Budget Grow DWC Jack Herer Photo

[Sativa1970]

Keep waiting for the best time to start a grow journal. Best time is never going to happen so here we go.
I have two goals with this journal.

1) I can't count how many people tell me they would like to grow but just can't afford it. From walls to seeds I have maybe $300 invested in my 65 square foot grow room.I don't have giant dense buds but I measure harvest by the gallon, and haven't found anyone who needs a third hit.

2) I have been growing for 40 years but most of that was outdoor stealth dirt. Last 2 years been growing DWC indoors but primarily sativas. This is my first Jack Herer grow so any advice is welcome and appreciated.

Setup;
pacific seeds Jack herer photo feminized ( don't recommend using pacific seeds. only 50% germination rate)
Germinated in rockwood
5 gallon bucket res. 6 inch basket with hydrotone
30 gallon aquarium air pump 4 inch bar air stone
Dyna grow vegetative nutes. 450 ppm/ 905ec for scale but I have always used PPM
Carbon micro water filtered on tap 125 ppm average
Use PH drop tester to hold 6.0,,,ish
Veg closet lights, 4 t8 4 foot fluorescent bulbs. 3 at 5000k,1 at 3200k and 2 5000 lumen LED 4500k side lights.
Flower under 9 100wat equivalent LED 2800k
79 deg F day and 76 deg F at night. 52RH
16/8 light cycle

Lights are normally 4 inches from the tops but lifted for the pics.Lambsbread clone is already moved to the flowering room so Jack is sharing the closet with laughing buddha clone for now.

 

[Bill284]

Keep waiting for the best time to start a grow journal. Best time is never going to happen so here we go.
I have two goals with this journal.

1) I can't count how many people tell me they would like to grow but just can't afford it. From walls to seeds I have maybe $300 invested in my 65 square foot grow room.I don't have giant dense buds but I measure harvest by the gallon, and haven't found anyone who needs a third hit.

2) I have been growing for 40 years but most of that was outdoor stealth dirt. Last 2 years been growing DWC indoors but primarily sativas. This is my first Jack Herer grow so any advice is welcome and appreciated.

Setup;
pacific seeds Jack herer photo feminized ( don't recommend using pacific seeds. only 50% germination rate)
Germinated in rockwood
5 gallon bucket res. 6 inch basket with hydrotone
30 gallon aquarium air pump 4 inch bar air stone
Dyna grow vegetative nutes. 450 ppm/ 905ec for scale but I have always used PPM
Carbon micro water filtered on tap 125 ppm average
Use PH drop tester to hold 6.0,,,ish
Veg closet lights, 4 t8 4 foot fluorescent bulbs. 3 at 5000k,1 at 3200k and 2 5000 lumen LED 4500k side lights.
Flower under 9 100wat equivalent LED 2800k
79 deg F day and 76 deg F at night. 52RH
16/8 light cycle

Lights are normally 4 inches from the tops but lifted for the pics.Lambsbread clone is already moved to the flowering room so Jack is sharing the closet with laughing buddha clone for now.

Try squeezing the water out of cube too wet. Will double your rate.
I like jher sturdy strain.

 

[Sativa1970]

Are you saying it doubles the root growth rate cause it has to reach for water? I have only used rockwool a few times so advice is welcome.Thank you. The room is perpetual grow and clone so only use cubes on new genetics. My last two starts the hydro store was sold out of cubes so I started in perlite. Before that I was using drain to waste coco.

It was almost completely dry right before that pic. The roots were just starting to poke out of the cube so I did a quick dunk into the res so only the outer edge is wet. There is a 1/2 inch of hydrotone between the cube and the water line so figured I needed some moisture to start the wicking action. Should I have just put it in dry and top water if it wilts?

This supposed to be a sativa dom plant but don't know if it has different needs on training,PH or PPM. I primarily grow land strain sativas Thai,mowi,lambs bread. Purple afghan,christmas tree and laughing buddha are as hybrid as I normally grow.

The dispensaries here are low quality(harvested late for max yield), low selection (3 indica maybe 1 hybrid), and expensive(50% sativa start at $80 an 1/8).I grow for my medical needs and give away most to friends that can't get the right meds, mostly for PTSD. I am starting this strain for someone with chronic arthritis pain and asthma.

 

[Bill284]

(Don't recommend pacific seeds 50% germination rate.)
Squeeze excess water from cube. I find if too wet just dies.
Damp not soaking.

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[Sativa1970]

You are referring to damping off fungus? The seeds that didn't grow never even germinated in the paper towel so never made it to a cube. They just were not mature. The cube looks wetter in the picture than it actually was. Water didn't saturate at all with the quick dip.

 

[Sativa1970]

Update on jack.
Germinated 2 weeks ago with one week of hydro.Some of the leaves are starting to varagate slightly. Not sure why.No changes in the environment. Res ppm up only few points and ph may be closer to 5.8 now. Good tap root dropped down out of the basket.

 

[Sativa1970]

Finally have time for an update. One month into DWC.
Dump clean and refill res.
dynogrow foliage 9tsp/4 gallons
.5 ml per gallon hydrogen peroxide just preventive maintenance in res.
1.5ml per gal ryno skin
1.5 ml per gallon kelp extract
Final PPM 540 at 6.0 PH

Pulled it out of the veg closet to get better pics. first two are before a trim and second two are after. forgot to get a pic of the roots.

Not sure how long to veg before switching to flower. Flower room is set for sativa so space is not an issue. Just don't know how big these can get in veg.

 

[Sativa1970]

Took progress pics last weekend when I found the source of the odiferous ants I had been battling all week. Everything got coated in diatomatious earth. That is the white powder in the new pics. Pest strip took out the flying ants. Only found one ant after searching flower and veg rooms today.

 

[Sativa1970]

Jack is now 20 inches tall and 40 inches wide. Ph holding 6.0 and PPM climbed up 50 so topped with ph water. Going to top and cut back the undergrowth to get an even canopy. Should have an open spot in the flower room in a couple weeks. Lambs bread is almost ready to harvest. This is supposedly sativa dominant mix strain so I am assuming it will stretch just over double.

 

[Sativa1970]

Thinned her out and topped her at 2 foot. Took cuttings to clone. I have tried several methods for cloning over the years. Just gave my aeroponics cloner to a friend cause it was more work with less results. I just use pipe insulation cut into pucks, root tone, pretzel jar, shallow layer of PH water with a few drops of flowering nute and kelp extract. I do three clones at a time but only keep the healthiest one.

Next weekend should be harvest Lambs Bread. Jack clones should start to root. If they don't look good I have more lower branches that need to go, for more cuttings. Then jack moves to the flower room.

 

[Sativa1970]

Finally have a free minute to update this.

Jack spent the last five days under 12/12 2700k in veg nutes. Transplanted into a 30 gallon tote with Dyna grow bloom formula and advanced nute rhino skin last night.

My lighting is 8, 100 wat equivalent led and compact florescent bulbs at 2700k and one bulb at 6500k to help reduce stretch. I picked up 40 bulbs at Minards for $1 each with $1 manufacturer rebate and Minards 11% rebate so they paid me to take them. Light sockets were $.50 each. The mounting board was damaged 4x8 sheet of FRP for $1. After paracord, pullies, and wire it was $10 per light fixture.

Clone has good root development starting so she is now in hydro.

The last pic is for anyone who thinks you can't grow good flower without expensive lights. This is the Jamaican Lambs Bread that just finished. It flowered under this light.

 

[Bill284]

Finally have a free minute to update this.

Jack spent the last five days under 12/12 2700k in veg nutes. Transplanted into a 30 gallon tote with Dyna grow bloom formula and advanced nute rhino skin last night.

My lighting is 8, 100 wat equivalent led and compact florescent bulbs at 2700k and one bulb at 6500k to help reduce stretch. I picked up 40 bulbs at Minards for $1 each with $1 manufacturer rebate and Minards 11% rebate so they paid me to take them. Light sockets were $.50 each. The mounting board was damaged 4x8 sheet of FRP for $1. After paracord, pullies, and wire it was $10 per light fixture.

Clone has good root development starting so she is now in hydro.

The last pic is for anyone who thinks you can't grow good flower without expensive lights. This is the Jamaican Lambs Bread that just finished. It flowered under this light.

Wow great work my friend.
Bill

 

[Sativa1970]

I thought I updated this a few days ago but apparently it has been over a week. Jack turned into a Jacqueline on the 11th day of 12/12 but took a few days to be photogenic. She is stretching up through the net nicely. Lower branches are being held up and the upper branches are held down so far. The lights are normally 6 inches from the tips but I lift it to take pics. Clone has half dozen roots around a foot long. Out of habit, I always start small clones to extend the veg time. With My land strain sativas spending 12-14 weeks under flowing lights I have to extend my veg to the same time. Take cutting after week one of 12/12. Clone roots and ready for hydro at week 3 of 12/12. That leaves me 10 weeks +/- of veg.

A few years ago I started taking pictures of all my plants so I have a time stamp and pages of daily notes pined to the wall. I use them to time the perpetual grow tracking ppm, ph, growth and temps. This journal makes that so much easier. May have to do one for each strain(lambs bread and laughing buddha currently) as my own reference guide.

 

[Sativa1970]

I was just looking back to calculate when the clone will be ready to flip and noticed a few things I forgot to mention.

The clone has had some pretty wild PH swing in the hydro. Started at 6 jumped to 8. I added PH down to get her to 6 again then a day or two latter she dropped to 4.5. Flushed the hydro tone with PHed water, balanced the res and it is holding at 6.0 now but you can see the struggle in her new leaves.

The other thing is how I clone. If you noticed I start in foam but they are in rockwool cubes in hydro. I start 5 or 6 clones in the foam pucks until the root nodules form. I then pick the 2 or 3 healthies ones and transplant into a rockwool cube before the roots actually develop. Whoever shows the healthies roots popping out of the cube first moves to hydro and the others go to compost or get rehomed with friends and family.

 

[Sativa1970]

For weeks this area has been getting hit with storms and flash floods. This directly effects my business so haven't had any free time to keep this updated. So here are the last few updates all at once.

June 26th,

Worked more of the branches into the netting holding down tall branches and propping up the shorter ones to even out the canopy. Clone is happily sitting in veg room after a bit of undergrowth trimming.

 

[Sativa1970]

June 27th,

All that flash flooding I mentioned.. My sump pump died.. Grow room had over a foot of water. Veg plants were safe on shelves and all the equipment was unharmed but the flowering plants were on the floor. Jacks res was contaminated so it was flushed with PH water a few times then reset. Buddha was not so lucky. She floated across the room, fell over, and snapped at the base. I cut away everything unsalvageable, mangled branches. Made a splint with wood skewers, athletic tape then duct tape. A few tether lines for extra support. So far she is still surviving as of 7/7. She is due to harvest in 2 more weeks if she makes it that far.

 

[Sativa1970]

July 4th,

Even with the humidity up around 70% still she drank 9 gallons in the last week. Ph6.0 and PPM were still 450 in the last 3 gallons of remaining. Apparently this was just the right mix. Topped it off with new nute mix. She stretched almost another foot. Flowers are filling out with lots of hairs and showing its first bit of frost.

 

[Sativa1970]

Been out of town on vacation since the last post. Still fighting with the plants in veg. PH and water level keeps dropping while PPM are stable. Topping up with 7.5ph water brings it back to 5.5-6ish ph and drops the PPM. It acts like I am over feeding even when the PPM drops to 200 from repeated topping. The mothers were all happy with stable res at 460 ppm. mother and clone are still healthy.

 

[Tokin Roll]

Wow, @Sativa1970

You pack a lot of information in one page.
Keep up the great work.

Have you got a replacement sump pump?
Don't want the ladies floating around the floor.

Stay safe and grow well my friend,

Tok..

 

[Sativa1970]

Already had a new pump on the shelf when it flooded. Just didn't realize it was flooded till it was too late.