Grow Journal: Chimera's Mental Floss in Water Farm 8

Prodigious Puff · Mar 13, 2008

To start, big thanks to Brad from Hemp Depot for getting my seeds here safely and comping me 5 seeds after I messed 10 up. Additionally, thank you Growdude for answering all of my Water Farm Questions. Hope to have your support on this one. Now for the specs:
-Strain: Chimera's Mental Floss
-Space: 5' x 2' x 8' closet
-Light: 4 ft. 8 bulb Sun Blaze t5 Fluorescent
-Medium: Start in Rockwool transfer to Hydroton in Water Farm 8 Pack

March 7: Soaked seeds in Distilled Water. Soaked Rockwool in pH 5.4 Distilled Water.
March 8: Placed seeds in paper towel and put in tupperware under light. Removed Rockwool, return pH was 5.9.
March 9-10: Tap Roots popped so I transferred 6/10 to rockwool
March 12: Officially considered Day 1. 9 sprouts above ground. Lost 1, 1 looking weak, 8 looking good.

For now, that's it. I'm not going to lie, I will be needing some help on this adventure. I've been reading, researching, and planning this grow for about 8 months now, but you just can't prepare for everything so I ask for everyone's help when I'm doing something wrong. Thanks, and I'll update soon.

Prodigious Puff · Mar 18, 2008

Time for an update. All 9 Mental Floss plants are all looking great. I'm still just occasionally dunking the rockwool cubes in plain pHed water. Tomorrow I am going to transfer the plants to their individual Water Farm buckets (filled with thouroughly rinsed hydroton) and hand water for a week. I'm planning to use Flora Nova Grow for nutrients, can I get some suggestions on which day and what dose to start with? I was thinking Day 14 at 100 ppm unless the plants start to yellow. What do you guys think? Thanks a lot, I hope everyone enjoys!

Joseph James · Mar 18, 2008

Chimera is one of the greatest man!

You're gonna have a great grow...i can see it!

Prodigious Puff · Mar 19, 2008

JJU- Yeah man, Chimera's work is nothing short of amazing. I've seen a few test grows of Mental Floss and it is very nice. Plus I heard the hash was great, so I may have to try my hand at making hash.

Another update. Growth is still pretty much the same. I transplanted them into the buckets where I am hand watering every other day for a week or so. Does anyone have any suggestions on when and what dose to start nutes? Until next time...stay safe...

Prodigious Puff · Mar 22, 2008

I figured I would take some time to explain my setup. As stated earlier, I have a 5' x 2' closet, in which I have 8 Water Farms connected to the GH controller/reservoir (not in closet). Also stated earlier, I have a 432W 4ft. 8 bulb Sun Blaze T5 Fluorescent with GE 6500K bulbs in it. The light is on a home made pulley system.

For venting/cooling I have a 6" Vortex inline fan attached to a carbon filter in the attack. The inline fan is attached to an inline thermostat that is set on 78 degrees.

I have completely sealed the front of the closet off with a piece of semi gloss masonite (glossy white on one side (like a dry erase board) and masonite texture on the other side. I cut a 4' x 2' rectangle out of the masonite "wall" to make an opening that is covered by a 4' x 2' semi gloss masonite door that is held on by magnets. Additionally I have a 6" circular passive intake that ***** fresh, cool air in when the exhaust comes on in the attack. I'll try to get some pictures, just so everyone understands my setup.

I am planning on starting Flora Nova Grow nutes at Day 14 @ 100 ppm, does anyone have any objections to that ?

I'll get some new pictures up soon.

smokybear · Mar 23, 2008

Sounds like a good setup to me my friend. I wish I could help you more on this but I have no experience with hydro setups. The only knowledge I have is what I've read so I don't want to give you advice and then be wrong. Potus is a pro when it comes to hydro so hopefully he sees this post and helps you out. If not, there are lots of members on here that are more than willing to help you out.

The babies look good so far though. I wish you the best of luck and I will be following this one. Good luck once again. Take care and be safe.

Prodigious Puff · Mar 23, 2008

Thanks for the support, I'll ask him to come over for a look. Thanks again!

Prodigious Puff · Mar 24, 2008

Growth is slow, and cotelydons are starting to yellow. For this reason, I have began to add nutes. I mixed up a gallon of water at 55 ppm and hand watered the plants. If the plants react well, I will feed them 100 ppm on the next watering. The crappy pics below show the general condition of the plants, I hope you all can atleast see the basic idea.

trillions of atoms · Mar 25, 2008

lookin good! make sure you got plenty of Oxygen and the right rezz temps and PH and lumen content and your well on yer way!!!!!!

Prodigious Puff · Mar 29, 2008

Growth is looking good, it's a little slow but I'm in no hurry. I'm still gradually increasing the nutes until they show small signs of burn. At Day 18, I'm still hand watering at about 150 ppm with no signs of burn. I've been increasing it by 50 ppm everyother day. My tap water is pretty hard, so as soon as I receive my Reverse Osmosis Filter (probably in about 4 days) I am going to start running the drip rings. I'm hoping that will really accelerate growth. I'm also going to get a bigger fan in there so I'm sure the stem are strong. I guess that's it for now, any questions, just shoot.

Growdude · Mar 29, 2008

Looks good so far, I know they can be slow at first unless you have a nice rooted clone to put in them but they should take off really soon now .

Be careful with the nuted there still small.

Ill be watchin this one!

smokybear · Mar 29, 2008

Lookin good so far. They will come around real soon. They are going to take off like crazy. Take care and keep us posted. Be safe.

Prodigious Puff · Mar 31, 2008

Thanks for the kind words. I lost my mother during my last move, so no clones for me

I'm not under any time constraints right now, so I'm trying not to rush the nutes. It's so easy to want to push your plants to optimize growth so I'm trying to avoid that mistake. I bought a new pH/ppm meter because my old one was wishy washy and my calibration liquid is not compatible with my new one. As a result, I had to guess about the ppm of my last feeding and boy am I hoping I didn't burn them. I'll find out tomorrow! Thanks a ton for stopping by, I'm glad someone is watching.

Prodigious Puff · Mar 31, 2008

Day 19, plants looking good. Turns out my unknown ppm was 240, and surprisingly, no burn. I bumped it up to 280, and I'm going to keep it there for a little while (unless the plants start yellowing). pH is approximately 5.8. When I start the drip rings I think I might drop the ppm by 50-100 ppm to avoid burn. Does this sound reasonable?

Prodigious Puff · Apr 2, 2008

Same Old Same Old, hand watering at 280 ppm at 5.8 ph. The plants are looking great. I'm going to start the drippers on Thursday, I can't wait!!
I'm not going to run the Reservoir until flower. I'm going to run just the controller and the buckets. Does anyone know if I should lower the TDS when I start to run the drop rings. My reasoning for this is right now they're getting watered 280 ppm once a day with no burn, but with the drip rings on, they'll get watered everyother hour for an hour....I thought that might burn them...anyone?? I'm going to do some research. Now for the pics!!

Growdude · Apr 2, 2008

I would not go higher than the 280 with the drip rings on, mainly because the drip rings can spit nutes on the leaves and cause a burn.

if it spits on the plants try to bury the ring in hydroton to prevent this.

Timmyjg6 · Apr 2, 2008

Can you not set the timing for the drip rings? If so, I would start the drippers to like 3 or 4 times a day for 15 min each. And do you have your lights on 24/0 or 18/6? Plus I am not sure if I missed it or you did not state it, what do you plan on flowering with "Light?” And how long do you plan on vegging?

Prodigious Puff · Apr 2, 2008

Growdude, thanks for the help. When I start the drip rings tomorrow I'll have the water at ~250 ppm. I bought two 50 L bags of hydroton for that exact reason. I'm going to really pile the hydroton around the rings. I might even bury them if I can.

Timmy, the drippers are on a timer (timer has 15 minute intervals). I've read on MP that is nearly impossible to over water in these Water Farms. Obviously, it is very possible to overnute, so I don't see any problem running the drippers 1 hour on/1 hour off as long as the nute mix isn't too hot. The lights are on 18/6. I've done a few soil grows in the past on 24/0, and I got horrible male to female (12:3 haha) ratios. For that reason, I'm trying 18/6. I've got 8 (430 watts worth) of T5 fluorescent bloom bulbs for that light (shown in my first post). Honestly, I'm not really sure if I want to use fluorescents for flower. I do LOVE that lights covereage. I have two 600 W HPS on hand too so I might throw one of those in there. I can't do both because the two together is FAR too hot even with their cooled hoods. Finally, I'm going to start flowering whenever they're ready. I'm in no rush...I've learned that in this hobby patience is key...hope that clears things up. Let me know if you have any advice. Thanks!

smokybear · Apr 2, 2008

Everything is looking up for ya PP. Great work there my friend. I would definitely throw that 600 watter in there when you switch to flowering. That will increase your harvest exponentially over those floros. Keep us posted on your progress. Take care and be safe.

Timmyjg6 · Apr 3, 2008

?Yeah i would use the 2 HPS's for flower and not worry about the Floros. And also i would not run your drippers that much when they are little baby's, you want them to dry up a little so the roots can reach. I am just saying work your way up to the 1hr on 1hr off.... Good luck..

Grow Journal: Chimera's Mental Floss in Water Farm 8

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