McBudz - Twilight, Great White Shark, Master Kush - 2009

[ThatBoyDean]

What'sup McBudz

I ain't got thru all of your journal yet but looks like i got here just in time to see the goodness.

Good luck! i'll be watching.

[McBudz]

Originally Posted by pan4gold49

Mcbudz you can count on my help for your hydro transion. Have you decided what nute system you'll be using yet.?

Pan4

hey pan thanks man. I am going to be running GH 3 series. I got a gallon of each I figure it will be just about enough for 1 grow.. we'll see it it goes with that. I acquired these through stix's recommendations a while back.

I have a small ebb and grow I made from a converted 10 gallon DWC table/container I added a flood and drain kit to it and will be using a 20 or 25 gallon botanicaire res underneath in my closet. I forget the size now.. lol. Paid like 100 for it.. wtf? I could have spent 9.99 on a rubbermaid not sure where my brain is at sometimes lol. So when I get back from camping this weekend I am going to convert / finish up my closet and drill holes through the bench for the flood and drain fittings to fit. and will just keep the res underneath, naturally. It will still leave me room to keep a mom or 2 off to the side in dirt.

I figure I will clone for a week or 2, veg for 1-3 weeks in the closet ebb/flow then put into flower in the tent. The tent will always be 12/12 I do not intend on vegging there just to keep short harvest times and don't need to be running 2-3 600's for an additional 6-12 hours a day. Ideally I'd like to pick up another controller and keep 2 x 6-8 pot 4 week offset bloom cycles. Would like to be harvesting about once a month. I'll just pickup a trash barrel for my second res. But this is if/when I can nail down hydro. I'm sure with everyones help here in that area It will be a piece of cake

[McBudz]

Originally Posted by mellowman164

Honestly I disagree you can get a digital soil ph and fertility (ppm) meter for 50 bucks which has worked very well for me. I also like soil because it is a lot more stable your ph won't change much at all especially if you use fox farms and ph adjusted water. I think that organic soil grows also produce a more tasty rich smoke the good thing about hydro is plants grow extremely quick in the veg state and produce much higher yields. I used hydro and I didn't like how the water seems to be so tempremental adding ph up and down once a day and changing the res once a week. That's just my experience though.

Yes once you get the feel for what your soil is in respect to acidity etc it does become quick and easy to mix your nutes, adjust and water. I just dont like that in full on bloom I need to be in there every 3 days or so watering/feeding. They really suck that soil dry once they get going and thats with 5 gallon buckets. I haven't measured the pH runoff of my soil grows in months thats how well I can read my soil grows now. I do measure whats going in every time though. Also dirt disposal, soil cost etc all becomes a burden especially as you grow becomes larger. except I am beginning to think that the "grow"cery bill for nutes with hydro kills the savings on dirt. You use a hell of a lot more nutes in hydro than with soil. So that is a considerable factor to deal with too.

My hopes with hydro is that if I maintain a 5 gal + per plant res I will have to make minimal compensations throughout the week and could safely go away for 5 days or so and not really have to worry. I travel for work occasionally and with the ex moving out soon I need to worry about the daily up keep. She handles simple waterings on my extended trips.

[pan4gold49]

Mcbudz you have to have one big res for the stability. I run smaller res but more of them so I can get the usage of the nutes. But my method taks a lot of time I could go never away that long.

Pan4

[tgadfgadgf]

Mcbud when you do your transititon from dirt to hydro are you going to lst your plants in the ebb and flow?

[mellowman164]

I think every 3 days isnt as bad as adgusting your res 2 times a day and weekly emptying and changing the res water.

[McBudz]

Originally Posted by playafly

Mcbud when you do your transititon from dirt to hydro are you going to lst your plants in the ebb and flow?

Playa.. I will ALWAYS lst I just think you cant beat the results.

[McBudz]

Originally Posted by mellowman164

I think every 3 days isnt as bad as adgusting your res 2 times a day and weekly emptying and changing the res water.

Weill I'm hoping with 5 - 10 gallons per plant I would not have to adjust much. But we will see when things are in full swing.

To start I will have the 55 gal res doing 6 sites. Thats a lot of solution for 6 plants so it should be pretty stable.

[Propa Gator]

Rig RO topping float valve for minimum. Float don't need to breathe to work. Reduce ppm vooden hoite, for just a little trip or two? Ya, ya the pH. Ve shall see about dat. Such a big keg for so few drinkers.

[McBudz]

Yes its a lot of water for now but if all works out I will have 55 gallons for 12...maybe 15

Can anyone point me to a horizontally mounted float valve I could install in the lid of my reservoir that accepts 3/8 inch RO line from my merlin GP? I'd rather install through the lid than tap one in the barrel.


Thanks!

[McBudz]

These gals really stretched out over the last 3 days I've been gone.

Here is day 15.








My new little ebb/flow setup for vegging.. they came from the cloner looking like this.. Today is the first day in the ebb/flow.

I have it set to 10m on/ 3h off what do you all think about that for a schedule?



My res, I ended up putting it here instead of under the closet as it gives me more access. The tubing still runs downhill enough that draining is not an issue. It is actually only a 15 gallon.. I bought a 20 gallon I'm sure so I think the local hydro store f'd me... as long as it does its job for weeks tops and doesnt flux too much I'm ok with it. If not I'm getting a rubbermaid bin



The EZ access feeding tube hehe. Every shot gets chased with some water to flush the line.

[McBudz]

^ Hmm maybe ill set mine to 10hr on 1h off and see how they respond. They are a little hurtin looking right now from the whole cloning process so hopefully I can get some quality green growth coming from these babies.

Forgot to add..

Am running B.C Grow, B.C Boost 2 to 1 for about 1.080 EC / 540ppm.

Too high too low, about right for these little things?

I have tons of samples of nutes so I'm using them in this smaller ebb setup, why waste em right?

Also added Tetra Algae Control at 1 drop per gallon.

[Propa Gator]

Ebb&flo should flo till full then shut off to ebb. More cycles should be more better. Drying between drenches is the way you allow air to penetrate dirt, but hydroton works well wet. After these grads from the cloner have their pout, they'll reroute roots and be happy. I like your nute numbers.

[Harry Red]

Oh yeah!! Those ladies are looking great McBudz. You're gonna have some towers of power in that forest.



Harry

[McBudz]

Thanks Guys!

Day 23:

Here are some shots of my clones in the ebb and flow.. and the GWS moms.

I must have screwed up because they are doing so well! lol

Just LST's so they are looking out of sorts. Leaf damage is from the cloning process. All has been healthy since going into the e/f.









The ladies at day 23: and these things were only 16 inches or so 23 days ago.. now some are looking eye to eye with me. Crazy!