mrsmarybrown
- 107
- 43
Imho the UC is a very easy way to grow if you keep it simple. Most peoples mistakes come from trying to Use prior hydro techniques in the UC. The UC is like other hydro methods it's just that the plants are able to take up everything and anything 24hrs a day. With your plants having everything readily available it takes much less salts to achieve the same results. Pushing salts, boosters and additives are most peoples downfalls. Start off slow and keep a steady pace. Don't try to push anything until you have a run or two under your belt with the same strain and then go over your notes and see at what weeks your girls ate more and when they were settled in. Then you can follow your notes and bump the ec up during the weeks you know they like to eat. I would suggest running your top off with straight ph'd ro until you know how much your girls like to be pushed. A huge benefit to this is that you can watch your ec drop in your system and when it drops .4 or so you can add back some A&B into your system to bring your ec back to where you started that week. The weeks that needed heavy add backs are the weeks your girls want to be fed. Notes notes notes....
I think if you KISS your way along you would rock dwc. I think a switch from dirt to UC is ideal for getting your roots wet. Other hydro methods have taught people to push their plants and in the UC that can cause issues fast. My only concern and it's a big one in my eyes is your well water. I have seen issue after issue with dwc and well water. I would definitely get your water tested and see exactly what you are starting with. Maybe even try a test since most people, I've noticed, see issues not long after they get roots swimming. You can make a couple bucket system easy with 5 gal buckets and 1 in pvc. No need to worry about clogging up 1 in lines with roots cause its a test and if that happens then they pass. All u would need is a use of a chiller to cool your test buckets. I have put air stones in a 5 gal and changed water once a day and have had good results, a little more work and water daily buy nothing to build. Best of luck to you and please share your journey....
When I started growing I began with a UC system and wish that i had started somewhere easier ebb and flo or a wick system. If you are a clean freak like me you shouldn't have any issue running the UC. As to yield, well first go was about 2oz per plant and that went up on the second run to 3.5oz per. I still use UC in my system today so it's worth trying.
Seems you have a good amount of uptake/knowledge goin on re this system. I'm just gonna ramble a bit like I always do if that's OK....
Not wanting to start "the" debate, but after tasting soil grown pot for so long you may be a bit disappointed by the switch. Don't get me wrong....hydro makes good pot...and the UC was fun to play with and yielded like CRAZY for me... (I sucked at it and still exceeded 8 oz per plant with a strain that was never known for density/weight) but in the end I missed my soil/guano/mad scientist fun and got tired of watchin ph/etc.
My sky high Over/under/sideways/down DIY thread may still exist here. Dunno. If I were gonna do it again I'd for sure UV the fuck out of it (pardon moi' french). I had 2 epic fails.... my own fault..for sure....but either way there were some kinda lean months in there playing catch up/waiting for that yummy soil grow to kick back in...LOL. The UC served a purpose/met (commercial) needs for awhile there but I sure wasn't focused on headstash when I was runnin' it.
Others will disagree. Some folks just kill it with these things. Then again...they also sell it all!
best of luck whatever you decide to do...
I am considering changing our air cooled reflectors and going to bare bulbs.I'd spend the money on getting ac and co2 in the room and going open hoods/bare bulbs with reflectors. Environment is way way way more important than the medium in which you grow
That's kind of my first step in my low tech room. I have a 10x20 with 8k using magnetic ballasts on 120 volts . air cooled hoods that vent outside to environment. Intake is a can fan with dust shroom. Exhaust is a slightly more powerful can fan that scrubs. This also has negative pressure to help with heat and smell.
I then just recently setup a 10x10 with ac and co2. Digital ballasts on 240 , and open bulbs in adjust a wing.
Ran the same clone with the same nutrients in identical under currents, and the low tech room looks absolutely nothing like the room.with co2.
If words have little.meaning to you and picture proof would be better at convincing you I'm not the average idiot spewing diarrhea on the farm, here's pics https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/opinions-on-new-feeding-schedule.65147/
Bottom of page 1 shows my entire low tech room and harvest. Towards page 3 shows the high tech room, same clone. Almost the last post has a side by side nug comparison.
I see the room photo on post #20, last post on page 1, is that the low tech room with the co2, it looks like the 10x20?
So apparently the only real differences are the air movement and AC, leaving time for co2 injection, and removing the the cool tubes for light intensity. Is that about right?
How often and for what periods are you injecting co2 throughout the day? How many c02 tanks would a 10x20 room use in a month. At times when not using c02 would I revert back to our original air exchange ritual at different times of the day? At what point do you start using co2, at flip or later?
So what type of medium are you rocking at present FD? Your input is greatly appreciated.
Last post on the first page is my lowtech room that's like yours. It does not have co2. And it is indeed a 10x20.
To upgrade my low tech room to match the 10x10 I would need :
Upgrade ballasts, rewire electrical for 240 volts, remove glass from hoods or replace hoods with reflectors, remove intake and exhaust, seal the room, add fans to swirl all the air around ,add co2, and add an air conditioner.
There is always co2 running when lights are on. I have a co2 controller that constantly reads the amount in the air. Its set points are 900 and 1100. So when the ppm reaches 1100 it turns off the tank. Once the plants breath in that co2 and it drops to 900 ,tank turns back on until the room reaches 1100 again. I have a timer that turns the controller off 45 mins before the lights turn off so the girls can get the co2 very low. Once lights are off, girls exhale co2 back into the room anyway. So you'll have to tinker with how your room behaves . one 35 pound tank lasted me an entire run in a 10x10 and there's prob still two days worth left in it. A 50 pound tank should last an entire grow in a 10x20. I run co2 from start of veg till harvest. I plan to get a more precise controller so I can drop co2 levels during late flower when they don't need as much. I NEVER exchange air in the room.
I'm using growstone, those rocks made out of recycled glass
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