Hydroponics is one of the most common methods to cultivate cannabis. This method involves growing plants in water instead of soil. A hydroponic setup can be assembled either indoors or outdoors. It’s based on a system for getting nutrients to the plant using water.
A hydroponics system has plenty of advantages:
- No soil means an easier and cleaner grow space
- Plants are known to grow faster in hydroponics
- Water in the system is reusable, thus cutting down costs
- Nutrient levels are easier to manage
- No need for additional labor and costs associated with repotting
- Pests and diseases are easier to spot and treat
- Hydroponics are portable and can be used anyplace
However, a grower who relies on hydroponics also needs to perform regular maintenance of the set up and closely monitor pH and PPM readings.
This grow journal records cultivating the Dwarf Low Flyer cannabis seeds using the hydroponics method.
The Dwarf Low Flyer cannabis is easy to grow. This strain is the perfect match for impatient cultivators because of its short flowering time of 6 to 8 weeks. It’s ideal for hydro and indoor areas which don’t have a lot of space.
As its name suggests, this cannabis strain stays under 2 feet and flowers automatically at 12 to 18 hours of light per day. It yields up to 250 grams of usable bud indoors and 350 grams outdoors.
March 29th
This grow journal started with the following equipment and supplies:
- Lights – 4 x Luxrite 23W, 1600 lumen, 6500 K compact fluorescent in a hanging parabolic reflector
- Medium – Hydroponics with top feed
- Nutrients – General Hydroponics FloraGrow + FloraBloom + FloraMicro + CaliMagic + Hydroguard bacillus root inoculant
- Nutrient Volume – 2.5 gallons
- Water Poump – Eco66 submersible
- Distribution Manifold – DIG 6-Outlet adjustable drip
- Air Pump – National Tech Enterprise Piezoelectric Aquarium Air Pump
- Starting Substrate – Grodan 1” x 1” rockwool cube
- Working Substrate – Leca Clay Orchid/Hydroponic Grow Media AKA Hydroton
- Net Cup – 4-inch plastic flower pot with a bunch of holes drilled in it
- Reservoir – Iris 4-gallon, clear plastic storage box, 24” x 16” x 6” filled to a depth of about 2.5” and light-proofed with black shelf paper and AI foil
The seed was germinated last March 21st. Here she is at 7 days old.
And here are some photos of the set up. This is the reflector with four 23W CFLs.
This is the homemade net pot filled with cocoa puffs.
The reflector on the pot is supposed to also limit algae growth on the substrate.
Finally, this is a rendering of the dimensions of the fireplace which will be used as the grow room.
March 30th
Humidity is up to 42% from last night’s 36% after turning one fan off, adding a bowl of water, and turning off one of three lights which are 5 inches away from the plant. The leaves on the seedling are a little droopy but the situation doesn’t look even remotely critical.
Temperature is down to 70 degrees F. Fluid level is down by 6mm which is equivalent to a fluid loss of 1 cup a day. pH climbed back up from 6.0 to 6.3.
She’s not as big on Day 10 as some plants cultivated in soil are but that’s probably due to her genetics.
Some modifications today: drilled more holes into the pot, added a second water feed line, and tidied up the wiring and hoses.
You can see she has a half-inch root poking out.
A second feed line was added to improve flow through the pot!
April 2nd
The drooping leaf tips have not gotten better! However, she’s slowly but steadily growing new leaves but she not has gotten taller despite a week’s passing. Despite hitting the water 13 days ago, she’s only 1 inch tall.
The suspected culprits and the actions taken to resolve them are as follows:
- Too much light – reduced lighting to 2 CFLs
- Too much wind from fan – maintained its position pointed away from the plant
- Too hot – under control now between 72 and 74 degrees F
- Not enough nutrients – corrected with last night’s feeding
- Not enough humidity – under control now at 40%
April 5th
After stripping away the soggy, suffocating rock wool from her roots and gently placing the naked roots back in hydroton, she is thriving! It will be interesting to see how well she does from now on.
And here are the before and after pics showing just how much she has improved after the transfer!
Her little tap root is dipping more into the reservoir. It grew 2 inches in the span of 24 hours.
April 6th
After checking on the girl this morning, her stalk was split! After pulling some pebbles away, it appears this was actually massive root growth above the surface. Removed the reflector so the stalk is now getting light all the way down into the pebbles. Hopefully, root development will stay below the surface.
Despite the small problem with the roots, everything looks OK up in the canopy.
April 7th
She’s definitely out of the woods now. She has vastly improved after being taken out of the soggy rock wool.
Also switched to a fresher media today. This allowed easier inspection of the tap root. It has grown to about a foot in two days and now wraps around the pump. This little girl is rocking now!
April 8th
If your nose is 1 inch away from her, she definitely smells like pot!
Today is also training day. She might as well get bent early when she’s young and flexible. You can see in the photo below that the growth at the second node is now out of the shadows and turned itself vertical.
Two hours after the LST, the top of the plant already turned upright again.
April 13th
Pre-flowers popped up!
She still tiny and spread-eagled for some extreme LST but this morning’s snapshot also revealed she’s started making pre-flowers at node three. They’re only two tiny wisps but they’re definitely there. Other than her small size, she’s healthy, growing rapidly, and smells like marijuana and mint!
pH is steady at about 5.9. Added a cup of water to bring the tank back to 2.5 gallons and 720 PPM. She’s getting 60,000 lumens. She’s still small but her stalk is steadily growing thicker, longer, and putting out new leaves.
April 18th
She’s still a runt but she’ll definitely make it to harvest!
It’s been six days since the first signs of pre-flowers popped up so she should be one week into the flowering stretch by now. She’s still small but has now picked up her growth pace – well, not so much growing bigger as growing denser.
Along with the growth, she’s now draining about two cups of water
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