First Time.

[smoke]

So far yeah. It's been pretty simple. I should've wired the RO pump into a switch but the RO system was an afterthought so I run a small extension cord when I need it.

I would run return lines lower or install a seperate pump for emptying the resevoirs because right now, when I do a res change, there's still an inch or more of water in the bottom of the plant res. I don't like that.

I would probably go with a larger control resevoir and an extra pump or two that just circulates that water, something to mix the the added nutes.

After a few harvests, this closet will become the water room and I'll have a veg and flower room on seperate systems. Life hit me with a potential detour, though, and I may only be able to get one harvest in before traveling with the family for work. Nothing's on paper yet but the GC of the recent project I wired wants me to follow them and be their electrician. With the wife on board to try out the camper life for a while, the money is something I shouldn't pass up.

You picked a good trade imo

 

[GrumpAzz]

You picked a good trade imo

5 years ago I read something like 50% or more of licensed electricians were over the age of 55. Here pretty soon, we'll be in very high demand.

 

[GrumpAzz]

That sounds awesome dude, could be fun adventure with the family especially with your wife being up for it.

She's the fuckin' best, really. I wouldn't consider it at all if they had to stay behind. My little booger is just over a year old and she grows so fast. I couldn't stand to be gone from her more than a day, let alone months.

 

[smoke]

I would run return lines lower or install a seperate pump for emptying the resevoirs because right now, when I do a res change, there's still an inch or more of water in the bottom of the plant res. I don't like that.

Saving some of the old water to mix with the new when doing a change is something i intentionally do.

 

[Cool_Beans]

Saving some of the old water to mix with the new when doing a change is something i intentionally do.

So your method works off whatever flora/bac develops naturally in your system vs adding bennys? Like sourdough vs yeast bread I dig it.

 

[GrumpAzz]

Saving some of the old water to mix with the new when doing a change is something i intentionally do.

Well alright then. I won't let it bother me anymore

 

[smoke]

So your method works off whatever flora/bac develops naturally in your system vs adding bennys? Like sourdough vs yeast bread I dig it.

I don't know why my system works but imo it has more benefits than it does deternents.

Looking at my last response @Aqua Man gave me a bullseye that he agrees.

But yes it may very well be a bread type thing

 

[Aqua Man]

I don't know why my system works but imo it has more benefits than it does deternents.

Looking at my last response @Aqua Man gave me a bullseye that he agrees.

But yes it may very well be a bread type thing

Yeah its better for the preservation of bennies… they do occur naturally and once they do or you inoculate a system if you keep the population healthy you dont need to add anything. They are basically self sustaining.

Thats why in aquaculture and aquariums you never change more than 50% of the water at one time. Usually 25% a week but i base it off bioload.

Its also part of the EI system that keeps nutrient ratio in balance when not doing a complete changeout

If going sterile this does not matter

 

[Aqua Man]

Come to think of it @smoke thats probably the reason for your success with nothing added

 

[smoke]

So your method works off whatever flora/bac develops naturally in your system vs adding bennys? Like sourdough vs yeast bread I dig it.

I want to add, moe mentioned quite a while ago that just the film on tge buckets is enough to start a new colony

 

[smoke]

Come to think of it @smoke thats probably the reason for your success with nothing added

Maybe, but where/how did it start?

 

[Aqua Man]

I want to add, moe mentioned quite a while ago that just the film on tge buckets is enough to start a new colony

Correct and should not be wiped off either.

But the issues come from the additional chlorine. If doing a complete changeout you lose most of the bacteria and the amount of chlorine added is likely enough to almost finish off the rest. Chlorine breaks w when it reacts with organic matter. So if your changing 25-50% the concentration is not enough to wipe them out.

With most supplies using chloramine these days it will stay in a system for weeks until it has broken down naturally or through reactions.

Bacteria can reproduce extremely fast with some species doubling in I believe as little as 5-10 minutes in the right conditions.

 

[Aqua Man]

Maybe, but where/how did it start?

They already exist everywhere the main source is anywhere water meets air mainly air pumps or the water surface which is important to be agitated for aeration.

Nitrifying bacteria can take up to 4 weeks to populate naturally but many things contribute and can be much faster. With inoculation this occurs in days.

I have tested and verified a fair bit of this myself. Its 100% quantifiable with a simple aquarium test kit for free ammonia, nitrite and nitrate

 

[smoke]

They already exist everywhere the main source is anywhere water meets air mainly air pumps or the water surface which is important to be agitated for aeration.

Nitrifying bacteria can take up to 4 weeks to populate naturally but many things contribute and can be much faster. With inoculation this occurs in days.

I have tested and verified a fair bit of this myself. Its 100% quantifiable with a simple aquarium test kit for free ammonia, nitrite and nitrate

Im on well water ro, can say i remember what the water @GrumpAzz is on, i think city water then water softener then ro.

Its in the details, sorry for hijacking gramp

 

[Aqua Man]

Im on well water ro, can say i remember what the water @GrumpAzz is on, i think city water then water softener then ro.

Its in the details, sorry for hijacking gramp

100% brother its always in the details

 

[moe.red]

OMG I missed like a month here or something. Plants and training look great. I see you are in great hands here!

 

[GrumpAzz]

Im on well water ro, can say i remember what the water @GrumpAzz is on, i think city water then water softener then ro.

Its in the details, sorry for hijacking gramp

I run sofetened shitty city water through my RO/DI system. Before the RO, we're talkin 500ppms. The filters remove virtually everything.

OMG I missed like a month here or something. Plants and training look great. I see you are in great hands here!

Haha. It's been a busy few days, my man. Aqua sees all and smoke has been all about helping so even though you've been missed, the plant hasn't missed a beat. She's done a lot of stretching today and will likely have more for me to tie down tonight. Ph has been 5.8 since yesterday morning! WOOT WOOT

 

[moe.red]

I run sofetened shitty city water through my RO/DI system. Before the RO, we're talkin 500ppms. The filters remove virtually everything.

Haha. It's been a busy few days, my man. Aqua sees all and smoke has been all about helping so even though you've been missed, the plant hasn't missed a beat. She's done a lot of stretching today and will likely have more for me to tie down tonight. Ph has been 5.8 since yesterday morning! WOOT WOOT

Happy for you man. Keep it on the fairway all the way to harvest.

 

[Rootsruler]

I run sofetened shitty city water through my RO/DI system. Before the RO, we're talkin 500ppms. The filters remove virtually everything.

Haha. It's been a busy few days, my man. Aqua sees all and smoke has been all about helping so even though you've been missed, the plant hasn't missed a beat. She's done a lot of stretching today and will likely have more for me to tie down tonight. Ph has been 5.8 since yesterday morning! WOOT WOOT

Comin' in 5 x 5.....these next few weeks should see some real growth. Sounds like your solutions are stabilizing.

 

[GrumpAzz]

Tied her down a little more. Growth already headed upright.
Last night-

This morning-

 

[Rootsruler]

The top two branches you bent over will be the top of your canopy. If you're going to net the plant use it as your LST guide as you're training.

 

[GrumpAzz]

The top two branches you bent over will be the top of your canopy. If you're going to net the plant use it as your LST guide as you're training.

The screen I have built will sit 12" above the lid. Should I shorten it up and just use it instead of tying them down to the hooks? I guess I've been assuming the plant will continue to grow taller as it mutures and figured I would be adjusting my ties accordingly until it was ready for the net. I don't really know how she's gonna grow once she's been tied down though, so

 

[GrumpAzz]

Snipped the lowest branches off tonight. Still sitting at 5.8 and she's been drinking more than a quarter of a gallon and ppms have stuck around 320-330. The smell has gotten a little sweeter and this root is getting pretty serious.

 

[GrumpAzz]

Reminder to not get complacent...

The heater decided to shit out last night. I'll check it out here in a few when I can get cleaned up. The 69 shows that it's still running, but the temps dropped to the low 70s, until the light kicked on. I'm not too worried about it, considering some people intentionally drop the temps at night. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Rootsruler]

The screen I have built will sit 12" above the lid. Should I shorten it up and just use it instead of tying them down to the hooks? I guess I've been assuming the plant will continue to grow taller as it mutures and figured I would be adjusting my ties accordingly until it was ready for the net. I don't really know how she's gonna grow once she's been tied down though, so

You can do it either way. I do LST to establish main branches and to shape the plant then LST using the net in place.

 

[GrumpAzz]

You can do it either way. I do LST to establish main branches and to shape the plant then LST using the net in place.

I think that's what I had in mind. I'll be topping one more time here pretty soon. I can see the little guys that'll get the snip. I wanna let them straighten out and head to the light beforehand. Then I've got four tops that are spead out a bit to work with. When those gain a couple inches in height is when the screen will get placed. Can I, or should I top those secodary colas? The other two I have tied down, in case my terminology is incorrect. Then I would have 4 mains and 4 secondaries to work around the screen.

On another note...
$30 later and we're back in business. Pricey space heater but Walmart was all out

 

[Rootsruler]

I think that's what I had in mind. I'll be topping one more time here pretty soon. I can see the little guys that'll get the snip. I wanna let them straighten out and head to the light beforehand. Then I've got four tops that are spead out a bit to work with. When those gain a couple inches in height is when the screen will get placed. Can I, or should I top those secodary colas? The other two I have tied down, in case my terminology is incorrect. Then I would have 4 mains and 4 secondaries to work around the screen.

On another note...
$30 later and we're back in business. Pricey space heater but Walmart was all out

Depends on how many colas you want. Topping again will increase veg time. It might be better to FIM them rather than top it again. Once is good to do to break the apical dominance but I think it's better that you FIM as many sites as you can to multiply the bud sites without having to slow down veg.

That's not to say that topping again is wrong in any way. Really depends on you and what you want to do.

 

[GrumpAzz]

Depends on how many colas you want. Topping again will increase veg time. It might be better to FIM them rather than top it again. Once is good to do to break the apical dominance but I think it's better that you FIM as many sites as you can to multiply the bud sites without having to slow down veg.

That's not to say that topping again is wrong in any way. Really depends on you and what you want to do.

I just made my plan with CG's method in mind, topping twice and then one FIM before flip. Veg time isn't much of a concern for me. She's in a 14 gallon tote with plenty of room to grow.

This plan of mine has no real direction besides seeing how she responds to what and a fuzzy picture in my head of the process.

 

[Rootsruler]

I just made my plan with CG's method in mind, topping twice and then one FIM before flip. Veg time isn't much of a concern for me. She's in a 14 gallon tote with plenty of room to grow.

This plan of mine has no real direction besides seeing how she responds to what and a fuzzy picture in my head of the process.

I laugh because you have no idea the root ball you will be contending with!!! A buddy and I did DWC in 30 gal trash cans and the root ball was ENORMOUS!!!

That's cool. CG's method is just as viable. Check out how mainlining is done and it'll give you some insights into topping and its effects both good and bad.

 

[GrumpAzz]

I laugh because you have no idea the root ball you will be contending with!!! A buddy and I did DWC in 30 gal trash cans and the root ball was ENORMOUS!!!

That's cool. CG's method is just as viable. Check out how mainlining is done and it'll give you some insights into topping and its effects both good and bad.

I feel like I've heard the term but I'll look into it, Thanks.

When I first started drawing this up at the Farm, I had 18 gallon totes on there. Moe came in and said something along the lines of "18 gallons is overkill unless you're trying to grow literal trees"

 

[smoke]

I feel like I've heard the term but I'll look into it, Thanks.

When I first started drawing this up at the Farm, I had 18 gallon totes on there. Moe came in and said something along the lines of "18 gallons is overkill unless you're trying to grow literal trees"

I grow mine in 13 gal totes

 

[GrumpAzz]

I grow mine in 13 gal totes

Yeah I think he referenced you with a couple pics back then. I dropped down to 14's because the next size down available to me was 8 gallons and that just looked so tiny.

Smell hit me pretty hard this morning. She seems to be doing wonderful. She's drank 2.5 gallons since we did the res change, I forget when that was. The 2nd or 3rd I believe.

 

[Rootsruler]

I feel like I've heard the term but I'll look into it, Thanks.

When I first started drawing this up at the Farm, I had 18 gallon totes on there. Moe came in and said something along the lines of "18 gallons is overkill unless you're trying to grow literal trees"

I'm not sure if you read the story I posted over at the farm about my buddy and I trying out DWC . He put a bunch of 30 gallon trash cans with net pots and hydroton in his dining room and when his wife came home she freaked out!!!

The plants were huge! Thankfully his dining room had tall ceilings so we grew them pretty tall.

 

[Aqua Man]

I'm not sure if you read the story I posted over at the farm about my buddy and I trying out DWC . He put a bunch of 30 gallon trash cans with net pots and hydroton in his dining room and when his wife came home she freaked out!!!

The plants were huge! Thankfully his dining room had tall ceilings so we grew them pretty tall.

It all depends on veg time and height availability. There was a guy in Edmonton that did 50gal drums outside and had 14’ plants… 14 gal is plenty indoor imo. Unless growing trees and have the space for that

 

[GrumpAzz]

I'm not sure if you read the story I posted over at the farm about my buddy and I trying out DWC . He put a bunch of 30 gallon trash cans with net pots and hydroton in his dining room and when his wife came home she freaked out!!!

The plants were huge! Thankfully his dining room had tall ceilings so we grew them pretty tall.

I remember that. It seemed like an inside joke that I wasn't a part of but now I get it. That's hilarious.

 

[GrumpAzz]

It all depends on veg time and height availability. There was a guy in Edmonton that did 50gal drums outside and had 14’ plants… 14 gal is plenty indoor imo. Unless growing trees and have the space for that

Damn now I want a country property and a bunch of drums. An outdoor RDWC sounds pretty badass!

 

[smoke]

It all depends on veg time and height availability. There was a guy in Edmonton that did 50gal drums outside and had 14’ plants… 14 gal is plenty indoor imo. Unless growing trees and have the space for that

Wasn't there a grow at the farm where he had everything buried in a greenhouse i think they were 45 gal barrels

 

[Aqua Man]

Wasn't there a grow at the farm where he had everything buried in a greenhouse i think they were 45 gal barrels

Yeah lol and he had to literally raise the roof part way through the grow… i was helping him a bit on that grow behind the scenes over wire

 

[Pipecarver]

Yeah lol and he had to literally raise the roof part way through the grow… i was helping him a bit on that grow behind the scenes over wire

Yes I remember him too, he had to put in a wood stove, buy an insulated tarp and I think he had to sleep in there a few nights before he could harvest for fear of thieves. He'd strung fishing line around the set up with fish hooks and bells or other rattlers . Got himself a warm shirt and a pair of cutters one night I think after his trap was set off making him move into his green house at night.....lol

 

[Aqua Man]

Yes I remember him too, he had to put in a wood stove, buy an insulated tarp and I think he had to sleep in there a few nights before he could harvest for fear of thieves. He'd strung fishing line around the set up with fish hooks and bells or other rattlers . Got himself a warm shirt and a pair of cutters one night I think after his trap was set off making him move into his green house at night.....lol

Haha yeah they kept trying to jack his shit… those plant were ridiculously big