1st Grow - Stealth Hydroponics Cabinet

This is my first grow. I needed something very stealthy so I'm growing in a 16" x 9" x 36" cabinet. - Simple hydroponic system. Basin filled with about .75 gallon, small air pump and air stone. - LED is 216watts (UFO full spectrum) - Wifi outlets for control and timer on fans and LED. Also have camera so I can always have eyes inside. - Crop King Seeds - Autoflowers - White Widow and Northern Lights. Read that these are good for beginners and smell isn't as strong as others. - Germinated using paper towel method. Soaked 18 hours, after 3 days put taproot down in soaked (spring water) jiffy pellet. Kept dark for 48 hours. - After sprout, began 18/6 light schedule. No nutes for first week. - Per instructions from the cabinet maker, I mixed 1 tsp of Maxigro in 1 gallon of water. After 1 week, I added 1/8 cup of this solution into the basin with .75 gallons of water. (Seems like a very small amount of nutes, but said go slow). -PPMs are stable ~400 since feeding started. -Added 1/2 cO2 pellet during week 3. -pH was high during first week (as high as 8.3) but have been controlling with GH pH down since. Avg 6.1. -Roots look healthy. Changing water in basin once a week. Using syphon to drain. - Started LST. NL has been growing faster, was able to bend an expose to more light. Sorry, no photos for first 2 weeks (just found this site!)

Week 4 of Veg, it's been 41 days since I soaked the seeds. Pistils showing on both plants. Not sure what I was expecting at this point, I thought the vertical growth would have been higher at this point, but I can't find examples of similar grows with such a small basin. Also not sure if I'm giving enough nutes. Don't want to over feed. Other than a lower yellow leaf on the NL, seems like everything else looks healthy. Still hovering around 400 ppm after I add the nutes to the fresh spring water in the basin. The bottled spring water runs at about 7.4 pH and 125ppm, so .50 ml of GH pH down gets me to about 6.0 pH. I am wondering if I should run another week of the Maxigro or transition to Maxibloom?

Thanks to everyone for their comments and advice. Today is day 45 since I soaked the seeds, and day two since switching to MaxiBloom nutes. The flowers are really starting to pop and the leaves are looking better than ever. The biggest struggle has been keeping the pH in the sweet spot, but that will always be a struggle with such a small basin. It's been a bit cooler so overall temps and humidity levels are down slightly, and water temp is about 60 degrees F. I counted about 10 flower sites on the NL, and 3 on the WW. The cooling fan on the 150watt LED died yesterday so I've been nervous that the light will kick. I quickly went on amazon and bought a replacement that could be delivered today. It's a 300watt LED that is dominantly red. From what I've read, that may be beneficial during bloom. I'm being sent a replacement of the original LED. Any thoughts on arrangement when I have two working lights? Worth squeezing both 150watt and 300watt red at same time?

Day 49 since soaking the seeds. Not sure how to feel about things so far. The plants are alive, and I know I have at least a few more weeks to go, but seems like the rapid growth never really happened. Maybe I was too slow introducing nutrients, or maybe that's just the limitations of the basin size. Its been 6 days since first dose of Maxibloom and got the ppm up to 905. Also added a second LED ("300 watt" red UFO) to go with the "216 watt" UFO. Initially when I added the second light I used a hanger which dropped the distance to the plants to about 12 inches. I've had a nice 2 day stretch where the pH stayed in the sweet spot, but the last 2 days, the levels have fallen to the low 4s. My remedy has been to pull out about 2 cups of water and replace with fresh 7.4 water. The leaves continue to curl down so guessing there's a lockout of something, or shock of the light? I've decided to raise the light a couple inches and I haven't added any nutes to the fresh water, so current ppm is 417. Want to give them sometime before playing doctor. On the positive side, the roots look healthy and the flower spots look good (I guess?!)

Week two of flowering (56 days since soaking seeds) was uneventful. I noticed very little change. I was out of town for two days and unable to closely monitor the solution conditions. When I left, pH was 6.0 and 500ppm and when I got back, pH had dropped to 4.3 and 240ppm. The photos are from when I returned. I assume I need to up the nutrients but wanted to do it slowly. When mixing the solution, the more nutrients that I added to the distilled water, the lower the pH fell. I thought that was odd, but the best balance I could get was 5.5 pH with 525ppm. I ordered a bottle of ph Up, waiting on that. I replaced half of the water in my basin. When I checked today pH had risen to 6.1 with 388ppm. Leaves are looking a little better and perking up a bit, but hoping to get the plant.s looking a lot healthier

Day 65 since soaking the seeds, and just finished the third week of flowing. The plants look a lot better this week. Preparing the mixture outside the basin and getting the pH to 5.8 (had to add a small amount of pH Up) helped keep me in range all week. The pH seems to rise a bit for the first few days (high as 6.6), and then fall back down (4.7) by end of week. PPM at the beginning of the week was 725 and fell to 458 as i've been topping off with plain water. The basin gets a new batch tomorrow, was going to target 900 ppm. A few pistols are amber and I am starting into the fourth week of flowering. The plants are finally looking about as healthy as the ever have, but should I start thinking about flushing? I assume I only have a couple weeks to go before my mini harvest with these autos.

Day 72 since soaking the seeds and through 5 full weeks of flowering. Buds are filling out and some pistils are starting to turn amber. It looks like the White Widow is a bit further along in her life cycle. Tomorrow is basin change day, so I am wondering, do I go another week of feeding, or do I begin the flush?

Day 79 since soaking seeds, and in the 6th week of flowering. It looks like I was premature in thinking I was near flushing. Last week's feeding greened up the plants and fattened the buds a bit. I assumed since I was 72 days in last week that these girls were nearing their predetermined end. It looks like there is still some time for putting on more weight, as only the bottom fan leaves are truly starting to yellow. Tomorrow is another full solution change to the basin. I will go full feed since I'm not seeing a ton of amber pistils, or anything close to amber trichomes. Glad to see the lower buds on the Northern Light thicken up, and a back bud is starting to crop up on the White Widow. The scent is starting to increase as well. Someone not in the know said the basement smelled like pot. So much for stealth! Will be interesting to see how this next week goes, but I am getting antsy.

It's Day 86 since soaking seeds and through 6 full weeks of flowering. We're 24 hours into the flush and 24 hours from now I will be cutting these ladies down. Once the lights go out tonight, they will remain off to give 18 hours of darkness before go time. The last 3 months have flown by and taken forever! I am excited for tomorrow's harvest, and hope I don't butcher too badly. I didn't know what to expect as far as size and yield or timeframe, but I learned a lot from this first grow. I am certain I underfed for most of the veg and the first part of the flowering, and the White Widow struggled to get the roots to the basin. Her jiffy pellet dried out before they made it, as the airstone was mainly under the Northern Light. I have made a new basin with a bigger airstone for next grow. But my goal was to produce enough to get me by until the next harvest, which I am certain I have accomplished. The total hight was a bit less than my posted height. I accounted for the LST bowing, but totals are NL 9" and WW 6.5". I will have the scales ready for the wet weigh in tomorrow. Hopefully will get a taste of these in couple weeks!

This grow had ups and downs and I really learned a lot, thanks to everyone who shared their wisdom! Considering how very little I fed the plant, I'm surprised she even made it to harvest. The majority of her bud was mainly in the one man cola that made up 95% of plant. I didn't have much trimming to do at all. The buds are more airy than I would like, but probably my fault. She dried in 4 days and have been curing for 9 days. I took a small sample off of the main bud to get an early taste so I could complete the diary. The smell has a spicy, berry, and pine aroma. There is an earthy smell to it that is fading during the cure. I think they dried a little fast as the humidity has been very low. The first hit (vaporizer) had a piney taste and was a little heavy. I think it's just still to moist on the inside and hope it thins out over time. The flavor turned to the burnt popcorn taste rather quickly, but there was still some green in the chamber, so assume more curing will help. Overall, I am happy with my first grow. I was able to yield enough to last me to next harvest!

The Northern Light produced almost twice as much as White Widow. As they were in the same basin, I attribute the better performance to three factors. 1. Roots made it to basin faster. The WW's pellet dried out before her roots were in the water as the airstone shifted right under the NL. 2. The second and more powerful light was placed directly over the NL, however, the space is so small that they both should have benfited. 3. I did a better LST job on the NL. Overall, happy with the harvest. The buds are airy, my fault. The smell is very lemony with a bit of an earthy smell during the cure. Currently, the taste is minty and refreshing, but still a bit heavy. Effects are nice. Noticeable but not overwhelming or tiring. I think potency will come with age, But both plants tolerated my inexperience and have produced enough fruit to get me by. What else could you ask for out of a first grow?! Thanks to everyone that helped! Wish I found this community from the start.