300w x2 LED DWC Pure Indica - First Grow

[Kontraband81]

Day 11 (mini update)
6-24-2017 : 1:20pm

I plan on changing the res out today for the first time. I made up 7 gallons of ph 5.85 water with 1010 ppm nutes. This is the 210 base from the tap water and 800 from the nutes.
The nute schedule calls for 900 to 1100 nutes on week 2 but I am going light as to not spike it as much. I'll probably raise the nutes up on the top offs.

Will do a more in depth update when lights are on later.

 

[Kontraband81]

Day 11
6-24-2017 : 5:30pm

7 Gallons
Air Temp: 75f
Water Temp: 73f
ph: 5.85
ppm: 1015 (210 tap water + 805 nutrients)

Notes:
- Changed the res today, added 7 gallons of tap water + nutrients + hydro guard
- Adjusted the temperature sensors to adjust the air temp in room with a differential for day and night. Currently I have day time (lights on) temps to stay between 75f - 77f. Nighttime (lights off) are set at 70f - 72f. I read that plants like a little differential and in the wild that another way for them to tell day from night. Trying to simulate that as well.
- The plant on the front left seems to be doing the best. It has a giant ball of white healthy roots hanging a good 4 inches below the pot. The other 2 plants on the right have about 1 inch of roots hanging from the pot. Its funny the plant doing the best was the last to sprout and has been the last on everything up until this point. Now it seems like the healthiest plant. It also didn't have hardly any stretch since it was the last to sprout and I had lowered the lights by then. I am assuming this is probably why it has the best root system so far.


I'll post more pictures tomorrows update, my camera battery is dead at the moment and I want to leave the plants alone for now since I just res changed and had a nutrient increase.

 

[Kontraband81]

Day 12
6-25-2017 : 5:00pm

7 Gallons
air temp: 73F
water temp: 69f
ppm: 1160
ph: 6.85

Notes:
- The ph of the water has shot up a lot over night, when I made the res change I made it 24 hours before I did the change and yet it still shot up that fast over night. I went ahead and applied ph down to get it back into the 5.8 range, but I will monitor it more closely tonight to see if it raises more.
- ppm raised by about 135 too, not sure what caused this
- I am going to add more ph water and lower the ppm down, I am thinking maybe it was too high

 

[SuperHI TnT]

Dude your girls are looking great!

 

[Kontraband81]

Hey Thanks for the support, hardest thing about starting this hobby is being patient. I'll have more pics tonight.

 

[Kontraband81]

Day 13
6-26-2017 : 8:00pm

7 Gallons
air temp: 75f
water temp: 71f
ppm: 895
ph: 5.82

notes:
- Mixed in some straight ph water to lower the ppm, noticed signs of leaf drooping earlier that could have been early signs of N toxicity.
- The first set of 3-leave is coming in on all 3 plants.

 

[Kontraband81]

Day 14
6-27-2017 : 5:30pm

7 Gallons
air temp: 75f
water temp: 67f
ppm 380
ph: ???

notes:
- my troubles continue, plants looked like they were getting too much nutrients. I followed the schedule on the nutes but realize that was too concentrated. I emptied the res and put in straight ph water. Going to let them flush for 24hrs and then put in just 1/4 strength nutrients
- my ph meter seems broken. I am using test drops for time being and have another one ordered that will arrive later this week. I don't know my exact ph, but test drops have it around 6.0
- I planned on a 2 plant grow so I went ahead and removed the weakest link today. The plant in the front left got the axe, I moved the front right plant to the front left so that the two plants are cross from each other. I will probably make a 2 top lid for them so they are more even with each other.

 

[Kontraband81]

Day 14 pictures
-Installed the new 2 plant lid
-Removed the weakest plant, these will be the 2 I go to harvest with (hopefully)

 

[SuperHI TnT]

Looking good...nice fat leaves. That new top is sharp too

 

[CoalaCat]

The feeding charts that come with nutes tend to be too strong. If you haven't done so I reccomend doing some research on your specific brands feeding chart for cannabis.
I would also just feed them ph'd water a couple of times if I thought I'd been feeding too much, then reduce the strength. In the case of the nutes I use i could pretty much slash the numbers on the feed chart on the bottle in half

 

[Kontraband81]

Yeah I definitely learned that lesson the hard way. I read a technique to use to raise ppm gradually and record water level verse ppm raising/lowering to figure out what my plants like the most. I am going to use that approach from now on. I plan on starting with 1/4 recommended dosage from the schedule, and just raise up in 50 to 100ppm increments daily. The guide says if the water level lowers and the ppm lowers add more nutes the next day, if the water level lowers and the ppm raises then just add ph water.

Ive ran into a bunch of issues with this first grow but at least I am getting the experience of what not to do out of the way. I can honestly say the biggest rule I have broken so far is to not over love your plants. Its hard to not want to help them at every step of the way on your first grow and I think the majority of my problems have stemmed from that. Im sticking with it though, a few complications isnt going to hold me back from my goals.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[CoalaCat]

That sounds like a solid way to do this. I´ve never actually had a ppm meter so I´m still not measuring that. I just try to look at the leaves every day for any signs of problems. I´m going to get a ppm meter soon when I think about it.

 

[SuperHI TnT]

I'm glad you figured out why your ppm went up the other day

 

[Kontraband81]

Day 15
6-27-2017 : 7:30pm

7 Gallons
air temp: 77f
water temp: 71f
ppm 260
ph: ??? ( 5.7ish)

notes:
- this morning I had something foul as hell from my grow tent. I thought maybe I had a problem when I threw the 3rd plant out. Its roots didnt look so great. Today's smell confirmed it.
- I drained my res completely and took all the pumps, tubing, air stones out. Cleaned everything with H2O2/water solution.
- I filled the res with 6 gallons ph water + 12mL hydroguard + 3ml super thrive
- Ran about 50 ml of ph water and hydroguard only through each net pot, after 2 hours didnt notice much of a smell.

I think maybe I am back on track now, I plan on running just this res for a day or two and then applying 1/4 strength nutrients.

 

[Kontraband81]

sorry for the flash saturation on my pics, I need to practice my photography skills

 

[Kontraband81]

Here is a graph of my temp/humidty since I installed the portable ac, you can see the day/night cycles. I am still trying to optimize it to get it to level off a little smoother but for the most part I am happy with it. I have purchased a dehumidifier to help control the humidity when I get to flower but for now I have no plans to use it in veg. The two big spikes was me messing around with the controller turning it on/off so it was just off during those times

edit: Just noticed I missed the time line at the bottom, but this is over about 7 days.

 

[SuperHI TnT]

Pretty cool graph

 

[Kontraband81]

Day 16
6-29-2017 : 8:00pm

6 Gallons
air temp: 75f
water temp: 71f
ppm: 389
ph: 5.86

notes:
- fed 1/4 strength nutrients: 15ml gro, 11.25ml micro, 3.75ml bloom to 6 gallons of water

 

[Kontraband81]

Day 17
6-30-2017 : 8:30pm

5.8 Gallons
air temp: 75f
water temp: 68f
ppm: 504
ph: 5.94

Notes:
- ppm raised 120ppm since yesterday and the water is down about 1/5 a gallon, are my plants not happy with my nutrients?
- plant on the right has some slight discoloration on the root tips and looks like something gunky on it. Its been 2 days since res change.

Questions: Can anyone chime in about the root discoloration, is this the beginning of root rot or am I being paranoid? I have hydroguard in the tank and my water temps are sitting around 66f to 70f

 

[Kontraband81]

Tried to get some better pictures of what Im looking at on the root: