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negatives DWC adventure....Blue Dream.

negative37dBA

Well-known member
Veteran
Chill day.

Chill day.

Chilling out today letting my knee heal. Little bit of hydroton cleaning and clone work.
This is helping. Came out so nice and gold/clear. White Grape Stomper.
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It almost is a taffy but snaps after a bit of stretch.:laughing:
peace, negative.
 
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negative37dBA

Well-known member
Veteran
Wanted to ask a couple questions. My plant is drinking and feeding a lot during a 24 hour period. It will take up about 3.5 liters of water in that time. What I was wondering was is it good for the roots to get more air exposure as the water level lowers? Should I configure a little top off bottle to keep it full the whole time? I add water about every 12 hours now. Have a great day everyone.
Was able to hobble to the river and enjoy the cool water and hot temps. Sampling some nice honey crystal.
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Green Crack honey crystal. These are both from Oleum.
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Romulan honey crystal. These are both pretty nice. Strong.
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"You better pace yourself if you dab with me, Ill have ya feeling like you smoked a whole half a P, this ain't tree...it's that....concentrate" Some cool song lyrics.
peace, negative.
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
Personally, I believe the plants benefit from the changing nutrient strength and pH throughout the day. I have not tested a float-valve controlled DWC vs. my once-a-day top off method.


I really feel the extra swing in pH is beneficial for running low strength nutes without deficiencies.
 

negative37dBA

Well-known member
Veteran
Sounds great then. I will continue as I have been. Thanks so much for all your help Douglas.Curtis. Really things are going quite well. I am excited to see the lush green and bud sites forming!! The only down side I can see right now is the overcrowding of the other 3 plants. Also a uneven canopy because of the different growth rates. It is all good. I am not going to stress.
Adding B-52 and Nirvana to the nutrient mix today. Dropping Piranha and Vodoo in week 3. I am finding the nutrient strength to be about right there from what the plant is telling me. No down turning of leaf tips and they pray up to the light. Things looking nice and green. Tiny bit of purple on petioles in a few spots. Might up the Calmag a bit.
Got a couple shots before the lights came on.
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Sites are developing. Pretty tight nodes....
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Numbers are good:woohoo: Top reading #1 is grow room canopy...love that humidty eh?? Bottomt temp on Hanna is water temp of roots.
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Peace, negative.
 
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Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
Looking good. :) I really have no experience with the additives you're mentioning, just so you're aware. My main goal is to have a full pH swing through the full healthy range, without having to add pH up/down.



What pH affect do those additives have? Do you notice the reverse of the pH affect as the plants use the additive? I'm always looking for something which will assist, while maintaining the swing through the plants using up nutes. :)
 

green404

Member
Personally, I believe the plants benefit from the changing nutrient strength and pH throughout the day. I have not tested a float-valve controlled DWC vs. my once-a-day top off method.


I really feel the extra swing in pH is beneficial for running low strength nutes without deficiencies.

Have you guys noticed bigger PH swings as the roots fill up the buckets ?

I have been getting bigger swings and wondering if the cramped roots are causing it.
 

negative37dBA

Well-known member
Veteran
Questions.

Questions.

Looking good. :) I really have no experience with the additives you're mentioning, just so you're aware. My main goal is to have a full pH swing through the full healthy range, without having to add pH up/down.

What pH affect do those additives have? Do you notice the reverse of the pH affect as the plants use the additive? I'm always looking for something which will assist, while maintaining the swing through the plants using up nutes. :)

Thanks for that. Some of the additives have a extreme pH. Rhino Skin, potassium silicate, has a pH of around 11! I always mix this in first when doing a change out as to not have things drop out of solution. I never add it to a existing bucket as well. Then I add my Calmag and other micros, then the A&B. I usually see things move slowly down till they get in the proper range when I get done mixing. I usually do not have to use pH up or down. If I do use some it is not much and I use a dilute solution.
I have found my pH to be low sometimes when I check the plant after the dark period, 5.2 or so. Small amounts of pH up dilute bring it back. Although when I top back up with R/O it brings it up a bit without the aid of dilute.
I did a little bit of defoliating this AM. Here are some of the leaves. You can see the bit of purple on some of the petioles. Just on the top. Not to bad though.
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Have you guys noticed bigger PH swings as the roots fill up the buckets ?

I have been getting bigger swings and wondering if the cramped roots are causing it.

Thanks for the question there green404. I have not experienced that so far. I will watch the low pH I have getting a bit. That may be due to roots filling up a bit to much. Mine roots have filled the 5 gallon up pretty well although I cannot look all the way because it is scrogged. It was vegged for 40 days or so. They are white and looking well though. I am just starting week 3 so we will see if that happens.
peace, negative.
 
Have you guys noticed bigger PH swings as the roots fill up the buckets ?

I have been getting bigger swings and wondering if the cramped roots are causing it.

Are you using 5g buckets green404? If so, full buckets of roots displaces lots of water. This effectively shrinks your fluid volume in the rez. The smaller the rez, the faster your ph and ppm swings. If you have the room, try using 18g rubbermaid totes. Less daily matinence adding water, and ph/ppm is way more stable.
 

negative37dBA

Well-known member
Veteran
pH drops...

pH drops...

Hi there. We are in week 3 of flower. Things are looking good but my plant is having some big pH drops. I think I know why and I have a solution. So it is drinking a ton and is a big plant for a 5 gallon bucket. 4' high and 4' wide. By taking up so much water it concentrates the nutrient solution so the pH drops. I am going to put a small top off rez made out of a water bottle on top to keep it topped up. I am on a tight budget this grow so I used what I had on hand..may not look pro. It will work good though.
I took a 50 oz water bottle and epoxied a pvc pipe on the end to the depth of a 6 net pot. I taped up the bottle so it is dark and left a small strip open to see the level. Basically made a long necked bottle. I will mix up a solution to fill the bottle and place it upside down in the 2" net pot "inspection" hole. Water will find it's own level so as the solution drops it will come out of the bottle and keep bucket topped up. This should stop the pH swings. What do you guys think?
Here is a picture with a little mom as a example of how it will work.
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I saw this on Jeb the Grdener on youtube. I did not come up with it myself. I am not used to the growth rates of DWC and man they get big quick!!:woohoo: Next time I will not veg for so long. Have a great day all.
peace, negative.
 

green404

Member
Are you using 5g buckets green404? If so, full buckets of roots displaces lots of water. This effectively shrinks your fluid volume in the rez. The smaller the rez, the faster your ph and ppm swings. If you have the room, try using 18g rubbermaid totes. Less daily matinence adding water, and ph/ppm is way more stable.

I have 5 gal buckets. I have been playing with the res size right now I have 3-5gal buckets hooked to a 12gal res. I had 2-5gal buckets hooked to a 5-gal res and had about the same PH drops in mid-late bloom.

The bigger res didn't do much, I have been think of increasing the bucket size to 10gal-12gal. It is just so much when the plants are small in veg to have 30-gals of water/nutes under them.

I have also been playing with the PPMs seeing if more food would=less swing, haven't noticed any difference yet.
 

negative37dBA

Well-known member
Veteran
Well it has only been 1 day but the little top of rez seems to be working. When I checked this am the water level was down near the bottom of the back up rez. The pH was bang on!! The ppm was perfect as well. I think this is working out. The plant also was really reaching up to the light. Looking great! I will keep a watch but I think this is going to help out. In a 24 hour period the plant drank nearly 100 oz of water. Wow.
peace, negative.
 

HASHCAM

Member
Personally, I believe the plants benefit from the changing nutrient strength and pH throughout the day. I have not tested a float-valve controlled DWC vs. my once-a-day top off method.


I really feel the extra swing in pH is beneficial for running low strength nutes without deficiencies.


perhaps, as light come on you can hit with more food, and as you get to max day time, you can pull back on food, and schedule for more food as light fade?
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
perhaps, as light come on you can hit with more food, and as you get to max day time, you can pull back on food, and schedule for more food as light fade?
I'm not sure if you can do this properly on a 'daily' schedule. The Lucas method of reservoir management sets this up on a near weekly schedule.

Add nutrients to drop pH at initial res mixing. pH up to minimum healthy pH. (Maximum food) As the plants absorb nutrients over a 7-10 day period, the pH will naturally rise to the top of the healthy pH range. (Lean Food) (Changes in reservoir size will increase/decrease the time of this swing)
 

negative37dBA

Well-known member
Veteran
End of week 3 of flower.

End of week 3 of flower.

Hi all. Things are moving along nicely. The "bottle feeding" technique is working excellent. Keeping things much more stable and looking fine. Just did a rez change out for week 4 nutes. The only downside is the other 3 are getting squeezed out a bit. The canopy is not even either. Light is farther from those other 3 but that is how it is going to be so I will go with it. I trimmed up all the lower crap and took a few big fans off. Flowers are developing nicely. I think I suck at taking pics and I can really only get the same angle every time as my room is small. Hope these do a little justice to them.
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Little close up of a flower.
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I notice more frost at this point on the GG4 than the Blue Dream.

"Bottle feeding" my baby.....lol
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Hope you all have a great day, peace
negative.
 

negative37dBA

Well-known member
Veteran
End of week 4 of flower.

End of week 4 of flower.

Things are going along pretty well. Still getting some pH drops that are to big. Have had to change the rez once in between the weeks to get it back right. I think it is just a bit to big for the 5 gallon bucket size. I will just veg for a while less next run.
Here is a shot of the whole room. I took these right at lights out.
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A little closer shot, again so hard to get a good angle because of the room size.
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I am starting to get excited. Smells are increasing. Frost is visable on all plants now. Glue had it first. This is right where I screwed up last run and my Glue yellowed out and finished early and with seeds:moon:. I will he honest...I knew very little about hydro and I only changed the solution 1 time!!! I have changed out this time every week on the button and she shows it. Have a great day.
peace, negative.
 
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Nice job bro! I love blue dream in dwc what a plant. You hear a lot of crap talk about it but at the end of the day not many will deny the great balance of desirable qualities and ease of growth.

I bet it would be worth changing the res 2x a week if you're in 5gal buckets they should be eating through that fast. Don't worry about the ph drop if you're on top of it and using caustic potash they love the extra potassium.
 

negative37dBA

Well-known member
Veteran
Looking good well done. :tiphat:
Thanks for that insomniac_AU. Really appreciate it. They are coming along nicely. Seeing a surprising amount of frost on the fan leaf petioles.:dance013: Smells are very pleasing as well.

Nice job bro! I love blue dream in dwc what a plant. You hear a lot of crap talk about it but at the end of the day not many will deny the great balance of desirable qualities and ease of growth.

I bet it would be worth changing the res 2x a week if you're in 5gal buckets they should be eating through that fast. Don't worry about the ph drop if you're on top of it and using caustic potash they love the extra potassium.

Thanks for those nice words toastyghostie. I will go bigger with my solution volume next run. I am putting together a simple 2 site system with a attached reservoir that will be recirculating. Should give me about 15 gallons total over about 6 with 5 gallon individual sites. Should provide better stability for pH. Putting 1 plant under each light....should be good.
peace, negative.
 

negative37dBA

Well-known member
Veteran
Yeah the bugs....sad face.

Yeah the bugs....sad face.

Hi all. You know, its hard to express my frustration here in words. It seems as though life has it in for me the last couple years. Maybe I am paying for all the nice life I have had in the past, not rich but nice none the less. Found mites on all my stuff today. Been fighting them and thought I had it handled but no....there everywhere. Moms, clones, flowering stuff....hundreds... This is like the last thing I really needed in my life right now.
I got like zero budget for fixes, nearly out of meds and not really sure if I can even get this crop another 3 or 4 weeks to finish. I made a big move last year and took a chance of a lifetime on working on a farm and mining crypto. Got scammed out of all my wages and the dude stole the mining rig. That was a real big set back for me emotionally and financially. Then not a week later I had one of my dogs die unexpectedly. My dogs are my life and another devastation for me. Now here I am a year later. I am unemployed, depressed and crypto mining is banned where I live as well as outdoor growing....I mean wow legal state my asshole. The 2 things that motivated me ever in life was weed tech and crypto.

Alright I had my rant. I am not looking for sympathy I just needed a place to vent my fucking feelings before I go fucking off the wall.
Just spent the last 7 hours bleaching and cleaning what I can. Throwing out clones and some moms. I am going to try to save my GG4 mom. I mean I have never had better and I cannot bear to lose it. No idea how I would even try to replace it. I have NO contacts in the weed game even though I am in a legal state.
So I load a bowl of the 3 year old outdoor I have and ponder what the fuck...
negative.
 

negative37dBA

Well-known member
Veteran
End week 5 of flower.

End week 5 of flower.

Gotten to end of weeks 5. Bugs have been found all over. Trying to do what I can with what I have on hand. Flowers look alright. Just have to plow through. Cleaning/tossing what I have in tent. Just keeping 2 small moms and try and get them clean. Hopefully I can get these 4 to the end.
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Thanks, negative.
 

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