First grow somehow they survived! Advice for next run.

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GeneralTso1205

Member
So I started my first grow northern lights auto and royal haze auto for RQS. These plants went threw hell :eyesmoke:. The first 20 days, or so, I thought it would be better if I used dechlorinated tap water that went threw my salt fed water softener didn't PH. Well they went spotty and pale. So I panic get some water start pouring vinegar in it to a ph about 5, dunk the whole pot I think problem solved. Nope 30 days hits and the soil is cashed. I was cheap didn't buy nutes went to walmart got some 8$ rose fertilizer sprinkled the pots. THEY GREW. now I'm about 60 days in close to harvest. Don't know how I made it to flower. Just had a good story to share was looking for advice for next run. I'll include progression pics from my first run.
 

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By hook or by crook, getting across the finish line is the main priority on the first few grows...and it appears you're gonna get there. Hopefully, the more mistakes you've made along the way, the more you can avoid the same ones going forward. Reasonably good quality media, lighting, nutrients, environment, etc all hedge towards success. Early congrats. Looks like the end is nearly in sight.
 
Thanks. Yea I read alot to get out of the gate but I learned the most about this by the plants looking on the edge of death early flower. Hopeing I have the water supply down now. My city water is sourced from wells so really hard water with lots of chlorine so years ago I got a salt softener with a dechloinator but it adds salt to the water. My next grow I wanted to try some liquid adds see what happens. Not sure how to use it yet because of the hard water I have.
 
The first few plants I grew I was getting like 3 or 4 grams dried bud per plant lol. So you know, you've not done too bad at all.
I started out with a home made aeroponic set up with a water pump driving little spinny things that throw the water around in circles in a hardware store tub with holes cut in the lid, and I was using a big crappy buzzing CFL lol. It's been a lot of years since then and I reasonably quickly moved on to hps lighting and soil in pots.
 
GeneralTso1205 said:
Thanks. Yea I read alot to get out of the gate but I learned the most about this by the plants looking on the edge of death early flower. Hopeing I have the water supply down now. My city water is sourced from wells so really hard water with lots of chlorine so years ago I got a salt softener with a dechloinator but it adds salt to the water. My next grow I wanted to try some liquid adds see what happens. Not sure how to use it yet because of the hard water I have.
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There are a number of growers that have high levels of iron in their well water and have problems using it. You should get it tested to see what's in it and post the results.
 
Hydroponic/aeroponic spooked me lol. I always trusted dirt. Before this first grow all I've ever grown indoors we're garden seed starts.
 

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The municipality should publish water quality info. That would be a good place to start. Be on the lookout for chloramine. Some use it while others use chlorine. Chlorine can be easily dealt with but chloramine not. Plants aren't fond of the latter. If water is too crappy, I have seen posts of some growers that state they get the big blue containers of water at their local grocery, Walmart, etc...then either refill or exchange their empties for around $0.30/gal if I recall correctly. And some say it's actually RO. More expensive than tap for sure but better than killing plants.
 

  2. Fishmon said:
    The municipality should publish water quality info. That would be a good place to start. Be on the lookout for chloramine. Some use it while others use chlorine. Chlorine can be easily dealt with but chloramine not. Plants aren't fond of the latter. If water is too crappy, I have seen posts of some growers that state they get the big blue containers of water at their local grocery, Walmart, etc...then either refill or exchange their empties for around $0.30/gal if I recall correctly. And some say it's actually RO. More expensive than tap for sure but better than killing plants.
    Click to expand...
    Yep hard water. I have a blue pail downstairs and I have the fish air connected to it. Looked at it today and there's a white film around the whole pail covers my hand with reside if I touch it. Now would it be that bad if I just use the hard water but when it's time to flush just use distilled water and dunk them?
 

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Oof, yep that looks pretty heavy on minerals. Couple of suggestions...#1‐pull the water quality info from the municipality. #2-I'd dip a ppm meter in there to get a baseline for starters. #3-If you have the ability to catch rainwater, that could help greatly. I started doing it awhile ago to save my humidifiers and carbon filters. I start collecting when it gets to 10ppm or below. For storage it gets 8 drops/gal of 7% bleach. This will keep algae and such from growing. Of course for watering plants it would require de-chlorination first. #4-Again check into Primo water refill stations at wally world or grocer. #5-If water report shows chloramine, I think it's unusable for plants. My understanding is that even RO machine membranes won't strip it out but the slow movement through the integral carbon pre-filters does but RO solutions can get pricey. Don't use hard tap in humidifiers. The minerals will come out of solution upon evaporation and wreak havok on carbon vent filters. It's akin to tossing talcum powder into the tent. I ruined two filters before realizing this.
 
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MAD.SCIENTIST said:
The first few plants I grew I was getting like 3 or 4 grams dried bud per plant lol. So you know, you've not done too bad at all.
I started out with a home made aeroponic set up with a water pump driving little spinny things that throw the water around in circles in a hardware store tub with holes cut in the lid, and I was using a big crappy buzzing CFL lol. It's been a lot of years since then and I reasonably quickly moved on to hps lighting and soil in pots.
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dammmn 3 grams per plant is a roughass deal my friend glad you hung in there and stuck it out strong
 
Update! I'm still waiting. The northern lights looks rough. 50/50 clear and cloudy tricks. 1 more week?
 

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Fishmon said:
Oof, yep that looks pretty heavy on minerals. Couple of suggestions...#1‐pull the water quality info from the municipality. #2-I'd dip a ppm meter in there to get a baseline for starters. #3-If you have the ability to catch rainwater.

Yep it's loaded. Looks like the city removes iron and manganese. 2# I'm cheap don't have a ppm yet. 3# I've looked into small copper water distillers may play with that see what happens. Thanks.
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Water Filter

above is the link to the under sink filter I went with. Made a huge difference in watering quality and also drinking quality. Great company to work with, if you are unable to find information on your local water analysis provide them your zip and they will do the footwork. Then let you know what would best suit you in that area.
 
Alright. It's been 11 days. I half ass harvested the tops of the northern lights. :bigjoint:first cut still smells like grass. 2nd cut I dried right and Damn I'm happy lol. It's now curing. I haven't let the clippers get near the haze but I'm thinking it's almost time?water issues all good for 2nd run. I put them outside :lol:
 

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