DemeterCeres' CFL DWC Grow

DemeterCeres

New Member
Bag Seed (two seeds one was male)
Single Plant 5 Gallon DWC (no recirc)
160W (4x40W) 6500K + 84W (2x42W) 2700K for Vegetative period
332W (6x42W+2x40W) 2700K for Flowering
General Hydroponics Trio and KoolBloom in for Flowering
Optimum Hydropnix pH adjustments
100% destilled water pHed to 5.5 for life of plant

Seeds were germinated in paper towel between plates. Took 3 days to get tails, and they were moved to pH balanced grow cubes. I only had them in seedling and vegetative stage for only two weeks. I wanted to keep the plant(s) as short as possible due to space issues.

I flipped them to 12-12 light cycle December 29, and supercropped the main stem 4 days later before she showed and signs of sex. This made her burst outwards and produce a significant amount of bud sites. I FIMed the main stem which created four main stems, and I have had expansive growth since.

I am a firm believer in defoliation, to each their own. I do it very carefully, slowly, and I watch the plants reaction.

Anyways, I will update the thread more later this weekend but I wanted to get a start on it, and provide some pictures for feedback or questions.

Cheers!


An image showing the first stages of growth. I am aware of the dangers of having two plants in one pot, but I have successfully been doing this for some time. I later did end up removing the male)
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Supercropped female.
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Post training session. Showing great resistance.
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I later inserted another 42W into the center of the plant to help growth down low.
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A couple of weeks into flowering after some defoliation.
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Day 21 into Flowering
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Buds starting to fill in. Are they close enough???
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Just wanted to give a quick update with some new photos. I changed her water today, and also upped her Bloom nutrient level by half teaspoon/gallon.

Buds are starting to densen up and grow, colas are starting to form on the main chutes.

Also started adding liquid Koolbloom to the mix as well for hopes it will help yields and quality.

Cheers

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These are Day 26 of flowering.
 
Just another picture update. I changed her water back to destilled, I had used tap water for a change and ran into calcium issues.

She looks to be doing just fine. Buds are really starting to densen up and fill out colas.

She smells just incredible right now!

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I plan to back build her this weekend. Wish me luck!
 
In my case, it was about air circulation, separating each cola completely, and getting as much light to the bud sites as possible.

I remove tips if its required to avoid contact between stems when it's moving around with the air flow fans.

I have noticed increased growth near the 4-6week period of flowering using this method. I removed complete sets of leaves as well, if necessary to improve light and airflow. About 70% are tipped at week 5.

I am going to try LA's back building technique for the first time on a plant this weekend. We shall see what it does for my results.
 
Just wanted to show my lighting setup for those interested. I like using two way splitters in an array of setups to allow me to maneuver the lights closer or further away. I have the whole rig hung from an adjustable back pack buckle strap for easy moving and adjustment.

I think this lighting setup has been really good for CFL, due to the fact that I am able to get the bulbs extremely close to the plant with burning, and the bulbs are laying more on a flat plane, giving better light coverage.

I back built using LA's techniques on half of the colas this morning. We shall see what the results are by harvest in a few weeks.

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You can see that I also added in an extra 23w 2700K bulb to fill a whole and help the lower stuff a bit. So that brings the grand total wattage to 355w, just over 27,000 lumens.

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Lots of light. Room size is 4'x5', two fans used for circulation, one up high blowing out the slightly cracked open door, and one running through the entire plant.

She has about 3-4 more weeks of bloom. I will start to flush in 2 weeks time.
 
Another pic update at Day 42 of Flower. I'm a little disappointed because I think she has about 2-3 more weeks to go, and I am unexpectedly relocating and will need to harvest her sooner.

Buds are really starting to densen up, colas formed nicely, stems do a slow sway from the weight of the buds:
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Couple close-ups:
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Another overall:

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I will be harvesting one week from today no matter her size!

DemeterCeres' CFL DWC Grow
 
Another pic update. I am going to start my flush today. I will be using destilled water for the next 7 days, but I have gradually lowered the nutrient PPM by adding cold destilled water on the last two top ups.

The buds are really starting to densen up quite a bit. I have had two stems snap on me from the weight of the buds, and air flow. It's really unfortunate that I have to harvest early, because I feel like she is just about to come alive! I will be cutting my harvest down quite a bit, but life happens! .

Overall shot:
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Close-ups:
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So, she has less than a week to see what she can do. The positive is that I was able to sample one of the broke ln stems using the microwave-steam method and she is one potent lady already. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what she will be like after a proper dry and cure!

DemeterCeres' CFL DWC Grow
 
Update:

My last girl harvested well, after having to pull the plug early due to moving unexpectedly I ended up getting 26.8grams dry off of her. I was disappointed, however, given the circumstances there are was little that I could do.

On to the next life!

I continue my journal with my new grow that is now at day 58 since I popped the seed in water.

See posts starting below discussing my new grow. Cheers!
 
====== NEW GROW =====

So, I am all moved now, and started a new grow using some White Widow seeds from CKS. They are femmed but still photo, as I planned on taking a few from her. I changed my mind a few weeks ago, as I wanted to experiment a little the strain first... So here goes...

Strain - White Widow (CKS)
Light - Started under 250w of CFL (a combination of 2700K and 6500K bulbs) and now up to 300w of CFL (all 2700K)
Medium - Clay pellets with vermiculite on the top layer (I don't use rockwool or other starter cubes)
Air - Two 6" fans circulating air in room
Nutrients - Advanced Nutrients Base pH Perfect Trio, Optimum Hydropnix CalMag+
Schedule - 12/12 currently, for Veg stage I kept her at 18/6 most of her life until the flip last week.
Temps - Air temp is 75 during day, 70 at night. Water temp is 71 during day and 68 at night. I want to try and figure a way to keep this number under 70 during the day as well.

Other information: I am using a single pump with dual outlets connected to two six inch airstones that help provide lots of oxygen to her roots. I began my grow using the GH Trio for nutrients, however, at some point during the winter, I believe they went sour on me and they weren't offering me the PPM required to sustain life. I switched to Advanced Nutrients shortly after my third water change when I noticed huge deficiencies. You'll see below.

So, the first seed sprouted without issue using the CKS method, and I shortly after planted her in vermiculite into a 5 gallon and started my DWC. She sprouted and began to grow vigorously. I don't use a recirculating setup, so I water the top every day with a turkey baster to help new growth.

Here are some images as far back as I collected:

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This was in week three of Veg, she started to show signs of lockout, and I wasn't sure of the issue (I didn't know nutes had gone bad). Here are a few more images to show issues:

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She slowly started to recover after the first water change and the switch over to the Advanced Nutrients TRIO. I really can't say enough good things about this setup. NO measuring, NO pHing the water, NO guess work! Add water, add same nutes to water, run for a week and then change. Everything is automatically adjusted. So far, it's working great!

Recovery process was a bit frustrating, I did lost some growth, but it seemed to have really only affected some of the fan leaves.

I am a defoliator, and just did a present decent sweep right before flower. I have found this helps with stretch I really make my girls into a bush. I two it in two passes, one right before the flip to flower, and then again about a week later when stretch starts.

Some healthier shots of my girl over the last few weeks:

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Some of the training shots from underneathe:

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She currently has 12 tops, and I am sure there are going to be more arriving soon!!!

And a couple beauty shots of her as of yesterday. She just had a trim so she looks a little thin at the moment... give her a few days .

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Check back soon for updates! She should start to show soon. I will continue to update every couple of days or so. Cheers!
 
Just another update. She is doing well. About to enter week 4 of full flower now, and I'm relatively happy with the results.

Some of her signs of deficiency are still present on the older fan leaves , however, most of her is super healthy and lush.

She is under 300w of 2700K CFL. I'm hoping to get 40 grams off of her, and by the looks of it I should be able to. I am going to wait and see, but plan to flower for 9 weeks instead of 8.

Thanks for looking.

Overall:

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Under:

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Closeup:

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