1 Plant DIY Recirculating DWC Test

[Mr Smith]

Hi Stevehman, I could run cool tubes but I only have one plus thats alot of duct tubing to deal with plus more unneccary equipment. I may have my 85f times but they are short times and the dark period is a cool 70f for 12hrs. The resevoir temp in the dwc is a constant 68f to 70f because of the chiller and the ebb is 72f to 74f when I check my readings 5.9ph,720ppm, 68ftemp for dwc. 5.8ph,730ppm, 74ftemp for ebb. I have no worries about temp issues.

Sup Propa Gator, The PE is a very good plant and a very good smoke. She can be controled but she is abit stretchy by nature. Good luck and send me a link when you start that grow.

Hi big budda, broadsiding the plant with light provides height control and promotes bushiness. The plant uses gravity to center the plant but the plant always tries to grow towards the light. I have watched other people grow monster plants in similar configurations and I have some experience with this grow style. If everything stays in the good zone I expect to see some really nice plants with high weight counts.
Thanks for the props, I try to keep the journals interesting and diy is fun.

These are pics of today. Day 12 in flower.
group

sage dwc

 

[big budda]

Yeh i see what you mean about the bushiness.
Never tried that style myself.
Mite give it a go a little later down the road.
nice pics by the way.

 

[Mr Smith]

On day 14 in flower I added 30ml dynagro bloom t each res. DWC is now at 830ppm and ebb is at 810ppm. There is about 22 gallons of water in each system. PH is holding steady at 5.8 in each system.

 

[Propa Gator]

Silica but no cal-mag. I call attention to this hoping to alert more growers who may miss the significance. Your source water has none, RO system is efficient. Rain water is also pure, but Green Party approved. Great yields from 'satalite' grow, and trees here to stretch the envelope. Silica, no cal-mag. Apparantly, Dyna-Gro nutes provide all that healthy plants need.
I had lost faith in Pro-Tekt, but my recent results weren't so hot, so... easy to blame the nutes

Thanks again Mr Smith, your numbers are like a protocol for serious blooming,
without solid media issues ie: bringing in new or throwing out old.

 

[Mr Smith]

Silica but no cal-mag. I call attention to this hoping to alert more growers who may miss the significance. Your source water has none, RO system is efficient. Rain water is also pure, but Green Party approved. Great yields from 'satalite' grow, and trees here to stretch the envelope. Silica, no cal-mag. Apparantly, Dyna-Gro nutes provide all that healthy plants need.
I had lost faith in Pro-Tekt, but my recent results weren't so hot, so... easy to blame the nutes

Thanks again Mr Smith, your numbers are like a protocol for serious blooming,
without solid media issues ie: bringing in new or throwing out old.

Your knowledge about nutes is amazing. I have been running rodi for a little over a year and was warned by my hydro guy about cal/mag issues so I bought a gal of botanical cal/mag and used the stuff very sparingly (it raises ppm). The dynagro nutes are fairly new to me but I have done 3 grows with it and never raised amounts because the belladonna was a light feeder and I didn't want high nute levels play in any factors with my last test grow.
This grow I am more comfortable playing with nute strengh and was prepping the plants for a stronger nute mix. I decided not to use the cal/mag this round and use the ppm to dial in the nutes. I'll use the cal/mag next grow after I know what I can do with dynagro nutes. The foxfarm micrbrew and root drench are just bacterial cultures and the sledgehammer works with them. I heard good things about them. The protek proved its worth during the time I was running clone grows but its not a miracle cure. It protected some clones I was rooting when I forgot to turn the pump back on after a root check. I had 2 cloners on the same powerstrip. One had protek, the other didn't and the pump was off for 24 hours on the 7th or 8th day rooting. The plants in the cloner that had protek grew faster and stronger and the plants that were in the cloner with no protek had slow growth for 2 to 3 weeks.

 

[Mr Smith]

Pics are of day 16 in flower.

A group shot, front light was raised for pic.

Top angle shot.

Buds on the left pineapple express, hard to believe they are only 16 days in flower but thats the power of humboltcounty's bushmaster. Slows vertical growth to a claw and puts plants straight into flower saving at least a week.

buds from the sage in the dwc.

sage

The pe on the right.

The sage in the center.

The pe on the left.

The pe in the back.

Another group shot with all lights in there normal positions. I raised the bulbs 4 inches since I put the plants in the machines.

 

[Mr Smith]

7/31 day 16 in flower.
Flushed with foxfarm's sledge at 2.5ml per gal for 1.5 hours.
nute change
DWC 20gal rodi water dynagro bloom at 12ml per gallon, protek at 2.5 per gallon and foxfarm microbebrew at 2.5 per gallon.
5 to 10 ml extra bloom was accidentally added because of stonermoment. This put me at 928ppm.
EBB 25 gal rodi water dynagro bloom at 11ml per gallon, protek at 2.5 per gallon and foxfarm microbebrew at 2.5 per gallon. The ebbngro is at 823ppm
Set ph at 5.7ph for both systems.
Everything looks good so far,...???

 

[Propa Gator]

Hydroponic nutrient solution research has not improved nor changed significantly in 80 years, but companies claim exclusive insight that they prove with un-backed claims. This doesn't bother me, but they should tell all that is in there including Ca and Mg. Water hardness is from Ca & Mg, usually in the same ratio that plants enjoy. If they say nothing on the bottle about Ca, is there any in there? Must be, 1.2 g/w is a lot.

Hoagland solution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia is a benchmark hydro mix, from which to vary from based on experience. Big commercial production nurseries custom blend from dry chemicals, to hit their fertigation numbers.

 

[SteveHman]

Hydroponic nutrient solution research has not improved nor changed significantly in 80 years, but companies claim exclusive insight that they prove with un-backed claims. This doesn't bother me, but they should tell all that is in there including Ca and Mg. Water hardness is from Ca & Mg, usually in the same ratio that plants enjoy. If they say nothing on the bottle about Ca, is there any in there? Must be, 1.2 g/w is a lot.

Hoagland solution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia is a benchmark hydro mix, from which to vary from based on experience. Big commercial production nurseries custom blend from dry chemicals, to hit their fertigation numbers.

Propa Gator,
I just read through the article and then did some more research on the topic. It doesn't seem like much has changed/improved over the initial recipe. It's almost hard to believe that this is 80 year old information (but then again the microwave oven has been around almost as long).

I think your assessment of the nutrient companies is spot on. Take the basic recipe, add a few "proprietary ingredients" and slap a fancy label on it, then sell it for 1000% markup.

Wish I had the time and space to do my own nutes, but I will have to buy my nutes for the time being. I'd like to give Blue Planet a try. I'll be entering Plant and Nug of the month trying to win some.

 

[Propa Gator]

Steve: the good stuff is available in 25# sacks, and preferably by the pallet.
I can't do it that way neither, so... Door #2 is best, copy success:

7/31 day 16 in flower.
Flushed with foxfarm's sledge at 2.5ml per gal for 1.5 hours.
nute change
DWC 20gal rodi water dynagro bloom at 12ml per gallon, protek at 2.5 per gallon and foxfarm microbebrew at 2.5 per gallon.
5 to 10 ml extra bloom was accidentally added because of stonermoment. This put me at 928ppm.
EBB 25 gal rodi water dynagro bloom at 11ml per gallon, protek at 2.5 per gallon and foxfarm microbebrew at 2.5 per gallon. The ebbngro is at 823ppm
Set ph at 5.7ph for both systems.
Everything looks good so far,...???

You grew vert sog in water Mr Smith, now you're raising trees.
Everything you show me, I think: 'I want some of these!'

 

[Mr Smith]

Today is day 17 in flower.
DWC is at 924ppm and 5.7ph
EBB is at 840ppm and 5.8ph
Things look good.
Smoked alot of belladonna and forgot about its creeper quality and I you can guess the rest.
Hey Prop, let me tell ya a lil secret well maybe not a secret since I am posting it lol. There was over 2 ounces of popcorn I did not count in the last grow and the bella was super dry when I weighed her. She rehyfrated nicely and there was a 2 gram increase per ounce. Yeah I put a ounce of superdry in 2 jars, rehydrated and got a good increase. So technically it might be close to 1.3budperwatt but went with the low number because of my laziness in harvesting. Onlything I did good was wrote down the numbers when I weighed the manicured product. I stretched the time with the bella for way to long. 85plants one bulb, sounds crazy lol.

 

[Propa Gator]

2 oz popcorn is a lot of home stash
Your overall yield was great, and not even optimized for weight; impressive.

 

[Cmitch55]

those roots are growing like crazy! keep up the good work

 

[Mr Smith]

Cmitch55, Thank you.That might have been the last root shot till harvest. The plant has become big and I nolonger wish too disturb her.

On the 19th day of bloom. Overall checks.
8/3/11 11:30pm
dwc 943ppm 5.78ph 67f res temp
ebb 863ppm 5.87ph 75f res temp
room temp 84f max 73f min
humidity 63% max 45% low
When temp check was done all 3 lights were on 82f temp 50% humidity

I can see how much the plants are changing daily but its very easy to see a 3 day difference from the last pics.

Group shot. You can't see the back PE.

Another group shot. You still can't see the back PE.

This is the Sage. She's a 3foot by 3foot square (9 square feet). Measuring from the medium to the tallest bud site she is 31.5 inches tall.

This is the PE on the left. Its not a good pic of her, she's 31inches by 23inches wide and 29 inches tall.

This is the PE on the right. She's 32inches by 24 inches wide 24 inches tall.

The PE in the back is 30inches by 27inches wide and 27.5 inches tall. The pic turned out terrible so here's another group shot. You can just barely see the PE in the back.
Out of the three she's the biggest Pineapple Express.

Lights on. The bulb that is closest just turned on.

This grow has got me excited. For the most part things are running smoothly. The sage is really big compared to the other plants but the pineapple buds are bigger and prettier.

 

[Mr Smith]

Just had a power outage. Lasted 45 minutes. I am glad it wasn't for very long. Had to reset the light timers. What a bitch.

 

[DutchDude]

Just had a power outage. Lasted 45 minutes. I am glad it wasn't for very long. Had to reset the light timers. What a bitch.

I just had one as well this morning. Must have been something in the air (or you live around the corner )

I made a $49 investment in a PC backup power supply. The pump in the clone system kept working without a problem, so the only 'problem' for me was the lack of light.

No damage for you I hope?

 

[basementdwell]

yea been down that road b4 probably 5 times in my 3 grows. I ve got back up now. Deep cycle batt and a inverter for temp use will run fans pumps and the basics. up too 600watts so no hps with it. for longer outages I use my generator which will run the whole op for 24 hrs per 3 gal tank + ac/heat, and inside lighting for my house. Thank god i ve been home to reset the timers but since i ve switched to the timer strips with bat back up

 

[Propa Gator]

Just had a power outage. Lasted 45 minutes. I am glad it wasn't for very long. Had to reset the light timers. What a bitch.

I don't mind the missing light for a few
but my CMHs don't seem to restart unless they cool for at least 15 minutes.
Good thing I'm always home when the lights are on.

 

[Mr Smith]

One of my timers has a battery backup but I need to change the battery, the other 2 are heavyduty anologs. Ebbs and dwc can go long periods without power so I don't have a backup power supply and I would like to have a generator but I don't see me getting one. I was lucky to be there when the power went out or a day or two might have went by before I might of found the problem. I am at the mercy of my electric company and I check the timers everytime I visit the garden. I try to make sure all lights are operational and work when lighting is required.

Here are some pics at day 22 in flower.
group.

Sage in the middle

Closer look at the Sage.

Pineapple Express on the left.

Pineapple Express on the right.

The pineapple Express behind the sage.

Another group

 

[Mr Smith]

Yesterday, day 24 in flower.
Waterchange.
Dynagro bloom at 12ml per gallon.
Dynagro protek at 2.5ml per gallon.
Foxfarm kangaroots rootdrench at 2.5ml per gallon.
Actual amount used.
DWC 23gal rodiwater 275ml DNB, 75ml PTK, 75ml Rootdrench. Reset to 1000ppm, 5.8ph.
EBB 25gal rodiwater 275ml DNB, 75ml PTK, 75ml Rootdrench. Reset to 900ppm, 5.8ph.

Average room temp and humidity, 85f max 72f min 67%high 45%low
Everything looks good.

Updates may be coming in slower, going to be busy for weeks til end of year but it was nice to post freely and read a number of journals this weekend.
Thank you, wish I had more freetime like that.
Sowed 2 (T.H.Seeds)Darkstar seeds. Put them right to rapid rooters, covered them and set under flourotubes. DarkStar Project starts when seed pops from medium. It will be a start from seed end with bud story so it will be one of those long journals. I hope its more popular than this journal.