Gunjaponics 2nd grow

[gunjaponic]

HI there,

 

I've started out on my second grow, and and would like to ask a few questions. Here's the first

 

I've germinated in Rockwool, they are now 7 days old. They have popped and opened their little round leaves, and the two little `true' leaves in the centre.

 

How long should I wait untill I put them into the Flood & Drain setup under the HID ?

[Ozzy420]

Hi there gunjaponic IMO mate the sooner u can get them under the HID the better, but it thay have lost there little hats (the seed husk) i would put them under the HID now but make eure u have the hid at least 1-2 foot away from until thay get ues to the HID and u will be up and running no time but if u have started the seeds off under cf thay mite freak out a litle when u put them under the HID, it will take a day or two for them to get use to the HID, anything eals u want to know or dont under stand just and we are more than happy tp help.

[gunjaponic]

Thanks Ozmade, they have lost their little hats, so I'll start putting them under the HID's 2night or 2morrow.

 

I think I might even splurge out aqnd buy a digital camera so I can post a few pics along the way. It might make it easier for you guys to help :-)

[gunjaponic]

Ok, now I have a `Water' question.

 

What does every one use ? Tap, Tap + filter, rain water tank, Mount Franklin ?

 

I used to use tap water, but about 1/2 way through my first grow I bought a CF meter and discovered that the CF of my tap water is 6.0. I thought that was a bit high, so I started buying water from a vending machine at a local shopping centre. It has a CF of 0, and is supposed to be filtered, reverse osmosis, and ultra violet light treated. It cost $3.50 for 19 litres. I used to show up once a fortnight with half a dozen 15 litre containers and fill them, but I'm getting a bit sick of that.

 

Suggestions ?

[Luke Skywalker]

6.0 is fine. Just take it into account when you add ferts and you should do fine. Mines 8 to 10, and I grow perfectly good buds, not to mention rather finicky orchids too. (Although some of these really do need rainwater)

 

And yeah, watch out for the seedlings when you put them under the hid, give the light plenty of room as they cannot handle extreme heat. Summer is a hard time to grow indoors in Australia, and you'll have to be careful with the little ones. Just keep the light at a couple foots distance and as they develop you can move it down to the optimum.

 

Looking forward to pics mate.

[pipeman]

yeah 6 isn't too bad.

 

buying water in bottles is definitely a waste of money IMO. and will get expensive after a while. I'd recommend you just buy a reverse osmosis filter if you're concerned about it. but the cluster fuck bought one a little while back and said they are a waste of money.

 

I assume you let your water stand for a day before using to give the chlorine a chance to evapourate out.

[gunjaponic]

6.0 is fine. Just take it into account when you add ferts

 

Ok. I've got some `Dutchfest' `Hydrogrow'. On the bottle it says to maintain EC at 1.6 - 2.0. Thats CF 16 - 20 right ?

 

So, if I wanted a CF of 20, and my tap water is 6, do I make it CF 26 or CF 14 ?

 

BTW - I know not to make the CF very high for the babies. I copied the following from Luke in a `Shy Friend Grows'

Nutrient levels were started at .7 and were increased every so often and are currently at 1.2ec 5.6-6.2ph range

I was going to do the same. I'll take some pics of the set-up and go into more detail a little latter. for now, I'll post you a pic of my babies :-)

 

I have 3 strains, all bought from MJOZ. I planted

7 x BRZf3's (6 x germinated)

2 x Thai Kush x Appollo13T / All (2 x germinated)

3 x NLF x NLF / Nev Haze (3 x germinated)

2 x Mr Highest x Nev Haze (0 x germinated)

Edited February 1, 2004 by gunjaponic

[pipeman]

no you do not factor in base water CF when adding nutes. You're likely to cause nute lockout if you do.

 

CF of 20 means just that. The nute solution measures 20. Obviously you will need slightly less nutes to get to CF20 if your water has a starting CF of 6.0.

 

yes you are correct in that 2.0EC = 20CF

[gunjaponic]

OK....

So if my taget CF for the newies is 7, and I start with tap water @ 6, doesn't that mean that there will be less useful nutriants available to the plants than if I started with water with a CF of 0 ?

[Luke Skywalker]

There is a moderate amount of useable nutrient in the water you've got. As pipe said. If you like, you can just make it up to a 1/5 or 1/6 strength, see what that level is and provided it isn't too high, use that as the base level. Obviously if you have a nute which produces a strong concentration even at these levels you may have to adjust.

 

So yeah, start at 10 if you like. Some people don't add any nutrients in the first week or two to seedlings, others add a small amount. The key is to keep the levels steady and slowly rising up to optimum. If you note tip burn on the leaves, flush, and start again a little lower than the previous level. Make sure you flush back to the base level of your water. I rise by .1 or .2 increments every week or so in veg. Flushing weekly and reformulating at the same time. This part's very, very important, because unless you regularly flush the pots you'll end up with a large amount of salt buildup, particularly in a bottom fed system like flood and drain, and if you leave the nutes too long you'll end up with an unbalanced formula, and quickly you end up with nute deficiencies. So regular flushing and slow, steady increase until the right levels for the particular plants are reached. If it gets hot in there, you may need to lower the concentration slightly, if it gets cold, then you may have to increase it slightly. Check out the growfaq, there's heaps of info on these issues, as well as through the forums themselves.

 

Of course, this is your second grow, so I'm assuming you're moderately experienced in these things already.

 

Ultimately, there is no sure fire nutrient regeime, and considering you have multiple strains in the same system you'll be averaging the nutrient levels for the plants. It's fine, as it's always better to underfert than to over. Let your seedlings and eventually plants tell you how much they need, but it's always better to err on the side of caution. Oh, and make sure you have either a system in place to keep the water level in the nutrient tank stable, or top up the nutrient tank to a preset level regularly. (maybe up to daily in full growth and flower if done manually, which is why floatvalves rock IMO.) Otherwise your nutrient readings will be off, and as the plants use far more water than nutrients, you'll get a steadily increasing in concentration solution, which plants just hate.

 

Good luck mate. You'll be able to find out what works for you in time. You gotta get a digicam mate, it's sooooo much easier for us perverts to see your lovely buds that way.

 

btw, how tall are they and are they now in the system?