I use a SCROG, but I dont do it in the classic way... by tucking the branches under the net. I let the plant grow through the net and use small clips to hold the branches down, but above the net. I feel this let's the plant grow more naturally. Nothing keeps the leaves from getting the light it needs, and airflow isn't hindered around the plant. You can see the clip in action here...

In RDWC, with gas, the plants grow super dense. I need to defoliate frequently to keep the new stuff in the light. I usually veg for 2 months. I enjoy large plants and grow them as big as they will let me usually. I'll share pictures/videos of past successes over time.

Here's a basic vid. showing the layout of my grow area(s). Cheers
I'm only growing three this season, but again, they will probably going to be large plants.

Last season. White Widow and Candida. The second pic. Was 1 WW plant,18oz..
The first is Candida in the closet 12oz


And some big buds from Wembley, a sister strain to King Tut from Pyramid. Using a half gallon jar to show size


Total haul that season from 4 plants was 50oz.

I'll share more later. Cheers

May i suggest. Holds approximately one kilo

I actually have one...

Not the same brand, and a little larger. Love it

stltoed said:

I actually have one...
View attachment 1164428
Not the same brand, and a little larger. Love it

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Both are 17 liter

Just saw all those jars lined up and i knew there was a better way

smokedareefer said:

Both are 17 liter

Just saw all those jars lined up and i knew there was a better way

Click to expand...

It works well.

A couple pics.

I wanted to talk about how I cool my water. I don't have a chiller, but I grow in a shed in Southern California, so heat can suck. I needed a way to bring my water temps down and keep them there. This is what I did...

I use a technique employed by those that have aquariums and need to cool their water. Basically, a fan blows on the surface of the water and cools through evaporation. So I had a super cheap 6" inline fan laying around and mounted it to the lid of my res. It worked and I have been using it for years.

It works best in a dry environment. If you live in Louisiana you probably won't see it work like I do. And it will raise the RH in your room. If you're growing in a tent this may be an issue. But, it does work. I've seen it cool my water by as much as 25 degrees on very hot dry days. There are a million ways to tweak this method. A repeat timer can be added if your water is getting too cold. Input or exhaust air can be routed to or from another area to help curb negative results. If you're in DWC this is a perfect reason to add a res. and water pump for RDWC Anyway... take a look at the video. If you have questions talk to me.

Whats them water temps run? Hydroguard?

Cashmeh said:

Whats them water temps run? Hydroguard?

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I'm usually around 72ish in the Summer. Winter can go too low, so I run a repeat timer on the fan so it's not on all the time.

Yeah I use Hydroguard. Z7 works well, but I have a lot of air in my water and it would foam up and dry... wasted a float valve once. So I stick to Hydroguard. I was talking to Aqua Man about pond bacteria, but I never did anything about it.

I use Silica. It's a wonderful additive that can make your grow much more successful but can also save your plants from death in many situations. It's not one of the 17 mandatory elements vital for a plants survival, but once you see it work, you'll want to keep using it. I love to grow big plants. Its fun and no one ever has a problem with a 20 oz plant. But Silica is a bit of a wet diaper sometimes.. There are very different opinions on how, why, and which brands or styles of Silica to use. I started with Armor Si a long time ago. I then moved on to Botanicare's Silica Blast both are Potassium based products and both suck. Apparently, the problem is the shape of the molecule. It's a chain-like structure and, depending on the brand, needs to be broken down a little further to be bioavailable to the plant. In soil these additives work a little better than hydro, since soil has the microbes to do the breaking down. But they need to be added as soon as the plant is established through flower... shut it down a couple weeks before harvest.

In soil I still use Silica Blast on occasion. It's easy, cheap, and doesn't have the wild pH swings that occure with products like Armor Si. Armor Si will give a pH value of 11 after its mixed and definitely needs to be adjusted before giving it to your plant.

PH works on a logarithmic scale so every whole number is 10 times more acidic or basic than the last... 6.5 is 10 times more basic than 5.5, but 100 times more basic than 4.5. It sounds a little wierd, but thats how it works. A pH of 11 is 100000 times more basic than 6.

Most Silicas have pH issues. It's a problematic element for us pot farmers. Sorta like Calcium it doesn't get along with other elements. In hydro it needs to be added first and mixed thoroughly in pure water before adding other nutes. Some use Silica products to regulate pH. Not a good idea.. This is a problem because they are adding it to a res. full of other nutrients. Silica will bring other elements out of solution rendering them useless (in hydro). So you may be regulating your pH, or for a boost in Potassium, but your actually weakening your nutrient load. And the change in pH doesn't last as long as it could if using a buffering solution. Don't add Silica to nutrient water, just pure RO water or bottled.

Mono-Silicic Acid... MSA is a much more bioavailable additive than Pottasium Silicate. It's generally only used in hydro since It's too expensive for use in drain to waste applications. Silica is a immobile element in a plant. In hydro it always needs to be available to the plant for it to work. It will not move inside the plant like your NPK. But, MSA is a far superior product than those with Potassium. The molecule is a single structure. It files through the cell membranes of a root system unimpeded and goes to work immediately in the plant.

The first MSA product I used was Facilitor from Aptus. It's a wonderful product, but stupid expensive. That first grow gave me my first 1 pound plant.

The second pic shows the harvest of the 2 plants that season. On the table was the pound plant. In the jars is the other which did a little over 10oz. This was quite a while ago, so I was all excited.

I just couldn't see paying so much for a tiny jar of one of the most prolific elements on the planet. I've seen it for sale in Canada for $1 per ml. Ridiculous.

So I moved on to Power Si. It's about $50 per 250ml. Spendy? You bet, but far cheaper than Facilitor, and rumor has it they were both designed by the same guy. Power Si got me through the August that I grew Wembley. I talked about it a bit in one of my little videos. It was 110F outside, and 102 inside my growroom. This was just 1 day, it was regularly over 90 that season. Here are 3 of the 4 plants that did 50oz that season. The 4th plant was in the closet (second/third pic it was in dirt)


Silica works really well at saving plants from hot/cold environments, humidity, or lack of humidity, over/under watering, helps protect against chewing insects and fungal pathogens like PM. It hardens cell walls, and is pivotal for growing large plants. It's also what makes up the body of trichomes, and makes for a much more robust circulatory system (both floem and xylem) so the shit is important to us. It actually does a lot more than the benefits I high lighted above. Look it up for the complete list, then go get some.

I have been having issues with Power Si lately... for about a year and a half I guess. It isn't mixing completely in water, and sinking to the bottom of my res. pH usually goes the other way with MSA. It's usually around 2 once mixed in water. But this shit is not as stable as it once was and it gets worse with the age of an open bottle. It's too expensive for this, so I will be looking for a new product.

MSA Stout by Alchemist... I bought a bottle of this product to try. I have one last dose of Power Si and I think that will be my last. So, MSA is only $50 a gallon. Granted, the dosage is much larger, but if it's stable, has a shelf life, and does what it should then I'm gonna use it.

Ok, so there's my speech on Silica. There's a ton more to it, and if you chose to use it read about it from reputable sources. Rumors and pseudo science abound. Knowledge is power do some reading. I can say that if you you are using MH/HPS or CMH lights and have temp issues Silica is a hell of a good thing. Steer clear of Rhino Skin, Armor Si, and other Potassium based products in hydro and use a mono-silicic acid if you can afford to... Im on the search for less expensive alternatives, but as I write this the only decent options are spendy. Cheers

Oh, and if you see a video here with a black screen don't click og the green hexagon placed on the clip. Click on the underlined sentence to the left of the hexagon.

Youtube has been diligently editing my videos to save our children from the horrors of pot farming. You can still watch them... I have 250 or so on YouTube, but you gotta click on the link in the paragraph not the THC green hexagon. Just an FYI.

I just wanted to take a second to wish you a happy Labor Day filled with sticky, stinky treats and piles of munchies. Cheers

Real quick... a coue pics showing the speed of growth with gas. The first pics are from the 3rd

These pics below are from today. The first pics aren't a very good comparison due to their POV, but you can definitely see a difference.


They're on target for a 2 month veg. Not sure I'll stop there, but we'll see. The closet plant will outgrow its space, but I will just wrap the branches around the base of the plant in the SCROG so the branches don't get too long.

The 2 in hydro are ultra dense. I defoliate everytime I'm out there to keep the new stuff in the light. I really need to unclip the branches and get in there to make sure it's open inside. Not schwaz it, but remove the stuff that isn't doing much. I'm a few days from a nute change. Have a happy Labor Day!

I did a nute change today... to be honest I'm still in the middle of it. One major change is the use of a new Silica. You may remember I bought a new one. MSA Stout from Alchemist. It's about $55 for a gallon, which may sound like a deal if you know mono-silicic acid, but the dose is 5 times larger than other like products so it IS more economical, but not cheap.

The addition of this new additive brought some surprises. First, it's very liquid... almost like water. So it mixes easily. Power Si is almost like pancake syrup and Facilitor is much thicker still. This picture was taken of my mixing Power Si RO water measuring 40PPMs.

This was an older bottle,, so I believe time may have been an issue. But, I ran this test because of these issues in prior use. This new stuff went in without much drama. There was a slight clouding which usually means the additive is reacting to other nutrients, (problem) but still nothing like Power Si. My hydro guy assures me that this clouding is nothing to worry about, but I am very skeptical. There was no huge pH shift after the MSA was added. Any Silica I've used before has had a huge shift. The Potassium Silicate products go up and get more basic, the mono-silicic products dip toward the acidic. There was a slight pH shift and it went in the right direction, but only went to 4.8, no sweat. This could mean a couple things... the people who made this stuff know what they are doing, or there isn't enough of the good stuff in it to move the needle very far. I'm hoping for the first one. Alchemist IS a chemical company. Not some brotha in the shed banging away at various products trying to make something work. I've been using their pure alcohol and 34% peroxide for years. My fingers are crossed hoping for a positive result.

The base nutes and additives are, or will be added in this order and volume. Calcium is from Botanicare and gets a full dose. I don't like adding calcium later if I can help it. Micro gets a full dose. Bloom nute. gets a half dose as does the Grow nutrient. I will add more later once the PPMs go down a tad. This works well because they will get plenty now and then a brand new fresh dose later without ending up with 1450PPMs at the end of the day. For the rest Floralicious, Rapidstart, teas, etc, I can add a partial dose now and more over the life of this nutrient mix. Hydroguard will get 150% dose and more added every week till the next change.

All the finicky products ( Silica, Calmag, and Micro nutes) are in so the rest is easy. I've been thinking of adding Cytoplus from Bioag. It has a bit more Potassium and humates so it's easy on the plants. My rational is it may help jump start the smaller plant, it's definitely slower than the other hydro plant. It doesn't seem to be ailing at all, just slow. But Cytoplus makes a damn mess, so im on the fence.

Hope all is well with you.

A brief video:

My man!!!! Killin it

Aqua Man said:

My man!!!! Killin it

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Awe thanks bro. Still got a ways to go. Hoping the second hydro plant finds second gear before flower, but again plenty of time.

So, you were saying you've taken a little break? What's next? I'd like to watch

Thanks for the words of ecouragement!

stltoed said:

Awe thanks bro. Still got a ways to go. Hoping the second hydro plant finds second gear before flower, but again plenty of time.

So, you were saying you've taken a little break? What's next? I'd like to watch

Thanks for the words of ecouragement!

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I'm not sure when... tried to plan a grow but everytime life gets in the way so just taking shit day by day and living vicariously through you all lol.

Aqua Man said:

I'm not sure when... tried to plan a grow but everytime life gets in the way so just taking shit day by day and living vicariously through you all lol.

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I'm honored! Be sure to let me know when you're back among the sticky fingered.

Hey man, have you used gas at all? I'm still pretty "green" at it, figured you might be the one to bury in questions