Colorful Sunset Sherbet Clones DWC

[Michael Hunt]

Its been a long few months since our last grow. The jars are starting to look lonely so its time to get another round going.

We kept a single clone from the last plant and stuck her in a fabric pot to keep her around while we did a ton of work to the house and her new nursery. A bulk of the work is finally complete and the young mother was looking awfully neglected. She reached her typical height for us of 3’ and had experienced some trauma. 2 negligent droughts and quite a few low temp swings which brought out some beautiful colors. The big lady has had enough and it was time to cut her babies and let her “lean out” of existence in peace. Makes me feel terrible to do that to the poor girl but she’s just too big and withered to be saved.

After chopping the clones. I know i know. She looks terrible. And i hate soil growing.

She gave us a tray full of some of the prettiest clones we have ever seen. Roughly 20 of these little beauties.

Doing everything in the same 3x3 tent as last time under our @Mars Hydro tsw2000 light. All DWC, probably 4 -5 buckets. Most likely going to plumb them together but have at least a week or 2 before roots show to get that figured out. Going to stick with GH flora series nutrients with additives. They treated us well last time so i see no good reason to change.

Hoping to keep the plants small this go around with only about 2 weeks of veg once roots reach water in the buckets. Also lots of pruning. Not trying to have a haggard 70’s style mess of a bush like the last round.

 

[Michael Hunt]

Here are the stats in a little more organized manner

*Strain - Sunset Sherbet
*Tent - 3x3 Plant House
*Light - Mars Hydro TSW2000
*Grow Medium - 5 gal DWC/RDWC buckets
*Ventilation - 6" Hyperfan on speed controller
*Filter - 6" Phat Filter (pre fan) and 6" inline filter (post fan, pre outlet)
*Nutrients - GH Flora series with random additives

Happy growing everyone!

 

[r0am1ng st0ner]

I just did a similar thing to my soil plants lol, I also am going back to hydro with some seeds I been excited for.

 

[Michael Hunt]

I just did a similar thing to my soil plants lol, I also am going back to hydro with some seeds I been excited for.

Good luck with the new seeds We’re excited to change things up after this run.

 

[r0am1ng st0ner]

Good luck with the new seeds We’re excited to change things up after this run.

Excited to change things up is the exact reason I said F these clones i'm starting new lineage

 

[Michael Hunt]

Excited to change things up is the exact reason I said F these clones i'm starting new lineage

We were real close to that last night until seeing the cuttings under normal light. Gonna experiment with some wild temp swings on this one and supplementing some purpinator. Wanna see how dark these little ladies can get

 

[r0am1ng st0ner]

I will have to try come around and see every so often

 

[Michael Hunt]

I will have to try come around and see every so often

Feel free to drop in whenever. I’ll try to return the favor

 

[Michael Hunt]

Well the little cuttings finally popped roots over the weekend. Going to pick the most evenly sized 4 in the lot to go into the buckets.

As for the system. I built a RDWC waterfall setup with four 5 gallon buckets and a 10 gallon reservoir. 2in drain lines, and 1/2in pump lines tied to a small 400gph pump.

provided the test run goes without a leak, the girls may get dropped into their net pots tonight.
Planning on a 3 week veg then its time to get the fun part started.

 

[Michael Hunt]

After some careful maneuvering the system has been moved into her final home. Waiting on some silicone to dry around the drain uniseal in the reservoir. It was the only slight leak we found in our 12hr test run.

Another test run will start tonight before mixing in some food and transplanting the clones. Provided there arent any more leaks after moving everything. Thats all for now. I hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday and happy growing!

 

[Michael Hunt]

four of the most even clones went into their buckets last night. Each had near identical root growth, node spacing, and overall height.

the first few days will just be plain ph’d water and hydroguard. Feeding will start as soon as the roots make it out of their nets.

 

[Michael Hunt]

Spent the better part of 3 hours last night draining, scrubbing, and rinsing the entire system out. An algae bloom struck over the weekend and had the res stinking to high heavens. Light leaks, high temps, the works. Who knew that schedule 40 pvc was so transparent

Thankfully we thought about the draining process with a little knowledge from the last grow. We installed a drain grommet, ball valve, and hose bib to run a hose right out of the house for res changes. Boy oh boy does this make life a million times easier

After all of the cleaning was finished and the little ones were moved out of harms way, (roots havent reached the water yet so they were spared the algae attack) it was time to get to work on light proofing all of the piping and buckets. The lids were painted black with truck bed liner then 3/4” rigid foam used as a cover for each bucket/net. The piping was insulated and covered with foam pipe insulation from the hardware store. Easy enough and totally light proof. Woke up this morning to find a stable ph, no funk in the tank at all, and a res temp of 68*.

Going to add a portable ac unit to the room soon which should help keep temps in check since the weather is getting warm down here already.
Anyways, here’s a pic after the improvements. Little ones still as happy as can be.

 

[Bill284]

Spent the better part of 3 hours last night draining, scrubbing, and rinsing the entire system out. An algae bloom struck over the weekend and had the res stinking to high heavens. Light leaks, high temps, the works. Who knew that schedule 40 pvc was so transparent

Thankfully we thought about the draining process with a little knowledge from the last grow. We installed a drain grommet, ball valve, and hose bib to run a hose right out of the house for res changes. Boy oh boy does this make life a million times easier

After all of the cleaning was finished and the little ones were moved out of harms way, (roots havent reached the water yet so they were spared the algae attack) it was time to get to work on light proofing all of the piping and buckets. The lids were painted black with truck bed liner then 3/4” rigid foam used as a cover for each bucket/net. The piping was insulated and covered with foam pipe insulation from the hardware store. Easy enough and totally light proof. Woke up this morning to find a stable ph, no funk in the tank at all, and a res temp of 68*.

Going to add a portable ac unit to the room soon which should help keep temps in check since the weather is getting warm down here already.
Anyways, here’s a pic after the improvements. Little ones still as happy as can be.

I'm impressed. Amazing setup. Great work my friend

 

[Michael Hunt]

Thanks @Bill284 We appreciate the kind words!

 

[Michael Hunt]

End of the week update!

The slime is back but this time we made it almost 8 days between slime attacks so we’re figuring it out. Pumping and cleaning everything out later tonight.

Finally got around to running the exhaust vent outside. Our tent is in an unfinished, concrete closet in the back of our garage. If there wasn't obvious evidence this room used to house the previous owners laundry machines, you’d think it was some torture chamber. Being unfinished, there is no insulation or ceiling so it was obvious where the exhaust was going. Into the roof joists (2x8 construction with no attic and a shallow pitch), over the concrete wall with a custom “air box” as we call it, and down through the soffit through a soffit vent. Gotta insulate this ceiling before the real heat comes in a few weeks but at least we’re venting outdoors again.

 

[Bill284]

End of the week update!

The slime is back but this time we made it almost 8 days between slime attacks so we’re figuring it out. Pumping and cleaning everything out later tonight.

Finally got around to running the exhaust vent outside. Our tent is in an unfinished, concrete closet in the back of our garage. If there wasn't obvious evidence this room used to house the previous owners laundry machines, you’d think it was some torture chamber. Being unfinished, there is no insulation or ceiling so it was obvious where the exhaust was going. Into the roof joists (2x8 construction with no attic and a shallow pitch), over the concrete wall with a custom “air box” as we call it, and down through the soffit through a soffit vent. Gotta insulate this ceiling before the real heat comes in a few weeks but at least we’re venting outdoors again.

Nice design on your vent rig.

 

[Michael Hunt]

Looking good!

Thank you @katyjane420 We really appreciate it.

Nice design on your vent rig.

Thanks @Bill284 Just need to add a muffler or inline filter before the "air box". The vent howls with the fan turned up past 50%.

 

[Michael Hunt]

Little weekly update. The plants are getting bigger now that the roots have finally made it out of the net pots . Aside from adding a little 45* elbow pointed upward in the buckets on the 1/2" pump lines, we didn't use anything to encourage root growth. I'm sure had we used drip lines or something, we would have seen roots much sooner. At least this has given time to figure out these damn water temps. Since the last update, I've had to clean the entire system out 2 more times. Nearly 3 1/2 hours of work each time . And each time, heat has been the #1 cause of the water funk that keeps coming back. As soon as res temps hit 71*F, BAM, the funk is back. on the hunt for a water chiller while we rotate frozen bottles out of the tank. We also dialed the light back to 18/6 to try and keep the temps down during the hotter part of the day. Air temps haven't gotten above 79* at the plant height with a RH teetering around 50-60%.

Leaning towards a JBJ 1/15hp chiller since they are silent, small, and incredibly efficient with titanium cooling coils. It's also only rated at 40ish gal and with our system only holding a max of 20gal it should be plenty of capacity without pulling too many more amps out of our little closet/room. Still need to add an AC unit to the room when the real heat shows up.

 

[Bill284]

Little weekly update. The plants are getting bigger now that the roots have finally made it out of the net pots . Aside from adding a little 45* elbow pointed upward in the buckets on the 1/2" pump lines, we didn't use anything to encourage root growth. I'm sure had we used drip lines or something, we would have seen roots much sooner. At least this has given time to figure out these damn water temps. Since the last update, I've had to clean the entire system out 2 more times. Nearly 3 1/2 hours of work each time . And each time, heat has been the #1 cause of the water funk that keeps coming back. As soon as res temps hit 71*F, BAM, the funk is back. on the hunt for a water chiller while we rotate frozen bottles out of the tank. We also dialed the light back to 18/6 to try and keep the temps down during the hotter part of the day. Air temps haven't gotten above 79* at the plant height with a RH teetering around 50-60%.

Leaning towards a JBJ 1/15hp chiller since they are silent, small, and incredibly efficient with titanium cooling coils. It's also only rated at 40ish gal and with our system only holding a max of 20gal it should be plenty of capacity without pulling too many more amps out of our little closet/room. Still need to add an AC unit to the room when the real heat shows up.

I see you had your tanks sitting on the concrete floor and your temps still rising.
I don't know where you live but have you got a spare bedroom. Its minus 15 here today. There does seem to be a point at which algae grows unfortunately,
I had the same issue with a sprayer as soon as it got over 70 wham it just exploded with algae.

 

[Michael Hunt]

I see you had your tanks sitting on the concrete floor and your temps still rising.
I don't know where you live but have you got a spare bedroom. Its minus 15 here today. There does seem to be a point at which algae grows unfortunately,
I had the same issue with a sprayer as soon as it got over 70 wham it just exploded with algae.

They were sitting directly on the floor initially. we now have them up on 2x6 stands to get them off the floor and allow air to circulate under the buckets and res. The ambient air temp outside the tent get up to around 68-70*. And it seems to be getting warmer and warmer every week. We have the opposite problem here with our high yesterday being in the mid 70's. I think the chiller will be the only real solution giving where we live and the wife doesn't want the tent moving back into the house. We live in a small house so it is near impossible to hide inside.