New Grower Animatey's experimental journal using 100% clay pellet hempy buckets 3 Il Diavolo and 2 NYC Diesel A

[Animatey]

Whats up yall. I threw 5 seeds into rockwool a day or so ago because my hands just got the feirce itch. Mainly I really want to try to grow in just clay pellets, using passive hydro.

About my grow:
This is only my second grow, so I welcome criticism and correction!

I really didn't like working with perlite and vermiculite in my first grow. I did the standard hempy mix with clay pellets on top to prevent algae. Some of the particles of the perl/verm were feirce sharp, and it felt dirty. I loved the clay pellets. I love the idea of them being re-usable, they don't feel messy or dirty, they just kick ass. I also have heard others say they use them exclusively in hempy and they do fine. I want to put this theory to the test!

The second thing about my previous grow I want to correct is the drainage being a pain and a humidity tamperer. I have a plan for this one, but I'll be getting into journaling about it around the time I transplant the seedlings in the rockwool, into the clay pellets.

Lastly, I have to harvest before thanksgiving so I chose strains that claim and have somewhat of a rep for finishing wicked quick.

Lighting: Using a T5 2 foot, 4 bulb for veg, then a single UFO LED I bought on Amazon for bloom.
Medium/Style: 100% Clay pellets "hempy bucket" style passive hydro
Strains: 3x Delicious Il Diavolo and 2x Cream of the Crop: Amphetamine Auto (NYC Diesel Auto)
Nutrients: 100% Store bought distilled water and Gen Hydro 3 part + Rapid Start, CaliMagic and Kool Bloom and FloraKleen (following the feeding schedule for drain to waste from Gen Hydro's site to the T minus the aroma additive)
Anything Else: I plan to buy everything for my grow using Amazon Prime Eligible items off Amazon or common items at the grocery store.

What has happened so far:

• Prepped closet: laid tarp, temp/humidity monitor, then hung a T5 from the clothing rod
• soaked 5 grodan rockwool cubes in 5.4 PH 20 minutes
• rinsed the cubes, then soaked with water PHed at 5.9
• put seeds into premade holes using my very clean fingers
• Keeping them wet but not soaked for about 2 days with T5 O

Relevant Pictures Are Attached!

 

[Animatey]

Day 4

The little NYC Diesels popped their strange little heads up already. I get a vibe from them like they are ready to go as fast as I can keep up with.

The 3 Il Diavolos are fighting through the wool, and I'm letting them because I noticed in my last grow, the ones that had it tough early, but not too tough, came out a much better shape than the ones that got stressed, or had no stress to speak of.

Keeping the light O during germ has worked a lot better than leaving it ON last grow. I had to water the rockwool more frequently and the humidity wouldn't stay up.

Here are the sprouts:




Still just keeping the rockwool wet but not soaked with 5.9 ph distilled water (using highly diluted ph down by gen hydro to drop the ph).


Here are a couple more pics of my setup. These are intended to show how easy it is to get a small grow started.



I used proper hanging ties and clips, but I literally just clipped the T5 to the clothing rack. I will do the same for the LED and my only ventilation will be a medium fan, taking air in one side of the closet and blowing it across to exit at the other end. The rockwool are sitting in tupperware, and will be until time to transplant.

Next update I will try and show one way to water rockwool without hitting the sprout.

 

[Animatey]

Day 14

Just transplanted the little guys into their new homes...

I am actually a bit worried I did it too late.

Check out the roots and sprout here:



Do you think I transplanted them too late? Will they be stunted?

Other problems so far...

• Bugs! Some gnats got into the closet and laid eggs on top of the rockwool, but I killed them with insecticidal soap. It was this. I could see them with a magnifier but could could not get a good picture. I then moved the sprouts into a grow tent where they would be safer.
• One sprout like popped out on top of the rockwool... Her whole body was up there, head to weird little toe... I put her gently back into the rockwool, with the taproot down. She is currently doing ok, other than the first growths looking a little weird. Somehow I forgot to get a picture of her, but there isn't much to see really...

I made some buckets, that I think are pretty cool...


First I separated the clay pellets into larger ones and smaller ones. The larger ones go on bottom, and the smaller ones on top. This is because large rocks can crush the plants when they are this small.



I cut a spigot hole into a juice container like this (I rotated an exacto knife around and around trying to keep the hole close to circular:



I then put spigots in the drilled holes, and filled the buckets with clay pellets. The pellets were rinsed with distilled water. If anyone is interested in what kind of spigots, they are these.



Here is the end result, in and out of the cab:



Oh I forgot... the screws... Those are my attempt at making the buckets LST ready. During my last grow I found that using an LED, keeping the plants short is a MUST. My best plant got severely sun burned last time when it creeped within 15 inches of the LED, and it was so tall I had to move it to a tent that I was hardly prepared to setup. It made for a really crappy night of semi-frantically moving plants. So anyways, the screws, are for LST because I am using an LED.


On that note, do you guys think I should move this grow to the LED forum? I had to switch to an LED from a T5 for a few reasons, but mainly because of temperature. Managing temp with an LED is much easier when the plants are so low in my opinion. With the T5 so low, it can get hot, and I couldn't use the closet anymore because of the weird gnats that I joyfully killed.


Right now I am running the likght 24/7 but I need these to be harvested a week before thanksgiving... Do you think I should switch to 18/6 so they are more likely to finish in time?

Still feeding them just 5ml per Gallon of Calimagic which is about 300ppms, and I PH control it to right around 5.8-6.2

 

[TaNg]

The light cycle is your decision bro most do 20/4 or 18/6 but 24/0 is not uncommon,I myself have been using 24/0 for veg and 20/4 for flower but I'm going to be experimenting with shorter days soon.

 

[Animatey]

The light cycle is your decision bro most do 20/4 or 18/6 but 24/0 is not uncommon,I myself have been using 24/0 for veg and 20/4 for flower but I'm going to be experimenting with shorter days soon.

Thanks for the info TaNg! I read somewhere that plants finish faster under 18/6 as opposed to 24/0 or 20/4. Not sure if it's true of course... I would like to do 24/0 just for the ease and potential extra yield but I'm not sure if that will make the crop take longer from start to finish.

Thanks again, should have at least a brief update here shortly.

 

[Animatey]

Day 18 (from seed)
Hey guys,

Quick update, which I think I should start with a feeding summary:

• day 0 to day 16: calimagic 5ml/gal
• day 17-18: calimagic 5ml/gal + rapid start 2.5ml/gal
• using distilled water to mix the nutes in (0ppm) and keeping any PH between 5.8-6.2 and ppm between 300-350

So far they are looking pretty good I think... No signs of stress that I can see (doesn't mean it isn't there...).


Here are the 2 Il Diavolos (I am so excited about these! Huge Indica fan here btw...)

Here are the the diesels

_


Here is the 3rd il diavolo that popped out of the rockwool. She is running far behind now, but I don't doubt she could catch up.

Two of her leaves are like stuck together or something. The lowest pair of leaves I think is still coming apart, even though the second pair is forming on top. This one had a strange start (coming all the way out of the wool), so it wouldn't surprise me if it starts out a bit rocky.


Do you think I should assist the plant in getting that bottom pair of leaves separated?

Also, so far I am really digging my LED. My biggest complaints are the unorthodox hanging clips (a total pain in the ass, no joke), and the lack of an off switch. Performance wise though I feel like it's much nicer than my T5 in that the humidity and temp stay lower so much easier, and it did great in my last grow. (That grow is finishing up in a tent under a larger LED)

 

[DABaracuss]

Oh looking good im subbed ..I am strongly thinking of getting some Il Diavolos Im a FAN ..good to see a grow on them..they will move fast.!:High 5:

 

[Soylent Green]

doing a good job bro:gthumb:

 

[Animatey]

Oh looking good im subbed ..I am strongly thinking of getting some Il Diavolos Im a FAN ..good to see a grow on them..they will move fast.!:High 5:

Thanks man! When I saw it was supposed to be a potent, fast-finishing, fruity smelling/tasting, high-med-value AND a decent yield.... I had to find out how many of those claims might be true... Truth is though I have no idea what I am doing, so even if they turn out yielding like a gram each that wouldn't necessarily mean anything about the strain, just that I stunted them ;D

doing a good job bro:gthumb:

Thanks Man!

 

[Animatey]

Adventure Time! or Day 22

Hey guys, things have been going far too smoothly so I have to make things shaky by leaving my plants unattended for 3 daysssss. Yikes.

I'm pretty terrified, but I planned for it, and prepped for it as best I could, and here is the semi-end result:


The cab is now setup for an automatic drip watering machine. It will drip 80ml into each plant, twice a day... Is that too much or too little? My other choices are 40ml twice a day or 60 ml twice a day...

Here is one of the Il Diavalos:

Here is one of the NYC Diesels.


Guys I want to start LST... I have to leave my plants alone for 3 days at the end of this week... Should I do the first tie down now? Or should I wait until I get back at the start of next week?

Thanks again afners for reading Let me know if you think I can do something to better document this process, I am open to suggestions and criticism.