switch to hydroponic

From being a regular outdoor grower of whatever seeds came to hand, I decided to aim for total self sufficiency. I have always had good outdoor crops-lucky soil and situation I guess. I prepare my planting site with thoroughly rotted cow manure dug deep, and it answers very well-the only watering it gets is when I water the lawn.
My regular seed plant (some purple thing with narrow leaves) gave me 7.5 oz dried this year, and so I very (when trimming) belatedly stuck some of the smaller buds into rooting hormone. Bugger me, they didn't die, although they looked like mutants-this was using a bog standard fluorescent tube, peat pots and John Innes no1. I was worried about the look of them, but reasoned it was the buds unfurling-we normaly smoke those little tinkers. they were misted oftenish with weak Formulex.

I invested in a grow tent, four pot Ebb and Flow system, 250 Watt HPS light, air pump and solution heater, I already had a small fan. I have been using FloraGro range of nutrients. After vegging the plants for 3 Weeks, I took a number of cuttings, using Clonex rooting gel, coir cubes, a heated propagator and a 110 watt propagation light which is also suitable for the veg growth period. The light is set to an 18/6 schedule, all doing well so far-3 weeks in.
The plants in the tent are budding well and smelling rich, the heights vary quite a bit, as I shoved everything in as soon as the tent arrived. They have been on 12/12 for 3 weeks to date.
So far in the heated propagator the strike rate for the clones is now approx 70% and counting, none have died. the only added nutrient has been 1/2 strength Formulex misted on.In the clone stage I am using Formulex as it is an easy reliable one shot feed. I have potted the strongest rooted clones up into peat pots 3" in diameter with B'cuzz clay pebbles, my chosen medium.
To help with moisture uptake before they are set out in the hydroponic unit, I have cut thin strips of Capillary matting and led them into each pot, the pots then stand on a sheet of the same material in the propagator.
I have been thinking about an automatic watering system for this stage of the process, and today went to the local Garden centre-there I found an ingenious and cheap (£7.99 I think) French made device, brand name Ariso which uses a 5 litre water bottle as a reservoir, provides a sturdy plastic base, pipe, connectors and 3 adjustable drippers. I have cemented (with hot glue) one of the drippers to the inside front centre of the propagator lid, put the reservoir a couple of inches higher, on a shelf and joined the two with the pipe. I have filled it with a slightly weaker than recommended formulex set it to no3 and will check it much to see what occurs.
A real problem is going to be slowing things down to synchronise with the flowering plants
I intend to go to 12/12 with the fluoro, and to start feeding weak FloraGro the plants that are moving into the Hydroponics, about two weeks before planting them out to get them used to it.
I don't know if that's a bit soon, but I want to try and force them into a 12/12 schedule as early as possible to keep them small-damn its exciting though isn't it? I can hardly wait to see if they survive (we get power cuts here in bad weather, as if all the normal hazards aren't enough) - lucky that looking at them doesn't kill them I say.

Welcome to the forum, always glad to have someone with experience drop by. What you are describing is common when you have limited flowering area, clones are ready before you have the space to flower them. Once you find out how long your plants take to mature you can set it up. You may have to keep a mother instead and clone like four weeks before harvest. VV

Thanks for the welcome Mr Viscious. This WebSite is such a good idea. I think I will try your mother plan-it's going to be a complete trauma binning healthy little babies. That's the time when the Devil sits on your shoulder saying "Gooo Ooon one more little light and a few more square feet can't hurt anyone......". Do you have an opinion on root pruning? I have read that small plants can be kept stunted using Bonsai techniques and rather than chuck any excess clones, I thought I might experiment on them.

also time for an update 24 hours into using the dripper system. The propagator capillary mat was lightly damp, and some of the cubes a little dry. I have turned the heat down to setting 4, closed one of the 2 vents misted well and turned the drip rate up to setting no5. all still healthy, I will check daily until I am satisfied that it's well balanced, and for root developement in the remaining cubes on sat

saturday is here and it's the bi-weekly check up on flowering plants and clones, this involves (for me) checking reservoir levels, temps, and PH at the moment, although more sophisticated monitoring is being considered (once I know what the numbers indicate). When I have to top up the Hydroponic, I do it 8 litres at a time, with tepid ph balanced water and NO EXTRA NUTRIENTS. the water is poured 2 litres at a time through each pot to help dissolve any nutrient buildup. Everything is going well. Next Saturday the tank will be drained and refilled with General Hydroponics FloraRipen which is designed to stress the plant into flowering as though it's life depended on it (which frankly, it does)

The cloning box is doing well only 8 from 42 clones have yet to show their roots and as they all look good, i am expecting most of these to root also.
The dripper system is excellent, set as last mentioned. ideal conditions for rooting and will be useful for any grower lookin for a fit and forget watering system. It would be easy to adapt it for a large reservoir, although I would use aeration in that application.

I have been following this link with with much interest, started by Tahoe58, it poses more questions than it answers, and it seems there is some good work to be donehttps://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/36368-trichomes-thc-uvb-light.html. there doesn't seem to be a lot of information out there on the reaction of our favourite plant to long wave UV-366nm in this case, and in about 4 weeks I will try a rather unscientific/half-assed experiment testing a section of a plant in flower to destruction if possible, documenting what if any changes occur
"selah"

Culled the clones today- broke my heart to destroy healthy plants, but it's not very discreet to give them away. Kept 12 super skunk and 12 of my old reliable purpley thing. All plants were chosen for strength of root and height uniformity, I will go to two rectanular tubs for this grow-one SOG one SCROG and see who does best.

Slight overwaterering in clone tray-I put all 3 drippers in to help with increased water demand, and set them too high. each is now set to 4. I drained the tray, stood the peat pots on newspaper and rinsed the capillary nat and squeezed it dry. as it is time (I think) to go to vegetative nutrients, I have mixed full strength Formulex and added it to the reservoir. Looking good. Will continue to check often.

Put the tent plants onto ripening/forcing nutrients, after draining and cleaning the tent and admiring them- another two weeks should do it nicely. Oh yes.

Came back from the weekend, and realised that owing to height differences in the tent plants, 80% of my crop is being light starved, so I have cropped the 3 tallest buds (4oz wet) and put them to dry. The cut sites were sealed with a hot glue gun to prevent transpiration. The light has been dropped 13", the foliage spread and Cannazym added at advised strength.
I didn't like to do it, but it will give all the other Girls a chance. the bud is stinking and sticky with resin and will smoke well.
Everthing is fine in the clone box-tomorrow I will put them into the next pot ( 4" plastic) with clay beads.

Did a little experiment with the moonlight bulb in my clone box. It corrected a tendency for the plants to orientate themselves towards the CFL lightsource in a 24hr cycle. I want to check for damage before re-using. I will then use it on a small plant in late flowering and post results here.

I am concerned about dropping temperatures in the flowering area. I have ordered an Aqua flow 2-pot system for my next flowering, as this is a compact unit and will leave room for a thermostatic fan heater in the tent. this will also remove the 30 litre tank of warm nutrient to outside the tent, and reduce the humidity. it should easily take 10 plants or more SOG stylee

We had a bit of a freeze forecast, so I squeezed the fan heater in anyway-a little fiddly to adjust the temp but a big and I mean BIG speed up of ripening- I will have to crop some more out and lower the light again. The last cutting gave 30grams dried and well trimmed.

Things are moving fast. I put a thermostatic heater in the tent. As well as controlling the humidity the ripening has quickened. So much so I have now cropped the main plants, and am growing on the runts under UV/Sodium/MPH. I checked and re-set PH, topped the tank and re-orientated the plants to get maximum light. I will post the combined yield up when it is dry. The aim is one gram per watt of lighting.

the Clone box is vegging nicely, kept short by low temp. I had intended to put them straight into 12/12 in the tent, but I think I will give them a week of 24hr light so to make a new clone batch. The Indica yields higher than the Sativa indoors, so I will keep a Mother Sativa for the next outdoor crop, and concentrate on the Indica for tent growing

Put the heater in already-it has made a huge difference, ending condensation problems and speeding ripening. I have cropped the majority of plants, and have four runts finishing under a UV solarium array, and a Eurolite Sodium/MPH- 12/12.
My clones are vegging under CFL supplemented with a marine moonlight UV 24/24.

The yield of dried weed is now running at 5.5oz of wich 1/2oz is small leave trim. I smoke it while the bud is curing and put the remainder in the bottom of the bud jar where it picks up all the bud shake and becomes a fair emergency blow. When I buy hash I always crumble a spliff or two's worth in there as well. Sort of a savings scheme.
so 154 grams so far, only another 100 grams and it will have been a good grow.

All cropped out today. total so far 5.5oz, with maybe 1-1.5 more to come when dry. not great, maybe .78grams per watt of lighting. I supplemented with UV at a late stage in flowering. this did no harm, but did no visible good. I shall introduce at an earlier stage of flowering in my next grow, which is going in today.
I am using 4 Aquapots, with clay pebbles/soil mix. I will set up a small Hydroponic unit (home-made) as a comparison. I will run two 5' CFL up the rear corners of the tent, and my 250Watt Sodium/MPH Eurolite overall.

All plants doing well -zero transplant shock. the Aqua pots are working well. They contain 16 Super Skunk clones. When they go into 12/12, I will supplement the existing lights with a UV tanning array for an hour at "midday". Todays task is to clean the lower stems of all growth and to remove any sideshoots. I am following mr Viscious's advice and picking a couple of Mothers from the best of the rest - I will start with the best 4, practice Bonsai on the two weaker and transfer the knowledge gained to the ideal pair. Should be fun. Anyone help with Bonsai hints?

Sorry I can't help you with the bonsai hints psyclone... but this is a very interesting thread, thankyou for taking the time to post.

Well after reading around, the best route seems to be starting them of with a combination of LST and supercropping techniques. At the moment they are in cap mat lined, perforated crates using wicks/hand watering for water and clay pebbles as a medium I am feeding with tomato nutrient at recomended strength- I will weaken this off until i am ready to take a batch of clones, when I will feed GH Floragro system for 1/2 weeks beforehand. At this point I will root prune, do any pinching and training and repot into the smallest practical pot-less than one litre if possible with a good potting compost-John Innes No1 is my favourite, and should be fine, the nutrients will gradually be used to re-establish the plant, without too much growth.

hey psyclone, have you got a digital camera with a USB cable?

This is all you need, then some type of photo editor would be helpful too. Googles picassa is ok and free, likewise Adobe that is free too.

I'd love to see some pic's of your plants.

there are 4 snaps in the gallery, i will do some more this week- the lighting is near impossible I find. Happy new year.