600w white russian dwc - first grow!!!

[salgjkhaf]

here is my first grow and my first grow diary. i got some white russian seeds from serious seeds via dr chronic. excellent service and would def recommend them. So here is the deal. I got a 600w hps in my closet. directly above it is the mom cab lit with 4 20 watt floros.







here is the recirculating dwc i got goin.




the 600w is in the diy cooltube that you can find on this forum.



here is moms box




and here are the seeds. 10 white russian and 5 knights templar freebies from the doc.




i started 4 of the white russians via the paper towel method.

I want to use the lucas formula and i got some epsom salt to correct the mag deficiency but that part of the grow is still somewhat far away.

So what do yall say. wanna help me grow some dank bud? i know i'm gonna need some help for sure.

 

[dyr]

It looks like you got the most figured out
Good luck

 

[salgjkhaf]

thanks dyr, but something tells me that i'm gonna need some help to keep this dank.

 

[salgjkhaf]

so a little update. 4 of the seeds have showed some root so i transferred them to rockwool cubes.




i guess we can consider this day one, yes?

side note,

i took 2 clones from a bagseed plant i got goin for a friend,

lets pray for female!

 

[bballsk8er333]

good luck and looks good so far, that 600 should produce some nice buds if u keep it strait

 

[breeder]

Ahhh...White Russ. I remember her well!
Great strain for sure. I ended up with 2 pheno's. Both were somewhat branchy. However the one with the least amount of branching is the one to look for.....KEEP that in mind when and if it comes time to choose.
Very heavy yeild from that one, with a fresh fruit smell, and they are ABSOLUTLY coverd with tricks. The smell isn't what I would call over powering though. Nothing like a sweaty skunk...lol.
The really branchy one's didn't impress me all that much though.
But they both clone well. Over a 2 year period i never lost one.
Wish i could purchase some beans.
I'll be stickin wit bag beans for now i guess.
Good luck with her bro

 

[salgjkhaf]

sk8r,
Thanks man. my whole whole goal is to get as much bud as possible. unfortunatley my first grow with dwc resulted in root rot because of constant 80+ temps. that should be solved by proper ventilation this time though. Thanks for tuning in bro.

Breeder,
Awesome to hear some good news about my strain choice! less branchy one it is. when you grew it, did you ever scrog? once i finish up this round and choose the pheno that best suits my needs, i planned on scroggin under the 600 to maximize yeild. and if you wanna purchase beans, i suggest drchronic and serious seeds. use a visa or mastercard gift credit card and you're in business.

Thanks for stopping by.

and my babies or pushing past that tupperware container and i dont want to put them in soil so i think i'm gonna make another little cloner like the other one above except cut square holes in it and drop them in that. good idea, or bad idea?

 

[breeder]

Well you can call it SCROG i guess. i do selective pruning, and tie down to fill in the spaces. end up with a perfectly even canopy. at the end or near the end you can let out the string/rope and it all stays put anyway. Very similar to Bonsai training.
I don't like the fact of using a screen. most times the screens that i see in action on here are hindering potentail in the end.
i'm the type of person who like to play around with my plants. it takes my mind away...relaxing. adjusting this string/rope or that one on a daily basis, some folks wouldn't like.

You could do your idea....another dwc for the little one's. but you wont be using it for long.
This is where you might start to run into problems. Not knowing who the femals are yet. by the looks of your set up, you only have space for 2 plants. is this so?
if it is then thats a problem, unless you can build yourself another setup?
out of all the problems that could arise i think you might need to concentrate on this one first.

 

[salgjkhaf]

well shit, can i just put 2 seedlings per bucket in the same net pot?

 

[breeder]

well bud, i wouldn't do that. tell ya why....

dwc is like no other when it comes to root devolopment. You've seen the photo's on here i'm sure. the roots go abso-friggin-lutly nUtZ! tryin to sepperate 2 plants in the same bucket will be a chore in itself. by the time pre-flowers appear you might already have outgrown the space for roots.

your safest and best option if you want to go that route would be to grab yourself some new lids for those buckets, and use smaller 3" net cups. Then you'll at least stand a chance if/when it comes time to sepperate. but if you plan on using the same net cup 2 beans...forgetta bout it!
When doing hydroponics, this very reason we're discussin is the reason why i've always stuck with ebb&flow gardens, or waterfarms.
In soil every plant has their own so...

Considering your going to be using a 600 the top of the plants will have some speedy devolopment also, so you have to take that into consideration too. However you'll prolly be fine. their are simple methods around that.

these plants here are 6 weeks old if i remember right. From the first time they saw light till this photo was taken....6 weeks.
I wish i had more photo's, or at least the overhead shot of these to help explain. but as you can see these plants are much larger then your entire bucket! In fact if i remember right the reason i took this photo was because they just showed pre-flowers...both ended up female...btw....lol. But thats only a 150 hps for light. that 600 will do bigger, faster. 600 are very comparable to 1000w.
sumpin to tink a-boot

 

[salgjkhaf]

breeder,

well i guess that leaves me no choice but to go pick up some new lids. just a shame since spring break is over and i'm back at school, i wont have the time to do in today and i know my seedlings are at home crying for my attention.

but definately thanks man.

update,

i just got confirmation of my shipment for my temp compensating ph pen. YEah!!

Pics to come in a few days.

 

[salgjkhaf]

preparing for summer

preparing for summer

well i went ahead and got some 3 inch net pots and put all 4 seedlings into the dwc. hope they like the 600 watts and i just got confirmation that my ph pen has arrived at home so thats some good news.

but i do have a question. I need to buy an ac unit. Where i live it gets to 110 degrees in the heat of the summer. But of course i wont be runnin the lights on during the day. At night the temperature hits 78 (the average summer temp at night) Considering my mom cab is run by 4 20w flouros that produce damn near no heat at all, i am only gonna take into consideration the 600w flowering light. It will turn on at 10pm and off at 10am. So to get the the fuckin point, will a 6000 BTU window air conditioner do the trick to keep my room at 70? my room is about 12 feet by 10 feet and the light is in the closet vented by a 465 cfm fan. thanks guys (gals)

 

[breeder]

I think i'd opt for a slightly larger unit. 8000-10000 btu. the 6000 might work, but thats a tough call since i'm not where you are...ya know? 110f is pretty friggin hot!

Get that ph pen. That pen is whats gonna make or break ya. PH is VERY important! Not to be takin lightly. Start using it ASAP. Also get yourself some calibrating solution to go with it. If it has a cap, as most ph pens do, keep a small amount of the calibrating solution in the tip of the cap at all times. This keeps the tip from dryin out. Pen will last much longer.

 

[salgjkhaf]

FUCK!!!! FUCK!!!! FUCK!!!

FUCK!!!! FUCK!!!! FUCK!!!

i hate my fucking roomates. They left the fuckin ac off and temps in my closet got to 99 because i havent got that window ac unit yet!!! fuck!!! killed all 4 seedlings!!! FUCK!!!!

so i'm gonna start my knights templar freebies, but only once i get that ac. should be a day or two from now.

breeder,
thanks for that tip bro.

 

[salgjkhaf]

so i'm gonna go pick up that 6000 btu air conditioner and install that bitch and start the knights templar seeds.

 

[HeresTheDank]

That set up looks nice, DWC is definently crazy for root development. Check out these roots a week into flowering after a lil over a month of vegging, root rot got these ones though, trying to cure it now.


Bummer aboout the temps though, im in the same boat as you. In a few months here it will be hittin the 100+ degrees temp as well. i changed my lights to run through the night. i like the DIY cool tube, im trying to make one as well but also going to purchase a new aircooled light to run two. The 600's get hot, so i might run another 400, but we'll see. As far as the AC goes, i saw this thing on Ebay, called a 02cool. search it, its a small AC thats only like 40 bucks, i think i might buy one and just throw it in my setup and run it constantly.

 

[phattybudz]

"constant 80+ temps. that should be solved by proper ventilation this time though."

That sucks, and roommates suck too man. I too am embarking on a 600 DWC for the 2nd (basically 1st, hydrohut killed my first) time, and I had temp. problems... make sure your water temp is good too, because that's even more important than air temp I hear. I had to buy a chiller for mine, with the AC you might be able to keep it good though.

2 more tips from my screwups: Watch like a hawk for pests; at the first sign of anything bomb the shit out of them. And don't over-nute... I think that's given me stunted light-green growth. Oh yeah, and you might wanna use cal-mag instead of epsom if you start to get mg def.

Good luck!

 

[salgjkhaf]

dank,
yeah man. root rot frikin blows salty balls. and those roots look amazing for such a short time. but like i said, hopefully ventilation and this ac i'm installing should solve. if you wanna do the diy cooltube, a 600w bulb has a big diameter and the bake a round tube isnt that much bigger so i recommend a good fan.

phatty,
when you bought the chiller, what were your room temps? i figured if i kept the room temps at 78 my water would be ok. yes? how much is calmag at a hydroshop?

 

[phattybudz]

"i figured if i kept the room temps at 78 my water would be ok."

Well, have you checked your water temp? It will depend on whether or not your buckets/lines are insulated, and what kind of water pump you're running. I had a nightmare day where I came home and realized I forgot to give them fresh air, the air temp was 85 and so was the water... So, if your room temp is 78 and your buckets aren't insulated the water might get that hot too, and that is really pushing it, it seems like mine were stunted because of low oxygen until I got the chiller. Cal-mag is like $15 for a quart at hydro shops I think.

 

[salgjkhaf]

yo phatty,

my buckets are actually really insulated. they were orange hd buckets then i painted them black, then i wrapped them in reflective bubble insulation



and my ph pen measures temp and off the top of my head i remember a temp of 72 or 71 or something like that.

and i installed that 6000 btu air conditioner for my room today and i'm gettin a few more beans in the mail so look for a restart here in about 3 days.