Grooster's 1st Grow (top-drip, bato-bucket hydro) AK47 Clones

[Grooster]

Greetings All!

Well as will be soon be painfully obvious to anyone who happens to look at this journal I am a n00b. This is my first grow and I thought I would do a journal along with it. I plan to update regularly and post pics of my progress (or lack thereof).

Anyway to the details...

I am starting this journal from what I am going to call day 0. Why day 0? Because I got my ladies slightly before I was ready to go. Had to... So anyway Day 1, tomorrow, I will have them in their beds and growing properly.

Here is some info about my grow:

I am using 3 dutch bato-buckets 10x12x9" mounted on a 1.5" PVC frame which also acts as the drain back mechanism into the 13gal tote res. There is a 120gph pump attached to 3/4" tubing which in turn flows into 1/4" spaghetti tubing to flood the buckets. I have a small air-pump keeping the nute mix aerated. The approximate dimensions of my rig are 29"Hx39"Lx24"w.

I am also using a Lumatek 400w digital ballast and plan to use my 400w MH for veg and my 400w HPS for flower.

I plan to grow three ladies of the AK47 strain. I purchased them from a local MMJ Dispensary at 4 inches tall. They came in solo cups and soil with a rockwool cube in the center. The AK47 strain was described on the internet as 65/35 sativa/indica but who knows if these ladies are truly of that strain?

I am going to use GH Flora series nutes for this grow. I heard they are good and easy to use for a first timer. I am interested in a good nute solution. The info I am going off so far is the KISS method linked on GH's web site. I will follow Munki's lead (Hail Munki!) and not give any nutes for a few days after transplanting. I am using FloraGro, FloraBloom and Hardwater FloraMicro.

Also as you can see from the pics I am not quite dialed in where I would like to be. I really want to get a grow tent like Munki's. (Hail Munki!) I do plan to upgrade as I go and hopefully add a tent before I switch to 12/12.

Well, I think I covered all the basics. Oh, the reason I haven't put the girls in yet is because I was using a 50/50 mix of coco/perlite and it kept clogging the drain hole on my bato-buckets. So, after seeing Munki's grow (Hail Munki!) I am going to go 100% hydroton. So I need to make a trip the shop and get some more hyroton for the girls.

Any suggestions are always appreciated. I know there is a lot more I could be doing but I think I need to ramp up as I go. I just needed to get my feet wet and get going.

Thanks 420Magazine members I am honored to be among you at last!

 

[Grooster]

Awsome, I got the pictures to work LOL. Ok so now the world can see my humble attempt at a grow. I am going to tidy everything up tomorrow and get some more pics showing the girls in their buckets. I welcome any and all suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[Dain Bramage]

Well look's like im the first one here way to start thing off will be dropping in here for sure...peace

 

[Grooster]

Right on thanks for taking a look Dain Bramage! Not much to look at now but hopefully things will go well and provide some interesting discussions.

 

[Grooster]

DAY 1:

Hey there its day 1 of the grow and there's lots to do. Today I figured out what to do with my medium problem...The bato-bucket drain hole kept plugging up with my coco/perl mix so I was thinking of going just 100% hydroton. But then I thought 'that wont work well with a top-drip system'. It would work fine in flood and drain but not top drip. I really needed my coco/perl. Well, I just lined the bottom of the bucket with 2-3" river rock being careful to place them around the drain plug/hole to prevent the coco/perl from clogging it up.

So I am hoping this will work. I have read plenty of stuff decrying the top-drip for the reason that they tend to plug up pretty easily. I think this solution should work though.
So, I have a layer of river rock followed by 50/50 coco/perl and topped with hydroton. I just have to keep particles out of my rez so I dont plug up the drippers LOL.

Transplanting the ladies was fun. I was gentle with them and I noticed some really nice roots growing in the solo cups. They have been in their new beds for several hours now with no sign of stress, but that could all change by tomorrow.

I am just giving them clear water at the moment. How long should I wait before starting my mild nute mix? I dont want to starve them and slow their growth.

Tested the water at 5.5ph is this pretty good? Will have to adjust after adding my nutes. Currently I have the girls on 24/0 and I am going to switch to 18/6 shortly (after making sure all is well after the transplant).

Well thats it for now. Hopefully the ladies are happy in their new homes!!

Here are some updated pics...

 

[DroJo]

Awww look at tha lil canna-babies

 

[Dain Bramage]

nice bro,looks like things went well

 

[The Butcher]

nice work. I'm in. 3 ladies 1 light and it looks like alot of room all equals a fat harvest. Cant wait. Posted

 

[MountainHigh]

Nice setup you have there. Will be monitoring your babies growth.

(I want to try hydro my next grow so am watching carefully while )

 

[Grooster]

Awww look at tha lil canna-babies

I know aren't they cute? Hopefully they won't be little much longer.

 

[Grooster]

nice bro,looks like things went well

Thanks DB. So far so good. Haven't keeled the girls yet lol. The transplant was fun and about 24hrs later the girls don't seem to have suffered from it. I am going to post more pics as soon as I get some good Veg going.

nice work. I'm in. 3 ladies 1 light and it looks like alot of room all equals a fat harvest. Cant wait.

Thanks Butcher I have been looking at some of your impressive grows. I can only hope to emulate some of those awesome crops eventually.

Nice setup you have there. Will be monitoring your babies growth.

(I want to try hydro my next grow so am watching carefully while )

Hey thanks for cruising by MountainHigh. I hope the setup works well if it does then I might double my pots to six for the next grow. Or, if money is good ebb and flow trays are might nice too!

 

[Cannibal]

Grooster-

Nice build. I bet you got your plans from the same place I did. I'm on day 3 of my Bato Bucket grow. I am also having some draining issues, but I've been led to believe by the designers that the issue is about the elbows not being seated correctly. Apparently, the barbs need to show through the bottom of the bucket. I pushed like heck putting them in, but was told I didn't push hard enough. Anyway, wanted to mention it in case changing your medium out doesn't help.

I look forward to watching your system grow. It will be fun to compare your results to mine since we are both using the same system, starting at nearly the same time, and are both newbs. I've got 2 AK47s going as well.

Good luck with your ladies!

 

[Grooster]

Hey hey Cannibal how cool is that? Are you going to post pics and do a journal? Would be killer to watch and read how your grow is doing. I think thats awesome were doing the same basic grow! So many ways to do it too.

I know what you mean about the drain elbows. I pushed and pushed till I heard em pop in. I still had trouble though. I think my perlite was too fine. I think you can get chunky which might help. I just laid down a bed of small river rock on the bottom and continued using the 50/50 coco/perl mix. Hasn't clogged yet, but hey its really really early. Keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks for stopping in if you have a journal I will sure check it out. Good luck with your ladies too. I hope we are both having a nice toke in about 3 months.

L8ER

 

[Cannibal]

Yes, great minds think alike!

Yeah, I've got a journal going, it's here. I heard a 'click' when I forced them down, but I am unable to see the barbs from the bottom of the pot. I'll be pulling my ladies out this weekend so that I can empty the buckets and see if I can force the elbows through.

I really like the design of this system. I made mine a little shorter and bought a shorter, fatter reservoir so that I didn't have to worry as much about the overall height vs. the height of my ceiling. So far, so groovy.

3 months from now we will definitely have to compare notes. Until then, I'll be watching your grow and stealing as many tricks as I can find. Happy growing!

 

[OldMedUser]

Hi Grooster

Looking good. I'd start them on a very mild, (10% maybe), nute mix right now. When I'm all weak and shaky a little bite to eat makes me feel better. :0)

When I put babies in my tubs the nutes are at or about 300 PPM. Once they start showing growth and are looking perky I go up to about 600 then after a month they're around 1000-1200.

A day or two without nutes won't hurt and may be best but keep the light up a ways until they get used to their new home. Drop it down a bit everyday for a few days. By then they should be looking happy.

Good luck. Doing great so far.

​

 

[Cannibal]

Gooster-

How are your ladies doing? Is your drainage problem still a non-issue? Come on, I gots questions.

 

[Grooster]

Hi Grooster

Looking good. I'd start them on a very mild, (10% maybe), nute mix right now. When I'm all weak and shaky a little bite to eat makes me feel better. :0)

When I put babies in my tubs the nutes are at or about 300 PPM. Once they start showing growth and are looking perky I go up to about 600 then after a month they're around 1000-1200.

A day or two without nutes won't hurt and may be best but keep the light up a ways until they get used to their new home. Drop it down a bit everyday for a few days. By then they should be looking happy.

Good luck. Doing great so far.

​

Heya LabRat Thanks for the advice. I am doing exactly what you said and I think the girls are doing good. I have been gone for 5 days and the system has run perfectly. (had the wife check on em) I see some great new growth. I will post an update. Thanks for stopping by my grow LabRat!!

 

[Grooster]

Gooster-

How are your ladies doing? Is your drainage problem still a non-issue? Come on, I gots questions.

Heya Cannibal SupSup. I been out of town for 5 days on a trip. No drainage issues yet...the system has run perfectly in my absence and the ladies are starting to grow well. I am going to post my journal update with some pics as soon as I get em uploaded. I am eager to catch up with the grows I am watching. Hopefully your grow is going well, I will be checking in on that in a few minutes...

L8ER

 

[Grooster]

Day 9: Sup guys. Got a short update here, not much to report. I was gone for 5 days and worried about my babies but everything ran fine. No deaths to report! I did have the wife peek in on em but she didn't have to touch a thing.

I did start them on a mild nute solution like LabRat suggested before I left. I am going to go full strength in a couple of days ramping up slowly to avoid any burn. I dont have a PPM meter yet. I am just going by water volume and nute chart. I do have hard water so I use the flora micro for hardwater which hopefully will help. I need to think about going RO in the future. But for the first grow I didn't want to go all out and spend too much money. I will upgrade as I can.

Anyway they seem to be doing good. I have to think about LST and Topping soon. Any comments and suggestions are always appreciated. Thanks to all for looking/commenting.

L8ER

Here are the updated pics...

 

[DroJo]

They look healthy grooster your comin along just fine