Noob's 2nd Grow - First-time Hydro - Critical Purple & Gorilla Glue Autos.

[Fangthane]

For hotter temps, Do you primarily run the lights during the day or at night? My 18/6 was lights on @ 8pm and lights off @2pm. Albiet that helped me with the colder night temps. It may help with the hotter afternoon temps for you.

I run a 20/4 schedule - off from 9PM - 1AM. Since these savages run the fucking heat at unbearably warm, late at night is when it's generally warmest in here in the winter. There's so much fluctuation that it ends up being kinda pointless to try to plan around inside temps.

Humidifier may be an option down the road, but $$ is always a pressing issue. As is how much electricity I'm using.

 

[Fangthane]

Noticing some odd yellowing on the larger plant. Decided to check my pH pen reading against pH indicator drops and found that my pen is off by about 1. Not sure how long it's been like this, but apparently my feed/water has had a pH of around 5.3. Guess I'll just use the drops from here on out. Hopefully, whatever the yellow streaking is will work itself out with more properly pHed water. Any thoughts?

 

[Phylex]

I got the Gorilla Glue/Critical Purple seeds from Growerschoice.com. Considering that I only ended up with 2 viable GG plants out of 6 seeds, I probably won't be going back to them. Paying $80 shipped for 6 seeds and only having 2 plants to show for it just doesn't work for me.

Placed an order with Seedsman.com 2 weeks ago and they still haven't even bothered to ship out my seeds, so I definitely won't be recommending them to anyone, either. Their prices are pretty good, but I won't continue to support anyone who has such a lackadaisical approach to order fulfillment.

Quick heads up, My order was placed on Dec. 4th. and shipping stayed in limbo status until yesterday. I received an email yesterday stating it finally shipped and would arrive between Jan 24th and Feb. 24th. It actually arrived in the mail today. I'm in Cali. So yours may arrive sooner then you think. Good luck and Merry Christmas

 

[Fangthane]

Quick heads up, My order was placed on Dec. 4th. and shipping stayed in limbo status until yesterday.

Yeah, that's apparently what's going on with my order. On their site, it's still showing up a being packaged, but the guy who replied to my email today said that it's already in the US and should be here within another 5 business days.

 

[Simplicio]

Now that my first grow is finished, I'm preparing for my second grow. I'm gonna give hydroponics a try this time around. I'll be doing (4) 5-gallon top-feed DWC buckets; 8" lids, using hydroton as the medium. They'll be grown in my 39"x39"x78" tent. If all 6 seeds successfully sprout, I'll also have 2 of them in 3-gallon fabric pots full of leftover FFOF from my first grow.
Before I get started in the next week or two, here are a couple of questions I could definitely use some input on:
1) My CMH bulb is 3100K. Would that be decent to use for veg phase, or would the blurple COB LEDs (~250w) be the better choice for vegging? I don't have the spare cash to buy a more veg-friendly CMH bulb at the moment, so I'm just gonna run with what I have.
2) Having never dealt with rockwool before, I'm very interested in hearing suggestions of simple ways to start seeds in rockwool without any specialized equipment. Is it as simple as just sitting the cubes in a shallow tray and keeping a steady supply of water in it until roots come out?
3) Is there anything I don't that you'd consider pretty much ESSENTIAL to successfully grow with my chosen setup?

Here are my opinions:
1. I use only LED full spectrum, and know nothing about CMH.
2. I switched from soaking, paper towel, and rockwool cubes to no soaking, no paper towels, and Rapid Rooters. I like this style much better.
3. DWC promotes huge growth with little food needed. Feed 1/4 to 1/2 nutes, and very low ppm (<50) for seedlings.

My main complaints about using the best grow medium, water, is checking ppm, pH, and doing top-offs.
The last problem can be fixed by connecting all the buckets together with hoses near their bases, and then connecting one or two of the buckets to a controller reservoir that is fed by a larger tank with float valve.
I recently bought a GeneralHydroponics WaterFarm-8 controller for this.

You definitely need a humidifier. Google Vapor Pressure Deficit.
I prefer top fill for ease of use.
Evaporative types are cheaper, but ultrasonic can put out more vapor.

I've had good luck with Growers Choice seeds, but now use mainly Mephisto for US purchases (I grow only autos), and Sensible for european seeds.

 

[chemistry]

Noticing some odd yellowing on the larger plant. Decided to check my pH pen reading against pH indicator drops and found that my pen is off by about 1. Not sure how long it's been like this, but apparently my feed/water has had a pH of around 5.3. Guess I'll just use the drops from here on out. Hopefully, whatever the yellow streaking is will work itself out with more properly pHed water. Any thoughts?

View attachment 847941 View attachment 847942

Have you checked for mites? Last pic looks like Broad Mite damage.

 

[Quinton11]

I bet that is from the off PH, if you have a cheaper I would check a lot more often, I calibrate mine before every feeding

 

[Fangthane]

Have you checked for mites? Last pic looks like Broad Mite damage.

Just went in and took my little microscope to a bunch of the leaves, top and bottom. Didn't see anything insect-like, or anything at all moving around. Hopefully, it's just a pH issue. The smaller plant is now also showing a little bit of the same thing going on, on some of the bottom leaves.

 

[Fangthane]

I bet that is from the off PH, if you have a cheaper I would check a lot more often, I calibrate mine before every feeding

To hell with calibrating before every use. Don't want to keep a mountain of the little buffer solution packets around. Looks like I'll just be using the drops for now. They're not all that precise, but should definitely keep me in the right range.

 

[Phylex]

To hell with calibrating before every use. Don't want to keep a mountain of the little buffer solution packets around. Looks like I'll just be using the drops for now. They're not all that precise, but should definitely keep me in the right range.

Lol I hear ya. I have three PH pens and drops. I bought two cheap PH pens in the beginning. I wasn't sold the first one was accurate so I bought another cheap one from a different manufacturer. I still used the drops to confirm I was somewhat in range. But after continued PH issues, and not trusting my calibrating accuracy with the screw method, I bit the bullet and my third PH pen is from blue labs. I haven't looked back since. I'm confident now my PH readings are on point.

 

[Quinton11]

To hell with calibrating before every use. Don't want to keep a mountain of the little buffer solution packets around. Looks like I'll just be using the drops for now. They're not all that precise, but should definitely keep me in the right range.

Lmao well I can understand that if your using the ph packets, I just bought a bottle of calibration solution for around 15$ its gonna last a long time but after that I'm gonna bite the bullet like he said and invest in a good one again

 

[Fangthane]

I'd checked out some of the high-end pH pens on Amazon before. Their ratings aren't really any better than the shitty $15 ones I've had. No matter which pen I'd get, it seems like I'd still need to buy calibration solutions, storage solution, replacement probes, ect. Wondering if the drops may just end up being the best long-term solution. Since there's somewhat of a range of acceptable pH values for effective nutrient uptake, seems like I should theoretically be fine as long as I'm somewhere in the yellow?

 

[chemistry]

I'd checked out some of the high-end pH pens on Amazon before. Their ratings aren't really any better than the shitty $15 ones I've had. No matter which pen I'd get, it seems like I'd still need to buy calibration solutions, storage solution, replacement probes, ect. Wondering if the drops may just end up being the best long-term solution. Since there's somewhat of a range of acceptable pH values for effective nutrient uptake, seems like I should theoretically be fine as long as I'm somewhere in the yellow?

The colour of a good piss.

 

[Fangthane]

What exactly would be the best way to handle my pH issue? Should I just let it get good and dry, then water with 6.5-ish water? Or do I want to feed some straight tap water (pH 8.5) to try to actively counteract the acid it's been getting since whenever my pen shit the bed?

 

[Quinton11]

What exactly would be the best way to handle my pH issue? Should I just let it get good and dry, then water with 6.5-ish water? Or do I want to feed some straight tap water (pH 8.5) to try to actively counteract the acid it's been getting since whenever my pen shit the bed?

When I fed my plants 5.1ish I just waited until dry and really watered until sufficient runoff of the ph I wanted,

That being said there may be a better way out there

 

[chemistry]

What exactly would be the best way to handle my pH issue? Should I just let it get good and dry, then water with 6.5-ish water? Or do I want to feed some straight tap water (pH 8.5) to try to actively counteract the acid it's been getting since whenever my pen shit the bed?

You need a game plan, and stick to it. Every change you make good or bad will have an effect on your plants. Your coco should not dry out. If I were you I would feed at 6.5 to a good runoff a few times a day. What comes out the bottom is not a problem as long as it's not in the 4's. When you feed at 6.5 and your PH drops as it penetrates your medium, this is no bad thing as it gives your plant a good PH spread. This gives you the PH range to pick up all the good stuff your plant needs to grow.

 

[UncleRomulus]

If your growing auto fem seeds you aren’t ready for dwc. Sorry just someone had to say it. Get some rounds under your belt in soil/soilless mix. Keep it simple. Research on here or icmag about good breaders. Read a bit on others journals. A lot of people list where they get genetics. Don’t fall for flashy websites. Some of my fave seed vendors have the shittiest websites lol.

 

[Fangthane]

If your growing auto fem seeds you aren’t ready for dwc. Sorry just someone had to say it.

Right, 'cause no experienced growers could ever possibly choose to stick with autos? I don't really give a damn about prime genetics or whatever delusions of grandeur that seem to come to certain people who grow photo-period plants. I intend to stick with autos even after I'm experienced. While I may very well not be ready for DWC, your post is just generally douchey and entirely unhelpful to my actual situation.

 

[UncleRomulus]

Alright bud. Good luck. I think you will find I was actually trying to help you but you seem to have it covered. If you get offended that easy and that stubborn you won’t learn fast that’s for sure. Peace

Right, 'cause no experienced growers could ever possibly choose to stick with autos? I don't really give a damn about prime genetics or whatever delusions of grandeur that seem to come to certain people who grow photo-period plants. I intend to stick with autos even after I'm experienced. While I may very well not be ready for DWC, your post is just generally douchey and entirely unhelpful to my actual situation.

 

[UncleRomulus]

I guess I could have phrased it more sweetly for you, but recommending keeping it simple and starting with good genetics is good advice. I’m not a fan of autos personally, but I’m bias cause they barely get me high. I don’t generally shit on people that grow them tho. If your happy whatever. It’s just my ‘dilusions of grandeur” led me to give you my opinion.