12 x Power Kush in DWM and autopot

[jensen]

12 x Power Kush in DWC and autopot

This is my first grow diary and also my first attempt at growing ever.

I did quite some reading and came to the conclusion that i wanted to try DWC (thanks to hererisshh great tutorial) :-)

I was given 12 clones of powerkush and I made 10 DWC buckets and bought an autopot setup for the 2 remaining clones.

They are a few weeks old now.

I do not have a good camera and in the first week they were only under a led light so the first pictures are very very pink :P

So here goes. Posting some pics :)

 

[jensen]

Here are some pictures of the clones the first week under led light only. Crap photos but better then nothing :)

 

[jensen]

Here are some pictures of the process of making the DWC buckets. It also shows the water pump that i am using. its a 60L pr minute and pumps ALOT of water into the buckets :-)

 

[jensen]

Here are some pictures taken today.

These are about 2-3 weeks from the clones you see in the first pictures.

It took a while for something to happen but once the clones rooted and hit the DWC water... omg it exploded!!

ph is always around 5.5 and i am giving them around 400ppm now (GHE nutrients and following the guideline on the label.

Please tell me what you think. Do they look healthy? do they look bushy enough? powerkush is supposed to get really bushy.

you can see in that some of the plants are much bigger then the others and that is because not all of them have yet hit the water. once they do, KABOOM hehe

I will add 2 x 600w tomorrow and proper exhaust and intake. atm i dont have anything but a led and a 250w cfl. and no ventilation other then a small fan. I also made a DIY mister with mist maker that keeps the humidity at good levels.


some of the leaves are yellow, very very few though and always at the bottom. Please tell me what you guys think. all help is much appreciated as this is my first grow ever

 

[Powdery]

I think the yellow leafs are from the plants growing roots in the DWC buckets..similar to clone leaves turning yellow.

Low temps, 74 - 78 w/o Co2 will put some density in your budds!

Those LED's a flippin bright! So sick nice set-up, lookin forward to the 2 x 600W addition

 

[jensen]

Thank you for your reply :-)

I did not have time to go to the shop today and get the lights but i will definitively do that soon. So do you think they look healthy and good ?

and what do you mean with the temps w/o co2? should i not use any co2 and keep the temps that you mentioned ? are you talking about air temps or water temps?

regards, Jensen

 

[jensen]

Man does DWC rock. I can literally see a big difference in every plant each day! I am glad i went for DWC on my first grow.

I read several posts saying that it might not be a good place to start but went ahead and did it anyway and i sure do not regret it! :D

 

[jensen]

went shopping today :-)

2 x 600w Philips green-power bulbs (supposed to own)
2 x 155mm cool-tubes
powerful intake and exhaust fans (350cfm exhaust and 290cfm intake)
huge mountain air carbon filter
2x 600w lumantek electronic ballasts
some more acoustic ducting
smscon fan controller (already had that in fact)
a nice legrand timer.

So now i need to get busy working. going to make some kind of box for the exhaust fan as it creates an annoying buzz because of the smscon fan controller (buy variac controllers if you want to avoid that :-)

So ill post pictures once i get some stuff done

Regards

 

[still]

lookin good

 

[jensen]

@still Thank you :)

I have decided that i will be hanging that CFL you can see in one of the images vertically also to maximize light to the lower parts of the plants. I might even get one more.

Then total light will be 2x 600w in cooltubes and 2x 250w cfl hanging vertically

I think that will help alot for the lower parts of the plant

 

[jensen]

Here is the DIY cooler/silencer i made for the air pump

its an electric cooler but it didn't manage to cool down the pump.

But it however does a very very good job at making it close to silent. I cut a hole and added a PC fan to suck hot air out. the air inside stays below 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) I also drilled holes for the air lines to come out.

Just wanted to post in case anyone needs to silence a pump :D

 

[jensen]

Update: day 30 or so from clones.

What do you guys think ? are they ready for 12/12 ?

do they look healthy? I think so.

Please tell me your opinions :-)

 

[jensen]

At last i got a decent camera. 7.1 MP

ALOT clearer images now.

Here are some photos of the equipment i am setting up

EDIT: Had to re-size them as max size here is 1.6mb :p

 

[jensen]

Here are some pics after i have turned the system on.

Do you guys think they should be flipped to 12/12 now ? :)


comments please :o

 

[stormannorm]

hey there,thats a super clean set up u got there nice!,when i attempt dwc on my nxt grow i want my tent to look like that.will b popping by here more often for sure.keep up the good work

 

[jensen]

@stormannorm thanks for the compliment :)

I will be posting new pics soon. I can see growth from day to day so i am going to give them one more week before flipping 12/12 (as i have some light leaf bleaching due to new extreme lights compared to the old ones)

i have started to see slightly brownish in the roots at some parts. like 5-10% of the roots are slightly brownish.

I ordered cannazym some time ago but it seems to be a problem getting it in to my country so i have ordered it from 3 places to hope at least 1 gets through hehe

also i ordered h2o2 to use for cleaning during water changes.

i am making a custom wooden box with acoustiblok and some things i will stuff inside - i think that will quiet the fan down 90%+

Ill post pics of that soon also

stay tuned :-)

 

[BudLust]

clean lookin setup jensen. especially for ur first run.
ive done DWC and grown Power kUsh in the UCDWC systems. I have 5 different phenotypes of power kush that i narrowed down over the last year. Its a great overall strain. Large yield, great fruity aroma, bushy growth using supercropping and FIM methods. Also high THC % -i got mine tested at 15.6% just two weeks ago.

A couple tips for DWC;
use H202 with every water change 1ml/gal
-this will kill bacteria (good or bad)

DO NOT use beneficial bacteria products such as; roots excel, great white, oragnic teas, etc. the h202 will kill it all off.
I found that running dwc completely sterile (VS partially organic) is the safest method to avoid pathogens and other issues like root rot.

CHillers are best to keep ur water temp down which should be 65*-68* 24/7 especially considering the plant roots are submerged all the time. Higher water temps will promote bacteria growth and lead to other pathogen attacks. especially since the nutrient solution is recirculating 24/7. Ive seen it first hand, i got fusarium wilt in week6... took out half my crop.

Run nute ppms 1/4 strentgh and slowly work up to 1/2 strentgh. "less is more..." the plants soak in nute solution 24/7 and dont need high concentrations of ppms over 1000. They will take wat they need when they need it.

Have the right sized AC. This is most often overlooked by every new grower or even experienced growers under estimating the rooms cooling requirements. temps on plant foliage can vary a few degrees higher very easily compared to ur ACs set temp or ur room thermometer. HIDs are very hot and need proper cooling. the cool tubes with proper cfm exchange will do a lot for u, keep ur lights 14"-18" away from your canopy to help avoid ur nugs from foxtailing or encountering any other negative heat stress side effect.
Ambient room temp affects the water temp as well. So cooler is always better.
Heres a formula we use in HVAC to neutralize the heat load in the room;

Total WATTS x 3.51 / 12,000btu= Required Tons of BTUs


If you ever add c02 to ur room, make sure ur air pumps are located outside the grow room so they intake OXYGEN, not C02. U want 02 in ur water not c02.

keep ur humidity in check to avoid powdery mildew during late flower. use a dehumidifier to keep RH% 40-60% -especially during lights out

Hope this helps some, im lookin forward to seeing how ur power kush turns out.


hope u dont mind, i can delete if u want.

trim up the lower portion of the plant that doesnt receive as much light.




http://i1127.invalid.com/albums/l640/budlust/IMG_1259.jpg


training mehtods will promote lateral growth


http://i1127.invalid.com/albums/l640/budlust/IMG_1228.jpg


http://i1127.invalid.com/albums/l640/budlust/IMG_1227.jpg


-boomer

 

[jensen]

Hello and thank you very much for a detailed and great answer!!

Question 1:
So do you want me to add h2o2 to the water that the roots are in or just use it to clean the buckets ? (also i have ordered cannazym and some say it should not be used with h2o2)

I do not use beneficial bacteria, only GHE softwater, bloom and gro.3 bottles. i am supposed to put 5ml pr gallon in veg state and i put 20ml for 4 gallons of water. that puts my ppm to around 500 (my tap water is around 40ppm)

Question 2: is it OK to use pk 13-14 with the above mention nutes + cannazym?

I do not have an AC, we don't use those in my country. But its cold outside 24/7 (around 2 Celsius/35 Fahrenheit) so i can easily keep water and tent levels in check. I have thermometers high and low in the tent and temps higher in the room are around 24 Celsius/75 Fahrenheit and bottom of tent is around 21 Celsius/69.8 Fahrenheit. The water levels are around 19-20 Celsius which is 66-68 Fahrenheit.

Question 3: I heard that adding CO2 to a tent like i have is pointless because it is pulled out by the powerful fan right away anyways? so i went for an active intake instead pulling directly from the window fresh air. whats your view on this ?

about the humidity, i made a humidifier with a mist maker as my humidity is 20-30 because i live in a cold environment. i have to struggle to keep it around 50% during light. (during dark, a timer turns it off and humidity is around 50-60) so this should be ok i think.

I have not trimmed my plants at all. They look so very very bushy.
Question 4: When do you recommend trimming / LST' ing ? some say it wont give more, just a more widespread array of smaller buds etc. I like FIM method, do you recommend that ?

Question 5: When should i trim the bottom of the plants? wont that shock them alot etc?

Hope you have time to answer and i really dont mind pictures etc in my thread. I love all input and i am very glad you took the time to write all that.

Thanks again :)

 

[BudLust]

Hello and thank you very much for a detailed and great answer!!

Question 1:
So do you want me to add h2o2 to the water that the roots are in or just use it to clean the buckets ? (also i have ordered cannazym and some say it should not be used with h2o2)

I do not use beneficial bacteria, only GHE softwater, bloom and gro.3 bottles. i am supposed to put 5ml pr gallon in veg state and i put 20ml for 4 gallons of water. that puts my ppm to around 500 (my tap water is around 40ppm)

Question 2: is it OK to use pk 13-14 with the above mention nutes + cannazym?

I do not have an AC, we don't use those in my country. But its cold outside 24/7 (around 2 Celsius/35 Fahrenheit) so i can easily keep water and tent levels in check. I have thermometers high and low in the tent and temps higher in the room are around 24 Celsius/75 Fahrenheit and bottom of tent is around 21 Celsius/69.8 Fahrenheit. The water levels are around 19-20 Celsius which is 66-68 Fahrenheit.

Question 3: I heard that adding CO2 to a tent like i have is pointless because it is pulled out by the powerful fan right away anyways? so i went for an active intake instead pulling directly from the window fresh air. whats your view on this ?

about the humidity, i made a humidifier with a mist maker as my humidity is 20-30 because i live in a cold environment. i have to struggle to keep it around 50% during light. (during dark, a timer turns it off and humidity is around 50-60) so this should be ok i think.

I have not trimmed my plants at all. They look so very very bushy.
Question 4: When do you recommend trimming / LST' ing ? some say it wont give more, just a more widespread array of smaller buds etc. I like FIM method, do you recommend that ?

Question 5: When should i trim the bottom of the plants? wont that shock them alot etc?

Hope you have time to answer and i really dont mind pictures etc in my thread. I love all input and i am very glad you took the time to write all that.

Thanks again :)

1; do water changes every 2 weeks. have a stand by premixed rez(clean trashcans/totes/buckets work fine) if possible with ur nutes mixed with correct ppm & ph, flush the system for 24hrs with plain water or RO, then remove as much water as possible then readd the premixed nute batch. The premixed nute batch should contain the h202 diluted @ 1ml/gal. dont apply directly to rhizosphere to avoid burning ur roots. same goes for ur PH solutions, dilute in water before u add straight to buckets.
i use bleach to clean my buckets between rounds.

Cannazym is wat i use as well, hygrozym is another top enzym product and the two can actually be used together, although i havent tried. Cananzym is great by itself IMO. Cannazym will work fine mixed with diluted h202.

GH 3part is solid, stick with it til u get it down and want to experiment.
Work ur ppms up to 1000 during flower by increasing 100-200ppms per water change. Power kush isnt a big feeder, they seem to enjoy more water then anything. I vegged 7weeks in 450ppms.


2: i havent used them together so i dont want to lead u in the wrong direction. Maybe sumone else watching can help u with that or hit up a local hydroshop.


3. Id agree with using the active air system over trying c02. its tricky to get a true sealed room that doesnt leak c02 but still can maintain the correct enviromental conditions. my rooms are built custom and sealed.


4. I use training methods to control canopy level. every top becomes a main top receiving the equal amount of lumens per sqaure inch versus traditional christmas tree structure; where only the main top cola will become dense ripe and the lower branches receive much less light not ripening at the same time or hardening. If u have vertical and horizontal HIDs then its a different story. its all about light penetration. But IMO u will increase your yield by using mixed training methods in moderation.
Instead of one main heavy top, u get several fully ripened medium colas that will overall be a better quality/high and still be more dense thus increasing your yield.

LST
FIM
Supercropping
Scrog

are all diff techniques. i use all 4.

my method i use since power kush responds really well to training is;

clones root, preveg under T5 for 2 weeks, FIM the main top, let the plant recover, the original main top is now split into two tops and growing new internodes. From that i will begin supercropping (pinching) the stalks of the main tops until the smaller side shoots catch up to the other taller tops.
i continue this process into week1 of flower. this reduces overall heigth and widens the plants footprint allowing u to grow less plants but maximize space. also the beneficial side effect of supercropping, is after the damaged pinched stalk heals, the plant repairs and becomes a huge knot (think like a tree) and helps support later heavy flower weight. the point of damaging the plants main tops with a FIM or Supercrop method, is to force the plant horomones (auxins) shift from the top of the plant to the lower healthy shoots which grow with explosive vigor and catch up to the previously damaged main tops.


http://i1127.invalid.com/albums/l640/budlust/IMG_1172.jpg



5. "lollipopping" or cleaning up the bottom 1/4-1/2 of the plant removes lower bud sites that wont produce a quality bud due to lack of light penetration. Also promotes all of the plants focus into developing main tops only. Also lowers the humidity below the canopy which can climb easily during late flower. keeps things easier to visual survey plants for pests diseases etc.
i take clones when im cleaning up the lower part of the plants. but thats only while during veg photoperiod. i begin trimming up the lower sections of the plant during week1-2 flower 12/12. id say do 1/4-1/2 trimming of what u plan on totally removing. then wait 5-7days and do it again. u have to learn to read the plants. some will respond better then others. i use shock reducing supps like B1 vitamins or Superthirve. I have a foliar spray too for transplant shock/stress.

Hope this helps brotha

-boom

 

[jensen]

Ok thank you very very much for the detailed answer again :)

im really glad someone can take the time to help me :)

Posting some root pictures now.