Variety Grow - Perpetual, "Mini" ScrOG's, DWC in a Cabinet (First Timer)

[jsgamber]

Hey Guys,

It's been awhile since I've been at this stage of growing! Right now my full setup is optimal. Water temps staying below 70*, lights on temps at 80-84*, lights out temps at 60-65*. Today lights out at noon and back on at 7pm.

My point is I believe I've created an environment that a master grower should be able produce some great plants! Trouble is I'm not a master grower....yet!

So, my plants are sad. I looked back at the pics from 12/15 and even though they have grown a bit, their root production isn't what I expected, and their leaves are yellowing and wilting. BD has one 2" tap root and the rest seem to be scruffy little guys. All the SOG's roots are the scruffy type with no tap roots emerged yet.

Last night I changed out all the water and mixed up a batch of 1/4 strength veg nutes. The SOG's have just been running in pH 5.8 water only with a small dose of H2O2, so I'm wondering if they just needed more nutes! So far this morning they don't look any worse or any better. I kept the water levels low and when I checked this morning the sides of the reservoirs were all misty and moist so I'm thinking their getting plenty of moisture! I've also been misting them about twice a day during lights on with a light mixture of Thrive Alive B1 and Neam oil (to prevent spider mites).

So why aren't these ladies developing? What am I doing wrong? Let me throw out some questions?

Should I raise or lower water levels?
Should I run with nutes or just plain pH water?
Should I even be using 29% H2O2 right now? (2 ml/gal)

What other questions should I be asking?

 

[jsgamber]

It's funny what happens when you write things down and then read them back to yourself. Two things struck me when I read back what I just wrote so I went to do some investigation. Can someone confirm that yellowing leaves could be a sign of over watering? Because I think that's what's going on.

Asking myself "Why aren't roots growing?" The only answer is that the plant thinks it's getting more than enough water, but from where? And then it struck me while looking through Stelthy's thread and his netpots. So I pulled out all of my ladies and it's the rooting medium, in this case rooting plugs and rockwool. They are basically soaked! I think by dropping the water levels even more last night began the process of drying them out, but they are pretty damn wet.

So does this look like what my issue could be? Is that the reason everyone uses Hydroton in their setups? Do you think I should up can to 3" or 4" netpots and fill them in with Hydroton? What do you guys think?

For now I'm going to leave them like this for the rest of the day, through lights out and check on them back at 7pm. Today is still raining, garage temps are at 61* and 67%RH so they should be just fine out of their reservoirs.

Chime in if I'm doing something wrong because I don't want this to get fucked up!

 

[Danielsgb]

Wish I knew more of Hydro to help. Makes sense what you're doing. BTW I only mist with Neem Oil water once a week. I killed some clones over doing that once. (had to go out of town, which never helps either)
Daniels

 

[jsgamber]

Thanks Danielsan! I think I'll just switch to misting with plain water, but I don't think I'll need to. That's what so crazy about doing this stuff. One symptom can be caused by opposite causes! Here I am thinking they aren't getting enough water (which is an oxymoron in a hydro setup? ) and so I spray them, and then I'm killing them. Ugh! But getting SM's right now would just fucking kill me. I'll just keep a close eye on them!

Okay, lights out. They are sitting in front of the fans so hopefully they will dry out some more. The leaves are already perking up and those damn girls started to try and stand up straight again!! Eeek! So I had to tie them back down again. Raising girls is such a bitch some time!!

 

[gumball]

I had that problem with my DWC tomato plant. The plug was to damn moist, and I was using perlite with the plug which stays way more moist than hydroton. I removed the plug and placed in straight perlite and after some initial shock they recovered. I think if you want to transplant to hydroton (with the plugs or without?) You need to do it soon of course before the roots get too long.

 

[TheJointProject]

^^^exactly. keep your water levels about 1 1/2" below the cups if the taproot are out of the netpots. transplant to hydroton. A little shock now will save a lot of hassle later

 

[BeaverHuntr]

^^^exactly. keep your water levels about 1 1/2" below the cups if the taproot are out of the netpots. transplant to hydroton. A little shock now will save a lot of hassle later

This!
After I get my seedling to show roots in the dome I transfer them to the DWC reservoirs and will eyeball to the best of my ability water 1 inch from touching the bottom of the net pot this way they have a air gap.

 

[jsgamber]

You guys are awesome! I'm finishing up putting my Marinara sauce on the stove for the next eight hours. Nothing like the smell of fresh onion, garlic, tomato, basil, oregano to make the house smell good!

Then I'm out to the hydro store. I think they'll be fine in the plugs as long as they don't get hit directly with the water spray. 3" netpots gives me plenty of space to "bury" them in hydroton. But I'll eyeball it when I get to the store.

I think I'll let the plugs dry out completely before transplanting them. There shouldn't be too much shock and in fact I think they are already recovering!

 

[gumball]

Sounds great gamber!

 

[jsgamber]

Sounds great gamber!

Thanks GB!

Here they are! Transplanted to 4" Netpots with Hydroton. The bubblers are currently off because the rooting medium is still pretty moist. I'm doing frequent checks.

But the yellow look is almost gone, the turgidity is up (the screens are working at holding them down) and leaves are starting to get shiny and uncurled. Lights are back on until 11:30 am. These girls are looking so much better than this morning.

FYI it is fucking pouring outside! It really hasn't stopped raining at all (except an hour here and there) since Friday! Tonight and tomorrow is supposed to be the worst. Friday and Saturday we measured 2.5" of rain and they are expecting 5" through tomorrow evening. Anybody who lives in a SoCal burn area was forced to evacuate their homes by 9:00pm tonight so they don't have to go in and save their stupid asses when the whole mountain comes down! Time to go out to the garage and sit and stare at this deluge!!! It's way cool!

 

[jsgamber]

Rooting plugs are dried out enough so I went ahead and started up the pump, added water to about 3" below my new netpot level, and readjusted the pH to 5.5 to 5.8. I didn't want to take any chances of things drying out unexpectedly. I'll check the plugs tomorrow for moisture content. It seems that the hydroton wicks moisture away from the root plugs so tomorrow I should know better.

I'll keep a close eye on all the chemistry stuff but temperatures are now the least of my worries. I'm going to stop dropping the light schedule a bit until I see new root production coming through the hydroton and things start to perk up. I'm hoping two days then we'll start dropping it down more.




Oh and before I forget! We went to pick up our Xmas tree in the pouring rain on Sunday morning from the same farm we've gone to for the last 15 years and it's fresh cut on the spot. We have the type of stand that sits the tree in a 3 gallon bucket. So guess what the first thing I thought of!? HYDRO! Mixed up a batch of 1/3 strength nutes and filled her up. Tuesday morning checked and the water level was down 1.5 gallons and this is a tree which had just had 5" of rainfall dumped on it over the previous 3 days. Now a couple years back I had a freak tree that happened to sprout roots! This is long before I would have considered planting it and besides it was starting to mold. So I figured if sheer dumb luck could do it, adding a bit of science shouldn't hurt. So I topped off the bucket with some more nute rich water (mixed in a teaspoon of rooting powder...what the heck), grabbed my new air pump and a stone and now my Xmas tree has this funny buzzing noise going on underneath it. The look on the wifes face was priceless, you probably know the look..... followed by

Man I'm just loving this Blue Dream.

 

[oOBe RyeOo]

Rooting plugs are dried out enough so I went ahead and started up the pump, added water to about 3" below my new netpot level, and readjusted the pH to 5.5 to 5.8. I didn't want to take any chances of things drying out unexpectedly. I'll check the plugs tomorrow for moisture content. It seems that the hydroton wicks moisture away from the root plugs so tomorrow I should know better.

I'll keep a close eye on all the chemistry stuff but temperatures are now the least of my worries. I'm going to stop dropping the light schedule a bit until I see new root production coming through the hydroton and things start to perk up. I'm hoping two days then we'll start dropping it down more.




Oh and before I forget! We went to pick up our Xmas tree in the pouring rain on Sunday morning from the same farm we've gone to for the last 15 years and it's fresh cut on the spot. We have the type of stand that sits the tree in a 3 gallon bucket. So guess what the first thing I thought of!? HYDRO! Mixed up a batch of 1/3 strength nutes and filled her up. Tuesday morning checked and the water level was down 1.5 gallons and this is a tree which had just had 5" of rainfall dumped on it over the previous 3 days. Now a couple years back I had a freak tree that happened to sprout roots! This is long before I would have considered planting it and besides it was starting to mold. So I figured if sheer dumb luck could do it, adding a bit of science shouldn't hurt. So I topped off the bucket with some more nute rich water (mixed in a teaspoon of rooting powder...what the heck), grabbed my new air pump and a stone and now my Xmas tree has this funny buzzing noise going on underneath it. The look on the wifes face was priceless, you probably know the look..... followed by

Man I'm just loving this Blue Dream.

Haha, good for you man! Merry Christmas if I'm not on here before then.

 

[gumball]

that is funny as hell. glad the root plugs were the problem, seemed an easy fix. its funny how so many different people have such different results with this stuff

 

[Danielsgb]

The look on the wifes face was priceless, you probably know the look..... followed by

I bet that was priceless. Good for you.
Daniels

 

[jsgamber]

^^^exactly. keep your water levels about 1 1/2" below the cups if the taproot are out of the netpots. transplant to hydroton. A little shock now will save a lot of hassle later

Hey guys. Make sure you check out TJP's grow. I'm sub'd to it and it should give all of my non-DWC pals a peek at what I aspire my grow to begin to look like.

 

[stelthy]

Hi again dude, just read through the page...Yeah net pots and Hydro-clay balls help alot, I have my RES water level a little higher so the net pot is submerged, But so the rock wool cube is still 1cm above water level, No one every really showed me a correct way but since I've started growing in DWC this has always worked fine for me.. I think if you have a more powerful air-pump its better to drop the water level and increase the gap between the net pot and water level, because the popping bubbles will splash high enough that the rockwool cube will still get a good mix of air and nuitrient supply.

I am off out later today to buy some new Christmas clothes or I am going to look like a snowboarder from the 80's lol I will be on-line again soon but really want to enjoy Christmas with my familly, Since I am doing the cooking I've made up some 'Special' stuffing so everyone should be pretty mellow or laughing for no reason if you catch my drift

Hope you have a good Christmas mate, Ps/ I like the 'Torture device' lol I may chief that idea lol - STELTHY

 

[TheJointProject]

Bubble Bucket Xmas Tree!!!! ROFLMAO hahahahahah!!!!!!!! that's freakin awesome! You should keep it going all year and by next xmas you'll have a 30' tall tree!!! LOL you'll see that shit from the moon. gotta post a pic of that one bro. damn.....this bubba's got me feelin RIGHT. wish i could rep you again, but gotta wait.


Thanks for the plug to my thread. Don't worry bro, once them roots hit the water you'll be lookin just as good if never better in no time.

 

[jsgamber]

Bubble Bucket Xmas Tree!!!! ROFLMAO hahahahahah!!!!!!!! that's freakin awesome! You should keep it going all year and by next xmas you'll have a 30' tall tree!!! LOL you'll see that shit from the moon. gotta post a pic of that one bro. damn.....this bubba's got me feelin RIGHT. wish i could rep you again, but gotta wait.


Thanks for the plug to my thread. Don't worry bro, once them roots hit the water you'll be lookin just as good if never better in no time.

How KISS can you get. GH Dual-Diaphragm pump and a medium gray airstone.

 

[jsgamber]

A brief morning update. Nothing is dead!

Checked out all the root plugs and they are now dry at the tops! whew!

On the underside of things, the bottoms of all the Netpots had little drops of water hanging off so that's a good thing. I went ahead and filled everything up to about 1.5" from below the netpot. All water is running 65*, 5.8 pH and 200 ppm of veg nute mixture. What more can I give them?

 

[gumball]

Love and patience, and some attention.