My "first" grow

Hey everyone,

So, this is technically my 3rd grow. The first was cut short due to a break up and the eventual demise of my plants in the hands of my ex's brother. That was done on a budget in a wardrobe under CFL's. The second attempt did not last long, because we went to Thailand for a few weeks and had none to take care of her. That was under fluoro grow lights on a table w/ veggies. This time I am growing in Supercloset's SuperFlowe cabinet, the opposite end of the spectrum. I realize now that I could have built my own closet for a fraction of the price, but you live and you learn. Here is what I am working with:

• Size: 3' x 2' x 6'
• Lights: 1 -450W Kind LED (K3 XL450 Series 2), 2- 21W Sunblaze T5's mounted on the sides
• Medium: In RW w/ hydroton in 17 gallon DWC, with top feed setup (Superponics 16) w/ 4 air stones, 185 gph pump to top feed and to empty chamber (1st hydro grow attempt)
• Air Circulation: 2- 4" exhaust fans w/ carbon filters, 3 - elbows for passive circulation, and 1- non circulating 4" fan inside
• Strain: Sour Diesel Auto from MSNL. Currently germinating in RW in a humidity dome w/ heat mat. 2 - have popped and are losing the seed coating, 2 - are still in and 1 - I am soaking in a shot glass of RO water (this is how I germinated them previously).
  • Should I get them in light as soon as the seat coat is off, or when I see first true leaves?
• Nutes: So, I am open to advice here. Lotus Nutrients came with the closet. I read good things online, minus the price tag. Most people said they needed more than what was sent to complete a grow. With this being an Auto, I'm wondering if I will be able to make it last as I plan on using less than the prescribed amount. In addition, the shorter life cycle should help. I also have Technaflora's "recipe for success" coming. I'll gladly take advice on the two if anyone has some.
• Water Source: RO (PH is about 5.7 - 6.0. Using liquid PH test kit, so accuracy is hard). TDS = about 5 ppm. The only issue is it takes forever to make enough water to fill the reservoir. My tap water has a similar PH and a TDS of about 155. I am thinking of mixing them to make it easier? Thoughts?

I plan on keeping no more than 3 for veg. I have been reading and watching videos non-stop for weeks. My plan is to keep them in the drip tray until i see roots coming from the RW. Then transfer to the net cups and feed only water for about 2-3 weeks (unless they show signs of deficiency). I will top off with water as needed (adding nutes as needed as well), until i get to about 17 new gallons added, then I will clean and replenish the whole reservoir. I can pump the water out, my only issue is what to do with the plants while cleaning and adding the new water. I think I will use ice to keep the water temps cool if they climb. I think I will only LST the girls, I'm nervous to do anything else at first. Well, I think I went on long enough. I am open to and would appreciate any advice. Looking forward to this journey and some nice Sour Diesel!!

As this is your 3rd attempt at a successful grow, I would suggest following prescribed amounts & following directions pretty much to a tee just so you can see for yourself that you can actually grow pot if you do it the way successful growers say they do it. I wouldn't wait 2 or 3 weeks before giving them nutes, you need to force feed them as much nutes as they can handle as soon as they start showing signs of growth thats the whole idea of hydroponics. Dont wait for signs of a deficiency cause by then they would have had a deficiency for too long. So stock up on nutes so you dont run out earlyAs for what to do with to do with them while your changing out the res, just leave them dangling in their buckets or sitting on the drain table or whatever you have them growing in. Just remember the fundamentals & keep it simple, follow directions, force feed them as soon as they can eat it & stay away from any of your own new ideas.

Darkoh69 said:

As this is your 3rd attempt at a successful grow, I would suggest following prescribed amounts & following directions pretty much to a tee just so you can see for yourself that you can actually grow pot if you do it the way successful growers say they do it. I wouldn't wait 2 or 3 weeks before giving them nutes, you need to force feed them as much nutes as they can handle as soon as they start showing signs of growth thats the whole idea of hydroponics. Dont wait for signs of a deficiency cause by then they would have had a deficiency for too long. So stock up on nutes so you dont run out earlyAs for what to do with to do with them while your changing out the res, just leave them dangling in their buckets or sitting on the drain table or whatever you have them growing in. Just remember the fundamentals & keep it simple, follow directions, force feed them as soon as they can eat it & stay away from any of your own new ideas.

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Thanks for the advice. I was holding off on putting them into the dwc until I saw roots coming from the bottom of the Rockwool. It seemed to be suggested by a lot of people on here and youtube. They are sitting on a drip tray right now, in RW. Should i feed them nutes when watering while in the RW, or get them into the net cups sooner?

Got pics of them? How many leaves do they have so far?

The plant wont live 3-4 weeks in ro water with no nutrient. It's good for a few days after it pops, but it needs at least a small dose of something after that. Especially using ro water. Running RO you will need to add calmag unless you're using a nutrient designed to be used with RO that has higher cal and mag in it. Rockwool has no nutrients in it, you have to feed it. You're supposed to "precharge" rockwool.
While I agree that you dont want to starve it that long, "force feeding" it nutes is also not how it's done. An overfed plant can be stunted just as much as an underfed plant.
You need to watch your ppm/ec, that will tell you your plants are hungry before they show deficiency.

You can apply too much force when force feeding which is why I say force feed as much as it can take

As of right now I only have 2 of the 5 seeds sprouted, which is kind of a bummer. And 1 doesn't look so good. The 1 doesn't have its first true leaves yet, I'm hoping I didn't get them under the lights too soon.

sykeayou said:

As of right now I only have 2 of the 5 seeds sprouted, which is kind of a bummer. And 1 doesn't look so good. The 1 doesn't have its first true leaves yet, I'm hoping I didn't get them under the lights too soon. View attachment 4491225

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Yeah too early for nutes yet. & the way I see it is that when a plant is growing in the wild a seed drops out onto the ground, the tiniest bit of moisture kicks it into gear, it pops & curls open, 1 end goes down 1 end goes up towards the light theres no delaying it.

So, it's been a little over a week since I started this journal. Only 1 of the 5 Sour Diesels survived. 3 of them never even cracked open. I germinated 2 additional Silver Haze Autos. They sprouted pretty quickly, and all 3 are now under the lights. Here are some pictures and a few stats.

Light Height: The light is currently 20 inches above the plants. It was much closer, but I backed it off today a bit.
Temp: 79 F
Humidity: 71%
Light Schedule: 20 ON - 4 OFF
Water Schedule: I have just been watering the top of the Rockwool as they dry out. I think I may have over-watered, but they seem okay.
Water PH: About 5.8-6.0 I was using the liquid test kit, but just got a pen.
Nutrients: I have been giving them 5 ML of Root 66 and 10 ML of Sugar Daddy from Technaflora, mixed with 1 gallon of RO water.
TDS: It was initially 150 PPM, but I am using the same solution from earlier in the week and the same water was 210 PPM last night. They seem to be taking it with no issues. I was planning on moving onto the veg nutrients once they are a little bigger.
EC: Taken last night, .49 from what I remember. I had to convert from MS to EC.

I did not measure plant height or anything, but I have some pictures. The Silver Hazes look strong right out of the gate. Maybe genetics, or maybe I did a better job of germinating. Looking forward to the rest of this grow. Keeping my fingers crossed that I keep them going strong.

Your doing alright. Just remember when they're freshly sprouted like that, the less you muck around with them the better.

They are currently a mess. I don’t know what to do. I posted the plant problem forum, but no responses yet.