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

[marinemansf]

Hey yall, just took a few pics. They are just a few close shots of the newly formed buds and a few of the trim job I did this morning. Wanted to get that out of the way, so now i can just sit back and watch the process.

One question, you guys suggested that I keep the MH lights in for 3 weeks before I switch to HPS correct? Just trying to figure out when I should switch the lights out.

And in case you didnt see my earlier post today, just was curious as to when i should start the process of weening my ladys off the nutes, and at what rate?

Oh one more thing, how far into flowing can I apply the neem oil? I havent done it since i first posted about it about 2 weeks ago. Also Im gonna hit up the local hydro store for some of those pest strips today. Not that I think I need em right now, but I really need this run to finish strong as I dont have any bud reserves yet. More preventive move than anything. And im not using any chemical pesticides on something im gonna put in my body. Plus summer is coming, I have a dog, and the bugs will be out real soon here.

I need a little help with choosing the next strain Im going to run next. Right now its between OG Kush or Northern Lights. Isnt OG Kuse also known as chemdawg? Thought i heard that somewhere, might be why i was having trouble finding seeds of that strain. Anywho, any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks homies!

 

[tokersmoke]

Id say to run straight water the last 8 days.I would stop with the neem now.You have to hit a lowes or home depot or similar for the no pest strips.

The plants look good but a little small for their age.I know you had early probs with the cubes.But these plants should be monsters by now.Not tripping on your grow.Im sure the next one will be 10x faster and better.

 

[tokersmoke]

As far as seeds im kinda outdated i would check out seedbay.I have ran the same strains for years.I would love to order seeds but legal issues limit selection

 

[tokersmoke]

I guess screw the hps in now as well.But i would screw the mh back in the last week

 

[cravin morehead]

whats up guys-
good advice toker. im with toker on his advice. as far as when to stop neem, now is good. i run the hot shot no pest strips every 2 weeks in veg for 3 days each time. i try to be sure i am pest free when i switch to flower. works great most times. as for seeds, i like seed boutique. never once had an issue with them. that said, sometimes shit happens, no matter who you buy from. i really like chimera and mosca stuff. check them out. don't grow for the names, grow for the traits you are looking for. as far as chemdawg and OG, who really knows. because this is illegal most everywhere, genetic lines are mostly just rumors and made up shit. no one really, really knows for sure true lineage. some say they do, but more often than not they are just regurgitating what someone told them.
in bio-buckets, i stop adding nutes the last 2 weeks of flower. how to determine when you are 2 weeks from finishing is from experience. do you know how to determine when your plants are done? don't ever go bu what the seed pack says or what someone told you. every grow is different and makes for different finishing times. you go by trichomes. they go from clear, to cloudy, to amber. i like my bud to be a little bit of an 'up' high. that comes with cloudy trich's. amber equals more of a narcotic, couchlock type of stone. to each their own.
good job on drilling that small hole in your fittings to prevent siphoning.
marineman, i read on a different thread that you use hydroton for your medium in bio-buckets? not knocking you at all, but that may be a little bit of an issue for you. hydroton is not porous enough to hold enough bennies. next grow, switch to lava rocks, well cleaned and rinsed. i use red and black lava rocks. both colors bring something to the table for your grow. heres the reasoning:

Volcanic Rocks​

Magmas that erupt at Earth’s surface cool rapidly in contact with air or water to form volcanic rocks. The liquid portion of the magma commonly cools so rapidly that instead of forming crystals, it freezes to natural glass. Obsidian and pumice are both examples of natural volcanic glass.

If a magma is poor in gas, it will probably erupt to form lava that will flow downhill away from the eruption site. Depending upon its chemical composition, particularly the abundance of silica (SiO2), lava can be extremely fluid and fast moving (low silica), or a viscous pile of solidified blocks that moves sluggishly (high silica). Basalt is the name for Earth’s most common volcanic rock. Typically black to gray in color, this silica-poor rock floors the ocean basins that cover 71% of Earth’s surface.

Yes I know your probably saying “what does this have to do with growing?” I am getting to that. Although it is true that lava rock makes a perfect home for the beneficial bacterium to live/colonize there are some other things you mite wont to consider.

• When using lava rock you wont to know weather your water is Hard or Soft, as this makes a big deferent’s, let me explain; for example if your water is hard and your using Red Lava Rock, that is very rich in silica your going to have high amounts of ammonia in your system, which in retune will effect two things:
  1. High amounts of ammonia will lower your ph in your system, so be prepared to combat this.
  2. High amounts of ammonia will cause increases of uptake in nitrogen plus combine that with beneficial bacterium which immobilizes nutrients greatly and your going to have vary bad stretching problems and most likely airy buds.
• On the other hand if your using soft water the Red Lava Rock (high in silica) will be more chemically balanced and the ammonia will not be as high, which in retune your ph/ppm’s should be more balanced

sorry to rain on you parade a little, bud. but, thats a real easy and cheap fix to do between runs. you will see a huge difference.
i'll try to get some pics today and put them up here tomorrow.

cm
ps. jack's hydroponic nutes are great and cheap

 

[marinemansf]

I will definitely be switching to lava rock for the next run. Where did you get yours? Locally or online order?

And I will go ahead and switch out my lights right now.

Toke, i think your right about my plants not being were they should be, but remember I only got my cool tube ducted and fanned, like 3 weeks ago. So I think between that, using lava rocks and not making rookie mistakes, my next run will fly!

As far as my next strain, i think I'll order some northern lights. Still to this day, it was my favorite stone. Was also my first. I been thinking of going for a more indica dominant strain, and NL is right in that wheel house. As far as looking for traits in certain strains, i don't know enough about each strain yet to make an educated decision on what I would want. I also have also wanted to try some OG Kush since I first heard about it. But after this and next run to get a surplus going, I think I'll try my hand at breeding. I just like feminized right now, cause I know most if not all my ladies will be female, and will all finish out.

 

[cravin morehead]

whats up fellas-

marineman, hope you don't mind me putting up a couple more pics. if so, let me know and they're gone. temps around here have been in the high 90's-100+ lately. hot!









not sure how far into flower they are, i think about 3 weeks or so.

i got lava rocks from Lowe's, HD, etc. they sell decorative lava rock cheap in the landscaping area. the ones by me carry both black and red. the decorative rock is nice because it is crushed small already. in a pinch, in the BBQ section they sell bags of lava rock for your propane grill. its bigger rocks but works fine. you do need to break it smaller though. $5 is enough to fill all 6 of my buckets. and with all lava rocks i use, rinse the hell out of them. then i soak them in a bucket of water with a little peroxide for a few hours. then rinse really good again and good to go.
updates? pics?
and, yes, your next run is going to kill it. but don't get disappointted about this one. they're looking pretty happy, so thats good. and WE ALL made all kinds of stupid errors along the way. thats how you learn. we were all new at some point bro...

cm

 

[tokersmoke]

Yeah my first grow didnt even make it to harvest lol great tips cravin

 

[marinemansf]

Heyo! Crave, you know I don't mind you posting pics bro! It gives me a good idea where I should be on my grow. Not only helps me, but anyone else that is following this journal, and I made this post as a place for me and others to learn.

I'll definitely snap a few pics this morning. Seems like my flowers are progressing a little slower than yours, but that could just be the strain. Not sure.

Lights will be on here in 10 minutes, so pics will be up soon! As always, thanks homies.

 

[tokersmoke]

BIG thumbs up here!!

 

[cravin morehead]

right on brother. i would never want to step on anyones toes. thanks guys! i guess by me putting pics up, i am hoping to inspire anyone who reads this to try bio-buckets. i sound like i'm pushing a product, but really i'm just trying to show people a great way to grow hydro style. it has made my life soooo much easier. i agree, your plants going a little slower is probably strain related, or just because of your earlier mishaps. but, don't worry, you'll get lots of good smoke still! plus, i'm using 750w of light too. too hot here to bump up to 1000w yet. so far, i've been able to do this run without turning on the a/c. room temps are in the mid 80's. i probably should turn it on though. this is a great thread, no attitudes at all. nice to be talking with you guys...

cm

 

[marinemansf]

Cravin, you helped me out so much homie, id let you fuck my sister... lol. That sister i dont have...

Annnnywho, got some new pics for yall. Most are just new bud shots and one of the roots that are now going crazy now. Oh and one is of the stalk I accidentally split, threw a zip tie on her and I think it will be fine.

I think I honed in on what i did wrong with my res. I had the lid locked ( its a big rubbermaid ) down and only had/have a small air pump and stone feeding into it. So i believe i wasnt getting enough oxygen in the res, because i was so worried about algae, which I had problems with when i was first was getting going cause i didnt have the res light proofed. So during my rework of my system, im gonna go with a cooler like you did.

One question on your res... Your small fans that you have on your res, are those running off normal power cords, or are you using computer fans with a computer power supply running them? And where did you pick them up?

I did crack open the res lid to get some air moving through it. I think that helped a little, and im positive that when i do the rework, the res fans are gonna help a fuckton. Also im looking into picking up a tent online. What do you suggest for size of the tent, considering we both are running 6 buckets?

Just a note, im only running 600w not 750w Also, now that I put the HPS lights in, I have noticed they are running a bit hotter than the MH's by about 2 degrees. Not a big deal, since its only from 66 to 68 max temp now. So now my range its about 63 with lights off, and 68 with em on. You dont think the low temps have anything to do with the slower growth do you? I remember you saying to would prefer those lower temps, just not sure if its affecting the ladies, being that low. Just curious.

Oh, one quick thing. Toke, not hating on ya, but you gotta use punctuation. Just hard to follow what youre saying with run on sentences. Again, not hating, I really am interested in what you have to say, just hard to follow sometimes bro.

Well, im off to go drink and fuck something! (C walks out the room) ITS THE WEEKEND! LOL

Thanks homies!

 

[cravin morehead]

hey bud- hahaha!! too bad for me you don't got a sister. JK. my long time girlfriend might not like that, though. its no problem. i believe this world could be a much better place if everyone had killer buds they grew themselves.
my res fans- air exchange is a key element. they are 120v 4" axial fans. like computer fans, just 120v. i got them at a local electronics supply near me. i don't remember how much, but they weren't too much at all.
tents- we both have six 5 gallon buckets. i use a 4'x4' growlabs tent. with my layout, i have 6" of space around the buckets on the wall side. i think this is just about right. a little bigger might be ok, but i didn't want to waste any light. i figured the canopy could fill the entire space up well. i tell you what i've learned, maybe 5'x5' might be a little better. but, i wouldn't be able to fit that in my room. i run a 1000w dimable ballast, and am able to keep temps at the canopy within 3-5 degrees over ambient temp. one trick i used with my tent was a window fan. the kind of fan you mount in your window, close the window around it, with 2 fans on it. it has a thermostat control. i set it to 75*f. it is hanging between the buckets, below them, facing up. when it gets warm in there, it kicks on and blows the hot air up towards the heat exhaust. it also helps suck in some of that a/c'd cool air.(when my ac is on).
you are a little on the cool side of things, but i believe you are fine in that range. if you want to warm it up a little, get a fan speed controller and dial it back a little. i feel that your smaller sized plants have to do with a smaller root mass. roots make the plant work. sometimes i feel like i'm growing roots first and bud second. after your improvements, i think you will shit your pants on the next run. a tent is huge for you. being able to control the micro-climate they are growing in is, IMO, the most important. it was said to me before, we provide the best enviornment we can and the plants just grow themselves.
oh that split stalk will be fine. good job not flipping the fuck out about it.
good luck getting some tonight. you guys have a great weekend!

cm

 

[tokersmoke]

Id say to run straight water the last 8 days.I would stop with the neem now.You have to hit a lowes or home depot or similar for the no pest strips.

The plants look good but a little small for their age.I know you had early probs with the cubes.But these plants should be monsters by now.Not tripping on your grow.Im sure the next one will be 10x faster and better.

As far as seeds im kinda outdated i would check out seedbay.I have ran the same strains for years.I would love to order seeds but legal issues limit selection

I guess screw the hps in now as well.But i would screw the mh back in the last week

Yeah my first grow didnt even make it to harvest lol great tips cravin

Not sure were the run on sentence is on this page.I can get off on a tangent with typing.Im sure i have forgot punctuation here and there.But,all of my posts have been informative,positive and helpful.I really wasnt hating on your grow...I didnt see a need for your post about my punctuation.

Oh well good luck and know i wasnt hating on your grow ill watch from the sidelines and hope it ends in a bang!

 

[cravin morehead]

c'mon toker, stick around. you are bringing alot of good info to the table. i appreciate having you here bud. hope you decide to participate still. talk about typing off on a tangent. every one of my posts goes off on a tangent. this c99 makes me talk, talk, talk...

cm

 

[tokersmoke]

Its all good. I see threads on here all day long i cannot understand at all.Let the show go on!!

 

[marinemansf]

Had a quick question for you guys. When it comes time to harvest, can you make hash or green dragon with the trimmings right away? Or do you have to go through normal process of curing before you can make it? I just ask because its dry as shit around me, bud wise, and was hoping there would be SOMETHING I could make while the buds are curing. Any suggestions?

 

[tokersmoke]

you can make it fresh,But the yeild will suffer

 

[cravin morehead]

^^^ true. for green dragon, i've had better results with cured material. as for making hash, i make bubble. i've always used fresh frozen trim with great results. i make sure it is in the freezer for at least 24 hrs. make sure those trich's are nice and brittle, ready to be knocked off with some ice. i feel fresh frozen = less contamination to the finished product. contaminants like, tiny dry leaf parts, dust, etc...

cm

 

[cravin morehead]

https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=5289&pictureid=1247346just thought i'd put up a pic of 2 of my hobbies. this is me transfering a batch of beer to the secondary fermentor. the beer is an IPA. the fact that i ferment beer in the same room with my tent, means i guess i do supplement with co2. jk. that little amount of co2 would do nothing for the plants...

cm