Mars Hydro Grow Journal SP 3000: Blue Kush, RDWC, ScrOG

[HigherTheHigh]

Sorry to hear you've been unwell. My thinking is that I can scrog a plant in my little tent with a flexipot and not worry about having to remove the plant to get in there with a watering can and collecting run off etc. So the idea is partially from laziness and partially to explore different methods.

Just to add I grow in soil but in small pots in a small cabinet and tent. So even with soil I end up watering every other day a lot of the time.

If your using small pots already have you not thought about using flora's Rock wool setups as I know I use their 6" square watering caps that are amazing for dispersing fast water equally so maybe something like that could help you, yeah I get you on the daily watering that's why I ended up switching to Soil just to have a break but if you did try the cubes your gaining a little height reduction on the final canopy.

Welcome @HigherTheHigh , great to have another scrog fan here

That's a fantastic tip You're absolutely right. The nets with the smaller holes are very effective.

Funnily enough I do usually use nets with smaller holes, for exactly the reasons you state.

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• GoogleGenie
• Jan 6, 2021

A small drawback of using these, is I find myself having to cut through the net to remove the buds at harvest, especially near the back corners where i struggle to reach. This isn't really a problem because they're cheap, I just happened to butcher my last one at the end of the grow in the pic above so i'm out of 2x2(50mlx50ml) nets atm.

As you say, with the smaller holes, you get more control to arrange the colas to get a nice even spread.

IMG_4167.jpg

• GoogleGenie
• Jan 6, 2021

Great tip @HigherTheHigh

I'm absolutely loving the scrog method now I've got them dialled in but I'm definitely running a pheno hunt before hand because last year I seem to grew loads of great quality looking bud but absolutely no taste even with a 9 month cure so now I'm running some consistent flavour strains so hopefully I'll enjoy this year more lol.

If you require quality mesh I get my stuff from ebay UK and he offers world wide shipping if that can help you in the long run it really cheap too but I've always found its best to chuck after every use just incase the plant had a disease that could potentially spread to the next lot of flowers, I am however doing 3-6 plant scrogs this year again but making individual scrog frames so at any point if needed I can take the plant out and in theory it helps me understand exactly how long I should be vegging clones for as the individual frames will be around 16x18" screens so I could possibly help you out in future timescale help if your running 24" tents.

 

[Tokin Roll]

Thanks Tokin. That’s useful info. I’ve got a couple questions I wondered if you or anyone else could answer:

- what’s the 3-way thing all about?
- I see they have 62% and 58%. I’m thinking the 58% as I usually cap at 60 - I noticed this is your preference, any reason for this?

I am not positive about why some say 3 way.

I know it will add or take away humidity as needed to stabilize at the percent it says.

The main reason I use 58% is it take me further away humidity that would cause mold in my jars.

No other particular reason.

 

[GoogleGenie]

I'm absolutely loving the scrog method now I've got them dialled in but I'm definitely running a pheno hunt before hand because last year I seem to grew loads of great quality looking bud but absolutely no taste even with a 9 month cure so now I'm running some consistent flavour strains so hopefully I'll enjoy this year more lol.

Me too man, i love scrog!
I hear you with the flavours too. That's been a focus of mine the past year too. For me setup, I've found feeding lighter has helped me bring out more flavour and smell. I'm still working to improve though, arent we all.

If you require quality mesh I get my stuff from ebay UK and he offers world wide shipping if that can help you in the long run it really cheap too but I've always found its best to chuck after every use just incase the plant had a disease that could potentially spread to the next lot of flowers, I am however doing 3-6 plant scrogs this year again but making individual scrog frames so at any point if needed I can take the plant out and in theory it helps me understand exactly how long I should be vegging clones for as the individual frames will be around 16x18" screens so I could possibly help you out in future timescale help if your running 24" tents.

Thanks man! Do you get the pre-cut ones? Or get like a roll of it and cut down to size? I usually get the ones precut down to 4x4.

Funny you mention individual screens. I've considered putting something together with individual frames (for the reasons you mention), I just haven't worked it out yet. It would be good if they connected together. How are you doing yours?

 

[GoogleGenie]

Day 9 Flower continued...​

A few hours before lights out and the ladies are sat at:

EC : 0.9
PH : 5.8

PH has drifted down a point. I won't read into this too much.

Tomorrow will be Day 10. I'll be emptying the system and refiling with fresh nutrient solution.

 

[GoogleGenie]

Day 10 Flower​

Good morning people!

Readings this morning:

EC : 0.9
PH : 5.9

PH has drifted back up a point, which is acceptable behaviour so i'm happy. The ladies have been very well behaved and stable these 10 days. Let's hope for more of the same.

And here they are this morning

Front view

IMG_5561.jpg

• GoogleGenie
• Jan 21, 2021

Some of the branches are stretching past the end of the net so i'm redirecting them sideways:

IMG_5563.jpg

• GoogleGenie
• Jan 21, 2021

IMG_5564.jpg

• GoogleGenie
• Jan 21, 2021

Overall i'm satisfied with how the net is filling out so far. I think defoliation at Day 21 will be minimal, which was an aim for this journal. The lady front right is letting the group down a bit so I don't expect that part of the screen to be filled which is disappointing, she could have used another week of veg. That being said, you can see how big the 2 on the left are and how much they've stretched, had i let them veg any more they could have been very difficult to manage. ~10 days left of stretch either way.
Time for a coffee and i'll get to changing the res.

 

[GoogleGenie]

Taking a look back

Day 1 Flower​

IMG_5269.jpg

• GoogleGenie
• Jan 10, 2021

Day 10 Flower​

IMG_5565.jpg

• GoogleGenie
• Jan 21, 2021

 

[Tokin Roll]

Looking good there @GoogleGenie

Another couple of weeks and your net will be filled.

Keep up the great work.

Keep an eye on discoloration of the leaves with ppm's that high.

Tok..

 

[GoogleGenie]

Looking good there @GoogleGenie

Another couple of weeks and your net will be filled.

Keep up the great work.

Thanks Tok

Keep an eye on discoloration of the leaves with ppm's that high.

Tok..

I will do, thanks for the heads up brother

 

[GoogleGenie]

Day 10 Flower continued...​

So i changed out the res a few of hours ago with a fresh batch of my Week 2 recipe.

Week 2 Recipe​

Starting water : Rain water 0ec
Buddhas Tree Solar Green Power @ recommended 0.25ml/l
Botanicare CalMag Plus -> 0.2ec
Botanicare Sweet Raw -> 0.4ec
Canna Aqua Flores -> 0.9ec
Buddhas Tree Flower Burst @ recommended 0.25ml/l
Adjust PH to 5.8
Root Excelurator
Hydroguard

This was added to the system.

I then added PH adjusted water + bennies until the EC went down to 0.9. After letting it circulate for 5mins i checked and adjusted the PH to 5.8.

I set the EC to 0.9 so that they pick up from where they left off as they seemed quite happy there:

Final reading​

EC : 0.9
PH : 5.8

 

[GoogleGenie]

Having just checked, the PH has risen to 6.0. This could mean they are feeding. As long as it's in range, i'm just going to leave it and let the ladies take what they want

Some of you may have noticed that I try to avoid using PH adjustment fluid to adjust the system directly. Only when absolutely necessary.

 

[GoogleGenie]

While i was checking the ladies over, i noticed a large shoot near the bottom of the front-left lady, with no chance of making it to the top. I am very reluctant to highly stress the plant during the first 21 days of flower, but i made an exception here. I would rather remove this sucker (literally) to save the plant putting anymore energy into it, when i'm just going to remove it at Day 21 defoliation anyway. It was already pretty stretchy.

All is not lost though. I decided to see if i could monster clone. I've never done it before, so should be interesting.

And here she is

IMG_5582.jpg

• GoogleGenie
• Jan 21, 2021

IMG_5581.jpg

• GoogleGenie
• Jan 21, 2021

IMG_5583.jpg

• GoogleGenie
• Jan 21, 2021

Let's call this Day 0 of the Monster Clone Project

Now to think of a name for her...

 

[Rollincoal]

Looking nice man. When I get my dwc started is the ppm of my tap water gonna be an issue after it sits out for 24hrs it reads 450ppm?

 

[Bionic Chronic NZ]

Looking fantastic in here brother and wow that’s some extra growth in pretty quick time too. The bud storm begins brother

 

[GoogleGenie]

Looking nice man. When I get my dwc started is the ppm of my tap water gonna be an issue after it sits out for 24hrs it reads 450ppm?

Hey Rollincoal. My tap water her is ~0.6ec. I don't have much control over room temp and RH so tap water is a last resort for me being that high as my RH can get quite low. When i run low on rain water i dilute tap water down to 0.3ec.

I know some growers don't have issues when growing with tap water, personally I find it difficult to deal with as it's eat into my EC budget quite a bit. It's not to say that the plants won't grow using tap water, but i experience more problems, particularly with nute burn.

 

[GoogleGenie]

Looking fantastic in here brother and wow that’s some extra growth in pretty quick time too. The bud storm begins brother

Thank you brother Bring on the bud storm

 

[GoogleGenie]

Day 11 Flower​

The system this morning reads

IMG_5589.jpg

• GoogleGenie
• Jan 22, 2021

The PH has taken a bit of a plunge. I added some plain water to the system and bumped the PH up to 5.8.

Just as I was giving them credit for being well behaved - kids eh

Readings after adjustment​

EC : 0.8
PH : 5.8

Will be keeping an eye on this very closely today. The drop in PH could suggest that the nutrient solution has been too strong. Or it could just be that they are feeding, so I don't want to do anything drastic. Whenever I see a slightly concerning drop like that, dropping the EC is usually my first point of call.

And here they are

IMG_5588.jpg

• GoogleGenie
• Jan 22, 2021

The long ones at the back i'm going to have to tie down to ensure that the rest of the canopy for this plant continues to grow evenly.

 

[Dusty Kiefers]

Hey bud. I made it.

 

[GoogleGenie]

Hey bud. I made it.

@Dusty Kiefers in the house

 

[GoogleGenie]

Checked the ladies a few hours before light out and the PH had dropped down to 5.6.

It's cold here and the RH is around 22%. Ugh. I turned on a humidifier and managed to get it up to about 30% but even that is on the low side.

I topped up with 5L of CalMag + bennies @ 0.3ec.
Adjusted system back up to 5.8.
EC still at 0.8ec.

I need to hope tomorrow is a bit warmer and the RH isn't so low or i'm going to start to see tip burn where the VPD is too large

I need to invest in some thermostatic extraction fans, that will control the fan speed based on the Temp and RH. This will make managing RH easier.

 

[GoogleGenie]

Here's a tip that might come in handy.

These little squeezy dripper bottles are great for administering PH adjustment fluids. I use these when mixing nutes.

IMG_5591.jpg

• GoogleGenie
• Jan 22, 2021