For all new growers with questions... Tons of information and answers..

I plan on using the bucket system with about fifteen buckets and a plant in each bucket his system has a main reservoir tank which runs through a pump that pumps water into a pipe at each bucke that creates a drip on each bucket. It then flows through the bucket and is drained out the bottom and pumped back into the reservoir. I do plan on getting a 200 gph pump to run this system so do you think that 15 min every 2 hours will work for vegetative and flowering.

Toker88 said:

Thnkx for the reply. Unfortunately I ordered a soil tester -- however it won't arrive for atleast another week.

I do have pics tho, sorry for the crappy quality, I had to take them w/ my phone.

Click to expand...

from the pic i would say its fine... not a deficiency at all.. more so the strain...

i'll be able to help more, and you'll know a lot more, once you get your soil tester... a day or two longer wont make a difference..

the biggest sign of a nute deficiency is a change in growth... in order to maintain a solid growth pattern your plant needs a balance of all the macro and micro nutes... if you are experiencing fast growth and then all of a sudden growth slows and leaves/stems change color theres a chance you could have a deficiency..

but in the end the biggest contributor to nute deficiencies is lockout due to improper PH...

your plants look healthy tho.. at this point i wouldnt worry or stress... just wait to eliminate possibilities...

mrnb10 said:

I plan on using the bucket system with about fifteen buckets and a plant in each bucket his system has a main reservoir tank which runs through a pump that pumps water into a pipe at each bucke that creates a drip on each bucket. It then flows through the bucket and is drained out the bottom and pumped back into the reservoir. I do plan on getting a 200 gph pump to run this system so do you think that 15 min every 2 hours will work for vegetative and flowering.

Click to expand...

based on what you have said you should be using that timing guide... or at least its a good start... depending on the relative humidity and temperature of your grow room your plants may use more or less water.. so there may be some minor adjustments you need to make.. but that should be a good start for you...

i would recommend getting a good airstone for your reservoir tho... the more oxygenated you can keep your nute solution the better it will be... plus it will help keep things mixed up more in the reservoir than if you didnt..

simpsonsampson420 said:

welcome to RIU

im sure along the way you will come up with some i didnt cover... im still thinking about what to add.. if you have any that arent covered or what more information about anything that way feel free to PM me or post... glad i could help out tho!

good luck and good growing

Click to expand...

ive heard people say they water their plants every day, nd ive also heard others say they only do it twice a week. Any opinion on watering frequently or not?
also, this should be stickied, but maybe in the newb forum
+rep

JanecommaMary said:

ive heard people say they water their plants every day, nd ive also heard others say they only do it twice a week. Any opinion on watering frequently or not?
also, this should be stickied, but maybe in the newb forum
+rep

Click to expand...

thank you for the compliments.. i would love to see this stickied.. but thats up to the moderators... i suppose you can send them a PM and show support to get it stickied.. but i'm just happy if it stays in circulation...

as for your watering question, in my opinion i think there should be a break in between the times you water...

there are a lot of things that you can reverse when you grow.. if you light burn your plant you can raise the light.. if you nute burn your plant you can flush the medium.. if you over water though, you cant remove the water from the soil... soil that is constantly wet can cause major problems with your plant such as slow root growth, root rot, and death...

in my opinion it is better to thoroughly water and wait until the soil is almost completely dry before watering again... if you have to water everyday you either arent watering enough when you do water, have to much drainage in your soil...

allowing the soil to go from wet to dry will encourage root growth by forcing them to spread out for moisture, keep them from becoming rotted, and help keep away soil mold/mildew/fungus...

hillbilly304 said:

good stuff

Click to expand...

glad you found things useful

im verry new to this so please bare with me send me friend requests if ya like willing to trade thoughts but like i said also very new to this so any help would be much appreciated

What about the ph and pruning the plant

GOTTABECANNIBIS said:

What about the ph and pruning the plant

Click to expand...

ph is very important.. its the difference of the plant being able to absorb all the nutes it needs or not.... it can also help eliminate salt build up from nutes being unused...

in soil you ideally want to keep the ph between 6.5 to 7.0... in a hydroponic system you want it between 5.5 and 6.5 with it ideally being around 5.8 to 6.0... slight fluctuations outside these zones is ok.. but will start to lock out nutes..

in a hydro system it is much easier to raise and lower ph... its as simple as purchasing some ph up and ph down from your local hydroponics store or online... you can also use vinegar/lemon juice to lower it or baking soda to raise it.. with soil you can use a soil acidifier or use sulfur to lower the ph.. to raise it you can use limestone...

when adjusting ph it is best to do it gradually.. whether it is up or down.. to much of a swing to fast can cause osmotic shock to the roots...

in a hydro system make adjustments of .5 or less over a few days to get the ph where you need... once you reach your desired ph let it fluctuate over the next few days instead of trying to maintain an exact ph.. make sure to keep it below 6.5.. but if you start at 5.8 and get an increase of 0.1 a day over the a couple days thats fine...

do the same thing with soil.. follow the directions on the product you are using to find out how much you need to use... its better to err on the light side... its far easier to add more and continue to adjust than it is to take out of or have to readjust in the opposite direction.....


as far as pruning i am an advocate on not doing much to your plant... each leaf or limb that is removed stress the plant on some level and the plant works on growing it back.. plus since the plant uses the leaves to absorb light for photosynthesis, the more you take away the less light the plant absorbs...

there are only 3 times i personally remove anything from my plant..

1) if a leaf is over 50% dead
2) to take cuttings for clones
3) to lollipop for flowering if needed

as far as pruning to increase yields, again i stick with the lowest stress techniques i can... super cropping followed up with FIM'ing is extremely effective and cause very minimal stress.. also LST'ing the plant works great to increase vertical limb growth...

if there is anything you would like more specific information on please feel free to ask...

after looking at your pics your plant looks great and healthy.. but like you said small for the amount of growth time... it is directly related to the light.. plants dont see light like we do.... we see light and how bright it is based on the bulb and how well it lights a room... plants see light through wave lengths and spectrums... although floros such as t5/t8/t12s may look bright to us and light the room well for us, the light that the plant would see and use is spread over the entire length of the bulb and pushed in many different directions, with only a small amount of it actually hitting the plant to be used...

Click to expand...

I have a question...I am building a cabinet for an indoor grow...it is about 75''X48"X16". I am splitting it into two compartments...one larger for veg and flowering...and the smaller lower part for a mother on constant veg..as well as room for clones...I have HID lights for the upper compartment, but I was gonna use some 48"long flouros to veg my mother (as I have some spare fixtures in the garage)....will that be ok, or should I invest in some compact flouros instead? keep in mind size is not an issue..I just want to be able to cut about 4 clones off of it every month or so. But I want it to be healthy....

Ok i got a question, i know that when i go into a smoke shop you have to use coded words and never drop the veil as to the products real (and obvious) use. When going to a hydro store what are things i shouldn't say and what are things i can say.

captain insaneo said:

Ok i got a question, i know that when i go into a smoke shop you have to use coded words and never drop the veil as to the products real (and obvious) use. When going to a hydro store what are things i shouldn't say and what are things i can say.

Click to expand...

the best thing to do is to try to know what you want before going... this way you can locate the things you need by yourself without having to ask for help.. this just eliminates having deal with questions anyways..

now if you are wanting to get some advice on different products, or grow systems, or nutes the best thing to say is your growing tomatoes... whether they are soil grown tomatoes, or hydro grown tomatoes...

tomatoes needs are similar to marjiuanas needs.. so you can get a good idea of whether what you are looking at is a good choice to use for whatever....

if you are buying equipment to build a room go with an "indoor vegetable garden"... "i want to save money growing my own vegetables and am builiding in indoor vegetable garden"...

i am a firm believer in avoidance... if i can avoid a possible problem i will... so knowing what you want before going in, having a list of things, and trying to get as much as you can without asking for help works best.. but its inevitable you'll need help sometime, or have a question or two, so stick with tomatoes or a vegetable garden.. always remember the more natural and comfortable you act the better... you are only guilty if you feel like you are doing something wrong..

Thats actually funny as I was planning on using any spare space/ parts to hydroponically grow tomatoes anyways. That and maybe strawberries. i wonder if they would grow along the bottom while your buds take to the sky... i guess i got more reading.

thanks for the advice

captain insaneo said:

Thats actually funny as I was planning on using any spare space/ parts to hydroponically grow tomatoes anyways. That and maybe strawberries. i wonder if they would grow along the bottom while your buds take to the sky... i guess i got more reading.

thanks for the advice

Click to expand...

i dont know the actual lighting needs of tomatoes or strawberries... but i am sure if you had ample lighting from above they would do just fine...

depending on how you do your hydro set up tho it can cause issues.. remember that tomatoes and strawberries are going to have different nute needs than marijuana... so if you have one single reservoir that feeds all your plants you may run into issues...

I figured you could do strawberries in a small coffee can sized container "DWC" and if they didn't grow well oh well it was free light. I agree each species should have its own res. It just makes sense, you wouldn't keep your pet rabbit in with your pet python...

doing a dwc like that would probably work... you could even boost them up a little if you needed to since they would be independent of each other...

Ok another rookie question. I started my seeds in jiffy pucks, as that is what I had laying around, but I now wonder how am I going to transition them into a hydro system. Can I just shove them into a rock wool cube, a grow bag with coco, a net-pot with HEC. I am going to go to the grow store here shortly to purchase a new home for what I am hoping are to be known as "The Gals".

you'll want to get them out of those before you place them in your setup for sure.. the peat moss will hold a LOT of moisture... easiest way to do this is to take a razor and slice the netting around the puck.. be careful of roots showing.... once the net is cut, for the most part, the peat moss should just fall away.. any little pieces can, for the most part, be rinsed off..

you may want to fill a sink or bucket with water, and if you have some thrive alive or super thrive, add that into the water... it will help reduce shock.. break the peat moss up under the water and rinse them there too... the water will put less stress on the roots themselves since the peat moss and roots can more or less float around in it...

you can use coco coir or hydroton, or whatever other medium you want... remember with coco tho, it holds a lot of water and can fluctuate your ph.. personally i would go with hydroton.. its ph neutral... doesnt retain a ton of water, just enough... but coco is fine to... it will just take some adjusting here and there or ph (which will likely happen anyway)...

I have been skimming through this all morning and all I can say is WOW! Amazing resource for us all! Here are some questions I have...

1) Almost everytime I see a marijuana plant its in a bucket with little round brown balls covering the top of the bucket? What is this, is this a hydro setup or is this just something put over the soil?

2) I plan on doing a closet grown, would love to lay it all out for you and pull a Rocky and see if you would thrown down a couple blessings lol that will come once I do more reading...

JohnnyKnoxville said:

I have been skimming through this all morning and all I can say is WOW! Amazing resource for us all! Here are some questions I have...

1) Almost everytime I see a marijuana plant its in a bucket with little round brown balls covering the top of the bucket? What is this, is this a hydro setup or is this just something put over the soil?

2) I plan on doing a closet grown, would love to lay it all out for you and pull a Rocky and see if you would thrown down a couple blessings lol that will come once I do more reading...

Click to expand...

1) its called hydroton.. its used in hydro applications.. basically they are just expanded clay pellets that were super heated and popped like popcorn.. they are very porous so they hold just enough moisture, their round shape makes it great for air to able to be around the roots, and they are ph neutral, so you dont have to worry about ph fluctuations due to growing medium... they are also reusable...

2) i'd be happy to give you any opinions/input i have on what you are thinking about as far as your grow... whenever you get your basic plan feel free to post it or send me a pm and ill be more than happy to help..

Ok, thank you so much, here goes.
I have a home with a finished basement. The closet in question is right off the only unfinished part of my basement the laundry room.
I have a closet that is roughly, 3x7 give or take, and about 7ft ceilings. I was planning on running two dryer hose vents, one out, one in powered by small pc fans. I wanted two plants in here. Walls will be painted eggshell white and the rest, looking for advice. I would prefer cfls for heat and energy savings, but have an old fluorescent desk lamp that could be used as well. As for the rest that is where you come in, I guess in this situation I asking what and hows, but was planning on a simple two pot grow just need to know the following:

Best medium to use, and how to mix soil with _________ amounts, etc.

Best size pot to use
Best lighting for the situation

That should do it…again, I am still reading, just want to get a custom plan from someone with as much experience as you have, figure, if we can learn from other mistakes, the ones we make after help the group!!!
Thanks again for all your efforts and your precious time!
John

JohnnyKnoxville said:

Ok, thank you so much, here goes.
I have a home with a finished basement. The closet in question is right off the only unfinished part of my basement the laundry room.
I have a closet that is roughly, 3x7 give or take, and about 7ft ceilings. I was planning on running two dryer hose vents, one out, one in powered by small pc fans. I wanted two plants in here. Walls will be painted eggshell white and the rest, looking for advice. I would prefer cfls for heat and energy savings, but have an old fluorescent desk lamp that could be used as well. As for the rest that is where you come in, I guess in this situation I asking what and hows, but was planning on a simple two pot grow just need to know the following:

Best medium to use, and how to mix soil with _________ amounts, etc.

Best size pot to use
Best lighting for the situation

That should do it…again, I am still reading, just want to get a custom plan from someone with as much experience as you have, figure, if we can learn from other mistakes, the ones we make after help the group!!!
Thanks again for all your efforts and your precious time!
John

Click to expand...

alright.. first a bit of a heads up.. if you plan on using cfls, which is completely fine, dont expect a huge yield... cfls will grow good buds, but not the yield that hps or some other high output floros will... main thing is just keep things realistic...

also, it is true that a cfl light puts off less heat than an hps.. but to have a successful grow with cfls you really want about 200ws per plant... which is about 4x 64w bulbs.. you can go less.. but the less you use the smaller the plants you can grow and the smaller the yield.. to make it worth the time it takes to grow you want to hit around the 200w area... so if you have 2 plants that each have about 200ws of light on them (actual watts, not the equivalent wattage), you end up around 400ws... and with that amount of light you may as well go with 400w hps... heat and power usage will be about the same...

if you really want to stick with just cfls, i would highly recommend something like this http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=VCFBW110&AC=1 paired with this http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=SCFF190&AC=1

OR

http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=SCT120&AC=1 with this http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=VCFB120&AC=1

unfortunately they dont have warm bulbs (ideal for flowering spectrum).. but these will still work throughout the entire grow...

if you want to keep it simple, stick with a few of the regular cfls you see in the stores...

just remember that cfls are the weakest form of usable grow light... and will not produce huge yields... if you really want to get the most of your grow i would, as i said, recommend one of the two above lighting systems, or purchase a 400w hps... neither will cost your signigficantly more on your electric bill.. and both will work better and make it more worth growing then a few small cfls...

as far as intake and exhaust you can probably just get away with a small passive intake hole and an active exhaust.. what this means is the exhaust is pulling the air out of your grow room.. as it is pulling the air out of the room, it is pulling air in from outside of the room.. which is always better to do.. removing more air will help to keep temps down than trying to bring air in... so if the outside of the room is cool, it will pull that cool air in by itself if that makes sense...

your room is 3x7x7, or 147 cubic feet.. http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=SIDF610&AC=1 a fan like that one will pull enough air out of the grow room that every minute the air is completely changed out.. as long as you exhaust the air properly into another room not near the grow, and maintain cool exterior temps outside the grow room, you should have a nice growing environment for them temp wise... the fan will attach to a 6" duct... just try to keep the exhaust duct running as straight as possible.. the more bends, the less efficient...

depending on who is around, and how secret this grow needs to be, you may also choose to use a filter like this http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=FMF606&AC=1 to help with odor when flowering...

medium wise, i would go with either a simple DWC (deep water cultivation) or soil... for DWC you need a bucket with lid, air stone, some hydroton, rockwool cubes (to germ in) and a net pot http://www.wormsway.com/results.aspx?t=prod&search=net pot&cat=all&AC=1... if you are more interested in hearing about dwc let me know and ill explain it further.. but its a VERY VERY simple hydro gro... works best if you can keep the grow area around 70F tho.. so how are temps??

if you choose soil make sure to purchase the best soil you can find WITHOUT any time released nutes.. soils with nutes release them everytime you water.. your plants may not need them.. and this can lead to nute burn and death.. its best to just start with good plain potting soil... you also want to get some perlite.. make 20 to 30 percent of the soil mix perlite... this will help with drainage and aeration...

bucket size can range.. i would say a 2 to 3 gallon bucket, either way, would be sufficient for either grow choice.. soild for the dwc.. make sure there are drain holes for the soil... and a run off tray if you dont want your floor getting wet..

as far as nutes go the easiest to use is hydroponic nutes.. even with soil... fox farms, advanced nutes, technaflora, and general hydroponics (which i personally use) are all amazing and time tested nutes... you dont need a lot for only a couple plants.. most of them you can get in a bundle pack thats cheaper, with plenty to get you through a couple grows...

i would recommend a 3 part system.. these have a gro, bloom, and micro formula... this makes it easier to customize what you are feeding your girls.. now if you want to keep it a little simpler, but still want great results, these lines also carry 2 part systems, with only a grow and bloom formula...

if you really want to do it simple.. get an all purpose feed.. i dont like these and dont recommend them.. mainly because you have no control over what and how much your plants are actually getting.. but they do work..

and lastly you'll want to get a moisture meter (if using soil.. takes the guess work out of when to feed), a ph meter (for testing your ph... both one for water and for soil if you go with soil...), and a ppm or ec meter (to test the strength of your nutes..)

you can skip a few things.. and do without a couple things for a while.. so if your budget is tight, let me know, and ill try to prioritize things a little... hope this helps out bro.. anything else just ask