New to Hydro - Couple Questions

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BC21596

BC21596

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Hi, I'm in my first hydroponic cannabis grow. I practiced a little on other veggies first so I know a little bit. I have more growth than I can handle though. At 5 weeks from seed, I had a plant over 12" tall and about 18" wide. This had a perfect canopy also where the top stalk had stopped growing and the side stalks grew up to the sunlight. I put it into flower 2 weeks ago. It has grown so much it has filled my 3x3 tent and is now square. The canopy is still pretty good though in that when you look underneath it's pretty clear. The bud sites are all near the top.

Here are the problems:
- I can't raise the light anymore. I have LED so it's not that hot, but I'll have to take it out of the tent if it keeps growing up. Should it stop growing up about now, 2.5 weeks into flower? I may be able to get the light another 3" high if I get help from my wife. If it's going up more I'll need to take it out of the tent. Should I do that? It's in a 4x4 room that has white walls, black ceiling, and dark brown floor. If so, I'll need to redo the exhaust. Last grow was in the 4x4 room and I had a LOT of smell at the end. You could smell it from outside, but in the winter not many people are walking around. When the smell started, the termite guy had just come so we made sure not to call any repair services during that time. Summer will be here by the time this flowers and I have to keep the smell down this time. Should I pull this out of the tent? I hope no since I don't know if I can smell-proof the room.

- I need to change the water, but due to the plant height I can't get the bucket out without pulling the whole plant out of the tent. I know now that I should build a small stand next time but right now, I can't figure out how I'll change this. I've been adding solution and I measured the other day and I was at over 4k ppm and pH has dropped to 5.0. That's about triple strength from the original mixture so I put the last two gallons in of just pure filtered water. It doesn't appear to be hurting the plant now, but I'm concerned that it might become too toxic. What should I do here?

Thanks.
 
BigCube

BigCube

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Hi, I'm in my first hydroponic cannabis grow. I practiced a little on other veggies first so I know a little bit. I have more growth than I can handle though. At 5 weeks from seed, I had a plant over 12" tall and about 18" wide. This had a perfect canopy also where the top stalk had stopped growing and the side stalks grew up to the sunlight. I put it into flower 2 weeks ago. It has grown so much it has filled my 3x3 tent and is now square. The canopy is still pretty good though in that when you look underneath it's pretty clear. The bud sites are all near the top.

Here are the problems:
- I can't raise the light anymore. I have LED so it's not that hot, but I'll have to take it out of the tent if it keeps growing up. Should it stop growing up about now, 2.5 weeks into flower? I may be able to get the light another 3" high if I get help from my wife. If it's going up more I'll need to take it out of the tent. Should I do that? It's in a 4x4 room that has white walls, black ceiling, and dark brown floor. If so, I'll need to redo the exhaust. Last grow was in the 4x4 room and I had a LOT of smell at the end. You could smell it from outside, but in the winter not many people are walking around. When the smell started, the termite guy had just come so we made sure not to call any repair services during that time. Summer will be here by the time this flowers and I have to keep the smell down this time. Should I pull this out of the tent? I hope no since I don't know if I can smell-proof the room.

- I need to change the water, but due to the plant height I can't get the bucket out without pulling the whole plant out of the tent. I know now that I should build a small stand next time but right now, I can't figure out how I'll change this. I've been adding solution and I measured the other day and I was at over 4k ppm and pH has dropped to 5.0. That's about triple strength from the original mixture so I put the last two gallons in of just pure filtered water. It doesn't appear to be hurting the plant now, but I'm concerned that it might become too toxic. What should I do here?

Thanks.

Yeah lol, hydro grows a lot faster. Next time just flip it a couple weeks earlier 👍

I notice mine stop their growth spurts after about 2 weeks. Have had a few less and a few more, but that's about my average. So you should be leveling off soon. But they can go like 3weeks and a couple days. Never seen a 4 week flower growth spurt.

Things I've noticed about growing with leds:

Quantity and quality of light really matters when you flip to flower. If you have a lot of quality spectrum light the growth is shorter and the bud sites are closer together, more frequent. The flowers also get much more dense.

You can actually get MUCH closer to leds, depending on your fixture, 10 or even 8 inches is fine even less in some cases. Some very high wattage cobs can cause bleaching if you get too close. But these are mostly in cheap fixtures. The consensus is that many smaller light sources spread over a larger area is better than a single big light source.

If you're worried, or if they are actually going to touch the LEDs, then you could tie back the offending branches. Or you could top it, topping it wouldn't do any real harm other than losing what that bud would become 😭

If you pull it out of your tent, you can still use your tents fan and filter. Just set it up in the 4x4 with the plant, just the fan and filter circulating air in the room will remove most of the smell, should stop it from smelling outside.

Some pictures would be sweet if you could 👍
 
Grapefruitroop

Grapefruitroop

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I need to change the water, but due to the plant height I can't get the bucket out without pulling the whole plant out of the tent. I know now that I should build a small stand next time but right now,
have u tried with a pump and a hose?
 
BC21596

BC21596

40
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Thanks for the advice. I thought I was supposed to wait until at minimum 12" in height and 4 weeks before flowering. The plant went from 11" to 15" in one day so I put it in at that height. The first two photos are from Feb 16, and one from just now which is 2.5 weeks later. It's still growing because the plant was 6" from the light this morning and now it looks like 3". I can move the light up 3 more inches but then I'm done. The bud sites are all at the top so I don't think I can really cut this back. This has super thick stems which I don't know if that's the hydro or the strain. This is a new strain for me. It's only my 3rd grow unless you count a 250W in a spare bedroom over 20 years ago. lol. Then it would be 4, but I'm a good reader. For me the hydro is much easier to manage. I don't mind testing. Mixing is done with soil also.

Also, the pictures aren't really showing how top-heavy the plant is. There is green all the way down, but it's thick at the top and thin down below. I like that because I can harvest all at once. I didn't do any training, it just grew that way on its own.

I'm trying to get one plant every two months with different strains to try them out. Veg in the room you see the lettuce in, then flower in the tent on its own. The veggies are all indoor started from seed in hydro also.
 
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BC21596

BC21596

40
8
I just added a gallon where I only added the Bloom nutrient and I put a lot of pH Up to try and get it back to about 6.0. I was down in the 4.5 range when I just tested it and the PPM has gone to almost 5,500. I know I'm supposed to switch it from the transition mix to the bloom mix at this point.
 
Moe.Red

Moe.Red

5,044
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You can either swivel that fitting on your blue level hose 90* and water will come out via gravity, or if not you can use a small pump on the same blue hose running to a drain. If this is a long term setup for you, after you get this thing drained replace the 90* fitting with a tee, add a valve and run that to a drain. Then to do a water change is just opening a valve.

On the height - bend those tops over. There has got to be a writeup with pics on this site somewhere, but you just sorta pinch the stalk where you want it to bend and gently lay the top of the branch over. The tip will turn back to the lights within a day, and you will have gained a foot of space. Does not hurt the plant at all.

What you are experiencing is called the stretch, and some plants do a little, some do a lot. Also, your internodal spacing is pretty long - could be genetics could be lack of photons, but that is making your problem worse.
 
BC21596

BC21596

40
8
What you are experiencing is called the stretch, and some plants do a little, some do a lot. Also, your internodal spacing is pretty long - could be genetics could be lack of photons, but that is making your problem worse.
Under the original lights, I had no stretch at all. Now that you mention it I do see that the internodal spacing is long. Those white lights might be better. Both are highly rated in the same price range though.
 
Moe.Red

Moe.Red

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313
Under the original lights, I had no stretch at all. Now that you mention it I do see that the internodal spacing is long. Those white lights might be better. Both are highly rated in the same price range though.

When it comes to LED, White is made from LEDs of blue wavelength treated with phosphor. But they are still biased blue. Blue is the anti-stretch wavelength. Red, and even more so Far Red is the branching / stretching wavelength. Far Red signals to the plant that it is in shade and the plant responds to try to get more light by growing. Red to a lesser extent, but still there.

I don't know what light you have, but spectrum will most definitely have an impact on the plants.

Here is one that I trained (bent over) last night. You can see it doesn't hurt them at all and they immediately recover and start up again. If you are scared, just try it with one of your tall branches. You are going to have to do something...

IMG 2422
 
Skeptik

Skeptik

114
43
Under the original lights, I had no stretch at all. Now that you mention it I do see that the internodal spacing is long. Those white lights might be better. Both are highly rated in the same price range though.

Agree with @Moe.Red , bend those tops over. Either pinch the stems to soften them up so they bend over without breaking, or you can gently lay a scrog screen over the whole canopy. Had you scrogged it originally, I would have left it veg for another 2-3 weeks. It could really use some thickening up.

How many watts is that light, and what kind of leds? It looks like a household fixture, and if so, I suspect you can let your plant get within just a few centimeters and they'd be fine.

Gotta get your reservoir under control by whatever means.
 
Moe.Red

Moe.Red

5,044
313
I just added a gallon where I only added the Bloom nutrient and I put a lot of pH Up to try and get it back to about 6.0. I was down in the 4.5 range when I just tested it and the PPM has gone to almost 5,500. I know I'm supposed to switch it from the transition mix to the bloom mix at this point.

I'm a bit speechless about that PPM number. I have no idea how those plants are not nute burned to a crisp.

I've never done the Kratky method like this, but man, I think your probe is way off or something.
 
BC21596

BC21596

40
8
I got the water changed and raised the light to the max. It only grew one inch yesterday so maybe it's slowing down. The probe might be off. It's pretty cheap. I think it's good to compare numbers though. I have measured fresh nutrient mix and documented it so I know where it starts. It's definitely higher than when I started and when I drained it I could see it was much darker than the original mix.

My concern with bending was that the branches would then cover each other. Also, the branches are very thick compared to when I grew in soil. They are fairly brittle too. Fresh green fan leaves are snapping off here & there. Not terribly so but I haven't seen that before. I'll give it a try with the tallest branch. When I started flower, they were all about the same but since I moved to flower the center cola has grown higher.

As far as the light, the white lights that I did the veg with are a little less than 300 actual watts. I think 285 but I don't remember exactly. The other is about 550 actual watts. They call it a 1200 par light and it's supposed to be a 1000W replacement. It's rated for 4x4 flower, 5x5 veg, but I have it in a 3x3 tent. That one is a blurple light so more blue & red. Would it be beneficial next time to start the reds lower and then raise them after a couple weeks? The red & blue channels are dimmable and separate on that light.
 
BC21596

BC21596

40
8
When I pinched the stem, it snapped and left some vertical splits in the stem. Is that supposed to happen? I thought it would give some and just become softer. I'm not sure if this is normal or because my stems are brittle. I still can't bend it and make it stay. I'll need to find some string to hold it down. I'm looking at the picture above and they look about like that thickness though. They were smaller when I was growing in soil.
 
Moe.Red

Moe.Red

5,044
313
When I pinched the stem, it snapped and left some vertical splits in the stem. Is that supposed to happen? I thought it would give some and just become softer. I'm not sure if this is normal or because my stems are brittle. I still can't bend it and make it stay. I'll need to find some string to hold it down. I'm looking at the picture above and they look about like that thickness though. They were smaller when I was growing in soil.

Sorry checked out a minute. I'm guessing you figured this out by now. If you want to post some new pics if you need help, I'll come back and answer.

Holding them down with something is normal. Most people use a net and do what is called Screen of Green, or SCROG.

When I do it I just roll the stem between my thumb and finger and it gets a little soft. Bend it over, stick it under the net, and tomorrow it will be facing north again. If your stalks are so brittle they snap when you do this, something else is going on to cause that. Could be genetics, could be environmental, could be nutrients.
 
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