Marineman's 1st grow journal - 600w Bio buckets

[marinemansf]

Quick update. Got the ladies back in their homes. Glad I got all those old nutes out, there were quite a bit of solids in each bucket on the bottom. That's why I really like the new nutes, no solids to clog shit up.

Cravin, I'm curious about something. Where do my benes congregate? I know they do in the res, but do they make it into each of the buckets? And by doing the flush I did, did that take out any of the benes? I left the res alone, so I'm just hoping by doing that, I still have plenty of benes left.

And now I see what you were saying about the drain on the bottom of your buckets, very smart idea. Also, I think I will upgrade my pump this next month. I'm pretty sure it will help a ton. I was also thinking about your tent setup, and I think instead of dropping $300 on a new tent, I'm going to take a room, and essentially make it a tent. I just think that would be the last upgrade that would make a significant difference. To get that control.

Toke, i wish I could try that creamsicle, sounds tasty as hell son! What strain is it?

As always gents, a million thanks!

 

[tokersmoke]

Its called blue dot.It is the best tasting strain ive ever had.

I spend money all the time tweaking my setup.The construction and tweaking is a joy for me.I just built a 12x12 room in an outdoor shed.I put 500+ in insulation and it really paid off.This current project is def the biggest ive had.The grows def get better everytime.It seems like you have a lot of motivation and will go far.

what is benes?

 

[marinemansf]

what is benes?

You could probably get a better answer from one of bigtokes posts. He is, as i understand it, is the creator of this system. But the way i understand it is Bene = beneficial bacteria, basically they are good bacteria that thrive in this setup. They do soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much good for you and your plants!
They act as a buffer, thats why cravin and i say we never check our ph, all you gotta do is top off with nutes each week. They also act as an active defense system for your plants, against disease. They work in harmony with your plants and thats why we say we will never go with a different setup. I really cant say enough for this system.

And i really believe the benes are what sets this system sooo far apart from any other. Just wait till the next run i do now that things are dialed in, the growth will be even faster.

 

[cravin morehead]

first things first, Toker, you are extremely lucky to have the great strain blue dot. i remember her very well. wish i could get her again. haven't seen or heard of her around anywhere by me in a long, long time. I am jealous. looks like a great pheno you got there too. your latest build sounds great. i'm jealous again.
marineman-
great rant a few posts ago. im with you buddy, i wish people would wake up and smell the buds. if you got the means to build a room set-up, great. just take your time planning it out. really think about what you can do to that space to give your girls the best environment you can. cut no corners and be smart. i'm sure it will work out great. i've been an electrician for over 22 years, if i can help you out with the design/build, let me know. i wish i could set up a whole room. i got my mom cabinet and my tent in the same room. they share the room with all my other hobby's stuff. fishing gear alone takes up half the room!! hahaha!
As far as bennies go, the goal is to have them living in the root zone. they live in the pores and airpockets of the lava rocks. they eventually take up residence in the roots as well. the idea is giving the bennies a place to flourish. give them what they're looking for and they will stay. they will also out fight the bad guys and keep your girls happy.

cm
these bio-buckets function much the same way a fish aquarium functions.

 

[cravin morehead]

BigToke explains it best. here is a little quote from what i consider the BEST thread on this INCREDIBLE site:

Root-to-Root Travel of the Beneficial Bacterium

• Let’s talk for a minuet about the {colonization levels} of Beneficial Bacterium; because both of my Bio-Bucket Systems share the same reservoir, this will speed up the {colonization levels} and give a more equal spared of the Beneficial Bacterium throughout the recirculating systems, as they travel from root to root the: Bacillus Subtilis GB03 is a Beneficial Bacterium with activity against water-borne fungal root pathogens.
• Let me share a little something with you, in an effort to see if I could sweeten up my bud’s, I ran an experiment with some sugar, I used icing sugar which dissolves really easy in hot or cold water, which is a good thing! I put 3 ½ cups of white powdered sugar in 205 gallons of water at the last week of harvest…….well to make a long story short, the plants didn’t seem to mind it at first, but the Beneficial Bacterium was overcame!!! Within one week my water was for the first time ever was infected, and the plant stems became week and soft, and the roots began to decay there was to much decomposition going on for the Beneficial Bacterium to keep up with.
• In conclusion: let me say just stick with something like PK-13/14 and you’ll be just fine.
• In conclusion to the conclusion: I steal have the utmost confidents in the ability of the Beneficial Bacterium to keep my water cline and healthy, to prove this, when it came time for me to clean my system all I did was just fill it up with plain old tap-water with a little H202, let it run for 24 hours, flush and refilled the system with fresh tap-water let it set for two weeks and that’s it, now I know that my pip’s are coated with sugar residue, but I am very confided that what I left behind that the Beneficial Bacterium will clean up for me, thus reducing my startup time, and if it does not, well I’ll post pic’s of that to.

Good Guys, Bad Guys

• Consider that when the bad guys find a plant, they use nutrients that the plant already immobilized. How ya like them apples!!!
• Growing in a Recirculating DWC Bio-Bucket System of Hydroponics, the pathogens do not function to hold significant nutrients, because the good-guy bacterium compete with disease-causers, and prevent diseases and pests from being able to find or infect roots. The beneficial bacterium immobilizes a great deal of nutrients in their biomass, so that N, P, K, etc. Predators, such as fusarlum, pythium, rhizoctonia, phytopthera, sclerotinla; etc. feeds on dead pieces of root mass, pests and disease-causing organisms well inhibits the plants uptake of mobile nutrients. If the beneficial bacterium is properly managed (given a place to live) then they well aid in mobility of nutrients in the solution such as nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) should remain in the root zone to benefit the crop and yield. The beneficial bacterium keeps your solutions free from disease-causing organisms, thus creating a better echo-water environment, making nutrients more readily available for the plant mainly in the root zone.
• Soils and solutions are supposed to abound with numerous organisms. Each individual beneficial bacterium is so small that it takes a powerful microscope to see them. But while the bacterium are extremely small, they make up in numbers what they lack in size. There are more individual beneficial bacterium in a teaspoon of healthy mountain spring, or a drop of healthy ran water than there are people in New York City. The beneficial species of bacteria protect plant roots and shoots from disease organisms, keeping nutrients in the root zone clean and healthy thus preventing leaching, making more mobile nutrients available to plants at the rates plants require.
• Lack of oxygen allows anaerobic organisms to grow. Some anaerobic organisms produce some of the most phytotoxic materials we know about—alcohol, phenols, terpenes, tannins. But even beyond that, when anaerobic conditions occur, nitrogen is lost as ammonia, and sulfur is lost as hydrogen sulfide, which smells like rotten eggs. Your nose will tell you when anaerobic conditions have developed to a major level. Vinegar, sour milk, vomit and decaying flesh smells are other indicators that anaerobic conditions have occurred. The pH of the medium will be lowered by production of these organic acids. Fertility is reduced, the normal denizens of the root system cannot tolerate anaerobic conditions, and they go to sleep, giving the disease-causing organisms carte blanche in the root system. With no one to compete with them, the diseases take over.
• Maintaining aerobic conditions is critical for the growth of plants. Loss of oxygen means N, P, K, etc., are lost. Toxic chemicals are produced. We need to help beneficial biology survive, grow and out compete diseases and pests in hydroponic solutions.
• Just like the human body, plants depend on microbes to keep the proper balance of nutrients available for uptake. Beneficial organisms protect us against common diseases, just as the right organisms protect plant surfaces. An imbalance in your diet or in your hormones can change the conditions on your skin and your digestive system with ulcers, acne, ringworm or cancer as possible outcomes. The presence of the wrong set of microbes, and conditions that allow them to out-compete their normal opposition, can cause enormous economic loss.
• We can try to kill all the diseases and pests, but we also kill the very organisms needed to protect against those diseases and pests. The bad guys come back faster than the good guys because of the very nature of the pathogen lifestyle. And once we’ve killed nearly everything in the soil or in solution, sterility is very difficult to maintain. Because of diseases that find ways to disperse into places that allow their growth and development. Maintenance of sterile conditions is a nightmare, requiring ever more toxic, more dangerous and expensive chemical use.

there it is. Thanks BigToke, wherever you are.

this is the thread i'm referring to https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=23357

incredible amount of science based info. ALL hydro growers should study this info. not just bio-bucket growers. read this, i mean really read this...

cm

 

[marinemansf]

Oh, wanted to add, that it's a shit ton easier buying 50 feet of 1/8th inch tubing and a small water pump to run your water, than lifting even one bag of soil! And you can take it even further, and do like cravin did, and hook your res right to a hose that's connected to water supply with a float switch. Which I will deffinatly be doing next run.

Thank god my buddy told me about the system when I first started growing, god knows how many other horrible set ups I would have gone through before I would have found this setup. It's LITERARY the best of every kind of hydro setup.

 

[tokersmoke]

Definitely more then your average hydro set up.If i could veg with these 4 weeks im sure my new room would shine.After the first run in this room i may build a 20 bucket setup.I just love the way soil plants taste.I think i could still run all organic nutes in these bio buckets right?I have really hard water.Im sure my ph would go crazy even though you dont check yours.IM on well water it might be a bit of a difference.

As far as the blue dot i have a good friend out west that sent me the seed.It was probably a selfed hermie seed.If she receives too much stress she will hermie quick.If she runs any longer then 8 weeks she will hermie too.I have some seeds from a couple runs back that are a cross between the doctor by greenhouse and blue dot.A rougue hermie got me.I will test the seeds out soon.I hate to let go of the strain because it tastes so great!!The yield is not so great either but you take the good with the bad.

Im dying to see what you will yield in this setup.If you didnt have the hiccups in the beginning they would be huge!!But every mistake is a lesson.Great progress looking forward to updates.

 

[marinemansf]

Hey toke, yeah its quite advanced, as far as organic, every nute i have added to my system has been 100% organic and im almost positive cravin runs the same way in his setup. Ive used general organics in the beginning and they are straigh shit. So i switched to dyna pro grow and bloom. No measuring multiple nutes, just one each for grow and bloom. And they smell a ton better compared to the gen organics. And i know "most" well water is better than city water by a mile... is it from a natural springs? Id put money on it being closer to neutral on the ph scale (7.0). My city water happens to be a little over 8.0, and even that still works. In winter i was using melted snow, and filtered it once and it was a perfect 7.0. And dont worry the benes will do the rest. Cravin, you agree?

Im might have to do a little searching for that blue dot on seedbay. And as far as the hiccups go, youre right, i would guess they would be triple the size atleast by now. Remember this post started sometime in Feb i believe, but this grow actually began sometime in early Dec... think about that lol. But thats how ive always learned best, to make my own mistakes, but never make em twice! We got a great group and support system going here between just the three of us. Even thought theres been over 1300 views lol.

 

[tokersmoke]

marine blue dot is clone only from what ive read.A selfed hermie seed is the only way

 

[marinemansf]

God damnit! Lol

 

[tokersmoke]

how long have you been flowering?

 

[tokersmoke]

It is nice to have a group of people to talk to.Loose lips sink ships.I wish i could tell friends yea i grew that but that will get you robbed or popped.Only my wife and a close friend know.The close friend and even my wife are the only weak links.I need a good camera i may start a journal soon.

 

[marinemansf]

Flowering for about a week. Give or take a few days. I started with the hps, but switched back to MH to control that stretch. I'm not real sure how long it's gonna take to finish out though. Got my first buds coming in, I'll snap a few pics this morning. And I know what you mean about tellin people bout your grow, only my old man knows bout mine.

 

[cravin morehead]

hey guys, i played hooky from work today so i could start a new batch of homebrew beer today. hahaha! that blue dot x doctor sounds nice. i ran the doctor years ago and liked it. you are correct, it seems the better the bud, the less is produces. why will you have to lose the blue dot you are currently running? i've successfully cloned plants very far into flower. its worth a try right? great phenos are hard to find and it sounds like you got one.
loose lips sink ships is exactly correct. anonimity has always worked for me too. for over 20 years of growing now. also, i'm not trying to go big time. just enough for me and a few friends (only 1 of them knows i'm growing it) and yes, start a journal. i would love to follow along and learn some about organic soil runs.

 

[cravin morehead]

as far as using a bio-bucket to veg in then move to soil. i'm sure it would work out great, if possible. what i mean is, the roots will be extremely tangled in the lava rocks and net pot by the time you are ready to switch to flower. i would think it'd be a real problem trying to get them untangled. i suppose you could just bury the whole deal in the soil. net pot and lava rocks and all. i couldn't give you any advice on this process at all, but would be real interested in seeing what happens. however a small 1 bucket system with a 1 bucket res is very possible. maybe to throw in the corner of your room and see how you like it. i'm sure you will.

marineman- i hate to break it to you but, Dynagro is NOT organic. but it does kick ass!!! it is a very clean simple product with everything you need and nothing extra to screw up the delicate balance. the processes that the bio-buckets use are alot like organic nutes. the BB's(beneficial bacteria) break down the elements in the nutes to make them able to be used by the plants. much like the process to produce 'organic hydro nutes'.
given this info, i feel i cannot call the buds organic, but i use the term 'all natural'. meaning all natural processes are used to convert 'natural' elements to be used by the plants. just like the soil food web does. just to let you know. you do Not need to use grow formula at all. BigToke said it better again:
How much less nitrogen can be added if the organisms are cycling nitrogen? Hint: I use General Hydropoincs Nutrient Solution, and it has been my personal observation, that because of the introduction of beneficial bacterium into your system, you will not need as much nitrogen in your system, so this well be my ratio for my second grow, veg, 0-2-1 and in flowering, 0-2-3, everything looks to be doing very wall at these levels so far. We know that in solid media we have to have 20,000 or more protozoa, typically present as flagellates and amoebae, in order to have enough N release from the bacteria and fungi to maintain plant growth requirements on a daily basis.
just a side note. in my current run, i put cuttings in the system with no nutes at all. they grew fine on their own for at least a week and a half. then i added bloom to keep everyone happy. i'm currently about 1 week into flower and i'm running at about 300ppm. very low. the girls are progressing fine. also, out of my own stupidity, i brought in spidermites from my veggie garden in the yard. got a pretty good infestation. azatrol every 3 days for 4 times took care of them. but the girls never slowed down a bit. sorry, i'm kind of rambling again.i believe well water would be fine, but i never tried it myself. if you can do a couple simple cheap tests, BigToke has got the water parameters all laid out in his water chemistry sticky. i would love to see you give it a go. i think it may just change your mind. if not thats cool too. i understand, to each his own. but i feel the rate of growth and quality, clean flavors produced might be enough to tip the scales. we'll see...
cm

 

[cravin morehead]

figured i shoul put up a couple pics to put my money where my mouth is:
this is c99 froom my last posted run

day 1 of flower. all trimmed and tied ready to go. notice no-pest strips, when i first noticed spidermites.

root porn from day 1 flower

i believe this is 1 week into flower



this is all with low feed strengths.

 

[tokersmoke]

props for sure.Im gonna give them a go.I guess my posts about vegging in the bio buckets were confusing.I wouldnt try to move them for flowering that would be interesting.I would want to keep things all organic.IM currently running 20 in 5 gallon pots.How complicated would it be to make a 20 pot system?

 

[cravin morehead]

not really complicated at all. pretty much be just like mine, only bigger. it could get a little expensive, not much but, a little. lots of different fittings (pvc) and a good size mag drive h2o pump. once again, properly planned and executed to save headaches. seeing as how you have some different variables; well water, organic nutes, space, etc..., i would suggest a one bucket system to try it out with first. that would be cheap to put together. your res can be pretty small too. BigToke recommends 3 quarts for each square foot of mature canopy space. i would imagine a reservoir with 6 quarts would be sufficient. i would be more than happy to help out any way i could bro.

cm

 

[cravin morehead]

looking for more pics marineman!! just kidding bro, whenever you get a chance is cool

 

[tokersmoke]

thanks cravin definetely might set up one to see how i like it.

We want more pics!