First Hydro Grow

ringlead3r

Active Member
Pk I was hitting those numbers in a 10x8ft space go read al b fucts sticky threads it will lead u down a good path
 

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
I appreciate all the advice, Ill definitely be doing some more research. For now though my rooms are built and plants are growing so there is not much in the way of room design that I'm going to be changing. Down the road, who knows, all I have is time and space :bigjoint:

Ill be keeping a close eye on these girls, and posting updates throughout. Out of the 11 plants there are 3 different strains, it'll be cool to watch which one responds the best to my program.
 

thenotsoesoteric

Well-Known Member
My bad PK, I just noticed you said you were doing 3-2-1 ratio right now. That is your problem. You should be running 2-2-2 ratio or really 1-1-1 for now and then 2-2-2 when the plants are starting to get bigger.

Sorry I did not notice that three days ago. The 3 part grow 2 part micro 1 part flower is for when plants are strong and full size.

I think your lights will be fine where they are at, just go to the seedling feed schedule until roots are growing good then go to that veg ratio of 3-2-1.

I think it might have been the lack of flower formula which supplies the K(potassium) that plants need for root growth. I don't think the ppms were the root of the problem after all. I think it is a lack of K(potassium) that caused the leave curl.

Cheers and good luck.
 

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
Hey man, thanks for taking a second look!

You know the ratio of my nutrient mix didnt even cross my mind. My plants are now a week and a half old (I should clarify this...I've had them for a week and a half, they were two week old rooted clones when I picked them up so really about 3 1/2 weeks old) and they stand about 8"-9" tall. My new growth doesn't seem too look as bad as the old sets of leaves. But still not as "perky" as I'd like to see them.

Ill do a flush here in the next few days and mix even parts grow-micro-bloom and see how that affects them.
 

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
Well the girls are now 14days old. They are definitely growing but still seem to be suffering from some sort of lockout/deficiency. As you can see the leaves are losing their dark lush green and going more pale lime green. The stems/stock are also very purple which I find weird.

The second picture is another plant (same strain) that looks like its got holes appearing in the leaves.

I should add that I just did a res change. Added 1-1-1 parts of grow-micro-bloom to 640 ppm. My pH likes to hover around 5.9. I'll put some pH down in it every morning, drops it to 5.7 but it creeps back up.
 

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PKHydro

Well-Known Member
Ok well I guess I'm talking to myself.

I'm now thinking that I have a calcium deficiency among other things. I don't know how else to describe this. Should I be picking up some cal-mag??
 

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PKHydro

Well-Known Member
Well as I said, I am going to update this thread as my grow progresses.

I have been thinking stressing out about what's going on with my plants....see above posts,lol...

But Im pretty sure i figured out what the problem might have been. I came to the realization as I was doing my daily chores while not sky high, that I probably shouldn't be adding pH Down concentrate as my pump is running to feed the plants...my feed pump runs the entire time my lights are on...I figure that the pump was taking the concentrated pH solution and pumping it out to the plants before it could dilute completely causing huge swings for them. So I have decided to just let my pH fluctuate a bit more...I was being a bit anal and trying to keep it 5.6-5.8, adjusting multiple times a day. I will instead adjust once a day before my pump kicks on, if necessary.

I topped them all a few days ago, they already have a new set of leaves on the two new tops. The deficiency symptoms seem to have all stopped progressing, and the new growth looks fairly healthy. I'm at my halfway point through veg and am pretty happy with how things are going.

A few pics from my phone...who knows which way they'll turn themselves....image.jpg
 

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waterdawg

Well-Known Member
Also do some research on the lighting. With 11-12 plants you will not need that many lights. Probably not more than 6 lights and that would be more than need u really need. I have not done any research on the subject due to only having one 600 and 8 T5's to veg. My hydro bill is around $ 500 a month so i do the bear minimum 😁. I do ok with the 600 doing 6 plants in a ebb and flow system
 

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
What do you consider "Ok" to be? What are you yielding per plant in that system with only the 600w?

I'm hoping to pull 1.25lbs, dried and cured, per plant.
 

waterdawg

Well-Known Member
Every 10 week plant cycle I average about 350 to 400g per six plants so not even close to what you r hoping to get. I'm just saying as a number of people have said, you are wasting the lights potential by having the plants so far from them. Also by no means do. I have experience with hydro as i just finished my first season inside. I can only grow in colder months due to heat. But good luck with the grow. You do have a nice setup if you utilize it properly.
 

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
Thanks,

As I said before this is my flowering room, it just happened to be finished first so I put the clones in here
Just to get started. This way I have 8 weeks until my veg room needs to be complete. My actual veg room is smaller, still huge to what I see done on here @ 10'x12'. So ya ill concede that this isn't optimal at the moment.

Heat is going to be my main concern once all those lights are fired on in flower. I have a huge exhaust fan, big enough to swap the air out in under 2 mins, and intake from a cool dark space, both are tied into a main thermostat on the wall. This plus the fact that we are now coming into fall/winter I think I'll be golden.
 

waterdawg

Well-Known Member
This will be an interesting project! I'll be watching this one 😀. Heat may become an issue. Depends alot on make-up air temps. I struggle with a lot less heat (12 lights = approx. 40,000 btu's) in an 8x8x8 shed. I draw air from my crawl space. When temps go above 70 im pretty much done for the summer. You may require mechanical cooling for part of the season.
 

Glacius

Well-Known Member
They look pretty good and healthy last update, don't overdo the tweaking trying to get them perfect lots of times it does more harm then good. Also once the tips are burnt they're burnt, use the new growth to judge if you've solved the issue. I found purpling stems and leaves getting lighter to be a lack of cal/mag in my experience, once I added some to my water they darkened up and growth doubled, cal-mag deficiency effects nutrient uptake as i understand it so eventually it will stunt the growth too. Thats a nice big setup, looking forward to seeing the results.
 

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
Luckily I live in a fairly mild climate. When I comes to summer time crops, rather than go the AC/Co2 route, ill just unplug a few lights until I can get my temps under control. I may loose out a bit in weight but that's how it goes.

Yea I've decided less is more!

Im waiting a bit for everything to stabilize, if I'm still seeing the purple stems and other signs of deficiency I'll be picking up some cal/mag. Tomorrow is day 21 and I'm pretty sure they are where they should be growth wise, and really ramping up their growth rate.

Can't wait to see how this all turns out either!


:joint: PK
 

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
A few quick pictures from today @ 21 days old.








Now I want to trim some of the bottom crap off of the plant so I'm not left with a lot of fluffy or small popcorn bud, but I don't know when I should start the pruning process. If I start pruning in flower is it too late for the plant to really focus on getting big tops?
 

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waterdawg

Well-Known Member
I think most people would say not to prune when in flower if you prune at all. If your planning on growing "trees" i dont think pruning is even advisable but may be wrong. I only veg for a short period so tend not to prune at all.
 

ASMALLVOICE

Well-Known Member
SSSSIIIICCCCKKKKKK!!!!!

Looking Most Excellent Indeed :clap:

Man, I can only dream of the day I get that kind of space, in a few years, once I am no longer under a corporate thumb, its on...lol

Many thanx for the update.

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice
 

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
Thanks all for the comments.

I should probably clarify this, none of this product will be for sale. I'm growing far less plants that I'm legally allowed to grow. 99% of this bud will be used in a arthritis rub/salve. It takes a lot of bud to make this rub strong enough that it helps.

I just didnt want anyone thinking that this is an illegal money making machine....furthest thing from it actually...
 
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