Scrog Waterfarm Grow

[therootsofpositivity]

Hi Sky Rocket. It is at 3.7 ounces right now but I think it still has a bit of water in it. I put it in the jar right now for the night and I will take it out tomorrow for a few hours to just let it finish drying. Thinking it might be 3.5 ounces or a little less once finished.

 

[Propa Gator]

That is an impressive plant, and you didn't want the roots anyway.
Old tech waterfarms can do good work. Congratulations!

 

[onthe420train]

damn dude that plant looks mangled! Too bad the roots got screwed because it was already falling over from bud weight hahaha, nice job.

 

[Sky Rocket]

If you don't mind me asking did you notice a big difference in electric bill when you fired up all (4) 1000 watters and did you use any Co2?

 

[therootsofpositivity]

Ya Propa Gator the waterfarm sure isn't a bad little system. I wouldn't want to run just a single one I think that would be annoying constantly filling up the bucket. Hooked up to a reservoir and it sure isn't a bad little system. Only problem is if you want to grow huge trees drill holes in the bottom bigger! If I was growing any bigger I think I would go with an ebb'n grow system.

onthe420train: I had to tie the rest of the girls up as the buds were floppen all over the place. Even being tied up I can tell the branches are having a problems holding the weight. But I'm not complaining.

Hi Sky Rocket: No CO2 used I am sucking air through the room and pumping it outside. I can not tell you what the electricity cost is. The current location uses about 5500w 24/7.

 

[therootsofpositivity]

Okay well I guess I should finish this grow up as it has been a week since I did the last of the trimming. Don't think tonight I will get all the picks up. Save the good ones for tomorrow. But I want to get something up.

These small holes:

Caused this:

Solution I am hoping is this.

Actually think I am going to drill more holes to be on the safe side. I want the roots to be able to leave the bucket. As there is water that is airated at the bottom of the big bucket I want the roots to grow down into that. Again the hybrid drip/dwc idea.

Still able able to grow some pretty big girls even with the massive root restriction:

One last look before they were chopped down:

And here we are four plants in:

Well I think that is all for today. Will rap up this grow tomorrow then ask for it to be moved to the completed forum.

 

[dahcwon]

great grow, have you give it a taste test yet?

 

[therootsofpositivity]

Hey dahcwon thanks for the compliment. I am a designated grower therefore I can just give you patient comments. They are happy. For Cindy99 the aroma wasn't the strongest when the buds finished drying but the classic fruit candy smell was there. They said it smoke well, very smooth and had good medicinal properties. They were very happy with the it. Im thinking the lack of smell way due to the root rot issues. I know it had a big impact on the girls and I can only imagine the diversion of energy to the roots to fight it. I can see the same thing happening in my purple kush grow. I think waterfarms would be great if I was growing smaller plants. I can see why a lot of growers have moved away from them. Im hoping the modifications I have made will be enough to keep the root zone happy and healthy from my next grow.

 

[therootsofpositivity]

Okay here are the last of the pics and will conclude with final thoughts and lessons learned.

Can see the brown roots. This was caused by root rot in the bucket that killed these roots higher up. They just fell right off when I pulled on them.

Think this pic really shows off how floppy Cindy99 is. Just flops all over the place once the bud starts to fill in. Wish I had kept the screen and this would have been great support.

Okay well thats the last of the pics.

Yield of this harvest was 3 pounds. I know it isn't the best yield in the world, but I am happy with it. More is always nice but for my first grow I think thats pretty damn good.

Okay what I learned:

-root rot sucks! Still having his problem. Just the way the holes are punched in the bottom of the bucks to seems odd. They are punch upwards meaning there is always going to be a film on the bottom. That seems to be the problem, this thin layer of water is just enough to create anaerobic conditions for slim mold and root rot to move in. I just drilled holes in the third wave and they were already showing signs of slim mold on the roots that were poking out the holes! I don't know if the diatomaceous stone is having any effect on this as it holds a lot of water. Going to switch to just hydroton and see if it helps.

-waterfarms are wicked for growing plants in the 1-2 ounce range, but I think with some modifications can be great for larger plants 4+ ounces (jury still out on this though).

- Should have had an oscillating fan. Yup thats right for the whole grow I only sucked the air out no air movement in the room. I know this effected yields as I am sure that I had oxygen pockets like crazy in there. This was a big contributor to Powder Mildew I had as well. Always was going to get around to installing one but never got it up.

-If your going to do something do it right the first time. Wasted a lot of time doing things half ass that if I had done properly the first time I would have had way more time to tend to other stuff like getting a fan up and running.

-Didn't have climate controls. I know during bud formation the temps in the room were cold! like 15C. I am sure at that critical time warmer temperatures would have been a big help.

Okay would just like to thank everyone that gave me advice and encouragement along in this journey. Also to everyone that asked questions. Learning is what these forums are all about and the only way your going to learn is ask questions. If anyone has questions about anything in this grow please don't hesitate to post. Would prefer to you post your question as I always feel a lot of great questions and info are shared in private conversations that should be posted. If you don't want to be known pm me and I will post the question and answer so everyone can learn. Okay wow what an experience.

and happy growing to everyone.

RW

 

[Keith Lake]

Thanks for sharing your grow with us therootsofwis.

We'll move your journal to our Completed Archives for posterity

If you get a chance we'd love to hear your patient's smoke report

Mad props and Canna congratulations to you from your friends at 420 Magazine

 

[Sky Rocket]

Good freakin job ..roots... This is excellent for your first grow. 3lbs for 16 plants. For your next go around are you going to stick with the waterfarm system? And do you have clones started for your next go around and are you going to do Cinderella again?

 

[therootsofpositivity]

Thanks Sky Rocket. Im already have another area with purple kush and some other strain. Was suppose to be all purple kush but... guess some other clones got mixed in. In this room I have already setup the room with purple kush. So no I will not be growing more cinderalla as my patient right now is all about purple kush.

I didn't want to do a continual post as I find it hard to find information or if you want to look up a grow with a certain strain becomes difficult. Therefore I am going to have a new journal for each wave I do. Keep your eye out for the starting of my second purple kush grow.

 

[therootsofpositivity]

Think my root problem was brown algae. Reading a thread on it sorry different site so no link. But it is explaining the problem to the T. I am thinking that this might have been the problem the previous owners of the system were having and why I got it for so cheap. I'm going to look more into this. Keep everyone posted.

 

[therootsofpositivity]

Quote: "There should be a whole thread dedicated to this crap, brown algae. It mimics root rot and hundreds of us probably think it is. Its an algae that almost seems impossible to get rid of. I know root rot is an umbrella meaning for any root disease which is always mostly bacterial.

There needs to be a clear distinctions between this brown algae and general bacterial or fungal caused root rot. This algae can thrive in lots of oxygen and poor or minimal light and likes to eat on organics."

 

[Keith Lake]

Maybe one of these three may help?

Pythium Root Rot

Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver - Pictorial

Trouble Shooting with pics

 

[Sureshocker]

I got passed along 3 waterfarms systems and wanted to see if you can answer some questions.

1. When do you know when to plant it in the water farm ?
2. How much water do you put into the bucket?
3. How often do you feed your plants?
4. Do you empty out the bucket every time you feed it or do you just add the water and the nutrients in the bucket?
5. What do you recommend to prevent algae or mildew?

 

[b0rab0ra]

great thread