Hydroponic Emergency ~ Seeds have germinated Now What?

Troubleshooting
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I’ve taken an upright deep freezer (inside is Width 30" x Deep 18" x Height 48" and made a grow box from it. I have a 4" forced air system with an inlet in the bottom and an exhaust out the top running through a charcoal filter on the top of the Grow Box. I put in a small humidifier, Small Oscillating fan, Grow lights on an adjustable shelf and Air pump for the water.

I have 2-10" square top 2 gal. bubble buckets with two chambers. Bottom holds the water & top section that has holes in the bottom. The air pump forces water from the bottom up to a ring on the top with holes. I’m using well water that has a lot of minerals that draws ground water 150 yards near a large lake.

in-outside view
LightsOverview
Inside BtmOverview

The btm Air Pump is for the water circulating

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I started 2 seeds & both have germinated today.

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Questions:

  1. If I use hydrocorn how often should I run the water through the hydrocorn?

  2. After I Balance the PH, How much ‘Starter’ nutrients should I put in the water?

  3. Should I put a filter over the air intake?

  4. Can I grow 2 plants in that space to good maturity?

  5. How often should I run the 4" Air Filter system?

  6. Do I need to run the humidifier all the time?
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If I use hydrocorn how often should I run the water through the hydrocorn?

My hydrocorn stayed dry through the whole grow. I did soak it in PH 5.8 water before I used it. Don’t think that is even necessary.

After I Balance the PH, How much ‘Starter’ nutrients should I put in the water?

For seedlings just give them properly PHd water. No nutes until veg.

Should I put a filter over the air intake?

It could help keep out dust, etc. not a bad idea but probably not necessary.

Can I grow 2 plants in that space to good maturity?

Unlikely. That seems perfect for one plant.

How often should I run the 4" Air Filter system?

Probably always.

Do I need to run the humidifier all the time?

That depends on the humidity. I run mine all the time, but I collect and use the condensate.

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Thanx Bogleg,

I have a 2 tier bucket. Water only in the bottom & Hydrocorn only in the top. The water pump forces water up a tube into a top tube over the hydrocorn only section in a circle with holes in it.

Q: Should I run it constantly to keep the roots wet?

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Your bucket confuses me a little. So it’s like an ebb and flow system?

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Aw Shucks I have no idea what that is.

I hope I can describe it better…

It’s 2 buckets that fit inside of each other. The Top one is shorter with holes that allow the water to drip down into the bottom reservoir. I filled the top bucket with Hydrocorn.

So do I need to constantly keep the top wet?

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Here’s the Pics

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Here’s the 2 bucket system
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Here’s the top bucket with the hydrocorn & germinated seeds

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So is it feeding water through that ring, down into the bucket? And recycling it?

What are you going to put those seeds in? I use rapid rooters myself.

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Yes Bogleg it’s recycling the water.

I’m not sure I understand the hydroponic principles? I’ve only seen seeds on a pad in water in my searches.

Q1. On Hydroponics do they live in water all the time?

I had some rock wool so I put the seeds between 2 - 1"x 1" x 1/8" pads and oriented them with the tail down, so when I get them going good I’ll have to murder one… :cry:

I do have a chemical ‘Root Starter’, a white powder for cuttings in dirt. Maybe I’m thinking of a different product…

Q1. What do you think would be a better route to take?

The seedlings are in the middle and the water drips away from directly on them.

Q2. Is that wet enough?

Q3. Do you think I should leave the air pumping water out the ring all the time to keep the roots from drying out?

Thanx for your help!

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You should have all electrical connections above where the plants are going to be sitting especially because you’re going to be doing Hydro …also the air pump that you are using needs to be above the plants because if your power goes out it will siphon the water out of your buckets …third thing is that you will have to figure out how often that pump needs to run because to have it constantly dripping over your plans will be good at the beginning to get the roots established , but anything after that will cause your plants to damp off and kill them… so you will have to put that pump on a timer and figure out what is the best way to run it , 15 minutes on every hour or something like that because if you run it constantly you will get root rot and trunk rot and your plant will die … :wink:
You would be better off getting an air stone and using that air pump for a dwc you already have the bucket and the bucket that goes inside of the bucket you just need an AirStone and remember to keep the water level 1 inch below the net basket…
:v: :sunglasses:

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Thanx Heaps peachfuzz for your Help… :grin:

Sorry about all these Novice Questions but this is my 1st Try and I’d like to not have to play around to get 1 plant to maturity. :thinking:

Thanks for the water hazard electric & syphon warnings… :exploding_head:

I have Walmart 15 min integral timers so I’ll set the air pump timer to that in a few days. :sleeping:

I don’t understand the air-stone dwc concept. How does that work? :anguished:

They just germinated & I’ve got just 1 light on about 1 foot away on a 16hr ON & 8hr OFF Timer. Is That Right? :upside_down_face:

Am I Right the Humidity should be 70%+ and The Temp 75º to 85º ? :sweat_smile:

If I need to run a Humidifier shouldn’t I turn off the Air-exchanger? :astonished:

I have the Featured nutrients from ILGM.com. I’ve read where some say to use 1/2 a dose while they are starting. bogleg Suggested just plain water at 1st. What do you think? :roll_eyes:

:crossed_fingers:

Thanx again for your help!

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The concept of the air stone. Cannabis LOVES water and oxygenated water. If you do a DWC system like peach said your roots will always be submerged in nutrient rich / phed water. So in order for them to get the oxygen they need that’s when the air stone comes in handy.
You don’t need a very large air pump for one bucket, I would recommend a 4" round air stone would work wonders for that bucket.
Not sure how led lights work, sprouts only need 4000 lux. And your light should be on 24/7 or 18/6.
Temps and RH are spot on
You can leave the fan on if the humidifier can keep up with it, or get a speed controller and slow it down so the humidifier can keep up with demand.
Don’t know about the nutes you are using. Ph should be around 5.8-6.2 for optimum nutrient uptake. Also make sure water stays cool.
Hope this helps.
Happy growing!

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~OKM- Tanx snowman= SM-… I may learn Hard but Remember Well.

~OKM- Pardon me while I beat this horse a bit… :grin:

SM- The concept of the air stone. Cannabis LOVES water and oxygenated water. If you do a DWC system like peach said your roots will always be submerged in nutrient rich / phed water. So in order for them to get the oxygen they need that’s when the air stone comes in handy.

~OKM- I still don’t get the process provided by DWC… I do get bubbles added to the water is a good thing. :smiley:

~OKM- The drip ring around the outside has made & kept all the pebbles wet but not standing in water for 24 hours. and the small pieces of rock wool around the seeds are soggy wet! :sweat_drops:

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The Blue arrows indicate that every pebble is evenly wet while not ‘STANDING’ in water
wet pebbles
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SM- You don’t need a very large air pump for one bucket, I would recommend a 4" round air stone would work wonders for that bucket.

~OKM- I wonder if I added an air stone to the btm water bucket but kept using the top ring dripping down might be as good? Any Thoughts here? :thinking:

SM- Not sure how led lights work, sprouts only need 4000 lux. And your light should be on 24/7 or 18/6.

~OKM- I’ll change the timer
~ AH Shucks, I Can’t find the output of the lights. I’ll have to pay close attention so as not to burn them.

SM- Temps and RH are spot on
~OKM- Great!

SM- You can leave the fan on if the humidifier can keep up with it, or get a speed controller and slow it down so the humidifier can keep up with demand.

~OKM- speed control is installed. I hope if there’s a power failure, the fan starting up from dead stop in a slower speed doesn’t harm the motor… :weary:

~OKM- I bought an inside/outside temp & humidity gauge to keep an eye on it. :laughing:

SM- Don’t know about the nutes you are using. Ph should be around 5.8-6.2 for optimum nutrient uptake.

~OKM- right or wrong ~Since I’m using untreated well water with lots of minerals I won’t need a lot of nutes? :cowboy_hat_face:

SM- Also make sure water stays cool.
~the grow-box is 82º Hmm, How do you do that? :thinking:

~OKM- The only thing I can think of is a small fountain pump to go from an outside Ph Balance Reservoir to the inside bucket & another small fountain pump from the inside back to the outside because the grow-box is 82º and I’m sure the water is close to that warm as well. :sweat_smile:

~OKM- good thing I checked the Ph again today. Yesterday out of the tap was perfect yellow. This evening the test was green (You think maybe from the Hydrocorn) so I balanced it back to yellow. :upside_down_face:

SM- Hope this helps.

~OKM-Yessir this did Help!

~Happy growing! ~OKM- To You Too !! :innocent:

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@okmatthew Everybody has a rough start or runs into problems growing, so don’t beat yourself up. I did alot of dumb thing in the past and now I just laugh about it.

Dwc here hope this picture helps.

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Alrighty now that we have a picture. See those roots? After growing down through hydrodon the roots hit a pool of water. They keep growing and growing and growing. So here is a young rooted cannabis plant, it’s roots are just hitting the water and loving every second. See all the bubbles? And you can see the 4" air stone.
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At the beginning when the roots have not made it to the bottom of the net pot, I keep the water touching the bottom so it encourages downward root growth. Then I will keep lowering the water to a certain point.
So right now the water ring is good since the roots have not made it very far yet.

Do you keep water in the bottom of the bucket (below the grow pot) or does it drain out the bottom onto a reservoir? Was your plan to grow with that ring start to finish?
A air stone won’t help right now since the roots are up high.

Be very careful with the lights. They are very sensitive to light.
As far as the fan, got it a test. Unplug the unit, controller and all and the plug back in and see how the fan takes it.

Haha I’m on a well in the country too there bud and well water won’t give her what she needs. As of now probably yes but when she hits vegetative growth (agressive) she’s gonna need good nutes(more nutes). Try General hydroponics flora-grow, flora-micro, and flora-bloom.

What I do for high water temps is, just throw a frozen water bottle in the reservoir to cool it. Surprisingly it works.

I found out with my water it tends to jump around straight out of the well. I get the good old iron stain.lol. I keep a five gallon bucket filled at all times with water, then when I go to use it it’s done jumping around. I usually notice lots of partials at the bottom, sand sometimes haha.
Hydrodon will change the waters ph. Once the hydrodon has had water ran through enough times the ph will start balancing out.

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This is what you’re up against.

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@snowman ‘U DA Man!’
Thanks for the advice :rofl:

So Far So Good!

Thank You Very Much!
@okmatthew

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That’s a LOT of Roots!

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I’m pretty sure you could use the ring for the whole grow. Just have it trickle like a NFT system.

I would fill the water up to the bottom of the net pot. The bubbles that rise and pop will keep all the medium moist from down below.

You really should really get a ppm meter so you can know how much to feed. Usually I keep my newly rooted seeds around 200 ppm then keep adding more each week. I try to keep my water between 66-75 degrees. Too cold you will see stunt growth, too warm you will see nasty things. Not always tho.

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@okmatthew don’t understand this last email

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:sunglasses:

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Ya, I replied through my Gmail account and all that is my legal disclaimer and copy protection I have on the bottom of all my email…