Yet another TAG challenge!!!

[Villain]

CG thatnk a lot for the compliments and right back at ya. I am hoping that space and heat will be in check. I know that heat is not a problem if I run my fan on high but then I have to worry about noise lol.My closet is right next to the neighbors hallway. I am gonna put a small alarm clock radio in the closet to help mask the noise.

I have some updates as well. I moved the box into the closet from the garage. I rigged up my timers, lights, fans, PSU, and pump I put the seeds in the rockwool, but I can see that I will need distilled water. My PH is very drifty, and slowly raises higher day after day. I set it 5.5 36hr ago and now it was at 6.7. The PPM are low like around 50 but the PH makes my water unusable for growing IMO.

I will take a few pic later but I have to get going for now, but the best news is that I have some seed germin.

 

[Villain]

Well now that I have the cabinet in my closet and the seeds are germinating, I have begun to see a slight problem with temps. I noticed that if left unmonitored then the temps can easily reach 110F. I decided to suffer and removed the AC unit from the bedroom and put it in the closet. I am in testing phase right now to see how the temps are with the AC running. As soon as the seeds pop and I get all the details worked out I will start a Journal so please keep an eye out.

 

[Villain]

I got my Nutradip in today, and I am having trouble finding a pertinent mounting position for it. The PH probe wire is not really that long so mounting up top were I want is out. Right now I have it mounted on the aero tote. I screwed it into the side of the lid but not near any water or anything... it works. I am all set now, I just got to wait till the seeds pop... if they pop.

 

[ColombianGold]

Hey Villain
Are your seeds recieving any heat? When I dont use heat it usually takes twice as long for my seeds to showup. A small dome on the dvd has helped alot. Hope this helps
CG

 

[Villain]

Well for a minute there was a lot of heat in the box, like 100+ degrees. The rockwool was warm to the touch, but not hot by any means. I will just be patient and give them another week or so before I scrap them and try again lol. Thank you for the tip CG I will so about keeping them warm for longer, more consistent times.

 

[ColombianGold]

Hey Villain!
Hos did things turn out? ANy updates?
Later
CG

 

[HairlessCaveApe]

Hey Howdy Villain, Howdy CG! For the purpose of aeroponic growing, the best germ tek is to place the seed in a rockwool cube and put it in a plate and keep it moist. PH rince the cube to 6.4 first, then put the bean in and keep proper germ temps and give it 6.4 water till it pops. Once the seed pops and you see a little bit of root threw the bottom of the cube,you could place it in your net pot, stuk in the hydroton to where the hydroton and the top surface of the RW cube are level. Place this in a bubble bukkit filled with 6.4 watter and bubble it till roots develope to the point where you can feed them some FF326. Feedem light just like it says on the Fox Farm jug for seedlings and bump up the nutes as sugested on the jug. I sugest you veg your plants in bubble bukkits and flower them out in your aero systems. -- I dont really work with seeds. but this is how I germ them and gettem ready to veg. If you do it this way theyl be rooted in theyre net pots and ready to flower in theyr proper medium for aero. It'l be much better for you if you veg and sex your plants before you puttem into flower. --Im not to shure if you got enougn room in that cabinet my Brudda. If you do keep your specs proper, youl shurly overgrow that cabinet before you harvest. Even if you put plants that were only veged for 2 weeks, theyl stil stretch while theyr in flower to at least 24" to 30". I think 2 plants in there would be kinda crouded but probably doable. I think your gonna need a chiller too, and hows your ventilation? I hope you dont mind my slight critisizems, I mean them to be constructive ! Blessins on ya!

 

[Villain]

I have been away for a long time and I am glad to say that I am finally growing. I started a Diary thread because I couldn't find this one, but after some hardcore searching I finally found it. Let me get you all up to par on what I have been doing...

For the past three months I have put off growing. Last month I had a friend here and did not want to raise suspicions. The month before that I was waiting for my seeds and the month before that I was saving up for and picking out the seeds. I was gonna buy a pack of Mikado but I finally settled on Cotton Candy seeds. I really don't know why I guess I was just sick of trying to choose and just did it. At any rate I have 4 seeds that popped and the garden will soon be operational. Two of them popped out about three days ago and the other two just popped out yesterday.



The picture is from the other day when I first noticed they were out of the RW. I still have them in the tray and I think they will be there for the next couple of days depending on the root mass they establish. I fit them to the neoprene pool noodle today, and got the timers all set. I am told that this is the fastest growing method so if you are watching then post in regularly or else you might miss something. Then things really start happening I will take better pictures and post them for you all to see.

I would also like to thank you all for your support so far. Please stick around and help to make sure I don't mess up to bad. I have been out of the game for a very long time and I am very rusty. I will need lots of help and support from everyone.

 

[Villain]

So I looked today and I noticed that the two bigger plants have about 1/2 inch of taproot protruding out of the RW cube. One on the pants root has iddy-bitty nubs (new root growth) starting to grow. I have been contemplating whether or not I should put them in the cabinet, and turn it on full production mode. I would also like to know about how long I should wait before I flower them? I know that from clone I can flower them as soon as roots are established, but I haven't grown a seed in a long time so I cannot remember.


I also noticed that the DM One smells like fish water from an aquarium after a few days LOL. I am not sure if this is good or bad but I do know that it smells. Another thing, when I ad the DM One to PH stable water the PH goes WAYY down. I think the way around this is by adding it to PH balanced water. instead or water that has the PH already set for 5.8. Thinking about it as I type, it just seems to make sense and is what I will do from now on. I will add the nutes to the PH 7.0 water, and then correct the PH to 5.8ish.

 

[Green Force]

im not 100% on this but from my personal exsp. i dont do shit to the water just str8 tap water PH 7 +/- .2 tell i start feeding or put them in hydro system

 

[Villain]

My water is not good enough for use, it cause WILD PH fluctuations up and down. The Distilled water only fluctuate if I add something to it.

Are you suggesting that I keep them out of the aero cabinet or put them in???

On second thoughts I think I will put them in and see what happens.

 

[Green Force]

keep them out tell u get the first set of real leafs then throw them in prolly like a week from now give or take from the pics

 

[Villain]

Alright I will wait a while then. Thanks for the advice too by the way. I am running the system anyway minus the light and the exhaust. I want to make sure that all the kinks are worked out and that it will run as intended.

I read that the smell is normal and that it should be expected from the "One" series. It also suggests that I use 800 PPM based on the .5 conversion. I was thinking that it seems a bit to high for seedlings so it a wise idea to cut the PPM by 1/2, 1/3, or 1/4, or not at all?

 

[Green Force]

with clones and seedlings i dont feed tell i see lots of roots and then i start at 300 ppm some times ill soak the rw cubes with like 200 ppm then bump up to 500 - 600 for like 2 or 3 weeks of growth but really ur set up is diff soo i dont know if my advice is good once you have them in the system blah srry im high once u have the first set of leafs n u put them in ur system i say u should feed around 500 ppm imo

 

[Villain]

Well I have been feeding them sense they were a few days old. I even made the mistake of confusing EC with TDS. My meter reads in EC and I thought it was TDS. So when I first mixed up the nute I made a gallon that had what I thought was 150 TDS. In actuality it was 1.50 EC which is about 750ppm for seedlings that are only a few days old. What is really crazy is that they didn't show any signs of stress, or burn, they actually seemed to like it. At any rate they are looking very nice and the cabinet is about 95% ready for them to move in and get cozy. The very last thing I need to do is hook up the AC unit to the 4" duct hose. I need to AC to keep the res at a decent temp, and so that the closet doesn't over heat as well. With out the AC the box easily gets into the 100F+. With the AC running on low temps get around 80F and the res is right on at 70F... perfect for TAG.

 

[Villain]

Hello again guys I have some more pictures and another update.

I put two of the plants in the cabinet under a 150w CFL, I mean it is a true 150w... not a 150w equivalent. This bulb claims to be equal to a 400w incandescent bulb and put out 7000 lumen. I wanted to use this bulb because I was thinking it is a bit too early to use the 400w CMH. Anyway so they are in and the system is running 100% minus the CMH light. The nutes are at about 300 ppm Dutch Master calls for 800 so I don't think that 300 will burn them. The res temps are still right around 70F, and the cabinet is about 75F, with the fans going. At any rate I would really like to hear what you guys think so far. Do you think they look healthy, are they a bit lengthy, tell me what you think... I really like to hear feedback.

Well lets move onto the pictures shall we...

​

 

[Villain]

So today I turned on the CMH and WOW did it get HOT!! I took the AC out of the window because I thought it looked odd to have an AC unit in the window when it is nearly October LOL. So what I did was open the window and ran the 4" duct from the AC to outside the window. I used a curtain to hide the hose from the outside to hide suspicions. I also added a 10" fan in the window but hid it in front of the blinds, so from the outside it just looks like window blinds.

I just got done finished with it so I am not to sure how much it helped but anything to drop the temps down from 96F is better than nothing. The temperature will easily reach 120 degrees if I do not add some sort of cold air intake. With that in mind I am hoping the fan and intake hose will help. What I thought was really odd was that the res temps have not risen above 67 degrees even with the box as hot as it was.

I was curious if there is a way to use the AC but not in the window? Is there anyone that can help with this information? Is there a way to convert it into a portable AC, or maybe a way to make it work without using it in the window?

 

[Villain]

Hey guys what gives, I am the only one following this thread now.

Temps are great I was successful in finding a solution to keep the cab cool with out the AC. Res temps have been at 70F solid, and the cab temps are stable right at 77-79F. The plants may have been a bit shocked as they have not done to much sense I put them in the Cab.

I took some more picture for all you eyes to see and hopefully give me a few comments on how YOU THINK they are doing. I am up in the air as to whether they are shocked or doing just fine... perhaps some one can help.

You can see that they have been using the nutes and water at an equal portion. The ppm hasn't changed and the water level is still the same. I guess being that they are so small they really don't use much of either LOL. Enjoy the picture and please feel free to comment.

 

[Green Force]

bro a/c box =) check out the DIY link o rama

edit: yeah srry lool good job on fixing the temps thos kids look good and they r too young to notis any nute or water changes btw lookin good now bro =)


and i am fallowing!!!

 

[Villain]

Unfortunately I have not grown anything sense my son was born more than two years ago. I am pretty rusty and am relying a lot on what I read around here. I actually forgot about the link-o-rama but I will be sure to add it to my faves so I do not forget again. I will also check out that AC box even though my temps are perfect right now. It can help in the furture I am sure of it.

To everyone that is following this thread I am sure to need your help in time. Everything about this grow is new to me and I know I will have a lot of ups and downs. I am ambitious though and will dial this rig in... in time but hopefully not to long. I am not afraid to invest more money if I HAVE to, and I am not afraid to loose a crop or two. On the other hand I hope to god that all goes well, and things remain as easy as possible. Thanks for your support too by the way, I have already applied some of the advice that has been given to me so please do not think you guys are wasting your time by posting here.