Whacking the Male Roots
Everyday I hear from a new grower that is doing his very first DWC Grow and now he has realized his male and female roots are very tangled in his reservoir tank. He has arrived at the time to remove the male plant, and he asks me how is he going to untangle those male and female roots to separate them?
When I tell him how, (just whack them in two) I later always see him seeking the advice of other growers, doubting me and looking for a much different answer from someone else. Just like I did on my first grow because it is so hard to accept.
You might want to save this post, bookmark it, save it in your Favorites, so you can later share it and the pics with other new growers.
When I did my first grow, I must of spent hours trying to untangle those roots so I could get that male plant out of that tank and not injure the female roots.
Haven't you ever went to a plant nursery, or Lowes or Home Depot's Garden Department and bought a one quart container with 3 or 4 flowers in it? Didn't you take it home and find all 4 plants root-bound, completely filling up the container? Didn't you then tear those 4 plants apart, rip the roots apart into 4 groups, plant them, set them out in the yard or garden spot and see them just thrive the very next day? Did tearing those roots up kill it or put it in shock over one day? Nope.
I've been doing this 5 gallon bucket grow to show new growers it can be done and how to do it and get decent sized plants. I started 3 unfeminized seed in the bucket, knowing I would later get one or two males and one or two females. Lucky me, I got two females this time!
Here is the bucket a few days earlier, after 5 weeks of VEGGING, when I discovered I had a male in it.
Here you see the bucket after I cut off the top of the one male plant, leaving me two 38 to 40 inch tall females. One female has alot of upward branches and will yield many ounces of buds. The other is a runt.
Look at this tangled root ball of the three plants, it is larger than a basketball, but the pic doesn't show it very well.
It took me all of 15 seconds to cut those roots apart, I did not waste any time trying to separate them. I just cut them apart with some shears.
Here you see them AFTER the whacking.
This is what I removed, all in one clump, about 75% of the total roots. That root mass completely filled up the bathroom sink. I've seen many growers say you can not safely remove that much root, without the plant going into shock, but I have 10 dozen Deep Water Culture friends who have tried it and now they know and believe you can.
When I discover a male, I cut the top 5/6 of the plant off and I wait to see if I have any more males in the same tank, before I cut the roots. I always take the opportunity to clean the air stones with a brush and metal scrubber and I completely clean the tank when I remove the males.
This is the bucket 24 hours after cutting out the male and the roots. The plants looked great the next morning and looked great the next night. No shock at all, and the two remaining females drank almost a full gallon the next day, as it normally does.
I also wanted you to see the lower branches of the two females. From experience, I can tell that the smaller plant on the left is good for over one ounce of dried manicured buds, and very close to two ounces.
The larger plant with all the upward growing branches and larger base will yield over 4+ ounces of buds.
Everyday I hear from a new grower that is doing his very first DWC Grow and now he has realized his male and female roots are very tangled in his reservoir tank. He has arrived at the time to remove the male plant, and he asks me how is he going to untangle those male and female roots to separate them?
When I tell him how, (just whack them in two) I later always see him seeking the advice of other growers, doubting me and looking for a much different answer from someone else. Just like I did on my first grow because it is so hard to accept.
You might want to save this post, bookmark it, save it in your Favorites, so you can later share it and the pics with other new growers.
When I did my first grow, I must of spent hours trying to untangle those roots so I could get that male plant out of that tank and not injure the female roots.
Haven't you ever went to a plant nursery, or Lowes or Home Depot's Garden Department and bought a one quart container with 3 or 4 flowers in it? Didn't you take it home and find all 4 plants root-bound, completely filling up the container? Didn't you then tear those 4 plants apart, rip the roots apart into 4 groups, plant them, set them out in the yard or garden spot and see them just thrive the very next day? Did tearing those roots up kill it or put it in shock over one day? Nope.
I've been doing this 5 gallon bucket grow to show new growers it can be done and how to do it and get decent sized plants. I started 3 unfeminized seed in the bucket, knowing I would later get one or two males and one or two females. Lucky me, I got two females this time!
Here is the bucket a few days earlier, after 5 weeks of VEGGING, when I discovered I had a male in it.
Here you see the bucket after I cut off the top of the one male plant, leaving me two 38 to 40 inch tall females. One female has alot of upward branches and will yield many ounces of buds. The other is a runt.
Look at this tangled root ball of the three plants, it is larger than a basketball, but the pic doesn't show it very well.
It took me all of 15 seconds to cut those roots apart, I did not waste any time trying to separate them. I just cut them apart with some shears.
Here you see them AFTER the whacking.
This is what I removed, all in one clump, about 75% of the total roots. That root mass completely filled up the bathroom sink. I've seen many growers say you can not safely remove that much root, without the plant going into shock, but I have 10 dozen Deep Water Culture friends who have tried it and now they know and believe you can.
When I discover a male, I cut the top 5/6 of the plant off and I wait to see if I have any more males in the same tank, before I cut the roots. I always take the opportunity to clean the air stones with a brush and metal scrubber and I completely clean the tank when I remove the males.
This is the bucket 24 hours after cutting out the male and the roots. The plants looked great the next morning and looked great the next night. No shock at all, and the two remaining females drank almost a full gallon the next day, as it normally does.
I also wanted you to see the lower branches of the two females. From experience, I can tell that the smaller plant on the left is good for over one ounce of dried manicured buds, and very close to two ounces.
The larger plant with all the upward growing branches and larger base will yield over 4+ ounces of buds.
