started my journey into hydro, help me make it safely =P

heyy there everybody
well 2 days ago i got my first hydro system up and running. its pretty much an NFT setup, but with round tubes instead of gullys. well i took my clones from soil and put em in there the day befor yesterday. they looked AMAZING untill about 5 o'clock yesterday, they started to droop pretty bad and have a bit of yellowing on new growth. the clones are only 21 days old from cuttings.

im just looking for input and tips to help me make this a successful grow =]
i have grown 3 crops in soil so im not a complete noob haha

as for the setup, heres some info.
room temp 65 night, 75 day
water temp is consistant 66-69
PH is 6.1 ATM
1000w hps
2 air stones
drainage a few inches above water to help airate also
using BLU MOON nutes, 1/4th strength ( full strenght is 1500PPM)
water circulating 24/7
lights 12/12


so heres my QUESTIONS-


i see a bit of yellowing on new growth, i believe its from switching from vegg to bloom nutes, should i add some N for the first week of flowering?

and they have been drooping a bit, my friend is trying to say its because i dont have a timer on the pump and they are either over or underwatered. my guess is underwatered becasue the leaves and stems are limp, not thick and cupping down.
but could this drooping be from all the stress of taking them from soil? they just rooted about 10 days ago, so im thinking they are just focusing on root growth to catch up with the foliage. sound possible?


and as for not having a timer on the pump, will i b able to pull it off without one? im planning on putting an air stone right into the tube befor the roots to avoid overwatering.

and MOST OF ALL, has anybody else ever taken clones from soil and put them into hydro?

in the pics you can see the yellowing, and drooping im talking about. but you can also see how a few of the clone's roots have SHOT off, and some havent grown.

thank you TONS for reading. and thank you for any input!! it is VERY VERY appreciated

peace out

Stated my own Hydro grown a while ago. In the end I did away with it and put the cubes in soil. They picked up and are now great plants in flower. I think I didn't really know what I was doing. Will revise better next time. All the stems were weedy and thin and the plants looked ill. Think I had wrong ph (spoke to sensigrow who were helpfull) and I wasnt aware that the pump should not be on all the time. The plants must have been over watered!

ah man, im really hoping i dont end up going that way. im happy with my plants in soil, but i wanna get most potential possible ya kno. iv been reading aboutl the pump being on 24/7, and from what most people have said its not a problem as long as your water is airated enough. witch i think mine is? 20 gallon resivour with 2 air stones and drainage helping too.

its most likley due to the transplant.itll pick back up soon,i would keep the ph at 5.5-5.8,it can go up to 6.2 but the 5.5-5.8 range is for optimum uptake of nutes

yea, im sure it stressed em alot. and yea iv been dropping it slowly since last night. dont wanna drop it to quick and double stress them ya kno.

You should give them a few days in the system before turning up the nutes, let them begin to spread their roots. I let them just sit in the system for a week before turning up the nutes. What this does is get them all spreading roots before they take off, that way they all take off all at once. The PH should be kept between 5.5 and 5.8 at all times if possible. Your res temperature is fine.

The fertilizer you are using is for bloom phase. You should get some fertilizer for the grow phase.

Nice looking system. The first time you grow a crop hydroponically, your goal should be to survive the experience all the way to harvest. It is best to err on the side of caution and be overly cautious through the whole crop. The first hydroponic crop is a learning crop. Ive been growing hydroponically for about a year and a half and I have tripled the amount I got from soil growing. It is also a lot easier and a lot less work. The most important thing you can do is ASK, ASK, ASK questions whenever you have a new hurdle to get over.

You can get a lot of the basics if you read my grow journal in my signature. I walk through a crop from setting up the room all the way to harvest.

hey man thanks =]
iv got the nutes at 1/4th strenght ( 375PPM)
and the PH is 5.9 as of now. and they are in the bloom phase, atleast starting the bloom phase. i dont have a hydro setup for my vegg room yet lol
but yea im being REALLY cautious about everything im doing, and not worrying about yeild. just fininshing haha
thnx for the advice bro!

so i have noticed that the drooping has gotten a lil worse, nothing thats worrying me tho. im sure the transplant was REALLY rough on em.
what is worrying me tho, i noticed the roots have a kinda browish slim on them. they have new root growth from net pots, and even the brownish roots have grown. the water temp is good, airation is good, air temp inside gully is good, what can this be?

theres always the thought in the back of my head telling myself, its just the old soil on the roots making themt his color, but i want to be sure befor i quit worrying about it. i will have new pics up at 12, when lights come on.

so heres the pics of just a few mins ago. does it look like root rot? or just the old soil....

shud i clean the roots ina seperate bowl of water,snip off the bad stuff, or buy something to put in the water to help?

So you went from soil to hydro then? If you did then this is normal for the first couple weeks. Just keep washing the roots til the new roots come outward and you won't have this problem again. I just had that problem with them when I let them get rootbound in their pots before transplanting to hydro. If you put about 2 cups of hydrogen peroxide in your mix you shouldn't have too many more problems like this before the new roots. Does your water look cloudy and murky? Can't really see through it too well? If so then it is exactly the same problem I had in the beginning. Sorry I didn't read everything first but I will sub and keep checking in from time to time to make sure everything is on the up and up. Best thing you can do for your plants now is to just keep it clean

jumboSWISHER said:

so heres my QUESTIONS-


i see a bit of yellowing on new growth, i believe its from switching from vegg to bloom nutes, should i add some N for the first week of flowering? The answer is in the question. Some people don't believe in this but I always use veg nutes until they stop the stretch but I add more of the bloom then the veg schedule says.

and they have been drooping a bit, my friend is trying to say its because i dont have a timer on the pump and they are either over or underwatered. my guess is underwatered becasue the leaves and stems are limp, not thick and cupping down.
but could this drooping be from all the stress of taking them from soil? they just rooted about 10 days ago, so im thinking they are just focusing on root growth to catch up with the foliage. sound possible?
It could be overwatered if you aren't stopping the pump. It should be highly aerated (bubbles) if it's constant water to the plant.

and as for not having a timer on the pump, will i b able to pull it off without one? im planning on putting an air stone right into the tube befor the roots to avoid overwatering.
Yes and no on the timer. If you have a ton of O2 available to your plants you are entering into DWC territory but are still NFT based lol Hydro is confusing huh Na I'm jk after you get the gust of it you will be a pro in no time
and MOST OF ALL, has anybody else ever taken clones from soil and put them into hydro?
(raises hand) Yea I do it a lot actually. My cloning process is in soil (until recently) and I wash the soil off to use the roots.
in the pics you can see the yellowing, and drooping im talking about. but you can also see how a few of the clone's roots have SHOT off, and some havent grown.

thank you TONS for reading. and thank you for any input!! it is VERY VERY appreciated

peace out

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I enjoy picking problems out of a bunch so no worries

yea i went from soil to hydro. and damn bro you you hit the nail on the head.... they were just about root bound, with a tiny bit of root spinout around the bottom of the cup. and do i need concentrated hydrogen peroxide? or just the normal stuff you get at any store? but yea iv already had to change the resivour water because it wus looking merky. iv taken the roots and gently cleaned them in a bowl of water 2 or 3 times.
thank you a TON man!!
i really appreciate it bro

Joker209 said:

I enjoy picking problems out of a bunch so no worries

Click to expand...

ah thank you again!! lol
i have 2 airstones, and my drainage falls a few inches and causes alot of bubbles, i can see tiny bubble in the water that gets pumped in and there is always tons of bubbles floating in my res so i think im goona be okay without a timer. im goona manually time the pump today or tomorrow to see if i see any differences =]

thanks alot tho man!! you wiped away ALL my worries!! lol

jumboSWISHER said:

yea i went from soil to hydro. and damn bro you you hit the nail on the head.... they were just about root bound, with a tiny bit of root spinout around the bottom of the cup. and do i need concentrated hydrogen peroxide? or just the normal stuff you get at any store? but yea iv already had to change the resivour water because it wus looking merky. iv taken the roots and gently cleaned them in a bowl of water 2 or 3 times.
thank you a TON man!!
i really appreciate it bro

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Just keep on top of it and your ladies will do fine in hydro. Glad I could be of some help As far as the H2o2 you can actually just use pharmacy grade but if you want the best results possible go with a horticultural H2o2.

jumboSWISHER said:

ah thank you again!! lol
i have 2 airstones, and my drainage falls a few inches and causes alot of bubbles, i can see tiny bubble in the water that gets pumped in and there is always tons of bubbles floating in my res so i think im goona be okay without a timer. im goona manually time the pump today or tomorrow to see if i see any differences =]

thanks alot tho man!! you wiped away ALL my worries!! lol

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As long as the plants are getting ample supply of air you are fine man. They will look great in a week just stay on top of it. Best wishes buddy

I forgot to subscribe earlier haha I'm subbed now and along for the ride

sweet bro! hopefully i'll have some tastey bud porn for you ta look at in a few weeks... hahaha

jumboSWISHER said:

sweet bro! hopefully i'll have some tastey bud porn for you ta look at in a few weeks... hahaha

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Sounds good man keep up the good work

so here they are today
there looking good =] starting to grow. and the roots have been busy... lol i was surprised as hell when i looked at em today.

i just put 1 1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxide, the 3% H2O2 pharmacy grade kind.
but iv been noticing that the plants are looking better and better as the PH rises. i added 2 ounces of nutes the day befor yesterday (2 1/2 ounces of N cuz yellowing)
witch brought my PH to 6.5, been 6.5 ever since, and they seem to love it? i checked the PH of the water i feed my soil plants(never have, tap seems to be perfect) and it is 7.0... could this strain just like slightly alkaline water? or are my PH tests screwy? lol

Actually ideal is between 5.5-7.0 so that seems proper. If in soil you want to keep your Ph at around 7.0 for best results in soil. In hydro 7.0 will work but should be forced on em constantly or they will get ill sometimes. Not saying your's will but I just keep mine at 6.0-6.5 and get good results. They are looking good man keep it up +rep for getting rid of that sludge

hell yea man thnx 4 tha info!
im goona clean the roots again ina bowl of water tonight, im wondering if a few T-spoons of hydrogen peroxide will help with that?

You are able to overdose them on H2o2 if I'm not mistaken. I haven't done it but have read of it being done... I may have done it in soil before but not in hydro. Also the way you wash them off can be slightly altered. Do you have a sprayer on your kitchen sink or a way to spray water on the roots. I sat them in the tub and sprayed them with a garden hose on full blast. Got rid of dam near every bit of algae from the roots and a few of the dead roots too. Should help a bit more Give it a try just don't over do the water pressure. If you have a 400gph submersible pump, that water pressure should be sufficient.