hush's grow: 400w MH/HPS in a DR60, several strains, flood and drain style

hush · Nov 26, 2012

I need to start a journal so I can keep my dates straight. I've got a handful of seedlings of various strains that just got transplanted into hydroton, and feeding begins tomorrow.

The seedlings only sprouted a little over 2 weeks ago, so they are still young. Here they were yesterday, before transplant:

They were just transplanted into hydroton today. I'm just growing them out to make mothers from.

The bottom row is Mandala's Far Out, which is one of their new feminized strains. Then the next row up is Mandala's Point of No Return, unsexed. Then above that is Mandala's Sadhu, which is the one I'm most excited about. Then, the three up top, from left to right, are Dinafem's Cheese, G13 Labs' Gigabud, and Dinafem's White Widow. Those were the freebie seeds.

I'll be selecting the best mothers and taking cuttings for future grows. More later.

DevilWeedSeeds · Nov 26, 2012

Looking good hush, best of luck with your grow.

exploziv · Nov 26, 2012

looking good so far! can't wait for more! :lurk:

good luck with them! :joint:

gtgio · Nov 26, 2012

Sweet. I love my DR60. I grew out a few of Mandala's Ganesh plants in mine last run and they came out pretty well.
Is the table set on top of the res? And is the fan outside of the tent? Looks like you're making awesome use of the space. Good luck

hush · Nov 26, 2012

Thanks guys.

gtgio said:
Is the table set on top of the res? And is the fan outside of the tent? Looks like you're making awesome use of the space.

Thanks again. Yes, I'm definitely trying to use every square inch of this space! About the table, yes, the res is right under it. The system I'm using is the Megagarden, which is a self-contained flood and drain system. So yeah, the table sits right on top of the res. And the fan, no the fan is not outside of the tent. It's right there resting on the edge of the flood table and kind of leaning back against the corner of the tent. I can completely zip the tent up and everything stays contained within.

I think it helps that the air cooled reflector with duct jammed up in there causes the walls of the tent to bow outward a bit. It gives things a bit more room.

This journal is going to get serious! I'm trying to find keeper moms, and finally get a perpetual setup going.so stay tuned! This is only the beginning.

Santa1949 · Nov 26, 2012

Hush----I'm pullin' up a chair & rollin' a fatty............in for the show....

hush · Nov 27, 2012

Right on, man.

I began feeding them today. Up to now they were just receiving pH-adjusted water. They are now being fed a light dose of flora micro and flora bloom. Lucas style.

I have to say, this was the first time I germinated seed directly into rockwool... normally I just start in soil then cuttings are rooted in rockwool... but this time I didn't want to buy any soil, so into the rockwool the seeds went... And I just gotta say, it has been noticeably slower this time around. I feel like the plants should all be bigger by now. I guess in seed starting soil there are already small amounts of nutrient present that even the young seedlings make use of? So maybe I will go back to starting seeds in soil after this, we'll see.

Otherwise, everything is fine. I forgot to mention before that the ballast is dimmed down to 75% at the moment, but once the plants take off it will go up to the full 400 watts.

hush · Nov 28, 2012

In one day the plants have taken off! Yes, hindsight is 20/20. I should have started feeding them sooner. But anyway, they've only received one flooding of nutrients, and that alone made every single seedling take off, noticeably! Now I can actually watch them grow!

hush · Dec 7, 2012

Here's what they look now. I lost one of the Sadhus, due to it being a runt and just not taking off, but other than that things are fine.

lotsOweed · Dec 7, 2012

Lookin great hush.. Quick growth in that system. Congrats on starting rockwool seedlings in flood/drain.. Was always a pain for me.

All the strains in that space are goin to be interesting. Im subbed for this one

Bud Buddington · Dec 7, 2012

Hush, this grow looks great! I'm intrigued by the Megagarden. I will be keeping an eye on you buddy. Good luck. :lurk:

hush · Dec 8, 2012

Thanks guys.

Does anyone know what this deficiency is?

It only seems to have happened to the Sadhus, and it only appears on the lower leaves, so it might just be a part of the micro deficiencies all the plants experienced, due to using distilled water and waiting so long to start feeding.

A few of the other plants have some spotting on their lowest leaves, like hardcore calcium def or something. Nonetheless, now that they are being fed I'm sure all will be fine.

I'm also going to start 12/12 tonight. Gotta get the males to show themselves! Once they do, I will remove them and collect pollen. All the while I will be taking cuttings off of all the plants as I can, and once I know the males, I will destroy the male clones.

All I want is to flower the girls out and then I will know which of the clones I will be keeping as mothers.

Bud Buddington · Dec 9, 2012

How do you change that reservoir? Do you have to pull the whole system out of the tent or does it have drainage built in?

hush · Dec 9, 2012

It has a clear, blue tube on the side coming out through a grommet, so that you can see the water level... All I do is turn the elbow downward and the water drains into a 5g bucket I hold beneath it. But if I wanted to I could just use an aquarium siphon. The real trick here is that I put a short end-table inside the tent that the megagarden sits on, propping it up off the ground and allowing for gravity to drain it.

In the past, whenever I have a reservoir sitting at ground level, I've always kept a small fountain pump in there that I can quickly attach a hose to and pump the water out. So I've never really stopped to worry about how to change a reservoir, i've just always had a way.

Bud Buddington · Dec 10, 2012

Thanks for that bit of info. I have a bucket with a tube on the side just like you are talking about but I never thought about using it for draining. Keep up the good work, I'm ready to enjoy the ride!

hush · Dec 12, 2012

Well, that deficiency I posted above is still happening on the Sadhus. I'm not sure what it is, either. Also, the PNRs seem to have suffered a bit of a Ca deficiency. I'm not seeing it on the new leaves, in fact it's mostly contained to one internode's set of leaves. But this is basically the downside of growing multiple strains on a flood table.

I'm not even sure if the problem is a lack of Ca, or if it was locked out by a previous pH problem I had. There was a time when I somehow let the pH swing up to almost 7.1, and I always set it to 5.8 at the res change. So that's quite a swing, since normally I don't let it go over 6.5 ish. Does anyone know the pH range where Ca is locked out?

Other than that, all is good, and the Far Outs are shooting for the sky. Looks like I might end up supercropping them if I can't get a sativa chamber built in time.

hush · Dec 14, 2012

So it turns out the problem can't be calcium related, since it is only happening to lowest leaves. I hate diagnosing deficiencies... I suck at it.

The plants all look good, except that the PNRs are doing that spotty, discolored thing that looks like rust spots. Then the whole leaf gets chlorotic and curls up like a canoe. So I think that sounds like several things at once, which usually means pH, but I've been watching the pH like a hawk, and it is staying at 5.9 so I just don't get it. I think I'm starting to notice the beginning of spots on the Far Outs too.

So what I'm going to do tomorrow (lights are off now) is drain the res and go with a stronger dosage on the flora nutes. For the past week they've been getting fed with a 0/5/10 ratio, but now I guess I'll bump it up to 0/8/16 and see how that goes. Maybe the plants all just want more food. I have noticed that all the plants' new growth seems to be slightly on the yellowish side, even though it looks healthy and green.

Also, I think I just don't trust my tap water, and I don't have a ppm meter, so I might start using RO water and add Cal mag back to it.

hush · Dec 15, 2012

Well, today I drained the res, and gave it a thorough douching. After that I decided to fill it with regular tap water again, but I've switched over to Dyna-Gro Bloom now. I have always had good experience with the stuff, so that's what I'll use from now on.

While the plants were outside of the tent, I took the opportunity to check for gender, and sure enough, all of the plants are in puberty. I got rid of a couple of males, but I'm keeping a single male Sadhu and a single male PNR. Both are very squat and have a nice structure, so I'll be chucking some pollen here and there.

I also took the opportunity to take pictures of everyone. First, we have Point of No Return, female on the left, male on the right:

Next we have Sadhu, females in the front, male in the back:

Here is Dinafem White Widow:

This is G13 Labs Gigabud:

And this is Dinafem Cheese:

I didn't take any pictures of the Far Outs because I've got another thread going on in the Mandala sub forum, and I just took pictures of them yesterday.

So that's what they look like after 1 week of 12/12. Long story short, the males have been removed, and I now have:

3 x Far Out
2 x Sadhu
1 x Point of No Return
1 x Gigabud
1 x White Widow
1 x Cheese

I just have to keep a close watch over the next day or so to make sure they like their new food.

hush · Dec 16, 2012

Here are all the girls in their less crowded room:

I've decided, for logistical reasons, not to keep any males this time around. It's just not time for that in my situation. All I have to do now is get another tent setup for the mothers and clones to go, and I'll be all set.

I'll be taking clones from the bottom branches in the next few days.

xweed420 · Dec 17, 2012

they look very healthy man.good luck

hush's grow: 400w MH/HPS in a DR60, several strains, flood and drain style

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