Tyson's 4x4 ScrOG Feat: Mimosa In DWC 2019

[TysonOG]

What is up 420 community!
Man, I am so excited to be here. First of all let me tell you a little about myself. I have been into the growing hobby for 8 years now, but on and off. I started in soil and quickly switched to coco where i had a blast. I was always leery of trying full hydro but now that I have a much more comprehensive understanding of the plant, I think I am ready to take the plunge. I have spent those 8 years lurking on the forums and reading as much as I possibly can, and have finally decided to become an active member. I really appreciate the community here and would like to see what kinds of comments/questions/ideas you guys can come up with to enhance all of our abilities even more! This is currently my only hobby (my wife calls it my mistress) and as such I am able to devote a substantial amount of time to it. So barring any unforeseen circumstances, I should be posting and responding daily at the least.
I like to keep a large record of all measurables, and will include as much information as possible with every update, as well as info on what type of equipment I'm using. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. The only caveat is that I am 100% new to forums of any kind, so while I'm not a technology dummy, bear with me while I figure out all the ins and outs of posting photos, links, etc. With that being said lets get to the growing!

I will be starting with 8 Mimosa seeds from Symbiotic Genetics. It is a F2 hybrid cross of Clementine and Purple Punch. I have the seeds of both parents and actually back-crossed Mimosa with Clementine for the last grow. Slightly more pungent smell but noticed less yield so we will be going with straight Mimosa this time. I'm in a 4x4 tent, with a 600w HID in an air-cooled hood. I run a sealed room (as much as possible in a tent) with co2 enrichment. The only downside to this approach is that it is wasteful but in order to create the conditions I want, I am willing to tolerate certain excesses.
This will be my first crack at dwc. The funny thing is that it always seemed intimidating. But after gaining some experience, if anything it seems easier. I know I might eat those words, but that's why I've got you guys here, right?

Strain - Mimosa starting with 8 seeds and ending with 1 large monsta!
Space - 4x4x7 tent
Light - 600w MH/HPS
Air - 6" canfan for sealed hood. 2 pole-mounted fans for circulation
Co2 - 20lb tank w/ regulator connected to atlas 9 controller
Style - Scrog DWC in an 18g tote w/ 1/10hp chiller. 2, 6" cylindrical air stones with 7.8 lpm air pump. 250gph water pump used for the chiller and circulation.
Temps/Humidity - SensorPush therm/hydrometer, 3 inkbird controllers (1 for temp, 2 for humidity night/day) I use a small ultrasonic coolmist humidifier and a 6" ductfan to control humidity. Humidifier raises it during lights on, ductfan extracts humid air at lights out. This allows me to run 2 different ranges without expensive equipment or constantly adjusting.
Nutrients - Gen Hydro FloraTrio supplemented with Calmagic and Hydroguard. I will be using ro water for the grow as my tap reads 450ppm.
pH/EC - Bluelab guardian monitor - i was tired of testing and watering every day - hence the large tote and bluelab upgrade for this grow.
Sexing - I am using normal seeds and will be outsourcing sexing to save time and resources. I am using Phylos 4 site test for the first time, having used SteepHill last grow. While the results were top notch, the process was not and as such I have decided to switch for the time being. Growing from fem this would not be a problem, and I have no issues with fem seeds, just not using them this grow. I also have saved vigorous males in the past to procure pollen (that's how i back-crossed last grow) but I will not be doing that this grow.

5/25/19
8 seeds placed in shot glass full of room temp ro water. I submerged 1.5"x1.5" rockwool cubes in 5.5 pH adjusted ro and rinsed my hydroton using tap water to clear all the dust and small particles. I used two 5g buckets, one with 1/4" holes drilled throughout the bottom as a 5g strainer for cleaning then placed it inside the other and soaked the hydroton in more 5.5 pH ro water.

5/26/19
All 8 seeds had sunk. I took the rockwool cubes and shook them 3x to remove excess water and allow oxygen pockets to form. I drained the hydroton and placed it in the bottom of a germination tray with the rockwool on top and placed a humidity dome on. I find this helps to keep a high humidity without having to spray constantly. It also allows any fast growers you have to root below the cube without hitting sunlight. This enables me to wait until all are ready for transplant into the net cups. I placed a therm/hygrometer combo in with them and its been steady at 77 degrees and 92-95% humidity.

5/28/19
6 of the babies are up through the surface of the rockwool! While she can be finicky sometimes in flowering, Mimosa always starts strong and fast. Temp and humidity remain constant and I am removing the dome from darkness. I also recommend getting a therm/hygrometer that records daily highs and lows so you know your swings.

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• TysonOG
• May 28, 2019

day 4, seedlings popping through

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• TysonOG
• May 28, 2019

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• TysonOG
• May 28, 2019
• 1

Last crop

 

[TysonOG]

Cool thing I have noticed with rockwool. It seems to hold back the seed's shell and husk. When germinating in soil and coco, I occasionally would have either of these stuck to the cotyledons. I would either have to gently remove it to hurry the plant along or let nature do its thing. Sometimes it would lead to a slightly stunted cotyledon. It would have 0 effect on the end product but as a perfectionist it was a little annoying. I know a lot of people are not the biggest fan of rockwool but so far I am liking it.

 

[TysonOG]

5/29/19 1am. Beginning of day 5

Got the seedlings in the tent to utilize the light. I have the 600w turned down to 50%, with the bulb 2.5' from the seedlings. The inkbird controllers have been placed through the hole in the top of the humidity dome to monitor the temp an humidity inside the dome without opening it or the tent. I use a fan controller to adjust the power of the exhaust fan and thus control the temps. I have a 12k BTU portable ac unit that I might need in flowering as we are approaching summer but since I use co2 enrichment I run my temps little higher in veg anyway. Of course I am not currently running the co2. Ill probably start using it once I get the results of the sex test back and cull all but "the chosen one". I haven't received the sex kit yet but the seeds are 5-7 days away from being able to be sampled anyway. Then it'll be another week or so while I wait on return shipping and posting of the results. Sexing by eye test is easy once you get the hang of it but in growing scrog and hydro it is not practical to grow males to puberty. 15-20 days from planting is incredibly fast to sex cannabis plants and well worth the cost imo. I placed a SensorPush in the dome to record temp and humidity changes in a chart. I'm also running the lights 24/7 for now but normally by day 7, I have switched to 18/6.

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• TysonOG
• May 28, 2019

Humidity dome in tent

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• TysonOG
• May 28, 2019

About 66 hrs from planting (90 hrs from placing seeds in water)

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• TysonOG
• May 28, 2019

hygrometer lead in dome

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• TysonOG
• May 28, 2019

Inkbird controllers, blue for humidity, green for temp. Right now they aren't controlling...

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• TysonOG
• May 28, 2019

SensorPush device

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• TysonOG
• May 28, 2019

SensorPush app charting

 

[Alafornia]

Off to a great start.

 

[MochaBud]

Nice set up...a little too much light for seedlings IMO you'll have plenty of time to blast them with it later I just use a single 23w CFL for each seedling and move up the bigger they get...just my 2 cents

 

[Backlipslide]

Rockwoll is some of the best stuff to use. For the seed to come off, it happens in coco and soil as well. The deeper you put the germinated seed the better, the more coco or soil it needs to push through the better, knocks that seed right off. I haven’t had to deal with the seed in a few grows now, just been putting it deeper and the friction it has from pushing through the coco or soil does the trick!

 

[StoneOtter]

Hi Tyson, nice setup.

 

[TysonOG]

I agree @MochaBud it might not be neccesary but it also helps me control temps. I have a setup that holds four 23w cfls. when I used that a few grows back, I noticed some stretching early on. At your recommendation I would need 8 cfls for a total draw of around 200w. With my HID at 50%, it is drawing 300w. This is close enough for me so I dont have to buy more sockets/adapters. When I started using this 3 grows ago I was worried a little, but I havent seen any ill effects, other than power waste, in the 3 runs I've used it.

 

[TysonOG]

5/30/19 Day 6

Still chugging along. Nothing new to report. I started with 8, thinking I would pick the 6 best to go into the tote. Then I'll pick the 4 best for sexing. Ironically 2 seedlings have struggled a smidge. 1 has almost caught up but the other is barely above the rockwool. I dont like to cull healthy plants and sometimes they just need a bit more time, but frankly I dont have time and in order to hit my goal I need the fastest out of the gate anyway.
I dont think I've mentioned it, but my goal is grow a single 4x4 scrog'd plant that takes as much time in veg as it does in flower. So 9-10 weeks in each stage. I wont elaborate into why I do it this way but if you want I can go into more detail.
Temps are 77-80 and I've adjusted humidity to 80%. The inkbird controller is now controlling the humidifer. If you go this route, make sure you get a humidifer that doesn't need to pressed everytime you want it on. The ones with only 1 dial to both turn it on and adjust it, work best. I go through about a gallon/day to maintain 80% in a 4x4 tent. This isnt bad considering I live in the desert.
I'm gonna get around to going through your guys' journals here soon. I've been hurrying to finish this setup and with the NBA finals underway I'll be a little busy, as I do sports analysis for work.

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• TysonOG
• May 30, 2019

Day 6

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• TysonOG
• May 30, 2019

weak seedling #1 (bottom right)

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• TysonOG
• May 30, 2019

weak seedling #2

 

[61FALCON]

Looks good. Love all the gadgets to monitor everything.

 

[TysonOG]

@61FALCON I know the feeling! I'm a gadget man in general so it just naturally carried over. If you're willing to hunt you can find incredible deals. I get almost all my stuff second hand. The bluelab I got from the Hydroponics society of America, no joke . . off eBay. Had no idea until this card came with it. 1/3rd the price and immaculately maintained, got lucky. Made sure to get calibration and buffer solution to match, as my el cheapo cal solution was not the exact pH bluelab required. I got this stuff because it seemed a little better but was the same price, look what they sent with it. I've never seen a certificate for buffer solution. Quite above and beyond which is exactly why I like it. lol
Not to get off topic but the chiller is an even better story. I got on offerup. It was brand new, unused, these things go for 400. He says hes missing the power cord but he still wants 250. I told him "idk where I'm gonna get a power cord, I'll give ya 150". He said ok and I found a cord on Amazon for 6 bucks Haha. What a steal. Then it cost me almost as much to get a pump/tubing/filter/adapter etc to run the damn thing.

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• TysonOG
• May 30, 2019

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• TysonOG
• May 30, 2019

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• TysonOG
• May 30, 2019

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• TysonOG
• May 30, 2019

 

[StoneOtter]

I'm liking your grow plan.

 

[TysonOG]

Thanks @stoneotter ! Wait until you see the dwc tote. I just finished it today. Alot of work but I'm really happy. I'll be unveiling it soon, probably have them in there by day 10 or so.

 

[61FALCON]

@61FALCON I know the feeling! I'm a gadget man in general so it just naturally carried over. If you're willing to hunt you can find incredible deals. I get almost all my stuff second hand. The bluelab I got from the Hydroponics society of America, no joke . . off eBay. Had no idea until this card came with it. 1/3rd the price and immaculately maintained, got lucky. Made sure to get calibration and buffer solution to match, as my el cheapo cal solution was not the exact pH bluelab required. I got this stuff because it seemed a little better but was the same price, look what they sent with it. I've never seen a certificate for buffer solution. Quite above and beyond which is exactly why I like it. lol
Not to get off topic but the chiller is an even better story. I got on offerup. It was brand new, unused, these things go for 400. He says hes missing the power cord but he still wants 250. I told him "idk where I'm gonna get a power cord, I'll give ya 150". He said ok and I found a cord on Amazon for 6 bucks Haha. What a steal. Then it cost me almost as much to get a pump/tubing/filter/adapter etc to run the damn thing.

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• TysonOG
• May 30, 2019

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• TysonOG
• May 30, 2019

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• TysonOG
• May 30, 2019

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• TysonOG
• May 30, 2019

Nice one. Was looking at chillers but my temps are fine atm In summer I will do out door prob.
I just bought the blue lab new yesterday for the equivalent to $210 usd but I am in the Southern Hemisphere. Got sick of taking plant out of bucket twice a day to check readings. I don’t even have to open the tent now.

 

[TysonOG]

yea dude! I know its pricey but worth its weight in gold!

 

[TysonOG]

@Backlipslide I spoke too soon lol. The last 2 seedlings to come up still had their seed attached. Not that I really care, I just thought it was funny since the first 6 didnt and I went outta my way to post about it. I do like to plant pretty close to the surface so what you were saying about depth makes sense.
@61FALCON I didnt see the care kit. You'll really be glad you got that with it, good buy!

 

[TysonOG]

6/2/19 1:30 am Day 9

The roots of the seedlings have grown a couple inches out of the rockwool cube so I am now moving them to the net pots and their transitional home in the dwc tote. When i pulled the cubes from the bed of hydroton, one of the remaining 7 did not have any taproot showing from the bottom of the rockwool. I had already culled "weak seedling #2" from an earlier post and decided that this seedling was the 2nd plant that I would be culling from the original batch of 8. I opened up the rockwool to check and sadly she was healthy, just slow. The above ground growth was just as good as any of the others but since I am moving to my custom 6 site dwc, 1 more plant had to go. So of the 8 seeds, all germinated and all seemed healthy, which I'm happy about for my first time in rockwool. There's an extra satisfaction when you breed your own seeds due to sheer genetic crap shoot. "Weak seedling #1" has not only caught up but passed some of the others so I'm glad I left her alone. I'm kinda cheering for her to be the "winner". I like a fighter.
So 6 seedlings remaining. Of them, 3 had roots long enough to be placed in the 6" net pots at the proper height imo. The other 3 had roots that were shorter so i placed a very thing layer of hydroton in the pots so that the rockwool was as low as possible without actually touching the pot. The roots of all 6 were gently fed through a hole in the net pots and the amount of water was brought up so that there was a half inch gap or so between it and the net pot.
As for the tote, it is an 18 gallon centrex heavy duty. It wasn't 100% light proof so I sprayed it with 3 coats of flat black krylon to the point where it let no light in, with a maglite held up to the side. I then hit it with 3 coats of flat white krylon in order to keep it as cool as possible. I was able to snag 2 lids and my plan is to have 1 lid with six, 6" sites and 1 lid with one 6" site. When i had selected the final plant, her net cup slips right into the final one. I just had to cut out the bottom of the big, rimmed net pot. Using various hole saws (harbor freight for the win) I drilled the hole for the final lid with a 6" and drilled the six holes for the starting lid with 5" because those net pots have no rim. (You'll see). I made a 4" access port in the final lid because with scrog, I wont be able to lift the plant. This wasn't necessary for the starter lid because I can lift any individual net pot. I also drilled two holes for the ph and ec probes in both lids and installed rubber grommets in the holes and ones to the cords themselves so they rest on the holes. On the side of the tote I drilled holes for the air lines, the water pump power cord, the chiller out and chiller return. All of these were grommet-ed to size so that the tubes fit but were 100% light tight. I used 1/4 black tubing for the air lines and 3/4 tubing for the water lines. I installed 2 check valves on the airlines since i keep my pump below the stones and don't want backflow. Even with that I don't think they are 100% necessary but $2 the peace of mind is worth it. I have two, 6" stones powered by a 7.8 lpm pump. I am thinking of upping it to a 15 lpm pump here soon, mainly so that I can run it at 75% power to reduce noise and get more bubbles. The water pump is a 250gph and I got the bottom draw adapter on it so that when i do drain my res I can get all out but 2 cups. This allows me to drain and fill my res in 5 minute without lifting the lid. The water pump pushes out to the chiller which is outside the tent. I put an inline filter before the chiller to catch any dead roots or debris that make it out of the res. The chilled water comes back into the res and enters at the opposite end through en elbow for a waterfall effect, helping to agitate the surface more (the whole point of air stones).
It took 13.5 gallons to bring the water to the appropriate level. For the first nutrient solution I went with 13.5ml of calmag, 15ml of each floratrio, 15ml of hydroguard and 7.5ml of ph down. The brought my res to a steady 5.9 ph, and .6 ec (460ppm). I used ro water with a ppm of 40. The chiller is currently set at 67. The tent is a steady 78 degrees and 75% rh. I'm gonna include one of my favorite charts I've come across. It shows not only recommended environmental settings but also how they should drift over time. I've cross referenced each environmental control and this chart really has each one dialed in (as long as you're using co2). I will be following this schedule strictly with deviations only as necessary (I do like to keep day rh higher in veg than what it recommends). I plan to add Armor Si to my regimen starting with the next res change, scheduled in 10-11 days. I have also switched to 18/6 for the remainder of veg.

 

[TysonOG]

 

[TysonOG]

You guys like the thumbnails better? I think it looks cleaner, and I'm not scrolling for days.

 

[TysonOG]

I have an APCEM2 co2 enviroment monitor that i hang in the room I grow in. What Ive found is that, at least in my situation, co2 concentrations in the room average 1000ppm without supplementation, simply because we grow indoors and were mostly home. If you grow in a spare bedroom or something like that you may not need extra co2. The advantage of my tank and atlas9 controller is that I can keep it steady in the tent (I like 1200-1300ppm). Having your environment dialed in is one thing but it also needs to be relatively steady. For example if your target temp was 78 and you were averaging 78 but had a low of 56 and a high of 94, that would be less ideal then an average of say 75 but a low of 72 and high of 78. Even though your target isn't where you want it, you have created a stable environment. Plants constantly respond to changing stimuli. If you make your plants spend valuable energy on responding to large swings, you're essentially wasting that energy. There are certain situations where this is beneficial, like dropping temp in the last weeks of flower, but should still be done in a steady, controlled manner.