RDWC Grow Along!

[ChemDoubleDs]

Those tops definitely need to be bent down and spread out or that SCROG is doing no good.

Here is a pic of that strain at 33 days flowering. Donkey dick colas. She is outside of a 4x4 tent frame which has two 600 HPS attached so not expecting a ton off her. Looking really healthy though. Fan leaves bigger than my hands

 

[Snype]

Those tops definitely need to be bent down and spread out or that SCROG is doing no good.

Here is a pic of that strain at 33 days flowering. Donkey dick colas. She is outside of a 4x4 tent frame which has two 600 HPS attached so not expecting a ton off her. Looking really healthy though. Fan leaves bigger than my hands
[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=59105&pictureid=1385171&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

Nice!

 

[salgado]

Those tops definitely need to be bent down and spread out or that SCROG is doing no good.

Here is a pic of that strain at 33 days flowering. Donkey dick colas. She is outside of a 4x4 tent frame which has two 600 HPS attached so not expecting a ton off her. Looking really healthy though. Fan leaves bigger than my hands
[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=59105&pictureid=1385171&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

That's a pic of holy grail kush??? Yes I spread the plants today. I will keep filling that net. Also start looking for weekly updates. All of a sudden I'm seeing healthy growth and I'm becoming excited about finishing this RDWC.

 

[ChemDoubleDs]

No it's not, I should have been more specific. It is the ChemDDxSourD pheno I showed a few posts earlier. Sorry about that

 

[salgado]

No it's not, I should have been more specific. It is the ChemDDxSourD pheno I showed a few posts earlier. Sorry about that

No worries but I did get all excited for a few!!!

 

[ChemDoubleDs]

Here is a pic of one of the best of the fifteen on Day 9 VEG-A. The plant is 5.5" tall. I think they may be ready to be flooded every two hours and be closer to the light, wouldn't you say?

Here is what the growth is looking like up top on day 9 VEG-A. More light and they will kick right into full veg, I hope.

 

[Snype]

Here is a pic of one of the best of the fifteen on Day 9 VEG-A. The plant is 5.5" tall. I think they may be ready to be flooded every two hours and be closer to the light, wouldn't you say?
[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=59143&pictureid=1385793&thumb=1]View Image[/url]
Here is what the growth is looking like up top on day 9 VEG-A. More light and they will kick right into full veg, I hope.
[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=59143&pictureid=1385794&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

Looks real nice! Yeah go 2 hour floods and drop the light.

 

[dreaded]

Chemdoubled..... your clones look very nice.....
I have alot of work to do in that area...

 

[ChemDoubleDs]

Chemdoubled..... your clones look very nice.....
I have alot of work to do in that area...

Thanks dude. This is my first serious attempt at hydro, been growing in soil with this same ChemDD cut for some years now. We are all lucky enough to have access to Snype's various guides and I just use try and use them to the best of my advantage. The growth I have seen by following his methods (so far in hydro, but also previously in soil) has outmatched anything I've been able to do by my own methods or advice from others.

Like I said, this is my first go at hydro so I don't speak from experience. But any success I have had is just by having an idea of what I'm getting into and then sticking to it throughout, paying close attention to details. I'm still working towards achieiving constant perfect conditions.

Everything I did with these clones is in some thread of his on this site. Definitely check them out

 

[salgado]

Snype OK hopefully you'll be proud. I started an official journal with all the pertinent info. Lets consider the pics below a fresh starting point so I can really start understanding this RDWC.

These plants are in week 4 of veg. They range from 22 to 27 inches in height from the top of the buckets. I know they are not all at even heights but Im pulling them through as they allow me to. Ive learned the hard way that I need to wait a bit in order to gently pull em through the net.

This morning I checked the data and the ph was at 6 the water temp was 68 the ppm 475 and the ec reading was .9

I topped off the res and added 15ml micro and 30ml bloom. waited an hour and took new data ph was 5.8 ppm went to 575.

At this point I'm trying to up the nuts a bit so I added another 5ml micro and 10ml bloom an hour later the data reads ph 5.8 ppm 620 and ec 1.3

all of this is in a 4 bucket 12 gallon system.

Any thoughts from here? Thanks

 

[Snype]

Snype OK hopefully you'll be proud. I started an official journal with all the pertinent info. Lets consider the pics below a fresh starting point so I can really start understanding this RDWC.

These plants are in week 4 of veg. They range from 22 to 27 inches in height from the top of the buckets. I know they are not all at even heights but Im pulling them through as they allow me to. Ive learned the hard way that I need to wait a bit in order to gently pull em through the net.

This morning I checked the data and the ph was at 6 the water temp was 68 the ppm 475 and the ec reading was .9

I topped off the res and added 15ml micro and 30ml bloom. waited an hour and took new data ph was 5.8 ppm went to 575.

At this point I'm trying to up the nuts a bit so I added another 5ml micro and 10ml bloom an hour later the data reads ph 5.8 ppm 620 and ec 1.3

all of this is in a 4 bucket 12 gallon system.

Any thoughts from here? Thanks

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/attachment.php?attachmentid=303149&thumb=1]View Image[/url] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/attachment.php?attachmentid=303148&thumb=1]View Image[/url] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/attachment.php?attachmentid=303147&thumb=1]View Image[/url] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/attachment.php?attachmentid=303146&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

I'm trying my best to be patient with you but you're making it very difficult. I keep stating that when you top off the rez, you need to collect data. You need data:
1. Before you top off the rez
2. After you top off the rez
3. After you add nutes.

You're having a real tough time understanding this concept. You didn't include any other data from the day before so how do you know if you have to add any nutes? If we can't do any math from 2 days of data, you just leave me holding my dick in my hand.

I have also stated in all my feeding posts that the nute formula is 1 part micro to 1.5 part bloom for VEG. For some reason you are adding 1 part Micro to 2 parts Bloom. That formula that you are using is for when your plants are in flowering. I thought you were in the VEG stage?

This is why I'm having a difficult time helping you. You keep making all these mistakes but everything is clearly written in the fist 2 pages of my tutorials. I just don't understand why you are having a tough time comprehending those threads?

You can go to my thread and look exactly what I added in my rez for the VEG stage. I state my formula so many times in so many different threads. I don't know what else to really say to you. I'm proud that you got some data but it's still not good enough.

 

[salgado]

I'm trying my best to be patient with you but you're making it very difficult. I keep stating that when you top off the rez, you need to collect data. You need data:
1. Before you top off the rez
2. After you top off the rez
3. After you add nutes.

You're having a real tough time understanding this concept. You didn't include any other data from the day before so how do you know if you have to add any nutes? If we can't do any math from 2 days of data, you just leave me holding my dick in my hand.

I have also stated in all my feeding posts that the nute formula is 1 part micro to 1.5 part bloom for VEG. For some reason you are adding 1 part Micro to 2 parts Bloom. That formula that you are using is for when your plants are in flowering. I thought you were in the VEG stage?

This is why I'm having a difficult time helping you. You keep making all these mistakes but everything is clearly written in the fist 2 pages of my tutorials. I just don't understand why you are having a tough time comprehending those threads?

You can go to my thread and look exactly what I added in my rez for the VEG stage. I state my formula so many times in so many different threads. I don't know what else to really say to you. I'm proud that you got some data but it's still not good enough.

The data today IS before and after.... I took readings 1st thing this morning before doing anything. Then i added water and nutes to get the ppm up and took more readings. The reason I used a different ratio was just to get the PPM up. I now understand I could have still done that at 1 to 1.5...

I'll keep data for a few days in a row before posting again. I admit I'm still a little confused but its starting to make sense...

 

[Snype]

The data today IS before and after.... I took readings 1st thing this morning before doing anything. Then i added water and nutes to get the ppm up and took more readings. The reason I used a different ratio was just to get the PPM up. I now understand I could have still done that at 1 to 1.5...

I'll keep data for a few days in a row before posting again. I admit I'm still a little confused but its starting to make sense...

I'm going to try my best to explain this as simple as possible. I hope that you understand. First lets just think out loud for a minute. Lets ask ourselves how do we know if we need to add nutes into the system? Really think about that question.

Now let me show you. To make this simple, lets say that you only have 1 bucket with 1 plant in it and lets say that the bucket has 5 gallons of solution in it. Today is the first day of everything.

So we will call January 1st, day 1 VEG. watch the data for day 1 veg:

Pre Top Off: n/a (On the first day you don't need any pre top off data because there is no way to compare data from yesterday because today is the first day. Do you get it? This is the only day in your entire grow that you will not have to collect Pre top off data. That means every other time that you collect data, you need to collect this.

Top off: 5 Gallons (Your bucket only holds 5 Gallons. So this data just told us that we filled up a brand new bucket of nutes that is completely full.

Added: 25mL Micro 37.5mL Bloom

Post Top Off: 500 PPM; 6.0 pH

So now you have a full rez on day one with 5 gallons of solution. Lets go to day 2:

Pre Top Off: 500 PPM; 6.0 pH(So before we added any water to the rez, the PPM was reading 500 PPM. That means that you are feeding at perfect levels. If the data was higher than the day before, then you have too much nutrients, if it was lower, you don't have enough nutrients. Do you see why we need 2 days of data?
Top off: 1 Gallon(So now we topped off the rez with tap water. This means that when you take a reading now, it will be lower than the reading that you took before because the water that you added is diluting the concentration. Do you understand that?
Post Top Off: 400 PPM; 6.0 pH(Do you understand why the PPM is reading lower now? It is because we added water to the rez to bring it up to the same level as yesterday. Do you understand?
Added: 5mL Micro and 7.5mL Bloom
Post Top off 2: 500 PPM; 6.0 pH (Do you understand why we added nutes here? The plants ate 100 PPM so I had to add that back to the rez after top off. Do you see that math that has to be done?

It's so simple look. Lets look at your new data to know how you are doing tomorrow. You will have no idea if you are overfeeding or underfeeding the plants until you collect all of tomorrows data. Watch your new data:

5.8 pH; 620 PPM (This is the last data that you collected and the most important data for tomorrows work. After you topped off the rez and added everything that you did, your data is what I just wrote.

Now here is the plan for tomorrow. Tomorrow you will go into your room and not add anything to your rez. Nothing. Don't top off yet. Take a reading:

Step 1 - Pre Top Off: This data is very important. You want your pre top off data to be 620 PPM or less. If your data is higher than the day before (620PPM), then you added too much nutes yesterday. The goal is for your Pre Top Off data to be exactly the same as your Post PPM #2 Data from yesterday which was 620 PPM. Like I said, if your PPM is higher than yesterday, you are too high on the nutes. If it is lower than yesterday, you need more nutes.

After you take that reading, you top off the rez and you collect that data. You want to let me know how much water it took for it to go back to yesterday's level. Do you understand that. So that is variable #2:

Step 2 - Top Off:You need to let me know how much water you added to the system to bring it back to yesterday's final level.

Step 3 - Post Top Off:This is the data that you will collect after you top off the rez. You don't want to add anything before you collect the data. Nothing. This data will show us what the plants ate by subtracting this data from yesterdays final data (620PPM). It should be very obvious that after you added water in Step 2, Step 3's data will be lower than Step 1's data. Do you understand why?

Step 4 - Added:This is where you tell me the exact amount of each nutrient and anything else that you added to the REZ. You only need to add nutrients if Step 1's data is lower than the last data that you took yesterday (620PPM). If Step 4's data is lower than yesterday final data, that does not mean that you need to add nutes because to add nutes, Step 1's data needs to be lower than the final data from yesterday. Do you get it? So there will be many times that you won't add any nutes and you might have to take some out if you are not paying attention to the data.

Step 5 - Post Top Off #2:This is the data that you collect after you add nutrients and/or pH up or down. If you didn't add anything, you don't need to collect this data. Are you starting to get it yet? It's very basic math.

 

[salgado]

Can you imagine what my high school math teachers must have felt like? Ok I got it. Thanks snype. I'll keep a few days of good data (I hope) and check back in. Should I start today by emptying and refilling my res with a 1:1.5 nute ratio? And count today as day one of data?

 

[Snype]

Can you imagine what my high school math teachers must have felt like? Ok I got it. Thanks snype. I'll keep a few days of good data (I hope) and check back in. Should I start today by emptying and refilling my res with a 1:1.5 nute ratio? And count today as day one of data?

I can only imagine! I want to hit my head against my wall. LOL! I think that's a great idea to just start the data over with today being day one after you empty and refill the system. After you refill the system, add:

4 mL Micro
6 mL Bloom

All per gallon. pH your solution to 6.0. Only use pH up or pH down. Don't use both so don't go too low or too high.

Listen very closely. after you fill up your system and add your nutes, I want you to take a marker and draw a line in your rez of the top of the water line. This line will be your guide so that your data is accurate and means something. The reason why you are going to put that line there, is so you will know where to top off your rez every day or 2.

After you do all this, post all the data for me, please. Then tomorrow let me guide you through tomorrows data process.

 

[ChemDoubleDs]

What's up dude, so I think I have the feeding understood now. Here is my day 7 and day 8 data:

VEG-A Day 7:

Canopy temp: 75F
Water temp: 68F
rH: 31%
height from tops of plants to light: 12"
pH pre: 6.1
ppm pre: 560
top off: n/a
ppm post 1: 560
Added (pH): pH down ( don't have the amount handy)
added (ppm): n/a
pH post: 6.0
ppm post 2: n/a
Flood cycle: every 3 hours

VEG-A Day 8


Canopy temp: 75F
Water temp: 68F
rH: 35%
height from tops of plants to light: 10"
pH pre: 6.0
ppm pre: 560
top off: 7 cups
ppm post 1: 550
Added (pH): n/a
added (ppm): 1 mL FloraMicro, 1.5 mL FloraBloom
pH post: 6.0
ppm post 2: 560
Flood cycle: every 3 hours

I read in an earlier thread that you add back 0.5 mL Clorox to the 20 gal Rez after about 5 days, so I'm gonna do that tonight.

 

[salgado]

Got it. Going to get busy now!!!! Thanks a million snype

 

[ChemDoubleDs]

i also read that you change out the solution in your RDWC systems every 10 days because the solution becomes unstable and pH fluctuates a lot at that point. I am at Day 10 VEG-A; do you think I should change out the Rez for the last 4 days or so?

 

[Snype]

What's up dude, so I think I have the feeding understood now. Here is my day 7 and day 8 data:

VEG-A Day 7:

Canopy temp: 75F
Water temp: 68F
rH: 31%
height from tops of plants to light: 12"
pH pre: 6.1
ppm pre: 560
top off: n/a
ppm post 1: 560
Added (pH): pH down ( don't have the amount handy)
added (ppm): n/a
pH post: 6.0
ppm post 2: n/a
Flood cycle: every 3 hours

VEG-A Day 8


Canopy temp: 75F
Water temp: 68F
rH: 35%
height from tops of plants to light: 10"
pH pre: 6.0
ppm pre: 560
top off: 7 cups
ppm post 1: 550
Added (pH): n/a
added (ppm): 1 mL FloraMicro, 1.5 mL FloraBloom
pH post: 6.0
ppm post 2: 560
Flood cycle: every 3 hours

I read in an earlier thread that you add back 0.5 mL Clorox to the 20 gal Rez after about 5 days, so I'm gonna do that tonight.

Looks perfect but let me give you some advice. 24 hour data with small plants in VEG-A is very limited because you plants are so small and they aren't going to uptake much water until they start really growing. So don't just look at the 24 hour data. Also look at the 3 day data and the 7 day data and use a little common sense as to what is going on. I can tell that you understand what is going on from looking at your data. I even see that you added another variable that I didn't have but it's good to also have the data for the heights of the plants for future reference for yourself. Understand that this data is so valuable for your future grows. You're going to be able to figure out so many different things from how future grows changed depending on what variables were different than the past. It's a huge tool to help you.

Just think of all the different ways that you can use this data. Don't you want to know what the difference if all your variables are the same in 2 different grows except one other variable? One grow can have 600 watt lights and the other have 1,000 watt lights and you'll see how different your plants feed when just 1 variable changes. How about how the plants eat when CO2 is added? Keeping all your past data will surely help you maximize crops to your benefit. There's unlimited things that you can learn. So many tests to learn new things. To me it's pretty amazing.

I'm glad that you understand what you are doing now. It's really very easy. But once you fuck up and made a mistake, you can lose your whole crop real fast. You have to be careful to not add stress to your plants. And the Bleach every 5 days is going to help but it won't save you if you have problems.

There's a way to be a step ahead if you're anal. I mean there's a way to see if you have a pathogen in your system before anyone would ever know. I learned this from performing various tests a few years back. You could test your Chlorine levels to know if you have some pathogen that you need to fight. They earlier that you catch it the better off you'll be. Not saying that you need to do this but I'm showing you something.

As the chlorine if fighting a pathogen, it is being used up at a fast rate. You could see this by using a chlorine meter. You have to perform tests beforehand and compare it to a sterile standard.

For example if you had 2 x 5 gallon buckets and one of them was perfectly sterile and one was not you would surely see it from your chlorine tests. You have to know what the standard is by seeing the rate of the chlorine decreasing in the sterile bucket. So lets say that 6 hours you take a test. Lets say you started at 1 PPM Cl. In 6 hours it will go down to 0.9 PPM. 6 hour later it's 0.8 etc. So you know how long it takes to get to 0.5 PPM chlorine when it's not fighting any pathogen. So say the chorine in your system went to 0 PPM in 6 hours. This tells you that the chlorine is fighting a pathogen. If you wait 5 days to add more chlorine, you're pretty much fucked and will probably lose your crop. If you are fighting something, you don't want to go below 0.5 PPM chlorine and you want to bump up the Chlorine to 2.5 PPM and don't let it drop below 0.5 PPM or you'll have a tough time winning the battle. I really hope that your water is not from the Quabbin. I had many problems using that water because it was infested with Chlorine resistant Cyanobacteria and bleach had no affect on it.

 

[ChemDoubleDs]

Thanks for the insight man. Do you recommend a chlorine meter that does it's job for a reasonable price?

The plants are in the eastern part of the state so definitely not Quabbin water. I think it's well-water at the location they are at. I'll do some chlorine tests on it when I travel this weekend. However, I was in the beginning stages of planning something at that location in the western part of the state this summer so I will look into the water source.

I'm excited to get this run under my belt and learn from all the data I collect. It's been a blast so far to see these girls grow and be able to quantify their growth and feeding in numbers. Looking forward to getting them in the RDWC system this weekend.