First time grow - Pineapple express

[drunknbass]

Got my setup hooked up, and found my fav strain(2 clones)

Setup right now is

hydrofarm t-5 2foot 2 bulb (~4k lumen)

2 waterfarms

nutrients are xnutrients micro(20 ml per gallon) and xnutrients grow(16ml per gallon) ph at 6.0 (had to use some lemon juice to drop it from ~6.7 since i had nothing else)

picked up the clones today, which were the last two and they were already in soil so i had to transplant them. I prepared a bath of water with the same nute ratio & pH and started to transplant and noticed basically all the soil fell off the cub because there were barely any roots coming out (but there were some).
Im a little concerned because normally clones this size seem to have a better root growth + the transplant has me thinking these might not make it.

I also have them sitting on about 1.5 inches of hydroton because thats about all i had.

I also have a window fan propped up higher in the closet on medium in exchange mode (one fans spins the other direction)

I dont have anything to keep light from escaping out the top right now but this room is only temporary and will be inside a 2x4 grow tent soon with maybe 2 more pots if i can fit them and another t5.

here are a few pics

http://c.drunknbass.com/B1Cc
http://c.drunknbass.com/B122
http://c.drunknbass.com/B1Fs
http://c.drunknbass.com/B1jM

 

[stormannorm]

hi drunkenbass,welcome to the farm man its a good place to be for all u need to know to help u thru your first grow.hope they clones pull thru for ya good luck.

peace storm,

 

[drunknbass]

So they are actually looking better.
I turned the dial on the pump (4 way with 2 plugged) all the way down to keep the splashing down but I don't think it matters. I think as long as there is enough air to push the water out it will splash because I have too much of a gap to the hydroton.

My ph is also bouncing back up really fast which I see now is common with lemon juice. Getting proper phdown tomorrow.

I am also thinking about getting one of those continuous 7 in 1 meters on eBay, so I'm curious how decent they area




Also, about how long does it take for roots to break out of the rock wool into the hydroton?

 

[singlespeed]

Good Luck, I love pineapple express!

 

[drunknbass]

So I had to leave town the day after I potted the PE and my wife has been in charge while I'm gone.
She told me there seemed to be excessive splashing and since the clones were so small I told her to stop running the pump 24/7.

She has just been manually watering the rockwool to keep it moist and running the bubbler a few times a day.

She sent me an update today and from first glance it seemed like the tips were slightly white.

From what I've read it seems to be iron or MG deficiency.
I actually expected them to be OVER nuted.

She did say the white looks like its ON the leaves (dried water drops)
But the veins and base do look light green which are symptoms of lacking MG / Iron(afaik :P )


What do you guys think?

http://c.drunknbass.com/B8UI

Btw I'll be picking up a PPM meter and swapping out res this Sunday and doing a proper update to this thread.

 

[kes5480]

i think it looks ok. I used those nutes before and had great results. i grew in soil but it was the same nutes. i followed the doses on the bottles and the plants loved it. just keep ur ph in check ecspecially with those buckets.
so like i said the plants look ok in the pic, just keep a close eye on em if ur worried.
Try to take some more pics of the problem areas if u think theres a issue with ur plants and we'll try to help ya.
keep up the good work and keep us informed
peace
kes5480

edit: i notice yr tips looked a lil burnt, that could be from a lil heavy on the nutes. u should start with like a 1/3rd strength as wat the bottle says and work ur way up as the plant matures.

 

[kes5480]

i just looked at the HydroponiX nute chart/schedule and ur feeding them to much it says for the Basic Grow week 1- 8ml.gal wk 2- 15ml.gal wk 3-20ml/gal wk4-5ml
Basic Micro week1-10ml/gal wk2- 15ml.gal-wk7, wk8 25ml

so it looks to me ur feeding them a bit heavy...and this is what the chart says u usually wanna do hlf strenght or even a 3rd strength to start off. so back off on the nutes and see what happens.

Basically ur givin them 20ml/gallon of the Micro when the chart says 15ml/gal at the heaviest feeding, Ur never even supposed to give em 20ml.gal of that stuff. Atleast thats what the chart says and the companies schedule is usually overkill so u go thru more nutes and have to buy more. so 20's to much...u can check it with a ppm meter when u get it 2.
ur givin them 16ml/gal of the Grow which first week should be 8ml/gallon, so im sure u see what im gettin at broski...so make the changes and see what happens.....
peace
kes5480

they got the grow schedule at www.growhydroponix.com

 

[drunknbass]

picked up my ppm meter, calibrated and tested the little bit of mixture i left for my wife, and the ppm was 1290 (tap water here is ~300)

So i guess that was pretty high?

she told me she made her own mix and used 10ml of each per gallon, and has been watering the rockwool directly. (6.1 ph, 680 ppm)

ill be doing a flush later today and not sure if i should dial the nutes down even more yet..


---edit

flushed a day early

ph 5.9
ppm 620

they look good, about twice as tall, lots of new growth. Turns the bubbler back on low now.

looking between the rockwool and (whatever was on the clone when i got it) there doesnt seem to be too much root growth that i can see.

http://c.drunknbass.com/BArV
http://c.drunknbass.com/BBZQ
http://c.drunknbass.com/BBJH

 

[drunknbass]

new pic. added a 300w cfl (2700k) as its all i could find locally. it made a big difference light wise. Now i just need to wait about a week for my 6500k 300w cfl to arrive from 1000lamps to shirt the balance more towards the 6k's

http://c.drunknbass.com/BGVw

plants still at 620-640 ppm and keeping the ph at 6 daily.
have the bubbler on an hour on hour off schedule throughout the day and working towards getting it to be on 24/7. i think another week of the on/off and i can flip it 24/7.

 

[hiboy]

Have u ever kept ur run off and tested the ppm to see whats in there.
i always notice a higher concentration... so then i'll run a flush and retest in a few days
h

 

[drunknbass]

Have u ever kept ur run off and tested the ppm to see whats in there.
i always notice a higher concentration... so then i'll run a flush and retest in a few days
h

the only time its been off for an extended time was wk 1 where it was basically standing for 5 days and the rockwool was watered directly.
Cant say if ppm went up because they were really high to behin with and i just got my meter this week. From testing this week using a real phdown and ppm meter the ppm stays pretty consistent but the ph keep climbing back to 7.4. Id blame this on the fact i rinsed the hydroton in tapwater which is ~7.6 ph here and using lemon juice for the first week so im sure the rockwool has a bunch of water soaked up with funky ph.
Im hoping if i stay on the ph every day and use the proper phdown solution and distilled water, the ph wont bounce around as much as time goes on and the old stuff is flushed out.

 

[hiboy]

You know you can just pour a gallon of water over that rw to rinse it out completely. Flood them suckas out
h

 

[drunknbass]

anyone know if the lower leaves are important? am i supposed to trim these off or wait for them to just fall off?

 

[Capulator]

sounds like wifey saves the day. A steak dinner is in order.

 

[singlespeed]

I just trimmed mine but it depends on your setup, plant count, and condition of the leaves. Yours looked like were still small and you didn't have a ton of plants close together. Are they bottom leaves looking rough?

 

[drunknbass]

I just trimmed mine but it depends on your setup, plant count, and condition of the leaves. Yours looked like were still small and you didn't have a ton of plants close together. Are they bottom leaves looking rough?

they dont look so bad, i can get a few closer pics tonight.
They are just so low they basically lay on the hydroton soaking wet all day.

Im wondering if maybe if i leave them alone they could be candidates for clones in a few week(s)?

-- EDIT

heres the pics. tried to get close and clear shots. Any thing in there look like clone status?
plant 1
http://c.drunknbass.com/BJyG
plant 2
http://c.drunknbass.com/BIzY

 

[drunknbass]

the plants are growing around the light so i tied the plans down a little today. One is getting almost twice as big and super bushy so wanted to try and make it grow more evenly spread. If i can get them tied down i can lower my light more till i get my 8 bulb t-5

 

[drunknbass]

noticed a spot today, not sure what it is. only on 2 leaves of the same plant(the second is very low and basically sits on hydroton wet all day). Not sure what it is yet. Maybe rust? maybe just a burn from a water drop?

FULL: http://c.drunknbass.com/BN24
FULL: http://c.drunknbass.com/BMft

Also i noticed i was still running the bubbler on lowest setting so i turned it up to med (its a 4 pot pump so i figure high might be TOO much, maybe im wrong).

The plant with the spots it about 65% the size of the other one so maybe thats also a sign something is wrong?


RES water tested 6.6ph 820 ppm.
ppm seems to stay pretty much the same. Is that because the bubblers have been low and there is only 1 root hitting the res so far? Its only drinking water from the top feed that it soaks up?

 

[singlespeed]

Dude, in that bottom picture it looks like mildew. That white powdery stuff... And I would pick off any leaves that are resting on your hydroton. That's asking for trouble.

 

[drunknbass]

Dude, in that bottom picture it looks like mildew. That white powdery stuff... And I would pick off any leaves that are resting on your hydroton. That's asking for trouble.

yea i think the white powder is from the water.. maybe minerals from the water since its so low it gets splashed on. the same white stuff is on the drip ring.

i did prune some of the lower leaves. some of them are on some pretty thick stems though and i dont think i should chop those, unless maybe i can pull a clone from there.