First Ebb & Flow Hydro Grow

[Crysmatic]

High all

The kind man led me to an 'ask lucas' thread that's taught me more in a week's time than i've learned in the last ten years. i've just been mucking around.

i will be constructing a proper, climate controlled, sealed room with CO2. i've started some bag seed (supposedly white russian et al) in peat pellets, and coco, along with some reeferman apple pie and pink kush.

my room will be:
(1) 4' x 4' ebb & flow table
30 gal reservoir
(1) 1000W HPS with PL reflector
(16) 4L pots
hydroton
DNF pH 5.6 EC1.85
RO water

when i frame a 12' x 12' area, i will get a 12,000 btu a/c, dehumidifier, and CO2 burner/regulator.

The point of this small grow is to select a mom, and test out the system and my skills. Once it works, I can scale it up to make a four light room. I will have a proper cloning and veg station.

 

[Crysmatic]

seedlings

i should have rinsed the coco before potting. these are the worst starts i've ever had :( i also hate peat pellets.

interestingly, the apple pie and pink kush are only 11 days older than the other seedlings.

 

[Crysmatic]

the older plants started developing nute defficiencies. it seems the 5 ml/l recommended dose gets ro water to 0.26ms. i'm bumping that up to 15 ml/l (.47ms) and feeding each watering.

i'm slowly making progress on the e&f table. i've rinsed the hydroton, and i'm going to cut up some fiberglass screen to keep them in the pots. they keep themselves in place fairly well, and i think the flood cycles will dislodge a bunch until they're held together by roots.

i made a table using 1.5" pvc pipe (eight 12", one 24"), two tees, and four elbows. the legs are on ~26" centres. this will allow the res to slip underneath - while sitting on 2" foam - and be as low profile as possible. it cost me $18 and took 5 min to assemble :)

i still have to cycle the pump and make sure it floods/drains properly. i've hung the light, and i should be moving the seedlings under hid soon.

i found my pk1 growing balls today. i really hope pk2 is a girl. i also topped the apple pies at the 6th node.

 

[Malachi]

Looks good my man ... nice start

 

[winta]

lookin good so far my dude! ive been wantin to see a pink kush grow!

 

[Crysmatic]

thanks guys.

i just found out today that my pH pen is dead :( i bought a pH test kit, and immediately found my nute soln is around 4.0:doh as soon as the dnf is done, i'm getting floranova bloom - it should work out cheaper.

i got my babies under the 400w mh, and the colour is plainly lime green. they'll start drying out faster, and i'll give them more food. i just need to keep the light from illuminating the entire basement.

pic 1: the apple pies are doing well.
pic 2: the pink kush really likes dry feet, and is doing better now.
pics 3&4: a couple of the latest seedlings are really standing out.

did i mention the pvc frame made was crap? the e&f table is very flimsy and it's holding water. i'll have to frame a table with proper lumber and plywood, and pitch it properly. otherwise, it floods and drains well, and i just have to set up the timer.

 

[winta]

neon lights lol

 

[Crysmatic]

did i miss something?

yes, this grow is off to a slow start. lots of stuff isn't in place. i promise ta do betta! it's really frustrating to select a mom from 40+ seeds and several unknown varieties, without a proper room. i won't use the table for at least another month. i want to start a dwc bucket for the pk (which i believe is a girl), and i'm not sure how to keep all my plants happy.

 

[hererisssh]

Better get at least a 40 gallon reservoir for a 4x4, get a 50 and you'll be a much happier camper.

 

[stickyicky]

Better get at least a 40 gallon reservoir for a 4x4, get a 50 and you'll be a much happier camper.

That's the first thing I thought when I read his specs.

I have 2-4x4 tables w/ 1-40 gal. rez. ea. You'll be replacing nutes everyday when they get bigger if you stay w/ a 30 gal.

My 2-cents.

 

[Crysmatic]

thanks for the input. i've already paid for it, and it's worked for others. however, if it is miserable, i'll fix it before i expand.

 

[Crysmatic]

3D photo

i'm trying out a new technique to make 3d photos. bear with me until i get it right. i went a little cross-eyed on this one. it's the smellier of the apple pies :)

so that the basement doesn't glow at night, i've cut the hours to 15. we get a max of 14 outdoors in june, so they won't trigger at 15.

 

[~xO Kakalak Ox~]

Do you need glasses to see it in 3D?

 

[Crysmatic]

it's called stereoscopy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscopy
when we look at something, our brain takes the 2D pictures from each eye and sews them together. the brain does this seamlessly (you probably hadn't even thought about it). that's how we see depth.

if you let your eyes go cross, you'll see a third frame between the two pictures. obviously it's not really 3D (it's still on a flat monitor), but it will have a sense of depth. because i hacked together this photo, it hurts my eyes, and doesn't show a crisp image...but you get the idea.

 

[Crysmatic]

update

first, let me say that it's a miracle i haven't killed my plants yet. i just realised yesterday that my ec metre was faulty. i got a replacement. ec is 1.22. i also fixed my pH problem...it's at 5.5 now. i'll feed/water by feel for now.

one of the apple pies grew pollen sacs...i wasn't merciful :S

the other apple pie is doing well. the 3d pic works much better :)

here they are. it'll take a few days before they recover. rH is only 29%. they should be in their new home next week.

the little plants in the middle are purple russian tomatoes. roma sized, meaty, low acid, few seeds...great for salads and sauces. i intend to sell cuttings to the local farm supply.

 

[winta]

dam sorry to hear that my dude glad it wasnt all of them!

 

[Crysmatic]

no worries winta...that was the male. he smelled really good, but i'm not breeding.

on a good note, my pk showed hairs today :D the other apple pie hasn't shown balls yet, so i think it's a female also.

 

[Crysmatic]

coco

this grow is botched because i was expecting a friend to take them. my girls still don't have their own room, 1kw hps, or e&f. it's turning into a coco grow in 1 gal pots. i flipped them to 12/12 mar 23. another girl showed yesterday. i will try to take cuttings from the undergrowth in the next 2 weeks.

the res went anaerobic and started growing loonie sized white jelly. i'll dump this batch, but will aerate the res in the future. i'll make smaller batches for now.

my working ec pen says 350 us for tap water. fwiw, the run off from rinsing the coir was 1850!

 

[winta]

daaam the ppm is crazy lol girls look good though :)

 

[stlth8814]

that is a crazy ppm. I start to burn my ladies in veg after 1100. the time in the sun must be helping, keep it up dude.