Week 4 is finally over and the babies are huge. Putting up the SCROG net was a huge bitch but ultimately we think its gonna pay off. We're training the plants for the SCROG still but you RIU guys can check out what we have so far. We're not calling it quite a micro scrog, its more of a midiscrog or, perhaps then a "grande" scrog. These girls were tough to train and the process is on going, not to mention the metal net left us with many bloody scratches and unfortunately a couple torn leaves. But the net looks pretty good now and everything seems fairly sturdy and stable. Check out the new pics and let us know what you think!!
- Ray Fox
P.S. We're looking to Veg another week after week 5 depending on how big the smallest plant (the one on the right) gets. And we're expecting to flower for 7 weeks but does anyone think like, 5 weeks flowering is possible in hydro?
Hey Ray Fox. I'm here to comment as promised.
First off props for trying hydro for your first set up, you've got some chops there. Personally i started with soil because hydro was just to daunting of a task for my newbiness.
Ok i read through your entire journal and am glad to see you made it through all of your challenges with ease. I took some notes so here goes...
Back when you were having rez temp issues. Obviously you have resolved them because of the beautiful white roots i saw but i missed how you went about remedying the problem, how did you fix this? Are you using the frozen water bottles suggested? Totally weird that you had hotter temps at night, its usually 10 degrees cooler for most at night. Are you running your lights at night and not during the day?
All those questions asked, your brown roots earlier on were definitely root rot from high rez temps, I had the same problem. I realized that it was because of the high room temps and the under powered ventilation i had initially. I got my ventilation fixed and room temps under control, the root rot went away immediately.
That leads me to this, how are you ventilating your box?
I think you mentioned at some point that there was going to be a fan but then as i kept reading i saw no more mentions, just statements about where you cut vent holes and what size the exhaust hole in the top of the box was.
If you are using the frozen water bottles you have may more patience than i do, thats why i opted to just fix the ventilation to deal with the heat, couldn't be bothered with all those frozen water bottles. I tried it once when the temps were real bad (90+) but that was short lived, again not patients for that. I would recommend exhausting your box to by using a pc fan if you are currently not. They're very quiet, very efficient for small spaces, and I'm pretty sure your box will only need one here's a link to one that i use and picked up for a reasonable price locally:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2211703
That fan would easily vent your box and do it silently. you may want to look for a speed controller for it though as what i think is silent might not be for you. You could also just under power it by using say a 5 volt, 7 volt, or 9 volt cellphone charger. This will lower the rez temps by having cooler room temps and eliminate the need for the frozen bottles if that is what you're using.
On to your scrog, nice work. Again nice choice in screen it is what I'm using. Hear ya on the scratches. I filed off the barbs and rough edges of mine with sand paper so no more scratches for me.
Still wondering about the holes? Hopefully you'll fill me in.
Your screen looks a bit low to me but i dont know your plant so continue to feel it out as you have been, you've got good instincts from what i can tell.
I saw that you asked how to change the rez water when the plants are bound to the screen and you can't move them. Well the answers simple... Attach the scrog to the bucket lid!
OK ok so it isn't such a simple answer, you still have to figure out how to attach it to the bucket lid firmly, and don't get me wrong i didn't figure that out until my third grow and it was more of a flash of brilliance than any real well thought out design. Take a look at my grow room album in my profile if you need some ideas i have pictures of how i made my buckets/bucket lids with scrog attached. When you accomplish the arduous task of attaching screen to bucket you will be able to just pop the whole unit out as one (rez, lid, plants, and scrog). Then just remove lid, scrog, and plants and change the rez, couldn't be easier. I'm surprised you didn't follow that design from the link that you stated that you based your scrog off of.
Well thats all i have for now. Thanks again for the love earlier i really appreciated it. Keep growing and if you have any questions about what i said just let me know.