Starting my hydroponic system.. [looking for knowledge here]

[trick]

Ok so I have 3 northern lights seeds, and 5 bubba kush seeds.

Should I use all of the seeds and just build a bigger hydro system, or stick with the one that I have made now and save the seeds? [my system can grow 4 plants]

Also, can seeds go bad??
Ive always woundered that.



Anywho.. onto the hydro system.

Im using a floating setup, I have a water tub big enough for 4 sets or root systems, and a 3 inch thick platform of styrophom with baskets for the roots to grow through. I have a bubbler at the bottem of plastic tub, and a water pump in a reservoir that pumps the nutrient rich water into the growing tub, then back into the reservoir to keep the water constantly moving.


My 2 questions for the hydro system are as follows..

1. Is there any diffrence if i move the bubbler into the reservoir? [all of the diagrams ive seen, its been under the plants]
Because I noticed a small design flaw that I can fix by moving it.


2. Is there any signeficant diffrence between using mirical grow and epson salt as the nutrients, as apose to using real hydroponic nutrients?

Because I have everything I need here allready, and Im going to be broke for some time and I dont want to have to wait on a small detal like that to get things moving.




Im soo exciteddd .


Also, how many of you guys have a hydro system?
Any pics?



My friend has what I think is called an ebb and flow system, and its SUPER simple, but the greenery that he gets from his plants is absolutly MINDBLOWING [litterally 8)].

but what I dont get is, with his system, the roots are only submerged in the solution for a few mins a few times a day.

Wouldnt my system turn out better plants because the roots are always in the water and its being constantly circulated?



Thanks if anyone responds to this.

 

[trick]

I sure do hope stikki sees this post .


I havent talked to him in a while and i KNOW he has hydo knowledge..

 

[druglessdouglas]

firstly: unless your seeds are feminized some of them will be males which you dont want. if you are lucky 50% will be female. you wont know which untill they are "triggered"- you start them flowering. if you dont know much about this you need to buy a book on the subject.

what i would suggest is planting the seeds in soil first off and seing what comes up. have you got a light?
you can start them off under fluorescent tube lights, they are cheap to run and give the right sort of light for vegetative growth. keep them close to the tops of the plants- 10-45cm from the tops. mount them on a board and hang them from chains or a pulley so you can raise them as the plants grow. you need the light close or the plants will "stretch". you want compact plants.

when they have produced a good few side branches take a couple of cuttings off each plant. label them so you know which plant they came off. once they have rooted, 10-14 days, trigger them to flower. give them[cuttings] no more than 12 hours light a day. regular cycle. as soon as they start to flower you will know which "mother" plants are female.
or
leave the plants grown from seed and see if they "show" any female flowers. both strains you have are likely to do that, esp the kush. but they wont do untill they are ~45cm tall.
throw away the males. now you have female "mother" plants. take cuttings from them and root them in rockwool cubes. once the roots are growing through the rockwool put them in the baskets and into the tank.
let them grow a good while before triggering them to flower. you want a lot of root and at least 30cm of height. 45cm is good.. then trigger them.
your mother plants will provide your next lot of cuttings. if you are short of space keep 1 or 2 and trigger the rest to flower. just grow them in compost

leave the bubbler under the roots. you need as much oxygen in there with the roots as possible.

buy a PF meter, a pH meter or test kit and good quality growing and flowering foods. its an investment. anything else and you risk losing everything. follow the instructions on the feed.

seeds do go off after a while and you dont know how old they are when you buy them.

buy a book on the subject there is a lot to learn. good luck

ps. dont be tempted to smoke any leaves as every leaf either powers a bud or flower stem when they are flowering. for every leaf you smoke you lose at least a gram of dry bud

you will need at least a 250w high pressure sodium lamp for flowering. a 400w lamp will pay for itself with the first crop- thats what i recommend

i also recommend doing your first crop in compost till you get a "feel" for growing. its much more forgiving

 

[trick]

I know all about sexing the plants, and I have my lights and ph paper, I kinda forgot to mention them, I was more concerned with the actual hydro system itself.

And ive grown in compost 2ce before. This isnt my first time growing, just my first time growing hyrdoponicly. But thank you for your reply, and I will keep the bubbler where it is.



Oh and one more question, as far as sprouting the seeds, i was going to use wet paper towel to crack the roots out, then grow them in soil uintill the root system is big enough, but now that i think about it, idk how to actually transfer the plants from the soil to the hydrosystem.

So how dose the rockwool thing work?
I havent got a clue about this.


Do i put the seedlings into the rockwool, then the rockwool into soil?
The roots will grow through the rockwool and into the soil, then just take out the rockwool then put it into the hydrosystem?

am i close? :?

 

[druglessdouglas]

grow them in rockwool cubes soaked in micro nutrient solution or half strength feed. once the roots are established (or pure water) then put them in the baskets or soil if you are doing mother plants. its a pain to transfer plants from soil to hydro as you have to wash all the soil off the roots and let them adjust to hydro- sometimes they will rot as soil roots are different from hydro roots. mother plants are the way to go as you can have cuttings ready to go into the hydro system as soon as you harvest, a constant stream of bud

 

[trick]

I think i might follow your advice about the mother plant and cuttings, thak you

 

[druglessdouglas]

its the way to go, that way you always have plants ready to put into the hydro system. be carefull not to trigger the mothers, or stress them too much.

they will wear out after a while (17-20 lots of cuttings) and the yield will go down. give them a good feed between taking cuttings and they wont mind
and re-pot them from time to time just to keep them happy

 

[im1badpup]

i used 2x30litre buckets, pumping 60litre per minute air through em, 600w hps, and 250 sidelight(last 2 week) 1 plant in each. - hardly any feed, never went above 800ppm - result 465 g dry n trimmed, id smoked about 2oz more what i pulled off a week early. @55 days flowering with chronic- seriousseeds.
if your in hydro, i would buy the hydro feed gmb will do, also a ppm and ph meter, and you can check then if your feeding to light/heavy, change ur water every week, dont forget to top up inbetween - these babies sure can drink water when growing quickly
Oh - i grow only 2 for legal reasons, yields not as good in gram per watt ratio but fukit itll do lol