First grow: WaterFarm 600W MH/HPS, HomeBox XL, CoolShade, 25 gallon res. [PICS]

[fred_light]

super set up... i was just telling my buddy about your set up a read a few months back, and today you show up again!! I just got my first grow/dwc going and roots just started to get the water so im hoping its starts to go fast like yours.

Magic happens when she hits the water Good luck with her.

Wow, she's a monster!

Looking really good. I'm wondering tho... I've seen many experienced growers trim alot of bottom stuff to get more bud production in the top. Might be something to consider? I don't have time to search right now. Gotta get to work.

I'll be watching this.

Peace

Yes, trimming is "normal" for some growers, and I think I know how to do some light trimming (you can see some earlier on this thread). But I wanted a run without to much interference as a reference for later. Also I believe one should slow down on the trimming after week 2 of 12/12. Taking away growleafs that shadow budsites etc. is okay after week 2, but not any big cuts. I am sure some people disagree with that, but for a first grow it seems like good advice.

The 600W is showing good penetration inside the tent, and the walls seem to reflect good. Yes, there will be plenty of popcorn, but I wanna make some hash while I am at it She looks like she will beat my goal of 100 grams/3.5 ounces, and everything else is a bonus...

 

[Dödsknark]

Alright!

You know what you are doing so keep it up. Obviously, it's working hella good.

Peace!

 

[centralcoastbud]

Hey fred, just caught this thread and things are looking great. I've got a question and a comment for you so here it goes: Q: I noticed you mentioned something about cooking up a perl script and was wondering if there was any chance I could take a peek at the code (I happen to also be a cs enthusiast), C: I think you might want to look into "lollypopping" or trimming the bottom 12" or so, I know you mentioned wanting popcorn buds and hash but thats a lot of popcorn and bud sites that won't even develop into popcorn -- they are taking energy away from the rest of the plant and a lot of that undergrowth won't even be useful for hash/anything.

Aside from that everything is looking spot on. Good job !

 

[nekoloving]

This is like the perfect commercial for WaterFarms! keep up the good work!

 

[fred_light]

Hey fred, just caught this thread and things are looking great. I've got a question and a comment for you so here it goes: Q: I noticed you mentioned something about cooking up a perl script and was wondering if there was any chance I could take a peek at the code (I happen to also be a cs enthusiast), C: I think you might want to look into "lollypopping" or trimming the bottom 12" or so, I know you mentioned wanting popcorn buds and hash but thats a lot of popcorn and bud sites that won't even develop into popcorn -- they are taking energy away from the rest of the plant and a lot of that undergrowth won't even be useful for hash/anything.

Aside from that everything is looking spot on. Good job !

Q: Here is a peak at the simplest script I am using (think I posted one script on one of the first pages on this thread also). Is for my waterpump that pumps water from my "bottom" resovoir and to my "feed" resovoir. I run this script 1 time every hour as a cronjob/schedule job.

#!/usr/bin/perl

use Net::Telnet;


$start_time=localtime;

$telnet = new Net::Telnet ( Timeout=>10,
Errmode=>'return',
Timeout => 20,
Prompt => '/\: $/i');

$telnet->open('192.168.1.101');
$telnet->login('admn', 'admn');

open (MYFILE, '>>/export/home/fred_light/cool/output_waterpump.txt');
print MYFILE "Start time: $start_time\n";
$telnet->cmd('on .a5');
sleep(150);
$telnet->cmd('off .a5');
$stopp_time=localtime;
print MYFILE "Stopp time: $stopp_time\n";

$telnet->close;
close (MYFILE);

This is as easy as it gets. Turn on outlet number 5, wait 150 seconds, turn off outlet 5. I do the same with my lights. Turn on, wait 12 houres, turn on, and run that as a cronjob once every day...
I also log to file when I turned on/off.

For a CS this is easy stuff.

My other script include reading temp/humidity and turn on/off stuff based on readings. If you want code I will provide, but they are tuned very much for my environment and need to be custom adjusted. But I have made the programs able to "calibrate" very fine-grained. I run a total of 5 outlets now with programs.

This is like the perfect commercial for WaterFarms! keep up the good work!

Hehe, thanks. Keep in mind that I run a modified version. Recirculating. The waterfarm is a good "starterbase", if a bit on the pricy side.

And right now I am not sure if everybody wants this Today she hit the ceiling of the tent!

Pics of her tomorrow...

 

[uninformed]

I think you're going to beat your goal of 3.5 dry ounces. I wouldn't be surprised at all if you chopped down a full LB wet.

 

[nekoloving]

C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER #42

some people just gently wash the soil from the roots and go straight to hydroton/hydro. so is your plan to just grow her in soil and take a clone to put in the waterfarm?

AH HA!!!!

i knew i saw that post a while ago - i just couldn't remember what it said! nothing like a couple sentences making one's day

[edit]

realized i totally forgot to ask something obvious - how large / old can plant be and still wash those roots w/o major damage??

 

[HashishinReidi]

That is one nice looking bush .She is a big mama now ,cant wait to see how she looks in 8 weeks time.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

realized i totally forgot to ask something obvious - how large / old can plant be and still wash those roots w/o major damage??

Not obvious at all, really.

The real question is, how large of a root mass can I arrange within a container of hydroton or other soilless mix....... without having large masses of root touching each other?

See, as long as all the roots get that fresh wash of water, you're golden and your plant will survive. DWC/SWC are great for this as long as you have a good mess of bubbles coming up through the roots or constant flow of water that goes through 'all' the roots.

Any place that you have roots clumped together, to the point they don't allow water to penetrate well, you're going to get root rot.

So..... If you have a large plant, I would suggest thinning out the roots while you tickle the dirt off in the bucket and also trimming the foilage a bit, to match what you removed from the roots.

Either way, the chances it will survive are pretty good.

 

[nekoloving]

Not obvious at all, really.

The real question is, how large of a root mass can I arrange within a container of hydroton or other soilless mix....... without having large masses of root touching each other?

See, as long as all the roots get that fresh wash of water, you're golden and your plant will survive. DWC/SWC are great for this as long as you have a good mess of bubbles coming up through the roots or constant flow of water that goes through 'all' the roots.

Any place that you have roots clumped together, to the point they don't allow water to penetrate well, you're going to get root rot.

So..... If you have a large plant, I would suggest thinning out the roots while you tickle the dirt off in the bucket and also trimming the foilage a bit, to match what you removed from the roots.

Either way, the chances it will survive are pretty good.

but don't roots lose the tiny outgrowths pretty easy? or just expect it to be in shock for a couple days? also i suppose a good dunk or two wont hurt it too bad to try to make sure I'm getting all the dirt out? this wont clog the pre-filters on the pumps usually?

hehe sorry for all the questions!

 

[Hydro-Soil]

but don't roots lose the tiny outgrowths pretty easy? or just expect it to be in shock for a couple days? also i suppose a good dunk or two wont hurt it too bad to try to make sure I'm getting all the dirt out? this wont clog the pre-filters on the pumps usually?

hehe sorry for all the questions!

It will only take a day or so for it to fully recover.

Definitely take your time and get as much crap out of the roots as possible. If you can set it up in a bubbler system with pH'd RO water for 24hrs you can get a lot more of it out.

Put a filter over your pump if that's your concern. Otherwise your best bet would be to just take a cutting and start fresh.

 

[fred_light]

Well, 4 hit the roof

Getting strange 1 leafs on the top budshot. They are long and single...

Some weird shit can have happend. Not sure what. Gave them food yesterday. Pics today

Time will show what happens

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Improve your plant density next time, you'll love the increase in yield. Start reading up on LST or Supercropping. Personally I prefer a scrog but not all situations are right for that.

Lotta nice green in that cab.

 

[Elcap]

Great first run. Sativas can be difficult indoors due to height/stretch...but if you can deal with it the herb is so much better than the indica doms that are common in indoor grows.

A SCROG or some other type of canopy training would really, really boost your yields IMO. You can see in that last pic how the bottom half of your plant is getting very little light penetration. A SCROG would give you very even light on the bud sites, as well as a way to control height. With indicas, I flip when the screen is about 2/3 or a little more filled and the stretch takes care of filling the rest. With sativas, you may need to switch with the screen only 1/2 full (maybe someone who's done sat doms in a scrog will weigh in with their experience?)

Good luck, and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

 

[SumDumGuy]

Quite a looker that gal

Quite a looker that gal

I see you've been a busy bee. Wow fantastic!!