Alkhemist - Top Feed Drip Hydroponics - Big Bud x Super Skunk #1

Alkhemist

Well-Known Member
greets all!

this is my first hydro journal on 420mag and my first time using a top feeding drip system.

-i'm using 4x 15litre pots
-hydroton clay balls for grow medium
-30 litrewater/nutes(rain water)
-growzilla a and b for vegetative stage(with nitrozome for added N and trace element boost)
-budzilla a and b for flowering stage(with head master to boost budding)
-i use a bluelab digital ec pen and liquid ph testing kit
-single flexi air stone and single 280w water pump
-600w hps light with medium mat-white reflector
-single oscillating fan for air movement
-water temp is kept at around 21degrees celcius
-ph raise and ph down on hand to adjust ph
clean with a little hydrogen peroxide every week or so to prevent algae build up and bug build up.

at present my feeding schedule is every 3 hours for 20 minutes
ec reading is at present around 1.7-1.8 ec with a ph kept at around 6

im at around week 3 in hydro but i used 4 cuttings that were started in soil, i washed the root system thoroughly with cold water- also aiding in anaesthetising the roots until i transplanted them to hydroton. the first week in hydroton showed signs of older leaves suffering browning of the tips but after i brought the ec slightly down to 1.5 ec for the first week they recovered well.

i tip(cropped) them after week 1 and they have recovered from that and have really started to come away as nice little multi-leader plants.

please excuse my early photos as my digi cam was on loan at that time.

first photos are week 1 of hydro(but they were 3 weeks from being cut from mother plant previous to being transplanted to hydro)pls excuse the quality/interference of first set of pics

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and these from week 3: recovered from being transplanted and cropped(main leader only)

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here you can see the chain links i use to weight branches down instead of tying down, these links are used in pipfruit horticulture to hold reflective mulch down(with bungies attached to trees) between rows of trees etc

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as you can see recovered well and starting to come away from being cropped 2 weeks ago

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digi bluelab ec pen(also gives reads in ppm 500 and ppm 700/faren or celcius, ec faren or celcius and cf)

the room temp is approx 25 celcius and humidity is around 40%.
i'll continue vegetative stage at 24hours on until approx 4 foot tall then re-evaluate to see whether or not i'll turn them over to 12/12.

thanks everybody! :Namaste:
 
:thanks: 2j's! can hardly wait to see what this system can do for my flowers :cheesygrinsmiley: i really want to try to cut my normal 12-14 week cycle down to 8-10 weeks without losing any weight.. *fingers crossed*
 
I'll be watching, good luck. what breader are your seeds from?

howsit bro!
i ordered these seeds from the global seedbank(=amsterdamseeds.com) about 2 years ago BUT i dont know much more about this strain beyond that unfortunately, it was a big bud x with super skunk #1(fems), ive grown both these flavours in the past and thought i'd like the mix... i was after something that produced a nice sweet flav but yielded really well... my next lot will be a nyc diesel or atleast a cross of it.. and a g13 or g13 cross. i LOVE that flav so damned much :circle-of-love: ive generally stuck with classics in the past(ak47's, white widow's, white rhino's, kush's, bubblegum's and super skunks) and havent really ventured out into more flavoursome strains yet... so im amped to get a variety of heavy yielders in but with great flavs..
 
all of these cuttings were taken from flowering plants... an interesting thing you will notice is that cuttings like this will throw out 1-2 finger leaves(anyone who has taken clones from a flowering plant will know this)... then take off with 5 finger leaves after a while vegging. the leaves on these plants are larger than normal and they tend to 'shrub' out more than a normal cutting taken from a vegging plant. the cuttings taken from the mother are quite different in appearance to these... check out my other journal using soil to compare the difference of cuttings taken from the same strain
 
officially turned them over to 12/12 last night! im interested to see how long it takes for them to hit that final amber-gold :D
im hoping 8 weeks max, if not 6 weeks...
 
yeah i know what ya mean... to me they're classics.. super skunks #1-4, white widows, rhinos, big buds, durban poisons and ak's.. all strains ive spent alot of time with over the last 10 years- great classic flavs that yield well. ive stuck with this strain for 2 years now as its a faithful harvest that yields good weight. my last grow was 5 plants(6-7.5 foot) that yielded 72 ounces so i was happy enough. this system doesnt seem to be pushing it upwards as much as i hoped so ive decided to just turn it and see what it yields, presently at 1.5 foot, im very interested to see what it can do

at end of 4 weeks:
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and 1.5 days into flowering cycle
 
ok, ive trimmed off a few shade leaves here n there to open up budding sites, ive changed res and started with 150mils of bud master A and B per 30 litres of water(5mils per litre of water) ph is at 6, water temp is kept at around 22-24max, room temp is a constant 22 celcius, low humidity of 40% ec pen reads 1.8ec (18cf)

update pics of week 5, 1 week into flowering:
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im not sure if it was because i took these plants from soil and were taken from flowering plants(early stages) but they hit around 1.5foot and didnt seem to want to grow any taller.. although they bushed out quite well, the main stalk is strong and quite thick.. i'll have to compare with my next round to see if i can get them to the 5-6 foot im after...
 
8th day of flowering, res changed after 8 days of first budzilla A and B nute mix. 170mils A and B, ec reading 2.0, water temp at 23celcius. have increased feeding to every 3 hours for 30 mins.. increased x10 mins from previous feeding sched. of every 3 hour for 20mins, root system is looking strong and healthy.
SAM 0020 - YouTube
 
they're drinking ALOT now.. upto 15 litres every 2-3 days so having to top up half the res every 2-3 days.. ec has been dropping to 1.5 after a week... so im thinking of doing weekly res changes from now on out to harvest. stalks looking thicker and thicker everyday... being my first top feed system im just letting these cuttings do their own thing and will look at training and pruning more with next hydro grow to stimulate taller growth

also figured out it was my oscillating fans that were causing interference with my digicam so sorted that out now :cheesygrinsmiley:

Peace y'all
 
hey there the plants look great. Do the pots drain thru those hoses and back into a res. or is it drain to waste? I can't tell if your growing in bubblers or are they connected like a RDWC? Sorry

hey there bro!

thanks! they definitely arent responding as i thought they would! but still, they are growing well enough :cheesygrinsmiley: this is the same strain as i am currently doing in another grow room but in my own super soil mix.. and they are responding quite a bit more vigorously.

its a top drip feed system(although i have another 'top feeder res' with ball cock valve etc which is there if i want to make it a run to waste system), it drains back to the reservoir through the larger irrigation tubing you can see there coming out of the bottom of the pots, the smaller tubing you can see going up to the top of the pots drips every 3 hours for 30 mins now.

thanks for stopping by :cheesygrinsmiley:
:Namaste:
 
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