, vulnerability and dedication

So currently i managed to germinate my seeds; growers choice original oreoz, Barney's farm dos si dos and Barney's farm blue cheese.. where ever did blue cheese disappear to on the streets? (Great smoke)

They are currently soaked in rock wool with pH 5.8 water in a humidity dome on a heat mat in my magic cupboard (where i dry my clothes with a radiator)

Hopefully I will see sprouts in the next day or so, where I can continue my venture and proceed to the next task of trying to grow my own home grown smoke

limp biffskit said:

Hello there my fellow growers! I'm currently starting my first ever grow after around 250 hours of research finding a wealth of knowledge and then buying absolutely everything with in my budget for my first grow/attempt/failure.... What will be will be

In my set up;
Sf2000 Evo
2ft x 4ft grow tent
nutrient heaters..I live in a very cold climate
Oxypots
Xl air pump
4 inch fan and filter
Oscillating fans
Humidifier
Heater
All of cannas aqua nutrients + EC ph meter ect.........
And a huge amount of hope,lack of experience, vulnerability and dedication

So currently i managed to germinate my seeds; growers choice original oreoz, Barney's farm dos si dos and Barney's farm blue cheese.. where ever did blue cheese disappear to on the streets? (Great smoke)

They are currently soaked in rock wool with pH 5.8 water in a humidity dome on a heat mat in my magic cupboard (where i dry my clothes with a radiator)

Hopefully I will see sprouts in the next day or so, where I can continue my venture and proceed to the next task of trying to grow my own home grown smoke

View attachment 5443047View attachment 5443048

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I would try to start the seeds outside of the dome to prevent damp off/wilt off disease. Heat mat might be beneficial but I also know about people cooking seedlings from not running them on a temp controller.

You want some light breeze and aeration starting seeds going along the soil/medium surface, that's very hard to accomplish in a dome.

Good luck and welcome RIU!

Wastei said:

I would try to start the seeds outside of the dome to prevent damp off/wilt off disease. Heat mat might be beneficial but I also know about people cooking seedlings from not running them on a temp controller.

You want some light breeze and aeration starting seeds going along the soil/medium surface, that's very hard to accomplish in a dome.

Good luck and welcome RIU!

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Hi wastie, Thank you for your reply! My heat mat is thermostatically controlled to 68f . Would you still suggest removing the dome? I thought maybe it would be best to remove the dome right after my seeds have sprouted and then add a the fan?
Obviously being my first grow any experience and input from experienced growers is extremely welcome

limp biffskit said:

Hi wastie, Thank you for your reply! My heat mat is thermostatically controlled to 68f . Would you still suggest removing the dome? I thought maybe it would be best to remove the dome right after my seeds have sprouted and then add a the fan?
Obviously being my first grow any experience and input from experienced growers is extremely welcome

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I would personally remove it but you have to keep a very close eye on the cubes not drying out if you choose to do so. Another approach is putting some pieces of toilet paper or some other fabric between the lid and the bottom and positions a fan blowing through the gap.

Stagnant air is your enemy starting seeds.

Wastei said:

I would personally remove it but you have to keep a very close eye on the cubes not drying out if you choose to do so. Another approach is putting some pieces of toilet paper or some other fabric between the lid and the bottom and positions a fan blowing through the gap.

Stagnant air is your enemy starting seeds.

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I have put some pH water in the bottom of the tray today to stop that, but if you think it's best to remove the dome and add the fan I will do so right now just let me know

Best wishes for your grow!

Welcome to RIU!

I personally don’t use the dome and like @Wastei noted, stagnant air is no bueno. Think you can remove and get some air circulating, you’ll be in a good spot.

Don’t know from dwc, I’m a dirt dude, but pulling for ya all the same! GL!

Thanks guys! I've removed the dome now, hopefully I will have sprouts in the next day or two all being well and then hopefully I can get my buckets set up

After removing the dome, I can now see the seed heads breaking the surface of the rock wool, so hopefully I'll have little baby weedlings when I wake up tomorrow.
I currently have my clay pebbles/hydroton soaking in my sink/basin after a heavy rinse to remove the dust/impurities and adjusting the pH by the hour to hopefully stabilise the pH level before putting in my oxypots.

Being Mr Eager that I am started my seeds the day before my tent was due tue to arrived to try give my self a few days advantage and it's been sent back to the supplier for some reason (absolute noob error) first issue of my first grow but luckily I have a small cupboard I can use which I can keep stable for a the time beingbut I also have a issue with my villa in Spain in which I need to rectify so it I'll be flying out there next Thursday (houses are more important then weed) so if I run in to any issues while I'm away it looks as though I will be probably starting again.. possible a blessing in disguise.

But on a positive note I have tested my oxypots and air pump it things are looking sweet!

Plenty of bubbles in there

limp biffskit said:

Hi wastie, Thank you for your reply! My heat mat is thermostatically controlled to 68f . Would you still suggest removing the dome? I thought maybe it would be best to remove the dome right after my seeds have sprouted and then add a the fan?
Obviously being my first grow any experience and input from experienced growers is extremely welcome

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Standard set up.

Grow dome on a heat pad. AC Infinity controller for humidifier and heating mat to keep temp at 80 and RH at 80. Dome has top and end vents open. Vipar XS 1500 light + Rapid LED Royal Blue puck for 300±µmol, 24/0. Pulse Zero is hanging next to the AC Infinity temperature probe as backup.

"stagnant air"- with vents open, warm air exits through the top vent and is replaced when the outside air enters the chamber to replace it.

Works like a charm.
View attachment 5443313

Delps8 said:

Standard set up.

Grow dome on a heat pad. AC Infinity controller for humidifier and heating mat to keep temp at 80 and RH at 80. Dome has top and end vents open. Vipar XS 1500 light + Rapid LED Royal Blue puck for 300±µmol, 24/0. Pulse Zero is hanging next to the AC Infinity temperature probe as backup.

"stagnant air"- with vents open, warm air exits through the top vent and is replaced when the outside air enters the chamber to replace it.

Works like a charm.
View attachment 5443313

Click to expand...

Grow dome and humidifier? What do you think is the reason to use a dome with a humidifier controlling humidity?

Passive extraction through a dome won't create any air flow going along the base stems.

Standard setup I would say is planting a seeds directly in a dixie cup with a light breeze going along the medium surface to prevent damp off disease. A dome will only worsen a Cannabis seedlings chance of survival.

Wastei said:

Grow dome and humidifier? What do you think is the reason to use a dome with a humidifier controlling humidity?

Passive extraction through a dome won't create any air flow going along the base stems.

Standard setup I would say is planting a seeds directly in a dixie cup with a light breeze going along the medium surface to prevent damp off disease. A dome will only worsen a Cannabis seedlings chance of survival.

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I only had the dome on for the initial germination period. The humidifier is to control the climate post germination and throughout the rest my grow
I removed the dome right away after you said it wasn't great idea and now I have germination the humidifier is running in the closet with a light breeze from the fan and I have temps of 26c and 70% RH.

Also I've made myself a make shift 4 site bubble l bucket with 5.8 pH and a nutrient EC of 0.5 and total 0.55, I have very soft water where I live here are some photos

Wastei said:

Grow dome and humidifier? What do you think is the reason to use a dome with a humidifier controlling humidity?

Click to expand...

I set the temp and RH to 80 and 80.

Wastei said:

Passive extraction through a dome won't create any air flow going along the base stems.

Click to expand...

Air escaping through the top is replaced by air coming in through the side vents.

Wastei said:

Standard setup I would say is planting a seeds directly in a dixie cup with a light breeze going along the medium surface to prevent damp off disease. A dome will only worsen a Cannabis seedlings chance of survival.

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No problem with people growing in a dixie cup. Lots of people have success using that method. I use a widely sold product designed to germinate seeds into seedlings and have had 100% success growing my plants in a grow dome in 80 and 80.

i always thought you had to start seedlings in a dome, but i hated to re-acclimate them to room humidity when the dome eventually came off. i saw some people on here say domes aren't needed, and i haven't looked back.

glad they work for your style Delps8

Delps8 said:

I set the temp and RH to 80 and 80.


Air escaping through the top is replaced by air coming in through the side vents.


No problem with people growing in a dixie cup. Lots of people have success using that method. I use a widely sold product designed to germinate seeds into seedlings and have had 100% success growing my plants in a grow dome in 80 and 80.

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Wait until you change location and start running into problems. I'm not blaming you since I also had the same mentality starting out thinking I had everything already figured out since I had no apparent problems. The problem was I only had experience from one single location and environment.

Different local biome is a real thing and you should helpy yourself better by taking other peoples experiences into consideration.


All the best of luck!

Success! I've managed to get 1 of each of strain to sprout. The other 2 seeds also sprouted but I don't have space for them.... I think taking on 3 different strains at the same time is a massive risk anyway so I'll just have to deal with 3 and if one survives by the end I will be happy (hopefully the blue cheese)

Here they are at day 3 in my home mate space/heating/electricity saving home made bubble bucket I've just checked the pH and EC and as you can see the roots have touched the water... Potentially all down hill from here but let's stay positive and optimistic I still have a 3 in 1 chance

pH levels are 5.8
Nutrient EC is 0.5.... 0.7 with water minerals included
Nutrient temperature of 19.5c
Humidity 75%
And a room temperature of 24c

For the most part everything looks great and im very happy with myself feel free to comment or leave me some advice everything is welcome and taken on board I haven't even made it past the first week but I can't wait to smoke the shit out of these

So here we are at day 5 and they've literally doubled in size. I've been checking the water daily and things have started to finally change.. water level has dropped, EC has risen and so has the pH which tells me, maybe I'm wrong? But that they are only drinking water making the water more alkaline on percentage and increased nutrient strength. So I have added more water and reduced the nutrients strength which was 0.8 when tested today from the previous measurement of 0.7 to 0.6 (starting water EC of 0.2 and lower the pH from 6.1 when tested today from previous of 5.8 to 5.7 as I am flying to my villa in Spain tomorrow and trying to take precautions lucky my wife is staying here so if need be she can't make adjustments hopefully I can make them survive the 4 days I am away abit of a stupid move I know but my villa is much more precious to me than a couple of plant so needs must. Here is a photo 2 days later

limp biffskit said:

So here we are at day 5 and they've literally doubled in size. I've been checking the water daily and things have started to finally change.. water level has dropped, EC has risen and so has the pH which tells me, maybe I'm wrong? But that they are only drinking water making the water more alkaline on percentage and increased nutrient strength. So I have added more water and reduced the nutrients strength which was 0.8 when tested today from the previous measurement of 0.7 to 0.6 (starting water EC of 0.2 and lower the pH from 6.1 when tested today from previous of 5.8 to 5.7 as I am flying to my villa in Spain tomorrow and trying to take precautions lucky my wife is staying here so if need be she can't make adjustments hopefully I can make them survive the 4 days I am away abit of a stupid move I know but my villa is much more precious to me than a couple of plant so needs must. Here is a photo 2 days later

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Plants that small won't be making a noticeable difference to the water level within the tub, what is far more likely is that your findings are the result of evaporation. You're doing great and well done for getting this far, I can allready tell you have the attention to detail to make hydro work.

Blue brother said:

Plants that small won't be making a noticeable difference to the water level within the tub, what is far more likely is that your findings are the result of evaporation. You're doing great and well done for getting this far, I can allready tell you have the attention to detail to make hydro work.

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Thanks man! Yeah I didn't even think of evaporation to be honest. That's something else I need to keep an eye on and factor in to my grow aswell now It was just that everything has been static for days and then lost 1.5 litres of water but I did have my heating on continuously in the last day because my house was absolutely freezing! And 1.5 litres is a hell lot of water in a day for 3 little seedlings thinking about it but that's all part of the experience