ok. so i am done with my first grow. turned out 5 females out of 10 seeds which turned into decent smoke. much better than the commercial and mids going around my area. in fact, it was comparable with most of the hydro we see here. i used seeds from any commercial weed that looked mature and mottled, soilless mix and 5gal buckets under 600w lights with temp and humidity control... what i didn't do was track anything. not the date when we germinated, planted, changed light cycles, watered, nothing. i didn't check the ph of the soil and never seemed to have a problem. our water here is well water from under a lime bed with a Ph 5.5 out of the tap. we used flora ferts and mixed with every feeding up until a month before harvest. when we started with straight water. i judged when they were ready for harvest by the amount of white hairs that turned red. when most of the hairs were red, it was time to cut and dry.
while i produced some potent buds, it was messy. i really don't have a drainage system in my room and with runoff making a mess, the dirt making a mess, and having to lug 5 gallon buckets of water up a ladder, we decided we needed something a little cleaner. so i built a DWC table very similiar to an aeroflo table, with some differences to the interior irrigation system. aeroflo uses a sprinkler line. i went with 1/2" cpvc and 10 EZ clone spray heads per 6 plant box. i also changed the way runoff us handled. aeroflow has the ends of the grow boxes on top of the res, simply draining straight into the res via adjustable overflow. i went with a similiar overflow design that was at the end of the box instead of under one of the net pots, and runs through 5/8" rubber tubing back into the res. in this design, the res does not neet to support the grow boxes, or be directly under them to contain runoff.
now, i am fully aware that i have to be johnny on the spot with hydro setups, which is why i want to document every piece of data i can from the day they were planted, to the day i switched light cycles, to the nut strength every time i've checked it. plant height, any piece of data that might help me track what's happening.
so that's the help i'm asking for.. what milestones do i need to document.. obviously germination and planting. changing from veg to flower. when they have been fed. when i replenished water and nutes.. when i change nute solution completely.. what else might i be missing? what data should i be prepared to collect through the grow cycle?
while i produced some potent buds, it was messy. i really don't have a drainage system in my room and with runoff making a mess, the dirt making a mess, and having to lug 5 gallon buckets of water up a ladder, we decided we needed something a little cleaner. so i built a DWC table very similiar to an aeroflo table, with some differences to the interior irrigation system. aeroflo uses a sprinkler line. i went with 1/2" cpvc and 10 EZ clone spray heads per 6 plant box. i also changed the way runoff us handled. aeroflow has the ends of the grow boxes on top of the res, simply draining straight into the res via adjustable overflow. i went with a similiar overflow design that was at the end of the box instead of under one of the net pots, and runs through 5/8" rubber tubing back into the res. in this design, the res does not neet to support the grow boxes, or be directly under them to contain runoff.
now, i am fully aware that i have to be johnny on the spot with hydro setups, which is why i want to document every piece of data i can from the day they were planted, to the day i switched light cycles, to the nut strength every time i've checked it. plant height, any piece of data that might help me track what's happening.
so that's the help i'm asking for.. what milestones do i need to document.. obviously germination and planting. changing from veg to flower. when they have been fed. when i replenished water and nutes.. when i change nute solution completely.. what else might i be missing? what data should i be prepared to collect through the grow cycle?