Indoor Starting grow soon...have some last minute questions.

[Moto]

Nice forum you all have here!

Been wanting to grow for months now and have been reading like crazy, going through grow journals etc etc. Problem is I smoke too much and forget half of what I read...so I have a few questions of stuff I didn't catch. lol

The Box - http://www.pcgrowbox.com/the-little-woody-grow-box.html with the hyrdo kit. Could of made one for 1/3 the price but whatever. I wanted to do it easy for the first time. Next one I will build and it will be much bigger.

I apologize if any of these sound stupid. The kit had no instructions other than "just put the seed in." I'm skeptical.

1) I decided to go with White Widow Autos. I plan on 24/0 lighting under blue for the 1st 2weeks. Then 20/4 after on the reds for the rest. Do you still prune/top and what not or just let them do their thing? aka how auto is auto?

2) Rockwool - Do I leave in cube form in the net pot or pull it apart and "spread" it out?

3) Germination - Should I just soak the rockwool and put the seed in? or germinate first with papertowel method?

4) Water level in tub - Basically the entire pot submerged, correct? Should the rockwool be sitting in the water or just above it? (I'm sure you can tell this rockwool stuff throws me for a loop for some reason)

5) Airpump. It didn't come with extra air line to be able to place the pump outside the box. I think they intended it to just sit on top of the tub. Which doesn't really bother me but is the constant vibration alright?

6) Nutes - Came with Floragrow and Florabloom from General Hydroponics. When do these go in? With the water I first put in or wait a bit?

Other than that, I think I'm confident to get started!

Thanks for the help and any tips!

 

[surffreak23]

1: Just let them do their thing, but you can tuck leaves as they grow to let light to the lower branches.
2: Don't disturb roots on a seedling! Transfer the whole thing into the hydroton or whatever you're using in addition to the rockwool...
3: lots of options; I soak my seeds for 24 hours in a cup of water then pop them into their home...
4: never run DWC myself... sorry
5: Vibration shouldn't be an issue from what I've experienced...
6: As seedlings most autos seem to be very sensitive to nutes so hold off on full strength feeding at least until sexing, some autos will not need much at all and should be fed lightly until you know what it can take by working up slowly... follow directions on the bottles to give you an idea, but remember the nute sensitivity.

 

[Northern Grower]

I am not a hydro guy... So i can't help you much. Dig around the site there are a couple of them around.

Welcome to our home BTW. Pull up a chair, I'll roll some stash.

:smokebuds:

 

[Cave Dirt Cody]

should be an air gap between the net pot and rez. The distance should be what ever your air pump can cover. The bubbles will send water into the air(almost like it raining upside down) keeping the bottom of the net pot moist. As the root ball size increases it will cut down on the penetration in to the net pot. flora micro might be another good investment for you.

 

[surffreak23]

Spelsylver is a member here who, IMO, did a spectacular first DWC grow, you might ask her what she did and learned as a new grower...

 

[Cave Dirt Cody]

don't forget about seymore budz. This is what DWC is all about.

---------- Post added 08-21-2011 at 10:04 PM ----------

http://www.autoflower.org/f5/auto-mazar-dwc-under-l-e-d-2616.html

 

[surffreak23]

yeah! Gotta love it! Like spun silk...

 

[Moto]

1: Just let them do their thing, but you can tuck leaves as they grow to let light to the lower branches.
2: Don't disturb roots on a seedling! Transfer the whole thing into the hydroton or whatever you're using in addition to the rockwool...
3: lots of options; I soak my seeds for 24 hours in a cup of water then pop them into their home...
4: never run DWC myself... sorry
5: Vibration shouldn't be an issue from what I've experienced...
6: As seedlings most autos seem to be very sensitive to nutes so hold off on full strength feeding at least until sexing, some autos will not need much at all and should be fed lightly until you know what it can take by working up slowly... follow directions on the bottles to give you an idea, but remember the nute sensitivity.

2 - i mean like before i put seed in...do i break up the cube into a flatish media to cover the top of mesh pot? or leave in cube?

rockwool needs to be presoaked & properly ph'ed before use.
I don't remember off the top of my head though what the proper ph is but guessing it's somewhere in the the 5.6-5.8 range, may even be a bit lower. Again that's a guess.

do u have a link to the method of presoak? just put in water and bam? or something special?

I am not a hydro guy... So i can't help you much. Dig around the site there are a couple of them around.

Welcome to our home BTW. Pull up a chair, I'll roll some stash.

:smokebuds:

thanks dude good to be here! u local to LA? cuz i just ran out

Spelsylver is a member here who, IMO, did a spectacular first DWC grow, you might ask her what she did and learned as a new grower...

hopefully she sees and responds




oh and one thing i just realized....

the cfls are fixed to the top of the box on a power strip. aka they cant lower down to the hydro bucket.... i can prob rig something up to drop the lights to within a few inches of the bucket but how bad is this an issue if the light sjust stay high and they stretch??

 

[SmashedbyHashish]

That's an awesome lil cab...that could be easly made outa a file cab w/ a lil cut & weld here & there...mhm that a good lil nitch rite there especally on campus...hehehe

Btw, welcome to AFN! Thanx for shareing...!

 

[spelsylver]

Nice forum you all have here!

Been wanting to grow for months now and have been reading like crazy, going through grow journals etc etc. Problem is I smoke too much and forget half of what I read...so I have a few questions of stuff I didn't catch. lol

The Box - http://www.pcgrowbox.com/the-little-woody-grow-box.html with the hyrdo kit. Could of made one for 1/3 the price but whatever. I wanted to do it easy for the first time. Next one I will build and it will be much bigger.

I apologize if any of these sound stupid. The kit had no instructions other than "just put the seed in." I'm skeptical.

1) I decided to go with White Widow Autos. I plan on 24/0 lighting under blue for the 1st 2weeks. Then 20/4 after on the reds for the rest. Do you still prune/top and what not or just let them do their thing? aka how auto is auto?

2) Rockwool - Do I leave in cube form in the net pot or pull it apart and "spread" it out?

3) Germination - Should I just soak the rockwool and put the seed in? or germinate first with papertowel method?

4) Water level in tub - Basically the entire pot submerged, correct? Should the rockwool be sitting in the water or just above it? (I'm sure you can tell this rockwool stuff throws me for a loop for some reason)

5) Airpump. It didn't come with extra air line to be able to place the pump outside the box. I think they intended it to just sit on top of the tub. Which doesn't really bother me but is the constant vibration alright?

6) Nutes - Came with Floragrow and Florabloom from General Hydroponics. When do these go in? With the water I first put in or wait a bit?

Other than that, I think I'm confident to get started!

Thanks for the help and any tips!

Glad i'm a regular AFN floozy and saw your post! Hope i can answer some of your question, as i had some of the exact same questions you have on my first one, wound up finding out the answers through instinct and trial and error.

1. Like Suffreak said, let em do thier thing. leaf tucking is great :thumbs:

2. Leave that rockwool in one piece! Don't even squeeze it when you take it out of the soak, rather shake the water out. just give it a few nice hard shakes but don't disturb your cube.

3. I soak my rockwool in ph'd balanced RO water at 5.4-5.6. I go low ph for the rockwool soak because the rockwool itself is at a ph of like 10. I also add 6ml (per gallon) of hygrozyme to the water. make sure you ph the water after you add the hygrozyme, if you choose to add a root conditionoer. I use hygrozyme because it is natural and very mild for the plants and seems to aid in speedy root growth and overall health. While your rockwool is soaking (24 hours) you can have your seeds germinating in the paper towel. If i have big seeds, i'll soak em in a glass of ph'd balanced water until they sink, then put em in the paper towel. Seems to allow the bigger beans to pop easier when soaked from my experience so far.

4. like cavedirt said. leave about an inch gap between the net pot and the water only if you have a good airpump in there to shoot those bubbles up. Because i am gone a lot of hours during the day i like to submerge the very bottom of the net pot so the hydroton can wick up some water to the hydroton. I have found if you don't have a well developed root structure before you transfer to the DWC buckets the rockwool can dry out and roots just stop growing. With my first run, i killed 3 diesel ryders because i transferred my seedlings to the buckets too soon so make sure you got at least a little bit of root coming out of your rockwool before you transfer to the DWC buckets.

5. vibration is fine and it's ideal to keep your pump above your buckets so that you don't have a watery mess if the pump goes out on you for some reason.

6. what surff said :booya:

7. i know there is no 7 but make sure you have a reliable ph/ppm meter. knowing that your plant is able to absorb the nutrients it needs is important and making sure you don't over feed them is extra important. I started off with the liquid ph color scheme kit - waste of time


I know a lot of peeps like to put thier seedlings under a cfl before putting them under the MH lights but i just use regular sunlight until they are ready for the buckets. here's a pick of 2 seedlings that just popped (quasar & critical jack) I put them in the rockwool last night and they will stay on my window cill until i see some roots coming out of the bottom. Make sure you have a squirt bottle on hand with ph'd water or some other watering method to secure your rockwool don't dry out on you. You will see i have a clear cover over my seedlings but that's only because i have cats... Good luck and hope this helps! :thumbs: