1st time grow please comment

Tracker

Well-Known Member
Dear rollitup community,

I am finally trying my first grow. I have fantisized about this for the past 11 years. I'm very happy to be in an area decriminalized for medical purposes, and I am happy to have found a great source of information from like minded people.

I started this three weeks ago, a few weeks after receiveing my medical recommendation. I immediately discovered I overpaid for a stealth hydro system. None the less, I am learning a lot with it, and I got a lot of info to get started off the Roseman threads in addition to others. I am going with the flourescents to avoid heat issues. I'm not going for immense quantity just nice tasting potent personal supply.

First, I'll give you a background on the starting point for my hydro grow. My place is too small to set up anything here, so I set up a 3'x3'x7' grow tent at a friends house whom already has plants growing. This is very distressing because he grows in what I feel is an uneducated manner. He has not researched the methods before starting, and doesn't understand the principles behind hydro. All his plants, which are mediocre quality smoke at best, are grown in soil with a jerry rigged light. Also, I feel like a non-custodial parent with periodic visitation rights. They're my babys! I should be able to nurture them.

In addition, my project was started with 3 almost dead white widow clones. When he bought them a week prior to my setting up he planted three in small dirt pots and left three soaking in cups filled with tap water. He was keeping those and two other 2' tall seed started plants under his jerry rigged light setup. In the week they were soaking in the cups the three I ended up with were virtually lifeless. I am amazed at their transformation in the hydro system after only three weeks.

In the last three weeks I have kept the six white widows in my tent. The three dirt ones have grown nicely, and the hydro ones are bouncing back to life. I am running 3 105 watt compact flourescents 24/0, and I have a 4 inch cetrifugal fan that moves 190 cfm running for 60 sec every 3 min for ventilation, I changed the supplied airpump with a more powerful one in addition to two 12" air stones. I am running the sprayers 15on/15off.

Also, I tried to cut clones off his two 2' tall plants and only one of them survived. I didn't use the proper equipment but the one that survived is the pic (3020798 & 3020792) with medium roots. I don't think that's bad for 3 weeks experience.

Recently, I bought some supplies to start building another cheap system. The guy that sold the water pump to me gave me some good pointers on using spay heads and pvc for a quazi-aeroponic system. Today I changed the stealth system to the spray system, and I took these pics.

Please reply and tell me what you think. I appreciate the opportunity to learn something new.
 

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ScottsBlown99

Well-Known Member
Looks great man, can't give you any pointers on the hydro setup but i wouldn't run the lights 24/0, plants need their rest! 20-4 minimum

i take it smell is not going to be an issue there?
 

Tracker

Well-Known Member
No problem with smell. It's in a relatively discreet location. I'll try out the time cycle you suggested.

Thanks for your input.
 

Douche Nozzle

Well-Known Member
The setup looks pretty good. I am a dirt grower so I am not real informed on hydro. As far as the 24/0 lights, this a long time debate that I am sure will never come to an end. According to the Marijuana Horticulture Growers Bilble by Jorge Cervantes, for years it was believed that you should give your plants a break and some darkness. But now after some research the belief is that 24 hours of light has no ill effects on the quality of the plant. Take it however you see it. I don't think it makes a difference but I'm no pro either. Good luck and hopefully your friend leaves your plants alone and they turn out great.
 

Tracker

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the input. I'll update with more pics on a frequent basis. In the original posts I forgot to say that I have also tyed the tops to the trunks with zip ties. I read somewhere on here that it will make the plants more bushy, and I like my ladies thick and juicy.
 

DookeyNugs408

Well-Known Member
Dear rollitup community,

I am finally trying my first grow. I have fantisized about this for the past 11 years. I'm very happy to be in an area decriminalized for medical purposes, and I am happy to have found a great source of information from like minded people.

I started this three weeks ago, a few weeks after receiveing my medical recommendation. I immediately discovered I overpaid for a stealth hydro system. None the less, I am learning a lot with it, and I got a lot of info to get started off the Roseman threads in addition to others. I am going with the flourescents to avoid heat issues. I'm not going for immense quantity just nice tasting potent personal supply.

First, I'll give you a background on the starting point for my hydro grow. My place is too small to set up anything here, so I set up a 3'x3'x7' grow tent at a friends house whom already has plants growing. This is very distressing because he grows in what I feel is an uneducated manner. He has not researched the methods before starting, and doesn't understand the principles behind hydro. All his plants, which are mediocre quality smoke at best, are grown in soil with a jerry rigged light. Also, I feel like a non-custodial parent with periodic visitation rights. They're my babys! I should be able to nurture them.

In addition, my project was started with 3 almost dead white widow clones. When he bought them a week prior to my setting up he planted three in small dirt pots and left three soaking in cups filled with tap water. He was keeping those and two other 2' tall seed started plants under his jerry rigged light setup. In the week they were soaking in the cups the three I ended up with were virtually lifeless. I am amazed at their transformation in the hydro system after only three weeks.

In the last three weeks I have kept the six white widows in my tent. The three dirt ones have grown nicely, and the hydro ones are bouncing back to life. I am running 3 105 watt compact flourescents 24/0, and I have a 4 inch cetrifugal fan that moves 190 cfm running for 60 sec every 3 min for ventilation, I changed the supplied airpump with a more powerful one in addition to two 12" air stones. I am running the sprayers 15on/15off.

Also, I tried to cut clones off his two 2' tall plants and only one of them survived. I didn't use the proper equipment but the one that survived is the pic (3020798 & 3020792) with medium roots. I don't think that's bad for 3 weeks experience.

Recently, I bought some supplies to start building another cheap system. The guy that sold the water pump to me gave me some good pointers on using spay heads and pvc for a quazi-aeroponic system. Today I changed the stealth system to the spray system, and I took these pics.

Please reply and tell me what you think. I appreciate the opportunity to learn something new.

sup just letting u know ur overwatering the small plant i had the same problem..had a pump shooting water out into the soil balls and it started looking like that.then i moved the pump and it started getting hella big and looking way better
 

Tracker

Well-Known Member
Thanks for your input. Today I changed the irrigation system to the sprayers as opposed to DWC with drippers. I have the sprayers at 15 on 15 off, and I can tell they are letting the plants get more oxygen. Before I made the change the roots were drowning and, I had the drippers on 15/15. In addition to the sprayers the reservoir has two 12" air stones. I hope that treats 'em right.
 

bigbird87

Active Member
Lookin good.

Maybe bring those cfl's down a little? One of them is looking especially stretched....unless that is one of the rescuees...
 

Tracker

Well-Known Member
Of the four in the hydro tub three are from the almost dead clones. The one in pic 3020799.jpg was totally dead, and looked like a lifeless twig off a tree. The small leaves you see started forming when I put it in the the hydro setup. The other 2 clones 3020791.jpg and 3020797.jpg have the leaves very tightly spaced on the stem. 3020798.jpg is a clone I took off one of my friends plants. I took three originally, but that's the only one that made it. I'm sure my cloning technique is sub par as a new guy. The three in small clay pots along side the hydro system are stretching out a little, but because of the height difference they can't be moved up any more. After reading some other threads here I used small zip ties to tie the growing tip back to the stem. I'm not even sure if I did it the right way, but within 2 days of doing it the plants were starting to bush out.

Thanks for the input.
 

Tracker

Well-Known Member
I forgot to mention there are 3 105w CFLs, and I have them about 6" above the canopy. I read 3"-5" on some other threads but I tried it that close and the plants didn't seem to respond well.
 

Roseman

Elite Rolling Society
Tracker, I 've had those 105s in one hood, and they generate much more heat than your average CFL. You know and can ask Bluebong about them. Normally, we place CFLs ond and half to three inches away, but those 105s, in a package of three, need to be about 5 or 6 inches away. I am telling you from experience.
 

Tracker

Well-Known Member
Tracker, I 've had those 105s in one hood, and they generate much more heat than your average CFL. You know and can ask Bluebong about them. Normally, we place CFLs ond and half to three inches away, but those 105s, in a package of three, need to be about 5 or 6 inches away. I am telling you from experience.
Thank you for the advice. I am mainting slightly more separation than before. I am going to FIM a couple of the plants based on your post. I think I'll do pruning experiments with each plant to see the difference first hand.
 

Tracker

Well-Known Member
Its is now one week later and the babies are exploding. I am so happy with the first sprayer system that I built a more second slightly larger one. Also, I replaced the pump in the first one with a 264 gph pump. I used two of the plants in the small soil pots as mothers and I think I will force the third soil plant to start flowering.

Also, I followed a guide on Roseman's post and tried to FIM the top of the plant I cloned off one of the seed starts ( 3120005).

In addition, the two original seed grown plants have been flowering on the jerry rigged setup for a week now. I think one is male and the other female. Please look at my pics and see if you can tell. The one I think is male is in pic #s 3120012 & 3120014. The one I think is female is in 3120016.

Just to clarify. There are the two seed starts, one clone off of one of the seed starts, 7 clones from the dirt WW mommies (clone starts) and 3 plants that were from the same clone start as the WW mommies. All 7 clones were showing little root hairs less than 24 hrs after exposed to the sprayer system.

Please comment.
 

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blueybong

Well-Known Member
pic # ending w/12 = male

Your plants look like they are stretching. Lower the light/lights are low as possible. Put your hand between the light & the plant and get it where the back of your hand is warm, but not hot.

Everything else looks great.

Remember, a journal is for your record. Next time you grow, come here to compare growth.

People will show up as you get close to harvesting. We all love looking at buds!!!

Cheers!
 

Stoney Jake

Well-Known Member
yep its a dude. Be care full Ive had males start opening up just a couple of weeks after flowering and yours looks like it could start droppin some pollen soon.
Nice grow and good luck
 
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