1st Grow - LED Mini Cool Cab meet Jack Herer

[wake.n.bake]

Day 50
Day 21 flowering

3 of the four plants are doing really well.

The 1 that is not has been the weakest plant the entire grow. It was located right next to the control unit while the system was having issues, it never got as much water as the others so it had perpetual nute burn. To my surprise she didn't go male I almost killed her the other day because she looked so bad but decided not to since she is such a survivor.


From what I've read here Jack Herers flower for 50-60 days so she still has plenty of time to recoup.

Todays stats:
20"-25" inches tall
76/53 temp/humid
daily ppm range of 1550-1300 (nutes only)
6-6.5 ph

Gonna flush today since it's been 2 weeks. One great thing about the hydroheart in my cab is it's very easy to flush. Just disconnect the reserve pump, take the tube off the top of the control unit, and run a drain tube from the top of the unit to a bucket. Takes about 20-30 minutes to drain. So easy...





Hope everyone has a baked day

 

[wake.n.bake]

Day 55
Day 26 flowering

After flushing the unit a few days ago I started to experience the overflow problem again with the Hydroheart. The screens I installed 2 weeks ago had worked initially but as the plants continued to grow the flow issues came back.

Since I am only growing 4 plants at this point I reduced the number of netpots from 8 - 6. I also replaced the air pump on the control unit with a fish aquarium pump (up to 40 gallons) as it seemed to work sporadically at best. So far the system is performing better then ever and the ladies are loving it.

PH is dropping rapidly each day. Based on comments I've read here that means the girls are munching out big time

Today's stats
19"-28" inches tall
71/54 temp/humid
1500-1700 ppm
5.5-6.5 ph

View attachment 1433625
View attachment 1433642
Have a baked day

 

[Devilspawn]

Hey there- running my first LED grow too with a full size cab from Sunlight- I had the earlier tub system so have not had the grow heart problems you are seeing. I am still in veg- about a month behind you and planning on running a little bigger. I did decide to add a 240w Blackstar w 3 w chips to my grow a few weeks ago- I'm interested to see how your buds do with just the two UFOs. I have had my share of probs too- The fogger in my rez ( don't think hydroheart has that - kinda aeroponics in addition to drip and dwc) had a disc go after less than 3 weeks, my back up rez valve is leaking, my back up rez was leaking too- rtv fixed that- few little things missing- they have been good about sending parts though even though I bought this during the summer- took 5 mo for me to get it up and going. I'll be watching your grow. I did Uncle Bens on two of my fem widows and got 4 heads too- also doing lst- something you may want to consider to deal with height of mini cab .. Are you having any heat build up? Any plans on cloning? i would think the mini would work great for a scrog grow...

 

[wake.n.bake]

"I'm interested to see how your buds do with just the two UFOs."
wanted to do my first grow with just the 2 lights that came with it just to see how they would do by themselves. Gonna crank up the lights next round too.

"also doing lst- something you may want to consider to deal with height of mini cab"
keeping it simple for my 1st grow but will consider LST in the future...thanks for the suggestion.

"Are you having any heat build up?"
not at all and I'm growing in a enclosed closet. Gotta love those LED's

"Any plans on cloning?"
not in the near future as I want to try different strains. Just growing for personal use.

Thanks for the tips & for following.

 

[Devilspawn]

LSt isnt all that complicated- getting a couple extra big colas by filling out horizontal space. Reason I mention clones is if you know you have all fems, the cabs are perfect for scrog grows. I just grow for personal medical use as well, just looking at ways to maximize yield for all the work and investment- damn cab, nutes and extra light wasn't cheap. i have collected a bunch of new strain seeds as well- looking forward to experimenting, but if I find one I realy like, I do want to keep a momma.

 

[wake.n.bake]

Day 58
Day 29 Flowering

Decided to pull the 4th plant a few days ago that was not keeping up. She was taking up valuable space & was barely hanging on - rip

Now have 3 healthy Jack Herers w/ 12 colas (thanks uncle ben!) for the stretch run, which is a nice number based on the size of my cab. Buds are really starting to develop . Guessing I have about 20-25 days of flowering to go.

Today's stats
30" tall
71/49 temp/humid
1600 ppm (nutes only)
6.4 ph

 

[wake.n.bake]

here you go:

Pic 1. tube, tube cover, net pot



2. assembled pic


3. the tubes sit in the bottom of the unit

 

[shand]

Thanks for the pics dude

I definitely didn't get a piece like that
Sunlight better get ready for some hate e-mails.

Thanks again!

 

[wake.n.bake]

Thanks for the pics dude

I definitely didn't get a piece like that
Sunlight better get ready for some hate e-mails.

Thanks again!

Hey,
Don't refer to this thread or website when u communicate with SS. If they think you're growing mm they can't talk to you - see previous posts by other members.

Good luck

 

[shand]

Yeah I heard the same thing. I dont even have all the pieces yet so I couldnt grow anything with it if I wanted to

Thanks for your help sorry for Hijacking your journal

 

[wake.n.bake]

Day 61
Day 32 flowering

Picked up a digital PH meter this week, glad I did. I had been using PH drops to test the water & thought I had been running my PH around 5.5-6-5, but after comparing both I now believe I had my PH in the 6-7 range, which is a little high. Trying to keep it now as close to 5.8 as possible (5.5-6.2 range).

Turned off the LEDs for a couple of seconds this morning (room lights on) to snap a few pics.
Even though the girls are at the top past the lights they've grown HUGE fan leaves right under the lights so they're continuing to suck up the direct light.
I probably vegged for too long...oh well, live & learn.

Today's stats:
30 " tall
75/49 temp/humid
1600 ppm (nutes only)
5.9 PH

Guessing about 20-25 days to go

Enjoy the bud porn


Hope everyone gets HIGH today

 

[echoa]

I too had continuing problems with the hydroheart system. I built a cheap aeroponic system as a backup, and I'm just waiting for the next problem to replace the hydroheart. I ended up pulling the exhaust out totally and replacing it with a real filter and fan. What a difference. If I had it to do again, I'd just buy a grow tent, and save some dollars, but that's all hindsight. I started planting 8 seeds, got 7 to germinate and 5 were female, so I guess i should not complain too much.

 

[hayi]

I had the same problem with the overflow. I cut the screen so it did not block the inlet and outlet holes. Now the water level is even in all pots.

 

[wake.n.bake]

I had the same problem with the overflow. I cut the screen so it did not block the inlet and outlet holes. Now the water level is even in all pots.

What day of your grow are you on? Once I hit day 50 the system would not work properly with 8 pots no matter what I did. It's working great since I downsized to 6 pots.

 

[wake.n.bake]

Day 67
Day 38 flowering

Flushed the system today as PH & nute levels were beginning to stagnate.

Going to install more lights for next grow. Currently have 3 plants in unit and it's obvious at this point more lighting is needed.

Today's stats
30" in height
75/48 temp/humid
1600 ppm (nutes only)
6.2 ph




Time to get HIGH

 

[wake.n.bake]

I had the same problem with the overflow. I cut the screen so it did not block the inlet and outlet holes. Now the water level is even in all pots.

What screens did you cut and what day is your grow on?

 

[hayi]

I cut the screens that came with the kit. I was told that I needed to keep the screens up a inch above the holes on the bottom of each pot. That didnt work at all. So i cut the screens out where the holes are in the pots. I put the screens all the way down and matched it up.This so far has been working good. I also took the air pump that came with it and dumped it into the main reservoir . I got a 4 watt air pump on the pots and main reservoir . Im on about 20 days. I also had leak on the float switch. The o-ring was not install inside of the res. the ph swing is fast on this thing. I noticed that my ph and ppm have a swing from the first to last pot and also the reservoir .

 

[SecretiveOne]

Nice setup. Personally i would of gone with a predominately indica strain so it would stay more short and tight. Also i would have trained the plants by bending them over (when they are tall enough) and secure them to the rim of the pot. Then as the plant grows, gently bend it around the perimeter of the pot. This way you don't need to top the plants so veg time is shorter. This is also better because all the colas grow to the same height and recieve the same amount of light, making them all the same size. This achevies the same effect of topping without the recovery time. If you let the plant grow vertically you have to (usually) raise the light as it grows so you don't burn it. The lower colas don't get as much light and turn out small and airy. I understand with LED's that you don't need to move the light because they put off next to no heat.

Overall, nice going and welcome to the wonderful world of weed.

 

[wake.n.bake]

"I cut the screens that came with the kit. I was told that I needed to keep the screens up a inch above the holes on the bottom of each pot. That didnt work at all. So i cut the screens out where the holes are in the pots. I put the screens all the way down and matched it up.This so far has been working good."

Once I got up to day 45-50 there was nothing I could do to keep the system from overflowing other than reducing the number of pots from 8-6. Once you pull your males if you have 6 or less plants I highly recommend breaking the hydroheart down to 6 pots. You'll notice an incredible difference in water flow, water levels & overall performance.

"I also had leak on the float switch. The o-ring was not install inside of the res."

I had a leak in the exact same place. There was an O-ring, it was just installed improperly so it leaked.

"the ph swing is fast on this thing. I noticed that my ph and ppm have a swing from the first to last pot and also the reservoir . "

IMO...this is related to the water flow issue of having 8 pots. If you look at the first pot (connects to hose coming out of top of the control unit), the water level is higher than the water level in the last pot. This is what is causing your ph , nute flux and overflows. If the water level is low in the last pot, the water level in the control unit will not push the float high enough to turn off the reserve pump, causing your first pot to overflow. I'll guess that your plant in the last pot (connects to bottom of control unit) is the weakest of the group?

All I can say is as long as you're using 8 pots keep a very close eye on it & don't leave any power cords on the floor near it. Your overflow issues are not over yet my friend.

 

[wake.n.bake]

Nice setup. Personally i would of gone with a predominately indica strain so it would stay more short and tight. Also i would have trained the plants by bending them over (when they are tall enough) and secure them to the rim of the pot. Then as the plant grows, gently bend it around the perimeter of the pot. This way you don't need to top the plants so veg time is shorter. This is also better because all the colas grow to the same height and recieve the same amount of light, making them all the same size. This achevies the same effect of topping without the recovery time. If you let the plant grow vertically you have to (usually) raise the light as it grows so you don't burn it. The lower colas don't get as much light and turn out small and airy. I understand with LED's that you don't need to move the light because they put off next to no heat.

Overall, nice going and welcome to the wonderful world of weed.

Thank you! Next to smoking the finished product, I'm really looking forward to testing different growing techniques & strains