First Grow, Bag Seeds, DIY System

Hey. I am fairly new to the forums, but have spent a good time reading through them. I looked over Earl's Aerobucket build and wanted to copy it to detail, but due to Home Depot not having everything I needed. I instead went with a flood and drain method that closely resembles Earl's build. I have 3 CFLs (65 watt cool white, 42 watt soft white, 30 watt bright white) with one more on the way (65 watt warm white). I'm not sure about how high I should keep the lights from the plants? I mean they haven't all sprouted yet and the two that have sprouted are from a failed build. I transplanted them out of fear for killing a young developing lady . I figured I could run the lights 18/6 and I would turn my pump on for a continuous flow once the plants got a little bigger and hungrier. I also have a airstone in the reservoir, but I plan on buying an underwater air pump this Friday. I have them on 1/4 the strength General Hydroponics MaxiGro. I am a first time grower who is working with a bag of seeds from regular green. I am hoping for one strong Mother that can just be TLCed and cloned for a while . I know genetics has a lot to do with the outcome of bud, but I am willing to invest time in trying to get as good a quality bud I can from these seeds. I live in the states and am too worried about laws to order online from a seed bank. If anyone could offer me some help and advice, it would be greatly appreciated. If I forgot to mention something don't hesitate to ask. Thanks in advance for any help or for warning you can offer.

Peace

After reading through the forums I've decided to cover the seeds to help bring up temperature and humidity. I need to buy a thermometer and humidity reader. How humid would I want my setup and how would I know if there is too much humidity? Is there anything I could do to improve my setup? How far away should my lights be from the seedlings? Any advice or fore warnings would be greatly appreciated. I've also added pictures so you all could see.

damn 42 views with no replies? is there nothing I can do to improve the setup? should i just wait and be patient? I'm thinking I will need more lights, but I know I don't need them now or at least I don't think I do.

Set up looks good CR, what planting medium you plan on using once the roots start sticking out of the Rockwool?
Will each get their own net pot?

Light is not as important right now as long as those babies keep warm and humid.
As they get bigger you will want to try and keep the humidity and temperatures steady.
There are ideal ones you should shoot for according to the Grow Fax on Temperature,
but constantly fluctuating temps by trying to maintain those ideal ones sometimes can do more bad than good.
Find a temp in the "range" they suggest that you can keep steady and it will be fine.
Hot one day, cold the next, is a bigger problem that can stress the kids.
Another big consideration would be ventilation.
A constant supply of fresh air does a plant good.
Giving it the fresh Co2 it needs to grow.

As far as lights. You will want the "daylight" or higher Kelvin CFL bulbs for growing. They should all have a Kelvin Rating on the package somewhere.
Shoot for 6500 or so for the growing stage with at least 10,000 total Lumins from all bulbs combined, or as close to that as you can.
The "red" or warmer ones (sometimes called "soft") will be better for blooming in about 6 weeks.
They are about 4700 Kelvin or so. (give or take a few)
I posted a chart HERE
Hope that answers some of your questions.
I scribed to watch this one, good luck with your grow

Alto said:

Set up looks good CR, what planting medium you plan on using once the roots start sticking out of the Rockwool?
Will each get their own net pot?...

...I scribed to watch this one, good luck with your grow

Click to expand...

I originally planned on getting net pots and then putting in a spray system to aeroponically grow the plants, but I have recently started thinking about just sitting each plant on top of its own pile or perlite and allow the roots to grow down from the rockwool into the perlite...making the system something like a NFT. Would that be a good idea or should I have stuck with my first idea? Thank you for all of your input with lighting. I will invest in more lighting. Thanks for subscribing..I hope everything goes well with my grow. What would you suggest I do to keep the humidity up?

Open containers of water work to raise humidity, if you don't have worries about having them get bumped over.

NP about the advice on lights, two weeks ago I didn't know, I just pointed you to where I read up on it is all.

I am thinking separate containers would be the way to go, just for the sake of being able to move them if you need to.
And should someone get sick or turn out to be a boy you can get it away from the others easier.
Just plain dirt works, I have a hyrdo set up that I just got, and I am having good luck so far.
Its more like a science experiment than farming with hydro but I find it fun.
With that big tub you have you should fit like 6 of them fine and make a ebb and flow out of it.
Hard to really see how big that tub is, lol.

yea i was thinking of leaving it as a flood and drain, but i also have a top that goes to the tub. I will most likely turn it into a NFT system once I find my mother, but if it turns out these seeds have bad genetics or I have to go through the process of finding a mom and dad and then trusting their kids to be of better genetics then I will leave it flood and drain. I dont even know the exact size of the tub =), but I think you are right. I could fit 6 medium size vegged plants no problem or like 3 powerhouses lol.

Thanks for the rep Alto.

crownedreaper said:

Thanks for the rep Alto.

Click to expand...

Yeah, lol
My mom told me to not talk to "strangers" so rep >.<

What will you do with the rest of your plants (I counted 12 starters)
Prob have some boys but what if you end up with more girls than tub?
(I ask because I have an extra myself that kinda hangs around by the pool,
but has to sit in a baby pool all alone for now)
Had room for 6 sprouted 7 what can I say Duoh!
But these were purchased seeds so don't want to waste em.
How are the little tykes getting along? have more pictures?

Hopefully I can keep all the plants, but will just have to perfectly organize them and keep them in netted pots like you suggested. I will remove all but one male plant. I can keep a female and male together in their vegged state without worry of impregnation right? Also I planted 3 more, because I was worried my other babies wouldn't take off. If I don't have enough space I may make it or flower the little ones early. They are doing pretty good. I turned over one of my seeds and realized I had a little seedling growing upside down. I also found a few that have finally cracked open and began to germinate. I will post pics later tonight.

very good, will be checkin' in

decent set up mate, got a question for you.
germinated and planted a couple of seeds about a half inch in the soil. it warm and humid with plenty of light, dont have pics so youll just have to trust my set up.

the problem is its been 10 days now and no sprout, or any sign of any soil protrusions.

about how long does it take to see a sprout, this is my first grow and i am ignorant, obviously, but how long for a sprout on average?

ive also started running them on 24hr light..would you recommend I keep the light at 24hr or cut it back to 18/6 and why? I decided to keep it on for 24hr to help improve heat and humidity, but I'm also thinking that the plants need some sort of downtime to rest and use up all the energy they have gathered from the light. Am I over thinking it and the plants don't need a downtime to internally process all the energy they have gathered from the light?

asf2j said:

decent set up mate, got a question for you.
germinated and planted a couple of seeds about a half inch in the soil. it warm and humid with plenty of light, dont have pics so youll just have to trust my set up.

the problem is its been 10 days now and no sprout, or any sign of any soil protrusions.

about how long does it take to see a sprout, this is my first grow and i am ignorant, obviously, but how long for a sprout on average?

Click to expand...

This is also my first grow and I am not using soil, but from the information I've gathered on here..it can take up to 14 days for sprouts and maybe sometimes even longer. What temperature is your set up? Also have you been watering them? In soil I believe you dont want to water them too much..just enough to keep the top soil moist..not soaked. I hope this helps, but I am not entirely sure of my answers.

asf2j said:

but how long for a sprout on average?

Click to expand...

My seeds usually pop open in 24 hrs to 2 days max.
Last batch were all within 24 hrs.
What I did was mix about 10ml of Hydrogen Peroxide with a liter of water.
I soaked the seeds in that for 24 hrs and then carefully placed 1 each in Rockwool cubes. (small cups of moistened earth will work as well)

You should see sprouts soon there after.
You say its been 10 days?
Here is what mine were like after 10 days
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/62484-alt0-s-grow-1st-timer-6.html#post756719
so you may want to check a few things.

You have to keep them moist but not necessarily wet.
You want to keep them very warm (around 80F) they sell heat mats for this but placing the seeds while germinating on something warm is better than nothing, Some cover them and put on the back of their fridge where it stays warm.
You want to keep them in the dark being they should be below ground and there is no light there.

That should help you out some

_____________________________________________________
CR- I have been keeping mine on 24/7 since they sprouted
first under T5 fluro and at day 9 moved to MH 400W
different people try different things and a lot use 18/6
not sure what it does differently?
I will stay at 24 until I decide to flower and then I will go dark for 36 hrs and then 12/12 after that.
Finally Go dark for 24hrs before chop unless they are not all ready
then harvest as they ripen and not worry about the 24 dark before harvest thing.
(its suppose to trick em into thinking its over and produce more right at the end but who knows?)

yo crownedreaper, as far as humidity goes, ive got a solution, go to your local cigar and pipe tobacco shop(not a headshop, mind you) their are these little things called humydroles, they look like silver dollar coins, you soak them in distilled water and then put them in a cigar box, the same principle should work for your plants, just buy like 10 of them, they are about .70 cents a piece, ive been doing a ton of reading and it seems that cutting back to 18/6 would be better for you than 24/0.
im a biology grad student doing a thesis on dicot plants(which cannabis is a dicot) the reason for 18/6 is that on the under side of the leaves are stomata(look it up if you dont know, dont have time to explain). while photosynthesis is active stomata are open for gas exchange which also means natural ATP respiration and metabolic water loss. in the dark 6 hours, the stomata are stimulated to close by a few discrete plant hormones, the closing of the stomata allows for a oxygen levels to build in the spongy mesophyll layer in the leaves, i dont know if you are farmiliar with teh krebs cycle, but plants do it to, just a little differently. oxygen is key to cellular respiration and the levels will be too low if the stomata are always open... hope that helps, hope you can believe me, ive been studying this stuff for a couple of years now in grad school.

im new to growing pot, but ive done a ton of lab experiments on just about every dicot plant you can think of.

my soil temp is 83 and ive got 6500k 50watt cfl( its just one plant, and im not looking for killer yield, this is pure experimental for the first grow)
i guess ill just wait a few more days for the sprout. good luck with your grow,
keep us updated, will be watching

i saw the pics alto, maybe i handled them the wrong way when i planted the germinated seeds. but then again i am getting conflicting answer, so i guess ill germinate a few more your way and see what happens, thanks for the advice. praying you guys will get a good yield, take it easy.

Thats the best explanation about 18/6 I have ever read.
Setting up the timer tonight lol.

just one more thing, sorry if im getting this thread off topic,
How do you subscribe to a thread? and where do you check PM's for that matter?

haha glad to help, ive studied most of my college career on it, just now applying it pot. hahahah!!!!one111!!elen

asf2j said:

haha glad to help, ive studied most of my college career on it, just now applying it pot. hahahah!!!!one111!!elen

Click to expand...

My Rollitup, and to start a thread, on any forum index page there is a button at the top of the page.