Yeah, I've tried weather stripping, but that just creates gaps in other places when I close the door. I think I'm going to get some heavy-duty plastic (like panda plastic) and make a faux light door on the inside. I'll update when I get it working.
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First Grow, AK-48, 5-gallon DWC, 400W
- Thread starter Schleep
- Start date
Yeah, I've tried weather stripping, but that just creates gaps in other places when I close the door. I think I'm going to get some heavy-duty plastic (like panda plastic) and make a faux light door on the inside. I'll update when I get it working.
Yep, that did the trick. After putting up the plastic, there is literally 0% light leaking from the cabinet. There's a faint glow coming from the open duct that is connected to the cooltube, but after I spray paint the inside of the ducting black, that won't be a problem either. Thanks for the tip.
THCKingsblend
New member
How often do you "bounce" the pH? Daily, or weekly? Like I said above, hopefully I cans start being more precise with my pH fluctuation bc my digital meter is showing up today. And I've officially switched to tap water because of the reasons you just mentioned. It was way too much work to pick up 5 gallons of distilled water each week, and it's only going to get more expensive as she drinks more. With the water pump idea, I might be able to just have a water-in/water-out line that continually circulates the res, but I'll have to do a bit of work to get there.[/quote]
Hay bud, sorry I havent been able to reply I have been busy with alot..Great question. I usually get my ph to 6 when I add nutes, then one nute levels are good, then I add a lil bit more ph down to get it about 5.5-5.6. I usually check the ph every day or so, and it usually rises just slightly. When it get to 6.5 or so, i lower it. It all depends on the plant too, I dont want to give u a set ph level, because every plant is different! I think youll be much happier with the tap water, I mean unless you are acustomed to using RO. As far as the line in, line out, you can deff. set up a "control bucket". The control bucket is great for ppl with multiple rez systems. especially with 5 gal dwc. The control bucket is quite simple to make, and really helps. If you add more 5 gal buckets, and dont like adjusting ph, and ppms in the bucket, then the control bucket is the way to go! I think your doing just great with this tho, just plan on those kinda things. Right now your gettn more hands on experiance than any kind of reading you could do. I would worry about the control bucket, or a RDWC(recirculating DWC) after u have a couple grows under your belt. But soon enuf, you'll be there my friend.Stay safe
THC
Hay bud, sorry I havent been able to reply I have been busy with alot..Great question. I usually get my ph to 6 when I add nutes, then one nute levels are good, then I add a lil bit more ph down to get it about 5.5-5.6. I usually check the ph every day or so, and it usually rises just slightly. When it get to 6.5 or so, i lower it. It all depends on the plant too, I dont want to give u a set ph level, because every plant is different! I think youll be much happier with the tap water, I mean unless you are acustomed to using RO. As far as the line in, line out, you can deff. set up a "control bucket". The control bucket is great for ppl with multiple rez systems. especially with 5 gal dwc. The control bucket is quite simple to make, and really helps. If you add more 5 gal buckets, and dont like adjusting ph, and ppms in the bucket, then the control bucket is the way to go! I think your doing just great with this tho, just plan on those kinda things. Right now your gettn more hands on experiance than any kind of reading you could do. I would worry about the control bucket, or a RDWC(recirculating DWC) after u have a couple grows under your belt. But soon enuf, you'll be there my friend.Stay safe
THC
So I added the panda plastic to the cabinet, changed out the clear air lines for black ones, and tried to add a SCROG net, but failed. It was way too big and bulky for the cabinet, and it barely fit. I think, based on the size of my cabinet, it might be best to just let her grow and tie her down using wires. I picked this strain based on the fact that it didn't grow too high and I have the vertical space and the horizontal space, just not a lot of depth. So I'm planning on growing her like a peacock's tail feather (wft?)
Day 44, 1180 PPM, 5.77 pH (45 ml Grow, 30 mL Micro, 20 mL Bloom added to 3.75 gallons of tap water).
I keep forgetting to snap a shot of the root mass, but it's pretty big
I really feel like I'm not getting enough bubbles down there, but I trust that the air coming out of that one pump is enough.
The guy at my hydro store gave me a sample of Humbolt County's Snow Storm Ultra when I asked him about additives for bloom. Has anyone used this stuff? When should I add something like this? I'm assuming like 2 weeks into flower, but I'm not 100% sure.
Day 44, 1180 PPM, 5.77 pH (45 ml Grow, 30 mL Micro, 20 mL Bloom added to 3.75 gallons of tap water).
I keep forgetting to snap a shot of the root mass, but it's pretty big
I really feel like I'm not getting enough bubbles down there, but I trust that the air coming out of that one pump is enough. The guy at my hydro store gave me a sample of Humbolt County's Snow Storm Ultra when I asked him about additives for bloom. Has anyone used this stuff? When should I add something like this? I'm assuming like 2 weeks into flower, but I'm not 100% sure.
bendoslendo
Member
I received the same sample schleep, I've never used it but it's going in the trash soon. Haven't read great stuff about it.
I'm not going to give up on it that quick
I would like to try out some sort of bloom additive to beef up the trichomes. Have you heard of a similar product that is more reliable and effective?Day 50:
She's about 14" high and I'm thinking it might be time to switch over to 12/12. What do you guys think? She looks really healthy, but she drank a ton of water while I was out of town for three days. Instead of changing out the nutes, I decided to just put tap water in the res to flush the plant for a few hours. In the morning, I'll add the proper nutrients and adjust the pH. I also added the coat hangers on the side of the lid to corral the plant into growing sideways rather than out in all directions. She got too fat for the cabinet, but as you can see she had plenty of room to grow up and out.
Should I go one more week of veg (60mL Grow, 40mL Micro, 20mL Bloom), or switch her over to 12/12 tomorrow (40mL Grow, 40mL Micro, 40 mL Bloom)?
Edit: I decided to go with a couple more weeks of veg. I realized she wasn't fully in vegetative state until about the 26th day after sprouting. This means I'm only about 4 weeks into veg, and all the guides I've read say this plant does much better in bloom w/ 6-7 weeks of veg under her belt. So I added 60mL Grow, 45mL Micro, and 20mL Bloom to 3.5 gallons of water.
She's about 14" high and I'm thinking it might be time to switch over to 12/12. What do you guys think? She looks really healthy, but she drank a ton of water while I was out of town for three days. Instead of changing out the nutes, I decided to just put tap water in the res to flush the plant for a few hours. In the morning, I'll add the proper nutrients and adjust the pH. I also added the coat hangers on the side of the lid to corral the plant into growing sideways rather than out in all directions. She got too fat for the cabinet, but as you can see she had plenty of room to grow up and out.
Should I go one more week of veg (60mL Grow, 40mL Micro, 20mL Bloom), or switch her over to 12/12 tomorrow (40mL Grow, 40mL Micro, 40 mL Bloom)?
Edit: I decided to go with a couple more weeks of veg. I realized she wasn't fully in vegetative state until about the 26th day after sprouting. This means I'm only about 4 weeks into veg, and all the guides I've read say this plant does much better in bloom w/ 6-7 weeks of veg under her belt. So I added 60mL Grow, 45mL Micro, and 20mL Bloom to 3.5 gallons of water.
erwingruber
Member
Nice healthy girl ,
You can keep her in veg but you must start thinking of some training ,
Scrog or Lst cause you have enough space for the canopy , keep in mind that when you
flip to 12/12 she is going to strech x2 or maybe x3 and as i can see you have limited space for strech.
You can keep her in veg but you must start thinking of some training ,
Scrog or Lst cause you have enough space for the canopy , keep in mind that when you
flip to 12/12 she is going to strech x2 or maybe x3 and as i can see you have limited space for strech.
I would switch the lights, for sure. The strain stretches a lot. I switched at 8 inches and they are 34 inches with them bent over and tied down. My light can't penetrate that far down. I only get dense buds about halfway down. I have a 400w hps and a 90w ufo. I outgrew my light.
Damn. That's really useful information. Were you growing AK-48? I'm thinking I'll switch tonight. Should I do a flush before I switch? How long to flush?
I'm also having some issues with my roots. While everything looks fine down there, the root mass has taken up almost the entire 5-gallon bucket. Well not the WHOLE thing, but the 3.75 gallons where the water sits is completely filled with roots. I've removed the airstones because I couldn't get them dislodged from the root mass. Plus, my bubbles are now much larger and they reach the top, whereas the airstone bubbles were completely diffused by the time they got to the top. As a result, there's a large portion of the root mass that just sits in water, rather than getting "bubbled". Is this bad? I've never read about anyone trimming the roots, but this mass is pretty big, and I can only assume it'll get bigger as I switch to flower.
Help w/ roots?
Yes. Check out my grow. RealHard's 490W Defoliated AK48 Closet Grow. I don't know how to put the link so it comes up every time I post. I just posted another set of pics today. I'm gonna harvest tomorrow. Pretty much all AK 48 grows I've seen the main cola gets wicked tall. Way taller than the rest. The roots are fine. My bucket is full too. I noticed that I always had pieces of roots loose in my buckets. The real fine ones. I never had a problem from it though. I'm not familiar with the GH nutes but, I believe they have you gradually switch the nutes over. You can turn the lights off tonight and switch the nutes out tomorrow. Check out my grow. I'm pretty happy about it. I'm harvesting on day 60 12/12.
So she'll definitely fill up that cabinet without any training? A SCROG net really isn't an option bc I don't have enough depth. I'm thinking about cutting some chicken wire to make it like a covered wagon:
I got lazy there with the bucket and the plant, but hopefully you can get the idea. I don't have room to make the SCROG net completely flat because my cabinet isn't that deep. What do you think? Would LSTing be a better option? Can you still train the plant as it stretches into flower?
Ya, you can train during the stretch, no problem. Did you check my grow? You can supercrop like I did but, she'll stand back up and you'll still have the same problem. I bent her over and tied her down for a week and then she stayed that way and it worked really well. I don't have experience with the chicken wire, I'm new to growing myself. I would tie her down. You can take a shoe string and tie it around the bucket and then tie her down with string to the string around the bucket. You know what I mean? Don't worry too much. You're gonna love the stretch. It's amazing!! I did my tying in the later stages of the stretch when I was forced to do it. Hope that helps.
Yeah I finally had time to check out your grow page. I'll definitely switch to 12/12 when the light goes off tomorrow afternoon. I'll give her 12 hours of darkness, and then reset the light to a 12/12 schedule. I also like your shoe string idea. I'll just put some screws in the lid and tie down the branches as I see fit.
Here's the final photo of her in veg. She's 53 days from sprouting. I'll add 40mL of Grow, Micro and Bloom to 4 gallons of water and lower the pH down to 5.8. She drinks almost a half gallon per day. I'm sure that will go up to a full gallon soon. She looks pretty good, if I do say so myself
She's gonna be a beast.You've done an excellent job of keeping her healthy. Nice and green. She's gonna put out.
Thanks for the encouragement
I checked out your grow and it looks like you're gonna have weed for a looong time I'd be happy with a quarter of that from my plant. Congrats 
Day 7 of flowering, 1760 PPM, 5.7 pH. She's really starting to fill out the cabinet in a lateral direction, and I'm not sure how to contain that. I've tied her together on both sides, kinda like pigtails, but she's gonna be huge.
And the light is only that high because I was changing the res. It's been lowered to about 3" above the plant. I'm hoping she'll try and stop stretching up.
And the light is only that high because I was changing the res. It's been lowered to about 3" above the plant. I'm hoping she'll try and stop stretching up.
Nokturnl420
New member
SUbd...Keep up the good work man, you are doing fine. I am on my 4th rdwc grow and learn something new every time. Different strains will do that to you also!
Stay Green!
Stay Green!
