Need Help with First Hydroponic grow.

[Sinsemillian]

Hello all. I am currently into my first hydroponic adventure. After a misfortune of rooting clones (cats got in room and chewed tha fuck outta all of them) I have clones rooted in 4" rockwool cubes and have transplanted then into 15 multiflow buckets. I transplanted them into the buckets when the first 4-5 roots hit the bottom of the 4" cubes. I am not sure if I should have set them on top of the hydroton so that none of the rockwool gets wet when the system floods or have them a half inch below the water line? I am using tap water which has a ph of 7 and a ppm of 100. They have been in the buckets for 3 days now.

I originally was flooding 4 times a day every 6 hours but noticed some drooping and figured I was overwatering. So I switched it to flood 1 time per day. I have a ph of 5.8-6.1 in the rez and a ppm of 420. Rez temps are 68F. My buckets are setup in the basement and temps in the room are 72F although the floors are a little cold. I also have each bucket sitting on a 1" piece of insulation. There are 4-5 of the clones that arent looking so good. I notice that everytime the system floods and drains that the rez ph goes up .1. Is this normal? The ph in the rez will stay steady until the system floods and drains again and it goes up .1 once more. Is my ppm to high for these clones? I am using Advanced nutrients M, G, B right now. I also what no know if its possible to use to much ph down? It seems I have to use 10 ML to drop the ph .2 in my 50 gallon rez.

1 out of the 15 seems to be adapting very well and is growing fast. Since this is my first hydro grow I am not sure if I transplanted them into the buckets to soon or not. They are under a 1000W metal halide which is 4 feet above them. I put them under the 1000 watter because it throws of lots of heat and warmed the room up lots. All the plants are clones from the same mum. The first 2 pics are of the same clone that is growing great.




These next few photos are the ones I am worried about. A few are drooping and have good colour and 1 seems to be discoloured. Any help would be greatly appreciated guys. If I left some important information out please let me know.

 

[Lofty]

did u ph balance the rockwool cubes? rockwool if very good at holding water it shud feel dry most of the time.

 

[Guest]

Top plant is hungry. needs food.

Second set of pics look like overwattering, maybe rockwool sitting to low in bucket and getting totally saturated.

 

[Sinsemillian]

Yes I followed the directions on the grodan cubes. I adjusted to ph of 5.5 and let them soak for 2 hours then drained them off. I had a hard time getting them from not being saturated but found that if I stacked 4 of them on top of each other that the top cube after 20 seconds is left perfect. Must be some kind of capillery action goin on this way. So when i transplanted the cubes into the system should I have set them just above the high water line when the system floods?

did u ph balance the rockwool cubes? rockwool if very good at holding water it shud feel dry most of the time.

 

[Sinsemillian]

I was figuring the same thing Dirtysouth. You think If I lifted them just above the high water mark that they will straighten out bro? Damn this site is amazing. 5 Mins after starting this thread and already 2 replys.

Top plant is hungry. needs food.

Second set of pics look like overwattering, maybe rockwool sitting to low in bucket and getting totally saturated.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, I am thinking the rockwool is sitting to low in the bucket, allowing rockwool to be saturated at all time. I would gently lift it up a bit. Maybe even restrict next few waterings from that bucket if possible. As soon as the rockwool dries out a bit, I bet it perks up, and will probably be hungry too.

 

[Sinsemillian]

I lifted 1 up and the rockwool was bone dry. The other one 1/8" of the rockwool is wet. Man this first hydro run in going to be a pain in the butt. T%he plant that is doing the best is sitting 1/8" under the high water mark when the system floods so hmm? Also my ppm is 400 already so what do you mean by the one plant looks hungry? Should I flood more often or increase the ppm?

Yeah, I am thinking the rockwool is sitting to low in the bucket, allowing rockwool to be saturated at all time. I would gently lift it up a bit. Maybe even restrict next few waterings from that bucket if possible. As soon as the rockwool dries out a bit, I bet it perks up, and will probably be hungry too.

 

[Guest]

Yeah for those size plants you probably want to bump you PPM's up to 800. Then if they can handle that with no ill effects go to full strength.

Everything happens alot quicker in a hydro setup. 1st runs are always a bit tricky getting your settings workable. Just keepp a notepad handy, and take notes of what you do and what works.

OK, so the wilted one was bone dry? If so set it exactly like the other one, I think you said 1/8th depth. Looks overwattered, but could be a mild stage of underwattering. I always seem to catch mine when the leaves are totally wilted. But if it was bone dry, lower it.

If it helps any, when i ran buckets, I transplanted with the buckets full, that way I could have a better judge of water line.

 

[Sinsemillian]

Thanks for the replies DirtySouth. I followed your advice and set all plants 1/8" under the high water mark. I am also going to bump the ppm up to 800. I figured with these clones just rooting that 800 would be to high but obviously you done hydro b4 and know what your talking about. Does the 4th pic look like under feed and needs more nutes? Yeah going to be taking a shitload of notes on this first run. lmao. So when you ran buckets did the bottom of rockwool cubes sit just under the high water line or just above? Seems like some were under and over but they all showing different signs. I was worried about having them a little under the high mark because i read somewhere that the rockwool messes with the ph all the time and also worried about it becoming satured. Once the roots dig in hopefully if the rockwool is a little wet that it will not be a problem. Appreciate all the help you are giving me DirtySouth!!! Keep it coming bro!!

 

[Guest]

The 4th pics looks like it could use some food too. Once you adjust to 800 ppm, you should see them start to green back up. If you still notice a kind of striping on the leaves, probably the beginnings of a calciumm def.

When I ran my buckets, I learned the hard way. Had plants to far above and to far below (surface was not level as I thought) So I flooded the buckets and then set my plants in. I never used rockwool, I used either rapid rooters or nothing, just straight into the hydroton. For you, you should barely have any rockwool in the water at flood. I flooded 4 times during the day, and none during lights out.

Since you soaked your rockwool in PH adjusted water, you should be fine. Maybe a longer soak next time, say 12 hours.

It will be a tad bit touchy on water level and plant level in hydroton till roots get to growing down into the hydroton. But you'll be fine.

 

[Guest]

I forgot to say.........

If your running Hydro, these 2 products are a must have.

Hydroguard
Hygrozyme

They will save you from root rot one day. Plus they are good products for root health.

 

[Sinsemillian]

I ordered 2 Litres of hydroguard. A few days ago so they should be in anytime. I just bumped the ppm up to 770. I also added some fulvic acid. Ph is now 5.8 so I hope all greens up. I am thinking about getting some hygrozyme but need to know how often it should be used and how much is used? It seems like some pretty expensive stuff so hopefully not much is needed frequently. My buckets just flooded an hour ago so do you think i should flood again now with the new mix? Also I am only flooding 2 times a day so maybe bumping up to 4 times a day will also help. Once again DirtySouth thx for all the help bro. Its much appreciated!!!!

I forgot to say.........

If your running Hydro, these 2 products are a must have.

Hydroguard
Hygrozyme

They will save you from root rot one day. Plus they are good products for root health.

 

[Guest]

Wait till next flood, won't hurt. How long are your flood cycles? I know people who flood 6 times. 4 15 minute floods during light hours was perfect for me. YMMV, if they look healthy with 2 then stay there, as they grow, they will probably want more floods per day.

PH is a bitch to keep stable in a 50+ gallon res. Mine was 55 gallons and it was a PITA. But you don't need to do it that often.

You wont use the hygrozyme all the time, maybe 1st transplant into buckets, to help keep shock to a minimum and kill any bad bacteria in the res. / buckets.

The Hydroguard, use all the time. it won't burn plants so you don't have to be spot on when topping off your res.

I probaly would go ahead and set 3 floods per day, just to be on the safe side. You will probably end up with 4 a day.

 

[Sinsemillian]

Well right now I have set it to flood 2 times a day 15 mins each. I am going to wait a couple days and see how it goes. I got my fingers crossed that increasing the PPM to 770 will do some wonders. Here is a couple pics of the mum i put into flower 11 days ago. It is a white rhino that yields 2 and a half ounces in soil for me when triggered at 13 inches. I took a few clones off her before I put her in flower and plan on doing bonzai on them so I will have 2 mums of her. Currently she is on day 11 of flower. I am hoping to get 3+ ounces with her in hydro. Once again thx DirtySouth!!

 

[Guest]

Very healthy looking lady you have there.

Keep us posted.

 

[Sinsemillian]

Yeah shes a real beauty.