Castle Guerrilla: 5000w G-13 & ATF in DWCs

[GuerrillaRed]

Well this has been more than a year of work and planning to finally get to this point of having my own home and my own grow space. I'm extremely excited as I just dropped the kids in their tubs yesterday and we're finally to the fun part of this adventure.

Right now I have 11 G-13 teenagers and 5 ATF babies in 30 gallon DWCs vegging under 3000w of both 7200k and 4200k MH spectrums.

I'm using a Pondmaster AP-100 to get air into the buckets.

I'm running 1000w Apollo Digital Ballasts, really like them so far.

I'm just keeping it simple rolling with the Lucas Formula, Superthrive, Hydrogen Peroxide and white vinegar for pH control.

 

[GuerrillaRed]

Forgot to add pics

 

[GuerrillaRed]

Hey guys,

Well I believe we're now three days into veg. My plants are beginning to explode. This is so much fun to watch.

One IMPORTANT thing I'd like to stress to anyone who reads this, INVEST IN WELDER'S GOGGLES. Seriously save your eyes. I did a lot of stupid things in my youth including spending time around guerrilla grows and bare bulbs with no eye protection and it does really screw with your eye sight. I made the really smart move of buying a pair of $6 welding goggles and my eyes feel so much better. I don't have headaches or trouble seeing at night anymore after working under the lights. Be smart and don't permanently damage your eyes.

Also I highly recommend the Apollo Digital Ballasts. They've worked excellently with no problems. Also the ability to control the amount of energy they use and put out is a life saver and excellent. I'm genuinely surprised at their quality so far. They're small and light too which was a surprise compared to the heavy ass magnetic ballasts.

I want to veg these plants out until the end of the month to give the ATF kids some time to get some size but I'm beginning to think my ceiling may not be high enough for the G-13 in flowering. That's a good problem to have.

Just flipped to a 20/4 lighting schedule. I gave them 24 hours of light after transplant. 18/6 yesterday as a good rest period after transplant. Now it'll be 20/4 veg until I hit flowering.

Anyway, here's some more pics

Looking at the Lights

G-13 Clones

Another ATF Baby

 

[GuerrillaRed]

G-13 Clone

More Clones

 

["HEMPEROR"]

hey bro love your groom think this is gunna be a great grow atb matey ill be following along......hemp

 

[GuerrillaRed]

Hey thanks Hemperor! I put a lot of work into it. It's just a nice simple big two car garage but it took a lot of time properly clean, sterilize, build then dial it in. Originally thought it would take a few days but wound up taking a good month. :laugh: Pretty sure I could do all the plumbing and electrical work on a house now if I had too.

Just walked out to the Castle, my plants are exploding with new growth and look absolutely vigorously happy and healthy. I am highly encouraged. The small ATFs are beginning to take off and I'm genuinely worried I won't have enough height in the castle for the G-13s.

Just a couple of notes for future reference. The G-13 clones are already two months old, so putting them in this veg room under this much light is making them have a plant party in there. The ATF kids are really taking off as well but I'm worried they're not going to get enough veg time to pack on the weight. This is an interesting dilema because the G13s may overgrow the room before I want to flip the ATFs. Again good problem to have.

I'm using 32 gallon plastic trash cans for my DWC buckets. The set-up I have now is expanding upon the small guerrilla set-ups I've used for years but I've up'ed those 5 and 10 gallon beverage coolers to these 32 gallon trash cans. I up'ed the size so dramatically with the theory that bigger reservoirs would be more stable and having so much root space would equal bigger trees in less time. It's only been a few days but so far these been fantastic. I really haven't to do anything more than check in at the plant party and make sure everyone is doing okay.

I'll probably feed for the first time tomorrow. I'm really curious to see how much the G-13s are drinking already.

 

[Twisted pleasur]

What G13 cuts are those? Hybrid of some sort? G~Haze...Curious Had G13 for many years back in the day. Nice set up and good luck may you have no troubles and prosper.

 

[GuerrillaRed]

What G13 cuts are those? Hybrid of some sort? G~Haze...Curious Had G13 for many years back in the day. Nice set up and good luck may you have no troubles and prosper.

I'm not 100% sure to be honest with you. I'm probably being a mark to some extent. I contacted a lot of local cloners look specifically for G-13 and found a clone bank a state away.

I went G-13 because of all the stories (because everything you hear about marijuana is true) and ATF because ATF was the first plant I ever had a successful hydro grow with and I loved those genetics.

I've been meaning to contact the clone bank and get more information. I've just had such smooth sailing I haven't had an impetus to do so yet.

 

[GuerrillaRed]

One major complaint with these Apollo Ballasts, they knock out my satellite television because of all the RF they're throwing. It doesn't really bother me but it is extremely paranoia inducing to wonder how much RF I'm throwing out and how easy that it is to detect.

I'm completely legal but no one wants angry authority figures or cable guys at their door.

 

["HEMPEROR"]

Yeh I can see why your happy with the castle how I see it you get out wot you put in and I can see you spent time and money on doing it the rite way! I can wait to see these girls juicy buds ATB bro with ya all the way......hemp!

 

[GuerrillaRed]

Thank you Hemp

For poops and giggles, I decided to take pics of dialing in the water process. I haven't gotten around to feeding until today. Dialing in your water and figuring out water chemistry can be the biggest bitch when using DWCs.

This is how I dial in my water.

Here's just regular tap water in a regular plastic cup. I test this water to see what my baseline is for pH.

Here we can see that the baseline for tap water coming into my house is 8.0

Now as we all know Marijuana thrives at 5.5 to 6.5 pH, so we need to get this down.

I'm a huuuugggggeeeeee fan of Brita filters. They eliminate a low of problems in Guerrilla hydro grows. Plants really seem to love their water and they do a good job cleaning crap the municipal puts in the water out while lowering your pH.

And one run through a Brita filter brings the water down to 7.6

 

[GuerrillaRed]

I then pour the water from one Brita Filter into a bigger Brita Filter

And test...

Down to 7.4

I fill a gallon of the double filtered water

Now I add 10 ml of Flora Bloom, 5 ml of Flora Micro, a few ml of Hydrogen Peroxide and a few drops of Super Thrive

 

[GuerrillaRed]

Which turns out looking like this

And test...

Down to 6.9 - 7.0

After adding about 20 ml of white vinegar

Down to the perfect 5.4 - 5.5

And serve to the kids

 

[nkatadelgormo]

I have tried this with exact setup with minimal results. DWC like to be able for the roots to touch the bottom and not be free floating. Next your lids will cave in. If big is your style then next time turn the drum on its side and cut a hole in it for the net pot to fit. Much better results. You need wider not deeper. Trust me, if you have the money change it immediately. You will thank me many times over. I can for see the future with the way you have it now. Buy 55 gallon drums with airtight lids. Lay it on its side and cut out an 8inch hole for your net pot. Im not trying to down you in any way. I have tried this and know what changes need to be made. Wishing you the best in your endeavours

 

[GuerrillaRed]

Thanks for the advice man. I've dealt with these lids before and I've had plants trying to escape before haha. I've learned to use wide mouth netpots and I've braced them with metal poles under each side of the netpot so they can't go for a swim.

Just went out and pH'ed my buckets for the first time and the pH on every bucket had swung up to 6.9 - 7.0, I vinegared every bucket and got the pH down to 5 on each bucket. In a few hours when the lights go back on, each bucket should have swung back to around 5.5. I'm going to need to keep better track of pH swings so my plants don't start locking up.

Tons of new growth, plants all look happy. Took a chance to look at the roots and tons of growth and happy healthy looking white roots so far.

I think I'll flip either on Nov. 1st or Nov. 3rd. I was foolish to get two different kinds of groups that are such different ages. Trying to give the ATF kids some time to get some size but I think I'm going to be forced to flip before they get too much size on them. Oh well, I think these G-13s are going to be crowd pleasers. :lol:

 

[BenAndChons]

Hey Guerrilla it's looking great in there! If you don't mind me asking where did you get the fixtures for those bulbs? You can't beat the price of the apollo ballasts but I've only seen them with various reflectors.

These ladies are gonna be huge, think I'll hang around to watch if you don't mind

 

[GuerrillaRed]

Hey Guerrilla it's looking great in there! If you don't mind me asking where did you get the fixtures for those bulbs? You can't beat the price of the apollo ballasts but I've only seen them with various reflectors.

These ladies are gonna be huge, think I'll hang around to watch if you don't mind

Hey thanks Ben,

The fixtures I'm using are just typical Mogul socket assemblies made by Sunlight. I don't remember the exact site I bought them off of (1000bulbs.com maybe?) but they're great. I've been using them forever. I strongly prefer bare bulbs to reflectors. Also, as much money and time that has gone into this project, it's still super guerrilla so money is a huge consideration. I wanted the best but also economical which is why I went with Apollos and bare bulbs.

Here's more info on these sockets.
http://www.ecogrow.com/sunlight-supply-socket-assembly-w-15-cord-p-556.html

Anyway, I'll post pics of the progress in a few when the lights go out.

Unfortunately I have some bad news. I accidentally killed two of the ATF kids by using vinegar without diluting it. I watched two babies literally suffocate to death. Google vinegar and find out it's a natural herbicide and if it touches plants it'll kill them. Went to the hydro store today and bought a couple gallons of pH down. Enough of this vinegar bullshit.

 

[GuerrillaRed]

I've decided I'm going to buy myself a reverse osmosis gadget for my next grow. Dealing with the water for this grow has been the most annoying thing. I didn't get into r/o this time around because the cost scared me off but it's getting to be way cheaper in the long run just to guarantee good water when running triple digit gallons of water.

 

[GuerrillaRed]

Here we are now nearing two weeks of veg. The real show is going to start in just a few days.

 

[GuerrillaRed]

It's unbelievable how fast these plants are growing. They're rapidly taking off now. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say the plants are getting 1/2 inch to a inch taller every day. The tallest teens that are getting the most light are already over 3 feet tall and I have to keep moving them away from the lights as they keep catching up to it.

pH'ed the buckets, really regret using vinegar now. Bought a couple days worth of pH down and having a lot more consistency now. Really don't like how much my buckets were swinging but I think I have it stable now.

TONS of root growth. Beautiful healthy white roots are booming into the buckets. Very happy with how healthy they're looking.

Finally got an oscillating fan out there, really dumb I didn't have one off the bat. Noticing the plants noticeably toughing up and fattening up now.

My room is holding at a very sweet 79 degrees. I love running bare bulbs! Never had temp problems.

Also finally got a radio out there. As dumb as it sounds I really believe in having music for plants. It's probably just a psychological thing for me but in my experience I do think having the radio on for plants stimulates them. I prefer playing classical music for them due to reading studies on what music plants like. But can only find some crappy classic rock stations out here in BF nowhere.

Pretty sure I'll flip on the 3rd.