First Grow....Ever

[duudical]

This will be my first grow ever. It is a legal grow according to my state's Medical Marijuana laws.

Here is the set up:
Grow Tent: 36Wx20Dx60H
6-Site, 18Gallon DWC Hydro
(1) 90W LED (2W diodes)
(1) 135W Blackstar LED (3w diodes w/Cree chipset)
240 CFM Duct Fan+ Carbon Filter
Technaflora Recipe for Success nutrient kit
pH/EC/TDS/Temp Meter

The Seeds:
4 x Delicious Seeds La Diva Automatic
1 x Dutch Passion Blueberry
1 x Reserva Privada Kandy Kush

The Plan:
I plan on growing the (4) La Diva Automatics in the Hydro to finish while simultaneously growing the BB and KK in soil in order to pull clones off of them once the La Diva finishes (info says somewhere in the 45-50 day range from seed to finish on these, we will see). Since the La Diva's are automatic flowerers, I will just grow the BB and KK in the tent with them with the light on an 18/6 cycle. Once harvested, I will take (3) each clones off of KK and BB, veg them for a couple weeks and then switch to 12/12 to flower. That is the plan anyway, we will see how it progresses

Disclaimer:
I have never done this...ever...so any help you can provide will be much appreciated. I chose to go with LEDs just for stealth and heat purposes, so while I understand that many of you prefer HID lighting, I cannot use such lighting at this time. I am going to do my best to squeeze the most of of the setup I have.

Germinated the seeds - all 6 sprouted and were transplanted into rockwool cubes (La Diva) and Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil (KK and BB). La Diva's are under a dome with a little B-1 added to pH adjusted water. KK and BB are in soil and watered with same pH adjusted water with a little B-1.

Sprouted Seeds:


Setup:


Blueberry is in front pot; Kandy Kush is in the back pot; 4 x La Diva's in rockwool cubes under dome.


I will post pictures and info on the grow as it progresses.

 

[esc420211]

looks good

 

[terrycodone]

seems like youve put alot of thought into this,never followed an led grow before,interested to see what comes of these.good luck and happy growin man,best hobby ever

 

[duudical]

seems like youve put alot of thought into this,never followed an led grow before,interested to see what comes of these.good luck and happy growin man,best hobby ever

Thanks!

Yeah, I did a shit ton of research and reading and scoured these grow journals to glean all I could so that I could avoid certain mistakes - though I am sure I will make many, ha ha. It is already a blast so I can only imagine it is going to get even more fun.

Thanks again.

 

[duudical]

Got the pH/Temp/TDS meter installed and transplanted the 4 x La Diva's into the Hydro. Also decided to add the free Delcious La Musa Automatic to the mix for the hell of it. All of the sprouts are doing well, at least I think so. The nutrient mix is pretty mild at this point - just Root66 and SugarDaddy from the TechnaFlora kit mixed according to their Transplant recipe. Kept it low at about 440ppm and adjusted pH to ~6.02-6.08 or so. Seems like the pH tends to creep up so keeping an eye on it.

La Diva Automatics in the Hydro



The Blueberry in soil



The set-up is coming along. Will install the duct fan and carbon filter when it arrives tomorrow.



This meter has been a good investment already. No need to open up the reservoir to check anything. I can just glance at it throughout the day and make adjustments as necessary.

 

[duudical]

So, the system is working well and everything is all installed, but being new I need some input. All the seedlings are growing pretty well, but they definitely (most of them) have a yellow color on the interior of the leaf. Both on seedlings in the DWC as well as those in the soil.



The ppm's are steady at 550, pH is about 5.9-6.0 and water temp is about 74F. The only nutrients I have fed them is a very weak solution of the Root66 and SugarDaddy. I checked a few of the cubes and they definitely have strong white roots that are beginning to poke through so things seem to be progressing. Just want to make sure I am not doing anything wrong here. Any help is much appreciated

 

[duudical]

But I did successfully get the fan and carbon filter installed. Works amazing and definitely gets the air changed quickly.

 

[duudical]

After doing some research in some books and crawling through some other forums, I narrowed it down to most likely be nutrient burn. Even though I had a very weak nutrient solution, I decided to drain the reservoir and just go with plain pH adjusted water for now while the seedlings establish roots.

 

[duudical]

Installed the 135w Blackstar LED and it already made a huge difference. Lots of growth overnight and roots hanging from a few of the plants.

 

[Caligrower619]

Wow looking good

 

[duudical]

Thanks Caligrower!!

Running into some reservoir temperature issues (above 80F) which I think is being caused by the submersible pump. I shut it off for now while I cool it with frozen water bottles which brought it down below 80F. Think I need to mylar tape the top too so the light is reflected and doesn't heat up the water too much. It is like a fucking science project. Ha ha.

 

[duudical]

Added a couple of CFLs to the tent because growth is super slooooow....and I am just pretty much winging it and trying to fill in the blanks.



Roots are hanging in the water and continuing to show up more and more through the pots each day. I started them on an 800ppm solution of the Technaflora nutrients mixed according to their Vegetative stage recipe. However, the ppm's have continued to creep up - they are at 950 right now. What causes this? My research says that it is because the plants are taking in more water than nutrients. Is this simply because they aren't ready for the food, or am I doing something wrong here?

Leaves still have yellow between the veins. Still not sure. Thought it was nutrient deficiencies, but they don't seem to be eating the food I put in the reservoir.

The Kandy Kush is *thriving*


The Blueberry is out in the sun right now because it is really still in the seedling mode - which is crazy when you consider that I planted it in the same soil at the same time as the Kandy Kush which is doing the best by far.

Two of the La Diva Automatics are doing promising - the others are really crawling growth-wise.


One is very green and healthy looking. The other is very much riddled with those yellow lines, but the roots look good and it is growing at a pretty even rate with the one that is green and lush looking.

What is strange is that the big green La Diva is already showing female pre-flowers. So all four seeds were sprouted identically, at the same exact time, placed in the hydroponics system at the same time receiving the exact same care, but this one is definitely maturing faster and growing a LOT more prolifically than the others. The LED's definitely have promoted very low growth with super-close inter-nodal spaces...not sure if this is good or too much on the close side. Really hardly any vertical stretch on the Automatics, while the Kandy Kush is looking more like I imagined they would grow.



Any thoughts on what I am doing wrong here?

 

[Pipe Dream]

Maybe it's an autoflower strain, I'm not sure. It will either start budding under 18/6 light schedule or it's probably just preflowers and will just continue growing normally.

 

[duudical]

It definitely is an Autoflower Strain - The one already pre-flowering is Delicious Seeds La Diva Auto. It just seems really small to be at this point...but, then again, I am experiencing all of this for the first time so I really have nothing beyond books and other grow journals to compare with

 

[duudical]

I actually pulled some solution out of the reservoir and then added pH adjusted water to get it around 740. I will watch it over the next day or two to see if it continues to creep up. If so, I will drain and start over with something in the 500 range.

Some more pics:

The Kandy Kush is kicking ass over all the other plants



This is the strongest of the La Divas so far:



This one is biggish and has some good root growth so far, but still seems to be yellowish:



Roots:



Here you can see how small and immature the Blueberry is next to the Kandy Kush - both germinated and potted at the exact same time and given the same care:



The four on the right are all La Diva Automatics - the one in the back left corner is the La Musa Automatic - all from Delicious Seeds:

 

[kentuckyboy]

I've seen an LA DIVA start to flower in 3 weeks from seed. I just started one myself that just popped the soil this morning. I'm running my shit 24/7 for a month, and then I will cut the hours back to 18/6 to finish flowering while I start some other seeds that are photoperiod strains.

 

[duudical]

Thanks for the experienced info kentuckyboy. I have been running a 24/0 cycle as well since I am primarily using the LED's and they put off very little heat. I really hope the Blueberry picks up because I am excited to have some of that around. If it doesn't, I will just get some more seeds and try again most likely. Happy the Kandy Kush is doing so well though. I plan on taking clones off of it and growing 3-4 of those to flower next. Kind of pumped to take the clones and root them...seems fun.

The ppm's didn't go up over night - with the lights at 24/0, so looks like I may have gotten it down to where it needs to be. I will drain and reformulate in a couple of days anyway, so as long as it isn't racing back up toward 1000 or anything I think it is good to go for now.

 

[duudical]

Definitely looks like the yellow was just nutrient deficiency. I was kind of gun shy on adding too much food to the water so I didn't burn them, but might have held back too much. Now, all the new growth is looking green and healthy on all the plants. The Blueberry is still very, very, very small - especially next to that Kandy Kush monster who continues to look awesome.

 

[duudical]

It is Day 37 since seeds were germinated and the plants are starting to show great root growth and substantial top growth as well. The Blueberry is finally starting to show signs of getting ready to take off. Not sure what I did wrong with that one, or if it just happened to be the particular genetics of the seed that caused it to take so long, but today was the first day that it started to look like it was going to finally leave the seedling stage and enter vegetative growth.

 

[duudical]

Day 45 from seed: