1st Hydro Grow

Day 12....So...had a bit of time on my hands! Expected bereavement happened earlier in the week and needed to put my mind somewhere else (RIP ma!!!)! So I gave the (hopefully) girls a bit more attention this evening. As they all seemed to take to the topping, and there was plenty of fresh green sprouting nodes, I decided they needed some light too so began a bit of LST and defoliation. Was feared of doing too much due to the chlorosis on a few leaves but I believe now (thanks to Ed Rosenthals book - Marijuana Garden Saver) I'm potentially looking at more of a Ca/Mg deficiency than a nitrogen OD (I live in an area with water that tops out CaCO3 @ 19ppm!!!). During the week, thanks to some honest and well informed advice from @GMSgrows, I upped my Ca/Mg a bit as I was using lower end of the recommended scale (Plus my nute provider sent me Hard Water variant of A/B rather than the soft water variant I asked for so Ca is a great candidate for the deficeincy!!!). Seeing no real progression now from the chlorosis so hopefully caught up to it all (says the amateur!!!). Think (before I speak too prematurely) I am dialed in this week. Water dropping in volume, EC staying put at 1.1 and pH only has a drift of about 0.1 towards neutral a day (working at 5.8 as my starter). Today I reset the pH to 5.8 as it was @ 6.1 So defoliation, basically, the single and 3 fan leaves got it!!! After pinning stuff down, I was worried the top leaves touching the lower ones could allow any fungus/infection to start so they got gone (In all fairness, I was also worried the leaf spots were Septoria potentially as well so they did get a bi-carb/oil/fairy liquid spray too so was to minimise transposition)!!! Also got a bit better airflow into the room...as much as I am in a @Budbox tent, the grow is in a cabin...the wall is SW facing so gets some fair heat so that's a hard one to manage and her indoors will not let me drill vent holes all over the place to make shit obvious!!! Got a good hidden window venting going on so temps down from 90F+ at peak to a more respectable 74 (24C in new money!). May need to invest in a swamp cooler/humidifier or turn off my dehumidifier (even though its set to 60) as the tent stays sub 50%RH (closer to 40%) even with side vent open and a gap in the zip to allow more fresh in!!! Finally, added a milk jug CO2 generator. Don't know how much it puts in but hopefully more is better than ambient (As I cant drill holes, the vent goes back into the room...at least blowing on the ballast it keeps it very cool!!!)! Basic setup was the generator, and expansion tank/bubble counter and aquarium tube to the back grille of the oscillating fan. Generator ingredients were about 3pints H2O in a 2L (4qt) milk jug, a handful of raisins as a slow burn sugar, a cup of granulated sugar and a table spoon each of NaHCO3 (Sodium Bicarbonate, Bicarbonate of Soda, Baking Soda) and Yeast. BTW, I hope this is helpful to new growers, been that long since I grew anything and totally 1st solo run AND 1st run at hydroponics, I hope it comes in useful and always willing to share info or accept greater wisdom!

Nice job, looks great! Good luck further and have fun! 🌱😎

Looks nice, keep up the good work 😎🌲 Good luck further!

Looking really nice @xbrico

Nice work! Looking good! Happy growing

Nice grow man 👌🏼 I'm on my first grow and I'm also using a Wilma system, so far so good

Looking good! Keep up the solid work my friend. I also just started my first DWC micro/nano grow in a PC case lol. Good luck and cheers!

Dont overthink things. Sometimes the plants take food, sometimes they just take the water from the food. This is why your ec changes from time to time.

Very healthy! Keep up! @xbrico

hi nice grow,why did you do the topping so early? thanks

Great job!

Looks amazing! Enjoy the puffs! 😎

Day 77 - A bit of tidying up to do, just getting dead and dropping from the bottom of the canopy. Thinking of going sterile res now for the last couple of weeks too as feared of any late root issues. pH actually dropped for the 1st time in this whole grow (from a 6 to a 5.6 overnight) which has never happened so have topped up with plain water, bringing EC down to 1.3 (Was around 1.5) and will continue to monitor. Worried a pH drop in significant direction can be an infection so will push me more to sterile for the last couple of weeks if there any more of an overnight drop!

Day 73 - Not much change...ppm starting to rise (EC1.7) as water goes down so added some 0ppm water to the tank via the tops of the clay (To see if there was a need to flush)....res dropped in ppm to EC1.4 so roots seem clean, just looks like they want some water at the moment so happy with that.

Day 62 - Nothing really much here to add...think any "Stretch" these girls had have stopped. Now they're happily ticking along. Just keeping an eye on my numbers (EC and pH) and they seem fine for the moment so leaving them be until my next recipe change of nutes this Monday coming.

Day 56 - Happy b'day to me!!! :) Everything still ticking along nicely. EC starting to rise so looks like the girls are happy with water or some of the lesser nutes at the moment. Tomorrow is a full tank change day so will be bringing the EC down a bit (Has crept up to 1.9 - began around 1.6 on my last top up 4 days ago - probs be aiming for 1.4-1.5 tomorrow) and dropping the bloom nutes strength some to get ready for PK Warrior week 4 (a week away yet).

Day 53 - Most likely more canopy maintenance....it doesn't end!!! :) which isn't too bad i suppose!!! May try mainlining next time but what the hey. Plants drinking like mad...probs 4-5L per day so another 20L of solution going into keep the tank fresh until Monday change out. All mixes still the same proportions...looks like more a 1.5 in the top up mix (average) and a 5.7pH so should bring the tank back to a nice 1.6EC and an pH of approx 5.8 **Edit** - Bloom A&B went in @ 3ml/L as EC was slightly high on test last night (1.8) - all back to 1.7 now and 5.7pH **Edit 2** - Ca/Mg went in at 1ml/L as using tap water and not mineral water

day 48 - Top up of the tank tonight...they've gone through about 20-25L of water since Monday. EC eeked up to 1.7 (Was measuring smaller numbers so there a wee bit extra feed went in - like a ml or 2) and pH back to 5.8. Girls still looking plenty healthy and no burn so hopefully still ticking along the way it should be!

Day 47 - Not been too much change in the girls since the flip. They haven't freaked out and went on a growing spree so thats grand so far. Just doing some bud site moving and retucking and removed a few top leaves to allow the smaller sites to get some light. They're happily drinking and nutes staying pretty settled at EC1.6 with no signs of stress and pH on is usual 0.1 per day drift.

Day 42 - Been a busy week this week so the girls have not had much attention from me but looks like they're seeing no harm from it! :) The screen looking pretty damn full compared to 6 days ago so tomorrow is the beginning of their Autumn - fear hitting me now if I have enough horizontal space for their stretch or enough gaps in the mesh. Big 12/12 day and changing from the 600W Omega MH lamp to the 600W Growlux Dual Spectrum HPS. Added a Sicce Nano Voyager pump to the tank just to keep the nutes well mixed and grabbing a drill pump tomorrow for tank maintenance as the screen does make it a bit of a PITA to work with. Have some Great White Bennies landing tomorrow...Dunno if Its worth adding to the tank for 4 weeks just to really help the roots out for nute uptake but cant seeing it doing any harm so will probs just add to give them any extra help they may need!!! :) Also, for the 1st time in the grow, the EC dropped some (only .1 like but its something) so they're hungry and ready.