First Grow - DWC Northern Lights 150w HPS

Hey guys, after quite a bit of research on the forums I have decided to try at growing my own medicine. I have been a patient for 1 1/2 years and a smoker for 5+. I just recently got extremely interested in cultivation and growing, so I went out and bought a load of supplies for a DIY DWC system. As I bought them and started putting my closet together, I just got more and more into all of the parts and gadgets that went into making it. I love this shit! The following are the components I used:

-Closet Approx. 3 ft. wide x 2 feet depth x 8 feet height
-Sun System 150w HPS Light
-18 Gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck container, lid is wrapped in Aluminum Duct Tape
-Top Fin 400 Air Pump
-Black Air Hosing
-Small Air Stones x4
-Cardboard Wall Panels covered in Emergency Blanket...will replace soon
-6" Clip On Fan
-Botanicare Pro Bloom, Botanicare Pro Grow, Botanicare Liquid Karma
-General Hydroponics PH Up, PH Down
-Submersible Water Pump for changing reservoir
-6" Black Net Pots
-Hydroton
-Tap Water

I just completed my setup today. I plugged the Northern Lights clones rooted in rockwool from a local dispensary into the hydroton. I am letting the reservoir water bubble and moisten the bottom of the net pots and top feeding the plants 1/2 strength pro grow and liquid karma solution until the roots reach the water below. I attempted to buy the most decent products I could for a small amount of money. This is supposed to be a medium / small grow, but I would like to try at some decent buds.

A few questions I have:

-How often should I be top-feeding the plants until they root down, and how much?
-For vegging, how high should I have the HPS hanging?
-Do you recommend Liquid Karma for all stages / any at all? I bought the hydro kit small pack from Botanicare that just included it.
-Should I buy Botanicare's Micronutrients?
-Would you recommend 18/6 or 16/8 for Veg?

Any help would be much appreciated, will keep updating and checking the post periodically. Smoke on

you should put the lights 24" above those plants, since they are not budding and theres no heat you could go 20"

Okay, too close now? Thanks for the tip. My humidity is around 55 right now, should i spray ph'ed water in the room to help it rise?

So two days after I'm setup and I've had to make some adjustments. First off, the average room temp when lights were on (18/6) was peaking at 90 degrees. Yikes. Theres very little ways I can get some more cold air flowing into the closet because of my living arrangements. I decided to try and take the bottom of the stand off of my tower fan and place it along the floor just by the crack of the door. This has seemed to cool the room to 80-82 degrees as well as bring more fresh oxygen in. I'm not sure if I could utilize the upper empty portion of the closet for anything? (See picture) If you have any other suggestions for keeping the room temp down, please feel free to share.

As far as the reservoir goes, I had initially only covered the top of the Rubbermaid container with aluminum duct tape. The water temp was a constant 78 degrees while lights were on. Too high. I bought white duct tape and insulated the sides of the Rubbermaid which helped a great deal from what I can tell. I also think that the cold air blowing upwards from the floor fan against the reservoir may help to some extent? Maybe not.

My plants seem to be doing okay, but I have noticed that some of the leaves are beginning to droop and look less perky as they did before I put them in the DWC. I'm a bit worried, I backed off the HPS a few inches to experiment and see if it was the heat. I haven't been top feeding them too often, only to keep the hydroton moist. The bottom of the net pots are also being splashed by the reservoir water that is about 1" below the bottom of the pots. Also, the roots haven't come through yet...it's been two days since I put them in, should I expect them to take longer? I have been using 1/4 strength botanicare pro grow and liquid karma as well as ph'ed water.

Any thoughts please tell, thanks.

Hey guys. Been slacking on the journal because of the 21st birthday rolled a personal and grabbed my free grand slam from Denny's before class

Anyways...the temperatures in the closet with lights on have gone down to topping at 88 degrees rather than 95...(ouch) and 75 with lights off. Have had to keep the door cracked because I've found that theres not enough intake-outtake...so to fix this I ordered this grow tent:

http://www.amazon.com/LED-Wholesalers-GYO1001-Reflective-Hydroponic/dp/B00283Q59M/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Not a brand name one or top of the line at all, but I needed a quick, affordable solution because the 2 clones were looking like they were about to fall over a few days ago. They do sell Secret Jardin 2ft x 2ft x 5ft at the local hydro for $125...but I'd rather have the extra height.

Made the mistake of not rinsing the hydroton out before putting the plants in...could see it causing problems as well as nasty residue in reservoir that was hard to clean after everything was setup. Also foliar fed and the light was too intense and burned some older fan leaves.

The taller of the Northern Lights clones I picked up has gone absolutely crazy since it's gotten a few fat roots popping through the bottom of the net pots. This had me thinking that the plants were so droopy / lower leaves yellowing prior to rooting because all of their focus was root growth and finding nutes (I feared overfeeding so I may have not gotten them enough right after transplant from rockwool). The second shorter clone is still droopy however its had just as many green-healthy looking leaves shoot up as the taller one. I was scared they might be too shocked and not make it, but the new growth is looking very perky and promising.

After the first week of transplant I switched the reservoir water which was just PH'ed tap water to 1/2 strength nute solution (botanicare pro grow and liquid karma). A few days after that (today) and it looks like those nutes are really helping now that the plants have developed roots. I also started foliar feeding with light nute solution right after lights go off.

Attached below are some pictures, the roots are actually bright white, the nutes just leave some residue on them and I know I'm getting plenty of oxygen to them (just bought a nicer pump, tetra whisper 60 - shit's really quiet!) so I think they are fine from root-rot. Res temps are 75 at absolute highest, usually 65-70. Also bought Aquashield by Botanicare to prevent anything unwanted.

Few questions :

-I have my 150w HPS pretty damn high above the plants just as relief from being put into the DWC, when should I move it down and how close if I have a fan blowing up into the ballast/bulb? (It stays really cool if i do this, can touch it with your hand)

- There is a 4" top and $4" top side vent for exhaust in my new grow tent, if I have an oscillating fan bringing in cool air from a bottom opening in the tent wall, do you think the heat could escape easily enough from the top of the tent without an exhaust fan? Otherwise would a 100cfm pc fan be enough?

-I've only got Liquid Karma and Pro Bloom lined up for flowering, I'm trying to stay somewhat organic, any recommendations on something that will excite the plants and buds?

bump.

It has been about 10 days since I planted the NL clones into my DWC. The plants now have huge, long, hairy roots and are loving 1/2 strength nute solution. I attempted to FIM the larger/bushier of the two, I did some research so I'm hoping I did it right. As for the smaller plant I might just let it grow, or attempt Ben's topping method and see side by side how each of the two works out on yields. I'm feeling a lot better since the plants are shooting new growth everywhere overnight and they have gotten their dark green leaf color back

I also got my grow tent in the mail and set it up outside of my initial closet. I keep the bottom meshed vents open for intake blowing up towards an 80 CFM 4" Thermaltake PC Fan bought from radioshack. The fan is placed right above my 150w HPS which puts out a decent amount of heat. I am suprised to say the fan pushes quite a bit of air with the fan below's help. Very quiet too if someone needs a recommendation on one. Also only $10

By putting them in the closet and adding the small exhaust, I've lowered the temps to 73-75 degrees with lights off (daytime) and the temps only top 82 now with lights on! A much better improvement seeing as how my closet was topping 96. Res temps are also lower - hovering between 65-70.

As for my first choice on nutes, I so far love the Botanicare line (Pro Grow, Pro Bloom, Liquid Karma)...the plants seem to be responding well to me increasing the dosages each res change (end of each week). If anyone has suggestions for a somewhat organic bud booster for when I flower that would be awesome. So far I only have Botanicare Pro Bloom prepared.

Few questions if anyone will answer:

-How can early FIM'ing change the plant later on rather than FIM'ing when the plant is say 1-1/2ft tall?

-If I'm not getting any heat problems from the plants, how close should I be getting my 150w HPS and how beneficial would it be to get it closer?

-If I FIM'ed can I still cut a clone off once more matured / vegged?

-I'm using the Sun System default HPS bulb, would you reccommend a better one? (150w)

I've learned a ton the last few weeks, experienced an N overdose and researched how to flush / fix it and was successful. Leaves were turning dark dark green and becoming very droopy. They are now just starting week 2 of flowering.

I have been doing res changes every week. PPM right now is 750,PH has been easy and balanced, Res temp 70 degrees, and I have been topping off to keep up res level all week until res change. I used Botanicare originally but switched to Fox Farms Trio line when I went 12/12 because of cost issues with Liquid Karma, etc. I know I should not have switched but no choice for me really. Plants took the change well. Also added Superthrive and Aquashield to my list.

I FIMM'ed them very early because of lack of vertical grow space and they have nice spread out main branches. They are short and stubby but so far they have grown an inch or three in the first week of flowering.

I'm not sure what to expect yield wise but I am happy with the learning experience thus far and that they are looking healthy for the most part!

Below are some pics of my new setup, a few pics of some leaves that are wrinkled...I was thinking heat stress? There are no nuteburn signs, the plants are getting a lot taller....They seem to have recovered from the N overdose too. Any ideas or suggestions appreciated.

Hey guys. Been a little bit. My ladies have gotten nice and hairy since the last update. Starting week four of flowering today. Trimmed a lot of the lower brush below the canopy because the 150w hps penetration isn't that great. PPM's right now ranging from 1100-1200. Found out that northern lights can survive on very little food.

Thinking of purchasing a Lumatek 400w dimmable ballast and running a 250w hps/mh for my next batch. I was curious, I have a built in ballast now, I would be getting a digital....if I put the digital ballast outside the tent would it make my ambient room temps rise compared to the built in? I have an intake fan blowing up into the open reflector at the moment and a top exhaust and it really heats up my small living arrangement. Would it be a huge jump heat wise to switch from the 150w hps bulb to the 250w? My tent only measures 24" x 36" x 62".

I got a little temporary veg room setup. I actually had these really powerful magnets that I hotglued to the back of a powerstrip that has daylight CFL's plugged into it. The powerstrip is latched onto the side of my washer and dryer (lol) but its pretty convenient seeing as how I can move it around whenever.

Also, is Clearex okay for a final flush before harvest?

Any help or comments fully welcomed. peace

hiya mate not reading all the way threw as you wright eassay's each post lol
but looking good!

yeah i got lazy and cut this last one short haha just trying to keep a well documented journal for the first time

use clearex to the label, read directions

Still going strong...got a little nuteburn on the tips of the leaves, ppm was around 1200 before I did a res change today. Dropped it down to 950 using FF Big Bloom and FF Tiger Bloom with Botanicare Aquashield.

I pulled the main stalks together by tieing them together with yarn near the bottom of the stem as to keep the canopies between the two plants farther from each other as well as get all the major budsites under the light.

Plan on gradually decreasing nutes before a final flush with clearex. For my first grow I am pleased so far.

Also rearranged my veg room situation. Cut two clones about two weeks into flower and they have rooted in my party cups with rockwool. I have em under 6 CFLS (4 5000k and 2 2700k). They are growing ridiculously fast and bushy. Keepin them at 500ppms of FF Grow Big, should be ready to go straight into the hydro res once I cut the first ones down

nice setup... don't look like a newb to me

Pistils are turning brown on top bud sites...a little nuteburn, but did a res change today. Going to decrease nutes as I get closer to harvest and then flush a few days with plain ph'ed water. I'm getting anxious!

Getting milky.

Nice clean set up bro! Would you recommend your Jardin? I have been thinking of replacing my rubbermade vertical storage for the jardin since heat is a major issue right now. Does your tent leak any light?

Thank you I like to keep my grow area near spotless. It is not a Jardin tent, it's a cheap $90 LEDWholesalers tent. Found on amazon. Didn't want to pay huge bucks for a tent for my first grow. Upgrading slowly.

I'm really surprised with the density and amount of decent size colas that grew, especially for my first grow. Looking to be 50-60 grams dried hopefully. Now to make room for a 400w

Good grow dude. I hope you post final pics and smoke report sometime soon.

Secret Jardin is a well made tent but isn't perfect in terms of keeping light out. I'm not sure that any of them are. I have 2 jardin tents. If you are worried about heat then a tent without proper ventilation will have heat issues too..