bounty29's Conceptual Passive Coco System

[bounty29]

Oct 9 - Fed and refilled reservoir.

I cut off all the fan leaves coming from the main stem and topped them right above the 5th node. The fan leaves were really killing my cabinet, they were taking up too much space. They look like they'll be able to use the light a lot better now, I don't have a full shot of the cabinet but I'll get one up within a few hours. Here they are...

Edit: If these plants weren't so branchy I wouldn't have cut off the fans. I felt like they're left with enough growth that they'll be able to continue growing without much stress. The smallest plant is about the limit, if they had been less branchy than that I think I would've tried something else.

 

[Leonidas]

Looking great brother Bounty . Zoo

 

[MarquisBlack]

Wow. Those roots are crazy. Are you finishing in these cups? Are you doing a SWC sort of thing?

 

[bounty29]

This system is designed around those bottles, and I've found so far that they'd most likely be better for finishing than beginning. I trimmed these ones pretty extensively, this system won't work for lots of veg growth. I guess you could call it a semi SWC, but I don't expect the roots to thrive in the water as there can't be much DO, if any.

The best way to use this system would be flowering from clones kept under 6"-12" depending on how much they stretch. I'm focusing on keeping a minimal footprint, and getting the most out of it with as little maintenance as possible. It's looking good so far, Depending on how much I can keep the growth cut back on these Sour Diesels I might flower these ones, or else I'll flower out clones of these. Seeing the way these look after taking off the fan leaves makes me wonder if I could top all the shoots I left on there, flip into flower, and end up with a giant bud. I might have to give it a shot.

 

[icough2getoff]

^^^ hahah, now that'd be interesting to see. Maybe one giant bud that's hollow inside.

Plants look healthy as could be. Still curious to see what happens after root rot sets in. I imagine it will just stay below the water level in the perlite and not be a huge deal, especially for mothers like I might do. Keep it up bounty

 

[Tony Danza]

I have a thought on the topping you just did: You may want to consider cutting them down a little lower. I would cut the main stem down to just leave the bottom 4-6 branches that are already stretching out from the stalk. That way, I believe your canopy would come out more even as the branches wouldn't have to race past the top node to achieve apical balance. Whenever I've topped a plant high, it always seemed to take a long time for the top two branches to take off while the sides never seemed to make it to the top anyway and I ended up with only two big colas and a bunch of popcorn instead of 4-6 decent colas and almost no popcorn. I think the branch suppressing auxins might still remain in the upper branches when it is topped high while topping low allows all the branches to take off at the same rate from relatively the same point. Just something I seemed to notice growing in a height limited space.

This setup you've got is really cool, I can't believe the roots you're getting! That picture looks like some serious old man nostril.

 

[bounty29]

icough2getoff - I'm thinking the root rot might just be starting, one of the root tips is looking a bit brown. We'll see what happens. Whatever does happen, good or bad, you'll see it here.

A lot of good thoughts, thanks Tony Danza. My absolute favorite example of topping working perfect was the one time I grew Sour Diesel. I accidentally topped it when I began flowering, but it resulted in a perfect canopy. I'd love to replicate it, and I think the way you described it is how I did it on the clone. Here's a pic so you can see what happened...

That picture looks like some serious old man nostril.

Do you really feel that way?

 

[Tony Danza]

Do you really feel that way?

I meant it as a compliment. (you know I was talking about the roots coming out of the bottle and not your avatar, right?)


That SD looks nice, sometimes the oops-prune turns out to be a blessing in disguise.

 

[bounty29]

(you know I was talking about the roots coming out of the bottle and not your avatar, right?)

 

[hoosierdaddy]

I would seriously consider fixing up your nute bottle with 1oz/gal 3% h202
It will stop root rot and make things greener.
H2o2 will dissipate in about 3-4 days.

 

[Tony Danza]

I would seriously consider fixing up your nute bottle with 1oz/gal 3% h202
It will stop root rot and make things greener.
H2o2 will dissipate in about 3-4 days.

good idea

 

[suckerrepellent]

the topping job looks interesting, i can't wait to see where these containers go

 

[Luckygreenhand]

I am new to this site, and came to get more info, then decided when i get good seeds or plants i am going to make my own DIY hydro set up.... I have done large research scale indoor grows (not weed) and dont know why in the world I never decided to grow my own meds... long story short, I had decided to do a similar set up as you. I have sev cfls im using now, and lots of various size plastic bottles and just haven't worked out the exacts yet. Anyways, as for any root probs would go, with small amounts of standing water and little actual light reaching them (which shouldn't be a prob since your using cfls, and the roots barely get exposed) then your fine. If you had a large res that was exposed to direct light pretty much, yah, you could have probs. But if you have small ones, and / or change yuor water your good. Good luck with this grow, ill post something on mine when it gets fully functional.

 

[bounty29]

hoosierdaddy- I'll definitely keep that in mind, and it'll be the first thing I try if I see any issues arise. I'm keeping it simple, and everything is good right now, so no need to add anything else to the mix.

suckerrepellent - I think they'll do well with the topping job. I should be able to get plenty of clones off them!

Luckygreenhand - Thanks! Good luck with yours as well, I look forward to seeing it when you get it posted.

So far I haven't seen any problems with the standing water, the res was depleted sometime last night, so that means it lasted for 6 days. I've got to go to work, there's enough water in there to keep them happy til tonight, so I'll take some pictures and refresh the reservoir sometime tonight.

 

[Mrs.Babba]

very interesting grow Bounty!! ...you deff have a way with the ladies!!
Ill be checking back for sure.

 

[bounty29]

Oct 9


Oct 15




The water was funky smelling, but the plants aren't showing any problems so I'm just going to continue along without making any changes. I need to take some cuts so I can sex these and hopefully bring my plant numbers down a bit.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Are you not going to offer us a piece of cake? Or a nice blended adult beverage?

 

[bounty29]

Help yourself!

 

[THoC]

Hmmmm awfully pink! :/ hoosier can have my piece.

Looks good Bounty. The other week I played around with setting one these setups using soda bottles. After starting out with a small hole ( #44 ) i preceded to keep making it larger and larger and higher and higher on the reservoir bottle. Got it to work but it made me wonder if the soda companies haven't spent a lot of time researching and designing so their bottles do NOT drip like we want them to do...Im talking about the bottom and first 3/4 inch's.

anyway Im planning of using this method to water some seedlings Ive started so I can be away from the grow during the week. Im to busy to setup my automated sytem right now.

good growing all

 

[Tony Danza]

Looks like your topping worked out just fine.