Second Grow Deep Water Culture SCROG Lemon Skunk Blueberry Rocklock Bubba Kush

[happynow]

Starting a second journal for second try at "Moms in soil, clones in Deep Water Culture". For those interested in catching up on my first grow cycle, it is here.

First Grow Procyon 100 Lemon Skunk Big Bang

My next post will be details and pics of new cycle.

 

[happynow]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

OK, so life has intruded a bit, and I have not been blogging much, so sorry about that. Not much to report though, so we can skip straight to the exciting stuff. I will try to follow up with some progress pictures later tonight.If you have not seen my last grow, just know that this is the continuation of that grow. Last grow I started 4 "moms" in soil. 2 Lemon Skunk from Greenhouse Seed CO and 2 Big Bang from the same company. The mom's grew from start to finish under two Procyon 100 LED Lights. When the Moms were old enough, I took a bunch of clones off of them. I also started 3 seeds of regular blueberry. These were all grown under MH / HPS lights in 4 Stealth Hydro Deep Water Culture Containers. The moms netted around 3 Oz's and the kids netted around 13 ounces overall. This grow being my second cycle should be much better. I have learned a lot from my mistakes and successes and things are starting off much better. What I learned from last cycle:

1) LED's are just not ready for regular use yet. I had to beef them up with CFL's, and overall, I would have been better off electricity and yield wise if I would have just done all CFL's, or MH/HPS.
2) Under no circumstances should you start un-femenized seeds in a Deep Water Culture system. I started 3, and only one ended up being female. By the time I had sexed them, it was impossible to remove all of the males roots as they had intertwined with the rest of the plants in the reserviour. The dead root bio matter caused me all sorts of issues with algea.
3) The importance of keeping reserviors clean, and free of debris, light, etc... Makes all the difference.
4) Soak your rockwool in low PH solution for at least 24 hours. Last grow I only soaked them for an hour, and spent the first 4 weeks fighting with PH that was out of control.
5) If you do not do something to maintain an even canopy, then you can have a lot less plants, and a lot less yeild. The latter half of my first grow, the bigger plants took over and killed off the little plants. Then, they grew too tall for my space. I had to constantly try to hold them down with rope so that they would be in the light, and I had to keep my lights so high up because of this that a lot of the lower plant material was starved. Out of 11 plants in the system, only 4 were really producers, the rest were in shadow. That is why I am doing scrog on second grow.
6) Clones... My success with these guys has been spotty at best, with maybe a 50% live ratio. Finally, I figured it out. I was using a gel, and then putting them in a mister. The gel immediatly washed off, and the plants died. This time around, I have used the same gel, but put the stem in rockwool, so that the gel has a place to chill, and I also put some powdered root start in the reservior water. Made all the difference and happy to say that new batch of 12 clones has 100% survivors...

So, where are we now?

Small Tent:

Small tent has 4 plants growing in it currently.

I took clones from kids of last grow right before they entered into flower, but most of them died. The Big Bang Strain I lost altogether, but that is ok, as I would call it a sub-par strain as compared with the blueberry and lemon..So here is what is left.

1 X Blueberry (clone from last grow)
1 X Lemon Skunk (Clone from last grow)
1 X DNA Genetics RockLock (Started from seed at same time as cloning to replace Big Bang that died)
1 X Autoflower Blue Himilayan (Just started this about 2 weeks ago because the bubba kush seed I started with the rocklock seed died in the soil from some unknown reason)

The autoflower is super small still, at about 2 weeks old. The other 3 are about 1.5 feet tall.. I have already taken clones from them for the big tent, and then I switched them over to flower early. Just like last grow, my plan was to kill off the mom's once I had my clones, but my wife has convinced me that it would be better to just flower them out early and have a mid grow harvest to tide us over.These plant are all in Miracle Grow soil with a 400 Watt HPS light over them (started with a MH).They get Technaflora nutes per their feeding schedule on a feed, water, water cycle. I like to let them starve for water a bit and get droopy before I give them more, so they only get about 1-2 waterings a week if they are lucky.

Big Tent:

This tent has 4 SH Deep Water Culture containers with a seperate shared res. Each container has a water pump with hoses that trickle water up to the plant nettings. Each has 1 12" airstone, and 1 10" air wand. I hated the air stones from first grow as they make the water gross and are disposable after the grow, but the local petsmart didnt have enough air wands, so I had to go half and half. Turns out its a good thing, cause the air wands are so light that they just sit at the surface of the water and don't do much good anyway. These are powered by three air pumps, two 2 ports and 1 4 port. All cheap as hell. I have a custom 2 X 4 wooden frame built around the containers and to this I have attached chain link fencing with 2" diagonal holes at a hieght of 18"'s above the tops of containers. I plan on turning these to flower once the screen is 1/3 full, and I really think that this screen will make a monumental difference in keeping my canopy even and I expect a much better yeild this time. These plants get Technaflora nutes per their schedule, except once they get about 3 weeks into flower, I will push them at 1.5 to 2 X's the recommended feeding schedule. I cloned off the moms directly into the tubs this time, instead of using the SH mistic cloner. In the tubs currently are:

3 X Blueberry
3 X rocklock
6 X Lemon Skunk

The lemon was by far my favorite from the last batch (yummmmmmmmmy!) Haven't ever harvested rocklock yet, but I am excited to see what I get. I am a legal grower in WA, and I grow for personal medical use. Most of what I get I make into cannabutter, as I do not have great lungs. Thus I need a decent harvest because it takes a lot to make cannabutter of quality to help with my medical issues. Oh, and the plants are currently under 2 X 400 Watt MH lights.

The airflow for this system goes as follows. There is plywood nailed down over double window in room with two tents. Smaller tent is 4 X 4 X 7'. Larger is 7'6" X 7'6" X 7'6". I have a 10" Duct the is drilled through window, and that goes to a splitter with 2 X 6" hard ducts into room. Each of these ducts goes into one of the tents. The smaller tent has a 8" inline fan on a timer. The larger tent has a 12" inline fan on a timer. The small tent has a 10" Fan connected to ducting for exhaust, and it exhaust into the larger tent directly across from its exhaust. The larger tent uses a 12" exhaust the runs to a 6" flexible ducting. This ducting runs along the cieling of room into the closet, where another 6" helper inline fan gives it that last little boost to push the air up into the attic and through a 15 LB carbon filter. The room has a custom insulation package around the door and frame, and no smeel escapes room except for when I open door to service plants. This is a big improvement over last grow, as when the big tent was flowering, you could tell we grew from about 1/2 mile away it seemed like.. it was very strong and we are lucky that we are surrounded by old people that apparently have lost their sense of smell

Pics to come later, and welcome to my second grow!

Cheers!

 

[happynow]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

Pics as promised:

First the Large tent and babies, then the small tent and moms.

 

[happynow]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

Ok, so 11 out of 12 of the clones have roots in the water now. I think #12 may die, but that is pretty good ratio 11/12. I have never done a scrog before and I am trying to figure out what it will take to completly fill my screen. I figure that I will start them flowering once they have been pushed under one loop of the screen (which is 16" above the containers). Then I figure once I start them flowering they will grow an average of another 30 inches or so... This is based upon my last grow, where some only grew about 2 ft (blueberry) and some grew almost 4 more feet (lemon skunk). To try to simulate how the plants would fill the screen in the easiest to train fashion (least bending) I sectioned the screen off with sharpie into 4 sections for the 4 containers. Each container has 3 plants, so I cut 3 peices of rope exactly 30" inches long each, and then tried different proposed "trainings". My conclusion is that 12 plants will not entirely fill a 4' by 4' screen unless I let them veg for longer before taking them to flower. Since I don't wanna wait any longer, I am considering just topping 2 plants in each container once, so that I end up with a total of 5 tops. 5 tops seems like it will fill the screen compltely with every hole having some stem underneath it. Looking through other peoples scrogs, I cannot figure out if anybody ever tops there plants for scrog or not? Can anybody shed some light on this for me? I would really like to know if topping them in this kind of grow has bad or good consequences....


Moving on, below are some pictures of each container. I have marked where I took each picture from with sharpie on the frame, and I will try to take a picture from the same spot of each container every 2-3 days and post so that we can have an on going comparison. I think people will be impressed when they see the comparison of what these Deep Water Culture can do. I am considering today day 1 of this, because the clones are just now hardened (rooted) and able to take the full light, so they are finally starting to grow and not just survive.

Pics Below:

Rocklock

BlueBerry

Lemon Skunk #1

Lemon Skunk #2

 

[happynow]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

Also, as a note, you can see in the previous pics, that I am using multicolered rocks for my Deep Water Culture. Stealth Hydro recommends Hydroton Rocks, and I used them for my first grow. Rather then try to clean them after the grow, I just threw them away. None of the stores in my area seem to sell Hydroton, and I didn't really wanna pay for shipping, so I went to the pet store and got aquarium rocks. They were super cheap! only a couple of bucks for a bag that will last me in all 4 containers for probably 10 seperate grows. They are a bit heavier then hydroton, which seems to hold the plant in place better, and they are odd shapes, so they still allow for air pockets.. All in all I am really happy with how these work and I would recommend to anyone that is about to spend a ton of money on hydroton that they can just go to the pet store and save some bucks!

 

[The Weed]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

How did I miss this Start up?
Got here just in time,

Thanks happynow for your entertaining, Productive, well documented Grows!
This is me>>>

This is you and I>>>

 

[CocoJoe]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

All aboard!

 

[happynow]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

Welcome aboard guys! I hadn't seen that passing the J smiley before. That is pretty cool..Thanks for the words of encouragement. I am really hoping to keep an every 2-3 days max picture update. I have a trip planned the 26th through the 3rd, so I will try to convince my wife to take pics while I am gone, but that might be a lost cause. Actually I am pretty darn sure it is. I am just hoping that I have plants alive when I get back <G>. I am going to do a drain and replenish right before I go, and then all she should have to do is check the water level and room temp every other day....

 

[bubble grower]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

BUBBLES???? DID SOMEONE SAY BUBBLES?? I'M IN!!

if there's room?? HERE TO HELP IF NEEDED!!

 

[happynow]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

Welcome Bubble Grower. Always room for more helpful and like minded people!

Pics update below. Not much to report. Did a drain and replenish today and bumped the mix up to full strength Techna Flora mix. I will probably stick with full or slightly over from here until flower, and then I will bump up to much higher than recommended full strength about two weeks into flower. These bubble ladies can take it and all my strains are big eaters. So, it looks like all 12 clones survived! They are growing strong and about to go through their super growth spurt so they can hit the screen and start training school. I am going to be out of state at training for the next week, so I have left my wife some pretty easy to follow instructions. Wish my babies luck.. If she remembers to do half of the instructions then they should survive ok.... biggest thing I am worried about is for her to remember to raise the lights to keep at 12" distance from plants. They grow pretty quick at this stage and I don't want a bunch of charcoal tops. We shall see. Pics below.

Pump I use to empty reservoir during drains. Take 4 D batteries and it is quick!

 

[happynow]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

well, I came back from out of town, and the plants are still alive. I will get some better pics tomorrow I hope for yall. The moms are looking great and getting well into flower now. The kids took off and some are hitting the screen. I had to pull two of them back under today. When I got back the kids were starvin'. Tank was about 5" low on water, wife forgot to check it of course..... On the bad news side, our land lord has been foreclosed on, so the house goes up for auction soon and I might have to kill these pretty ladies and start over somewhere else. I will keep everyone updated... Pics below..

 

[happynow]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

Pics, get your bud porn pics here!


Mom's

Lemon Skunk

Blueberry

RockLock

Blue Himalayan AutoFlower

Assorted Moms

Kids - I hope I am tucking these under right... Should I be tying them down at all?

All seems to be doing well.. The timing of the move means I will need to harvest the kids at a couple days before 8 weeks in flower. I know that is early, but it is what I have to work with

 

[happynow]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

Disaster.. Last night one of the hose bibs for the reservoir broke off and flooded the tent with 3" deep water. The ballasts and all the electrical are sitting in water. I have cleaned up the best I can, and I have the breaker to that side of the house off. I tried plugging the whole with duct tape, but that just made more of a mess. I am off to lowes to find a way to plug a hole. I think I will have to fill the tubs and drain them individually until I can get some parts in from Stealth Hydro Hopefully the roots will do ok with no water for a couple more hours. I misted them with a spray bottle. Wish me luck!

 

[The Weed]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

 

[happynow]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

Welp,

2 trips to lowes, 2 loads of towels through the dryer, and a mad at me wife later... I think everyone is gonna live. I will check again tonight and morning tomorrow to make sure, and then pics to come.... wheh!

 

[N.W.Green]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

WoW thats a scary situations, how is all your electrical? im in for this ride for sure.

 

[happynow]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

Electrical seems fine. Surprisingly, nothing seems damaged at all.. Just my pride, some roots, and a lot of elbow grease cleaning it up. Also, there is a decent amount of algae growing in the tanks. I think it is because temperatures got higher without the fans on, and there was no water and air pump circulating the water while I cleaned up and fixed stuff. I will treat with H202 and do 3 drain and replenishes with no nutes every other day. Should clear it up. Some lights out pics below:

 

[happynow]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

So I hope that I am doing this scrog thing right. The screen is about 60% filled right now, and I am 12 days into flowering. I think I could have waited longer before flipping them, but I need to finish these and get moved into the new house. We will be taking the summer off from growing after this batch, and then starting out with a whole new setup in the fall. I plan on doing two grows in the fall. One will be a vertical garden with rotating plants. I saw one in someones blog the other day and was amazed..... Any advice on scrog will be greatly appreciated. I am just pulling them under once a day and trying to have some plant matter underneath each hole. I have not started trimming back under the canopy, not sure if that is a must or not, seems like some people do it, some do not. Also, when do I stop pulling them under and let them grow upwards?

 

[happynow]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

So, pics update below.... Mom's are looking good at about 5 weeks into flower ish... I actually do not remember when I switched them over to flower. I think it was around the first week in april, but not sure. The first grow I kept meticulous journal, I seem to be getting stoned and slacking lately. hmmm... Kids are doing good. I wish I had more time before I have to harvest, I think I would have vegged them slightly longer. They are 15 days into flower now, and I have a drop dead date of chopping them by 58 days into flower. Gotta move out of this house by then, and they will be the last thing to go. Pretty much impossible to move a large hydro setup, and with a screen in the mix, definately un-do-able. I am still tuucking them under the screen, probably gonna continue tucking for another week or so and then let them grow out.
here da pics....

 

[happynow]

Re: Second Grow Deep Water Culture Scrog LemonSkunk Blueberry Rocklock BubbaKush

helllloooooo 420!

Its been a long week. haven't posted in 7 days, so here is a update.

The soil mom plants are about ready to harvest. I am planning on chopping them next weekend. I pulled them out of the tent, cleaned up dead leaves, trimmed off lower branches. Changed nutes to just a large dose of Sugar Daddy and Magi-Cal. I will start flushing them on Tuesday. They are smelling super yummy. The blueberry surprisingly is looking like the biggest producer of the bunch. Not sure why. Last grow cycle the blueberry was definately the lowest producer, although it made up for it in flavor. The rocklock looks like she is doing very well, she has more of a crystally apearance than a snowy apearance, and she has the lightest colored leaves. She looks nothing like pictures you see of her on seed sites, where they portray this kind as a very dark strain. Perhaps it is how I raised her? The lemon skunk is acting just like last cycle, continues to stretch all the way till the bitter end, but she is frosted and looking healthy. The blue himalayan auto-flower is super dark green. Thickest, greenest leaves I have ever seen on a MJ plant. She is short, bulky, sticky and... well, she doesn't really have much frosting at all, and she smells like soil, dirt..... Perhaps this is because auto-flowers are crossed with Ruderalis? Anybody watching ever grow one? Was the quality anywhere near what a normal Sativa or Indica strain would produce?

The babies in the scrog are now definately into their older teenager years. I have stopped tucking them under as of today and I am going to let them grow upwards into lots of little tops now. I would say my screen is about 90 % filled if you count leaf coverage, or 70 % filled if you count Budsites in holes. I continue to battle algae, I am pretty sure it is the heat in here. Nothing to be done, I just keep flushing with H2O2, each reserviour change. It gets better for about 3 days, starts getting worse by 5, is really bad by 7, flush, reservior change, and the process starts over. I am not concerned, as it doesn't seem to be effecting the health of the ladies, so I will continue on as I am now and keep things in a uneasy balance. I have been slowly removing lower leaves and branches every couple of days. I will work my way up until there is not much if anything other then stem under the screen. I added my two Procyon 100 LED's as extra lighting, since the two 400's werent giving quite enough coverage over this big of a flat area (4' X 4').Since our landlord is being foreclosed on, we need to be out earlier than expected. I am going to have to harvest at exactly 56 days, the last possible moment I can... It is going to be hectic with moving and what not but I will make it work. I just keep chanting:
Don't Panic

Don't Panic

Don't Panic


Ahhh, thats better. And for all of you that actually made it through all the text, a reward in the way of some pics!