Lightstorm!

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Lightstorm!


Well I guess it is about time for me to kick off a journal. I started this whole fiasco a while back so I guess a complete run-down is in order. However, I think I should start off with a few other things. Many of you know me and many of you have followed some of my past journals. I have been growing outdoors for many years and I always thought I knew what I was doing. I still would think I knew what I was doing but I had to run into the wanderful world of inddor cultivation and the internet where I met a lot of great growers that helped me learn the basics of inddor growing. I owe them alot. Not only did they teach me what they knew but helped point me into the direction of the answers they didn't know. I enjoy inddor cultivation a great deal and have put a lot of time and effort into it. So, whatever I know I will more than gladly pass on to the next person and as the great people before me, I will help you find the answers that I don't know.

Well to start off we'll look in to my Grow Cab. I have had this for over a year now and love it to death. I put a lot of research, time, and money into making this what it is now. Now I didn't start off with this, I started off with an Aquarium and a couple 2' flouro's. I quickly found out how far off I was and quickly started building me a cabinet. I then realized, hey..... This isn't big enough either so I build another one then continued to upgrade it. Tiss a viscious cycle I must say but it is all part of how I learned and grew and figured I would share it with ya. I now have a nice cab which I should be able to use for many many years, It was a very good investment I must say. Anyhow, The cab is a rubbermade cabinet from lowes. It cost me like $250 for the cabinet then I had to build it from there. I started off by lining it with Reflectex, it looks like the bubblewrap covered in aluminum foil and it isn't cheap at all. I think the first roll was like $50 and didn't do it all so I bought another small roll to finish it up and it was like $25 but I had some left over I used for a lot of other things. I also bought some door sweeps to block out the light around the top and bottom of the doors, the center overlaps so nothing comes thru that area and the outer edges of the doors I just looped the reflectex and screwed it into the sides to hold it in place. Works great!

I then bought my lighting system. I got a SunSystemVI 400 watt switchable ballast and a SunSystem Econocool reflector. I forget what that cost me but I think it was somewhere around $450ish. I got both my bulbs from lowes and they were both around $25 each compared to $65 at the hydro store for the same thing with a different name. I pull air thru the econocool reflector with a 180 cfm HydroFarm Blower which blows into a Carbonaire carbon filter to clean out all the stink. The fan was like $90 and the Filter was around $150 or so. After I did a couple grows with some DIY bubbler buckets I purchased a TurboGarden, it cost me around $300 but it came with some nutes, PH up/Down, and some shitty growing medium I use to mix with soil now. I guess when it all gets added up I spent somewhere between $1200-$1500 on my setup. It adds up quickly too believe me....

Wow, Now where do I go to? I guess I can go on to the history of the Lightstorm. I got the seeds from GotPurpleBud, I think his place was called United Color Seeds. He still sells them on seedbay from what I understand but haven't been to look. I forget the history of it's genetics but he sent them to me for free if I were to journal them for him as a test grow. He wanted pics and stuff for his own records. I haven't heard from him for a long while but a mans word is his word so I am still gonna complete what I started. I started with 12 seeds and ended up with like 6 good plants from them. Some didn't sprout and some sprouted yellow and then died. I grew them and cloned them and then flowered the plant. I found out that again 1/2 were hermie so that left me with 3 good plants at harvest. The clones, well I took many from each plant. Them clones I took is what this grow is all about. I put them clones under minimal lighting. They were under like 20-25 watts per/Sq.In. and I had it set on 18/6 lighting. I also pourposely sent them thru a droubt to slow the growth for a little bit but I let it go too much and they quit growing for about 3 weeks which worked out great for me. It allowed me to harvest at full term and the clones weren't huge. They were still small and were only like 10". I transplanted them Dec. 30th. They were really showing some shock but are starting to pull out of it now. They went from a little flouro light to a 400watt HPS. I need to get another MH bulb so I just used the HPS until I get to Lowes for a new bulb.

I have been using Fox Farms nutes for some time now and that is what I am starting this grow off with. I have the 25 gallon Reservoir set at 400ppm I think. My water comes out of the tap at 250ppm normally. I then added 1/4 tsp. silicablast per gallon of water then balanced out the PH to around 6.0ish. Canary yellow on the drop tester. I use the cheap droplet tester because with a PH meter you have to keep it wet and it just sounds like a Pain in the ass to me, I may get a continuos meter to put in to my res. someday but not anytime soon. I also use an Oakton ppm meter.

I guess that is about the best run-down I can give ya'll. I'm still learning Ebb&Flow so don't expect an expert at work here. I am still learning this as I go so any suggestions or help will be appriciated. I had my water cycle set to every 2 hours last grow and ended up with some rotted ass roots when I harvested. The roots in the pots of hydroton were half mushy and dark brown. So, this time I am backing my cycle times down to every 4 hours. Last time I had too much different shit going on but this time it's pretty much all the same. I have 7 Lightstorm clones and 1 AK-48 clone. I have the AK in there because I don't want to lose a growing plant. I have plenty of AK seeds but I may keep it till I go in to flowering them pull it out and clone it for the next grow. Depends if I get some new seeds between now and then I guess.

Well, Now I'll stick up a few pics for you to look at.


Here's the outside of the Cab.
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1198&stc=1&d=1136320007

Here's the lighting before it was installed.
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1199&stc=1&d=1136320007

Here's the cabinet about 45 minutes ago with the doors open and the HPS on.
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1200&stc=1&d=1136319995

Here's the clones I am growing now.
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1201&stc=1&d=1136320007

And here you can see where I had to ghetto light-proof the TurboGarden.
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1202&stc=1&d=1136320007

[Fillabong]

Thought you'd try to sneak a grow in didja? Pretty sneaky;) I'm in for the long haul on this one:D

[Shadows]

Hey there Jr, dont mind me bro just gonna sit in for the show.

Very nice setup there, do you remember the dimensions of that cab right off? anyway ,man, growon and good luck!

[dredank]

been wanting to see these lightstorms:D
Nice cab too;)

How much did the other lightstorms yield?

Ima sit here roll up another chocolate blunt and follow this...
:peace:

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Yea Filla I tried to. lol

Sorry I forgot the deminsions of the cab and an explanation why the light is mounted up top. The cab is 6' Tall x 4' Wide x 2' Deep. I mounted the light in the top because I have a light meter and there is no differance in the lumans when it is up there than when it is 18"-24" over the plants. One thing that does happen is the heat get's about 10 degrees warmer when I lower the light. So....... It is best for my setup to keep it up as High as I can.

As for the last L.S. grow, well it didn't harvest a lot but it is due to the root rot issues I had. 2 of the plants were hit bad and 1 wasn't. plus I also had another one in dirt I was messin with but I chopped it early. I harvested 1 1/2 ounces per plant I guess but I can't really judge it from the issues I had. We'll see what happens next grow with yeild.

As for the smoke..... WOW! It is pretty potent I must say. On a scale of 1-10 I would give it a solid 9+. It is a very couch-locked buzz I must say, I prefer the cerebral high but this is good enough I still smoke it quite a bit. I have been hitting the AK-48 when I get home in the evening then a nice bowl of L.S. just before bed-time, makes for a nice relaxing evening. It smokes very well too, it has a nice taste to it. It almost tastes fruity but I can't really figure it out to tell you the truth. It has only cured for like a week so I hope after a few weeks the tastes will really stand out. It is not harsh in any manner, very very smooth while smoking.

[midwestbluntman]

HELL YEA !!!
Another Hydro journal and now there is three,look out we might start an epidemic.Im going to pull up a chair over here bro and watch the festivities.

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Well let's hope it becomes an epidemic. I would love to see a shitload of Hydro journals on here, it would make it all that much better. Maybe have enough journalers that they create there own chat group in our new chatroom..... Haha.

Anywho..........

The plants look like they are finally coming out of the shock. They are really looking like they need some Nitrogen but I think I will wait a day or two before I bump up the nutes any. I'm sick as hell, I have the flu and a very bad case at that. I just want to crawl up in to a fetal position and hide away for a few days. So, Here is a pic and away I go....

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1235&stc=1&d=1136605543

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Well I may have fucked up but we'll see. I took a few pain killers tonight as my sore throat was just about unbearable. Anyhow, I was able to stop going insane for a little bit and decided it was time to step up the ppm in the grow room. I was gonna up it 1 ounce to the 25 gallon res. I had about another 1/2 or so left so I dumped it in as well and rinsed the bottle out into the res too. I also had to add 5 gallons of water because it was low. I readjusted the PH and ran the next cycle of flooding and just as it was finishing up the lights went out so I grabbed the spray bottle and made it rain for a minute or two.

The PPM went from like 450 up to 650 and the PH was getting a little high, probably 6.5+ or so. I dropped it back down to somewhere around 5.5+. We,ll see how things look tomorrow and if all is well I will let them go like this for a week then if they start to shaow some new growth I will dump 1/2 the res. and add 1/2 flower nutes and the week after that I will change all the way over to flower nutes and flip into 12/12. My flood cycle is set to every 4 hours for 15 minutes. I have it flooding just at just before lights on and then every 4 hours from there.

No pics tonight as the plants look exactly as they did last night. None of them grew 2 ounce buds overnight like I pray for every night but if they do I will be sure to tell you all about it. :cool:

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Well sorry I haven't updated ya guys about what is going on. I have been debating on what I am gonna do. I just about ditched the grow all but one plant. One plant took off pretty good and the rest looked like they were gonna take a poop on me. I just left them alone for a bit and grabbed a pic when I could. I stuck up a pick from a few days ago or so then again one from last night. They really still haven't greened up the way I want but I don't want to let them veg much more so I am gonna change the reservoir over to flower nutes sometime this week and change my lighting to 12/12.

This pick is from last week. I forget what day I took it to tell you the truth. I think it was weekend before the one we just went thru. So, like 7 or 8 days ago.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1421&stc=1&d=1137516711


This pic is from last night. If you look at the pics, the one on the back right is completely dead. A couple of the other ones still look like they aren't gonna make it. I haven't changed anything in the res. so all is still the same. I didn't do anything but close the doors and said whatever comes out of it is what I get. lol. Not the smartest thing but I just didn't feel like babying these plants and I didn't want to ditch them either as I have been messing with them for a long time. I guess we'll see what happens when they hit flowering huh.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1422&stc=1&d=1137516711

[Jr. Greenthumb]

OK. I am in the process of changing my res over to flower nutes. I lost my copy of Fox Farms feeding chart. If anyone has a copy would you please post it up for me. Cheap sent me a copy but I lost it somewhere, don't ask how.

I change my res. like this. I take a seperate tub that holds like 35 gallons and put 25 gallons in to it. I use this for like a mixing chamber I guess. The day before I do the change I fill it up and add all my nutes and adjust the PH and let it sit over night to let the chlorine evaporate and the temps and PH to settle. The next day when I am ready to change my res. I run a flood cycle then pump all the res. out in to buckets. I clean out the tank if it is nastey which is about every other time I change it. Then I just pump in the ready 25 gallons, make sure my timer is set right and go on about life.

But, this time......

I added 1/2 tsp per Gallon of Silica Blast.

Now for the nutes, well I am gonna wait till I see the feeding chart before I mix the nutes in so it may be tomorrow night before I get the res. changed.

[Shadows]

Hey Jr, the ladies are looking a tad over watered. Have you considered dropping your flood cycles back to only 3 a day? 1 a little before lights on, 1 6hours in and the last a little after lights out. No need to constantly cycle during lights off, unless its to keep the res oxygenated.

Im really a big fan of this type of hydro. It (so far) is the only way I've been partially successful at hydro.

good luck greening those ladies up, oh yeah, if you are just now making the 12/12 switch dont start flower nutes just yet. Stay on veg until you see flowers forming in mass quantities, thats when you want to hit them with higher PK nutes.

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Shadows,

To tell you the truth I am completely lost on this type of hydro. I will explain what my method of thinking is so maybe someone can correct me if I am wrong.

First off, I have 2 airstones in my reservoir to aid in oxygenating the res while it is sitting still.

OK. Now for my thinking. Flood Duration should be long enough to let the pot completely saturate all the growing medium, in my cae it is Hydroton. I can't set my flood duration less than 15 minutes on which in all actuallity is closer to 18 minutes by the time the water goes down off the pots. I would like the time to be 8-10 minutes but I haven't had time to build a better timer setup. I should get on that soon though. Now for the flood cycle, how often you should flood. You should flood often enough to not let your roots dry out, right.... Also, flooding pulls oxygen into the roots and removes salts and what-not from the root zone. I have always heard, more oxygen the better. I oxygenate my reservoir so My thinking is that the more flooding the better to an extent. I am at like every 4 hours now on the flood cycle and at the end of that 4 hours the hydroton is starting to look pretty dry down in 2-3 inches. My thinking there is that is too dry. I have been considering going every 3 hours.

I came from a bubbler bucket where the roots sit in water constantly with air bubbling around it so too much water don't go in to my head right. If it is oxygenated then you should be able to flood constantly if you wanted too. Right?

I may have to get in to a new way of thinking here.

If you think I should cut it back, tell me what your thinking is and most likely I will listen because I am just experimenting for the most part.

[Jr. Greenthumb]

OK. I searched and searched and could not find this damn chart. I finally cought cheap this mornin and he sent it to me again. So, I am gonna stick it up here so I don't lose it again.

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1454&stc=1&d=1137600105

[Jr. Greenthumb]

OK well I had one plant in there that did not make it. I left it in there for some reason and now I know why. I took it out just before it was time for a flood. 4 hours after the last flood. Here is what it looks like:

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1456&stc=1&d=1137602746

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1457&stc=1&d=1137602746

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1458&stc=1&d=1137602746



So, by looking at it on the inside after 4 hours I don't have a problem lengthening the time between floods. Now this plant isn't taking up any water so all that is happening is evaporation on this one but I don't see how another 2 hours or maybe even another 4 hours would hurt much to try things out. I guess I will go ahead and bump my flood cycle up to every 6 hours for now and see where our conversations take us from here.


Jr.

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Alrighty, I made some changes so Here goes:

I have a 25 gallon res. like I said. When I set up the res. water I added 1/2 tsp. per gallon of Silicablast as I said before. Then after I got the chart from cheap I mixed up the rest of the nutes. I mixed it at 1/4 strength from what the chart says. I used 1/2 tsp. per gallon of Tiger Bloom and 1 tbs per gallon of Big Bloom which came out to approx. 30ml of tiger Bloom and 90ml of Big Bloom. I ended up having to add like 10ml of PH down to get the PH down to around 6.0ish. I am gonna let it sit until tonight then switch the reservoir over to this mix and clean the tanks really good.

The tanks tend to get nasty when there is no foilage to keep the light off of the stuff. So, in the beginning I have to do more cleaning then later in the grow.

I also went ahead and changed my timers around a bit. I set my light timer to 12/12 like I wanted to. It comes on at 11:00am and goes off at, guess.... 11:00pm. lol. Now, my cycle timer I set to flood every 6 hours now. So, it floods at 11:00am as the lights come on, then at 5pm, 11pm, 5am. Then the day starts all over again. That is 4 flood cycles. Should I scrap the one at 5am when the lights are off or not? If I do that will put me down to 3 a day. Would that be enough flood time?

[Mr Burns]

GT.
Why not flood throughout the 24 hr period? Apparently (coming from a soil grower!) it makes no difference whether you flood during just the on period or the 24 hr period.
I look at it like this, if the plant doesn't need to drink at night it won't, but at least you'll be giving the clay a regulated watering? I just can't see what a long dry perod would do for the plant unless you could enlighten me old boy?

Also, why not go every three hours?

[Shadows]

Keep in mind here bro that my knowledge of hydro comes mostly from reading journals of those doing it. I've messed with E&F once with limited success but did learn a little from it. anyway...

Most common flood cycle I've seen for a E&F is 3 times a day. Check out St0ney's stuff on HC, he's top notch with that setup. Why this is I do not know, but I'd assume it has to do with root growth. See, I believe the cycles are as such to encourage the roots to search for water in the medium they are planted. Once the roots have reached a certain mass they actually cause the medium to hold more water. So it works double duty.

Lets talk about your bubbler and root growth in it as well. Roots in a bubbler are encouraged to grow because they are suspended in an oxygen rich solution of water. Reduce the oxygenation and you reduce the root growth speed. You also increase the possibility of root rot. Increase DO level in the water and see the speed increase.

These are both hydro setups, but its really hard to compare how one works with how the other does. If you were going to consider the DO of the E&F nutrient solution so the roots will grow into it better, why not just drop the plants in the res with the bubbler going and skip the cycles? But then, its not an E&F anymore.

Oxygenating the solution on the E&F is a great idea,however not required, as sitting idle for extended periods of time will cause the solution to go stale, but thats truely its only function in that setup. Oxygenating the solution in a bubbler is the whole shebang. If you dont, the plant wont live. The primary source of oxygen in the root zone for E&F is the drain cycle. As the water is absorbed its replace by air/O2, more time to absorb means more O2 in the rootzone.

Lets compare to soil maybe, not the bubbler but the E&F. Why?? because the delivery of water and nutrients comes in cycles. The exception being that soil has pretty high water retention, where as hydroton or other clay balls dont. Try watering soil, that doesnt need it, every day. Within 2 weeks you'll have root rot. Even if you were oxygenating the water before use. If the roots are not allowed time to dry out and one starts going sour, it ruins the bunch. In soil we allow dry cycles to encourage root growth, and to bring O2 into the root zone. We also water heavily totally saturating the medium, and causing run off that again draws fresh O2 into the soil. Just like in an E&F, just longer cycles.

Well, thats my brain dump on it anyway. 150% of what I said may be totally bullshit in the real world, but its how I perceive it in my mind.

[Shadows]

GT.
Why not flood throughout the 24 hr period? Apparently (coming from a soil grower!) it makes no difference whether you flood during just the on period or the 24 hr period.
I look at it like this, if the plant doesn't need to drink at night it won't, but at least you'll be giving the clay a regulated watering? I just can't see what a long dry perod would do for the plant unless you could enlighten me old boy?

Also, why not go every three hours?


There is a very good reason not to flood too often in the lights off period, especially during flower. Tell me, in flower when is your RH peaked? Mine are all in the night cycle. Now add a water source that supplies more humidity during lights off and what do ya get? A very high chance of mold.

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Well Mr. Burns......

Why don't I flood every 3 hours. Hell I don't know. I'm still tryin to figure this shit out myself. During my last grow with this setup at harvest I had some pretty shitty looking rotted roots in the hydroton. I think I was up to flooding every 2 hours then, maybe 2 1/2 I forget. I have read of people flooding from every 2 hours up to every 6 hours on journals on other boards. I have only personaly spoken to one other MJ grower that told me they found it best to flood in there room every 2 to 3 hours. That is where I started at with the last grow. Every 3, then it looked like things weren't going all that great so I upped it to every 2. I think I changed it again but I can't remember to tell you the truth.

As for flooding when lights are off. In my thinking I would flood. But, some people say not to flood because the plants wouldn't use it. I can understand then not resperating or whatever and not uptaking any water to replace it but if the roots dry out too much it can cause root damage. But, on the other hand the time without a flood may let the roots dry out enough to promote good root growth and stability. I don't know so I hope someone would explain this to me.

So, did that answer your Q: Burnsey?

[Mr Burns]

GT it did thank you.
But for now, I think I'd best keep me mouth shut and just read, cause I'm still spitting dirt without the experience of throwing up water.

Grow on GT.

:hippy:

[Shadows]

http://www.living-learning.com/faq/homebflo.htm

Running an ebb and flow system
Make sure that the tray will flood as high up on the pots as you need it too. Depending on the size of the pot and the growing media, this is generally 1/3 -1/2 of the way up the side of the pot.

The tray must drain completely and have no puddles left after flood cycles, otherwise problems with pythium could happen.

You must have an overflow drain so that if the main drain becomes plugged the system will not overflow the tray and flood the growing area.

Flood the tray 2-5 times a day, depending on size of the plant. Each flood cycle should run at least 30% more nutrient through the growing media than the media will absorb to provide a leaching effect. This means if the tray will hold 10 gallons of nutrients filled with plants, you want 13 gallons of water to flow through each flood cycle. This prevents salt buildups in the growing medium which could harm your plants. Flood cycles should not run for more than 30 minutes duration, otherwise you could damage the roots.

In addition to this, I've read you dont want the roots totally submerged for more then 5 minutes

[Jr. Greenthumb]

First off, Sorry Shadows..... I posted that reply to Burnsy as I was on my way out the door and when it came up after I replied I seen you had posted as I was typing. I had to run to town real quick so I am back for a minute now.

Actually Stoney is the one that told me to try every 2 to 3 hours. I read some of his stuff but must not have read what mattered. If you come across it and feel like PMing me bout it by all means I'll read it. I will try to do some surfing tonight as well and try to find it as well.

So, I guess I have to just straight up ask you, Should I get rid of the lights out cycle? Cycle at lights on at 11:00am, then mid-day at 5:00pm, then the last time at lights out, 11:00pm and leave it to finish drying out the roots overnight?

It makes sense to me now that I take your look at it I guess.

I'm gonna do some more digging tonight when I make it back home but I have to leave again for a few hours. But, stick around burnsey, maybe we'll both learn a few things to help us out huh.....

Thanks again Shadows....

Jr.


*Edit*

Haha...... I just posted and seen where there was a 3rd page now. I will read it when I get home. I need to slow down today, it's been balls to the wall 3/4 of the day here.


O.K. I am back now and I figured I would just add to my earlier post.

So why would you only flood 1/3 to 1/2 way up the pots? I just thought you wanted to go atleast 1/2 to 3/4 to leach out any salts and to pull oxygen down thru the medium when it drains off.

[Mr Burns]

Here we go........ http://www.growell.co.uk/pr/27/Running_Solutions_in_Flood_and_Drain.html

[Shadows]

Thats about the best reference I have to StOneys flood timing, at least when I asked him in this journal. In the part deux version, he floods every 3 hours while lights are on, but doesnt mention a lights off timing.

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Well I finally got my reservoir changed tonight. I was gonna do it sooner but life happened. Don't you just hate when that happens?

Here's where things stand now.

I'm in 12/12 flowering so
Lights ON - 11:00am
Lights OFF - 11:00pm

I am down to 3 flood cycles. 15 minutes each (that's as low as my timer allowes)
1st flood - 10:00am
2nd flood - 4:00 pm
3rd flood - 10:00pm

TDS: 450ppm
PH: 6.0ish (canary Yellow on the drop tester)
Room temps - 74f to 82f
plants range in height from like 8" to 12"

[Shadows]

dont know if you visit HC anymore, but there is a thread going on over there on this flood schedling right now. I asked a few questions pertaining to whats going on here, and thanks to bobbooty got some pretty straight forward answers. I wont link ya to it as I dont wanna put to many HC links around the board but it is there.

*EDIT*

It appears as though it was your night time watering schedule that was causing the overwatering issue. Based on your new timing, I'd say things are bound to get better!!

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Hey shadows..... I did go find it and I'm sure you know the rest.

Anyhow Ya'll...... I'm still reading and trying to get to the bottom of the Ebb&Flow lifestyle. As soon as I figure it out I will put it together in a summary for all else to see and read.

But thanks to Shadows I am getting closer and closer to the conclusion.

Well, I took a pic again tonight. So, here they are in all there un-glory

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1488&stc=1&d=1137818807

[midwestbluntman]

hey bro
remember back when i was first started veggin these girls and i OD the H202.thats what it looked like in the begining,they just kept yellowing.
They started like the front right then progressed to the left front then the middle front to the middle back of the pic above.mine just kept getting worse,Im thinkin root problems bro.Any way to get a look at the roots,it is really heart breakin when they get to this point
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=123&stc=1&d=1132012333

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Mid, don't it just suck when your plants aren't green and growing.

Night before last I added a gallon on plain H2O and 10ml of PH down to readjust the 25 gallon reservoir. Tonight when the last cycle ran just before lights out I checked everything. PPM is running at 480 and the PH is still around 6.0ish (Canary Yellow).

This is just a quick update so here is a quick pic:

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1524&stc=1&d=1138083555

[Shadows]

Looks like you've picked up some growth since that last photo session. Babies are looking better, wont be long now! good luck bro.

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Well Shadows.......

Things started to look up for a little bit then things started getting screwy again. I am going to screw with my cycles again. Below is a couple pics of what I am seeing when I open the door. My PPM's are staying pretty stable and the PH is too. This is not nute burn nor PH issues. I think it is a lack of nutrients causing it to do this. So, I am going to up my flood cycles a litte bit. I am going to flood 4 times in the daytime and once at night. I'll work on the timers here in a minute when I go up stairs.


http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1564&stc=1&d=1138333789

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1562&stc=1&d=1138333789

http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1563&stc=1&d=1138333789

[Shadows]

Flip back to your last set of pictures bro. That damage looks like its repeated in both sets. Could be that it progressed slightly during recovery.

How are the upper leaves looking? nice and green? no streaks or purpling going on right?
You say your PPM is staying stable, as is the PH.. Yeah, sounds like you could boost the ppm up a bit to get a reaction, either up or down, to give you an idea of whats going on with the plants.

Your new water schedule sounds like it will do you well. 1 in the darkness shouldnt hurt you, like what 3 did.

Still floatin out here bro, looking good!

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Well I upped my flood cycles like I said. The times are at:

10:00am
2:00pm
6:00pm
10:00pm
4:00am (when lights are out)

So I am flooding 4 times while the lights are on and once with the lights out. They perked up a lot after that. Now today I upped the ppm of the res. from 420ppm to 600ppm. I also upped my PH a little and added 1 1/2 ounces of silicablast to the 25 gallon res. The PH is now sitting somewhere about 6.5ish or a little less. I figured I would up it a little like you mentioned and let it drift down to around 5.5ish. At least that is what I hope to happen.

I got some pics while I was in there but I don't have time right now to post them. From now until thursday night is going to be extremely busy so I will try to get them as soon as I can. I had 4 or 5 things in the mix again and picked up one too many things then at the last minute I had a call for some emergancy help. So, I have officially bitten off more than I can chew, AGAIN.... I only have like 5 hours that I can possibly sleep each day between now and thursday night so I'm not gonna be worth shit come thursday night. :cool:

See ya guys soon......

[highonfire420]

Hey Jr,

All the power to you bro! Once you get it down you will grow monster plants. I always want to try hydro but in the end I would lose my mind on the first attempt.....Keep it going and you are going to nail it bro.


Keep it green.

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Hey High glad to see ya drop in bro.

As for the hydro thing man, By all means give it a try someday. Just build you a cheap bubbler bucket and give it a shot man. That is what got me started at all this. My first bubbler ended up awesome and it has been an adventure ever since.

[Mr Burns]

lose my mind on the first attempt
Never. I'm doing it and I'm told I can't see shit, do shit or even shit at the correct time, so its worth some thought...... :hmmmm:

so I'm not gonna be worth shit come thursday night Are we related? :cheers:

Glad to hear things are picking up GT. I'm flooding my cubes every 6 hours now but these are only 7 inches high. No sooner had I took the times back to every 12 the rockwool released multiple root shoots. Mine are looking real clean and much fatter leaves at this size compared to dirt.

I'd be interested to know what happens Thursday? Oh, and your bank card number :damn: ;)

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Well, I'm not 100% sure were not related but you never know huh bro? :p

I'm just sorta posting my pics here in a dazed state of total confusion so bare with me here.....

I had one clone that I wasn't sure if it was a female or not and I guess some where in the dumping plants over and moving stuff around it made it worse. I realize now that the L.S.10 I had labeled is a mlae lightstorm from a male clone. You may ask huh or scratch your head so I guess I'll take a little journey back so you can understand.

When I first started this whole lightstorm project it was for a buddy name GotPurpleBud, as I am sure a few of you know, and he was trying to get someone to grow and journal them so he could get another growers opinion and see how they did in hydro. He was trying to start a seedbank or something to that effect, it was united color seeds I think. I told him that if he sent me the seeds that I would journal them either online or in a compressed version and send to him in an email. I got the seeds and stuck them in some propogation plugs and grew the living ones out. They didn't have a great seed to plant ratio, out of 12 seeds I got 6 plants and I think 4 of them were female, maybe 3 I forget right now. Anyhow, I grew them to a point them cloned from them and continued them into flowering which is what I am smoking on now. Those clones took and I grew them under floro's in a small cab I have for cloning and germination. There isn't a great deal of light, it is like 25-20 watts per sq. ft. which is alright but not all that great. I had them on an 18/6 light schedule to try to limit growth. I also put them thru a small droubt which ended up being a big droubt and almost lost them. They recovered but didn't grow for a few weeks wich worked out great for my timing. I then transplanted them into the hydro setup you see in the beginning of this journal.

So, welcome back from my journey into the life of the lightstorm. I hope you enjoyed the ride and understand how I came to have a male clone.

If you look at the pics the plant on the far left in the front is that male L.S.10 clone that I accidentally mistooken for one of the female clones. I had like 16-18 clones originally but I lost some of them in the droubt. That male is going to stay in for this grow and I will have lightstorm seeds. Also, the plant in the front row on the far right is an AK-48. I am sure I pointed that out in the beginning of this journal but I really forget now so I pointed it out again for us both. I am going to keep it in hopes of getting a nice plant out of the cross but we'll see. We can call it Leight if it works out alright. It will take a while before we know though.

Here's a group shot:
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1680&stc=1&d=1138763824

Here's the male top:
http://www.homegrownbud.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1679&stc=1&d=1138763824

[dredank]

looking good and lively in there :gthumb: .:greatjob:

That x mas tree in the front right is a real beauty;)
:peace:

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Yea Dre, I would have to say that the way the AK-48 grows is very nice. It takes very well to topping too. I didn't top this one I don't think but it is growing nicely. That is the only AK in this grow but I enjoy the smoke so much I had to stick it in there. I still have a few ounces but I just don't ever want to run out Ya know......

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Well today I added about 3 gallon of water. When I tested the PPM and PH before I added the water the PPM was 550 and the PH was down to around 5.5ish. So, the PH is moving good and the PPM is going down so all is looking better to me now. It looks as though things are working in the right manner now so Hopefully all will be well now.

The plants are looking good and I will get some pics tomorrow to try to put up. I bought a Mini Keg of some German Schwarz beer so My night is pretty well planned out from here...... Guzzle Guzzle Guzzle........... Can't leave any in the bottom, it may go flat..

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Well, after last post I bumped the ppm up to 650 and the ph up to 6.5ish. I don't know why I didn't say that then. I guess I was drinking on that beer too quickly. :eek:

Anyhow, last night the ppm was down to 540 and the Ph down close to 5.0ish.
I bumped the ppm up to 700 and the ph up to 6.3ish.

Looking at the fox farms feeding schedule, it shows that during the 4th week of flower to use grow big in place of tigerbloom for a little Nitrogen. So, I need to make my way over to the Hydro store and pick up some more Grow Big so I can change my res. for a week.

I also want to pick up a couple other things too. I think my next grow I am gonna attampt to grow 14 plants from seed. I don't have enough Hydroton and I have found that the best growth I have gotten yet is from silica stone. So, I think I am gonna go pick up 50lbs while I am at the store. It's pretty pricey, like $45 for 50lbs but the extra growth I have seen in a few of my personall tests say that it will be well worth the extra money.

Now, I have to decide what I am gonna grow. I am thinking I may go ahead and pop like 25 of the AK-48 seeds I bred myself. I attampted to femenize them and I am not sure how well I did it so maybe it is just time to plant the damn things and see what grows. Plus, I am in need of some more AK-48 stash. Most of the peeps I smoke with like the more indica buzz where I prefer the sativa high. So, my lightstorm stash is pretty low now but I have these that are gonna be harvested.

Anyways, I'm just rambling. I'm still on my first cup of coffee. I bought a new camera battery so I will try to get up some pics tonight.....

[dredank]

That silica stone is great stuff i heard, i got some in my bubbs right now, didnt pay for them tho:eek: got like 5 bags of them as a free sample:eek: heard it makes cell wall structure stronger and plenty other good stuff.

:greatjob:

[cApErKrAzY]

yo bro ! It's me kaper. i should be starting a journal this week. glad things are growing good for ya's. See ya's around soon i hope.

peace

kApErKrAzY:D

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Well Welcome back to the wanderful world of Online Cultivation bro. I see you found your way back home huh.

Hope the grow goes well for you and hope to see you around a lot too.....

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Hey Ya'll..... Sorry I haven't updated lately. I really haven't done much online here as of lately nor have I had a chance to do much in the growroom either. I am working 3 jobs right now. Not by choice really but I will explain a little. I am the type of person that puts 150% in to what I am doing. When I take a job that is 40 hrs a week I end up working 60, if the job is 50hrs a week I end up working 70. I take whatever I am doing and take it to the highest level I can, that is just what I have always done. I don't feel right unless I put more into it than anyone else ever has. It must be some kind of Mental issue because I don't know where it comes from. I got tired of working 80+ hours a week a while back, and so did the family, and I decided to find something else. I was doing Electrical Engineering crap and finally got out of it. I cut down to less than 40 hours a week on a schedule and made my own hours, we'll leave it at that.....

Well, along my travels in life I have made many friends and when I cut down my hours I have been doing a lot of Side work type stuff for quick easy cash, plus I can take my son along with me a lot of the time so that is cool. Well, I ended up getting asked by a couple people to help them out on an as needed part time type basis plus I took on a Pt. time type job with a firm for actual income. lol..... Anyhow, one thing led to another and the more I do the more they ask me to do and it is at the point now that I am back to working some stupid ass hours again. It's not a 9-5 schedule or anything but I never end up with any free time, all my time is spent at 1 of the 3 places I am helping out. And one of them 3 is my families restaurant wich hopefully I can get out of here in the next couple months. My brother is getting out of the army in april and I hope he takes over what I do there.

Anyhow, I guess enough rambling. In the next couple months I am going to get back to the hours I NEED to be working and that is 40 or LESS! I have 3 kids and a wife and if I want to keep them and know who they are I need to do this. If not, I will end up paying child support and well I guess you get my point......

Hopefully I can get back to a normal life here soon and actually have time to do something. My grow is suffering and so is my Online commitment to HGB. Anyhow, This Grow journal is pretty shitty so I know I won't be getting the Grow Journal of the year award so I guess I will just update when and where I can.




So, Update:

Last week I dumped 15 gallons of water from the res., well actually 10 but it was about 5 gallons short of full anyhow. I added 15 gallons of fresh res water back with some Grow nutes in it for the Nitrogen. It was actually about 40/60 grow/bloom nutes. Then this weekend I changed the res out completely. I added enough Bloom nutes to bring the ppm up to 700 and the ph to a little above 6.0..... All is well now, it is going thru about 2 gallons of water every 3 days. The buds are really filling out nicely too. I had a male in there until it bursted open and spread pollen everywhere. I wanted that to happen so after it did that I chopped it down and threw it away. Now I will have all kinds of seeds to grow at a later date. I need the seeds since it may be a while before I feel safe ordering them again online.

Oh, I also bumped my cycles up a bit too. I am running flood cycles every 3 hours now. I think I was at every 4 hours before and I am still only flooding once at night. My ppms are at 700 again. I was up to 800 before I went 1 week with the nitrogen. I ran the res last week at 700 with the nitrogen and when I changed the res I put it at 700 too so I don't burn the plants. It has used some of the nutes up so I will bump it up in a day or two.

I Am in my 6th week of flower now, I just had to go back and look. So, I should be harvesting between March 17th (8weeks) and March 31st (10weeks). Since the AK is usually around 8 weeks it will prolly get harvested sooner than the Lightstorm. I think I am gonna let the Lightstorm go 10 weeks if it needs too. I want to start another grow but I don't know what or when. I want to grow the seeds from the AK-48 that was pollenated with the Lightstorm male but I don't know if I want to do it now or grow just AK-48 now and do it later. In the next couple weeks I am gonna pop some seeds in some growplugs so I better figure it out pretty quick huh....

I got some old pics of my buds but nothing from today so I will take some pics here later today or tomorrow far Ya'll to see. I do have a pic of the male and some pics from last week sometime..... The pics of the male are from 2 weeks ago or so....

[high2dsky]

how those updates coming along???:D :cool:

peace

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Well I never did get any pics up for ya'll but life goes on huh... lol

I just got done mixing up some new res water with clearex in it to run for a couple days then I will go to plain h20 for a week or so then harvest. My trichs are just now starting to get a few amber ones here and there. They are about 50/50 cloudy/clear right now. I picked a nice looking little bud the other night and hung up to dry. There's enough there for a couple bolws so I'll dig in to it a little later on tonight as I change my res over to the clearex Solution.

I went to the hydro store today and got me a 50+lb bag of silica stone for my next grow. I also got me some 4" pots so I can build myself a starter cabinet for the Ebb&Flow system. I have been working on it in my mind for a little while now and finally got the stuff together I think may work. I am gonna use either a 5gallon bucket or a tub from walmart for the res. It depends if the tub will fit in my little cab or not. For the tray I have some trays from our family restaurant that we get fish fillets and shrimp in that look like they will hold a few of these 4" pots perfectly. I want to fit 16 in there but don't know if it will or not. I got the pots today and will get the trays either later tonight when I go over to eat or mondayish..... lol

I will try to snap a few photo's while I am up there tonight. I am gonna go put my camera on charge now while I am thinking about it, well after I finish this post.... The buds are nice size but nothing to really brag about in my opinion. They aren't huge ar anything but they do look good. The buds are heavy enough that they are falling over so I have had to tie a few of them up. I have just been using jute string or whatever it is called and taping it to the side of the cabinet with reflective tape that I had laying there handy. It is actually working pretty good.

I'll give a sample smoke report later. I am off to do something in there as I smoke that test bud.......

[Jr. Greenthumb]

Well Ya'll I am sorry this journal didn't turn out all that great. I had good intentions in the beginning. If you want to know the truth about it I am debating shutting the grow room down for a few weeks for some upgrades and Preventative maintenance. This thing has been running a year and a half non-stop. That exhaust fan has been running 24/7 that entire time. Also, I should probaly change the charcoal in the carbon filter too. Other than that I just need to do a good scrub down.

Last night I cut down all my plants and hung them up in the closet. I didn't get any pics cause I couldn't find the camera when I was doing it and the wife wasn't home to find it for me..... Sound familiar to anyone? lol..... :rolleyes:

Anyhow, My harvest was no where near what I was expecting so I have to rethink what I am doing. I am gonna grow the AK-48 that was crossed with the Lightstorm on my next grow. I am gonna do it from seed and put 14 in there for a full on SOG. I may be able to squeez 17 in there but I'm not really sure yet.

I'm gonna try to clean up the tanks and shit later on today and put them off to the side. I will see what happens from there as for how soon I get started on fixing the grow room back up. It will all depend on how long I can go without starting some more seeds.

I will get some pics of the harvest that I have and put up a few bud shots to close this wanne be journal up.