1st Grow, Water Farm 8-Pack and Flora Nutes W/pics

C

cruzer101

Well-Known Member
Hi Everyone​

I wrote a website to keep this journal.
Hydrobuds.net
Today I transfered it here to get some opinions​

This is my first Hydro grow.
I started with 3 lights. One 400W MH and two 250W HPS
I am using the water farm 8 pack that I modified to an ebb and flow,
and using flora nutes.​

Starting with eight clones, 3 Dutch dragon, 3 Atomic haze and 2 Mazar.​

12/1/07 Day 1
We figure the clones are 3 to 4 weeks old.​

OK Here we go!
Station 4

Purchased 8 clones in rockwool cubes and planted them in the hydroton.
Filled the reservoir with water, balanced the PH to 5.5 and added Flora Nutrients:
Flora Grow 2 fl oz. Folra Micro 2 fl oz. Folra Bloom 2 fl oz.​

Lights are set for 16 hours on 8 hours off.
Drip system: 1 hour on, one hour off while lights are on.
Then on for 1 ½ hour twice during the night to keep them moist.​



12/9/07
After 1 week in hydroton. Not much growth. for station 4​


I notice a white film around the drip rings. I guess its salt.
Not sure if this is a problem or not. Three of them are growing pretty fast,
but they also have yellow around the edges of there leaves.​


Station 2 and 3​

Its amazing the difference in the plants growth patterns.
I believe the one on the left is sativa and the right is indika.
There flowering cycles are different too. The sativa takes a week or two longer than indika but we wanted a mix.​

After reading the nutrients schuedle a second time I made some adjustments.
We drained the system and added Flora nutrients Grow, Micro and Bloom.
We went full strenght this time. Also started adding Flora Diamond Necter.​

Then we changed the lights cycle to 18 hours. We raised the lights about a foot.
Kept the watering cycle the same. Maybe change that next week. Its hard for me to tell.
I only visit them once a week.​




12/11/07
middle of second week​

Moving the lights up didnt seem to do it. The small plants are still drooping and most of the plants leaves are yellowing on the edge now.​


I found out over watering can cause the leaves to yellow and droop. I think we also might have a Nitrogen block.
Its where you have the nutreints in there but because the ph is not right the plant cant absorb them.
I understand this can cause salt deposits too.
I posted at rollitup.org its a great forum, and the answer i got was my Ph was off.​


12/16/07
Week 2​

OK, Today we flushed out the system, cleaned the salt deposits off the drip rings
and filled with Straight 5.5 ph, (no nutes) water.
We figure we should run it for a week and then add nutreints at 1/2 strength and go up from there.
After looking closely I see that the rockwell cubes have never had a chance to dry and they should.
The water level in the stations was a little too high so we adjusted the float valve on the controller a bit lower.​

We set the watering cycle for 3- 30 min sessions when the light is on and off altogether at night.
We had 1 hour on, one hour off while lights are on. Then on for 1 ½ hour twice during the night.
That was a total of 12 hours in a 24 hour period so we went to 90 miniutes total and will do that for a couple
days then double it and stay at 3 hours a day.​











We rearranged the plants under the lights, we put the four bigger ones in the center under the halide
and the others on the ends. we figure we should maximize our potential crop rather then baby the smaller ones.​


I have been using my phone to take the pics, I guess I will use a better camera. Humm..
Makes wonder if we should have a light mover. One thing at a time.​

Well as you can see out of the eight plants we got 2 super plants 2 good plants
2 "so so" plants and 2 runts.​

___________________________________________________________​

12/23/07
Week 3​

It seemed to help out quite a bit,
the leaves are green and the plants over all look better.
(thank's to Garden Knowm at rollitup.org)​

The first thing I did today was check the PH. It had gone up from 5.5 to 6.5 over a weeks time.
Here is a shot of the two super plants from the side, they measure 20 inches tall.​


We topped these two today so the others have a chance to catch up.
I wish they were all that big but there not. The plant on the left has a perfect formation,
on the right is bigger but kinda crazy, huge five finger fan leaves.
The two behind these are close in size, but we have issues with our four small ones.​

Here are some shots of the smaller plants so you can see the difference.​






As you can see the smaller ones still have the yellowing on there leaves so we think they are still getting too much water.
So we split the plants to two watering cycles.
These we left at three 30 min cycles a day untill they dry out. (see the moss on the rockwell cube?
we scraped it off but it was still wet.) I dont know if that will help but its worth a try.
Maybe its time I sought advice from rollitup.org again.​

The Super plants ( the larger ones) we got at three 60 min cycles a day.​

We added Flora nutes at half strength for this week.
If all goes well we will go full strength next week.
The the PH went up durring the week so we started at 5.0 this time.​

Oh yea, we added the mylar too.
just framed out a square with 2x2 stock and attached it to the 2x4 we have the lights attached to.
This way we can raise the lights and still have reflective sides, just cut the mylar a little long.
We are still trying to figure this out.​



Now we got the two sodium lights at an angle and fans blowing the heat up and away.​


Here is a shot lookin inside the grow area from the end. cool huh?​


 
C

cruzer101

Well-Known Member
12/28/07
I am finding out that it is hard to keep the ph and nutes ballanced in all 8 containers.
So I figured out out to convert the system to an Ebb and Flow. That way all the water
goes to one reservior where it is easer to ballance and feed. Here is a diagram.​

First, this is how it works now, the reservior is above the controler and gravity fed
with a float valve to stop the feed at a certian height.​


Ok, now here is a diagram my idea.​


I am going to try it tomorrow.​

12/30/07
Week 4​


Well things didn’t go as planned today; I wasn’t able to test the ebb and flow.​

When I got there the door to the grow room was closed.
Turns out my friend was passed out and the door was closed for a couple days.
The temp in the room was 110 degrees. The two monsters and one other survived.​


Yellow lower leaves and the upper green ones are a little brittle but I think we will be ok.
I gave up on 2 plants that were cooked. Turns out they didnt root.
I think we will end up with 3 plants out of this.
The two large ones, Looks like one Atomic haze and a Dutch Dragon.​

and this one, looks like a smaller Dragon.​



So, I Drained the controller and stations, there was about two inches left in res.
I used that and added tap water set ph at 5.0 figuring there was still some left over water in
the rest of system and it would balance out at 5.5​

I went full strength flora nuets week four on there chart. Watering 3 times a day for hour each time.
I hope they are still there next week, things don’t look very good.​


_______________________________________________________________​

1/7/08
Week 5​

OK we are back in business, They are comming back.
I notice the new growth is strong, some yellow in the lower fan leaves
I trimmed up a few. These pics were taken with the grow lights off and just the flash.
Check out the stock on the dragon.​



I drained the system and added a second reservoir and converted to the ebb an flow.
It was a success.
I liked the bubblers and drip ring setup so drilled my overflow valve a little low
so the containers would get the same amount of water as they were getting.
But now it gets mixed in the lower reservoir than dispersed to the containers.​

That way they all get balanced nutrients and it’s a hell of a lot easier
to balance the ph in one reservoir than in eight different containers.​

It’s the Ultimate Waterfarm now.​

Here’s a shot of what I did.​

This is the controller; the open hole you see is where the inlet to the float valve was.​

Basically I just turned it around and drilled a 1/2 overflow hole and added a lower res.​

Then got a 150 gph power head/pond pump and pumped up through the lower 1/2 hole that was the feed to the containers.
Now I put the water pump on the same timer as the air pumps for the bubblers.
It takes 10 min to fill all the containers and controller to 4 inches of water, when the water gets
high enough the bubblers raise the water to the drip rings.​

This could easily be a true ebb and flow. All you would do is use the Open
hole where the control valve was as your overflow instead.
I assume you would want to drill a few more holes in the bottoms of the growing containers.
You would probably want to add an air stone the lower res.​



I used a underbed storage tub I found at home depot for $9
and cut the corner of the lid Notched the decking for gravity drain.
Then I needed a way to easily drain the lower reseviour so I put a tee on the water intake,
short hose and a valve on both sides.
One goes to the controler, one is to drain with.​

I still use the original res. to mix my nutes. Its much eaiser.
Once mixed I just bend the tube over to the lower res and fill it.
Then I fill it again to have a pre mixed soulition to top off with durring the week.​



This is week 5 so its time to start flowering. I wanted to clone today but we desided to
wait till next week. Give them time to fully recover from there exposure to high temps.
Here is a shot of the tops of the plants at the end of the vegitation cycle.​



We are going into flower with the 400w MH and two 250W HPS lamps.
I know its time for a 400w HPS I have been looking at a cool tube but that means
that I would need a fan to cool it. Around $320.00 with a 170 cfm inline fan and a
switch able ballast. I could do it for about a third of the price with standard ballast
($100 eBay) and just use the fans we have... hum.​

Filled with Flora neuts, week 5 of there feeding schedule. Watering twice a day now,
once when lights go on 7:00 and once at 5:00. Lights changed to 12 hours.​

_______________________________________________________________​


See Ya Next Week!​
 
C

cruzer101

Well-Known Member
1/13/08
Week 6

Today we flushed and went to week 6 on flora nutes,
running about 1300 ppms and keeping the ph between 5.5 and 6.5
We took 18 clones, used root powder and a drop of superthrive per gallon.
Put them in one inch rocklwell cubes and put them under a dome.
This is our first try at this we will see what happens.​

We set up a veg room in the closet. We used an under the bed storage unit
for our tray same as we used for the lower res in the flower room.
I made an ebb an flow system for vegging.​



We. water twice a day lights on 20 hours. We have 4 40W flurosents
Actually two shop lights bolted together with 2 40w T-10 grow lights that
run at 5000K and two Daylight bulbs Now they are about ten days old
and about 14 out of the 18 have rooted some.
A couple did real good. we will see. Heres a shot from the side:​




1-28-08
Week Seven

Time for a shot of the four we have flowered, We took the clones from the
Atomic Haze and the Large Dragon. The two center plants. Now we grow some Buds!.​





Heres a closer shot of them, Day 20 of flowering.​

Atomic Haze​



Dutch Dragon​



Smaller Dragon​



We are getting the 1000w MH next week. I just ordered the bulb.
I am getting a new air cooled hood for it. We Installed a dual 160cfm exaust
fan. We mounted the exaust right to the heater vent for now,
we will see how that works. We have a 1000w ballast.​

I know everyone flowers with HPS but I read the buds are more potent
with a mix. We have the two 250w sodiums on the side. I lowered them
down a few inches lower then the MH.
The best thing would be to get a light mover. We will see what happens.​
 
C

cruzer101

Well-Known Member
2/2/08
Week 8​

OK got the 1000w MH up. didnt need a new reflector, I got the small bulb so it fit in the old reflector.
The exaust fan running while the lights are on did the trick alright,
stays at 84 degrees.​

Raised the lights 6 inches, Did a full fush of the containers there was some crap in the bottoms.
Oh also got some bottled water instead of tap.
Our tap was 335 ppm the
bottled water was mountain spring at 230 ppm.
I found a place close to the house where they refill water containers for .35 a gallon.​

The water I got from the machine was 30 ppm. Looks like I found our new water supply.​

Week 8 pics
27 days into flower​



Moved all four together under the MH, little crowded but best lighting.
Tilted the hps 4 inches more on the sides.​

Went into week eight of Flora nutes full strength, for the flowering room 1100 ppm
and week 2 for the clones 800 ppm.​




These Ladys are going to take a little longer to flower than Floras schedule so we are
going to double weeks 8 9 and 10​



Sorry about the crappy pic, Next time I will bring my camera and get shots without
the HPS on, the buds are forming nicely.​

Here is a shot of our first batch of clones, the one in the front may not make it.
we took the cuttings 4 weeks ago. Out of the 16 cuts we got five. Not too good.
We used root powder and superthrive we got 2 large and 3 small that rooted and are doing well.
We will need 3 more for the next cycle. Next time its Olivias rooting gel and nutrents.
I learned a lot this first time around and its been a lot of fun.​


Started these guys on week 2 Flora nutes 800 ppm. ph 5.9 and put a small
fan on them to help dry out the rockwool . still need to make covers to stop
the alge and remove the plastic from the cubes.​
 
C

cruzer101

Well-Known Member
2/11/08
Week 9
34 days into flowering

Drained res and went with week 8 nutes again. only 1100ppm Its been a little hot in
there around 90 degrees, trying to get the temp down but havin a little trouble convincing
my bud to vent the room. So all I could to was cut back on nutes and hope they get
enough water. same to clones, week 3 nutes left them at 700ppm
Hes going to top off with 30ppm 6.0ph water.

I brought my camera today but still took the shots with the HPS on. A little better shots.



The plants are actualy a healthy green color., Heres a shot from the side



closer shot of the buds,



Our clones are comming along nicely too. I made the covers today.

 
C

cruzer101

Well-Known Member
02-17-08
Week 10
41 Days flowering

Flushed res and went to week 9 of Floras nutes, moved light up 4 inches and added
fan to bring in some fresh air. Clones were over watered so my partner made it worse
by taking water out of the res without mixing. What was left was twice the ppms needed
and they got over nutes it was 1660ppms when I got there. So we lost 4 clones.

Down to two clones now. I took them home. I am going to do the cloning and bring them to him to flower.
Once I get a strong mother I will bring it down there and use a single waterfarm or just put her in dirt.

Here is this weeks pics. I turned off the lights and used a flash.







 
C

cruzer101

Well-Known Member
2-24-08
Sorry couldnt make it this week,
We are just going to top off res with 5.7ph 30ppm r/o water
______________________________________________________________

3-2-08
Week 12
56 Days flowering

Everything is going as planned, They could have used some nutes last week.
Went to week 9 of floras nutes. We added Kool Bloom this week. 2 weeks to go till we flush then harvest.
Heres some pics. This is with lights on.








Then with the lights off and cameras flash.







Cool huh?

Im working on a veg cabinet.
Its almost perfected. I am using a combination of LED and T5 lighting to keep the wattage down.
Once it is completed (the lighting) I will be drawing aprox 230 watts and producing 1320 watts of grow light power.
By using only the light spectrum the plant needs I save on electricty as well as cooling costs.
Right now it is about half that. equal to say, a 400w metal halide and Im drawing 82 watts.
58 watts LED and one 24" 24 watt T5 flouro at 6500k. I have 8 CFLs in there too that I am not using at this time, they are 6500k also.

Here is a shot, I got a couple clones on the upper shelf and some starts on the lower shelf.
I got the seeds online. You can get just about anything you want.

Heres a shot of the cabinet

.

This is going to be a Mother Dragon



Heres the Snow White seedlings (5 days old)



I figure I will keep the strongest one as a mother and flower the rest.
I paid a little extra and got feminized seeds, guaranteed female.They are from Holland.
The strain is called Snow White. Its a cousin of White Widow. Only the father was a stronger indica
and the plants is a little shorter and thicker buds. We shall see.

Whats up with this, I got no comments, Is anyone reading this?

.
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C

cruzer101

Well-Known Member
3-9-08
Week 13
61 days in flower​

Yes, it has been eight weeks of flowering but these girls need a little more time.
Today we flushed res and filled with week 10 ( final week ) of Flora nutes with floras
Kool Bloom. I did some research and found out how to tell when to harvest.
I always thought it was when about half the hairs of the buds turned orange
but thats not right.​

You look at the resin glands or Trichome's I think they are called. They are clear right now.​

When they turn milky then harvest for the best Mind high.
If you let them get Amber you get a body stone from the weed.
I read that in the growers bible.​

Well I got a magnyfying glass to see if I could take a pic of them.
This is the best I got.​


They look like powder from a distance, Up close you can see the little stocks and a head on the top.​

I understand this is where the most resin is, the resin glands are at the bottom of the head.​

They are all over the buds and the upper leaves.​

The buds are bulking up.​




Next grow we have a light Mover. I just picked one up off of Craigs List.​

The guy had an Inteli drive 3.5 with the 6 foot bar and the light bar thing,​

wanted $95 I thought that was fair. I hear it increases the amount of light
to the lower branches and its like 1.6 times more light. Anyway equals to
like 25% more buds.​

So Basicly we are going to drop the sodiums a little lower on the sides and
run that down a six foot rail above two rows of plants in the eight
waterfarms.
We will probaly revamp quite a few things but one thing at a time.
Lights first. Then air. Anyway, more pics!​

Dutch Dragon​


This Dutch Dragon looks like it took after its father, an Indika called Durban.​


From what I understand Its a cross between Skunk and Durban.
____________________________________________________________​

Ok, Now without the HID just camera flash.​


You can see the indica Dragon in the front. The sativa Dragon upper right and
Atomic Haze on the left.​

Here is better shot of Atomic Haze,​


This is the Dutch Dragon from above..​


Close up of Dragon Bud.​


We are going to harvest any week now.​




See Ya Next Week!​
 
W

wonta

Active Member
Great detailed journal, and good job on the grow for your first hydro grow. Thanks for the tip on the (tricicomes?) I have been trying to find threads on them with no luck. I love the way you are patient enough to let a majority of your leaves yelllow during harvest and not worry. Most don't know that is a natural part of the plant using up its reserve sugars to push power to bud grow. Keep it up and good luck on next grow.
 
C

cruzer101

Well-Known Member
wonta said:
Great detailed journal, and good job on the grow for your first hydro grow. Thanks for the tip on the (tricicomes?) I have been trying to find threads on them with no luck. I love the way you are patient enough to let a majority of your leaves yelllow during harvest and not worry. Most don't know that is a natural part of the plant using up its reserve sugars to push power to bud grow. Keep it up and good luck on next grow.
Click to expand...
Thanks and your right about the yellow leaves. I would be in trouble if I was still veggin. Oh, and I found the proper spelling is Trichome. That may help you find more info. I edited my post. Thanks again
 
C

cruzer101

Well-Known Member
3-16-08
Week 14
68 days in flower

Its Time to flush.
I checked out the buds and the Trichomes are turning a milky white. I accidently
bought floras sheild instead of there flush. I think its called cleen or something.
We just used R/O water ph at 5.0 We will run them for one week. That should do it.

Took a couple pics, used a tape measure so you get a better idea of size...










They were in containers that were 10 inches tall so our tallest one was 32 inches.

Funny, when we started this we thought we could grow a plant 4 or 5 foot tall.
Now I understand that indoor lights just do not supply the light needed to grow
that tall. Our next grow we will have a taller table for them to sit on. It will make
it much eaiser to get to them. This has been a great learning experence.

So, we have our next crop started, We have 4 Snow White females, five Dragon
female Clones and Two Apollo I started from seed but havent sexed yet.

Heres a better shot of my veg cabinet.



Lights; 42 watts LED and 48watts T5 HO. I use a drip system to water the plant on
top as well as the root system. then into a tray that drains through the shelf to a res
on the next shelf.
Here is also my DIY clone machine I set into a prop tray with a tall 7 inch dome.
There is two air sticks about 8 inches long and an aquarium water heater inside.

I veg with under a hundred watts now. No need to cool it but I have 12v intake and
exhaust fans running at 35cfm. There is a window right behind it I open to get fresh air.
The plant on the right is about three weeks from clone.

Closeup of the center shelf, Dragon Mother on the right.



And one of the seedlings, The apollos are on top. They are a couple days older.
The rest are feminized Snow White from Narvana. 4 out of 5 seeds. lost one.
They are 11 days from seed here. I use ro water and a drop of superthrive.
We start feeding at 1/4 strength next week.



The clones are still in the cloner I made. Sort of a bubble cloner but I cut out the
center of the bottom of the net pots, leave a bit on the edge, and drop a rapid rooter
plug in it. That way I can remove the plug and not damage the tap root.

Then I put it in a rockwool cube. They should be about this size in another week.

Out of the eleven we will keep one Snow White as a second mother. (we have a
Dutch Dragon mother now) Flower 3 Snow White, 2 apollo (if we get lucky) and
the best 3 Dutch Dragons out of the five.

All are Sativa mix so we are looking at 10 weeks flower but we are going to start
them a couple weeks early this time.... Hopefully.
_______________________________________________________________




See Ya Next Week!
 
BigGuyTok'n

BigGuyTok'n

Well-Known Member
:mrgreen:Awesome grow man, wish I had the room and/or decent wiring in this house to do something like that.
Me I have to struggle with what sunshine we get and Wisconsin weather.
 
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