It's been a long 4 weeks, but the ride is smoothing out on my first successful grow. Have 3 kids in the closet, 1 Big Gun from HS and 1 White Rhino from Nirvana, the 3rd plant is one or the other (o.k. so I got a little bit confused at some point ;-) Both sets of seeds arrived about 15 days after I paid. Growing in coconut fiber which I boiled out to remove any salts, plus some other hydro mix to hold moisture. Started the kids out under 2x20w white flouro and 2x15 yellow flouro. After 2 weeks they were on their 3rd node and I started weening them into a 400w MH, starting with 1 hour a day and adding on. This is where problems began because I had gotten sloppy just been feeding them lightly nuted pH water without checking the pH of the runoff. Soon growth stopped and by the end of the 3rd week the Rhino, which was the quickest grower, was a pale yellow, the Gun had a few large necrotic spots and the oddball was just plain stunted. This is when I put them on 24 MH and started flushing with pH which required hourly maintenance while they took what amounted to a gigantic ****. I think the yellow flouros really messed with their chemical structure when they went to the blue spectrum MH. I began to run a full strength fert solution but not much was happening. Then I did the best thing for my babies that I've ever done - I bought a $60 TDS meter. My "full strength" solution was 40 ppm! Filtered water starts at 20, I was starving these kids. Bumped it up to 1300 and watched the color start coming back to the Rhino, and the Gun immediately widened the leaves it had just produced. I was amazed when the water lost 10% strength every 6 hours. 2 days later started a fresh solution at 800ppm By Saturday things were looking pretty strong but the new growth was still yellow, I added some Epsom salts and also determined that my fert mix (2-1.5-4 + .1-0-1) was lacking Nitrogen after figuring in the extra P + K from my pH up & down. Dropped in a couple pellets of Ammonia Nitrate to 60 ppm. The next morning the Gun was gushing new growth but the Rhino had crispy tips, so I flushed with pH water for a day and now I'm running a 300 ppm solution until I see a need to boost it. I see that some people add Cal-Mag plus Iron but instead I'm thinking of using BC Boost since I'm getting the needed Mag from the Epsom Salts. Eventually I think my recipe will be: 20ppm Epsom salts 20ppm NH4NO3 100ppm BC Boost 300ppm Seaweed (.1-0-1) 300ppm PureBlend Pro Grow I took a good long look at them this morning and really liked what I saw. Only about 3-5" tall, rhino's on the 6th node. Secondary shoots are coming out at the leafsites, even at the newly forming growth squirting out at the top. I love watching this stage where the secondary growth takes over the primary leaves which is probably gonna make it split out by itself. Gotta get a digicam and document this process better. Also, I have to shut the door at night which makes it way hot - even with my cheapo desk fans mounted in the side (had to put a labyrinthine air chamber on it to keep the light from escaping) so I have a small airstone installed in the lower 1/3 of each pot and at night I pump in cool air to the roots, that along with a midnight wash keeps them snug at night. Thanks to GK, its members, and to everyone who's ever written a troubleshooting guide. I guess I don't really have a question though I'd like to hear thoughts on the BC Boost. If I had pictures I'd post this in the growers section. JAH!! RASTAFARIA !!! (Edited by QuitinTarantincans at 7:59 am on Sep. 15, 2003)
UPDATE: 500ppm water didn't burn them, but the new growth spurt resulting from the NH4NO3 is kinda gangly, and not as lush green as I'd like. Plus the next node is slow coming. I ought to throw that chem bs away, I'll bet it messed with the organics. It's like dropping early and peaking during Minglewood Blues. Leeched again today and restarted with an 800ppm of just Pure Blend Pro.
to growkind dude, sounds like you are having a little fun with taking off!! If this is your first hydro grow I would say it may go alot smoother if you try to stick with the K.I.S.S. method. *What type of system are you running the coco fibre/?? mix in? *How often/ how long do you water? Change res? Test? *Do you PH & EC your ferty before feeding/ adding to res?, *Give ample time to settle before testing? *What type of PH and EC meters/tests are you using, what is your the other part of your medium and do you know what?/if the ferts are for hydroponics?? (some organic ferts do not read properly with ec/tds meters, too much thick/heavy/organic matter etc). Tis quite a few factors involved with indoor culture that need to be in a sort of equillibream before any growing will take off. You need to make sure you have good ventilation, adequate temps, good medium/rootzone etc to grow a healthy girl, even with the best ferts and seed strains, lights, systems etc. We should be ble to get you some where on track with that then mate Too easy HappyJay
Sounds mighty complicated for a first grow. Perhaps if all goes tits you could invest in some simple to prepare feed solutions, just mix and check final ph and ppm. My wool , drip feed is at 2000 ppm. the hydro quantum pots are about 1800, no medium. Complication leads to errors. Good luck, Streaker
Thanks for the words of encouragement and advice. That's why I'm just running with PBP right now to get an even footing before I start messing with a "recipe". All the kids responded to the PBP overnight, was worried about the Big Gun having droopy leaves but it is perking up too. I put some perlite, vermiculite and activated charcoal in the hydro mix, but it's about 75% coco fibre. Totally passive system that's evolving, I started with the square pots sitting together in a rezzy holding about 2x more water than there is medium. Every couple hours I adjust pH, flow some water through the medium, readjust pH and reflow through the medium to stabilize pH. I am changing over to 1 res. per plant, with the pots mounted in the res lid. and solution 1/4" below the medium. I plan to still wet the medium 3 or 4 times a day. I removed the airstones from inside of the grow pots since they seemed to stress the plants, then noticed that a bubbler in the res can dramatically cool down the water if pumping cool air, must shield the hose from the light. I think my ventilation is adequate for growth, but not enough to cool the room. With the autumn months setting it, cooling the grow won't be too tough as long as I can keep the solution cool. Using a Milwaukee TDS meter and liquid pH kit. I guess I ought to let the solution settle before measuring, didn't know that. 99% sure the pure blend pro is for hydro, as is the maxicrop I plan to add when the time comes. What I'd really like to know is what kind of organic Nitrogen sources don't need friendly bacteria to break down? Will a guano tea work in conjuction with something like florashield? Streakeruk I like the idea of running 1800ppm and thought I'd read something like that once, but a lot of times I see 400-600ppm for clones and 800-1000 for veg. What nutes are you running at 1800? Thanks
Hey man I think that all nitrogen and for that matter most of the nutrients absorbed by the plants roots system need to be made palitable by micro-organisms before use. As far as nutrient values are concerned, I'm using general hydro, and on the plant I'm currently flowering I have like 1100 PPM with ambitions to bring that number to more around 1500 by next week. I also have 12 clones in a little makeshift hydro SUPER ghetto style cloning chamber and they are running at like 400. I suggest getting General Hydroponics Nutrients before trying to make your own recipies. I'm considering a few other nutrients though, like check out fox farm, they boast that with organic nutrients you can boost your ppm levels to like 3000, I don't know if I'd try that myself, but **** it's worth looking into. Peace man.
I'm not sure I understand what your trying to accomplish. Are you experimenting? Sounds like you making it into ALOT of work to grow. Why did you put perlite/vermiculite in your res solution? They have no nutritional value and will only clog your pumps. As for ppm recommendations they can vary according to what you use. I veg with Fox Farm Big Grow and do fine with 1300ppm initially and gradually rise that to 1500-1600ppm as I approach flower. The first 7-10days of 12/12 I continue with a veg solution however on day 5 of 12/12 I add a ratio of 2 tablespoons/gallon of Fox Farm Tiger Bloom and Big Bloom mix. Day 10 of 12/12 cycle get a complete res change and fresh Bloom nutes. I only have to adjust my pH about every 4 days, not because I necessarily need to but because I like to feel like I am doing something. Happy Jay gives the best advice when he stated to use the K.I.S.S method. Take care, JE.
It's much harder to mix your own nutes; even though i do it myself. I recommend(applies to Hydro only) : 1)Organics work better in the Veggy Chamber than in the Bloom Room. Nitrogen is the most difficult Organic Substitute to find! I hate to say it, but it's better to use a chemical form of Nitrogen than Organic. Organic forms of Phosphorous and Potassium is much easier to manage than with Nitrogen. 2)Buy a chemical base-i recommend Botanicare Pure Blend Pro($8-$12 per pint). Only use organics as an "amendment" or "additive". Don't rely on Organics as your main source of Nitrogen!!! 3)Continue using 1/2 teaspoon of Epsom Saltz per Gallon. 1/4 tspn of Dolomitic Lime will provide enough Calcium. Chemical Ferts DO NOT provide enough Mg/Sulphur/or Calcium! 4)Do everythin possible to keep your Rezzy water circulating- use all the tricks such as air stones, powerheadz, or an oscillating fan blowin across your water surface. Anything to keep your water in motion provides more Oxygen to your roots. 5)Ph must be below 6.0PH-no exceptions. The highest cannabis can handle without deficiencies is 6.5PH.I actually lower my Rezzy down to 5.0PH!!! An it takes over 7 dayz for it to slowly rise past 6.0PH...and so i re-lower to 5.0PH. In my own garden, i'm currently using All organics in my Veggy Chamber; and am using a 90%chemz and 10% organics in my bloom Chamber. So far, my garden has yielded the most using SuperNatural Brand Fertz from Canada!!! Yes, i realize it'z chemz...sad but true...Chemz shamefully do outperform Organic Nutes(in hydros only). I don't think this rule apply to Soil Organic Growers though(Herbsparky is livin proof)... Jus my 2 cents.
