The Vivosun Bud Factory: Dessert Time! 5x5 VSF6450 RDWC

[LKABudMan]

Why the sides and why won't it matter in two weeks?

The sides are black, which will absorb heat and transfer to the solution. Covering the sides with the blanket could reduce the RDWC temperatures 1-2f (I think?). It's up around 74F when I check it now, and that's in the morning. It's probably getting up to 76F. 18 hour days and no cover.

These girls are getting their roots established and growth is picking up quickly, though. In two weeks there will be enough canopy that very little light will hit the buckets

 

[InTheShed]

Well now that you explain it it makes perfect sense!

 

[LKABudMan]

The Vivosun Bud Factory
Featuring the VIVOSUN Smart Grow System and the VSF6450
Sponsored by VIVOSUN​

---

Welcome to the Vivosun Bud Factory, a Vivosun 5x5 (60x60x80) advanced grey tent equipped with a custom Vivosun Smart Grow System (SGS) with a Vivosun VSF6450 and a 45g 4-site RDWC system.

Vivosun Smart Grow System settings: ** Vegetative Mode **

• Light - Vivosun VSF6450
  • 22:00-04:00 OFF
  • 04:00-22:00 Spectrum:Vegetative, Intensity:60%, Simulate Sunrise/Sunset (24 DLI)
• Circulation - Vivosun AeroWave E6
  • 00:00-04:00 Speed 1 (10%) Oscillating
  • 00:04-22:00 Natural breeze Oscillating
  • 22:00-24:00 Speed 2 (20%) Oscillating
• Exhaust - Vivosun 6" AeroZesh
  • 22:00-04:00 62% RH, Speed 4, Default off
  • 04:00-22:00 High 82F / 66% RH, Speed 6, Default off

Other Equipment:
- Vivosun Humidifier set to 60% warm mist + ionize
- Vivosun 13" Air Circulator oscillating horizontally on speed# 1
- Vivosun AeroWave A6 on low oscillating

---

Date: 5/4/23 Day# 15​

Strains: Banana Pudding (BP), Mango Mousse (MM), Apply Betty (AB), Forbidden Fruit (FF)
Nutrients - Stout MSA, Megacrop, Voodoo Juice, Pirhana, Hydroguard, z7
Medium - 8" Netpots with clay balls in RDWC system (5x13g buckets)

---

Weekly Temperatures

You can see two things on the weekly temperatures above:
1. I lost internet Sunday night/Monday morning for a couple of hours. I have crappy internet out here in the sticks and it happens sometimes. The GrowHub still works normally, it just doesn't record the temperatures/RH for those times.
2. Monday the SGS went from Seedling to Vegetative. The light going from 40% to 60% added quite a bit of heat to the tent, and the drop in RH raised the average VPD well above 1.0.

Since Monday I've been adding 20g MC to the res every day, and it's now up to the target of 500ppm (1EC). I'll pause here to see how the plants like it.

The one thing I don't like about my RDWC system is the 8" netpots. It leaves too much room for the seedlings/clones, and it's almost impossible to keep them from leaning. Next time I'm going to need to get some smaller netpots to set inside to keep them from going crooked.

This is the fun time in the grow, where it seems like the plants double every night. Well, not quite double but usually a node or more every day. I could go ahead and top the back two (AB & MM) as they're a few days older than the front two (BP & FF). I'll wait, though, and top them all above the fourth node at the same time. That should even them up a bit for the scrog net. At the rate they're growing, it'll only be a couple of days.

20230504_102717.jpg

• LKABudMan
• May 4, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Mix day# 15

20230504_102742.jpg

• LKABudMan
• May 4, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Apple Betty day# 15

20230504_102756.jpg

• LKABudMan
• May 4, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Mango Mouse day# 15

20230504_102826.jpg

• LKABudMan
• May 4, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Banana Pudding day# 15

20230504_102831.jpg

• LKABudMan
• May 4, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Forbidden Fruit day# 15

20230504_102849.jpg

• LKABudMan
• May 4, 2023
• 2
• 5x5 grow tent aerowave lovewhatyougrow rdwc smart grow system vivosun vsf6450

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Mix day# 15

#VIVOSUN #LoveWhatYouGrow

 

[InTheShed]

They look great though Forbidden Fruit looks a little hungry!

 

[LKABudMan]

They look great though Forbidden Fruit looks a little hungry!

Yea, both of the front two (FF & BP) are a little younger. They were just getting their roots down into the res, and I had just bumped the res up to 500ppm (1ec). Hopefully she's happier now, because they're all on the same res so they all get the same nutes.

 

[LKABudMan]

The Vivosun Bud Factory
Featuring the VIVOSUN Smart Grow System and the VSF6450
Sponsored by VIVOSUN​

---

Welcome to the Vivosun Bud Factory, a Vivosun 5x5 (60x60x80) advanced grey tent equipped with a custom Vivosun Smart Grow System (SGS) with a Vivosun VSF6450 and a 45g 4-site RDWC system.

Vivosun Smart Grow System settings: ** Vegetative Mode **

• Light - Vivosun VSF6450
  • 22:00-04:00 OFF
  • 04:00-22:00 Spectrum:Vegetative, Intensity:60%, Simulate Sunrise/Sunset (24 DLI)
• Circulation - Vivosun AeroWave E6
  • 00:00-04:00 Speed 1 (10%) Oscillating
  • 00:04-22:00 Natural breeze Oscillating
  • 22:00-24:00 Speed 2 (20%) Oscillating
• Exhaust - Vivosun 6" AeroZesh
  • 22:00-04:00 64% RH, Speed 4, Default off
  • 04:00-22:00 High 82F / 70% RH, Speed 6, Default off

Other Equipment:
- Vivosun 13" Air Circulator oscillating horizontally on speed# 1
- Vivosun AeroWave A6 on low oscillating

---

Date: 5/9/23 Day# 20​

Strains: Banana Pudding (BP), Mango Mousse (MM), Apply Betty (AB), Forbidden Fruit (FF)
Nutrients: Stout MSA, Megacrop, Voodoo Juice, Pirhana, Hydroguard, z7
Medium: 8" Netpots with clay balls in RDWC system (5x13g buckets)

---

With the @VIVOSUN VSF6450 at 60% there is plenty of heat in the tent. Combined with the humidifier on warm mist it feels tropical when you open the tent. The problem with the humidifier, though, is that it keeps me from being able to lower the RH enough at night to keep the VPD at 1.0-1.1. Looking at the humidity over the past couple of days, though, it looks like I can probably remove the humidifier now.

These girls now have enough roots to start drinking from the res. The res has only lost 1 gallon so far but that will start picking up soon. As they drink more from the res, they respire more and raise the humidity in the tent. They should be drinking enough now so that they don't need a humidifier. I'll turn the humidifier off today and, if the humidity stays up, I'll remove it.

Last night all of the plants got topped above the fourth node. They were different sizes so some of the tops were bigger than others. BP had the smallest top, with only one little node taken off. AB was the largest with almost 4 nodes removed. Since they went into the system at different times, I'm hoping topping them at the same time will help even them up a little.

20230508_173047.jpg

• LKABudMan
• May 9, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 19 before topping

BP topped.png

• LKABudMan
• May 9, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 19 - Banana Pudding topped

FF topped.png

• LKABudMan
• May 9, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 19 - Forbidden Fruit topped

MM topped.png

• LKABudMan
• May 9, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 19 - Mango Mousse topped

AB topped.png

• LKABudMan
• May 9, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 19 - Apple Betty topped

20230508_173520.jpg

• LKABudMan
• May 9, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 19 - Off with their heads!

20230508_174122.jpg

• LKABudMan
• May 9, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 19 after topping

20230508_174132.jpg

• LKABudMan
• May 9, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 19 after topping

The growth rate in DWC still amazes me. Here's a time-lapse video for the last week, and it gets even quicker as they get more roots and leaves.

Dessert Grow Week3.gif

• LKABudMan
• May 9, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow - 3rd week time-lapse

Two things to note about that video:
1. You can see at night! For all except the last night I had the 'night mode' turned on for this camera, which uses IR light to be able to see at night. I turned it off last night and for the remainder of the grow so it doesn't mess with the photoperiods. You'll notice it was pitch black the last night, just like I like it
2. When I put the seedlings into the RDWC I try to orient them diagonally to give them more room to grow. Look at the Mango Mouse (back-left), though. I swear she's spinning around in the netpot clockwise! Until the roots get down to the water, there's nothing to keep her from doing that, but I've never seen it before.

The Vivosun SGS is scheduled to move to the final stage of veg tomorrow, the start of week# 4 of veg. It will increase the light to 80% (around 40DLI). The RH will go to 68% day / 60% night to try to stay at 1.2 VPD.

The scrog net will be going in today, about 8" above the buckets. As the lower nodes continue growing I'll keep spreading them to the outside of the net. If I can do it without breaking any of these huge empty stems I'll be very happy, but I have my grafting tape ready just in case.

#VIVOSUN #LoveWhatYouGrow

 

[bluter]

nice set up, undercurrent systems are the best circ systems. they have a tendency to be real efficient. you probably won't need to feed as heavy as the normal schedule.

you may want to consider a chiller as a future upgrade. things will move even faster.

cannabis - and most plants - hate having light reflected on the underside of the leaf. they may not like the space blanket long term. you might get some leaves exhibiting light aversion, and not developing fully.

 

[InTheShed]

Congrats on that nice growth and the toppings!

Two things to note about that video:

Third thing to note is that the leaves droop before lights out but start back up again before lights on!

cannabis - and most plants - hate having light reflected on the underside of the leaf.

Never heard that...thanks bluter! I guess they never evolved to photosynthesize light from the netherworld.

 

[LKABudMan]

nice set up, undercurrent systems are the best circ systems.

Thanks Bluter. This is a PA Hydroponics fallponics system.

they have a tendency to be real efficient. you probably won't need to feed as heavy as the normal schedule.

This is my 4th run with it so I'm definitely getting used to it. My last grow I ran 100% Prescription Blend in flower and hope to do the same this time. I watch the PPMs to see how they are reacting, though. I prefer to have the PPMs rising slightly each day and topping off with water.

you may want to consider a chiller as a future upgrade. things will move even faster.

It's definitely being considered. The temps in early veg are the highest, getting up to 76f. Once I get a full canopy and go to 12/12 is stays around 72F. Still higher than optimal, which is why I'm thinking about the chiller. A 1/10 HP chiller would probably do it, they start at around $300. I prefer not to undersize, though, and the 1/3 HP are $400-$500.

cannabis - and most plants - hate having light reflected on the underside of the leaf. they may not like the space blanket long term. you might get some leaves exhibiting light aversion, and not developing fully.

The space blanket is really for early veg to keep any light out of the buckets (which would create algae). In a week or two the canopy should prevent any light from reaching the buckets, let alone being reflected back up to the plants. Next time maybe I'll just use some white paper instead of the space blankets.

Thanks for stopping by and for the suggestions. You made me go look at water chillers, probably a bad thing for my wallet

 

[bluter]

Never heard that...thanks bluter! I guess they never evolved to photosynthesize light from the netherworld.

lol ... have a look at the bottom of most leaves. they will be lighter colored and have a softer texture than the surface. photosynthesis occurs at the topside, which is why it's different.

 

[bluter]

It's definitely being considered. The temps in early veg are the highest, getting up to 76f. Once I get a full canopy and go to 12/12 is stays around 72F. Still higher than optimal, which is why I'm thinking about the chiller. A 1/10 HP chiller would probably do it, they start at around $300. I prefer not to undersize, though, and the 1/3 HP are $400-$500.

if it gets unmanageable, freeze up some empty plastic milk cartons filled with water, and put a couple in the res each day.

 

[LKABudMan]

Congrats on that nice growth and the toppings!

Thanks Shed, they're really moving now!

Third thing to note is that the leaves droop before lights out but start back up again before lights on!

I guess I didn't note that because I've seen that on every grow. If you watch, though, you'll notice that sometimes it's a droop. And sometimes it's just the plant widening in the middle to push out a new node.

Never heard that...thanks bluter! I guess they never evolved to photosynthesize light from the netherworld.

What I've heard is that they don't really grow toward the light, they grow away from the dark/shadows. That's usually the same thing but light from the bottom can throw them off.

 

[bluter]

What I've heard is that they don't really grow toward the light, they grow away from the dark/shadows

you say tomato ... i say slice it and let's get a sandwhich going ...

That's usually the same thing but light from the bottom can throw them off.

you can side light a grow, but never light from underneath. before we had such powerful lights, it was a well - known thing. pre-hid even. we used to do whole grows on banks of t5s.

 

[LKABudMan]

lol ... have a look at the bottom of most leaves. they will be lighter colored and have a softer texture than the surface. photosynthesis occurs at the topside, which is why it's different.

That's my understanding as well, photosynthesize up top and respire from the bottom.

if it gets unmanageable, freeze up some empty plastic milk cartons filled with water, and put a couple in the res each day.

I've thrown ice in there before and it barely makes a difference. Besides, that sounds like too much work. It's never been a problem before, but if it gets to be a problem I'll probably have a chiller pretty quickly

 

[bluter]

I've thrown ice in there before and it barely makes a difference.

ice dilutes the nutes and melts too fast in a recirc. a frozen chiller bottle has greater surface area, melts slower, and cools for a much longer time.

you won't get more than a 1/2 to 1 day out of them, but if you have a few, it's often enough to avoid the cost of a chiller for the price of milk.

if your temps are more extreme, or you grow at the height of summer, you'll probably still get backed into a chiller.

edit: forgot to add - run an enzyme cleaner or mild h202 constant as well. you can withstand higher temps with them.

 

[Melville Hobbes]

Sorry I missed the tag!

 

[StoneOtter]

Veggin

 

[LKABudMan]

ice dilutes the nutes and melts too fast in a recirc. a frozen chiller bottle has greater surface area, melts slower, and cools for a much longer time.

The only time I used ice in the past was during the late flush, when I wasn't worried about dilution.

you won't get more than a 1/2 to 1 day out of them, but if you have a few, it's often enough to avoid the cost of a chiller for the price of milk.

if your temps are more extreme, or you grow at the height of summer, you'll probably still get backed into a chiller.

I'll keep the frozen milk jug in mind, but I'm seriously looking at the chiller.

edit: forgot to add - run an enzyme cleaner or mild h202 constant as well. you can withstand higher temps with them.

I use Hydroguard and some other bennies. I use z7 as my enzymatic cleaner. They've done the job so far.

 

[InTheShed]

I'll keep the frozen milk jug in mind, but I'm seriously looking at the chiller.

Don't stand between a man and his wallet.

 

[LKABudMan]

Don't stand between a man and his wallet.

Freezing and switching milk jugs takes time and energy. At my age I have more money than either of those