Hydroponics, I thought it was going to be expensive to get into at first. I LOOKED ON craigslist. I found an ad from some guy selling off his shit. This is what purchased from him. I bought a 1000 watt digital ballast (galaxy) made by sun systems, its switchable and dimmable. I can run 1000 watt lamps, 600 watt lamps, 400 lamps, of both spectrum's. Hps and Mh. I can also run a 1000 watt lamp at 400 and 600 watts by dimming the bulb via a switch on the ballast. He threw in a fresh brand fucking new in the box
hortilux super hps bulb, He even threw in a brand new 40 watt LED system (which is worth like 150 or so brand new) a co2 controller brand new with a brand new 30 pound co2 tank, a 250 dollar hanna combo tds/ec/ph meter with a brand new electrode for it, and a big 50 liter bag of unused hydroton, an ozium scent motion activate scent dispenser, all of that shit for 200 fucking dollars. I almost shit myself at the deal I got. hahah Anyways, like I said he sold me a digital ballast. I hooked it up for the first time and it blew up hahahaha! He gave me the receipt for it and I took it back to the hydro store. They honored the 5 year warranty and gave me a free upgrade to the 1000 digital select a watt galaxy ballast brand fucking new in the box, no questions asked. I found another guy who had a 4x4 ebb and flow, with a res and stand, plus he gave me another c02 tank, another controller for it, about 100 net pots, 3 1000 watt magnetic hps ballast and diamond hoods, a 400 hps, a 250 mh with bulbs and hoods, another 1000
hortilux superhps bulb, he gave me a uvonair 1000, a squirrel cage fan, a shit ton of 3 gallon pots for soil all for 400 total, but well worth it.
So I've got 600 wrapped up in growing equipment. I went back to the first guy when I made some more money and purchased a 70 site bontanicare aeroponic cloner complete with pump, humidity dome, neoprene inserts and all, for a 100 dollars from him. Looks brand new. IT RUNS 500 usd AT MY LOCAL HS. I found an awesome huge dehumidifier at a yard sale for 30 yes 30 fucking dollars!
These clones were a gift for helping a friend take some cuttings, he gave me 4 for the trouble. :stoned: I rooted them under ambient light in a 2.5 gallon ziplock bag, room temps, rooted in rapid rooters. Took 10 days under 24/7 light. They were fucking ate up with spider mites so I tried a new all organic product called
sierra natural science sns 217, I was given a free sample from their sales reps just by going to their web site and clicking "request free sample". I requested a free sample and 3 days later a priority mail box was at my door with 3 bottles of pre mixed ready to go sns 217 spider mite control. After these moms took root I sprayed the shit out of them with sns 217 and all of the eggs, parents, larva, and everything was fucking dead, with no noticeable harm to my plants. No burn, no nothing. The product is omri listed and is made from rosemary extract. Its the fucking shit, try it out. No mites since, and only one application period.
Anyways the clones were rooted and they were placed in 5 inch square pots made out of my own custom mix. The moms are in this mix.
1 part vermiculite
1 part chopped up rapid rooter mat (composted willow bark naturally high in auxins)
1 part blended up rapid rooter material, (think fine powdered spongie shit)
1 part wiggle worm castings
1 part flushed coco coir
1 part perlite
a dash of
great white myco
fed with composted high N guano tea and tecnoflora magi-cal supp every third watering and
great white every month
They are now 2 1/2 weeks after being transplanted into the square pots with the mom mix, They were grown for 1 week under a led glow panel and one and a half weeks under a 250 mh. Pics will be updated later. I have lst trained them, I have topped them, I have super cropped them. They are doing fucking great and I could pull 40 cuttings from them right now and they are only 4 inches tall. I am looking to take 70 however ;) My goal is to keep them under a foot and have a
perpetual harvest of 40 clones every two weeks. Half will be grown in soil in 3 gallon pots, and half will be hydroponically grown, one side organic, one side chemical salts. Side by side, which one will produce the best herb?
This grow will be 1400 watts flowering, one week of veg at the most, 250 mh for moms, fluro's for clone machine. Co2 will be injected after flowering has commenced. The room is wrapped in poly btw. The last week of flowering I am going to blast them with MH lighting to increase potency and cbd's.
Nutrients are as follows for hydroponic side,
advanced nutrients sensi a/b two part base nute, overdrive,
big bud,
bud candy,
hydroplex, sweet, technoflora mag-i-cal supp. 5 inch pots filled with hydroton is the medium. This is my first go round with hydro guys, ya think ya could give a brotha a hand??? Ill probably need it!
Im thinking a willow bark/coir/perlite based organic biologically active mix with guanos, mycos, fulvics, humics, and amino's for the organic side of the room. All water is going to be ro with mag-i-cal for a buffer. Molasses and guano teas will feed the micro herd. Im thinking about trying out fox farms new biologicals. Tell me what ya think!!
Pics coming soon to a nook near you!