Chapster's Adventure Into RDWC! Indoor 600W LED GC Scrog

[Lewydeville]

Hey chaps, I've got a really useful chart in my grow room that details ph and feeding patterns. I'l try and post a pic of it tomorrow. If ph is dropping while ppm are also dropping it could be you are giving them slightly to much food. I say "slightly" as your plants look great and the ph only dropped to 5.5 which is still In the optimal range for hydro. Let them feed for a day or so without adding more nutes to see if that stops your ph dropping out. I've read in a few journals people running rdwc having problems with roots blocking pipes, if you go on my thread and read Scrogdawgs latest journal he'd be a wealth of knowledge for you as what he doesn't know about rdwc isn't worth knowing. He's just put his clones in his system so he's not far behind you.

 

[Chappie]

Hey chaps, I've got a really useful chart in my grow room that details ph and feeding patterns. I'l try and post a pic of it tomorrow. If ph is dropping while ppm are also dropping it could be you are giving them slightly to much food. I say "slightly" as your plants look great and the ph only dropped to 5.5 which is still In the optimal range for hydro. Let them feed for a day or so without adding more nutes to see if that stops your ph dropping out. I've read in a few journals people running rdwc having problems with roots blocking pipes, if you go on my thread and read Scrogdawgs latest journal he'd be a wealth of knowledge for you as what he doesn't know about rdwc isn't worth knowing. He's just put his clones in his system so he's not far behind you.

Thanks lewy, every bit of info helps! Do I need to take into consideration that my top off res which keeps my water level consistent is filled with plain ro water? I feel like that would make my ppm go down anyway, although the doesn't explain the ph issue because my top off res is naturally ph above 6.0.

I read through scrogdawgs journal and he definitely has a lot of knowledge. I like his setup, super clean and he sure knows his stuff. I cant wait to see his grow take off.

 

[Chappie]

A little update of the numbers from the last few days.

Currently:
ppm-590
ph-5.9
res temp-69

 

[Lewydeville]

If your ppm is going down they are definitely feeding. Your topping up with 0 ppm water and the volume in your buckets never changes so its not being watered down as such. Because you rdwc guys have a nice big reservoir in your system you probably go about topping up with nutrients in a different way than my single buckets so I'm not 100 percent sure and I don't want to give you bad information.

 

[chopdoc]

Hows the girls coming Chappie?

 

[Chappie]

update:

I've been a little busy the last few days, but here's what has been going on.

Over the last 4-5 days I have been keeping the ppms at about 600 and letting it drift down to about 500 before bringing it back up again. I have started to notice a very slight tip burn starting on the smaller one, again its just slightly noticeable. They both seem to be doing well overall though, and since noticing that I have started to let the ppms drift lower into the 400 range. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm thinking a good spot would be around the 500 range for now considering the very little burn on the smaller one.

Yesterday was 2 week mark since I did a full changeout so I did another one yesterday morning. About 14 gallons of plain r.o water in with 30ml of bloom aqua which brought the ppm up to 530. A little higher than I wanted but I'm sure it will drift down so I left it. Naturally the ph was 6.1 after adding the nutrients so I also left that where it was too. The ph was still drifting down but not as fast as before even though the plants were feeding so I'm hoping with the ppms being lower it will start to drift back up like earlier on in the grow or at least remain stable. When the ph drifts down, I let it go down to 5.5 and then ph it up to about 6.2, just incase it decides to go up. I also added 30ml of watermax which I add once every 5 days now.

The smaller one looked like it was showing slight signs of stress from the light, the newer leaves were starting to taco pretty bad so I moved that light up to about 30" above the canopy. I didn't think that light was as strong so I had it quite a bit closer than the other, my mistake hah.

So if all works out I'm hoping within the next 2 weeks the plants will have grown a good amount into the screen and I will be able to flip. I probably should have put the screen a little closer to the plants? I just hope I don't wait to long and run out of room when they start to stretch.

Currently
Ph-6.1
Ppm-530
Res temp-69

And some pictures. I will have the numbers up for the last few days tomorrow.
In order, the small one, larger one, and group shots.

 

[Chappie]

Here are the numbers for the last few days.

 

[chopdoc]

Your girls are looking sweet. Your doing a real good job with them. Makes me wanna germinate a couple seeds

 

[Chappie]

Your girls are looking sweet. Your doing a real good job with them. Makes me wanna germinate a couple seeds

Thanks chop! If you do, start a journal. I would definitely follow along! I think after this, my next run will be blue dream

 

[chopdoc]

Thanks chop! If you do, start a journal. I would definitely follow along! I think after this, my next run will be blue dream

Probably all future journals will be done here. I got some Blue Cheese and White Widow fem seeds ready to go. Also have some blueberry seeds I been wanting to grow for a while.

 

[Chappie]

Quick update.

Screen is starting to fill out a little bit more, maybe 1 more week and then flip. I don't want it overcrowded as my light footprint will not reach to the complete ends of the tent. (front to back).

Thoughts on how much more the screen should be filled?

It seems the sweet spot for the ppms has been about 480-500 and then letting them consume it down to about 300. They've pretty much been on auto pilot, except for the constant branch and leaf tucking. They are pretty bushy but I'm trying not to defol until I get into flower and then I'll lollipop. Except for leaves that are easily pulled off with a little tug.

So for now just some pictures and the numbers for the last few days.

 

[Ganjagrandaddy]

Defoliate her a bit so you can see where your budsites are going to form. Only take big fans off. With the stretch to come, you might fill a bit more of the screen too. Keep feeding the tips under the scrog to next hole while she is still growing. Screen looks a bit too high for the plant size imo . If you lower it and spread her out ad much as u can. She is very bushy and to get the best from the late scrog , u will need to spread her out as much as u can.looks healthy there mate.

 

[chopdoc]

Heya Chappie. Girls looking beautiful but I gotta agree with Ganjadaddy, need to defoliate the bottom some. Those leaves not getting lights are not helping your plant.

On a side note, started the germination process for a blueberry and a blue cookies yesterday morning. Both CKS seeds.

 

[Chappie]

So I dropped the net down just a bit, it was kind of difficult because I had it so high already and they were growing into it but I tried to spread them out a little bit more.
I defoliated them both underneath, I took off quite a bit of fan leaves, the majority were big fans. I also took off some small branches here and there that were struggling to get to the top.

I'm scared that I took to much off... Although I wanted to take a bit more off, I thought that's good for today. hah. Hopefully they will respond pretty well to it.

Currently
Ppm-420
Ph-5.9
Temp-67

And some pictures
Before


After

 

[Mootah]

You can take more of the big fan leaves from the one on the right. Looking green and happy!

 

[Lewydeville]

Hey Chappie all looks great. Good looking plants.

 

[Ganjagrandaddy]

Strip those ladies down to their britches mate. As long as it is only fan leaves you are taking out , then you can strip her back still. Ideally , light should be reaching all the sites you can hit with it. She will replace leaves up until about 3 weeks into flower so dont panic. The fans really are not as needed by us folks indoors as we bring the light to them rather than them competing with the nature around them , so their ultimate purpose has become pointless. They still help in a big way with photosynthesis and initially are powerhouses for growth but in flower this is less needed. Be brave and it is obvious you are not doing any damage by the healthy look of your ladies. With the smaller popcorn buds that will deffo get blocked out lower down , take em out fella. All of the energy the plant gives to these pointless and virtually microbuds ,will be sent to the mains and used as intended. The height of the scrog is important and howbu thread also. I think initially , not having the time to veg her through it from early on , will give you a harder time getting the best from this method and it is hard not to end with structural support instead of a scrog. It can look brutal when u drop the screen down but by spreading her limbs out as far as she will allow without breakages , is how i use mine. Have a look around the diaries and you will see what i mean. These ladies can take a lot of training to their limbs. They are survivors( although looking round the forums you wouldnt think so !!) . All with you fella dont worry

 

[chopdoc]

Mornin Chappie, Man your ladies are looking nice after their trim job I agree you can cut a lot more from her and it will only help your girls out.

 

[Chappie]

Well I took off some more leaves and I also took some string and tried to tie down some branches individually. It definitely helped to get the screen lower and open everything up.

Currently
Ppm-460
Ph-5.9
Temp-68

 

[Chappie]

I just want to say thanks for everyone's help and support so far. This is definitely an amazing community of knowledgeable people. I've learned a lot already and can't wait to see the results from this grow!