Dirbags Rockin' Rockwool Revival Thread

[Anthem]

No, they grew right up through the hanging twine, so I call that my second trellis lol. I just tied them to the twine with green ties.

I see it now. I use the 31/2" trellis material and I try to get a stem per hole. It is sure faster than stacking every branch but come time to chopped you have to be patient to get the stems out of the trellis.

 

[Dirtbag]

I see it now. I use the 31/2" trellis material and I try to get a stem per hole. It is sure faster than stacking every branch but come time to chopped you have to be patient to get the stems out of the trellis.

Right.. this is 5x7" netting I believe. I dont even really train the plants, I just pulled leaves off and let them grow through the net.

At harvest its easy to pull the branches out of the big net holes.

 

[Anthem]

I'm out for a few months bro... its funny you say that. It was discussed and may happen where I'm moving my equipment to for a cycle. Until I start up again.

I will believe that when we see it AM!!!
What is it 3 months with no grow going?

 

[Aqua Man]

I will believe that when we see it AM!!!
What is it 3 months with no grow going?

Probably close and prob another 3 months before I do one here. Until then I'll live vicariously through you all

 

[MIMedGrower]

Very cool! I’m in for the rest of the show.

 

[Dirtbag]

I should mention a couple things. Mainly in regard to my defoliation technique, I'm only trying this because I'm growing in hydroponics and really do not need those large storage leaves for any reason. All they do is swamp the room with crazy humidity.. all the plants need in a high output system like rockwool is the tips, the small leaves that emerge at the base of the bud at budset and from the buds themselves. So the big leaves go.
Also I've been trying a few other tweaks and running dyna gro nutes. Really loving them actually.

✌

 

[Dirtbag]

A little 2 week old wedding crasher clone I've been keeping under T5. Mom for the next run.
Can't tell you how much I love running these delta blocks. So freakin easy and they work really well. Better than anything I've used before.

 

[Dirtbag]

Tonight's addition...

Wedding crasher is stacking hard! Spiked punch is the tall towers in the back and is also really filling in nice. Had a power surge today, gfci tripped and missed 2 waterings. No big deal. Gave them a little rinse and we're back on track. The pitfalls of living on an island.. gotta check in on hydro every day, no ifs ands or buts...

 

[Progshim]

@Dirtbag
I'm new, never heard of Unislabs, but after reading this I'm gonna do the research. Great job documenting, thanks.

 

[j1sonbrother]

Compared with Hugo, does unislab irrigate more than twice a day during flowering？ （Are u hand watering this time）

 

[Dirtbag]

Compared with Hugo, does unislab irrigate more than twice a day during flowering？ （Are u hand watering this time）

I'm watering 5 times during lights on and once during lights off, automated. I fed the first 2 weeks on slabs once a day by hand, but once trellis went in I automated and started adding more waterings.

 

[j1sonbrother]

I'm watering 5 times during lights on and once during lights off, automated. I fed the first 2 weeks on slabs once a day by hand, but once trellis went in I automated and started adding more waterings.

Thanks , Dirbag,
I am wondering that If cut the rockwool into small pieces and put it in a 3 or 5-Gal , Will this work well？

 

[Dirtbag]

Thanks , Dirbag,
I am wondering that If cut the rockwool into small pieces and put it in a 3 or 5-Gal , Will this work well？

Yeah ive grown that way too,but I wouldn't cut up rockwool slabs, you can just buy rockwool chunks and loose rockwool flock specifically for filling pots with.

 

[Smithers]

Along for the ride.

 

[amekins]

I should mention a couple things. Mainly in regard to my defoliation technique, I'm only trying this because I'm growing in hydroponics and really do not need those large storage leaves for any reason. All they do is swamp the room with crazy humidity.. all the plants need in a high output system like rockwool is the tips, the small leaves that emerge at the base of the bud at budset and from the buds themselves. So the big leaves go.
Also I've been trying a few other tweaks and running dyna gro nutes. Really loving them actually.

✌

View attachment 1116152

I’m actually using dyna gro for the four current outdoor plants. So far, great.

 

[Dirtbag]

I’m actually using dyna gro for the four current outdoor plants. So far, great.

I really like it. It's amazing how little you need to use, a gallon of foliage pro will last forever.

 

[Dirtbag]

Something I'm trying this round is reusing my runoff. I've always rocked dtw but got tired of literally dumping tens of gallons of runoff per week that was 1.5ec.. so instead lately I've been dumping it back into my 55 gallon water holding tank where it dilutes in the tank. Then it goes through a 2 stage cannister filter down to relative 1 micron and through a UV light before going in the res, where I adjust it back up to 1.2-1.3ec with more nutrients.

Why not.. screw throwing away runoff nutrients when I have a UV system. I just can't reuse it too often, which I never will. I refil my holding tank weekly and it only ever gets a little runoff dumped into it.

 

[Dirtbag]

Weekend update.. day 30 of 12/12. The room is filling in beautifully. Recycled nutrient solution is working well, things look healthy and not under or overfed in anything in particular. Amazing how fast the leaves grow back. But importantly, where they grow back.

My theory behind this is that fan leaves are necessary, but that doesn't mean stripping them is complete bro science. Removing older less efficient leaves during the plants time of transition allows more efficient newer leaves to replace them and do the work to uptake the most nutrients where they are better utilized for bud production during the flower cycle. Sort of like a corporate restructuring... out with the old and in with the the new lol.. All the while, greatly increasing airflow and gas exchange, and improving light penetration to every budsite. Two important things to consider when the plants are growing this fast and fill the room this densely.


Sure it might sound like bro science but in my mind, results don't lie. And this doesn't look too bad to me for a 3 week veg and 4 weeks in flower.

Remember this lady?

Here is what she looks like now

My take on defoliation is that it's a very valuable tool when growing in a high output hydroponic garden that doesn't have a cec. Next grow I plan to strip them even harder for sure.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Sorry. Plants dont need the light directly on the flowers. They have tiny leaves and provide the least amount of photosynthesis. Airflow however and max light penetration to lower leaves will grow more flowers and can help some strains with bud density imo. And there is definitely some stretch control possible with leaf removal. Remove the leaves and that branch can’t grow properly anymore. It could be stunted from lack of nitrogen or stretch wildly because of lack of potassium.

mostly I think defoliation makes it easier to see the flowers and we think there are more. I wish someone would do a proper side by side with the same cuts. I would have tore start everything for that.


I wish you had done some yield comparisons. I was hoping for them since the original shed thread. I don’t remember you posting any numbers.

awesome results again here. I wish I could grow so consistently well.

 

[Dirtbag]

Sorry. Plants dont need the light directly on the flowers. They have tiny leaves and provide the least amount of photosynthesis. Airflow however and max light penetration to lower leaves will grow more flowers and can help some strains with bud density imo. And there is definitely some stretch control possible with leaf removal. Remove the leaves and that branch can’t grow properly anymore. It could be stunted from lack of nitrogen or stretch wildly because of lack of potassium.

mostly I think defoliation makes it easier to see the flowers and we think there are more. I wish someone would do a proper side by side with the same cuts. I would have tore start everything for that.


I wish you had done some yield comparisons. I was hoping for them since the original shed thread. I don’t remember you posting any numbers.

awesome results again here. I wish I could grow so consistently well.

Youre underestimating how sweaty and crowded a rockwool grow gets. I can tell you one thing, there is no way I could grow these plants in here without pulling either leaves or branches, it was so humid it was insane. It would only be worse now weeks later.

As for stretching like crazy, the wild Internode length on that one plant above is a characteristic of that strain. The strain in the front has extremely tight internode spacing and is a foot shorter than the plants in the back. I'm not sure if it's more receptive to the gibberellic acid in the massive im feeding but could be.

Either way, I've had major doubts about defoliating forever myself. I no longer do. I saw zero slow down in growth and if anything saw an explosion in the size of the buds all the way down the plants.

As for a side by side, the alternative method would be removing branches and lower budsites instead of leaves to increase airflow and concentrate growth up top. I have no doubt it would result in bigger main tops, but I'm not sure it would outyield the room thats leaving every branch and budsite intact and just improving airflow and light penetration into the canopy. But regardless, I'm seeing no negatives and only positive results so far. And again, I couldn't have just left them to grow naturally or they would have choked themselves out, likely resulting in PM and a barrel of larf. There is nothing natural about the way these are growing.