My 2nd 1st Attempt - Bubble Bucket Grow

[hydrofun]

Day 84 total day 14 bloom bucket#2 bagseed. PH 5.8 still good tomorrow is water change day. The tops of everything are covered in small button size tops now white hair everywhere. I count @16 tops at the tops of the canopy with an equal number just under that. The stretch is still going I thought it would stop by now at 14 days but looks like it may have a few more days of stretch, I am raising the lights 2 inches a day. Looks like about 12-14 inches in stretch so far. The height has more than doubled and I can now see some extra light penetrating through the canopy finally. I'm hoping my side lighting will get some extra bud down there. Day 71 LSD still in veg, I was going to start the bud cycle tomorrow but I like my rearranged lights so I'm going to let it go for another weeks and see. PH 5.7. Dirt pot still growing about day 35.

 

[hydrofun]

Day 85 total day 15 12/12 bucket#2 bagseed, Water change day, I mixed up 3 gallons this time as I can see today my plants will drink all 3 gallons this coming week. So 3 gallons with 22ml of AN ancient earth, 6.75ml GH armorsi, 7.5ml GH calimagic, 45ml Botanicare aquashield, 3ml Plant Success orca, 30ml AN micro, 28ml AN grow, 30ml AN bloom, and 7.5ml AN big bud. PH to 5.8 and waited for 2 hours checked it again still 5.8. Dropped the plant in the new mix. Hopefully it will be stable. I saved back a half gallon to add in as the water level goes down, I also have a single gallon of ph'd water with only An ancient earth sitting for refills. Buds are starting to grow on every branch. Bucket#3 LSD day 72 still vegging nicely looks better after light rearrangement PH stable still at 5.8, looks like it wil be in bloom mode in a week. Dirt pot day 36 still growing out. Pics later

 

[hydrofun]

 

[Nine44]

Huge plants man looks like you're on the right track to success

 

[hydrofun]

 

[hydrofun]

So its day 91 total and day 21 of 12/12 on bagseed bucket#2. I went ahead and dumped out the water as the PH was starting to drop down to 5.4. I decieded its time for a bit of flushing since the Ph dropped for no reason. So for the next 18 hours the bagseed is sitting in PH 6.0 water 3 gallons. I already have the nutrient mix for tomorrow made up and sitting at 5.8 everything is stable and added except for the Orca I want to add that at the last moment as the mychryz don't last more than 72 hours. Day 78 LSD bucket#3 I had some problems with the PH it slammed down to 4.5 and so I had to remove and add some fresh water to get it back to 6.0 so its pretty much in shock and wont go into bloom tomorrow. I'll give it until next week sometime when its recovered from the taco leaves it has on a few tops I'll be shifting it straight to bloom. Day 42 veg for dirt pot its getting waste water from the hydro only and it seems OK, it will be into bud at the same time as the LSD. I may drop it outside its not going to get cold enough this winter to kill it so...ya i'll post some bud shots later I seem to have misplaced my iphone for the last few days ands that's my only camera except the one on my laptop. Seems to be @50 tops of various sizes but only 9 main tops then another 25 or so secondary buds that may have some perform as well as the main tops then another 20 or so tops that are under leaves. My rasta friends took a look at it and said that's a 1 pound plant but as its under LED they also said who knows the yield may be crap or huge. They only grow outside in the forrest so who knows.

 

[Greenthumb J]

In a 5gal bucket, you will be lucky to get 8 zips of dried product. I have finished drying my White Widow i grew in a 5gal, and it was just shy of 9 zips.

But thats still nothing to be disappointed with!

You just need to up your container size for your plant and you will increase your yield size

 

[Greenthumb J]

also, get out of growing in DWC buckets too, that will also increase your yield!

 

[hydrofun]

YA no I cant move away from DWC and 5 gallon buckets at least for the foreseeable future is all I can do size wise. No chance of getting RDWC in my place to limited. IF i get 8 oz. I would love it That would give me a little over .5 grams per watt of actual led draw from the wall. My roots must be getting tired LOL I see a whole new grow area coming out like a fucking forest of new super white short roots flying out of the sides of bucket#2 its crazy must be getting a little crowded in the DWC as I can see its just a mass of spaghetti I can't really see water except when I first fill it up. So after I finished the flushing the water started at 6.0PH and ended up at 6.8PH. I think I am glad I flushed that was a lot of stored up salts. Somehow I completely snapped 1 of the 9 main tops in half. It was bent at more than 90 degrees but somehow I just pushed it up tied it with a bread tie to another stalk and its been about 5 hours and it looks fine, I can't even find the break anymore. Sadly I am still looking for my camera.

 

[Greenthumb J]

If you can grow in a DWC bucket, you can grow in rockwool grow cubes using a top feed system. The only thing you would need to buy is a small submersible water pump which is very quiet

 

[hydrofun]

Day 92 total day 22 bloom bucket#2 bagseed. Day total 78 LSD bucket#3 PICS finally.

 

[hydrofun]

Day total 100 bloom days 29 bagseed bucket#2, Day total 85 bloom time 3 days LSD bucket#3, Dirt pot well its 3 days in bloom. I'll probably change all the water tonight or tomorrow depending if my guests leave before 9:30. Had some rough spots this last week but water is back to stable in both pots. I had finally hit the osmotic pressure limit and now know bucket#2 cant go beyond 1500ppm and bucket #3 to about 1300ppm. ANyway pics.

 

[Greenthumb J]

Looking really nice in there.

The bagseed is looking very sativa dominant. Should be a nice smoke

 

[hydrofun]

Thanks for the support Greenthumb J! It's a little silent in here LOL. I figured it would be somewhat like that but I am a little shocked that people would at least want to see a grow with lights absolutely no one is using here. Especially when the rap is these lights can't grow weed. Group think maybe? At my day total for bloom I don't see many/any that are ahead of my plants in bud mass, although my plant isn't as healthy as it could be, but thats water PH and only my laziness. i guess people don't want to see it, anyway what do you think 10ozs end weight is my guess right now LOL if nothing fucks this up (fingers crossed). I'm running just 426 led watts pulling from a meter (not the fake watts companies report on the box) about 24+55 watts respectivly t5+cfl, so total of 505 watts. IF big if there i can pull .5 grams per watt I'll say this plant is a success. SO @ 252.5 grams dry weight is my goal at this point if I get more awesome, if less time to practice better water skills.

 

[Greenthumb J]

It should take you a few runs to really get a hang for your growing space. Once you have the environment dialed in, your grows will seem boringly routine. But each time you will do a bit better than the last.

you will learn things along the way, and what works best for your space. Personally i think you should try a top feed system like i use. You would be surprised at how quiet it can be. Just as quiet as a bubble bucket! And you will grow better looking, better tasting product too!

About the lights.. i think its because you cant advertise the fact you are using non-sponsor lights. Meaning you cant go putting the name of your lights in your Journal title as the mods would nuke it in a second. Your best bet is just to float around the forums and comment on as many peoples journals as you can.. those people will come check your grow out, and offer (hopefully good) advice.

Although i was reading a journal just the other night where everyone was giving this poor guy such terrible information..He was starting his first grow and was doing a DWC, and everyone was Hydroguard this and aquashield that. But no one was telling him how to use it properly. Nobody explained to him what Hydroguard was made of or what it did.. They kept telling him to buy "Great White Shark" which is actually a strain of weed, not a Mycorrhizal product which is actually called "Great White". They kept telling him to put his hydroguard into the res and the "Great White Shark" directly into the res, which is a terrible idea, since most people use tap water, which contains chlorine and chloramine, which kill beneficial bacteria. Even i was using it wrong until about 4 or 5 months ago when i started using beneficial teas regularly. Beneficial bacteria need oxygen and a food source to survive. The reason why adding it to your reservoir is a bad idea, is cause there is nothing for the beneficial bacteria to feed on. Thats why Heisenberg Tea (beneficial tea) has molasses in it. The sugars and carbs in molasses feed the bacteria, and the oxygen helps them multiply. Adding beneficials like Hydroguard and Great White, or Orca is a bad idea, as the synthetic nutrients in the water are usually more harmful than they are helpful for the bacteria. You will get much more benefit from your beneficial bacteria products if brewed in a tea and applied to the base of the stalk.

I wrote up a huge response to him, setting a lot of bad information straight, and i ended up deleting the message and moving on with my regular shit. Something about setting the people who are hell bound on DWC growing off on a tangent kept me from posting my reply.

I dont understand why people want to grow DWC for their first time. Do they think its easy? its one of the hardest growing methods to actually get an understanding for! I found this out by doing a DWC grow. now i've got my head out of buckets and into top drip systems! So much easier and they produce a better looking product in the end!

Sorry for the rant! Your plants really look good tho.. If you ever want to get out of growing in a DWC bucket, let me know, i will give you a break down of what you need, including costs for everything, and its not expensive at all and i'd happily help you along the way!

 

[Greenthumb J]

also a good idea to attract visitors to your journal is to make a catchy signature!

 

[hydrofun]

Thanks again Greenthumb J. Ya DWC is not the easiest actually probably the hardest. I find it easy becuase no bugs no dirt,its hard though to learn how your water will react to your nutrients especially like me who moves around a lot. That may be why I started DWC the buckets and whole system can move fast to another house. YA go ahead and send me the the top feed method. I already have the bigger sized grow cubes they look to be 4 inches squared. I'll think about it. Still blows my mind that i have 3000 views and you and 1 other person are the only likes besides mine. Seriously group think issues. I always want to find out new stuff but it seeems people here see 1 led brand and there done no more looking. O well there loss my shit works great.

 

[midasone]

On my second DWC run also. I personally find bubble buckets much easier than soil. I followed a guide from a youtuber name hygrohybrid. He made dwc very simple for a first timer like myself. I only wish I wouldn't of tried to cut corners on my first grow. I did things like not using calmag or I tried to add nutes to fast. I also didn't use a ph pen or ppm meter at first. I just had my first bagseed harvest and feel I should do much better on my next run.

 

[hydrofun]

Ya I like hydro myself midasone! Its easier to see problems arise from nutrients. I don't slack on the additives though never ever.

 

[Greenthumb J]

If you dont have a PPM meter.. no big deal you might be able to get away without it.

If you dont have a PH meter, you shouldn't attempt to grow cannabis at all!!


Hygrohybrid is a hack!! who the fuck charges people to watch your crappy youtube videos? Sure, he knows how to build a cool RDWC system, but that mega RDWC system killed his plants when he got a pythium outbreak and didn't use any Hydrguard to save his plants.

After that video.. i didn't see a lot from him. then he felt that he was so good that he needed to charge people a subscription fee to watch his lame videos.

If you guys want a great grower to follow and learn from, TheCapn was the man..

Unfortunately, he is no longer with us on 420 here, although i do know where he is currently blogging and i do speak with him daily. Some of this articles in the sub forums are still available such as his "Simple Hydroponics" top feed system known as "Capn-Style" in the hydroponic growing section on 420 here. He is my mentor, and i have learned many things about growing, disease, training, harvesting.. just about everything you could need to know! I will be continuing his growing style here on 420 in my own Journals, as well as blog tutorials in the future for people to learn from since his blogs were all deleted.


I agree and also disagree with midasone. While DWC is the easiest method of growing to set up, i find its the hardest to get control of and its the easiest to get out of control!

Water quality and especially water temperature are your enemies when growing in DWC. If using a top feed system like i use, temperature wont be so much of an issue as your roots aren't sitting submerged in water. You wont even need an airstone or air pump technically if you irrigate more than 6 times a day as the water returning to the reservoir aerates the water enough. But your roots dont sit in the water, so they receive oxygen from the air within and around the rockwool, so it really doesn't matter if you add air to your reservoir, unless you are using something like Gen Hydro's Floralicious Plus, then it is highly suggested to aerate your nutrient solution.

When you have your roots sitting in a nutrient solution that has no movement to it.. they will begin to take on the colour of the solution. You can simply rinse the roots off under cold water, but if you have a fully mature plant, that son of a bitch might be heavy as hell!! who wants to lift that sucker into a sink to spray off the roots? i sure as hell dont.

Thats DWC growers biggest issue. is how their roots look. Which is the whole reason why EVERYONE should stop growing in DWC buckets. Everyone freaks out so much.. " OMG one feeder root is discoloured. H2o2 rinse!! Plant is dying!! World is over!!"

I realised that keeping your roots pearly white will NEVER happen in DWC. the bottom roots will always be sitting in more concentrated solution as the metals in the nutrients will sink to the bottom. Thats why water movement is so important.. to keep the nutrient solution properly mixed.

If you DO WANT to do DWC growing, I would highly recommend doing it in an Recirculating DWC system. The constant movement of water will keep the temperatures down, also keeping the nutrients properly mixed in the reservoirs. Also having a larger amount of water in the system will make it take much longer for the water temperature to raise.



My Ultimate Hydro suggestion would to be buy a 2cu. ft. bag of rockwool grow cubes. They measure 1cmx1cmx1cm. They look like a crouton. No large blocks of rockwool! Get yourself a variety of pot sizes, from a small 4" round or square pot, all the way up to a 5gal round pot, or a 5.2gal SuperRoots AirPot like i (and TheCapn) grows in.

During veg, hand water everyday to waste. By that i mean, you dont re-use the water you just fed your plants. Toss it out.. give it to your house plants, spray it on your backyard. dump it over your fence into your neighbours yard and watch him wonder why one patch of grass or shrubs are growing way better than the rest haha.

Watering to waste, also known as drain to waste or whatever, is a great way to ensure that your plants are getting fresh nutrient supply each watering, not pH drifted, diliuted nutrient solution thats being recirculated. Your plants will grow faster and more lush in colour.
It sounds like it might be expensive, but in the end, its not really, as nutrients aren't all that expensive. When you buy the small bottles (why anyone would i dont know??) yea it gets expensive cause you have to replace them sooner. Thats why you buy in bulk (at least i do) so you get the best bang for your buck, plus it saves you trips to the grow store, and i cant speak for anyone else, but i know i ALWAYS come home with more than i planned when i visit the hydro store! Love that place!!

Top your plant early and top it often. This keeps it short and promotes lots of side branching. This will produce a large, even canopy, and keep your roots searching outwards so that it can support the big plant above the medium.

Every 2-3 weeks your plant should need to be transplanted up a pot size. Dont get stupid and skip a bunch of sizes. Like i did my first try. I went from 4" square pot straight to a 2gal round pot. This took too long for my roots to start to get root bound before a transplant. I then went straight into a 5.2 gal AirPot which again, was too big of a jump.

The more you transplant your plant, the bigger your root mass will be, and the bigger your plant up top will be. Big Roots, Big Fruits!

I would happily help anyone who wants to learn how to grow in a top feed system. You will have way better looking product. Let me show you an example if Hydrofun doesn't mind me posting a couple pictures!

This is some White Widow i just grew in a DWC bucket:

Darker coloured, not much trichomes, overall, average looking.

This is the same WW, grown from clones off the above DWC plant, but grown in a top feed system with 2-6x daily irrigation:

Notice how much lighter in colour these buds are. There is a considerably huge difference in the amount of trichomes on these buds. They smell better, they're much more dense. Overall, a high quality looking end product.

These two pictures alone should be enough for any grower to get their head out of the buckets and into some rockwool grow cubes!