cheese420 Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 Hi everyone! I thought I may as well make a grow log since this will be my first hydroponic grow and definitely could use some pointers along the way Genetics: Sugar Haze Regular x4 (Might originate from seedsman....otherwise your guess is as good as mine...came with a Cannazon order) Lights: 100W CFL and then 600W digital ballast using 250W MH for veg then 600W HPS for flower with cooltube Medium: Seedlings in Jamies Garden Soil(JGS) and then transplant into straight coco Nutrients: Easy Hydro Grow line with all the pH correction fluids (Using Milwaukee pH pen meter) Fans: 300m3/h inline fan to connect to cooltube and small oscillating fan...will upgrade soon for intake and outake exhausts Area: 80x80x120 Grow tent The plan: I really don't have the space to maintain a decent organic grow so I have decided to move onto using coco and hydroponic nutrients. I was inspired by this thread: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=55683 GHE nutrients are used and obviously I will be using EHG. Nutriplex actually comes extremely close to the ratios in that thread when using the same Cannastats calculator but EHG was easier to get hold of and well might as well experiment. I will be transplanting this weekend to the coco and using 6ml micro and 9ml bloom at 1/4 strength initially to see how the plants react. I have mixed the nutrients at full strength and it pH's naturally to 5.6-5.7 which is pretty damn perfect for pure coco! The coco is the same coco from CerealKilla's thread so I will be mindful that it contains some nutrients already...It is the Coco Compact Soil from hydroponic.co.za......I rewashed the brick coco I initially purchased and 2mm pieces of what I assume was salt started appearing....not happy with that stuff at all. Here they are currently...14 days since I posted them up with their issues Will update weekly...maybe bi-weekly or as anything interesting occurs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajcapetown Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 Hope they are mostly girls. Are you able to test them first or will you eventually out them all into flower then chuck males? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese420 Posted February 19, 2016 Author Share Posted February 19, 2016 As do I Aj! Unfortunately not....I will be flowering them all and killing the males. Will make sure to take clones though in case one female is worth keeping Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese420 Posted February 19, 2016 Author Share Posted February 19, 2016 Shout out to gthydro! Speedy delivery and great service....will be a returning customer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese420 Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 UPDATE: PLANT ISSUES...Help They have been transplanted into 10 litre containers with pure coco under a 400W HPS light with a 300m3/h extraction fan inside. I am having issues with 2 plants mainly...other 2 do not seem affected yet...but I am keeping my eye out. I did lower my light and the 2 plants affected were in a similar position so I initially thought it may be the light being to close but now I am not so sure. They were transplanted and watered with water pH'ed to 5.8 no nutrients as this coco has some nutrients in (Same NPK as from CerealKillas thread) I am not sure if it a deficiency or pH issue Plant 1 Plant 2 I have been going through some charts and considering the amount of nutrients in this coco is quite minimal it could be a deficiency Anyone recognize the issue?...sorry picture quality could be better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese420 Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 As a reference for the coco this is what it says on the label Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
420SA Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 I reckon its shock from the transplant. Better looking growth should show in a week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese420 Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 Hmmm u reckon? They were transplanted on friday 19/02/16 though and looked droopy fom the tranplant and recovered quite well with their leaves nice and straight again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
420SA Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 Hmmm u reckon? They were transplanted on friday 19/02/16 though and looked droopy fom the tranplant and recovered quite well with their leaves nice and straight again Well I'm not saying that for sure but sometimes when I place rooted clones into medium I get that shriveling wrinkly effect. It usually takes about a week for a plant to settle and get back to its business after a transplant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese420 Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 ok @420SA thanks for the response man I will keep that in mind...I am hesitant to attempt correcting any issue without giving them some time to settle in and know what the issue is ....just dont want to leave it too late either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Leaf Organics Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 More than likely that's root damage from transplant , give it a bit og time and monitor new growth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese420 Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 Ok thanks for response GLO...going to let them be for this week with some light watering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajcapetown Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 Those 600w ballasts from GT hydro are awesome, they stay so cool. How does that cool tube work? They are so nice and compact compared to air cooled hoods, wonder if they reflect as much? Are you pulling air through it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese420 Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 @Ajcapetown thats one of the first things I noticed was how cool they run. My magnetic ballast use to get ridiculously hot. Im not sure these electronics ballast would even get too hot without the fan The cooltube at the moment isnt actually doing its job...I wasnt able to get the correct size ducting to fit...The 6inch ducting is quite a mission to fit into my small tent but I am getting a reducer and making a plan Hmm I definitely think the air cooled hoods reflect more...the cooltube comes with a little wing of aluminium to increase its coverage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Leaf Organics Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 The best place for a cooltube is in the bin they are crap compared to cooled hoods. I have both and and it's not even close in comparison. The reason why digitals run so cool is because they have a 0.99 power factor while magnetic ballasts have a PF of 0.6 at best. If you test the amps that the different units draw a magnetic ballast draws about 40% more power than a digital ballast. This is why magnetic ballasts get so hot 40% of the power they are drawing is getting converted to heat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese420 Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 @GLO Lol well I'm still pretty glad I got it...The temp issues I use to have was insane so at least I can get all that heat out of there....Are they crap due to their coverage though? Yeah I did some reading about that and checked some PAR comparisons on Youtube between digital and magnetic. Is it a waste of money buying the ballasts that contain a fan then? 600W no fan at gthydro is R300 cheaper and honestly this ballast runs so cool I feel the fan isnt needed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
420SA Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Just a quick question cheese. Why didnt you mix your coco with perlite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese420 Posted February 22, 2016 Author Share Posted February 22, 2016 @420SA Wasnt really any particular reason....just wanted a pure coco grow. I had read many threads where a coco/perlite mix was used but also saw many with just pure coco and the results were amazing. The drainage that coco has seems to be more than enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Leaf Organics Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Hi bud , sorry didn't mean to come off so harsh on the cooltube... I was tired lol. They better than the plain reflectors but in the world of cooled reflectors they give the worst coverage. There 2 schools of thought on the fan and none fan ballasts. Some say the fan blows a lot of dust into the ballast which decreases the life span and some say the extra cooling from the fan increases the lifespan. I have both and to me they pretty much he same and haven't noticed any difference yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajcapetown Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Hmmm pity on the coverage on the cool tube, I was hoping to go that route so that I could stop smashing my head on my raptors... they are so cool but damn somehow my head always finds the corners of mine.. they are almost 1 meter long and super heavy. In a tent though I'd say you only need so much light so even if you are losing 10% on your cool tube it's probably still ample light. I also have with a fan and without, although without is 1000w and I'm surprised how warm they get... can only imagine how hot magnetic must get... could probably fry an egg on it. The 600 with fan basically gets luke warm but agree with GLO I can see dust build up on the fan blades so can imagine that dust definitely get's in there. I got a huge fright recently, I had hung some cable up to get it out of the way but it had a few loops in it. One day I reached up to adjust it and the cable was so hot I could hardly keep my hand on it... the cable was completely soft. I freaked out because it had been hanging like that for like 2 weeks. I figured out that by having a couple of loops in the cable it was basically forming like a coil effect and man it got HOT! So now I hang all my cable so that there are no sharp bends in it. That is of course 1000w though which is a lot of power. With 600's I have never noticed heat build up in the cable. Have those plants started to bounce back yet? I know another grower on here who also runs straight coco... apparently growth rate is faster and he hasn't had any water logging issues at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese420 Posted February 22, 2016 Author Share Posted February 22, 2016 Hmmm I shall definitely take note of the dust that could accumulate by the fan Yeah lol I didnt want to spend the extra cash on one of those raptor reflectors especially with my space being so small...at the moment my temps are very good so I will be getting the cooltube in proper use once I start flowering and fire up a 600W bulb. Woah good thing u sorted that out before any issue occurred....Do you use 1 1000W for flowering and your 600W for a veg cab? One is looking good and the others seem alright...Im letting them dry out a bit and hope they form a nice root structure in search for water as the coco was fairly damped before the transplant. I am still concerned on their coloration but maybe in this week they will come right. Will post pics Thurs/Friday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese420 Posted February 24, 2016 Author Share Posted February 24, 2016 Update: Fairly lengthly with pics So here is what has happened... The day I posted last update I panicked and tried to correct for deficiencies on 3/4 plants....Safe to say that went horribly wrong. The plant that I just left be is now looking the best and the others look alright and 2 in particular don't look healthy. They still have yellowing between the leaves on new growth and some of the old....I do think it came down to a root problem from the transplant and I should have just let them all settle. I was quite anxious to sort out the problem and that backfired. Yesterday I fed with with EHG 0.4ml/2litre of the micro, bloom and grow pH'ed to 5.8. From some reading it seems I should be continuing to water with nutrients everyday at the right pH and they should come right. I had not watered them since that last update as I was hoping their roots would grow more in search of water. Here are the 2 bad ones: 1) 2) The good ones: 3) This one does still look bad but has come further than the previous 2...so I hope it recovers more in this week 4) The healthiest one...which was left alone after transplant #4 is vegging really well...it could be a more lush green colour though . For future reference If I ever transplant from soil to coco in those small seedling pots I am just going to leave the soil around the roots and not try wash it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
420SA Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Hey bud watering every day is a bad idea! Some sites may suggest that but they don't know your particular growing conditions. The fact that your coco has no perlite means its gonna retain a shite load of water. Best way to judge when to water next is by feeling the weight of the pot. Once its very light you must water again.... otherwise spread out the waterings to every three days or so. Definitely not every day That clawing you see there is a result of overwatering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CG420za Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 +1 @420SA, I water mine every 2 to 3 days, ambient temp dependent. once you know the weights, it becomes easy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese420 Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 @420SA hey man I havent watered since my last update. After more reading and research I feel I transplanted in a pot too big. Feeding everyday is fine if roots have properly taken in to the pot size they are in since coco will always hold a certain percentage of oxygen no matter what. In my case I transplanted to 10L while they were small and the roots were no where near as established as they should have been. I have purchased Cal Mag today but wont be adding it to my water yet till all has settled in. Thanks for the response man will update this weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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