DWC First Time Hydro Grow

[sog1313]

Hi farmers. I've had this grow going for about a month now, but I've finally got something to show for it so I would like to share my first time experience with growing hydro. I chose the DWC bucket method because it seemed simple and I already had most of the components for the buckets just sitting around my house. I used to grow in soil but since i moved to a rented apartment I don't really have the space for large containers or bags of soil. I'm running 2 2 gallon buckets in an old cabinet I have. It is 2' W x 1' D x 5' H. I've got it set up so the plants are growing in the upper 3.5 feet and the bottom space is used to house my supplies. This grow has really been a challenge since the room is very interior to the house and it has no vents to the outside save for the door. The main challenge has been keeping the temps managed. Summer in the south can be harsh even with the AC running all day. However, my plants seem to like their habitat so I'm not complaining. Now for some technical details...

2 x 2 gallon DWC buckets
Botanicare pure blend pro Grow and Bloom nutes
Botanicare CalMag+
Hygrozyme
150W HPS light
2 x 25W cool white CFLs for supplement
2 big box store high velocity fans to move cool air through the room and cab
2 computer case fans to cool my ballast and move air at night when the other fans are off.
18/6 light schedule
2/3 strength nutrient regiment (about 850 PPM including the water which is filtered tap)

Plants were grown from seed. I don't know what they are, I got them from a friend out of his bag. I've been calling them KT after my friend. They started off in soil and I moved the 2 females out of 5 plants into the buckets after they showed. After recovering from their transplant shock and growing new roots they began to flower madly even though they are not in 12/12 so I surmise that they have some autoflower genes in them. I have been LSTing them since they were old enough to bend but they do not respond as well as other strains Ive grown. Tight nodes and reluctant branching. As Ive said, they are now just over a month old and in another week I will flip them to 12/12. I would welcome any comments/criticism or advice except for about how low-budget this whole thing is. This has been and will be a great learning experience for me. Ive wanted to try this for a long time. Thanks for letting me share it with you guys. Now, here are some (crappy) pics. They are:

- My cab
- The inside of the cab
- The two plants together. KT1 on the left, KT3 on the right
- A closeup of KT1
- Another of KT1
- KT3

Thanks everybody. I'll keep you posted. As these are baggies I'm sure we're all in for a pleasant surprise.

Good growing. peace.

 

[sog1313]

Thanks for stopping by GoD. I love doing DIY grows. It really forces you to be creative instead of just doing it out-of-the-box style. My girls are loving it though so I must be on the right track. I feel you on the stress too. If im not in the garden Im thinking about what i would be doing and whether their temps and pHs are ok and if the lights are close enough and a million other things. I really like the fast pace of a hydro grow though. I can make a change in the morning and see the results by the afternoon. I guess im too impatient for soil. I would always do something to a soil grow and then agonize for days about what the affects would be. Ah well, I can only hope that one day I can grow out in the open and not have to hide in my closet.

5 days til 12/12. I'll keep it updated.

peace.

 

[sog1313]

OK so I have been looking at additives to use during bloom, and most of them seem to use molasses or some other type of sugar as one of the main ingredients. Since I'm poor, i figured I would skip the fancy label and just get some organic molasses to try out. I'm running it at 1 teaspoon per 1.5 gallons (the size of my rez) to see how my plants respond. Does anybody have any experience with molasses in hydro? What can i expect? Should i use more/less? Any help is appreciated. I've only ever used molasses before when making guano tea for a soil grow I did a few months ago, so I'm not sure what to expect here.

Thanks farmers. I'll post a real update once i flip them in a few days. With better pics.

good growing. peace.

 

[sog1313]

So the molasses didn't work out so well. Even at a tsp per 1.5gal it threw the pH way off. one of my buckets was over 7 this morning. also the water was cloudy and the airstones had some slime on them. so I changed the water in both buckets and since we are getting close to flowering I upped the PPMs to over 1000 with some extra Bloom in the mix.

So about pruning. There are some leaves and buds that are not getting very much light. Should I go ahead and cut them now or should I wait until I flip them? Ive read threads where people have gone either way. Does it really matter?

Good growing. peace.

 

[hererisssh]

Try Sucanat as an alternative to Molasses. Much easier to dissolve but you gotta get it at a natural foods store usually.

 

[sog1313]

thanks hererisssh, there are plenty of health food stores here; i'll check it out.

 

[hererisssh]

No problem man. It's granular mind you so you get way better results dissolving it in a little water that you heat up. Best of luck.

 

[sog1313]

OK so to counter the huge mass of roots growing in the buckets i went out and got another twin valve air pump and 2 more airstones. buckets now have 2 stones each and the bubbles seem to distribute more evenly around the roots now. Also threw in some H2O2 in case the slime is algae or something else thats bad for the roots. I'll post some pics the next res change, should be in a few days. peace out farmers.

 

[sog1313]

Try Sucanat as an alternative to Molasses. Much easier to dissolve but you gotta get it at a natural foods store usually.

hererisssh - the main reason i wanted to use molasses is the extra potassium it provides. does sucanat also have potassium in it?

thanks. peace.

 

[sog1313]

hererisssh - the main reason i wanted to use molasses is the extra potassium it provides. does sucanat also have potassium in it?

thanks. peace.

answered my own question after a "no duh" moment. sucanat is raw sugar which means it has molasses, which means it has potassium and everything else molasses has. no duh.

Anyway, we have made it through Day 1 of flowering. I swear my girls already think they were in flowering but now it is official. I think I;m going to replace those 2 blue CLFs with 2 that have more red in them, also higher wattage. Those are 20W ill see if i can step them up to, well, whatever walmart has thats higher than 20. there is still some slimy stuff on the roots of one of my girls. it has kind of a yellow/brown look to it. I hope it is just some funk from the molasses and not the dreaded root rot. it doesnt seem to be affecting the health of the plant so ill just keep an eye on it for now.

I'm still waiting for my camera to charge up, pics to follow.

thanks for stopping by.
peace.

 

[sog1313]

OK so rechargeable batteries f'n suck for cameras. Anyway, got some pics. As i was taking the root pics i noticed that there were some really dead looking roots hanging around, presumably from when i transplanted them into the buckets. I pulled them off as i figured they might be rotting and spreading junk to otherwise healthy roots.

So, pictures.
1-3 are my star girl KT1
4-6 are her little sister KT3
7&8 are root shots of KT3 and KT1, respectively.

BTW if anybody notices any problems with my plants, please let me know. I still do not have the experienced eye for catching problems early.

Thanks for stopping by.
peace.

 

[sog1313]

Just a quick update. Whatever was bothering the roots seems to have gone away. I guess the H2O2 treatment did the trick. the pH is much more stable now and there is a ton of new root growth. white and healthy. I've been putting bottles of ice in the rez to bring the temps down from about 75 to about 70, that should make them happy. Anyway, we are now on Day 5 of flowering. KT1 is still budding like crazy. KT3 not so much,she seems to be stretching more than anything right now. hopefully she'll pack on the weight in a few weeks. I've been looking at some additives to help with flowering. Has anyone used Hydroplex from Botanicare? Also, has anyone used Aquaguard (also from Botanicare) in conjunction with Hygrozyme? I know one is an enzyme and the other is bacterial but do they interact negatively? Appreciate any insights here before I spend the $$. Couple of pics. Only had time to photo KT1 this morning. Will take a few more of KT3 later.

The pics are:
1 - KT1's main cola. Don't worry about the spots, they are just some scorching from where i accidentally lifted the plant into the light.
2 - KT1 from the side
3 - KT1 from the top

One thing i noticed is that a lot of the smaller new leaves have been curling under. What could be causing this? My pH is normal, could it be overfeeding? They are at about 1200 PPM right now.

Thanks for stopping by. Peace!

 

[sog1313]

As promised some pics of my lady KT3 as well as some more glamor shots of KT1 (shes my favorite). Did I mention that KT1 has the distinct aroma of lemon candy? I'm so happy, ive never grown a lemony plant before :mmm Anyway, sorry the pics are crappy, had to take them with my phone (again)

1 - KT3 from the top
2 - KT3, a bud site
3 - KT3 from the side
4&5 - bud shots from KT1

Thanks for stopping by farmers! Still havent heard anything about using Aquashield and Hygrozyme together, or anything about the leaf curl if anyone wants to chime in...
Peace!

 

[hererisssh]

They're curling because they're overfertilized, try backing down to 1000.

 

[sog1313]

Thanks hererisssh! I was thinking along those lines, but I wanted to hear it from someone more experienced than I. I'll replace some of their nute solution with plain water tomrrow.

<---- Hydro-noob.

thanks for looking out for me!

 

[Papa]

Hey sog1313, nice job. you're bring back memories for me too.

if you can get reflectors on those CFLs, you'll double the amount of light they're contibuting to the ladies.










Papa

 

[sog1313]

thanks for the tip papa, I was wondering if some reflectors would make much of a difference, but I guess every lumen counts when youre doing a grow this small. also going to see if i can get some 40W CFLs the next time i go to the store. that will make a difference for sure.

A quick update - the pH has been extremely stable the past few days, not getting above 6.5 over the course of 24 hours. Whatever was affecting my roots/rez seems to be completely gone now (yay H2O2). I dropped the PPMs down this morning to 1000-1050 (i cant tell for sure, my meter only has 3 digits, so i have to x10 when its over 1000). Should I expect the curled leaves to fluff back out or will they stay that way? Hopefully they at least wont curl any more. This is a great experience for me so far, learning what works and what doesnt on a small scale. It really is frustrating working with bag seeds though. Even though im sure Ill end up with something halfway decent, its tough trying to dial in. I can't wait to get more space and more $$ so I can scale UP!! If that prop passes in Cali I might be heading out west to start my very own 5x5 with quality genes.

Thanks for stopping by my humble grow. Peace farmers!

 

[sog1313]

OK so this morning I put in 2 higher wattage CFLs (40W) for a total of 5000 additional lumens and I got 2 shop lights and used their domes as reflectors (thanks again papa) so my ladies should be enjoying lots of extra red-spectrum light to feed on. I'm now up to about 20000 lumens, or about 7000 lumens per square foot. I'm already thinking about my next grow where, if i can get my hands on a decently priced cooltube or parts for a DIY, i can run a 400W HPS instead of the 150. man wouldnt that be something. 2 plants sharing 50000 lumens.

peace farmers!

 

[sog1313]

Its rez changing time, so that means more pictures! This is somewhere around day 9 of flower. They seem to be doing well. I scrubbed the shit (literally) out of their buckets and gave them about 1000 PPMs of fresh nutes and hygrozyme.
KT3 still doesnt have much to show, but she's gettin there.

So, the pics...
1 - KT3s main cola, if you can call it that
2 - KT3 from the side. Shes getting nice and bushy
3&4 - KT1 from the side
5 - KT1s cola
6 - KT1 from the top

Thanks for stopping by. Peace!

 

[sog1313]

Well it was rez change yesterday so that means its update with pics today! They are both starting to feed heavier now as they get further into flowering. I had to add some nutes with the top-off the last couple days of that rez. I guess we are into day 17 or 18 now. KT3 has FINALLY started taking off. She has a nice cola and several branches that have finished stretching and started putting on buds. KT1 hasnt grown much larger but she sure is getting fat. Her buds are nice and thick while KT1's seem to be tighter and smaller. Its interesting because these were supposed to be seeds from the same plant. however, i didnt pick the seeds myself, i got them from a friend and he may have mixed in seeds from a few different bags.

Is there anyway to tell, based on pictures or descriptions of the plants whether they are indica or sativa dominant? i know its almost impossible to put a name to them, but just knowing that much would be great. I can tell you that they both smell lemony with a hint of musk and the popcorn that ive smoked has a sweet citrus taste with a minty finish. mmm, so tasty.

And now pictures...

1&2 - KT3's beautiful new colas
3 - KT3 from the top. Had to tie her up to control the bushing
4 - KT1's main cola
5&6 - KT1 from the side, couple different angles
7 - KT1 from the top

Thanks for tuning in. Peace farmers!