RDWC Grow Along!

Snype · May 31, 2014

I figured I'd make a thread for some of us RDWC growers so we can grow together and exchange information on this method of growing. I've been in RDWC for some time now and to me it's pretty easy. I believe in keeping data of my grows and have learned many things from this data.

I had washers manufactured for the systems that I'm running and somehow thousands of my washers made their way to the IC community but I'm not finding anyone running the systems. Hopefully this thread can be a tool to your RDWC grows and we can grow RDWC style together as a group. I would think it would be more fun this way!

I'm sure growers who are new to RDWC or thinking about making the switch would find this thread helpful as it progresses. I've never seen growth rates like RDWC before. When all the variables in an RDWC grow are in-line, the growth rates can seem pretty incredible. With no medium restricting the roots, it makes perfect sense as long as you supply enough air in the nutrient solution and don't have any pathogens. Enough about details now though, lets get to some pics:

So come on in, spark up a joint of something nice and lets grow RDWC style together!

Snype · May 31, 2014

Cat Jockey · May 31, 2014

Looks fun. The first thing I thought when I saw you guys holdin' the colas is how awesome trimmin' RDWC colas are, 'cause the shit is mostly flowers.

Enough about details now though ...

I like details. Strain, flower room lights, any room stats like temp and shit?

Snype · May 31, 2014

Cat Jockey said:
Looks fun. The first thing I thought when I saw you guys holdin' the colas is how awesome trimmin' RDWC colas are, 'cause the shit is mostly flowers.

I like details. Strain, flower room lights, any room stats like temp and shit?

Don't let those colas fool you. Trimming is still a lot of work on the Chemdog Double Diesel but we like our colas naked. I only run 1,000 watt Hortilux's and I change them out every other crop. I keep the AC set at 66 from the beginning to day 52 of flower which makes the top of the canopy a little over 75F. At day 52 I drop the AC to the lowest setting possible to try and get it as cold as I can. I'd love to see temps in the low 60's. At day 50 of Flowering, I turn down the setting on the Lumateks to 750 watts. I run 2,000 watts for every 10 bucket system. At day 56, I turn the lights down to 600's. I also add an extra 30 minutes to the dark cycle starting at day 52 and then at day 56 I go another 30 minutes dark so I'm at 13 dark and 11 light. Here's some pics of tonight at day 53 of Flowering:

Snype · May 31, 2014

A sample of the systems that I use:

User Name: · May 31, 2014

coool !

overbudjet · May 31, 2014

Hi Snype's
Nice girl's there

RulaTone · May 31, 2014

really interested about your setup brother Snype, i will listen carefully if you like to share some of your data, materials used etc.

I have grown in dirt and coco only these years, but i'd love to understand how to do a proper RDWC like yours.

Tagged!

hush · May 31, 2014

That's interesting about turning your 1000s down to 750. Do you find that helps to ripen the buds? I already dig the 11/13 thing, and I've been playing with that on my SSH's in their last few weeks of flowering, but I've never thought about lowering the light intensity like this before.

Awesome write up, man.

Snype · Jun 1, 2014

vro said:
do you prune those at all? how far down does the light go beneath the canopy?

The plants are 36" to 42" above the 5 Gallon Lowes Buckets. I do a good pruning at Day 10-12 of Flower. By day 21 I'll have all my pruning done. I prune off anything below the bottom 14" of every plant.

I start my defoliation at around day 28 of flower. If I don't defoliate, I'll get pounds of popcorn. I don't go crazy on the defoliation at first. I only start it at day 28 of flower and I continue every 5 days to 7 days until the end of the grow. One of my heaviest defoliations will occur on day 52 of Flower. Before day 52, I take maybe a few leaves per plant to let the light get into the canopy more. Of course this will be specific to the pheno that I'm growing. I've been growing my ChemdogDoubleDiesel pheno #8 for about 4 years now. The 1,000 watters penetrate roughly 2 feet below the canopy.

RulaTone said:
really interested about your setup brother Snype, i will listen carefully if you like to share some of your data, materials used etc.

I have grown in dirt and coco only these years, but i'd love to understand how to do a proper RDWC like yours.

Tagged!

I'm going to try and get you some details later tonight or tomorrow. I'll have lots of data to share.

hush said:
That's interesting about turning your 1000s down to 750. Do you find that helps to ripen the buds? I already dig the 11/13 thing, and I've been playing with that on my SSH's in their last few weeks of flowering, but I've never thought about lowering the light intensity like this before.

Awesome write up, man.

I can't tell you that turning down the lights helps to ripen them faster but what I can tell you is that for ChemdogDD#8 (BYTCH), after day 42 of flower, the plants have already reached peak fluorescence and don't require as much food and light as before this period. The intensity of the 1,000 watters at 24" below the Hydro Farm Radient reflectors actually does more harm to the buds than good. I would rather raise them up so I can spread out the light more but I don't have the ceiling height. My ceilings are 8'. So at day 42 of Flower, I lower the lights to 750 and by day 56 of flower, I lower them again to 600 watts until they finish. If I don't do this, my buds will burn and lose terpenes and also cause some bud rot. If you look at some of my best looking densest buds, they are not directly under the light and are more on the sides below the peak of the canopy line.

Snype · Jun 1, 2014

For those of you interested in how I construct my systems, I have a tutorial that you may find interesting:

Snype's RDWC Construction Tutorial For 250 Watts - 7,600 Watts!
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=267918

My 10 Bucket RDWC system that flowers with 2,000 Watts (2 x 1,000's) cost less than $500 for the complete system including your Alita AL-60 and your Danner Model 5 Water Pump. The only thing not included in the price is the colored heavy duty tomato cages and the SCROG. That 10 bucket system looks very professional when you set it up, esp if you use black buckets with no logos on them. Match up my heavy duty colored tomato cages and it takes on a great look. The smaller systems for 250, 400 watts and 600 watts are much cheaper to build and only cost up to a few hundred. It's all about supplying a lot of air and not using those cheap air pumps at the grow shops. I have formulas that I came up with to size your air pumps accordingly. Basically, I add up all the water used in the system in Liters. In my 10 bucket system I'm using 120 Liters of Water which will require 60L/Min of air. Notice that those rates are per minute and not per hour. I'll break more things down as we get more into this thread. Now lets take a smoke break and spark something up. I'm thinking of rolling up some KK StarDawg!

Snype · Jun 1, 2014

This is some of the data for tonight. It is only the data for the average of 2 systems. There is this individual data for all of the systems that are taken almost every day of the entire grow. I learn loads of information from this data:

Date: May 31, 2014
Stage: Day 54 Flower
Heights: 34"-43"
Top Off: 8 Gal (est)
pH pre: 5.85
Adeed (pH): n/a
pH post: 6.2
PPM pre (500 scale): 695
Added (ppm): n/a
PPM post: 565
Water Temperature: 63
Air Temperature: 66 - 76F
rH: 60's
CO2: 600 PPM
Pump Cycle: 24/7
Light Cycle: 11on/13off
Ballast Setting: 750's
Other Information: Plants look amazing!

krakkken · Jun 3, 2014

Hi great work I was wondering do you run a chiller or anything of the sort to keep you res Temps so low?

Nm I read in one of your threads no chiller

Snype · Jun 3, 2014

krakkken said:
Nm I read in one of your threads no chiller

I have tested my solution temps in the 90's with no chiller and I still have perfect success using Chlorine and lots of air! No chillers here and I average over 2 pounds per light in these systems.

krakkken · Jun 3, 2014

With no rot? Do you for see problems if lead free garden hose is used for the return to the pump in stead of pvc? Im using 10 gal containers 4 plants 3400w. This brings my total water in the system up to about 45 gals for 4 plants so to my understanding is I could move enough water with that 950 mag drive you use in the larger 2000 w system? Sorry for the flood of questions and thanks for you time

Snype · Jun 3, 2014

krakkken said:
With no rot? Do you for see problems if lead free garden hose is used for the return to the pump in stead of pvc? Im using 10 gal containers 4 plants 3400w. This brings my total water in the system up to about 45 gals for 4 plants so to my understanding is I could move enough water with that 950 mag drive you use in the larger 2000 w system? Sorry for the flood of questions and thanks for you time

For 45 Gallons Id go with the 700 G/hr Danner. The bigger pump would pull roots through your pipes.

Ive used hose before. I just like the PVC better.

Sounds like some big plants.

Snype · Jun 5, 2014

BYTCH - 4,000 Watts - Day 58 Flower
BYTCH (ChemdogDoubleDiesel) is a pretty picky plant to grow. She doesn't like intense light or heat after day 42 of flower or she will tend to run (foxtail). The last couple of weeks of flowering, I take the temps down to 60F and she gets much more resin. She makes you work for her beauty. This is an 8 pound crop.

Come on in and join me growing RDWC style!

w4tch · Jun 19, 2014

Nice colas on those ladies! I've been looking through a few of your threads and have noticed you're a fan of the chem family. Have any suggestions on which one to run first?

Snype · Jun 19, 2014

w4tch said:
Nice colas on those ladies! I've been looking through a few of your threads and have noticed you're a fan of the chem family. Have any suggestions on which one to run first?

Any one you can find if your talking about the original clone only's. I've never been lucky to have any of the original ones so I was stuck looking for pheno's when I found the ChemDD. For seed, you can't go wrong with StarDawg but they are hard to get. The only seed company that I can suggest instead of the StarDawg would be Connoisseur Genetics that you can get on Seedbay. If you're interested, look through some of his wares.

greenpinky · Jun 19, 2014

Sick brother! I'm on for the ride.. I run ur 4 bucket system with different washers... I love it! Thanks bro!... keep the data comming I like to compare it to mine.

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