Hydro Outdoors SLH

Hi All,

This is my first go at this type of crop, I am experienced with tomato's ect in hydro, but wanted to make sure I am starting off on the right foot per say. I will explain the best I can what I am doing, where I am at in the cycle, and my setup.

Started Germination on May 30th only was able to get about 50% germination. For the first few days I let them develop after germ indoors under LED.
I then moved them to a medium sized perlite (Vigoro brand). I am 16 days in and they seem to be doing pretty well, but don't know how big they should be in that amount of time.

It does get pretty hot here and the humidity can be brutal in Missouri.

I have a 55Gal reservoir that is at PH 6.0 running 1.5 TDS with the masterblend kit (Masterblend, Cal, Epson). I have a timer set to water/feed the babies 1 time per day for 20 minutes using rain bird drip tips that supply 2.0 gallons of water per hour. The water/nutrient water is collected to use on other plants but is not recycled essentially it is a water to waste setup and not a water, collect, reuse (circulating system). I also have 2 large "bubblers" in my 55gal reservoir, I am not sure if this is really needed but had them and thought more oxygenated water couldn't hurt... So what I want to make sure in this crucial time in the plants development is:

1.) Is my food a sufficient source, or would you recommend adding something the masterblend "trio" doesn't provide?
2.) Is my watering/feeding cycle on par, or am I over/under watering? (1 time per day, 20 minutes per day regulated by drip tip 2.0 GAL an hour)
3.) Is the perlite generally a bad idea as a medium? I have had great success with tomatos and other vegetables in it previously but being new to this I am not sure.
4.) My plants don't look as Dark of Green as I anticipated, but I can't be certain they should/shouldn't be any darker. Do they look generally the right shade/healthy? (See images).
5.) Do you feel the growth I have achieved in 16 days on par with what one would expect, or am I behind/ahead?
6.) With the 55GAL reservoir, should I be changing the water/nutrient solution in the reservoir or would you think just utilizing it until it is almost empty is fine? Obviously keeping PH in range and TDS in range.
7.) Anything else you might have as advice, I am surely open too as this being my first go at it, I want to learn as much as I can from you all, and make sure I avoid stupid mistakes early

Thank you in advance!

Probably from heat, either in the air or reservoir. It looks like a K- deficiency, but heat is probably more likely. Let it go and make sure you're using hydroguard or something for root protection in hot water.
General rule of thumb is to clean and refill the reservoir after you've topped off the total amount of the reservoir. So after you have added 50 gal of top-off to the res, it's time to drain, clean, and refill.

The8thChevron said:

Probably from heat, either in the air or reservoir. It looks like a K- deficiency, but heat is probably more likely. Let it go and make sure you're using hydroguard or something for root protection in hot water.
General rule of thumb is to clean and refill the reservoir after you've topped off the total amount of the reservoir. So after you have added 50 gal of top-off to the res, it's time to drain, clean, and refill.

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Many thanks for the reply, my reservoir water temperature is right at 82 F. Which I would assume is a bit warmer than one would like, but the outside temps in the day have been around 90-95 which is definitely warmer than I would like, MO armpit syndrome lol... Just to confirm, you feel the super lemon haze strain should have a darker color to the leaves in ideal circumstances?

I might try to insulate my reservoir a bit to see if that helps, and put some ice cubes in to cool if off (after their drink for the day tomorrow morning.
Last question; are they growing at the rate one could expect (16 days from start of germination to today, germ took 3 days to pop)?

Thanks again!

Silvester said:

Many thanks for the reply, my reservoir water temperature is right at 82 F. Which I would assume is a bit warmer than one would like, but the outside temps in the day have been around 90-95 which is definitely warmer than I would like, MO armpit syndrome lol... Just to confirm, you feel the super lemon haze strain should have a darker color to the leaves in ideal circumstances?

I might try to insulate my reservoir a bit to see if that helps, and put some ice cubes in to cool if off (after their drink for the day tomorrow morning.
Last question; are they growing at the rate one could expect (16 days from start of germination to today, germ took 3 days to pop)?

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

They appear to be growing very nicely. Not sure about the specific strain. I recommend taking 3 or 4 water bottles, cleaning them up, filling them, freezing them, and tossing them into your reservoir every morning. They'll take up nutes better. You dont want it to make your water too cold, of course but you have a huge tank so it should be fine.
You could also spray paint the reservoir white at some point to reflect light.

The8thChevron said:

They appear to be growing very nicely. Not sure about the specific strain. I recommend taking 3 or 4 water bottles, cleaning them up, filling them, freezing them, and tossing them into your reservoir every morning. They'll take up nutes better. You dont want it to make your water too cold, of course but you have a huge tank so it should be fine.
You could also spray paint the reservoir white at some point to reflect light.

Click to expand...

Great idea! I think that will do the trick! Thanks again man.