Tower of Power Completed

[aridbud]

Lighting: 3- 23w CFL Bulbs, 1 Daylight 6500 & 2 Soft White 2700s

See which one has less heat output....I'm guessing soft white. You might try 2 bulbs (unscrewing one) to see the amount of light in your tower and noting the temperature. If plants start to stretch....you'll know you need to amp up the wattage.

Is it 93F at the top near lights or at bottom near plants? That pretty warm for an enclosed space. Anyway, can you rig a small desk fan to help circulate or blow out warm air??

Those are my thoughts/trouble shooting just off the top of my head.

 

[Soulrebel239]

Help The Seedlings

Help The Seedlings

To Aridbud, I thought you could use those blankets for growing. My pc is light proofed and the temp device is 6" below my cfl bulbs in the middle. The seedlings are looking strong on their second day of life but I need to get the heat down before putting them inside the pc. Here's the update photos. I will remove one bulb and check temp and post it in 30 mins. Before I start my cab grow I want to learn everything with this pc grow. T5 might be my only hope. Thanks everyone.

 

[Soulrebel239]

Help The Seedling Update

Help The Seedling Update

It's been three days since these Bagseeds sprouted. I placed them inside 3" net pots and added hydro pellets to support the rockwool starter cube. The bubbler has plain distilled water in it. I heard that you are suppose to only use plain water for the first week. Tomorrow I will start the GH FLORA Nutes, I'm running 18/6 lighting and have removed one bulb do to heat issues. Now the temp is at 84f with lights on. This pc now runs 1 2700 cfl and 1 6500 cfl at 46 watts total. If anyone got any advice, I'm listening.

 

[5th]

If anyone got any advice, I'm listening.

Ditch the DWC, get some soil. 90F+? Cripes...man, you'll never keep res. temps in check and your roots (if they do grow) will turn to mush...

Your gonna kill this show before it even starts.

Use one bulb. Check your ambient temps, then the temps in your PC box.

Then screw in another bulb, wait a half hour and check both ambient temps and internal temps.

Still to hot? Switch out the 23w bulbs for something smaller...gotta mix n' match until you get your temps right bro....or you've doomed to fail.

Good luck.

 

[Soulrebel239]

To 5th, thanks for the advice. I'm only running 2- 23watters one 2700 & one 6500. The temp inside the pc is at 85f now. I was running 2 daylights & one soft white, that's when the temps were 93f. Is 85f a good temp for this grow? Will these 2 lights work for this grow? I will start the Flora Nutes tomorrow and post some photos. "THE SHOW MUST GO ON"

 

[5th]

Head over to the DWC section friend.
Check out what those guys are running for reservoir temps. Then get a meat thermometer from the dollar store and see if your res. is in range....I'm going to say no. Not even close.
Root rot, nasty pathogens, unless you find a way to cool that res. down to about 68F....I see bad things in your future.

The K rating of your bulbs has nothing to do with the heat. Each watt used creates heat, it's about finding a balance that works. Increase your ventilation maybe?

I've found in my quest to become an indoor farmer, it's not so much how much light you have...but where you put it that counts. And judging by the distance from your res. to your lights...you are gonna have some stretched out plants my man.

All the best.

 

[Soulrebel239]

Thanks again 5th on the advice. I'm trying my best to finish this grow in dwc. If I fell, I will try again in soil. I will get the thermometer and check the res temp and post it tomorrow with system update. Your help is of value to me thanks.

 

[5th]

Thats all it is dude, advice. Take it or leave it.

Maybe a few small icepacks while at the Dollar-rama-ville-place. Could toss them into the rez on occasion to cool things down.

Will be watching from the sidelines.

 

[aridbud]

Yeah, I did deep water passive hydro...temps got up in the low 90's, but I had more room for air to disperse....6x8' area. It turned out ok.

Much prefer soil....but that's the way I roll.

Probably soil would be a better alternative (certainly more forgiving)....learning from experiences and mistakes is all part of growing. SoulR will find the right balance, discovering what works best for him. Bag seed to try it out (his newly constructed tower), is the best way to go.

Once he's got it down...dwc or other medium....that's when getting the right seeds for the right area...pertinent!!

Go SoulRebel!!

 

[HyDroid]

Soulrebel, I'm glad you are delving into micro. It is an exciting world, tending plants like fast bonsai is fun and rewarding.

Good advice from Arid. I've killed my share of plants finding my own style. Soul will find a way that works for him.

Here are my bona fides:
Grew (several cycles with several approaches) in a case about that size with ~110 watt total of flouro lighting (I used PLLs driven by a Workhorse ballast), eventually yielded 2-3 oz per run of nice bud plus popcorn.

Using 6000K bulbs was key for me, really reduced the stretch compared to 3000K. Also seemed to up trich production and density. You can get some killer bud from CFLs.

Radiant heat from bulbs is dangerous even if your air temps are fine.

I killed a plant in DWC in a setup much like what you are going for. Res temps were only a little bit of a problem, I believe you can keep a plant alive with respect to temps and rot. But the real issue is that you don't have enough volume to properly control the ion balances of the solution. Everything was fine through veg for me but as soon as I flipped to flower I started having major problems. Made it half way through, netted enough bud to satisfy me until the next run finished.

When you hit flower and serious growth starts, the plant is just going to suck up all of the nutes out of that little res, the ph is going to swing, and stuff is going to get locked out real fast in a cascade of imbalance.

To avoid this problem you will need to have a very weak nute solution and feed the plant only what it needs each day, basically like feeding a cat. If there is only a little bit of food in the water, it cannot change the water chemistry very quickly. You should be able to get a handle on whether the res has any food in it by the daily plant growth and keep it hungry, adding just enough for it to avoid deficiency and to grow a decent amount (it can't possibly sustain max growth anyway because it is confined to a small space). Keep your ph well buffered and you will be set. Just don't get lazy, be careful, and make it easy to empty and fill your res if you have to.

Another thing to note for later is that in order to maximize bud production you want to make sure that new buds are all exposed to light. Avoid large fan leaves in this setup. They also cause problems when touching walls and eachother because transpiration can leave liquid which is problematic (think mold). Trim fan leaves off when they are about half way grown to avoid crowding, but always maintain a herd of leaves with sufficient total surface area to support the plant and growth. You can also 'dock' the leaves by cutting the fingers down to 1-2 inches long, but i prefer removing them.

The goal is to make a dwarf plant with the proper proportions to the full plant. If you have a 1 ft tall plant with fan leaves the same size as a 4 ft tall plant, things are out of proportion. You want more leaves but smaller leaves, and you will have to intervene to make this happen.

Good luck, find your way! I switched from DWC (not really 'deep water' in this setup) to coco because it was easier for me to water once a day than to keep the water chemistry on point. But I believe you can do it if you try.

 

[5th]

Once he's got it down...dwc or other medium....that's when getting the right seeds for the right area...pertinent!!

Agreed.

I personally love DWC, most explosive growth I've ever seen bar none. I also recall my first attempt at it... and the sludgy pool of dead slimy roots lol and the smell...hell I'll never forget that awful smell either.

 

[aridbud]

Agreed.

I personally love DWC, most explosive growth I've ever seen bar none. I also recall my first attempt at it... and the sludgy pool of dead slimy roots lol and the smell...hell I'll never forget that awful smell either.

Oh yeah, 5th....I think that's what turned me off!!! Nas-ty!!
Gag-ville ( being in the medical field for decades....there's a lot of unsavory whiffs!!!)...ugh!!

Next attempt was breaking up rock wool with volcanic pebbles and perlite....as a passive hydro. That did well, better than the air rock/pump circulation.

Whatever works, right??! I like doing soil.....but then it's the generational gardener in me. Easier to manage, not as much tinkering....can leave it (hate to be a slave of my plants) for several days then return to exciting new growth.

 

[Soulrebel239]

Seedlings Update

Seedlings Update

Thanks again friends for the help and advice. 5th, I checked the Rez temp and it's 69. Is this good or bad? This is my very first try at growing and I listen to everything that's being said about it. This is how to learn. Post the questions and pictures, get the answers and then on the next grow, you'll already know what to do if there is a problem. So with that being said, here are those pictures. Seedlings 4 days old.

 

[Soulrebel239]

I raised the seedlings closer to the light also today. They are now 8" from the bulbs. That's the highest I could get them.

 

[5th]

I want you to succeed... more then you do lol.

8" is fine. They are seedling's after all. Very cool your in the position to lower as you deem appropriate.

69F will do. (colder the water, more oxygen it can hold ...healthier plant) Keep up on the temps. I mean drill a hole in the lid...stick a meat thermo in the hole...leave it there. You'll always know the temps of the res. everytime you check on things this way.

Everythings looking great.

 

[Soulrebel239]

Thanks 5th, I like the idea of putting the thermometer inside the Rez lid. I'm using all the tips you give.

 

[Soulrebel239]

Tower Update

Tower Update

Yesterday was my birthday so I took some photos for some advice. I see yellow spots and leaves are curled down. It's been one week veg so when cani start 12/12 lighting?

 

[5th]

Happy belated.

After straining my neck to look at your seedling pics I don't see a problem.

12/12 whenever you want.

 

[Soulrebel239]

Thanks 5th, sorry about photos. I forgot to rotate them. I will flip them this Friday to 12/12. Do I change the Nutes to flowering then? I'm using GH FLORA SERIES.

 

[5th]

Do I change the Nutes to flowering then?

lol, question like that could turn your fine thread into a shit storm really quickly...

I would keep with a light veg mix until 7-14 days of flowering, then start in with the flowering nutes.

Only reason being, that it takes the plant some time for it to be in "flower mode"...doesn't happen instantly.

Good luck.