Dutch Bucket Hydro Seed To Harvest

[Joedirt2239]

Welcome everyone to my first journal and thank you for taking the time to take a look at my garden.
Everyone's welcome! Feedback, suggestions and questions are always appreciated.

I have been growing using organic super soil, tea and numerous additives when resolving nutrient deficiencies. Countless hours reading journals, logs, viewing images and trial and error. What I learned most is that I had a lot more to learn.

I am a DIY person and when I switched/graduated to hydroponics, I could not find a start to finish guide. Lots of gray matter out there on the internet and a million ways to approach a problem. The timing of this journal will allow me to document my re-building a previously running grow environment from seed order to harvest.

I grow medical cannabis for extreme anxiety, sleep and back pain. I just recently closed a business so stress is at an all-time high. Unfortunately I am also being treated with prescription drugs for the anxiety. I will do my best to do a good job in documenting and I am excited to get started. I spend an average of 3 hours each day in my garden following Daily, Weekly and Monthly maintenance check list. I find the building, cleaning and talking to my plants is great therapy. They say I am doing much better….

My first hydro grow (last winter) was very successful and I was able to get in 3 harvest. As summer approached temperatures went up and I started seeing algae in my RO pre-filter and reservoirs. Instead of struggling, I completed the last harvest and shut down for the summer. Now with cooler weather, it’s time to unpack and rebuild my room.

Since I have so much going on I be covering multiple parts of a typical grow journal to include setting up the environment.

MAIN ROOM / LOCATION
My main room is a second floor 15 x 16 carpeted room with a 4 x 10 walk in closet. This particular room’s power is split across 3 110 20amp circuits allowing us to balance the power load. Even with the CAN Inline Filter located in the attic, this room hums when running (fans, water pumps, air pumps…). Both veg tent, bloom tent and dying rack will be connected to a single Max CAN - 8" Inline Fan rated at 675CFM. This fan will operate the two tents at negative pressure which is required if you want to contain odor. When on, tent walls suck in about 3 inches on all sides stretching the canvas tight.

VEG TENT EQUIPMENT
Our veg tent is a 4 x 4 x 7 grow tent purchased from my local hydroponic store.
1 600 WATT MH air cooled
Magnetic ballasts
CAN 33 Carbon Filter
Dutch Bucket/Deep Water Culture x 4 plants
15 gal res
Various Air pumps
Water pump
Various air stones 2” and 6”
Floor fan
Mother tray for 3 - 4 mothers in soil
5 gal cloth bags for mothers
Roots Organic Soil for 3 - 4 mothers in soil
Stand
Return water line(s) to reservoir (2in PVC)
Top drip lines

BLOOM TENT EQUIPMENT
Our bloom tent is a 3 x 9 x 8 grow tent purchased from my local hydroponic store.
1 1000 WATT HPS air cooled
Magnetic Ballast
CAN 50 Carbon Filter
Dutch Bucket/Deep Water Culture 4 plants
15 gal res
Various Air pumps
Various air stones 2” and 6”
Room divider
Water pump
2 wall mount oscillating fans
Stand
Return water line(s) to reservoir (2in PVC)
Top drip lines



STRAINS
2 Indica dominate and 1 Sativa dominate. Couple of “Old School” strains.

Pineapple Chunk

Indica CUP Winner 2009
type: Indica dominant
yield: 650gr x m2
height: 1.20m
flower time: 55 days
thc: ±21%
cbd: 0.8%
genetics: pineapple/skunk#1/cheese


Green House Great White Shark

Winner Bio HTCC 1997.
Winner HIGHLIFE Super Cup Category 2005.
Winner HIGHLIFE In Seed Co. Hydro Category 2005.
Genetics: Super Skunk x Brazilian x South Indian.
Flower Time: 63 Days
CBN: 0.25%
CBD: 0.18%
THC: 15%
Type: Indica dominant
Height: Short, branchy, bushy plant
Taste and Aroma: Strong, fruity and flowery


Samsara Holy Grail 69

Genetics: Matanuska Tundra x Chronic x Haze
Indica/Sativa: 35/65
Flowering time indoor: 63 Days


RESIVOUR

My reservoirs are from Home Depot. Tough Tote 15 gallons.
We will use one in the Veg tent and one in the Bloom tent.

VEG PH
Veg PH is allowed to fluctuate between 5.5 - 6.3
Bloom PH is set at 5.8 and allowed to drift up .2 or so before correcting

BUCKETS AND MEDIA
5 gallon buckets

6” net pots
Clay pellets

Dutch Bucket drain added to each bucket (DIY project). 3 still need paint strainer material on to prevent roots from getting into the drain system. VERY important. Due to the awesome root ball, I used a T connector inside the bucket instead of an elbow which would just point down. The top of the tee provides a backup over flow in the event the lower paint screen becomes too clogged between weekly cleaning. More photos of the system running once I progress to that stage. I want to rebuild my return lines with 2in PVC. My current system was 1 ½ in PVC and I experienced nutes and silicate build-up where the bucket drain line entered into the PVC drain. See picture below of my new stand with the original drain line sitting on top of it as an example of where we are going.

A great thing about this setup is that you simply move each plant to a spare bucket and you can completely remove it’s grow bucket for cleaning. In veg I run air stones in the res only. Once roots reach the water in the bottom of the buckets, I add a small stone to the bottom of the bucket(s) which the roots quickly surround. Removing the air stone for cleaning is also just as easy.

The Dutch Bucket setup recycles the nutrients back into the reservoir which is changed every 7 days.

Buckets will be top drip feed multiple times a day depending on growth stage and plant requirements.

WATER
We will be installing a water line and drain line from the exterior water source into our grow room. From there we will filter the water using a RO Filter and store our fresh water in this 50gal drum. I need to get this done pretty quickly.

NUTES

This is my daily log sheet.

This is an example of my grow schedule.
Custom veg and or bloom durations are setup within the calculation of each strains expected schedule. This allows me to schedule as many grows as I want as far out as I want. I know exactly when to clone and when the Bloom tent will become available. I factor in a week to clean the room before the next veg crop is moved to the bloom tent.

SOIL (MOTHERS ONLY)

I can't start off my soil description without out mentioning my roots.... I started using a homemade super soil (100% Organic) and had great results. My base soil is Roots Organic Original. One of the major challenges with my organic grow was that I experienced inconsistencies in nutrient levels across soil batches. Along with the soil, I brewed an awesome tea. Thank you to my local hydroponic shop for testing my tea and helping adjust the system for optimal tea production.

Going forward for mothers only, I will use Roots Organic and a yet undetermined off the shelf nutrient regiment. Maybe DutchPro for Soil Veg since I had success with their hydroponic nutrient line this past year.

LIGHTS
In Veg I will be using a 600watt MH run off of an electronic/digital ballast.

In Bloom we will use a 1000watt HPS on a magnetic ballast.

Both systems will be air cooled using a single high efficiency CAN Inline Fan vented into the attic.

TEMP/RH

Temperatures in the room range between 65F and 85F and is directly related to exterior weather. During colder months, the household heater helps keeps things in check. Tent air is completely refreshed every 5 min or so with fresh filtered air. Humidity at about 40-50%. I do not use humidifiers or dehumidifiers. Can’t afford them. We do not need chillers during the cooler months and simply shut down for summer to avoid the hassles of heat and give the electric bill a rest.


AIR FILTERS
CAN Carbon Filer 33 in Veg tent

CAN Carbon Filer 50 in Bloom tent (and drying rack.)
The black drying rack measures 2 x 2 x 5. A bathroom exhaust fan has been placed on top and wired with a dimmer switch. This allow the amount of air flowing across the buds can be managed. The bathroom vent vents directly into the bllom tent to contain odor. I will show more photos when I get the Bloom Tent Built.

Tent Pre-Filters; DIY. Used an office file box and cut large openings in the sides. Purchased 1 x 1 air filters from Home Depot and taped them to the box. The box sits on the floor next to the tent where it is connected via duct work to the tent. Each tent has a pre-filter.

DRYING RACK
DIY. 4ft tall. Fresh air enters profiteered by a cheap foam filter taped over air supply vent holes. Sitting on top of the drying rack is another home depot filter layered under a home depot bathroom exhaust fan which vents into the bloom tent. I installed a dimmer on the fan which allows me to precisely control the amount of air moving across the drying buds. My drying time takes 5 to 7 days followed by a strict 2 month curing process. I have stuff today that has cured 6 months and longer. Makes a smooth smoke.

SECURITY

Yes. Sound/noise, odor, water and Daily access.

Join me in the next post for the start of my actual grow log.


THANK YOU

 

[Joedirt2239]

Great White Shark, Pineapple Chunk and Holy Grail
Seeds order from Barney’s Seeds and were received without any problems.

Day 1 10/19: Seeds soaked for 24hrs in normal tap water.

Day 2 10/20: Seeds moved to wet paper towels and place under humidity dome for protection.

Day 3 10/21: Surprise and Good Morning. 100% germination!

Moved all seeds to rock wool cubes and placed in the humidity dome. 76degrees 99% humidity. Cubes are not sitting directly in water.

Day 4 10/22: Looking good. Moved closer to normal light source by the window. No leaves appearing yet. 76degrees 99% humidity. Opened the top of the humidity dome to vent a little moisture out.

Day 5 10/23: Moved to the 4 x 4 grow tent under a 600 watt MH light. My light is raised as high as it will go and I am monitoring every 1 – 2 hours.

Update on monitoring the girls. After several hours under the 600 watt MH, I found a sprout of green. Yea.

Unfortunately this progress came with a set back.

I put the germinated seeds in the rock wool cubes upside down. So. I gently corrected the mistake and everything should be fine in a day or two once the tap roost and green shoots straighten out and go the right direction.

It has been so long since I started a seed. Love clones.

 

[Zebs]

currently growing a Holy Grail myself, was a freebie from Herbies. looking forward to seeing how you get on

 

[Joedirt2239]

From what I can tell, there are either going to be a lot of happy people out there or a lot of disappointed grows on the holy grail.

When my grow is operational and I have plenty of supply I will take a seed in soil until it is large enough to take a couple clones, then I force the unknown plant to flower. Once I know the sex, I stop the plant and discard it. If male, I discard the clones as well. This way I do not waist expensive nutrients and limited space but it does take several months to introduce a new strain to the grow. This time around all seeds will go through the full grow and I hope all 4 are females.

Thanks for your post.

 

[Joedirt2239]

Good morning. I apologize but I am struggling with how to continue a journal. If anyone has suggestions as to how I should do it, please let me know.

This is a day 6 update and I replied to my last update. Should I have simply replied to the last post no matter who posted it? Mine or yours?

Day 6 10/24: it looks like our ladies are awake this morning with the green showing on most of the cubes. Final adjustments on timers this morning setting fan on and lights on time. Other than that things look pretty good.

Even though it will be a while I'm getting my mother bags washed and ready to go.

 

[Richard Richardson]

Looking good, Joe, welcome to 420 Magazine

I added This Journal to your signature

Just keep on keeping on The other journal is gone now, everything is OK

 

[Amadeus Forzin]

Great intro brother. I'll sit in on this one. Wishing you every success

 

[Joedirt2239]

Welcome aboard. Please stick around as I'm sure I am going to need help. One issue last grow was claw effect on leaves. Once they claw they don't go back. I think it was a P deficiency as it happens end of week one flower. I am going to increase bloom additive this time week 1 bloom. Your thoughts are welcome.


Made progress today on tents. I need to get my filters set so that I can balance the air flow between the two tents.

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[Joedirt2239]

Day 7 10/25: Peeked in on our girls (thinking positive) and everything looks OK. The two Great White Shark seeds have the first leaves but has not poked through yet.

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I like to get things into their respective grow media as quickly as possible, so I am going to need to scramble to complete my veg system and allow a day or two to run H2O2 through it. Everything was cleaned and sterilized when last disassembled, so this cleaning is considered standard and will ensure no algae persist. My fresh water (for my RO filter) will be installed tomorrow I hope.


I updated my grow schedule and will make final adjustment to the schedule as things progress. My schedule is just a plan and is tweaked as needed. This plan also records history of past grows to improve projections of future grows of any particular strain.

Did a little more staging and will be building the new 2" PVC pipe return drain.
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The grooves cut in the PVC provide a great water curtain for the nutes return into the reservoir. I can explain a little better once built.
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Bloom tent HPS bulb.

 

[Joedirt2239]

Quick confession. If you look closely at the temp and humidity guage in my previous entry, it records highs and lows over the past 24 hrs.

Our tent spiked at 104 degrees last night when my fan timer shut off too early. I am surprised my bulb is OK and will babysit tonight. The girls did fine.

 

[Amadeus Forzin]

104 is a tad warm. I battled high temps when I got my new led, I also hit 104, with my fans running 24/0.
Hope you get it sorted man

 

[Joedirt2239]

No problem. This was a screw up. Sometimes I am my own worst enemy. I avoided the high summer heat by shutting down. For me to cover all my water, I would need 3 chillers. One for my 50 RO tank and one each in bloom and veg temps. Do to the amount of air that I move through the tents, I don't think I need co2. My room temp, humidity and co2 is 75% at the mercy of the outside weather. I can close a window or turn on a little AC or heat (which is immediately shucked out of the room. )

Thanks for checking in. Never a dull moment.

 

[Joedirt2239]

DAY 7 - A New Day

Beautiful day. Rain all weekend and everything is fresh and clean outside. Temperatures have dropped for this week, so my seeds are right on time. I hope...

The girls should have a great day today and are thriving under the Veg light.

Made some progress yesterday. Yea. But not enough. I would like to move the girls into the hydro no later than Wednesday (in 3 days). That would mean I need to run the system tonight with H2O2 to sterilize everything and then allow time for the H2O2 to break down.

I place mothers in the drain tray in the back of my tent. When watering, runoff drains into a small bucket on the floor underneath the tray.

Veg Res

Reflectors will sit ontop of each bucket with the plant sticking through.

The old drain.

Supply Line from the water pump. When mixing nutes in the res, i redirect the water back into the res with the valves. The end of the 1/2 PVC pipe is capped and has holes drilled in it.

This should show the holes.

I can also hookup a garden hose and empty the res directly into my sink.

This is the stand I made and am in the process of building the return line.

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Still needs the holes drilled for the 4 buckets.

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This is the old one.

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[Rifleman]

 

[Joedirt2239]

What a crazy day. Been working on the water supply plus a trip to Home Depot, and looks like it’s all set. Took me longer than I thought because I had a couple of severe anxiety attacks and lost a day in bed.
Here’s a couple of photos of the RO build.

Smoking a bowl and thinking about my project.

Anyhow. Once the glue sets we should be able to make some RO water. The sink drain and RO runoff is also hooked up. I am currently bed ridden, but hope to share photos tomorrow of the finished RO system.

The seedlings are doing well and I'm sure are growing roots. Once I have decent roots, they will be able to take a few nutes. A few of my cloning nutes plus a very diluted a and b part of my base nute.

 

[Joedirt2239]

RO Installation

Finally got the water installed only to discover my exterior valve is leaking a little. I'll get that done tomorrow which will require that I shutoff water to the house for several hours.

RO line is connected.

I secured a clear hose from the sink tub to the drain.

I just secure my RO waste line directly into the drain linemail for the sink.
On the exterior, my sink runoff line is buried and connected directly into a exterior drain clean out.

RO line into the 50 gallon holding tank.

Level / float shutoff valve.

I use two separate hoses. One for filing my resivours and a separate hose to drain them. My logic was that the hose used to drain is more likely to have algae. The fill hose is only touched by filtered RO water.

On to the next build.

 

[Joedirt2239]

RO Installation

Water is installed only to discover exterior valve is leaking a little.

Drain line from the tub sink and Discharge line from the RO filter are simply stuck into the drain line. Drain line is buried and connects directly to a exterior waists clean out.

 

[Joedirt2239]

RO instsll and Dutch bucket

Up and running. ..

This is the return from the buckets/plants. The grooves I cut cause the water to fall in a nice curtain giving plenty of airation.

This is the line I installed to mix my nutes as I add them. Once mixed, turn a couple valves and the water is redirected up to the plants.

I'm running the system for the day with a diluted hydrogen peroxide solution. Will drain all water and fill with tap water for the first week. Our temp is back up so will keep the girls in tap water to fight any alge till all plants are moved to the buckets.

Any thoughts or feedback on my approach would greatly be appreciated. This is unknown territory for me.

 

[Joedirt2239]

Day 11

Just a few quick photos. One has roots extending out the bottom.

 

[Joedirt2239]

Update Catch Up Days 10 - 17

Busy Busy Busy. Hope everyone has stayed busy. If I am busy, I don't spend any money...

Day 12

My drip line on each bucket.

This is the drain line from the bucket(s) that sits in the 2inch PVC drain line.

When mixing my nutes, I have my pump redirected back in to the res using the this PVC pipe. The holes provide a very nice quick mix.

This is a picture of the return drain line inside the res. When buckets are watering, this is the curtain of water mentioned in a previous post.

How I secure things.

The buckets.

Water level in each bucket is 1.5 gallons per bucket. About 4 inches from the bottom.
This is a good shot of the T i used for overflow protection. By the time we are in Bloom, there will be a massive root ball in the bottom that will reach above the emergency drain line.

Drain hose connected to empty Water/Hydrogen Peroxide solution that I ran through the system to give a fresh wash. The 2 inch drain line you see comes apart (not cemented) at the elbo aiming down. The res will slide out underneath the return line when I clean the res out. The pump and its PVC lines and valves are simply lifted out and sat in a pan to catch remaining water in the pump. All this makes for easy cleaning and only requires 2 tie wraps to hold it all secure for normal use.

Day 17

Not a lot going on. The two Great White Sharks are not going to make it. I suspect bad beans due to 100% germination and success (so far) with the other beans.

A better shot of the Great White.

Pineapple Chunk #1

Pineapple Chunk #2

Holy Grail 69

Tent temp and humidity, plus highs and lows for past 24 hours.

Soaked the cubes with 1/4 tsp to 1 cup of water. K-L-N Rooting Concentrate and SuperThrive.

Calibrated EC and PH testers.

PH Tester. I had same brand as EC test in previous photo but it started screwing up. I replaced it with this model which I really like so far. I used a bit much solution. Only needed to cover electrodes. Always use storage solution for your PH tester. EC tester is stored dry.

You can see a little of the storage solution leak out when I put the cap on.

Installed my fan in the grow tent.

Fan timer.

Sitting back relaxing and watching the grass grow.

Added my first dose of nutes at 1/4 strength. My RO membrane is clogged and I have a new on on order with HydroMax. Taking them a week just to fulfill the order. I asked for expedited shipping (free) but have not heard back.

So a couple of important things/thoughts/assumptions.
I used regular water. I did not add any Great White^® Premium Mycorrhizae ..Since my water has chlorine in it, it would be a waist of money to use it at this time.

What i learned about my fresh water last year. Our chlorine is added in gas form and actually bonds with the water molecule. Using a water conditioner that removes chlorine will not break the bond. Aerating and sitting seams to reduce the amount of chlorine but does not get rid of it.

An array of endo- and ecto-mycorhizzae and bacillus that promote root development, which increases water absorption, nutrient uptake, plant growth and yield.Great White^® contains:

• 
  [*=left]16 different species of mycorrhizal fungi
  [*=left]14 different species of beneficial bacteria
  [*=left]2 species of Trichoderma

Beginning EC: 0.5
Final EC: 0.8 (added enough nutes to reach 0.8 which is the minimum amount per the nutrients instructions.)
Final PH: 5.5 (will allow PH to drift quite a bit.)

I added: (1/4 Strength)
DutPro Veg A and B
Silicate
Hydroguard
Take Root


Always use separate syringes and jars. Everything must be washed and dried before being used again.

I throw a few rags over the holes at the res to eliminate as much light as possible.

I finally got my drying rack connected to the bloom tent.

I use a piece of hose to deliver water directly at the base of the plant until I feel and or can verify that my root structure has spread out enough.

Started more seeds and hope not to have a empty bucket for this grow. The Great White I show in photos is not going to make it. so far, 2 great white bean failures.

Last nights/this morning readings.

Sorry for the long update but I am an old fart and move a little slow.