help with s.o.g. hydroponics grow

I have the set up in the picture below. Each tub is three gallons and has two 4" net pots in the lid. the box has a 400w MH light set for 12/12 lighting. each box is a diffeent stage in the flowering period. the first box is the first two weeks the second is for weeks 3 and 4, the third is for weeks 5 and 6, and the fourth is for weeks 6 and 8.

clones from two unkown strains will be put into the first tub of the hydro system after rooting. after two weeks they will be moved to tub 2 for weeks 3 and 4 then to the third tub then the fourth. so that every two weeks i can harvest two plants and replace them with two more clones.

my questions are:

1. what ppm of b.c. bloom and b.c. boost should i put in each tub?'

2. should i use distiled water? what pH should i strive for in each tub?

3. how high above the plants should i leave the light?

4. should i have four different air pumps/ air stones or can i just use one pump with 4 airstones?

5. should i drain and replace the water every so often? and if so how ofter?

6. is there anything other than b.c bloom and b.c. boost i should put in the water other than the pH up or down.

WSP420 said:

I have the set up in the picture below. Each tub is three gallons and has two 4" net pots in the lid. the box has a 400w MH light set for 12/12 lighting. each box is a diffeent stage in the flowering period. the first box is the first two weeks the second is for weeks 3 and 4, the third is for weeks 5 and 6, and the fourth is for weeks 6 and 8.

Click to expand...

love the set-up more growers should embrace the small scale perpetual harvest.

my questions are:

1. what ppm of b.c. bloom and b.c. boost should i put in each tub?'

2. should i use distiled water? what pH should i strive for in each tub?

3. how high above the plants should i leave the light?

4. should i have four different air pumps/ air stones or can i just use one pump with 4 airstones?

5. should i drain and replace the water every so often? and if so how ofter?

6. is there anything other than b.c bloom and b.c. boost i should put in the water other than the pH up or down.

Click to expand...

1. Don't know those products but I run from 1400 to 1540 with all nutes and supplements.....the manufacturer should have some dosing info

2. If tap is not "hard" use tap.-5.8ph

3. 1 light....4 stages of growth....as close as you can to the tallest plants

4. Your doing DWC......I would do 4 PUMPS for each res. Not really....you should always run redundant air pumps in DWC....I would do 2 pumps and run 1 stone in each res from each pump......if one pump fails, I mean, when one pump fails you won't lose your whole crop in a few hrs to a drowning.....

5. 3 gallons/2 plants....probably every 7-10 days because it is only 3
gallons

6 are you running organics...those bc products or whatever
I think that gets it...

-OitW

wow thanks for the quick reply...

this is my first grow so
a few more questions came to mind...

1. how high should the water be in the tub? how deep should the net pot be from the surface of the water?

2. should i use rock wool, peat pellets, or hydroton balls?

3. and what nutreints should i use instead of the b.c. bloom and boost?

What up Panic!
I'd be very careful adding too much ph up especially if you have added down already. I've noticed it leaves flaky crystal salt-like deposits in my DWC. Whenever possible I use plain water to bump up the PH a little
Also I totally agree with OITW that redundancy is key when it comes to air pumps, it doesn't take very long at all for a bucket to sour once the bubbles stop.
good luck with the gro bro
Thank Y'all VERY much
didn't see last post
I keep about 2 inches of space between the bottom of my net pots and the water line this way the roots can absorb some air as well as wick up all the water, I use 32 gal buckets for only 1 plant, I'm not sure if your buckets will allow that much room
I use hydroton and they work great in 3.75" cups in 32gal rubbermaids
nutrients are a very subjective thing, used properly most will produce good results, the most common problem I think is over doing it and burning them with too much food, especially in DWC where there is no buffer between roots and nutrients
I use Advanced A&B plus Big Bud and try to keep ppms between 750-1050 anything over that and I've gotten burned tips once the plant drinks water and the nutrients get too concentrated
cheers

hey thanks pelzroo...

your pictures with the band are bad ass btw. ive seen them three times, once on JBs birthday once this halloween and once somewhere in alubama.. they freakin rock!

thanks guys for your help... ill be posting pics of the set up when i finally puzzle it together. could take a while tho, cant set the pipe down long enough to do anything this semester.

wow i've been up all night can't sleep cause i cant stop thinkin about how bad ass its gunna be to have two plants harvested every two weeks!
damn i already smoke alot as it is. don no where my life will go in three months. maybe this is a sign for me to quit............. haha yeah right.

anyways, so i decided im gunna stick with the b.c. products by technaflora.... till they're all gon at least...

i gues in the first tub (weeks 1-2) im gunna aim for between 600-800 ppm.
second tub (weeds 3-4) -- 900 to 1000 ppm
third tub (weeks 5-6) -- 1100 to 1200 ppm
fourth tub (weeks 7- -- 1200 to 1300 or should i flush??
(please, any critiques to that?)

also should i put any type of root hormone in the first tub to help with root production or will that not be necessary?

I always like to ramp em down before the flush, normally I hit my peak nutrient wise week 5 then start gradually bringing the ppm's down during the next two weeks before flushing. I've added clonex to my vegging buckets in the past when i was nursing sick plants to stimulate root growth, but once in flower with kick ass bubble action you should have no need to add any hormone as the roots blow out and grow out of control. I have some buckets that the roots have grown so big that they fill most of the bottom half of the rubbermaid, as well entrapping all the air stones. Hope that helps.
cheers

well hello everyone. its been a really lone time but i have finally set up my system.

I HAVE:
-2 mother plants of unkown strain and sex. (one of them is 3 ft tall. the other is only like a foot)
-6 clones, 3 from each mother that have all rooted.
-two of the clones are already in flowering (put in flower chamber fri. april 10)
-the other four are still in the clone box. im either gunna use them as new mother plants or bring the outside.

I'll have pictures up soon.

but for now. how long should it take for my clones to start to show sex?

WSP420 said:

I'll have pictures up soon.

but for now. how long should it take for my clones to start to show sex?

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I would say around three weeks.

so one of the mothers was a male so i had to throw him out along with all the clones from him.
so now i have the first clone that got put into flowering and then two more that got put in two weeks after the first.

they are all looking good so far but i have a problem.....
i am using technaflora nutrients:
bc bloom
awsome blossoms
bc boost

but i ran out of the bc boost and dont have enough money right now to buy more. will the plants be okay with only the bc bloom and the awsome blossoms?
and should i up the ppm since i dont have the boost?

WSP420 said:

~~~they are all looking good so far but i have a problem.....
i am using technaflora nutrients:
bc bloom
awsome blossoms
bc boost

but i ran out of the bc boost and dont have enough money right now to buy more. will the plants be okay with only the bc bloom and the awsome blossoms?
and should i up the ppm since i dont have the boost?

Click to expand...

I use Botanicare and am not familiar with technaflora. Look into what is in bc boost and see what you can get on the cheap to supplement what u do have.

I love the "tea" my hydro shop sells. They have veg and flower teas and they are cheap, $5 a gal.

Sorry I am not more helpful. gl

problem solved. i felt terrible depriving my plants of their delicious juice so i charged the technaflora starter settup to the card.
but the setup is lookin great all the plants are growing like crazy.

i gotta question tho. how do you get really dense buds?
is it how well it is grown, is it from drying and curing well, or is it just the strain's genetics?

The best ways to thicken up buds are more lumens or to get the light closer to your tops.