HYDRO New to growing, how are we looking?

[Sino]

Hello new friends, have got my first grow going (hopefully) full steam ahead with some do-si-do from archive. These babies sprouted monday 3/7 after germinating in a rapid rooter, then placed into their buckets with seedling strength nutes according to the schedule from GWE, no calmag yet. Small bit of hydroguard because my water is a tad on the warmer side (73/74). Ph has been 5.7-5.9. 330w (actual) led hanging around 20” from the top, dimmed to about 50% power. Not sure what else to put but here’s some pics, thanks for looking!

[alltatup]

Hey Sino, they look awesome, and welcome aboard; I grow hydro and use the leca clay as well. I agree w/ BU2B: watch your water temps: we've been discussing how to keep root rot out of hydro systems over here: https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...ggestions-help

[Sino]

Ayee awesome! Thank you guys. I’ll get on that and post some updates. Happy growing.

[Sino]

Hey guysss, been dealing with some stuff at home so I haven’t been very active online but I wanted to post an update of my girls, I think they’re looking pretty good, pics are day 8/10 of flower.
Starting to get some peach fuzz lol..ended up making a scrog for them which has been pretty cool. Haven’t really had any issues at all, roots look great, they drank around 5 gallons and ate 90 ppm out of the res since Friday which is crazy to me lol..very hungry
Got mostly everything dialed in except humidity. Starting to get pretty high for flower (around 60%) so I want to defoliate but I’m in the “flower stretch” right now and see a lot of mixed opinions about trimming now vs waiting till day 21.
I’ll probably just try to wait but keep an eye on that humidity and see what BU2B says about it in his guide. Thanks again for all the help you guys have shown. If you got any tips or advice I will gladly take it.

[Sino]

I loveeee him lol, straight from the horses mouth:

I don’t know if you will find it helpful, but here’s what I do regarding defoliation:
leave more leaves. Leaves are your plants food conversion source. Want bigger buds? Leave more leaves and spread your plants out as opposed to removing leaves.
defoliate lightly during veg mode using it more as a tool to establish plant structure.
I do a large defoliation just before bloom to open and expose flowering growth tips.
I do an even larger defoliation 3 weeks into flowering once flowering nodes and growth tips have been identified.
as much as possible between your pre-flower defoliation and your 3 week defoliation fold leaves instead of removing them.
after your 3 Week defoliation try and do the same - choosing to spread out your plants instead of removing leaves.
keep in mind after ABOUT week 5 of flowering your plant won’t grow any new leaves.
after week 5 ONLY remove leaves that have grown out of buds enough to have a stem and slowly start cleaning your plant(s) up for harvest.

[Sino]

Looks like I made it through the flowering stretch and did a nice defoliation at the 3 week mark. Chugging along.