At It Again - Grow #2 - AK 47 / Big Bang Hydro Grow in Waterfarm - LED Lighting

[AllSmiles]

Hello everyone and welcome to my 2nd grow and 1st attempt at hydro. I think the biggest thing I learned in that first grow was to just be patient. That first grow was extremely fun and for the most part trouble free thanks to some people here that kept my nerves calm through out the grow. Thank you for that. Wish I could roll up a big fat J for you. I did not top, fim, super crop, lst or anything else. Just a late defoliation with 4 weeks left in flower. This go around will be different.

For this journal I will be growing AK 47 by Vision Seeds and Big Bang from Green House Seeds that I ordered thru Bonza. I highly recommend them by the way. This Grow actually started out with Pineapple Chunk and AK 47 in soil but the road was much more bumpy this go around. I must have misread my ph meter or something because growth just came to a complete stop and the leaves just dried up and wilted away. The new growth would come out unhealthy and the leaves just dropped. Very strange since I was using the same soil as my first grow which went great. The only thing I changed was I bought a $25 ph meter. Think I need to keep an eye on it and calibrate it more often.

So how did this turn into a hydro grow? I was planning a trip in June to Hawaii and the site I was on (Costco) had an indoor gardening section. Just browsed thru it and saw the waterfarm by GH. It had everything bundled in it so I decided to buy one. I was planning on building an ebb n flow system but this looked interesting and required no planning for a hydro newbie. I then googled the waterfarm and searched here and saw that people have had success with it. It was $60 for the entire system plus nutes so I said why not and ordered one.

For this grow I will be doing whatever it takes to get an even canopy in my grow tents without using scrog. I definitely plan on topping or filming though I don't really quite follow how to FIM. There are great threads and pics here on FIM but it still confuses me. Here is a summary of what I got going on.

Tent 1 - 24" x 36" x 72"
G8LED 240 watt all in one light.
G8LED 90 watt all red flower boost.
Big Bang will be growing in this tent.

Tent 2 - 35"x35"x78"
Mars II 700 watt LED
AK 47 will be growing in this tent.

GH Flora Series nutes will be used in both grows.

I purchased a EC meter and didn't realize it is in microsiemens. I believe you convert it to PPM by multiplying the value by .64.

Here is what I get out of the tap.
385 microsiemens or 246 PPM.
8.2 PH

My Goal : 5 ounces each plant.

So there it is. All and any feedback/comments are welcome. I will be posting pics to get everyone caught up on the grow shortly. After that I will try and provide weekly updates.

 

[AllSmiles]

Re: At it again. Grow #2. AK 47/ Big Bang hydro grow in Waterfarm. LED Lighting.

Crap. I was moving image files from my galaxy tablet to the micro sd so I could use my laptop to post the pics. Not sure what I did but the files are gone and are no longer on the tablet either. I lost a lot of good photos of AK 47s surgical procedure from soil to waterfarm.

This is what I have left. Enjoy.

Here is pic of AK 47 and Pineapple Chunk. PC broke soil on 3/9 and AK on 3/24 as they were planted at different times.

PC pic taken 3/27

AK pic taken on 3/27

I lost all my AK shots but here are PC pics. AK was just as bad.
These pics taken on 4/27. As you can see there is practically no growth.

Made a little hydro setup (hope the wife doesn't look for the tupperware)for PC and wrapped around cardboard to block light.

As of today PC looks worse. No more updates on her unless she miraculously survives.

Now on to waterfarm.

Here is a pic AK of her on the first day from removing soil from roots and carefully placing her in the waterfarm. I cleaned the clay pebbles and soaked in ph'd water to 5 for a few hours before setting it up. Cut up some straws to direct the water to the plant. I used 1/2 tsp of each nutrient into the 2 gal res. PPM was 900.
Pic taken on 4/21. As you can see it is in poor shape for being almost a month old.

This is AK on 4/30.

The recovery is amazing. You can't tell from this pic but there is branching already going on in every node. The branch leaves are already bigger then the entire plant when it first went in the waterfarm. I've been managing the ph every day dropping it to 5.9 twice a day (once in morning when I wake up and once when I get home from work) as it raises to 6.3 to 6.5. I've dropped the nutes to 1/4 tsp of each nute per 2 gallon. This is now ~700 PPM. This is including the ppm out of tap. I will post new pics of AK in the next few days. The growth has just been amazing. I purchased another waterfarm after seeing this rapid rate for my other tent. I change the reservoir once a week and just top it with plain ph'd water when it drops before the week is up.

 

[AllSmiles]

Re: At it again. Grow #2. AK 47/ Big Bang hydro grow in Waterfarm. LED Lighting.

Now on to today. Since PC will more then likely die on me I have started Big Bang in the paper towel. I received the new waterfarm yesterday and have cleaned the pebbles. The clay pebbles are now soaking in water ph'd to 5 with an air stone bubbling. This morning it read 6.8. Dropped it back to 5. I'll do this til BB sprouts and i tuck her in the waterfarm. Hopefully this few days of soaking will help with the fluctuating ph I've been experiencing.

Put her on top of Mars Light to keep her warm.

That's it for the first post. Hope you guys enjoyed it. I will try to keep this journal going thru harvest.

 

[CareStaker]

Re: At it again. Grow #2. AK 47/ Big Bang hydro grow in Waterfarm. LED Lighting.

Sweet!!! Front row!

 

[AllSmiles]

Re: At it again. Grow #2. AK 47/ Big Bang hydro grow in Waterfarm. LED Lighting.

Aw yeah! Welcome my friend.

 

[Coffeeholic]

Re: At it again. Grow #2. AK 47/ Big Bang hydro grow in Waterfarm. LED Lighting.

Nice. Looking forward to follow along

 

[AllSmiles]

Re: At it again. Grow #2. AK 47/ Big Bang hydro grow in Waterfarm. LED Lighting.

Glad to have you aboard Coffeeholic.

 

[AllSmiles]

Re: At it again. Grow #2. AK 47/ Big Bang hydro grow in Waterfarm. LED Lighting.

Thursday is my update day so here we go.

Pineapple Chunk is showing signs of life. She might actually survive. The tupperware DWC gadget I built might work out. I'll probably cut a couple more holes on the lid and use this as a cloner. Here is PC hanging tough.

This pic taken on 5/6. The top leaves are actually reaching for light. Some new growth happening at the old nodes where the fan leaves just died away.

Cleaned up all the dead fan leaves here.

This is her 2 days later (today)

AK continues to do great. Here is her pic updates:
These taken on 5/5 (3 days ago)

My first Top ever.

This pic taken today.

Last night I was doing some LST on AK. I braced the lower part of the stem so it wouldn't get uprooted. When I bent her I think I ended up super cropping her by accident before her lowest node. Her leaves are drooping this morning. She is leaning over also and is very loose at the bend spot. There is no rip or signs of tear anywhere so I hope she turns out ok.

As for Big Bang she had a tiny tap root last night so I put the seed in a little piece of Rockwool and tucked her in the clay pebbles. Have never done this before so hope it works out.

The extra few days of soaking the clay pebbles in ph'd water did not help with the ph fluctuation. I continue to have to adjust the ph daily. Must have something to do with the amount of pebbles it takes to fill the waterfarm. My tupperware DWC i only have to adjust every few days.

That's it for this week.

 

[CareStaker]

Re: At it again. Grow #2. AK 47/ Big Bang hydro grow in Waterfarm. LED Lighting.

Way to hang in there with the PC, and Nice topping on that AK! For the AK stem, I would add support to keep her straight, as she's still very young, but I would think she'd be fine either way. Looking good AS!

 

[AllSmiles]

Thanks CS! I just did a reservoir change today. She leans to one side naturally. I found it tough trying to support her with the clay pebbles. I don't want to stick anything in the pebbles so not to damage any roots in the process. Think I'm just going to be real careful not to move her around til the next rez change. Hopefully by then she will be all healed up.

 

[stealthgrow]

Looking good Smiles. I can't believe how high your PPM's are at that stage of growth, but they are looking good.
Be careful of nutrient burn.

 

[AllSmiles]

Looking good Smiles. I can't believe how high your PPM's are at that stage of growth, but they are looking good.
Be careful of nutrient burn.

Hey Stealth. Thanks for stopping by. My PPMs are high. GH recommends 10/7.5/5 ml of each nutrient at this stage per gal of water. I'm only doing half that dosage and for 2 gallons of water. So that's like 1/4 the dosage and still my PPMs are high. I'll keep a close look for any signs of nutrient burn.

 

[CareStaker]

Cardboard + water = home for mold. I don't have any this run, thankfully. I'll take bugs over mold. Looking good man, I hope your enjoying your new farm!

 

[AllSmiles]

I hear ya CS. I was very careful not to let that cardboard wrapper get wet. The tupperware is sealed pretty tight. This is just temporary until I get time to paint it.

 

[AllSmiles]

Weekly update time.

Big Bang has not sprouted yet. I thought I saw a tiny tap root before putting into rockwool and into waterfarm but was mistaken. I have put the bean back in a paper towel and on heat mat. BB will become a soil grow if it turns out.

AK has survived my accidental super cropping at the base of the stem. She was slow to grow for a few days but is starting to pick up the last couple days. She is no longer wobbly and standing strong. I defoliated all her big fan leaves a few days ago as they were like a piece of cloth just smothering the underneath growth with no life to them. I plan on defoliating as needed through out the grow any way. She is fine now. Here are pics just taken moments ago. She is super branchy and bushy.

Here you can see the knot formed at the base where she was bent.

It is back on with PC! She is starting to take off in the tupperware bubbler I created for her. I've transplanted her to the other waterfarm. Super stoked about this. I made some adjustments to this waterfarm. I made the drip ring smaller and also shorter since it seems to splash water out when it sits too high. I have to use foil on AK just to keep the water from splashing/spraying out of the waterfarm.

AK and PC will veg and flower side by side.

So I'm in a little predicament. I'm going to be out of town 4 weeks from today. I'm going to setup a tub with fresh nutes and a pump to feed the girls. Think I'm ok there. I'm wondering if I should flower these girls next week that way I will be here to train them during the 3 weeks of major growth. Yield is not a concern for me. Or should I just veg them until I get back. I'm thinking this route could end up having them out grow the 35"x35" tent. I would probably need to build a scrog net also. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I'm open to any suggestions.

 

[CareStaker]

Weekly update time.

So much going on, they are looking great! Love the root shot. Maybe Veg them to around ~12" or two more weeks, and then flower?
You would be able to get them transitioned to bloom nutes, and get them stable, before you went away. They'd be in the stretch when you were away, just fill the res, and go. Come back to hugeness.

 

[AllSmiles]

So much going on, they are looking great! Love the root shot. Maybe Veg them to around ~12" or two more weeks, and then flower?
You would be able to get them transitioned to bloom nutes, and get them stable, before you went away. They'd be in the stretch when you were away, just fill the res, and go. Come back to hugeness.

That sounds like a plan my man. I'm going to flower 2 weeks before I leave. That way when I get back they'll be half way thru flower period when I get back. Your a genius CS. My supply is running low so that's perfect.

One thing I am worried about is ph since I have to adjust daily. I'm thinking set the ph on the fresh nutes to 5 and hopefully it'll balance it out to around 6 for the 10 days I'm gone. I may need to get that setup this coming weekend and start testing it out and getting the pump dialed in as far as how much to pump in a day and what the ph will be. That way I can start testing it out and have a little peace of mind while I'm gone.

 

[CareStaker]

That sounds like a plan my man. I'm going to flower 2 weeks before I leave. That way when I get back they'll be half way thru flower period when I get back. Your a genius CS. My supply is running low so that's perfect.

One thing I am worried about is ph since I have to adjust daily. I'm thinking set the ph on the fresh nutes to 5 and hopefully it'll balance it out to around 6 for the 10 days I'm gone. I may need to get that setup this coming weekend and start testing it out and getting the pump dialed in as far as how much to pump in a day and what the ph will be. That way I can start testing it out and have a little peace of mind while I'm gone.

Hope you get it worked out AS! I would say that they would be eating just a bit more, then, than they would be, now...if that makes sense. I don't think it'll be that critical, but I don't hydro...so I'd thought I throw it out there. If you need help, let me know - I'll ask a hydro guy to come ovah! BB, looks interesting, I'm excited to see her grow best to you and your garden AS!

 

[AllSmiles]

Weekly update time.

AKs growth has been really slow. The fan leaves don't seem to be getting any bigger and all the branching hasn't really shot out yet. She still looks very healthy and reaching for light though. I did a defoliation on her as the leaves haven't grown. She's only 3.5" tall.

Here she is after defol. The knot at the base of stem has gotten bigger. I think that has slowed down her growth tremendously. Hopefully she'll forgive me soon, get all healed up, and start growing vigorously again.

AS for PC. She is taking off. Amazing growth just after 1 week. She is getting very bushy also. She is now 4.5".

She is already showing preflowers and confirmed she is actually a girl. I shouldn't say already. She actually broke soil on 3/9 but was just dying away for over 1 month til I went hydro with her.

My first FIM ever done on PC. Just pinched off the new growth up top. Will be interesting to see the progress on this. I'm not going to top PC.

I'm pretty dialed in with the waterfarms now. The PPM I keep at around ~650 (1/4 strenght nutes). Temps always between 66 and 77. PH always 5.8 to 6.3. I now leave the pump running 24/7. The leaves were always drooping just a bit so I thought maybe I was over watering them. I changed the pump to run for 30 minutes every 1.5 hours and they drooped even more. Turns out that drooping was from under watering. During lights off they were running with my exhaust fan which was on/off every 30 minutes. I now leave on 24/7 and they are loving it and reaching for the lights.

That's it for this week. Take care.

 

[AllSmiles]

The weeks sure do fly by. Its time for an update.

Pineapple Chunk continues to grow vigorously. She is now 6.5" tall but has more than doubled in circumference. She is about as wide as the bucket. I've started some LST on her. She puts out a strong cheese/skunk smell thru her leaves. If you rub her stem you get a nice pineapple smell with hints of skunk and cheese. Great smelling plant.

AK 47 is showing noticeable growth and started to really lean to one side because of the new weight on that knot. I had to find a way to support her and have done so with some Soft Wire Tie.

These pics from 2 days ago.

AK 47

PC

I said in my original post of this journal that I will not SCROG. I have since changed my mind and built a scrog net. I wanted a net that was easily adjustable on the fly so here is what I came up with.

The net itself cost just under $9 to make (Home Depot). I decided to use 1" Spring Clamps ($4 at Walmart for all 4) and to just lay the net on top of the clamps. The 1" clamps were a little too big and slippery so I bought a rubber Garage Door Bottom for $10 and wrapped it around the pole and put the spring clamp around that. It grips very tightly and no movement at all on the clamps. To prevent the net from moving around on top of the clamps I just tied it to the poles with string. So total cost was $23. Here are pics taken this morning. I pinched off 6 of the largest fan leaves off of PC. They were over 5" in diameter and just blocking light from the underneath growth.

AK

AK has now confirmed she is a girl with preflower.

PC

Group photo

Having my first grow have 4 out of 6 being male I gotta say that it is nice growing feminized seeds. No worries about male. Gotta love science and the genius (or geniuses) who discovered this whole colloidal silver thing and making fem seeds.

I normally do a reservoir change on Thursdays but will be skipping it this week. I'm going to flip the girls on Sunday to allow for time to recover from any possible stress of removing 6 fan leaves. I'm going on a 10 day vacation in 2.5 weeks and want to keep the girls below the net for that first 2 weeks of flower before heading out.

My Big Bang seed never sprouted. I put the seed in my outdoor vegetable garden. If she ever decides to peak out I'll transfer her to indoor.

That wraps up another week. Time to go build a reservoir pump to pump nutes into the waterfarm while I'm on Vacation.