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New RDWC Hydro Grow - Apples and Bananas - BudBuilders

I'm stoked for you bro, congrats on getting this far!
Thanks man. It's been a lot of fun and hydro was the right choice for me.

I know I gained a lot of info from one of your diaries at the farm. You and Ninja for sure had a ton of info within your threads. Then this place and it's staff has been extremely helpful once I got going. I see big buds in the future.

Good luck with your flowering my man. I'll be following along closely.
 
Got my roll of plastic net trellis coming tomorrow and thinking it's time to CannaGranny these girls and hoping to get some tips from the master, @CannaGranny through this process.

I think these gals are looking fantastic, got a nice canopy going on and my thoughts are to install that SCROG sometime within the next few days and flip to flower. So I want to install that thing and then push everything down and then just let the branches come through where they want? Is that the idea? Or perhaps I let them go longer and then do this action?



I've always just used these trellis's for support so looking forward to learning this new skill, thinking there may be a great harvest coming soon, the best I've ever had is my hopes!IMG_3139.jpegIMG_3140.jpeg
 
Let’s start with, beautiful plants! 🥰
Im a bit worried that there is no room left for a horizontal stretch. My canopy almost doubles in size width wise.
As you place your net, the idea is to lay the limbs horizontally below your scrog top. Making that easier to picture, if your plant is 16 inches tall, your net should be 12 inches tall with a minimum of four inches of limb to lay beneath the scrog top. I push mine by allowing at times my limbs to become nine or so inches taller than my table. Four is a minimum.
The day I top, meaning add my net screen whatever one uses on the table, I lollypop and go straight to flower.
Consistently the scrog method triples my cola amount. But, you have to have room for that to happen. I’m not seeing that here. Half of the plants you have there, maybe less scrogged properly will more than fill your table. Truthfully two would and still be pushing it.
That’s what hooked me on the scrog method. Much more flower with less plants.
This will be thick, fighting for light and hard to move air through. Look at every node on the limb you have turned up beneath the top and realize every node will stretch and become a bud.
That is my only concerns about this grow. What say you?
 
Thanks CG for such a detailed answer. It looks as though I might have to try this next go around, perhaps in a single site system to get a better feel for the sequence of events, which I have way out of order again! This does make sense and I just need to start thinking a bit differently in the early stages of veg. I am getting the horizontal training, just doing it with tie wires to get me where I am now, that was the way I learned and seems I am trying to combine two different methods.

Do you do any of that LST training prior to doing the scrog? Topping too?

If I am hearing you correctly, I want smaller plants, flipped sooner to master this technique?

By "table" I am assuming you mean the scrog itself? Do you install this early and let the plant grow through it, then pull the branches under when you are ready to perform this action? Or let them grow, install the scrog, and then push that down and bring everything horizontal down underneath the scrog?

I think at this stage in this grow I forget the scrog thing and just trellis what I have here, thinking it will still fill the tent and get a good amount of bud sites, go back to what I know and am familiar with until next time.
 
 
Thanks CG for such a detailed answer. It looks as though I might have to try this next go around, perhaps in a single site system to get a better feel for the sequence of events, which I have way out of order again! This does make sense and I just need to start thinking a bit differently in the early stages of veg. I am getting the horizontal training, just doing it with tie wires to get me where I am now, that was the way I learned and seems I am trying to combine two different methods.
Yes, pretty much so, as the scrog top does all of that for you. It is best to start with an untrained plant. We want that height so the table will lay or push it down horizontally when placed on top of the plants.

Do you do any of that LST training prior to doing the scrog? Topping too?

No, it’s not necessary to lst prior placing the scrog top. I do top, twice. Once at node four and then again at node two on the new growth. I fim about a week prior to putting the scrog top on.
If I am hearing you correctly, I want smaller plants, flipped sooner to master this technique?

Not so much smaller plants, just be aware of your space limitations. Actually, less plants. Three under a scrog in my five by five is really pushing it.
By "table" I am assuming you mean the scrog itself? Do you install this early and let the plant grow through it, then pull the branches under when you are ready to perform this action? Or let them grow, install the scrog, and then push that down and bring everything horizontal down underneath the scrog?
Yes, I forget that not everyone actually has a table. My scrog top is on a pvc frame that stands above my plants. My plants never see the table until the day I flip to flower. The second part of your statement is dead on. Install the scrog, and gently push the limbs below the table.

I think at this stage in this grow I forget the scrog thing and just trellis what I have here, thinking it will still fill the tent and get a good amount of bud sites, go back to what I know and am familiar with until next time.
Yes if you scrog what you have there, my greatest concern is the lack of room to stretch. I’ve no doubt you will fill the tent!
If you go look at my scrog posts, you will see I had noooo problem filling a four by four with one plant. Just one. If that gives you idea of what you are capable of using this method.
How many plants do you have in there and what is the size of your tent?
On the next grow, hit me up as soon as you get ready to do the first topping at node four and we will go step by step through the process together. Properly prepping your plant for the scrog is half of the battle.
Round one of my one plant four by four yielded 12 zip, and round two, 15. So, it best be something you really like because there will be ALOT of it!
Just hit me up, when you’re ready!

Thanks @GrumpAzz for sending Sweet to my files. 🥰
 
Yes if you scrog what you have there, my greatest concern is the lack of room to stretch. I’ve no doubt you will fill the tent!
If you go look at my scrog posts, you will see I had noooo problem filling a four by four with one plant. Just one. If that gives you idea of what you are capable of using this method.

Thanks @GrumpAzz for sending Sweet to my files. 🥰
Here's my one plant in a 5x5 with a 3x3 screen. I just flipped today and expect to see my screen filled after stretch. Granted, I didn't give it the CG smash, but it's taking up more than a 2x2 space on it's own, before the stretch.
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Looking beautiful! She will without a doubt fill your screen. I see you have been pushing her under the top and stretching her out. Great job! I’m lazy, I let the table do all of that 🙂
 
Yeah I'm seeing how, if I were to expand, it would consume way too much time going this route.
From the time I pop seed, I’m just waiting til I can top twice and fim and it’s off to the races. I don’t spend time prefilling the table, doing lst or otherwise. My whole goal is to get those ladies at least four inches taller than my table and then it’s on!
 
From the time I pop seed, I’m just waiting til I can top twice and fim and it’s off to the races. I don’t spend time prefilling the table, doing lst or otherwise. My whole goal is to get those ladies at least four inches taller than my table and then it’s on!
More I work w plants under a trellis, the more I understand the wisdom in this.
 
My trellis was a week late getting in but I was finally able to get it installed, not a huge deal. They seem to be starting the stretch and I'm letting them grow into this one, may have to install another layer later, we'll see. This strain does stretch a bit but I am in the taller tent so good on that. Bumped the light up to 50% about a foot above the canopy. Still feeding around 600 after the res change and adjustments. PH has been trending down but hoping it stabilizes soon.

Will evaluate more when the @MrsSweetLeaf and I get back from celebrating our anniversary!

Also did some pretty aggressive defoliation getting rid of a lot of fans and branches. Two clones for @GoodShit97 are almost ready to go out, took them the day I flipped to 12/12.

Here is a before and some afters.

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On my last update from Saturday, these gals were not showing blossoms yet, two days makes a big difference!

They've been drinking 4 gallons a day and topping off daily keeping ppms at 500. I've been keeping things thinned out and taking the lower branching that will not reach the canopy. Been bumping the light up bit by bit, sitting at 75% and raised it up some. PPFD @ 650-700. I also bumped the far red up tp 100%. I'm wanting to be careful doing this as the last time I did this it ruined the whole grow, or at least substantially hurt my harvest. I think I have them fed well enough to push them with the light so gonna see how that goes.

Hey @Moe.Red, do you think I can push them harder with the light at this point? The other plant, same strain, in the other grow is taking 1100+ PPFD atm when I just checked everything with the PPFD meter. Seems to be handling it but not sure if it's stressing the plant out or not. I do not see any signs other than some twisty sugars. Curious what your thoughts are bro.

If you think it's a good idea I can raise the PPFD in this 4 site system and/or lower the light. I have it sitting a foot or so over the canopy. I also wonder if it's a good idea to dial that light back in the other grow since PPFD is so high, but she does seem to be handling it so I am not sure what I should do with her in this instance.


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Not a lot to report today other than things are cruising along nicely, everything has been stable and easy peasy. Working to keep larger fans taken off to keep air moving under the canopy, they are already very sticky. Buds are stacking better than I have ever seen on my plants, this light rocks. Still running just a tad bit over 500 ppm mid bloom ratios of the GH trio with about 100 ppm of cal/mag in top offs. Stretch is over and they're starting to stack calyxes beneath the clusters of pistils, super cool looking.

Pics from week 4 flower.IMG_3262.jpegIMG_3263.jpegIMG_3264.jpegIMG_3265.jpegIMG_3266.jpeg
 
How far above your net is that tall bugger on the left. Are you worried about support?

Also, what light are you using? I've been looking at getting another eventually. I think Beans is growing under a CLW. Those are pricey but he's seeing awesome results.
 
How far above your net is that tall bugger on the left. Are you worried about support?

Also, what light are you using? I've been looking at getting another eventually. I think Beans is growing under a CLW. Those are pricey but he's seeing awesome results.
It got a bit taller than I was expecting! I guess I can try to raise that trellis some, it might fall over for sure!

I'm using the Raging Kush II and I do like the light. Seems to perform quite well and worth the cost.
 
It got a bit taller than I was expecting! I guess I can try to raise that trellis some, it might fall over for sure!

I'm using the Raging Kush II and I do like the light. Seems to perform quite well and worth the cost.
Yeah I asked because I've got a couple that are nearly a foot passed my second screen. I've got the parts to build a third but my poor plant hermied and I want to keep it as accessible as possible for now, at least until the sacs stop showing up. I've been spending a couple hours in there every other night, plucking. I stressed her out so now she's streesing me out 🤣
 
Yeah I asked because I've got a couple that are nearly a foot passed my second screen. I've got the parts to build a third but my poor plant hermied and I want to keep it as accessible as possible for now, at least until the sacs stop showing up. I've been spending a couple hours in there every other night, plucking. I stressed her out so now she's streesing me out 🤣
Dang, sorry to hear about that bro. How much longer you got to be plucking?
 
Dang, sorry to hear about that bro. How much longer you got to be plucking?
I don't really know. I think G$ mentioned, in his experience, they stop growing balls around 28 days into flower. The lights will kick on tonight and start the 28th day, so hopefully not long.

I fully expect to have some seeds though. Some have been found growing out of a calyx so I can't begin to imagine how many I've missed.
 
Into week 5 since flip, things continue to look good.

Up until yesterday, everything had been pretty stable but when I got home I noticed the ppms had jumped up by 50 ppm while I was out of town. PH had also started to drop. This also coincided with a very slight bit of leaf tip burn that I also noticed.

Per this new method I am using, EC rising and PH dropping signaled that I should lower the EC. I did that by just adding straight RO water to dilute things, which also raises the pH slightly because my water sits at about 6.9. Again this morning I noticed the same thing again and diluted again, ppms just a tad bit over 500 now.

I am expecting things to settle down. If they continue like this, I will most likely change out the res and do a reset but I am trying to avoid that if it's not necessary.

Current Photos-IMG_3361.jpegIMG_3362.jpegIMG_3363.jpegIMG_3364.jpegIMG_3365.jpegIMG_3366.jpeg
 
I was gonna say something about similar bud structure but I'm now noticing you have two apples and bananas threads 🤣
 
This one looks like it'll have a better yield than the impromptu thread. Think that's the new light?
 
Yea, these are clones off the plant I just harvested.

Yes, this one is under the Raging Kush and it does look much better at this stage of things. We're about to find out :)
 
Week 6 flower starting today and went ahead and did a full res change out.

PH had been very stable until about 3 days ago when it started diving downward while at the same time ppms were rising. Got a bit of leaf tip burn off that. Did not have time to do it yesterday like I wanted so I just kept the pH in range and waited until today.

The PH/EC imbalance chart I am using suggested I needed the change out and lowering of the EC. Did exactly that using week 6 GH ratios, 80 ppm of Cal/Mag and resting at a comfortable 420 ppm. Going to watch that over the next day and make any necessary adjustments. My schedule at the dispo has changed and I have Thursdays off now but work 3 shifts now instead of 2, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Hoping to have things stable by the time I leave early Friday morning. I'm most likely not going to betending bar anymore.

Anyhow, here are some photos from today. I think things are going well.IMG_3371.jpegIMG_3372.jpegIMG_3373.jpegIMG_3374.jpegIMG_3375.jpegIMG_3376.jpegIMG_3377.jpegIMG_3378.jpeg
 
I was looking around at light spectrum information and came across this article on blue light.


It has me intrigued and thinking I might want to try pushing more blue and less red for the last 2-3 weeks of flower. Since I got this fancy light, I might as well try some different things. I really liked this statement in the article, not sure how true it is.

During the final three to seven days of the flowering stage, some growers increase their blue light levels dramatically. This can potentially increase terpenes by 50% while also increasing cannabinoids.

I'm thinking I could start to crank the blues up bit by bit for the next couple of weeks and when she gets close, crank it all the way up for those last few days. If I remember right, that slider on the app is set right in the middle between warm and cool.

Do you have any thoughts on this @Moe.Red? I know you have played with spectrum a lot, curious to hear your thoughts here.
 
I have a couple A&B at nearly the same point in the flower stage.
They are gorgeous plants with ample frosting.
My daughter gets a strong green apple aroma. I can’t tell, but it’s strong.

You grow is looking great!
 
Thanks bro, yea, it's a cool strain. I can't really decipher most of the named smells, but sometimes I can. I don't smell apples or bananas but it does sort of smell fruity I guess. My wife loves the smell of this strain too but her favorite was the Tropic of Censer. I like that one too and it was super popular at the dispensary where I work. I shared a clone with my boss and everyone loved it, flew off the shelf. Same thing with the Apples and Bananas, can't keep it in the dispo.

I wish it was a better yielder but the potency and terpenes are hard to beat with this one. Three weeks left and I expect those buds to get bigger for sure but I don't anticipate a huge harvest like some strains are capable of just based on the plant I just harvested with a modest 8.5 oz. If I can at least match that grow, I'll pull down 2 lbs + but I think it may be better because of the light in this tent is much better.
 
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