So this is my first grow(s), and I figured the only way to do it is jump right in. Bought a couple of books, been studying every night, lots of reading on here too. So I decided to go with Soil for my first grow, very safe.....and Hydro (fuk it right?). I figure this way I can learn Hydro, while at the same time I've got some nice backup plants growing. Diversify LOL!
Now I live in Northern CO, and it's now legal!
BUT, we are limited to 6 plants, 3 veg and 3 flower per person (6/6 between my wife an I). Now I've tried to figure out the math to get a constant flow, but no matter what it never comes out based off the ~2mo flower time. So "most" productive would be to keep 12 plants going all the time. 6 veg and 6 flower. Which means my plants will be vegging for 2 months....so hopefully that means they'll be big!?!
So here we go:
Pre - I bought a bunch of stuff to make a bubbleponics type setup, DWC with top feed drip. 3x 5gal buckets with 3x 10" nets. 1 extra 5gal as the reservoir, 100gal/hr waterpump, a big(ish) air pump, 3x 4" air stones. The buckets are all connected at the base with 3/4" line to the res, air stones in each bucket, and the top feed pump in the res. Got a humidity dome, seedling mat, rockwool, and soil starters. Next I ordered some seeds from online (expensive) as was recommended by everyone! But I'm impatient! Was taking forever. So I hit up CL! Got some seeds on there from a cool guy (come to think of it most every "stoner" I've had the pleasure of dealing with so far has been REALLY helpful. No other industry I've ever seen is like this, so much sharing, so much helping, amazing!). They're all feminized, come from a grower who only grows seeds down south (CO). I got some Northern Lights and HeadCheese. I did get my other seeds now too, but more on that later.
Let's get started- Germinated them with the paper towel method. Day one nothing, day two 1-2 split. Day 3 ALL SIX!!! So I planted 3 in the soil starters, and 3 in rockwool.
Day 4 Seed - Starting to see some heads poking out, 2 on the soil and 3 on rockwool (but a bit smaller)
Day 5 Seed- More poking out, 2 in soil shed their shells and have baby leaves. 2x rockwool about to shed shell, third one coming along slowly.
Day 6 Seed (Day1)- Got a 2xT5 Seeding light, put them under it since they have little leaves showing. 2x soil look good, 1x soil is MIA, 1x Rockwool looks good, 1xRockwool looks ok, but a little squeemish, 1xRockwool looks even smaller, still hasn't shed shell. I want to help him out, but I"m afraid that I'll hurt him. Better let him be.
Now on Day 7 of grow (+6days seed)- 2x rockwool died. One looked like he got stuck in the shell and couldn't get out, poor guy never had a chance! ;( I'm pretty sure I was over watering as they all looked a bit wimpy, leaves started curling down. Another in rockwool had leaves, but then they shriveled up too. RW#3 looks good though. Soil #1&2 both look good, but maybe stretching? Only have the baby leaves +2x serrated leaves. Soil#3 didn't make it. I checked him out and his root was broken, probably happened right after germination, he never moved after that.
I was thinking that these guys were a bit small, but then I did the math, and they've only really been alive for 7 days. Not sure if the seeding time counts towards the grow? I went ahead and planted 2x more NL in the rockwool to replace the 2 I killed. This time I just germinated in the rockwool. And 1 more (Fruitysomething? from the online store) germinated right in the soil starter to replace the soil one that I killed. Because of the over-watering I replanted the soil ones into some solo cups to help dry them out. I think it was time anyways as the roots were through the soil starter. I wasn't sure what to do with the rockwool ones though. I put the one on a paper towel to dry it out, but then it seemed too dry. I wet it again (by dipping the base for 3sec) but then it seemed too wet. Kind of soggy and mushy. I didn't want him to die, so I went ahead and stuck him in the bubble setup. As I understand it you flow the water constant (dripper) and it receives it's oxygen from the DO from the bubbles and aeration in the water? I've read some people starting seeds directly in the bubble setup, so I figure what could it hurt? I'm pretty sure if I leave him soggy like his brother he'll suffer the same fate. This setup however won't fit under my T5 light, so I went ahead and got a 400W MH setup. The 2x solo cups are almost dry now, and the leaves are looking better, they're not curling under anymore. My hydro guy still seems a bit small, but we'll see how he does now.
This morning I check on them and the dripper isn't working. I've got the 100g/hr pump going to a 6x manifold (homedepot) going to 3x 1/4 lines to the tops, they were barely dripping. Way different than when I set it up a day ago. So I did some more reading, found Heath, and he flows the shit out of these things.....why not? So i went back to the store, got me a 380g/hr pump! Plugged it in, and it was a little better, but the 1/4 lines seemed plugged. So I ditched those and put in a single 3/4 in line and at each bucket T off a 3/8" line for feed. Now it FLOWS!!!
Now I run into another problem....but it may not actually be a problem. (I also put in 2x 4" air stones in the res bucket as well to help aerate the water more). So the pump is out flowing the res. That is all 4 buckets are 1/2 way full (just to the bottom of the nets) aprox 10 gal. But the pump empties the res through the 3/4" line faster than the lower 3/4" return line (from all 3 buckets) can return it. This may be good though? The res is so low it sucks in air (even more so with the stones in there). So looking through the feed lines (clear) there is HELLA bubbles right in the lines!). Maybe this will help with even more oxygen? Seems to still be flowing quite a bit too.
Because of my grow cycle times (needing to veg for so long) I think I'm going to run a vert setup with a few small lights (400w). I'm aiming to achieve something similar to what Heath is doing (style wise), although I know the first few grows I will probably kill most/all the plants. But so long as I learn something every time the investment will be worth it.
I'll update more as I go.
(Oh and I'm growing a pumpkin for my wife in one of the solo cups!) LOL
Now I live in Northern CO, and it's now legal!
BUT, we are limited to 6 plants, 3 veg and 3 flower per person (6/6 between my wife an I). Now I've tried to figure out the math to get a constant flow, but no matter what it never comes out based off the ~2mo flower time. So "most" productive would be to keep 12 plants going all the time. 6 veg and 6 flower. Which means my plants will be vegging for 2 months....so hopefully that means they'll be big!?!So here we go:
Pre - I bought a bunch of stuff to make a bubbleponics type setup, DWC with top feed drip. 3x 5gal buckets with 3x 10" nets. 1 extra 5gal as the reservoir, 100gal/hr waterpump, a big(ish) air pump, 3x 4" air stones. The buckets are all connected at the base with 3/4" line to the res, air stones in each bucket, and the top feed pump in the res. Got a humidity dome, seedling mat, rockwool, and soil starters. Next I ordered some seeds from online (expensive) as was recommended by everyone! But I'm impatient! Was taking forever. So I hit up CL! Got some seeds on there from a cool guy (come to think of it most every "stoner" I've had the pleasure of dealing with so far has been REALLY helpful. No other industry I've ever seen is like this, so much sharing, so much helping, amazing!). They're all feminized, come from a grower who only grows seeds down south (CO). I got some Northern Lights and HeadCheese. I did get my other seeds now too, but more on that later.
Let's get started- Germinated them with the paper towel method. Day one nothing, day two 1-2 split. Day 3 ALL SIX!!! So I planted 3 in the soil starters, and 3 in rockwool.
Day 4 Seed - Starting to see some heads poking out, 2 on the soil and 3 on rockwool (but a bit smaller)
Day 5 Seed- More poking out, 2 in soil shed their shells and have baby leaves. 2x rockwool about to shed shell, third one coming along slowly.
Day 6 Seed (Day1)- Got a 2xT5 Seeding light, put them under it since they have little leaves showing. 2x soil look good, 1x soil is MIA, 1x Rockwool looks good, 1xRockwool looks ok, but a little squeemish, 1xRockwool looks even smaller, still hasn't shed shell. I want to help him out, but I"m afraid that I'll hurt him. Better let him be.
Now on Day 7 of grow (+6days seed)- 2x rockwool died. One looked like he got stuck in the shell and couldn't get out, poor guy never had a chance! ;( I'm pretty sure I was over watering as they all looked a bit wimpy, leaves started curling down. Another in rockwool had leaves, but then they shriveled up too. RW#3 looks good though. Soil #1&2 both look good, but maybe stretching? Only have the baby leaves +2x serrated leaves. Soil#3 didn't make it. I checked him out and his root was broken, probably happened right after germination, he never moved after that.
I was thinking that these guys were a bit small, but then I did the math, and they've only really been alive for 7 days. Not sure if the seeding time counts towards the grow? I went ahead and planted 2x more NL in the rockwool to replace the 2 I killed. This time I just germinated in the rockwool. And 1 more (Fruitysomething? from the online store) germinated right in the soil starter to replace the soil one that I killed. Because of the over-watering I replanted the soil ones into some solo cups to help dry them out. I think it was time anyways as the roots were through the soil starter. I wasn't sure what to do with the rockwool ones though. I put the one on a paper towel to dry it out, but then it seemed too dry. I wet it again (by dipping the base for 3sec) but then it seemed too wet. Kind of soggy and mushy. I didn't want him to die, so I went ahead and stuck him in the bubble setup. As I understand it you flow the water constant (dripper) and it receives it's oxygen from the DO from the bubbles and aeration in the water? I've read some people starting seeds directly in the bubble setup, so I figure what could it hurt? I'm pretty sure if I leave him soggy like his brother he'll suffer the same fate. This setup however won't fit under my T5 light, so I went ahead and got a 400W MH setup. The 2x solo cups are almost dry now, and the leaves are looking better, they're not curling under anymore. My hydro guy still seems a bit small, but we'll see how he does now.
This morning I check on them and the dripper isn't working. I've got the 100g/hr pump going to a 6x manifold (homedepot) going to 3x 1/4 lines to the tops, they were barely dripping. Way different than when I set it up a day ago. So I did some more reading, found Heath, and he flows the shit out of these things.....why not? So i went back to the store, got me a 380g/hr pump! Plugged it in, and it was a little better, but the 1/4 lines seemed plugged. So I ditched those and put in a single 3/4 in line and at each bucket T off a 3/8" line for feed. Now it FLOWS!!!
Now I run into another problem....but it may not actually be a problem. (I also put in 2x 4" air stones in the res bucket as well to help aerate the water more). So the pump is out flowing the res. That is all 4 buckets are 1/2 way full (just to the bottom of the nets) aprox 10 gal. But the pump empties the res through the 3/4" line faster than the lower 3/4" return line (from all 3 buckets) can return it. This may be good though? The res is so low it sucks in air (even more so with the stones in there). So looking through the feed lines (clear) there is HELLA bubbles right in the lines!). Maybe this will help with even more oxygen? Seems to still be flowing quite a bit too.
Because of my grow cycle times (needing to veg for so long) I think I'm going to run a vert setup with a few small lights (400w). I'm aiming to achieve something similar to what Heath is doing (style wise), although I know the first few grows I will probably kill most/all the plants. But so long as I learn something every time the investment will be worth it.
I'll update more as I go.
(Oh and I'm growing a pumpkin for my wife in one of the solo cups!) LOL