Hello all! Welcome to my first grow. Wife and I got a license to grow weed legally so we decided to try a nice and simple Ebb & Flow hydroponic system. We purchased some Pink Kush and White Widow seeds but decided to try just two of the Pink Kush to start. As I am cheap, we opted to plant the first seeds and then clone new plants into the hydroponic system. As I am getting this journal up late, I can say we have had some success and some difficulties so far but stick along for the journey to find out.
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So learning about the forum! Please be patient. 
So we germinated two of the Pink Kush seeds and decided to plant these in soil and then clone these and place the cuttings in the hydroponic system. We germinated the seeds in the middle of march and these are both plants on March 28.
We also plants some tomatoes and some lettuce, which you also see. The dirt is a mixture of store bought soil, with some perlite mixed in to allow better drainage.
Then the next three images show both mothers on April 14. In these pics, you can clearly see that one plant is doing well, while the other is much more thin, more pale and and has discoloration on its fan leaves. This will become a bigger problem once we move to the Ebb & Flow…
At this point, I am pretty content with the progress so far, just a bit slower than expected. In the next update, I will provide details about the Ebb & Flow, nutrients, cloning and of course, provide more pics.
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On April 27, the mothers were transplanted into bigger pots. Not too much excitement. The pics still show the difference between the two sisters, where the one is much less dense and has some odd coloring on its leaves… Both were treated roughly the same and this will continue to be an issue, even in the hydroponics…
Regardless, there are a few bud sites developing and I was busy getting ready to set up the Ebb & Flow for the daughters of these plants. Next update will show the clones, a process which I continue to struggle with!
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On May 4, I took six clippings, dipped into growth hormones and placed into rockwool cubes in a humidifying tray.
It was at this point that I started doing some research and ordered some nutriets. Our local store had the pH perfect series and so we ordered some and picked it up. We also ordered a cheap VIVOSUN pH meter and TDS meter. The plan was to have them develop roots and move into the Ebb & Flow in about a week.
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On May 11, we decided to move the plants into the hydroponic system as we were not seeing much growth and were getting worried about root rot. See below.
So in this tray, we are using tap water, ph’ed to about 6ish, occasionally a little less, with the pH Perfect series of nutrients. When we moved the plants, there were no evidence of roots, and as such, we expected half to die but I really wanted at least one clone, of the strong healthy mother, to survive. It would take awhile, but it would get my wish.
You will see a second flood tray in the pic above. We had issues getting the seal on the bottom of the tray to stay water tight. Every time we moved the tray, even a little, it would start leaking. We took some time and made sure the area around the fittings were clean, smooth and properly tight. With some practice, we got it working so we made two trays just in case we had issues and needed to “hot swap” trays.
For the nutrient tank reservoir, we used a Vivosun 800 GPH pump in a Rubbermaid 63L bucket. Our local store had an Ebb & Flow kit with 1/2" inlet pipe and 3/4 outlet pipe, so that’s what we did. And we placed the fittings directly over the reservoir so if there was a leak it wouldn’t be an issue.
For lights, we are using T5 fluorescent, for the first few weeks, but then switching over to generic 100 W LED lights. We have four and can easily vary the heights, keeping them about 10 inches over the plants.
The mother plants continued to do well and were placed in another room to keep them away from the hydroponic system. We had some issues with the change in rooms. We went from LED lights to a 600W HPS and the plant started to use twice the water, but we would learn that the hard way… but for now, all was looking okay!
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Looking good! I’m watching 
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We kept an eye on the clones for a few weeks without too many changes.
This is them on May 15.
Not too much change even a week later.
So I am hopeful that this journal will take off like the clones did at this point! These pics are all about a week apart.
The first shows the biggest clone just as it was starting to grow again.
The next two show the growth over the next few weeks.
During this time, daily growth was clearly evident and I have never had plants this lush or healthy before. Also, they grew much faster than the mother, which continues to grow in soil.
So one thing I was curious about is the differences between the two rows of plants in the above pic. In the pic directly above, the clones on the right, are all from the “weaker” mother and are visibly smaller, paler and less dense than its sisters. This has continued despite their similar environment and I believe I have some poor genetics, and subsequently will not be cloning any more from this plant. Both mothers were sprouted from Pink Kush seeds, apparently, but the one has always been much more hearty. Over time, the differences have become more apparent and the “week” clones have been completely over grown by the stronger clones. It got so bad it was hard to find the week plant as it was enveloped by the stronger plants.
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So in an effort to get up to date, I will post some pics. These are the plants around the end of May. The mothers are starting to bloom. Nothing too big yet but that was expected. We may get an ounce per plant.
The clones continue to develop at different rates and some grew rapidly while other stagnated for some time before taking off. Regardless, once they start to grow, they grow quickly. All clones have survived at this point but not all are growing so some concerns there.
Started researching a cloning box and I will take steps to obtain parts and put one together.
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The pics came out all wrong in the last post! Sorry. Not sure what happened there. Hope you enjoy the pugs anyway. 
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Update on Mothers. They are doing well and this is them as of June 29. They are planted in MG soil but I used advanced nutrients pH perfect series for the past two months. I really just wanted them to make clones so this was a bonus.
As for the clones, they are doing very well. Here is a pic of them from yesterday. They grow very quickly in an Ebb and Flow set up with pH perfect nutrients.
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Looking all great @Maxxie 
do you like growing in clay balls?
The mothers look beautiful 
OMG! I see pugs! My dream dog haha you are so lucky they are beautiful wish they weren’t expensive wahhh… I already have 4 dogs did have 5 but Millie the foxy terrier past away this year she was 15 
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Hey @MadCandy Thanks. We love the pugs. They were a great choice so far. Full of love and very cuddly dogs. They snore loudly but they are totally worth it.
As for the clones… I do like growing in the clay pellets… so far. So the plants grow much quicker in pellets when compared to soil and it’s easier to control nutrients and pH. Also, the containers allow the root system to grow quite large so I don’t have to worry about transplanting to larger pots. However the pellets allow you to transplant pretty easy if you need too. We had a little leak and needed to empty a tray to reseal and it wasn’t too bad to move the gals to a new tray.
There are some negatives. I need to clean the system about very two weeks and it took a little tweaking to get a timer to automatically flood the trays 8 times a day. Leaks could be an issue. Luckily, our basement has concrete floor so not a real issue for us. So while the hydro system is a little more work, I’m hopeful it will produce some nice dense buds in the end. I have some White Widow seeds just waiting to get some room!
Thanks for the reply. Great to see you watching!
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How do you like the ebb and flow? Im in my first grow now, im using he kit from the partner site pot for pot or whatever. But next time i want something i can just set up and it’ll do its thing with little interaction from me. Besides like changing the nutrient solution once a week or something like that. Would this be something like that?
And the plants look great, your doing better than i am i think.
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Ahh I’m sorry didn’t see this @Maxxie 
… I get distracted looking at butterflies 
Oh my friend has pugs and don’t they ever hahahah just look at their faces though…
Thanks for the info appreciate it telling me what you think and that 
my next time I’ll be trying coco give that a go but still thinking about doing clay pellets in the future we will see! Hahah My mate just flooded his whole garage! 3 TIMES i had to laugh at him! poor fella.
Oh cool can’t wait to see all of them grow plus your WW when you get room!
Always watching 
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Hey thanks. Its interesting the way things tend to work out in the end.
So I do think the Ebb & Flow can be a “set it and forget it” type of grow. I have everything on automatic, lights, watering, fan. I check out the pH and light height daily, but once you know how much you need, its pretty standard and I don’t need to do it daily. The only real chore is cleaning the system, which I do every 10 days or so. Takes 30 min or so to clean system and reset the water tank. Cheap. Quiet. Efficient and the plants are massive. So far I am super happy I went this way but I will keep posting and let you know how it goes!
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Hahaha I was a little nervous about that as well. I used a Ebb & Flow kit and this basically set the limits on the water height. The water inlet is much smaller than the outlet pipe, so it cannot ‘overflow’. No matter what, it will drain faster than it can fill. Takes a bit to figure it out but once it works, its awesome. It can, and has, leaked, but we place it over top of the reservoir so that when it leaks, it leaks right back into itself! While I haven’t flooded the place, I have made lots of smaller messes filling water tanks and transferring water around… Thank god I got a spare pump, just in case! And the grow room is right next to the laundry room so there are always rags around.
Here is a pic i quite like of the mothers from a couple of days ago. They are doing well and just starting to show a few golden hairs. I really like sticky buds!
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@Maxxie What beautiful pictures ah mazing that’s cool I’ll have to look the kits up! At first when I heard of ebb & flow I thought it was your name 
and you were growing with someone for some reason hahahhahaha I know a flow and I know an ebb hahaha
You will get the hang of it with less water spillage once yo do it more often I think lol 
good thinking it being next to the laundry!
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The pics are calendar worthy!
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