First 400W Grow Journal + Pics

JimmyT said:

Don't forget too that any changes done to water or nutes in hydro don't usually show until 2-3 days later

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Yea nutes have been a crash course because I haven't had a tds meter. I'll be mixing at 50% next time, or I might just wait till I get my meter this week.

Thanks for tips.

Someguy15 said:

Yea nutes have been a crash course because I haven't had a tds meter. I'll be mixing at 50% next time, or I might just wait till I get my meter this week.

Thanks for tips.

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Meter is completely essential in my opinion... get a waterproof one. you'll thank yourself later. Hell, and keep in mind the pens are a little harder to use than the corded sensor designs.

Looks pretttty good man I haven't seen smartpots full of hydroton before that is an interesting idea.

how do you liek those big cubes of rw they look easy to overwater... I don't even think that the hydro store here sells those anymore but they have the smaller rooter cube ones.

dbo24242 said:

Meter is completely essential in my opinion... get a waterproof one. you'll thank yourself later. Hell, and keep in mind the pens are a little harder to use than the corded sensor designs.

Looks pretttty good man I haven't seen smartpots full of hydroton before that is an interesting idea.

how do you liek those big cubes of rw they look easy to overwater... I don't even think that the hydro store here sells those anymore but they have the smaller rooter cube ones.

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Smart pots are nice actually, I like the lightweight and the roots seem to be thanking me for it.

The big cubes are ok, but while the plants are small I have to wait atleast 3 days to water. Stabbing them with a pen has seemed to help (did this before roots developed). Slightly annoying, but hopefully when the plants get like 24" I will be able to water once a day. I will probably just stick with 4" cubes and hydroton in the future.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VVVEUI/ref=ox_ya_oh_product Should be here tomorrow or Wednesday.

1480 uS @ 70.5f using EC 442 scale (conversion factor .65-.85). So this is 1.48 mS EC with .7 Conversion factor correct? A little new to this meter thing. Should I back this down to like 1.0 mS? I'm in week 2 on some plants, week 5 on the other 3. Never did titrate my nutes up the right way noob mistake. help me fix it

base water EC is .34.

edit: is this accurate? Eeeeek...
(EC(mS))——(PPM.5)———(PPM.7)——-(CF)
.4———200————-280———–4—–seedling/ rooted clones
.6———300————-420———–6—–
.8———400————-560———–8—–veg
1.0——–500————-700———-10
1.2——–600————-840———-12
1.4——–700————-980———-14
1.6——–800————-1120———16—–aggressive
1.8——–900————-1260———18
2.0——–1000————1400———20—–super aggressive
2.2——–1100————1540———22
2.4——–1200————1680———24

Samples I sucked out of Pineapple Express' cube reading 6.5 ph & 1.0 mS EC. Hope it's not to high for the little guy! Still working on getting damn ph down inside the actual cubes.

I also replaced some of the nute solution with fresh phd water, dropped my EC to 1.15 mS, hopefully that will take care of the nute burn issues.

so a ec of .34 is 238 ppm, so my water is somewhat hard? I should buy the 'hard water' formulation of nutes? I also learned there is chloramine in my water Going to grab some Kordon AmQuel Plus, anyone used this or have something better to recommend. Thanks again guys.

Someguy15 said:

Nobody? Ouch wheres the <3 RIU!

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Have you tried letting the water 'breathe' for 24 hours or running a water pump into the reservoir to allow some aeration. I've never actually tried it but that's the same thing I keep hearing and it supposedly helps. Incidentally, I use a reverse osmosis unit cutting my ppms to 0 or 1

JimmyT said:

Have you tried letting the water 'breathe' for 24 hours or running a water pump into the reservoir to allow some aeration. I've never actually tried it but that's the same thing I keep hearing and it supposedly helps. Incidentally, I use a reverse osmosis unit cutting my ppms to 0 or 1

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My water website

I usually try to aerate for 24-48 hours before a flood. I do have chorlamine which supposedly won't dissipate for much longer than regular chlorine. I'm currently wondering if 100ppm of water hardness is enough for me to consider 'Hard water' formulated nutes. I don't want to go the filter route, so I grabbed some aquarium conditioner that removes the chloramine. If I had a more permanent setup I'd consider a R/O system like yours but then I'd have to add cal-mag too right haha

Someguy15 said:

My water websiteIf I had a more permanent setup I'd consider a R/O system like yours but then I'd have to add cal-mag too right haha

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An RO unit doesn't have to necessarily be something permanent. it's about screwing in a pipe and hanging the unit somewhere for the most part. Besides, in my opinion, having precise numbers and pure nutrients within the H2O isn't always a bad thing when it comes to hydroponics. Also, when it's 7-14 days from harvest and you're ready to leach, you'll know you're feeding the roots pure water providing a proper flush. Of course, there is the downside of wastage with RO systems. I just have mine waste into another reservoir and use that to wash the vehicles. It comes down to preference really

So it's week 5 total, week 2 for pineapple express. My EC meter leaked and was ruined already so working on getting a replacement. Pretty bogus product if it breaks in just 3 days of very light use. Anyhow, fresh nutes @ 50% (hopefully 1.0 EC), stretched my last nutes for 3 weeks so definitely needed to get them changed. I've held off the nute burn, the spreading seems to have stopped. Hoping to start flowering in about a 25 days, we'll c how the pineapple grows . A fresh pic for curious eyes.

Ordered two 85 watt 6500K spiral bulbs and I'm going to grab 2 reflectors from home depot or lowes. The new plan is to take the pineapple express and move it into my other closet on 18hr a day. I'll then flower my first batch, and then take 11 clones. Is 170watts of CFL enough for a mother plant?

Edit: From CFL form, YES 170w is plenty, but more smaller bulbs would be better for placement. O well, bulbs in route.

Flowering time soon! Just received my Hortilux HPS bulb. Once I get my CFLs, I'll move the pineapple out and start the bloom. Should I give 24 hours of dark before 12/12 to push them into bloom quicker?

I also picked up some Clearex to flush them before I switch to the bloom nutes. I've heard this is good with hydro systems to clean the salts from the media.

I also spotted a male in my grow. Must be a auto-flower or genetic anomaly because he has got 18-19 hours of light every day. The other 4 seeds that came from the same nug haven't shown any signs of sex yet. So the male will be killed and I'll top one of the others and clone it in a rockwool plug with some clonex.


----Dead Male---------New Clone---------Topped Plant


Finally have watering issues under control (DWC probably would have been a much better choice for a rookie, o well).

Air, Water, & Ice is sending me a replacement HM Digital EC meter. The seal around the buttons or probe were leaky from the factory. They were even nice enough to just send one out right away and just ask that I send the defective one back.



Overview shot. Things are lookin up a little I think. How about you?

Someguy15 said:

Just received my Hortilux HPS bulb.

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Cool! I'm guessing you got the Super HPS? They're pretty kick ass and surprisingly not as red orange as I expected. That extra blue makes for some bright light!

Someguy15 said:

Should I give 24 hours of dark before 12/12 to push them into bloom quicker?

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From what I've heard from many different veterans, there's really no need.

Someguy15 said:

I also picked up some Clearx to flush them before I switch to the bloom nutes. I've heard this is good with hydro systems to clean the salts from the media.

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Not necessary. Before bloom, just use plain water for 24 hours if it tickles your fancy. Use Clearex at the final 2 weeks before harvest.

Someguy15 said:

(DWC probably would have been a much better choice for a rookie, o well).

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The only thing I hated about DWC was root control. Because I'm constantly vegging and flowering multiple plants, keeping the roots away from eachother is a major PITA if you're using rubbermaid totes like I am. There was a post from somebody (can't remember if it was here on RIU or Grasscity) showing a good way to separate them using fine screen. Too much work for not that many plants. Now, if you're only growing a few plants (1-3) I'd ONLY use DWC. Fast growth, minimal amount of nutrients, and just worry-free for the most part. But, then again, that's how I feel about my aeroponic set-up

JimmyT said:

Not necessary. Before bloom, just use plain water for 24 hours if it tickles your fancy. Use Clearex at the final 2 weeks before harvest.

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Thanks for all your helpful comments. +Rep. Appreciate someone checkin in on my noob ass

Yeah, it's the super HPS, no reason to cheap out in the lighting department IMO, esp since that's the light that will give you your bud right?

The clearex bottle suggests using it every other rez change (1x a month) to help remove salt buildup in the media. I have noticed my rockwool cube EC tends to stay higher than the rez (found it at 1.6 a few days back). I'm assuming I'm over feeding or they're drinking more water then nutes. With the rockwool/hydroton setup in mind, do you think it's necessary to flush throughout the grow? Or only the last flush before harvest like you said?

Thanks again bro.

(I use EC because it is more accurate, does this community prefer PPM? If so what scale? KCl(.5 factor), NaCl(.5 factor) or 442 (.7 factor)...thx)

Someguy15 said:

I have noticed my rockwool cube EC tends to stay higher than the rez (found it at 1.6 a few days back). I'm assuming I'm over feeding or they're drinking more water then nutes. With the rockwool/hydroton setup in mind, do you think it's necessary to flush throughout the grow? Or only the last flush before harvest like you said?

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Oh, that's right, I totally forgot you're growing with rockwool

I use Clearex too but not until the final couple of weeks of flower. I can see why you'd want to remove the salts on your rw before switching photoperiods. I've never used rw so I couldn't tell you. Sorry. If you want to play it safe, just use clean reverse osmosis water for 24-48 hours before giving them a different feeding. It should get rid of some salts.

JimmyT said:

Oh, that's right, I totally forgot you're growing with rockwool

I use Clearex too but not until the final couple of weeks of flower. I can see why you'd want to remove the salts on your rw before switching photoperiods. I've never used rw so I couldn't tell you. Sorry. If you want to play it safe, just use clean reverse osmosis water for 24-48 hours before giving them a different feeding. It should get rid of some salts.

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From the bottle: Before applying Clearex, foliar spray with pure water. Use Clearex in the early morning or evenings.
Hydroponic systems: Use Clearex every one to two reservoir changes. Use 1/2 to 1 ounce per gallon of water. Pour one to two quarts of solution per plant site with minimum 80-90% runoff. Dump waste and fertilize and water as usual.

So, when I dump my veg nutes and prepare to switch to bloom, I'll leave the rez empty and dump the solution through each plant. I'll dump some fresh Phd water on them after. Then this runoff will be collected in the rez and dumped. Then I can mix bloom nutes as normal. Sounds like a plan to me! Thanks for your input JimmyT!

It's a girl~ I think I'll call her Early Girl

A little blurry but the arrow points to the new pistils.

One of my known 'good' seeds turned out to be a female. This is the second of these seeds to show sex in 19 hours of daylight. Don't mind the droop, it's been a long day.


Pineapple express is also doing good and has been transplanted into a 3gal smart pot with hydroton. Soon she'll be moved under 170w of CFL and flowering will commence in my main room.


Overall, lookin alright. My tallest in the back is 14", and a couple others are 13". Some nute burn clearly still, I'm going to flush them soon with the Clearex.

We have another girl! Spotted a pre-flower with a couple white pistils shooting out of my runt! The plant that has looked terrible the entire grow turned out female??? I just hope she doesn't hermie on me. Guess it's time for another name, Claudette.

Another male removed, clusters of balls everywhere. Down to 10 plants now. One, pineapple express will be my mother plant. And one other is likely a male, just waiting a few more days to make sure. Which will leave me with 8 to flower. :Crosses fingers:

Home depot let me down on clamp reflectors so I only have one CFL to use right now. Next week they should get more of the kind I want and I can get both 85 watt CFLs going in the other closet. T minus a week to flower, wish me luck.



Not sure why they droop so much by the end of the day... they look great in the morning

Added A zip file with a excel file with my notes. If anyone is curious/trying to help me out with my many problems

Another one bites the dust. Another male has got to go. I can't believe these are all showing before light switch, it's really helpful actually because I can catch them early.

I've added about 300ppm of bloom nutes last night. I'm suspecting I have a P deficiency (yellowing slowly from the bottom up, necrotic tips) so hopefully this helps. I also bought some 0-5-6 boost I may add a little of that too. Giving the girls a few days and seeing how they respond. Currently I'm flooding every other day with pretty good results. Catch some droop every now and then but I've got it timed pretty well.

I've changed up the closet a bit to prepare for bloom. Got a 10x10sheet of black/white poly and put in up over the entrance with some cardboard/staples/velcro fasteners. I also made a huge discovery. Directly above my closet is the return duct for the furnace. So, I cut a 6" hole in the drywall and installed a 6" elbow and the duct. My light heat is all dumped into the return and when the furnace kicks on it helps create a vacuum, drawing extra air into my space through the light.

Pics to come in a couple days when my camera gets home.