My First Grow: White Widow and White Widow x Afghan Kush x Black Domina. 400W DWC

mile.high

mile.high

Well-Known Member
CO AMENDMENT 20 COMPLIANT

Just received my first 2 clones, 1 white widow and 1 white widow x afghan kush x black domina. While I was setting up their res's and netpots, my dog ate most of the white widow when I turned my back. The stem still looks okay so I'm hoping she grows back!

I'll be running the Lucas Formula, and one of my friends who owns a hydro shop kicked me down some Dutchmaster Liquid Light and Saturator so I will also be running that foliarly. May also try Humbolt's Own Snow Storm Ultra as well.

Each plant is in it's own 5 gallon res, each have 1 4' flexible air diffuser with a 10.6 LPM pump running both buckets. They are under a Hortilux Eye 400W Blue MH light, that will be swapped to a HPS in flower. They may be joined by a few more clones from my caregiver next week. The 400W MH is in an air-cooled hood with a 265 CFM exhaust fan. The closet is 33"x31.5" and is 8 ft tall.


Right now res temps are 60F, room temp is 76F. The White Widow I have running at .5 EC, the Black/White cross is at .7 EC, the PH in each res is 5.8 and I put them in an hour ago!
I gladly welcome all commenters, do you guys think the White Widow has a chance of surviving the dog attack? Also, are my lights too far?
 

Attachments

mile.high

mile.high

Well-Known Member
Fixed the pictures, thanks in advance for anyone who stops in!
PH/EC still stable 3 hours after planting. Res temps are 61F room temp is 76F.

Right now I have a few questions:

1. Right now the water level is basically exactly at the bottom of the netpot, theres probably a layer or two of hydroton then the rockwool cube the clone was in. Should I raise or lower the water level at all?

2. Right now the lights are about 42" from the plants and the temp there is about 76F. Should these be moved at all?

3. It's too early to start feeding w/ Liquid Light and Saturator, right? The bottle says use 1/2 strength for young plants.

4. Any chance the white widow is going to survive?
 
mile.high

mile.high

Well-Known Member
Thanks for stopping by, rep'd up.

Yea, if I had to pick one of the clones to be eaten, I'm glad it was this one, I'm looking forward to trying the White Widow x Black Afghani (AK x Black Domina)
 
mile.high

mile.high

Well-Known Member
Not much change, The B/W cross has been eating a little, EC down to .6 PH was up to 6.0 when I checked this morning, the white widow bucket is stable, don't think she's going to make it. Power went out for 15 minutes or so this morning, but lights, fans, and pumps are back on.
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
Looks good so far. My suggestion would be to get another air pump and run an additional cheap blue 6" airstone in each bucket. You may also want to cut some Mylar, panda film, or even white cardboard to place over the top of the net pot. This will reflect light back to the plant and also prevent light from causing algae growth in your hydroton or bucket.

Light height sounds good to me at around 14". You could probably get it even closer

60 is pretty damn cold for the water. Not super low as about 65-68 is ideal. But if they are sitting on the basement floor, you might want to put a block of wood under them.

Lastly, no LL right now, they don't need it. I would mostly save it for flower. No real need to boost carb levels in veg.

Cheers
LF
 
mile.high

mile.high

Well-Known Member
Thanks, just threw another cheap dual-output pump in there and I had some 4" airstones already so they're in the bucket now. Water movement does look much better.

I moved the surviving plant up to 28" inches from the light last night by putting it on top of another 5-gal bucket. will move the light down a little more when the lights go off tonight.

By moving the plants up res temps increased to 68F, the room temps sitting at 78-80F, the light has been on for 26 hours at this point and will go off for the first time tonight and they will be on 18/6 from now on.

When the plant grows a bit more I'll look into covering the top of the netpot with something as you suggest.

Rep'd + for the advice and stopping in, thanks!
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
Sounds good. I would just use the beneficial tea and not worry too much about temps. Guys have been running in the mid 70's without much problem. So one plant is toast?...the dog plant? I would top your living plant and clone it I'm your other bucket. Probably wait a week before you top it...like 5-6 nodes then chop the upper two and clone it. Just stick the clone in a neoprene collar with the stem just above the water or even slightly in it. Put a clear plastic bag it to maintain humidity.

It will be about two weeks behind your other plant but 2 are always better than one. Or just get another clone :)
 
mile.high

mile.high

Well-Known Member
Not sure if the dog attack one is going to make it. I'm assuming it's dead but it's still in it's bucket under the light.

What do you think, does it have a chance?
 
mile.high

mile.high

Well-Known Member
PH was climbing a bit found it at 6.2, set it back down to 5.5 now that the plant seems to be eating.
 
H

HydroSoil

Member
Congrats on starting a grow! :D

Couple things that will help out.

1. Your pH is always going to rise (as long as you do your job properly) so set your pH at around 5.4, 5.2 if you have an auto-top off for your res.

2. Your water level should be fine for the moment... as long as it's keeping the rw cube slightly moist on the bottom but not damp at the top. Don't want it waterlogged.

3. As soon as the roots hit the water, lower the res level about an inch below the netpot... the roots should stay wet by getting hit with popped bubbles, they'll reach for the water at that point.

4. Do yourself a favor and keep those extra additives on the shelf for this grow and possibly the next one. Single best way to throw money away and cause extra work for yourself is to use an additive when you don't already know how your plants will respond to the basic nute schedule.
Once you know what your plants look like when you use the straight Lucas Formula you'll be able to immediately see if any additives you're using are helping/working and how well. Without those straight runs under your belt.... you're just guessing.

5. As soon as you have roots hitting the res, bump up your EC to maximum.... unless you're vegging under some lower wattage lighting than bloom.

6. Keep reading as many posts on the Lucas Formula as you can..... the older the posts the better with Lucas' original posts being some of the best. I'm finding a TON of misinformation on this and other sites regarding how it's done and what it is. Lots of problems from that misinformation as well.

7. Let that pH swing! 5.2 to 5.8 and back down again. :D

Stay Safe! :D
 
F

FattyCaps

Active Member
HydroSoil said:
Congrats on starting a grow! :D

Couple things that will help out.

1. Your pH is always going to rise (as long as you do your job properly) so set your pH at around 5.4, 5.2 if you have an auto-top off for your res.

2. Your water level should be fine for the moment... as long as it's keeping the rw cube slightly moist on the bottom but not damp at the top. Don't want it waterlogged.

3. As soon as the roots hit the water, lower the res level about an inch below the netpot... the roots should stay wet by getting hit with popped bubbles, they'll reach for the water at that point.

4. Do yourself a favor and keep those extra additives on the shelf for this grow and possibly the next one. Single best way to throw money away and cause extra work for yourself is to use an additive when you don't already know how your plants will respond to the basic nute schedule.
Once you know what your plants look like when you use the straight Lucas Formula you'll be able to immediately see if any additives you're using are helping/working and how well. Without those straight runs under your belt.... you're just guessing.

5. As soon as you have roots hitting the res, bump up your EC to maximum.... unless you're vegging under some lower wattage lighting than bloom.

6. Keep reading as many posts on the Lucas Formula as you can..... the older the posts the better with Lucas' original posts being some of the best. I'm finding a TON of misinformation on this and other sites regarding how it's done and what it is. Lots of problems from that misinformation as well.

7. Let that pH swing! 5.2 to 5.8 and back down again. :D

Stay Safe! :D
Click to expand...
Looks good man! Happy you're excited about it and putting the effort in--that's the first step. I'm running the Lucas formula (and have been for a few grows now)...seems to work pretty well. If you are using ro water then you are definitely going to need a Mg/ca booster. I also run a few more additives but the advice above is good--don't overdo it and read the plants based on their needs.

Link to my journal if you're interested or want an example of someone using Lucas. Good luck and ill be sure to follow along and track your progress!

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/458466-1000w-scrog-5x5-space-4xchocolope.html

FattyCaps
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
I agree with the above advice although I think 5.2 is too acidic. I always start at 5.8 and let it float up to 6.3 in veg. For flower I like to keep it lower due to the ideal ph for Phos and micros. I stay within 5.5 to 5.8 during flower.

I would also advise not going to maximum PPM as you have no idea what that is. Much better to see a little deficiency forming and increase the strength than damage roots and tissue from Over feeding.

My 2 cents
 
mile.high

mile.high

Well-Known Member
The dog-bitten plant was dead this morning. No real loss there.

Not seeing much growth on the other one but it's only been 4 days since I planted it. The PH swings seem stable, every morning when I wake up it's at 6.2 and I set it back to 5.5 and it's back at 6.2 the next morning. Pretty easy to deal with.

EC doesn't seem to be changing so the plants not really eating? I haven't needed to add any water to the buckets. I did top-feed a little bit this morning.

Looking forward to roots!
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
couple important concepts:

1. in general, unless there is some issue, a rising PH indicates nutrient uptake. The nutrients (which tend to lower the PH) are absorbed by the plant and the remaining water is therefore more basic.

2. You can not accurately test the amount of PPM absorbed by the plant without first replacing the volume of water that was absorbed and transpired by the plant. the plant is using water...it may or may not be absorbing nutrients but they typically do. If you don't add back water the rez gets more and more concentrated and the PPM's will rise.

3. So to test your PPM..top off with tap water to your original water height... THEN measure the PPM. I think you will find that they have gone down. Especially since your PH is rising.

4. THe closer your nutrient PPM is closer to ideal the less PH float you will have.
Cheers,
LF
 
mile.high

mile.high

Well-Known Member
Thanks, thats a good point about PPM not being valid without the add-back, I hadn't thought of that.


rep +'d everyone who has posted so far, thanks a lot for all your advice.
 

Attachments

legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
nice! always exciting to see the first roots come out of the netpot.

now, raise the water level back up. Unless you have a cube of rockwool in the hydroton, your going to want to keep the bottom of the net pot nice and damp so that the roots will grow out of it. If you have enough airstones, then lowering thee water level is less of a concern. I currently have three week old plants where the water is still at the bottom of the net pot.

My worry is that is you lower the water, then the hydroton may dry up and effectively stall root growth through air pruning. It is a delicate balance as dry conditions stimulate root growth, but if they get too dry then the die.

Simple answer...wait another week or two to lower the water. Or not. But that is what I would do.

Cheers,
LF
 
mile.high

mile.high

Well-Known Member
legallyflying said:
now, raise the water level back up. Unless you have a cube of rockwool in the hydroton, your going to want to keep the bottom of the net pot nice and damp so that the roots will grow out of it. If you have enough airstones, then lowering thee water level is less of a concern. I currently have three week old plants where the water is still at the bottom of the net pot.
Click to expand...
There is a 1.5" rockwool cube in the hydroton, the one the clone came in. Whenever I lift the netpot up there is still water that drips out of the bottom so I think I'm good. I threw another 4" airstone in there yesterday as well when the other plant went belly up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top