2xDWC ready to flower?

[BuddingGrower]

Hi,

I'm new to growing anything so please be kind.

These plants were germinated from seed around Christmas. The one in the left bucket started first and the three in the right bucket a little bit after.
In the large picture you can see a blue ruler which is 20 centimeters (7.8 inches) long.


I don't have an air pump capable of providing for more DWC buckets, which is why the second bucket has three plants. Two of them seem to be doing very well, but the third is very lanky and probably will not yield much. I took two cuttings from all plants except the tiny lanky one (which probably wouldn't survive a cutting anyway.) Those are currently in the mini-green house under the main lighting (18/6, 2x125W at 6500 K)


Ideally the cuttings should be under 24/0 but until I purchase some electrical supplies and lightproof the top compartment of the cabinet this will have to suffice.

I'm well aware that I have a long list of things to fix: light-proofing and light traps are of course on the top of the list and setting up the clone shelf above.

Anyway my question is whether these would be worth flowering now or whether I should wait longer?

 

[BuddingGrower]

I didn't take too many photographs while doing the modifications to the wardrobe and it's still a work in progress, but here goes...







I know it's messy in the top section. It's still a work in progress (even though I'm growing already. )

There are not too many modifications yet. Cutting the holes for the ducting was a real pain even with a high power drill and 127 millimeter hole-saw.

I have a basic speed controller but it's the type which clips the AC sine wave so it's only good for setting the fan to about 80% otherwise it will make the motor hum very badly and probably shorten it's life. I need to replace it with a variac controller.

I am breaking the rule of water below the waste, electricity above with those cables on the floor. That will most definitely be fixed ASAP.

I want to put a bottom shelf into the wardrobe with some planks running along the bottom for reinforcement. 6x 10L buckets would be 60 kilograms (approximately 132.2 pounds!) Thanks to Pipedream's sticky thread for that idea. I would finally have some storage space for nutrients and a place to isolate noise from the air pump.



I need to connect the electricity for the clone lighting in the top compartment, do some further light-proofing, make some light traps for the intake holes, many things...

Oh, and the 10 millimeter bungee cord holding the fan is extreme overkill; it could be 2 mm and be perfectly fine, but it's what they had available in the hardware store.

 

[Aerohead]

Since you are flowering with CFL's I would certainly flip them now, and yes they like quite nice, worth flowering for sure..

 

[BuddingGrower]

Since you are flowering with CFL's I would certainly flip them now, and yes they like quite nice, worth flowering for sure..

Yeah it's a bit disappointing that I don't want to risk running more wattage, maybe have a 600w MH/HPS in the reflectors and run the CFLs vertically. They produce almost no heat unless you have completely still air. Maybe in the future...

I have 2700 Kelvin CFLs which I will swap in for flowering, but I need to get the clone shelf setup and light-proofed before going into flower. Weekend project!

Thanks for the comment Aerohead. It's my first grow so nice to see it's not a complete disaster.

 

[Aerohead]

Those CFL's will still give you some really nice nugs just going to have to trim the bottom parts off that aren't getting light, that's why i would flip them asap...

Good luck flowering those bushes, they look good.... Looking quite a bit better than my first grow, nice work..

 

[BuddingGrower]

Those CFL's will still give you some really nice nugs just going to have to trim the bottom parts off that aren't getting light, that's why i would flip them asap...

Sounds like good advice. I'll have a bit of shopping to do this weekend: power strip for the top cabinet, some plugs, etc. Maybe another shelf and some 2x4 beams to make the bottom compartment. That could wait for another time though.

I think I could use the 2x4's to make a vertical lip at the front of each shelf which should help with the (minor) light leaks. Otherwise just jerry-rig it with some cardboard.

I'm probably going to have to bust out the cardboard origami to make the light traps for the two passive air intakes. There is some kind of corrugated black plastic I've seen used but I cannot remember it's name. It's probably very difficult to find here.

Good luck flowering those bushes, they look good.... Looking quite a bit better than my first grow, nice work..

Thanks a lot! Hopefully they provide some nice buds.

 

[BuddingGrower]

No photographs for today sorry. I brought the wood beams I'm going to use to lightproof the different compartments and to reinforce the bottom shelf (which doesn't yet exist.) Not exactly 2x4s but a bit smaller. I think they will handle the weight just fine.

I used a mitre box to cut one end of each beam square. I still need to measure and cut the other ends but already my back is killing me today and I barely had enough strength to cut the beams, top up the water, and check pH and EC.

Clones look about the same. No new leaf growth but no leaf death either. I hope that means they are concentrating on growing roots. I opened the humidity dome a few centimeters to get some air circulating too.

I hope I'll be able to pick up the extra shelf to make the bottom storage compartment and add the beams for strength. I have a feeling that because of the added thickness of the reinforcing beams I may have to remove the doors to fit the new shelf into place.

I'll post more tomorrow but I definitely need to get the clones out and the plants into flower ASAP. They are getting big!

 

[BuddingGrower]

I didn't manage to get the new shelf today but instead reworked the top section. Now there is a power strip available so that I can power the extraction fan and lighting for the cuttings.

I plan to setup a DIY cloner in this compartment, too. Now the cuttings are only placed in rockwool and watered with pH adjusted water. I'm also using Monsterclone spray (a foliar feeding spray) which is applied as directed. 1-2 times per week.

They seem healthy but obviously cannot see through the rockwool to check whether roots are developing.




Another photograph of the main plants. I am planning to check for and fix any light leaks during the next dark period then switch the bulbs and timer to flowering.

 

[socialist]

Ideally the cuttings should be under 24/0

I disagree. Keep them on 18/6. Flower the big guys for sure. Lolipop those girls if your using CFL's to flower. If your worried about electric usage you could always use a 250wHPS or 400wHPS. They really don't use that much electric. A 50" plasma tv uses around 400w so if paranoia is stopping you don't let it. You will be glad when you harvest.

 

[BuddingGrower]

I disagree. Keep them on 18/6. Flower the big guys for sure. Lolipop those girls if your using CFL's to flower. If your worried about electric usage you could always use a 250wHPS or 400wHPS. They really don't use that much electric. A 50" plasma tv uses around 400w so if paranoia is stopping you don't let it. You will be glad when you harvest.

I am thinking about the next grow perhaps using a 400 or 600 watt switchable MH/HPS in a single reflector and the CFLs in vertical sockets. I'm concerned about the heat from the 400 or 600 though and keeping the temperature down.

I might buy one of those grow tents and keep the cabinet for veg and clones only, but that is something for the future.

Today I switched the bulbs, changed from 18/6 to 12/12, and changed out the nutrients according to the flowering schedule. Unfortunately the camera white-balanced the photographs so they do not have a nice orange glow. It looks better in person.

I switched one of the buckets to a bucket I had wrapped with duct tape. It's cleaner than the panda film and blocks out light just as effectively. Unfortunately I only had one bucket wrapped and ready.





The cuttings appear to be doing okay; no roots coming through yet.

 

[Pipedream]

Nicely Done

 

[Superhoops]

2xDWC ready to flower?

Hey BG what strain is it your growing? I can't see it mentioned anywhere in your thread. I once did some BB blue cheese in a metre squared tent in DWC and they almost burst through the roof and they were flowered alot smaller than those you currently have.

SH

 

[BuddingGrower]

Hey BG what strain is it your growing? I can't see it mentioned anywhere in your thread. I once did some BB blue cheese in a metre squared tent in DWC and they almost burst through the roof and they were flowered alot smaller than those you currently have.

SH

It's Nirvana's Aurora Indica (Afghan x Northern Light) non-feminized. It might not be the most expensive variety in the world but I've tried it previously and it's given great relief from insomnia and pain. It grows like a classic Indica; some of those leaves are bigger than my hand with my fingers outstretched!

I cut away some of the lower leaves that were not receiving enough light and thus dying, or getting in my way when adding water and checking the pH/EC.

The root mass is huge and healthy too. I'll try to take some photographs but it's difficult to hold up the plant and take photographs at the same time.

 

[Superhoops]

2xDWC ready to flower?

The only thing I would say to consider is the stretch.....but those plants look very healthy to me. Also not sure if you use h202 or not if you don't get some it keeps roots really healthy and everything clean. Good luck and I'm gonna tag along for the ride.

 

[BuddingGrower]

The only thing I would say to consider is the stretch.....but those plants look very healthy to me. Good luck and I'm gonna tag along for the ride.

Thanks Superhoops. I think it will be okay; I can raise the reflectors up to approximately 3 times the current height of the plants. It will be less once I install the bottom shelf but that is probably going to be during the next grow. I'll watch during this flowering how much they stretch so I'll know for the next grow. I'm interested to see myself.

Nothing much to report today. I refilled the buckets with water, adjusted pH, added nutrients. The usual things. Each bucket is using about 1.0-1.5 litres of water per day! Unfortunately I haven't been keeping a log of the EC values day-to-day. Lessons learned for the next grow.

The cuttings took a bit of heat stress because the top section does not have any good ventilation. I've added a small fan there to circulate the air around and replaced the humidity dome. Hopefully they will recover; the smaller cuttings took a bigger hit than the larger ones. I'm going to switch the clone lighting from 24/0 to 18/6 which I hope will help reduce the temperatures.

Now it's a waiting game...

 

[BuddingGrower]

Just because I wanted to post some pictures and I did promise a picture of the roots, while I was switching the clone lighting onto an 18/6 timer, I took a few photographs.

Here are the main plants, under flower spectrum lighting on 12/12.



I did some temporary extra light-proofing between the top section and the main section. I am using weather-stripping tape that is normally used on windows to fill the gaps, but just to be sure none of the 18/6 light finds it's way through a tiny gap...

This is temporary and I have some a better solution in mind for the next grow.



Finally, the root porn. I am using a flexible air curtain you'd normally find in an aquarium. It's wrapped in a circular shape but unfortunately it might be just below the top of the water in this photograph.

 

[BuddingGrower]

The clones had some heat stress but I think they are looking a little better now. Anyone have an idea why some leaves are yellowing?



I have some unexpected travel for the duration of about a week coming up soon. I think for the main plants I'll just raise up the lights as high as possible, hope they don't stretch too much, and maybe connect a third bucket with some tubing to the two single buckets so there is a larger water reserve.

I plan to put the clones into a small Rubbermaid DWC so they will have plenty of water available. Just drill holes for the rockwool cubes to plug into, and maybe add some wicks for when the water drops.

I hope it all works out.

 

[BuddingGrower]

Okay, so I have been away for some time and my remote monitoring system didn't work... but it appears that my very quick-and-dirty reservoir did it's job and kept the plants alive.



Superhoops, you were right about the stretch! I've been away so I haven't been training them, need to check the sexes, check pH, EC, and I think flush the nutrient solution.

I have some ideas based on looking at RDWC and UCDWC systems for a cabinet but nothing planned for the immediate future yet. I hope I can get some buds from these plants...

I don't want to break the dark period again so I'll wait a few hours before opening the wardrobe again and get pictures of the pre-flowers, etc.

Oh, and the clones rooted but look almost dead. I think I can take some more cuttings and root them properly (with a DYI areo cloner.)

 

[BuddingGrower]

It looked like the tallest plant had some little male pre-flower balls near the nodes. I'll wait for the lights and post pictures to get confirmation from a few people before cutting it down.

Actually I want to keep the pollen so maybe I'll keep some of the cut branches until they open up. Need to wait for the lights.

 

[ChronicFUNK]

plants look great.. though i have a feeling they may outgrow your cabinet? Try using a scrog setup. I did it once and double my yeild, the whole time i was doing it i thought i was going to get the same yeild. Until i harvested i had no idea how nice that method is for a smaller space.