One_bell's first grow (F1 Epsilon auto, RDWC)

[Florida_Mike]

Thanks Mike, I really feeling they are taking off now. I also notice this when looking at EC and PPM values. I follow the chart posted a few post above from PerceysGrowRoom and pH has been so stable ever since. I feel like I can control how much they eat with the chart, exactly knowing what to do. I absolutely love RDWC, once you got it dailed in hahaha grow grow grow

~something else I noticed, the leaves on these plants look much thicker then most on growdairies. Could this because of RDWC or my overfeeding in the beginning?

It depends on who you listen to. Some say it's too much N,
others (myself included) think it's bc they're growing so
fast in hydro that the cells can't keep up and just keep
stacking up on top of ea other (or something to that effect).

If there is no clawing or burnt tips, it's probably not too
much N, imo. I blast'em @ 1250-1400ppm with no burnt
tips. Thick, shiny, dark green leaves yes, burnt tips? Not
until I get up around 1850-2000ppm (which I've done a
cpl times by accident).

With everything I mix in, my ph usually comes out a
perfect 5.8/5.9 and maintains it pretty stable with
just a slight climb, more so towards the end of the
week. as long as it's between 5.6 & 6.2 I don't sweat
it too much. (They actually like drifting around within
the range bc different nutes are more readily available
at different ph values).

Notice on the chart, at the lower end the range; iron,
manganese, boron, copper & zink (micro nutrients)
are more readily available.
Whereas the macro nutrients (N,P,K,CA,MG & S)
are more readily available at a slightly higher PH,
towards the top end of the range.

Hope it helps, happy growing

 

[One_Bell]

It depends on who you listen to. Some say it's too much N,
others (myself included) think it's bc they're growing so
fast in hydro that the cells can't keep up and just keep
stacking up on top of ea other (or something to that effect).

If there is no clawing or burnt tips, it's probably not too
much N, imo. I blast'em @ 1250-1400ppm with no burnt
tips. Thick, shiny, dark green leaves yes, burnt tips? Not
until I get up around 1850-2000ppm (which I've done a
cpl times by accident).

With everything I mix in, my ph usually comes out a
perfect 5.8/5.9 and maintains it pretty stable with
just a slight climb, more so towards the end of the
week. as long as it's between 5.6 & 6.2 I don't sweat
it too much. (They actually like drifting around within
the range bc different nutes are more readily available
at different ph values).

Notice on the chart, at the lower end the range; iron,
manganese, boron, copper & zink (micro nutrients)
are more readily available.
Whereas the macro nutrients (N,P,K,CA,MG & S)
are more readily available at a slightly higher PH,
towards the top end of the range.

Hope it helps, happy growing

Thanks Mike! Are these photoperiods you were talking about regarding the ppm values?

Day 31 (from sowing seeds, day 28 since sprouting and 16 days after transplantingfrom aero to rdwc).

Today I gave the girls there first haircut to free up some space.

Before:

After:

I hope the future budsites will get some more lights this way, and also that I did not removed too much leaves.

 

[Florida_Mike]

Thanks Mike! Are these photoperiods you were talking about regarding the ppm values?

Day 31 (from sowing seeds, day 28 since sprouting and 16 days after transplantingfrom aero to rdwc).

Today I gave the girls there first haircut to free up some space.

Before:
View attachment 2366497

After:

View attachment 2366498
View attachment 2366500

View attachment 2366499

View attachment 2366501

View attachment 2366502
I hope the future budsites will get some more lights this way, and also that I did not removed too much leaves.

Yes. Photo periods. Looks like you did great on the trimming (I think lol. I don't know autos)

 

[One_Bell]

Yes. Photo periods. Looks like you did great on the trimming (I think lol. I don't know autos)

Okay cool, for auto's I should divide that by 2. Do you think my plants are entering the preflower stage at the moment, or are they still solidly in veg?

 

[One_Bell]

I hope I get my new nutrients (Terra Aquatica/General Hydroponics) by tomorrow so I can do a reservoir change. So far I see a lot of small leaves.

Also opted the nutrients to 0.6 EC and the light to 47% (just above 600ppfd, since the plants do not show signs of light burn).

 

[One_Bell]

Day 33 (from sowing seeds, day 30 since sprouting and 18 days after transplantingfrom aero to rdwc).

Today I did the first reservoir-change after 18 days in the same nutrient solution that I have been topping off for the past few days. Finally, the new nutrients came in today:

The only thing I am missing is the silicate, but I had to order that somewhere else (just like extra Great White). For today I made a blend with the triparts + Seaweed + Fulvic + Urtimax. I hope the girls like it. I followed Percy's charts again and mixed a solution of 0,7 EC with 480PPM and a pH of 5,8.

The bushiness continues so I tried some LST again:

In the middle of the picture above you can see how LST went HST and I damaged two of the four main branches (after topping) while they were tied up and I adjusted the metal ring on the lid. They are still hanging on and I hope they survive. I won't touch it for a couple of days to see if it will grow back together or dies off.....

Again a lot of bending. I feel it was very beneficial the last time, so I did it again. I wonder when I will see the first signs of preflower.

 

[One_Bell]

Day 37 (from sowing seeds, day 34 since sprouting and 22 days after transplantingfrom aero to rdwc).

Over the past couple of days the girls grew and grew, mostly bushing up furtherly so I decided to do some defoliation to give the future budsites more light;

Before:

After:

Below is the left plant with the damage I have done previously, so I went very easy on this one.

I only took big fan leaves out that were blocking other potential flower sites. This way the airflow should be also a bit improved. I wonder if and when they will start stretching.

I think both are in preflower currently since they start to produce pistils:

I am thinking to replace the Blue adlite from Mars Hydro for the UV + IR + Deep red combo one of these days. I am doubting since they do not give information on the preflower phase, only veg (blue) and flower (UV+IR+Deep red).

Since yesterday I am adding the Terra Aquatica Bloom Booster to the mix (which is prescribed in the feeding chart) and also the ratio's between Micro, Grow and Bloom are different in this phase.

 

[One_Bell]

@FloridaMike and all my fellow farmers out there, do you guys think this is preflower already?

 

[longbottom]

You'll notice small skinny leaves at the top, soon you'll see pistols. Yes, you are starting to see preflowers...

I'm a soil grower, but am learning a lot by looking at your roots... (something we cant see too well in soil.). My roots are a light brown color at harvest, not white and very fine just like yours are. This is helping me learn about roots !

 

[One_Bell]

You'll notice small skinny leaves at the top, soon you'll see pistols. Yes, you are starting to see preflowers...

I'm a soil grower, but am learning a lot by looking at your roots... (something we cant see too well in soil.). My roots are a light brown color at harvest, not white and very fine just like yours are. This is helping me learn about roots !

Thanks @longbottom . I wanted to update you about the smell. So far it has been a bit of a mixed bag. The first three weeks you couldn't smell anything, but now as soon as I open up the tent you will smell it immediately. Venting back into my small lung room does not cut it anymore so I ordered equipment (152mm drill, and all the ducting and stuff to go with it) so I can attach to lungroom with 6" vents to the venting system that vents outside. That way the lungroom will only pull in " fresh air" and not circulating the for the most bit "cleaned air". It smells like you have been videogaming all day with a hint of amonia at the moment. I hope venting outside of the lungroom will better things. I can also see the CO2 rising when I leave the window open, so I suspect there is something to gain here.

How do you think these auto's look after 34 days? And how can I tell the difference between preflower and flower?

I hope their yield will be big.

 

[Florida_Mike]

@FloridaMike and all my fellow farmers out there, do you guys think this is preflower already?

Yes, definitely pre-flower. I consider "bud-set" when the 1st flower(s) are obvious & about the size of dimes;
that's when I start counting days of flower.

 

[longbottom]

Thanks @longbottom . I wanted to update you about the smell. So far it has been a bit of a mixed bag. The first three weeks you couldn't smell anything, but now as soon as I open up the tent you will smell it immediately. Venting back into my small lung room does not cut it anymore so I ordered equipment (152mm drill, and all the ducting and stuff to go with it) so I can attach to lungroom with 6" vents to the venting system that vents outside. That way the lungroom will only pull in " fresh air" and not circulating the for the most bit "cleaned air". It smells like you have been videogaming all day with a hint of amonia at the moment. I hope venting outside of the lungroom will better things. I can also see the CO2 rising when I leave the window open, so I suspect there is something to gain here.

How do you think these auto's look after 34 days? And how can I tell the difference between preflower and flower?

I hope their yield will be big.

Appreciate the odor update, thanks ! But I must admit I got a little chuckle out of this...(veg smells very little compared to flower)

Wait till around week 6 of flower---- Then we'll know how the odor is coming along ! By week 8 all hell should break loose, (in a good way)....Even my low odor strains such as Northern Lights and Durban Poison get pretty loud towards the end. I can't imagine what a high odor strain would be like.

 

[One_Bell]

Appreciate the odor update, thanks ! But I must admit I got a little chuckle out of this...(veg smells very little compared to flower)

Wait till around week 6 of flower---- Then we'll know how the odor is coming along ! By week 8 all hell should break loose, (in a good way)....Even my low odor strains such as Northern Lights and Durban Poison get pretty loud towards the end. I can't imagine what a high odor strain would be like.

Yeah I know, I did read too much of comments like no I have 5' by5'with a 6"carbon fan and it does not smell... Only reading further down the road they also smoke in the same room haha.

And what do you think about the plants wit their current age (day 34 since sprouting?)

 

[longbottom]

Yeah I know, I did read too much of comments like no I have 5' by5'with a 6"carbon fan and it does not smell... Only reading further down the road they also smoke in the same room haha.

Nice, I'm not sure if odor is a huge problem for you, but as a "secret hidden cabinet" grower, it sure is for me. I'm not growing now for this very reason and am trying to come up with a solution. (two carbon filters , two fans, maybe a fan to outdoors etc..

Anyway, don't mean to sidetrack your thread but thanks so much for any odor reports you can provide, this is very helpful to me and all low odor growers.... Epsilon has been on my radar for a while. I even went to buy it, but my virus scanner warned me not to proceed on the RQS website...

Love the sound of this ! (I'm quite sure you've read this many times) Love that short flower time too, that's crazy ! It sounds like we'll know soon how much they smell...

Growing Epsilon F1: Small, Uniform Plants With an Express Flowering Time​

Epsilon F1 demonstrates excellent vigour and resilience; plants consistently grow small and compact, reaching similar heights and with a similar structure (short with few side branches), resulting in a very uniform crop. Plus, once Epsilon F1 automatically enters her bloom phase, you'll be pleased to note that her developing buds produce little-to-no aromas all the way till harvest. Combined with her fast 30-day flowering time (60 days from germination to harvest), Epsilon F1 makes an excellent choice for stealthy growers.

 

[atraveler211]

Funny, the low odor is also the reason I went with the Epsilon (and the fast seed to harvest time). From other people I found that some do smell it during (late) flower, so I hope it is not too bad. After purchasing the seeds I also noticed on growdiary that a lot of people need a lot more time then the promised weeks (60 days after sprouting according to RQS). I hope by providing the right growing conditions mine will be more towards the 60 days then 12 weeks I saw on GD.

Had a similar experience with my expectations on flower weeks provided by seedbank info . GD is a great reference for to average the actual grow weeks of your strain also the plant will let you know when she’s ready
Rdwc get a water chiller if not in set up. High quality air stones and a higher output air pump for oxygenation Just input from a newbie rDWC gardener

 

[One_Bell]

Got not enough time to reply to the comments above so I will do that later on but here are some new pic's:

Day 40 (from sowing seeds, day 37 since sprouting and 25 days after transplantingfrom aero to rdwc).

Before:

After:

Below the stem I damaged after the first LST/HST session, still holding on luckely:

The blue Adlite is gone, below you can see the deep red in action:

Deep red with UV:

And the mailight with UV alone:

UV comes up every hour of the mainlight cycle for 5 minutes currently. 15 minutes before the mainlight turns up, and 15 minutes after I use IR.

 

[Florida_Mike]

Fuck yeah bro! Looking fire!

 

[One_Bell]

Nice, I'm not sure if odor is a huge problem for you, but as a "secret hidden cabinet" grower, it sure is for me. I'm not growing now for this very reason and am trying to come up with a solution. (two carbon filters , two fans, maybe a fan to outdoors etc..

Anyway, don't mean to sidetrack your thread but thanks so much for any odor reports you can provide, this is very helpful to me and all low odor growers.... Epsilon has been on my radar for a while. I even went to buy it, but my virus scanner warned me not to proceed on the RQS website...

Love the sound of this ! (I'm quite sure you've read this many times) Love that short flower time too, that's crazy ! It sounds like we'll know soon how much they smell...

Growing Epsilon F1: Small, Uniform Plants With an Express Flowering Time​

Epsilon F1 demonstrates excellent vigour and resilience; plants consistently grow small and compact, reaching similar heights and with a similar structure (short with few side branches), resulting in a very uniform crop. Plus, once Epsilon F1 automatically enters her bloom phase, you'll be pleased to note that her developing buds produce little-to-no aromas all the way till harvest. Combined with her fast 30-day flowering time (60 days from germination to harvest), Epsilon F1 makes an excellent choice for stealthy growers.

Yes, unfortunately odor is a major problem for me. Currently it is doable with the inline fan on a minimal setting of three and an open window. Nevertheless, I will adjust the ducting to vent outside the room. This makes my grow more stealthy and I have to worry less about being discovered.
When I open the tent I can definitely smell haze, although the smell is not too strong at the moment. I will keep reporting about the odor. Currently using a "6 infinity inline with carbon filter.

Had a similar experience with my expectations on flower weeks provided by seedbank info . GD is a great reference for to average the actual grow weeks of your strain also the plant will let you know when she’s ready
Rdwc get a water chiller if not in set up. High quality air stones and a higher output air pump for oxygenation Just input from a newbie rDWC gardener

Yeah, only time will tell I guess. But, so far so good. The plants look healthy and big for 41 days since sprouting and more pistols start showing. I already used a waterchiller from the beginning to keep the waterenvironment healthy and oxygenrich.
I also added more airstones and a more powerfull and quiter airpump.

 

[One_Bell]

Day 44 (from sowing seeds, day 41 since sprouting and 29 days after transplanting from aero to rdwc):

More budsites are coming towards the light:

The right plant was a little bit easier to LST, which resulted in a better spreading canopy taking more advantage of the lights and space.

Under is the left plant, which I almost broke to of the cola's of the mainstem when trying to LST.

After all, I am still glad I made the decision to top these autoflowers, there are a lot of budsites now. I planned to hang one or two scrognets, but did not think of the acces needed to the plantbuckets to examine the roots and plumbing.

Another thing I did not think through was planting the rapidroots deep in the netcups. I gained some height this way (did know what to expect from stredging) but placing under/intercanopy lighting will be more difficult.

Also fiddeled a bit with the IA+ controller and made some automations. Unfortunately I could not set it up the way I wanted and reverted back to the AI+ mode. That way the equipment works best together. With the automations I could only set levels for all equipment. Because of the odor I do want my inline fan going at speed 3 minimum, but not my heater because that heats up the room.

AI+ keeps things better in check without wasting energy unnecessarily, so the only thing that I have to do now is set the temp and humidity at the end of the day when the lights turn off. Kinda shitty when running 18/6, short nights lol. If I turn the times around I can't take advantage of the lower night temps. I keep them at 75F/24C during the day and at 64,5F18C during the night.

Overall, still happy with the progress so far. Are they flowering already or is this still considered to be preflower?

 

[Florida_Mike]

Day 44 (from sowing seeds, day 41 since sprouting and 29 days after transplanting from aero to rdwc):

View attachment 2374203

View attachment 2374204

More budsites are coming towards the light:

View attachment 2374205

The right plant was a little bit easier to LST, which resulted in a better spreading canopy taking more advantage of the lights and space.

View attachment 2374206

Under is the left plant, which I almost broke to of the cola's of the mainstem when trying to LST.

View attachment 2374207

After all, I am still glad I made the decision to top these autoflowers, there are a lot of budsites now. I planned to hang one or two scrognets, but did not think of the acces needed to the plantbuckets to examine the roots and plumbing.

Another thing I did not think through was planting the rapidroots deep in the netcups. I gained some height this way (did know what to expect from stredging) but placing under/intercanopy lighting will be more difficult.

Also fiddeled a bit with the IA+ controller and made some automations. Unfortunately I could not set it up the way I wanted and reverted back to the AI+ mode. That way the equipment works best together. With the automations I could only set levels for all equipment. Because of the odor I do want my inline fan going at speed 3 minimum, but not my heater because that heats up the room.

AI+ keeps things better in check without wasting energy unnecessarily, so the only thing that I have to do now is set the temp and humidity at the end of the day when the lights turn off. Kinda shitty when running 18/6, short nights lol. If I turn the times around I can't take advantage of the lower night temps. I keep them at 75F/24C during the day and at 64,5F18C during the night.

Overall, still happy with the progress so far. Are they flowering already or is this still considered to be preflower?

That my friend is bud set and the beginning of flowering!