DIY 20 site PVC CFL Grow

StinkBud

Well-Known Member
Nice bro! You are going to kill it! I know exactly where you're at because I've been there. So here's a couple of tips to take or shake, whatever works for you.

I run my timer 1 min on, 4 min off. In fact you can buy a standard NFT timer and all you have to do is plug it in. Years of research have proven this to be the best time ratio. People have been doing this shit since the 70's so all we have to do is enjoy the ride. I did a whole shit load of experimentation with the time and ended up back at 1-4.

The roots are going to create a mat along the entire length of the pipe. They eventually will grow down the drain and plug it up. At first it will be slow to drain causing the plants to sit in water too long. Eventually the water will almost completely stop. There are a number of solutions but remember, the roots are going to grow all the way down the pipes and into the res/pump. I shit you not! I lost the drain pipe all together and trim my roots with scissors. Sounds harsh but it works great!

Nutes - Organic based nutes taste the best. Here's my receipt. You can tweak it as needed...
540ml - Botanicare Pure Blend Pro (Grow for veg, Bloom for flower)
125ml - Botanicare Cal/Mag Plus
180ml - Botanicare Liquid Karma

Mix it all together in a milk jug and add to your res as needed. You can keep the leftover in your fridge. Label the jug "Iced Tea" and then let your friends try it. Oh yea, get the cell phone camera out first.

There are a bunch of other good products you can add but this is the basic starter set. I've been using it for years with great success. I start the freshly rooted clones around 600-800ppm. I'll take it to 1000ppm in the later stages of veg. I switch from the Pure Blend Pro Grow in veg to the Pure Blend Pro Bloom for flower. Lately I've been running 1000-1200ppm but all that's important is that you watch the plants. The color, texture, etc. will tell you what to do.

Light - The light you have right now is hands-down the best choice in the world for veg. Plants will stay short which is what you want growing indoors. So now comes the hard truth, you would do a lot better with a bigger light. I recommend a 1000W HPS. You'll pull down at least a pound of super dank, hard nugs. Plant growth is powered by light. The difference between 40,000 lumens and 120,000 lumens is hard to convey. Add a couple of 1K lights and you have the sun inside your house. So use what you have but seriously think about more light.

On a side note I love my HO fluorescent! My system is similar to your but with built in plant support. That support could also be extended up and hold lights. Why couldn't someone take 3 of the 8-bulb HO lights, one on top and two on the sides and have the same amount of light as an HPS? Except there would be a fraction of the heat and no hot spot. The light would be spread evenly over the whole canopy and even the lower buds would get light. Just a thought...

Good luck bro! I'll be watching...
 
Last edited:

Tone5500

Well-Known Member
Nice bro! You are going to kill it! I know exactly where you're at because I've been there. So here's a couple of tips to take or shake, whatever works for you.

I run my timer 1 min on, 4 min off. In fact you can buy a standard NFT timer and all you have to do is plug it in. Years of research have proven this to be the best time ratio. People have been doing this shit since the 70's so all we have to do is enjoy the ride. I did a whole shit load of experimentation with the time and ended up back at 1-4.

The roots are going to create a mat along the entire length of the pipe. They eventually will grow down the drain and plug it up. At first it will be slow to drain causing the plants to sit in water too long. Eventually the water will almost completely stop. There are a number of solutions but remember, the roots are going to grow all the way down the pipes and into the res/pump. I shit you not! I lost the drain pipe all together and trim my roots with scissors. Sounds harsh but it works great!

Nutes - Organic based nutes taste the best. Here's my receipt. You can tweak it as needed...
540ml - Botanicare Pure Blend Pro (Grow for veg, Bloom for flower)
125ml - Botanicare Cal/Mag Plus
180ml - Botanicare Liquid Karma

Mix it all together in a milk jug and add to your res as needed. You can keep the leftover in your fridge. Label the jug "Iced Tea" and then let your friends try it. Oh yea, get the cell phone camera out first.

There are a bunch of other good products you can add but this is the basic starter set. I've been using it for years with great success. I start the freshly rooted clones around 600-800ppm. I'll take it to 1000ppm in the later stages of veg. I switch from the Pure Blend Pro Grow in veg to the Pure Blend Pro Bloom for flower. Lately I've been running 1000-1200ppm but all that's important is that you watch the plants. The color, texture, etc. will tell you what to do.

Light - The light you have right now is hands-down the best choice in the world for veg. Plants will stay short which is what you want growing indoors. So now comes the hard truth, you would do a lot better with a bigger light. I recommend a 1000W HPS. You'll pull down at least a pound of super dank, hard nugs. Plant growth is powered by light. The difference between 40,000 lumens and 120,000 lumens is hard to convey. Add a couple of 1K lights and you have the sun inside your house. So use what you have but seriously think about more light.

On a side note I love my HO fluorescent! My system is similar to your but with built in plant support. That support could also be extended up and hold lights. Why couldn't someone take 3 of the 8-bulb HO lights, one on top and two on the sides and have the same amount of light as an HPS? Except there would be a fraction of the heat and no hot spot. The light would be spread evenly over the whole canopy and even the lower buds would get light. Just a thought...

Good luck bro! I'll be watching...
Eh stink I would like to use that recipe in veg only because I belive you can virtually vegg a plant with minimum light and nutes and right now even tho I've had good results I don't think I need all the additives I'm using so my question is how many gallons does that milk jug accommodate I'm using ten gallons of water in a 15 gallon tote thanks brother and sorry for the thread hack .
 

StinkBud

Well-Known Member
Eh stink I would like to use that recipe in veg only because I belive you can virtually vegg a plant with minimum light and nutes and right now even tho I've had good results I don't think I need all the additives I'm using so my question is how many gallons does that milk jug accommodate I'm using ten gallons of water in a 15 gallon tote thanks brother and sorry for the thread hack .
I usually mix a double/triple batch at a time. I just splash in a little and mix it up, check the PPM and repeat. Sometimes times I've nailed it on the first splash. A double batch will fill a quart milk jug almost exactly. I was able to fill 3-reservoirs with the quart. It doesn't a lot of nutes if your only running 800-1000 PPM.

As you add nutes the PH will start to drop into place. Depending on your water's PH it may come out perfect, mine usually does. When I run my nutes low I usually end up around PH 6.2, I want PH 5.8.

The thing is, if you so much as even look at a bottle of PH down your res will drop a full point! You've got to go real easy with that shit. You buy this big ass bottle of PH down because it's cheap as shit. You figure it must take a lot to get the job done. You'll pour it in and check your PH and it will be 3.1! It's been many years since I first started but honestly, I've fucked up every possible way there is to fuck up! Learning is fun!

So anyway now I just put in a teaspoon at a time...
 

gumtree

Active Member
Thanks for the great advice stink bud i have looked over your posts many times in the months coming up to my decision to start a hydro set up, will be taking the time to look through it over the next few days might even check out your book! As soon as I read your post I made myself a 1 on and 4 off timer. I used a PIC microprocessor and a solid state relay. it's awesome and with my knowledge in both programming and hobby electronics I don't see why I couldn't easily rig up a complete grow controller to monitor PH, EC, lighting, etc. I've seen it attempted many times before and it's something I am definitely keen to consider experimenting with. a HPS is also some thing I will consider to finish this grow.

I hope to do a few successful grows in this system before upgrading to a similar nft/spray system in a 4x8 tent, i plan to have 2x 600w HPS and 1x 600w MH for bloom. And a 4x4 tent for vegging mothers and starting clones.



so here's where my grow is at now:

I added extra nutrients from 0.4EC to 0.6EC
this is where i realized i had not been feeding the plants enough
the plants shot up with new growth literally over night
but i think the addition of fertilizer was too quick, the tips got a bit burned and i can see they are pointing down too possibly nitrogen toxicity? anyway what i did was i put new clean ph5.8 water in my res, i ran it through for a few minutes, i emptied that out, then i put in new water and nutes at 0.5EC and going to leave it on that for a few days... hopefully it will fix the issue.. my PH is sitting around 5.8

IMG_5771.jpg
^^The CRITICAL KUSH seedlings at the front are looking quite luscious, I will have to separate these from the cuttings soon to continue vegging elsewhere.

Here is what the plants look like today, the bottom of the plant not sure if its a deficiency due to low nutrients or a lockout from having too many nutes? I'm just not understanding the signs of nitrogen toxicity / nute burn in my plants where everyone else on this site seems to start their clones at 500+ppm .. my plants are already going onto week 4+ in VEG and the PPM is STILL UNDER 500 :/ :/ :/ :/ :/:/
IMG_5738.jpg IMG_5782.jpg


There doesn't seem to be any issue here?

IMG_5749.jpg
I would love any help regarding my above issues :D I am dying to pull this grow off with some smokeable buds... the weed in my area is barely smokeable, week after week we pay for this crap compressed brick weed shit, often bags with plants full of seeds... been many years now since I have had a good smoke so hopefully I can learn some tricks to be able to produce myself some quality bud
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: TWS

gumtree

Active Member
one other thing I did notice is the color of the stalk and the leaf stems.. they are quite purple and I know it's a sign of some sort of deficiency or lock out because I have the same strain planted outdoors it's going great and the stalk/stem are bright green and healthy
 

Tone5500

Well-Known Member
I usually mix a double/triple batch at a time. I just splash in a little and mix it up, check the PPM and repeat. Sometimes times I've nailed it on the first splash. A double batch will fill a quart milk jug almost exactly. I was able to fill 3-reservoirs with the quart. It doesn't a lot of nutes if your only running 800-1000 PPM.

As you add nutes the PH will start to drop into place. Depending on your water's PH it may come out perfect, mine usually does. When I run my nutes low I usually end up around PH 6.2, I want PH 5.8.

The thing is, if you so much as even look at a bottle of PH down your res will drop a full point! You've got to go real easy with that shit. You buy this big ass bottle of PH down because it's cheap as shit. You figure it must take a lot to get the job done. You'll pour it in and check your PH and it will be 3.1! It's been many years since I first started but honestly, I've fucked up every possible way there is to fuck up! Learning is fun!

So anyway now I just put in a teaspoon at a time...
Lmao I have a harder time in vegg with ph just like you said bam drop to 3.5 then add some up bam 8.9 but I usally can get it pretty stable trail and error but thanks I'm goig to give it a shot with your recipe
 

gumtree

Active Member
you need some calmag
I was wondering if that would help at all, but my notes all point to telling me that cal/mag deficiencies can also be due to a lock out from too many nutes. my tips definitely look burned and some bottom leaves are looking darker than they should, also the "claw" very apparent in lots of growth.
What doesn't make sense to me though is in the course of one day my EC can start at 0.5 and then lower to 0.3 in the afternoon... why are the plants sucking the (low) nutes from the water and getting burned / nitrogen tox? My day temps are average 26* celcius but can go up to 30* celcius.. humidity is a comfortable 50-60%
Cheers:)
 

StinkBud

Well-Known Member
He's right bro, that's Cal/Mag deficiency. The thing is that dead growth won't come back. You have to watch the new growth. Everything is fine bro! You're doing great other than worrying too much. Smoke a joint and enjoy the show.

There is one thing...the plants are going to get huge! They really are a little too close to each other. You could run half as many plants and still harvest the same. The plants will grow about 5X whatever height you start flowering them at.
 

gumtree

Active Member
So I added CAL / MAG 3 days ago

there is more cal/mag in the water now than ferts and i only used a quarter dose

night/day temp range is between 18 and 28 celcius
running lights on 12/12 now.

IMG_6192.jpg
IMG_6204.jpg

IMG_6201.jpg


my two sad looking mothers, hope to use these on my next grow. it can only be better than this one . i hope this cal/mag stuff helps .. i am starting with plain tap water with low PPM.

IMG_6113.jpg IMG_6127.jpg
 

joespit

Well-Known Member
Yeah looks a lil cal/mag and too much N. It it's early in the grow everything will bounce back now that you know what them girls need, always good to find the boundaries with bitches. Looking great! Why'd you decide to go with coco pellets if I may pry?
 

gumtree

Active Member
Cheers yes I think it is really starting to bounce back now, a shit load of new growth in the past few days.. I am really looking forward to my next grow after learning a lot during the course of this one!
It's clay pellets / hydroton, I know some people just use a foam net pot cover /insert thing but I used what I had and so far it's working well to support the plants :)
 

joespit

Well-Known Member
I know and honestly this system is soo easy and aesthetically pleasing (stink bud-esque systems in general) that it makes anyone look like an expert grow guru! I love what you got going on under the "hood" truly the supercharged overkill of stink systems, and looks like it belongs on the space station.

Do you have a veg/cloner going too?
 

gumtree

Active Member
So here's where it's at, coming up to one week in flower, the plants are getting huge, way too big for the system, lol.
Over the weekend I'll be expanding the set up to allow the plants to fill the 4x4 tent space.
Early next week a 600W HPS will arrive.
And when I get my second and third tent I will upgrade ventilation, probably two 12 inch fans and 8-10 inch carbon filters for each tent.
IMG_6281.jpg

This plant is 35cm across and growing quick!
IMG_6284.jpg

Do you have a veg/cloner going too?
Here's 4 cuttings, just taken from the tops of my CK mothers grown from seed. Hope to flower these ones to find the best smoke ;) I think my plan for long term will be to have mother plants, take cuttings in aero cloner for a few weeks, then one or two weeks veg in the system and straight over to flower. Should be able to do 5 harvest per year easy.
IMG_6380.jpg

Here are the CK mothers btw, before and after topping :D The T5's were really close throughout early growth, I recon these plants will get real bushy!
IMG_6375.jpg

IMG_6377.jpg


And can't forget the mothers
cal'mag additive has really fixed these plants up
IMG_6341.jpg


Indoor/Outdoor soil grow
IMG_6385.jpg
 
Last edited:

gumtree

Active Member
Shiva OG Mothers at back (I finally remembered what strain I planted many months back..)
Critical Kush Mothers at front (just topped in previous post)
IMG_6443.jpg


New growth on Critical Kush after topping...
not sure what's going on with the leaves though.. some thing to do with calcium/magnesium? unsure if too much or not enough. I am adding cal-mag at half recommended dose as I am using plain non-filtered tap water.
EC has remained stable at 0.75 for the past 3 days
IMG_6439.jpg


Untitled-1.jpg

IMG_6441.jpg

Grow tent
The flower tent is getting huge, plants look pretty happy, smashing through the nutes, now expanding the system to fill the tent, will update!

IMG_6445.jpg
IMG_6448.jpg
Untitled-2.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: TWS
Top