Preflower Help!

lol Its quite gloomy and rainy here today too...

Rockwool would do nicely. Moisture is easily controlled and it can be transplanted easily into soil when you start seeing roots. I don't use soil, so the rocks and moss is what its going into anyway. The roots grow out of the net pot and sit in a 5gallon bucket of oxygenated nutrient solution. There's a lot more control using deep water culture. This is the simplest hydro system I could think of.


That was a hummus container, the coke top just happened to fit perfectly on top. Since 2ltr bottles are all curvy, its easy to customise a fit. The marbles and container isn't good enough for sustaining a new growing plant since it doesn't allow much air to get to the roots. I only have them in there until the roots pop.

Korner420Garden said:

lol Its quite gloomy and rainy here today too...

Rockwool would do nicely. Moisture is easily controlled and it can be transplanted easily into soil when you start seeing roots. I don't use soil, so the rocks and moss is what its going into anyway. The roots grow out of the net pot and sit in a 5gallon bucket of oxygenated nutrient solution. There's a lot more control using deep water culture. This is the simplest hydro system I could think of.
View attachment 1645066
That was a hummus container, the coke top just happened to fit perfectly on top. Since 2ltr bottles are all curvy, its easy to customise a fit. The marbles and container isn't good enough for sustaining a new growing plant since it doesn't allow much air to get to the roots. I only have them in there until the roots pop.

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Those roots are from a cutting or clone in the picture above? As far as the rock wool you just wait for the roots to appear and plant the rock wool sponge with the roots into the soil if you are growing it in a 5 gal bucket correct? In other words you just plant the sponge in the dirt? Thank you, BB.

those roots are the nethers of the plant im growing now, started her from seed.
Yes, you can stick the rockwool and all into the soil once you see roots. I like to start off with a smaller container, like a solo cup with holes punched in the bottem. When its ready to transplant again, hold the stem as close to the soil as you can and just pull the cup off (you'll know you did it right if the cup comes right off and the root ball and dirt holds the shape of the cup), and stick it into you're final container (5 gallon bucket with drainage holes drilled into the bottem is perfect).

Im sure it would be beneficial to dip the cut end into a rooting gel, like Clonex or other fancy product. Protecting the cut end of the clone as air bubbles in the stem are deadly to a clone. Also, fungus and root rot are common because of the high humidity.

So are you growing hydroponically? you must be because if you tried to put those roots in soil they would be destroyed! Do you have an expensive set up? because i went to this hydroponics store here in calif. and some of well all of that stuff is expensive but it looks like a fun project I would love to try it like that but i am going to have to wait untill i read up on it and see how to make the room, set up the watering system, the lighting and the venting is all so important I need to get more information on what and how to do all of that because I have a perfect room about 10' long x 8' wide x 9' foot high. But that is alot of square footage in lights. Someday maybe next year and make it perfect. cause it is kind of a hassle every morning to carry that 5 gallon bucket with the soil and the plant it is getting heavy. It would be nice just to let them grow where they are and not have to move anything. It's all good though, I am having alot of fun , it is a very interesting hobby. Once again Thank You, for all your help and conversation's about how to do everything "big help". Thanks, BB!!!

Not expensive at all, just a 5gallon bucket with a lid and some stuff i found in the recycling bin. If you wanna take a looksie at my journal again, I have an entry with pics of all the stuff I use. The nutrients cost more then the whole setup did (Botnicare Grow, Bloom and Cal-Mag), about 20$ a bottle. With money you can save with a DIY system you can splurge on a quality air pump and good airstones. There's no reason to spend hundreds on a system that is so easy to build yourself.

Im cheap, thats why I like the CFL lighting. I just have my plant chillin in the closet of my bedroom with a lil fan blowing air behind it. Instead of an automated watering system, I check on the water level every day and top it off by hand if needed. The solution in the bucket gets changed out every week and a half or so. I don't have any ducting or venting nor do I monitor pH or ppm of the water, I've just learned to "read" the plant. Moving the lights around all the time has become a fun game too.

I wanted to ask you about the rock wool sponges for use in cloning. Each sponge has a hole in it correct? If I have the sponge lying flat on the bottom of the solo cup or whatever I use will the roots grow out from underneath the sponges? or will the weight of the watered down sponge make it so the roots can't grow out from under the sponge? Should I stack a few on the bottom to raise it up and then put the one with the clone on top so they have room to grow out from the bottom? I hope you can help me because I am looking to buy the rock wool sponges and i wanted to know if that is the best to use! Thank You, BB2112 Brett!!!!

the roots will still grow outta the bottem and sides of the rockwool cube, because roots follow water. Though I would suggest putting them in something with shorter sides then a cup, like one of these

Im sure you could find one with a snap on dome so you don't have to bother with making one


The solo cups will be a perfect first container once they go into soil, but they don't allow much circulation to the plant itself if it is below the lip of the cup. The rockwool cubes do have a hole in the top, but sometimes they get damaged and you can just use a pencil to make a better hole. Make sure you push the stem of the clone into the rockwool far enough, but not touching the bottem.

Ok, Thank You, were would I go to buy one of those preflower help trays? would they have them at home depot or lowes or a nursery? Thank you so much you have been such a big help, I can't tell you how many things you have made simple that i thought were so much more difficult or made to sound more difficult by people that just do everything with the best materials like an easy cloner and you make your own stuff, very cool. That is what I need is to just do it for as inexpensively as possible but still make it work just as good. take it easy, BB2112!!!!!
Hey, Also when did you start growing your plant that you have now? and how tall is it? I couldn't get any scale? and how much yeild would you get from that plant? When I mean how tall was it when it first started to flower. I am thinking of just letting this one flower by changing the light schedule and getting a few clones from it first but I just want to make sure the clones are growing and that she has healed from the taking of the clones before I let her flower because I don't want her to be stressed when she starts flowering. So should I give her about two weeks to heal before changing the light schedule? Thanks again for all you have helped me with and you are a very patient person to help me with all these questions but I like your style, with making your own stuff to grow with!! Have a nice day!!

I found a hydroponics store not far away from my house because home depot didn't have the rock wool sponges and they had everything all the nutrients for soil and hydroponics and they also had the rock wool sponges and the cloning tray with the vents all for 15.00 dollars and if you buy something there you can get credit to go to growing classes so if you buy something for over $5.00 you can get a free class on growing and they are going to start classes in 2 weeks so I get to go to the first 3 classes for free. what a sweet place, I could spend alot of money there. they had everything the cfl's metal halide, pre built room for hydroponics and aeroponics all fit with the bulbs vents and blowers and they zip up like a mini tent or room not to expensive. and the hydroponic units came qwith everything you need it was like a closet and it had fox farms soils and nutes and all kinds of different nutes and cloning gels and stabilizers anything you need they had it. so I made two clones and I will let you know how they do! Home depot had the preflower tray's but they didn't have the rock wool, they had peat circles in the bottom of each little cell and they were cheap but I think the rock wool will be better and easier. Thanks, BB2112!!!! The place was called GREEN COAST HYDROPONICS. nice clean place.

holy shit, that deal with the growing classes is awsome! We have a few hydroponic stores around here, like Liquid Sun and Harvest Moon, but they're hard to find and very discreet with their locations. You can't ask the dude any specific questions about illicit growing activities. I pop figurative wood every time I go into one of those places. All the lights, fertilizers, organic supplements, fixtures, soilless mediums, hydro setups, anything I could ever dream of for growing, all right there.

The plant I have now, I started mid March and let it veg about a month and a half. I switched to flowering on May 22, and she is currently a little over 30 inches. I switched the lights for flowering when she hit a foot and a half, though she was pushing out preflowers since she was about 8in. I've never grown this strain before so I have no idea how much i'm gonna get of of it. This is also the first time I've flowered a plant in a hydro setup (previous hydro attempts were male) so I really dont know what to expect.

About a week is enough time for the plant to heal before you put it into flowering. Let me know how you're clones do and keep me updated about you're grow. Got any recent pics of ur perdy lady?

No not yet but I can take some tomorrow or today it is now. So I will put some up today around 7 pm or so.
Wow your plant is growing very quickly is that normal for hydroponics? I mean faster that soil? cause mine is about the same height as yours but it is about the same across a wide plant I think that was because i topped her three or four times and that slowed the growth down alot. All I want it another 6 to 8 inches and then i will let her flower or maybe when I see that the clones are doing fine then i will go ahead and change the light schedules on her and let her flower.
Anyway that store was awesome they had no problem about talking about what I was growing and I was trying to be discreet about it but he said it's ok to talk straight out because there was no one there but they sell stuff for growing other things is what they say like there are some peppers growing in one of their little closet grow room set ups and they had so many things that i would love to have like that huge metal halide bulb about 400 I think it felt like the sun it was so hot. Yeah someday!! but yeah those classes will be awesome he just said we want to sell stuff rather than charge for the classes so that is what we are going to do but usually they end up selling more than 5.00 dollars worth so they will probably have a lot of people . I was about the 4th person on the mailing list . So he said i will have one of the few open seats and they email you when the class starts but I got a cool little set up it is a 10" x 12" tray and it has room for I think he said all of the 45 1.5 x 1.5 cubes of rock wool that i had to buy that was the smallest package but it was only 16.00 dollars total for the tray, dome, rock wool, and I got the 3 free classes. I thought it would be more than that but the nutes are quite pricey but worth every drop and they sell the fox farms soils by the pound you don't have to buy a whole 40 lb. bag you can go in and weigh a 5 gallon bucket, then take it off the scale and fill it up and put it on and they will give you as much as you want and if it is a little over an even pound like 3.5 pounds to fill the bucket and you have some left over to make it 4.0 they will put it in another bag for you. A really Nice place. clean and neat and nice displays. well take it easy and thanks for the note back. thanks again, Bye! 2112!!!!

yes, hydroponic plants grow much faster then in straight soil. The plant gets to take up as much water as it wants instead of relying on how much water is in the soil. The plant gets everything it needs and nothing it doesn't. Problems can be fixed quickly but can be devastating if not caught in time. I've grown in soil before and in my opinion, DWC is a much more efficient growing style. The only drawback I can think of is how much water I grow through. I let my water sit in a three gallon pot on the stove for 24 hours to let some of the yuck evaporate out of it. Every other day I'm pouring and mixing nutrient solution, but I really enjoy doing it for my plants.
i am so jealous of how laid back they are at you're grow shop. We dont have anything like that around here, nevermind actual grow classes. I gotta get the heck out of New England.

Hello, I wanted to ask you a question that just started happening , I am getting some yellowing of the leaves right about where the cfl is shinning down on the top of the plant in the middle of the plant and the outter areas are nice and green and healthy looking just the few bigger fan leafs are getting a little yellow. what could be causing this It didn't start right away I have had the lights on the plant for awhile. I looked around on here and looked up yellow leafves and some of them said it was due to low phosphorus or just not sufficient watering like if I am watering it corectly (on time) but maybe it isn't soaking in well in every section of the root sysytem. So I gave her a good soaking just about two hours ago and made sure that every part of the plant roots were getting plenty of water. If you are certain about what is causing it could you clue me in please. I don't think it is the lights they don't get very hot so I thought at first that the lights were drying them out but i think it had something to do with watering so if you can help please let me know. Thank You, BB2112!

The two biggest causes of yellowing leaves is nitrogen deficency or overwatering. What are you feeding your perdy lady and how do you tell when she needs water? A pic would really help

Liquid Karma and Miracle grow plant food. I water her when she gets dry almost a cracking crust about once or twice a week depending on the heat. If the sun is out every day all day sometimes I have had to water her 3 times a week but when it is cloudy or cold I only have to water like once a week to twive a week. from Sunday to Saturday!! I gave her a good soaking last night and some nutes and this morning she was looking better and the leaves were still a little yellow but they were perky standing up like when they are in the sun like trying to reach for the sun. I haven';t changed anything and I have never had this problem before she has always been green and healthy. The only thing that I have changed is the addition of the CFL'S at night to give her 24/0 outside sun from 6am to 7:30pm or 8:00pm then staright to CFL lights all night through till the next day. She is looking better I think when I was watering her it was soaking in unevenly and maybe some of the roots were not getting water or nutes so when i soaked her really good till the water came out of the holes that I drilled 1/2 inch holes in the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket all the way around about 4 to 5 inches apart till they met around the other side. The water started coming out of all the holes. I think the soil is getting packed as io have been watering it I haven't been packing it but i think when i water it it slowly gets packed by itself. is there anyway of loosening up the soil without ruining the roots? I can see the roots when I put the CFL lights on the plant, the ones that are against the side of the bucket and they are everywhere on the outside and I imagine the same all through the soil as well. I have never watered it and droped the bucket on the ground to pack the soil. when i push my finger down on the top of the soil not hard it gives about a 1/4 inch right where I push down on it so it seems to be evenly packed but not heavily packed if you understand what I am saying. she looks better. how can i check for nitrogen deficency? Thank You, BB2112!

You can test your soil for what kind of nutes are accumulating in there, though I would suggest trying different nutrients. I use the Botnicare Grow for vegging, Bloom for flowering and I add extra nitrogen with Cal Mag. lol will give you a good excuse to go back to the hydro shop. Botnicare is pretty awsome as you can use it for both soil and hydro.

During growth, the plant uses lots of nitrogen. If you like what you are using now, just supplement with the Cal-Mag until you switch to flowering. You're gonna want a plant food high in Phosphorus (the P in N-P-K) for flowering and almost completly pull the Nitrogen. Ideally, your leaves should start yellowing in the last two or three weeks of flower.

Watering 1-3 times a week for a large bucket sounds about right. Every time you water, there should be some coming out of the holes on the bottem. How are you feeding? Every watering, every other, every third?

Compacted soil really isnt a problem for the roots, they can do their thing in rather tight confines. Though, if its really bugging you, carefully pull out the whole root ball (soil and all), get as much dirt as you can off the roots and repot. If you're gonna flower at three feet, you're gonna need a larger container anyway. Roots tend to grow out to the walls of the container, then travel straight down, then coil around and around at the bottem. Thats why, when im using soil, I graduate the plant to larger containers as it gets older. This way, it can use all the soil instead of just the bottem and sides.

I give nutes every other watering and what size container can I get bigger than a 5 gallon I have a 8 gallon but they are about the same width but a little deeper, but they carried chlorine and i don't know if i want any trace of chlorine in the bucket that may be bad for the plant? Unless I go with a big clay pot or put her in the ground. Yeah Lol as you said that would give me another chance to go there they had all kinds of nutes dutchmaster, bloom was it 20/20? he suggested a great nute that had a part A and a part B it was something like 20/20 then he mentioned another that had one for hydro and one for soil. maybe I will go down there today and ask them what the best thing to do for a plant that big and maybe they will have something that isn't that heavy, it is already getting pretty heavy bringging it in every night maybe I should just plant her in the ground and dig really deep and fill with the fox farms soil or potting mix that is in there now, no then I wouldn't be able to keep light on her 24/0 unless I put the lights outside and that would really be an easy target for passing helicopter's all lit up,Lol!! I think that is being a little bit cocky. I don't want to attract any uneeded attention I would like to be on the downlow even if it is legal it still isn't cool with the feds. So do you know of any plastic or non heavy containers that they may sell for bigger plants? if so please let me know and thanks again, Have a good one!!!! C-YA, BB2112

Brett Brown said:

I should just plant her in the ground and dig really deep and fill with the fox farms soil

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That would be your best bet. 24 hour light really isnt necessarry at this point. There are large planter pots that you can get at home depot. But letting nature finish up the job over the next few months would give you the best results.

Hello, I wanted to know if these nutes would be better the combonation Then I would have one for vegging a change and Then I would have a nute for flowering also one for big grow for an everyday thing I think. I don't know I am an novice at all these nutes and growing this particular plant (weed) but Fox farms is usually a pretty big name on here with soil, so what do you think. I can get these for all 3 - 32oz. bottles as a package for $13.85 for the package. I just can't afford some of these nutes when I went to the hydroponics store part A was 29.99 and part B was 29.99 thats 60.00 dollars pls tax and to get all 3 of a good name product. If you think I should go for the bloom or the ones that they suggested then I will but man that hurts for plant nutes. I am not making medical miracles here just a little nice bud for pleasure. lol. let me know and If I have to bite the bullet I will but if you think these are good enough or very good then I will get these. Thank You, BB2112!!!!!! P.S.: I made a mistake I can get the fox farms Tiger Bloom for 13.95 for a quart(would I need more than the Tiger Bloom for the flowering stage? I think you dilute like a teaspoon or something to water not sure) but would a quart if you don't dilute it would that be enough for a flowering stage? Are they are good nutes and it would be hard to believe that they are not considering that almost everyone that uses soil uses fox farms soil mixes for their plants. just please give me your honest opinion. Thank You, BB2112!

Fox Farm is a good quality brand, you really cant go wrong with them. I would suggest either putting your plant into the ground now or putting it on 12/12 now and just use the bloom nutes. You can worry about the veg nutrients and fancy big bud additives on your next grow. Botnicare seems to run a lil cheeper and is a bit easier to use. You dont have to worry about mixing proportions or anything complicated. Just X tablespoons per gallon of water every third watering. I like to have 2 gallons of fresh water and 1 gallon of nute mix always on hand. You have to dilute your nutes when you give them to your plant, otherwise you will burn the shit outta the roots and you'll see discoloration on your leaves.