DWC - ILGM - Fire OG

[ --- I guess GrowDiaries has a germination week now! Splitting my week 1 log entries to accommodate for this new feature --- ] Since germination happened midway through the first week, this germination is from the point of planting the seed until she sprouts (so 5 days for this germination). Introduction - Germination Summary - 'DWC, the final frontier. These are the log entries of Ensign420. My continuing mission, to grow new strains and phenotypes. To explore strange new hydro growing techniques and possibly different grow mediums. To boldly grow where I've never grown before.' - Ensign420 Greetings fellow growers! Back with yet another newbie grow attempt! A lot of mistakes last run.. But gonna keep trek'n on and growing! All that I've learned from my failures at growing (OG Kush by ILGM) will be applied to this new strain and hopefully this time, I can make it to harvest! These journal log entries will be for 'Fire OG' by ILGM! I actually started this first week two days early. So this entry will consist of 5 days. Since I'm not running a chiller anymore and I'm not mixing a sterile res (no H2O2/UC Roots), I'll be using beneficial bacteria (Voodoo Juice/Hydroguard). But this has little affect on overall PPMs and is more for slime control and root development. Hopefully this time, I can make it to my first harvest! Oh and if any growers want to help me out, any relevant advice would be much appreciated! Please feel free to drop a comment to let me know what I'm doing right or more importantly, what I'm doing wrong. I check my GD logs weekly and will try to respond as soon as I can. [START OF GERMINATION] Day 01 - Saturday - 10/03/20 - Total Days: 001 ----------------------------------- - [1045]: Okay time for a another go! --- Decided to start this grow a couple of days early! If all goes well, should be transplanting her into the DWC bucket by end of week. --- I soaked a fresh rockwool cube in some distilled water PH'd down to 5.2 --- This time I will be attempting to grow some Fire OG from ILGM (I Love Growing Marijuana). Out of the 5 seeds, going to start with the largest one. - [1100]: Check the rockwool cube solution and the PH went up to 5.8 so PH'd down again to 5.2 before removing the cube from the water. --- Did not shake excess water and did not squeeze the cube. --- Flipped the cube upside down and carefully made a shallow hole. --- Placed the cube in the tray. - [1110]: Dropped the seed in and pinched the hole closed. Done! Seed planted! --- Poured a bit of distilled water into the tray. I then sprayed the dome and covered the tray. --- Only going to spray the tray and dome from now on. --- Now the clock begins! Please grow well little one! - [1130]: Adjusted room conditions to help germination. --- Raised the average tent temperature to 85°F --- The light has been dimmed to the lowest setting (about 100W). --- The distance between the light and the top of the humidity dome is about 38" --- To expedite the process a bit, I'll be leaving the light on 24/0 until she sprouts. --- The last time I tried to germinate a cube, it ended in failure. Not sure why but I think it was because I started adding nutrients too early (I even added CalMag to the rockwool soaking solution). This time, no nutrients until roots sprout from the bottom of the cube. --- Also going to really try to lower PPMs down overall. --- Thinking about starting with 2 gallons (instead of 3 gallons) of nutrient solution. This would give me a bit more room to add more distilled water to dilute down the PPMs as I adjust PH levels (PPMs always go up a bit after adjusting PH). Or just lower the mixing ratios. --- Oh and while PH adjusting the solution, I'm going to be sure to dilute the PH down BEFORE adding it to the solution. I guess adding a strong acid solution (like PH down) can cause an initial chemical reaction that is bad for nutrient uptake (looks a bit milky white). - [2200]: Checked dome/tray. Sprayed dome with more distilled water. --- The tray was still full with water but not high enough to reach the cube. --- Dome humidity was reading 99% at ~82°F --- I simplified the net basket and removed the drip ring. Soaked the tubing in bleach water and will rinse and dry later. Day 02 - Sunday - 10/04/20 - Total Days: 002 ----------------------------------- - [1030]: Humidity dome was pretty dry, but the tray still had water in it. So only sprayed dome with distilled water. --- Not spraying cube. --- Dome humidity was maxed out with a temperature of ~80°F --- Cleaned the net pot again with soap and tap water. Set aside to dry. - [1100]: With the drip ring removed, had to patched all the new holes in the net basket with aluminum tape. Also covered all the basket holes except the bottom two rows. I should be receiving a 6" net pot, but if that doesn't arrive before transplant day, I can use this instead. --- As for the lighting... I guess I was really giving way too much light! --- Learned about a LED lighting schedule which I probably should have been implementing from the beginning. I will be progressively increasing the wattage strength throughout the grow. Here's a rough schedule I made with wattages pertaining to the MIN/MAX wattage for my light (Mar Hydro TSW2000): ----- 25% strength (102.4W) = Seedlings/Veg ----- 50% strength (182.5W) = Last Week of Veg ----- 75% strength (273.75W) = Week 2 of Flower ----- 100% strength (364.9W) = Week 6 of Flower --- So 25% should be at 91.25W but I can't set the light that low (well I can set it that low if used only one side of the light, but don't really want to do that). Since the lowest wattage I can set the light is 102.4W I'm going to use this as the starting wattage. --- Wish I knew this before wasting electricity on the last strain attempt (OG Kush by ILGM). I was using 100% strength from the beginning (waaaay too high) when 25% would not only have been enough, but actually an ideal setting for this early stage of growth. - [2000]: Checked dome and tray. --- Tray still had water so only sprayed dome with distilled water. Day 03 - Monday - 10/05/20 - Total Days: 003 ----------------------------------- - [1000]: Checked on the cube. --- Temps seemed to have been pretty steady (~82°F) and humidity within the dome dropped a bit (~80%). --- Tray still had water. Dome was dry, so sprayed with distilled water. - [2200]: Checked on the cube again. --- Temps went up a bit to around 85°F and humidity within the dome dropped to 60%. --- The tray had a little bit of water but dome was dry, so filled the tray with more water (again not enough to reach the cube, but enough to fill the lower water channels). Then sprayed the dome with distilled water. Day 04 - Tuesday - 10/06/20 - Total Days: 004 ----------------------------------- - [0930]: Oh nice! Starting to see some growth! --- Checked tray/dome. --- Temperature was around 81°F with a high humidity of 94% --- I only sprayed the dome with distilled water. --- Going to remove the dome as soon as she fully sprouts. Then plan to transplant as soon roots shoot out the bottom of the cube. - [2100]: Oh snap! Another helmet head! --- Cube has popped and she's starting to grow! --- Hopefully she can break through the shell, If she hasn't freed herself by tomorrow, going to try to remove it with tweezers. --- Checked the dome and tray. --- Humidity was maxed out at 99% with temps at ~83°F --- Tray still had water. So only sprayed the dome with distilled water. --- As transplant day approaches, I've been deciding on a better feeding schedule. --- Rather than a set schedule, I'm going more with a dynamic feeding mentality. --- For this grow, I want to ease her into the nutrients and not shock the roots with an insane amount of nutrients. --- After researching a few feeding schedules on GD and the internet, I learned that my previous PPM levels for week 1 (~670 PPMs) and week 2 (~920 PPMs) were clearly way too high. --- So this time around, for her first week in the bucket, I'm thinking about simplifying the nutrient solution along with lowering the PPMs. --- First, no grow nutrients. Just straight CalMag (CaliMagic) with Hydroguard/Voodoo Juice for slime control. --- Also thinking 300 PPMs should be a safe start. --- Then if there's root growth by week 2, I'll begin to ease in grow nutrients at a quarter strength or less (300-500 PPMs - CalMag included). Otherwise, I'd continue at 300 PPMs for another week. Going to adjust nutrients based on plant growth, not time spent growing. --- Thinking about switching up my routine from a weekly reservoir change to a res change every 2 or more weeks. I will of course still adjust PH throughout the weeks and add nutrients on the weeks I don't do a res changes. Not sure on this one, but if I can keep slime under control, the fewer res changes should reduce root shock. I'll have to see how this first week goes before deciding on week 2 anyways. Day 05 - Wednesday - 10/07/20 - Total Days: 005 ----------------------------------- - [0830]: Oh looking good! --- Temps were ~83°F with the humidity around 94°F --- She still has the shell on so removing it with a pair of tweezers. --- Dome was dry but tray still had water. --- Sprayed dome for the last time. --- Opened the vents on the humidity dome all the way. - [0300]: Lowering average temps down to ~78°F --- Dome was pretty dry, but humidity was at 99% --- I removed the dome for a bit to allow for fresh air. Then placed back on an angle to allow for more air ventilation. --- Since I plan to remove the dome entirely either tonight or tomorrow, This should help ease her into the new environment. --- I'm also not going to spray the dome anymore but will keep the tray full of water. The water in the tray seems to keep the humidity pretty high so I will continue to fill the tray when almost dry and will try not to let it dry out. --- When roots eventually form, I decided wait a bit before transplanting. --- To help ease her into the bucket, I plan to tray feed a bit of CalMag (~100 PPMs) and Voodoo/Hydroguard for a day or two. --- I'll increase the tray's PPMs daily until they reach about 300 PPMs before transplanting her into the DWC bucket. - [1600]: Aye so the order for the smaller 6" net basket finally arrived! --- Modify the new basket a bit. --- I drilled a 1-3/4" drain hole and sealed it with a rubber grommet. During later stages of growth (especially after applying the SCROG net), this hole will be used to drain the bucket from the top (using a pump) while keeping the lid undisturbed. --- I also drilled a bunch of smaller pin holes along the side of the net basket which will be used for low stress training (LST). --- Perfect! This new smaller basket will hopefully reduce the changes of slime build up. --- I wanted to mask the top row of holes with aluminum tape to block the light, but going to leave it alone. Instead I'll add more hydroton to the bottom of the basket to raise the cube up a bit more. - [2200]: Oh nice! Already see a tap root! --- Now plan on transplanting tomorrow night! --- Gave this a bit of thought and I'm going to use the natural evaporation of water to help ease her into higher PPM concentrations. --- The idea is that within a few hours, the water level should naturally drop due to evaporation (hopefully not too fast) which should also naturally raise the PPMs (hopefully not above 300). --- Once the PPMs get to around 300, I will add more distilled water to dilute the PPMs back down to around 100ish. All this while adjusting PH as needed. At least that's the concept. - [2230]: Mixed some CalMag tray water. --- Filled a measuring cup with 150mL of distilled water (11 PPMs). --- Added 4 drops of Voodoo Juice (13 PPMs) --- Added 4 drops of Hydroguard (18 PPMs) --- Added 3 drops of CaliMagic (283 PPMs) --- PH'd down to 5.6 --- PPMs went up to 302 --- Checked PPMs of tray (only 17 PPMs). Drained tray. Rinsed with distilled water. --- Poured entire solution into tray. --- Since I really don't want to shock her roots, I further diluted the solution in the tray with more distilled water. The water level just barely reaching the bottom of the cube. --- PPMs dropped to 110 which is just about perfect. --- Checked the PH and it went up to 5.8 which was more than acceptable. Did not want to PH down because that would have increased the PPMs. --- I left the dome on the tray in an angle to increase ventilation (with only one vent about halfway open). --- Going to check the tray solution in the morning and hopefully the PPMs will be less than 300. [END OF GERMINATION]