Love's First Grow - 600w MH/HPS - 3 Juicy Fruit

Hello all! This is my first grow, so any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I think my sole goal in this grow is to make it to harvest. Not a bad goal for the first try eh?

Ok so here we go with equipment:
3x3x7 tent
600 watt digital ballast
600 watt MH bulb (veg)
600 watt HPS bulb (flower)
50 cfm and 110 cfm fans (intake)
70 cfm fan (exhaust)
FoxFarm Grow Big, Tiger Bloom, and Big Bloom

I will be growing (or trying not to kill) 3 Juicy Fruit clones I picked up at the local dispensary. I've had them under the MH running at 24/0 since I got them (2-12-10).

Now some questions I have:

Should I switch them to 18/6 at some point? I read that plants need 6 hours of darkness to process the energy they make through photosynthesis. Wouldn't that directly contradict the 24/0 technique?

What temperatures should I be shooting for in my tent? With the light on I'm running about 74 degrees. I've heard a pretty wide spectrum of acceptable temps for growing and was curious what you guys thought.

How is my plant distance from the light? It's up at the top and obviously the plants are at the bottom but there doesn't seem to be any stretching (at least in 48 hours) so I feel like it's good

Here's some pics of whats going on so far.

NOTE: They look a little droopy in the pictures but have since perked right up. Probably some shock from transplant, I originally had the tent in the laundry room and the temps were hitting like 85 and the girls got wilty. I've since moved the tent and maintain a solid 74 degrees and they've perked right up. I gave them about an 1/8th of a teaspon of Grow Big diluted into a gallon of distilled water and gave them a little taste of it for their nightcap this evening.

I also have switched up the layout of the tent. I was trying to get the temps down earlier so I switched around where I was intaking and where I was exhausting. I now have the 50cfm blowing in cool air at the bottom, the 110cfm coming in from the top ducted to the left side of fan, and the 70cfm exhausting the hot air off the light on the right side of tent. I'll get more current pictures up tomorrow, I'm just getting over the flu and haven't been able to do much more than crawl downstairs and check moisture.

1 - the girls freshly transplanted
2 - the girls in the tent (I've since taken that liner on the bottom out, and that duct down low is no longer there
3 - the most recent pic (no liner, no duct down low) the girls roommates are some bagseed I threw in some dirt, we'll see what happens with them, so far no activity
4 - pic of the whole tent before moving around some ducting, only one I've got showing the tent top to bottom

Let me know what you think guys!

Another question about humidity. My meters are saying I'm around 20-25%. Should I throw a humidifier down near the tent to bump it up? My needle humidity gauge shows the "Comfort Zone" being around 35-55% but that's probably for people. Colorado air is so so dry...

Ok so I killed the 110cfm fan on the light and that bumped my tent temp up about 5 or 6 degrees. I hadn't checked my MIN temp on my gauge and had just been going off the current reading of 74. Turns out over night due to the house cooling down that the tent temp dropped to about 65. Hopefully going in the night with the higher tent temp eliminates that problem.

Also decided that after a week and a half that those bagseed weren't going to be sprouting. I've been reading about DWC cloning all morning (specifically DavetheNewbie's https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/119183-davethenewbie-dwc-cloner-fast-simple.html) I think I'm going to head to Walmart and try to build one. Judging by the pictures of other people's clones I think my plants are big enough to clip one off each. Legally I have to stay at 6 plants so this should work out perfectly.

Also need to pick up some Ph up and down as I think my water isn't as close to 5.8 as I thought it was going to be.

Also going to pick up some CFL's for some lower side lighting for the girls and as some more direct lighting for the clones as I plan to do this in the same tent.

QUESTION:
The air outside of my tent is like 60 degrees. One of my fans is blowing that cold air in down low right on my plants. Is this a bad thing? I have a thermometer at the bottom of the tent that says the temp is 78-79 degrees. I just want to make sure they're not getting some shock from the cold air,

That's all for now. Here's some more pics

1 - 600w MH with the mini sun soaker reflector
2 - 70cfm fan exhausts hot light air out the top
3 - top of the tent showing the intake for the light and the exhaust (note the fan for the light is on the floor behind the tent. it's not up top intaking hot air back on to the light)
4 - the girls at the bottom, intake on the left there, keeps all the leaves fluttering
5 - the girls
6 - up close

Im no Veteran Pot Grower but heres a little adivce.

Should I switch them to 18/6 at some point? I read that plants need 6 hours of darkness to process the energy they make through photosynthesis. Wouldn't that directly contradict the 24/0 technique?
IMO it would be a good idea to switch to 18/6. Like you mentioned allot good shit happens to plants at night.

What temperatures should I be shooting for in my tent? With the light on I'm running about 74 degrees.
74F is great. Sometimes my Cabinet hits 85F and all is well.

How is my plant distance from the light?
You could bring that light way closer to the plants and they will love you for it.

gave them about an 1/8th of a teaspoon of Grow Big diluted into a gallon of distilled water and gave them a little taste of it for their nightcap this evening.
Distilled water isn’t needed anymore use Tap water that’s set for 24hrs to air out the chlorine. You will want to feed them at the beginning of the 18hr light cycle, once you switch. IMO you could use full strength GrowBig 2tsp per gal and the Big bloom 2Tbls per gal. Fox Farm feeding schedule here.

humidity. My meters are saying I'm around 20-25%.
Your fine for now. Once your plants get bigger its going to create allot more humidity. So you’ve got some nice headroom there for more humidity, you want it lower when flowering.

The air outside of my tent is like 60 degrees.
I have a problem like yours where the outside is way cooler then the inside. I have been turning off the intake fan when the light is off and just keep the oscillating fan going on the plants at night else the potters get to cold and IMO the roots don’t like it.

Thanks for the responses Sota! Going to switch to 18/6 in the next day or so, gotta figure out how my timer works, haven't even taken it out of the box yet!

My one concern becomes temperature inside the tent when the lights are off. I know that the air outside the tent is 60 during the day so it's probably a lot colder at night. I've got a space heater with an adjustable thermostat, should I put it in the tent? Or just near the intake so that it heats the air going in?

As far as the water thing goes, I'd heard that aging tap water worked. So basically I just refill my gallon jugs with tap water and let them hang out for a 24 hours? Cap on cap off?

UPDATE:

I've made a few changes since I last posted. I did make that DWC cloner like DaveTheNewbie. So I started 3 clones this evening!!

Also added (6) 26 watt CFLs suspended from the top of the tent so they hang about 4-6" from the plants. My concern with lowering the MH is it seems to cook the plants. I've been observing them for stretch and they seem alright so far. Does adding the CFLs fix that problem? This way they get more light without getting cooked and once the plants grow large enough they will get some side lighting. Does that makes sense? Should I still lower the lamp? If so how much you think?

Anyway here's some more pics

1 - new CFL additions!
2 - closer view of the new DaveTheNewbie designs DWC cloner (I'll update with results on how well it works once I hit 2 weeks and hopefully have some results, worth noting I've never cloned anything before so it should be interesting!)

If anyone wants specific pictures of something, like the cloner, let me know. It's cake taking more!

Few more changes:

So I added the timer, the plants now sleep from midnight to 6. I added my little space heater set to maintain 72 degrees in there. Its elevated up about 2 feet above the plants so they don't get baked. So it stays off when the light is on and should only kick on at night when the tent cools down in the dark. Only my 50cfm intake fan will be running when the lights are off. My timer is dual outlet so I've got the light on one side and the 70cfm exhaust on the other. No reason to be exhausting the heat I'm trying to keep in there right?!

Is there any reason I should move the clones to a 24/0 light area? Or will they do fine in the 18/6?

I'll get some pics up of everything tomorrow

Is there a way that you can move that exhaust Flexy ducting you have in your reflector to be on the other side closest to the bulb head?

I don't have an oscillating fan but that 50cfm intake on the bottom makes all the leaves on the plants flutter so I think the air movement stimulation is in effect.

I'll need to re-arrange some stuff around the tent as well as get another timer to control the heater/fan night combo. I think I'm gonna leave the heater in the tent for tonight then change it up tomorrow once I do my re-arranging and timer purchase. Although if it works tonight I might not change it, we'll see. I feel like in the long run your way will probably be better though. Having the heater up above them will only work when they're little. Sooner or later I'm gonna have to change it up! Long live procrastination!

SotaFats said:

Is there a way that you can move that exhaust Flexy ducting you have in your reflector to be on the other side closest to the bulb head?

Click to expand...

Technically my reflector isn't air cooled I just have the duct attached to the reflector where there's an opening for the cord. I'd have to figure out a way to mount it on the other side without the opening. Wouldn't that just be a heat countermeasure though? So far in the heart of the Colorado winter I've been struggling to even keep the heat high enough! Not sure that I wanna cool that light anymore than I already am. Or is this a solution to my plants getting cooked by the heat of the light when I move them closer?

Another question! Are my pots going to be big enough to take me to harvest? Are they big enough for the root development I'll need for like 20-30" plants in veg before I switch to flower? I've got some 8" diameter pots that I got in case I had to transplant. Now I'm just curious if I'll need them. Maybe transplant before flower?

Well they made it through the night on their first 18/6, but my MIN/MAX gauge is saying it hit 54 in there last night which is way too cold! I guess I'm gonna bump the temp on the space heater up and see if I can't get it to a t least 60 overnight. Damn these Colorado winters!! I think I'm also going to switch them to be off from 8am to 2pm so they'd be at their coldest during a warmer part of the day.

So I changed a bunch of stuff around in the tent again. I discovered through another thread (thanks fuzzotany) that I was over watering. I had attributed their droopyness earlier to issues with heat and so I'd given them more water thinking they were drying out. I replanted them and mixed the definitely over watered soil with some new dry stuff together.

Now that I know that heat isn't causing the drooping issue I moved them up about 2 feet closer to the light. The temp is right at 90 and they've already perked up a ton and actually look like they're thriving in the new light and drier soil. I won't be watering them for at least 2 days and am really pleased to see them looking healthier. I guess it's true that beginners always over do it.

Also moved the clones to the back of the tent under my newly created "FrankenFluro." I'll be solidifying it's design tomorrow.

They may not look amazing but this is the best I've seen them look!

Got em in bigger pots now, new rack that they sit on, new light rack for the clones (RIP FrankenFluro). The temp at the plants is 78 which I'm liking and I think I finally see some growth from them! Probably gonna water them a little in the next day or so. It's nice to have some stability in the growing now.

So here's some shots of the new racks and the girls in their new pots. Got a few shots of the individual plants. What do you guys think?

Any wisdom, tips, or suggestions are always appreciated!!

Last 3 pics are of the cloner/fluro rack

Looking good.
How many times do you foresee having to transplant them? Are you gonna use those pots to harvest? Im thinking that they’re gonna freak out and run that whole grow op themselves, the whole time smelling like a crazy patch of rainbow striped bubble gum horses. Stoned

The bubbler is tight dude! Just set up my ghetto version of it. SO now im runnin a aeroponics and a open top bubbler, what are they officially called a DWC clone bubbler or something? Anyways Put the clones in some holes in a large piece of neoprene floating on top of the water, there’s a way for the heat to escape with the bubbles and ambient evaporation. So my suggestion (you probably already know this) is to make sure you keep that reservoir around 70F? If it gets to warm you could prop up one of those blue foam pieces? I got the little hygrometer wire remote thing sticking in the water to make sure its good, seems to fluctuate between 68-74F. Im thinking that’s pretty close to range for what we’re doing. Is that just 3 clones? Assuming they’re off one of the JFs, are you going to take more when you can?

I don't want to transplant again. I'm gonna ride these pots to harvest I think.

Yea the bubbler came together nicely. DaveTheNewbie was calling it the DWC cloner so that's kind of the name I go with.

I'm kind of curious to see what would happen if I set up another tub like that and slapped the lid on, cut a hole in the top, slapped a net pot in and did 1 plant that way. I mean thats DWC right? I don't really know much about it but if you can grow a clone that way I'd think you could grow the whole plant the same way. I definitely see myself doing both soil and hydro in the future.

Legally I'm supposed to have 3 mature plants 3 immature plants. So for now I'm going to try to stay in the confines of the law with just 3 clones. It sucks because I want to experiment with a bunch of different stuff but can't afford to spare any plants!

Good idea to stay within the legal limits of your grow.
Heres a cool link on a bubbler journal FuZZyBuDz takes a D.W.C. dip, first hydro grow!