Winter DWC Grow - Northern Lights - AK-48

[Rifleman]

UPDATE 9: DAY 100!!....... thought about doing a scrog, even have the screen built, but decided against it because I was worried about how to do it with DWC...

I've been wondering how to do it also. Once the upgrowth takes off and buds begin, I see problems removing the basket from the bucket for a water change. An elevated bucket would help, IF you have the vertical height clearance. Maybe a wet dry vac. When you figure it out let me know, I'm leaning toward a rdwc with a 17 gal tote, but that will have to wait until after my Lemon Amnesia is done. She popped her head up last night.

 

[Stage]

I've been wondering how to do it also. Once the upgrowth takes off and buds begin, I see problems removing the basket from the bucket for a water change. An elevated bucket would help, IF you have the vertical height clearance. Maybe a wet dry vac. When you figure it out let me know, I'm leaning toward a rdwc with a 17 gal tote, but that will have to wait until after my Lemon Amnesia is done. She popped her head up last night.

Good morning all!
I am soo glad you didn't give up.
In reading thru your journal I don't think i saw where you are checking the ph and what the readings were.
I grow in DWC also. I like to keep the rez levels at around 3.5 to 4 gallons in a 5 gal bucket. If you do that your ph will drift a bit from 5.5 to 6.3 but this is good. PH drift is ok. Allows the girls to uptake the entire nutrient range.
This gives you a bit of a buffer for the ph fluctuations and nute concentrations when the girls start to eat heavily.
You are only feeding two girls so in your situation you should be checking the rez water temp and level, ph, and ppm.
I went the 'sterile rez' method.
Changing out the rez water every few days in my opinion is a waste of nutes. If the water temps are in check (62f-75f) I only change the rez 3-4 times during the entire grow.
You need a work bucket, one similar to the two you are growing in to sit the net pot in as you clean fill add to the original bucket. (rambling but you kno what i mean).
Those gas light schedules are ok i guess, but being a newbie I would suggest 11/13 as a schedule for flower and 18/6 for your veg.
Unless power consumption is a motivating factor, I would stick to the Kiss method.
Now...back to the ladies, they are recovering and looking wonderful.
All you need to do is listen to them.

 

[nightOWL]

I've been wondering how to do it also. Once the upgrowth takes off and buds begin, I see problems removing the basket from the bucket for a water change. An elevated bucket would help, IF you have the vertical height clearance. Maybe a wet dry vac. When you figure it out let me know, I'm leaning toward a rdwc with a 17 gal tote, but that will have to wait until after my Lemon Amnesia is done. She popped her head up last night.

I sketched up a plan to attach a base unit made of PVC to the two net pots, and then use that base to attach the legs of the scrog. my thought was that I could lift both net pots up at the same time since they would be connected and the scrog would come with... my only problem was trying to attach the PVC base to the net pots with the plants growing as they are... I'm going to wait until my next grow and then put out a post on just the assembly of the scrog! good luck with you lemon amnesia... that's some great bud!

 

[nightOWL]

Good morning all!
...
I went the 'sterile rez' method.
Changing out the rez water every few days in my opinion is a waste of nutes. If the water temps are in check (62f-75f) I only change the rez 3-4 times during the entire grow.
You need a work bucket, one similar to the two you are growing in to sit the net pot in as you clean fill add to the original bucket. (rambling but you kno what i mean).

as this was my first attempt at a hydro grow, i went with a simple dwc setup... i've been really thinking about a rdwc system though for my next grow... i agree with you that swapping everything out seems like a waste. I've actually got four buckets right now - each swap i ready the two dormant buckets with water and nutes and then just do a swap out.. wasteful for sure, but it's been working thus far...

 

[nightOWL]

UPDATE 10, DAY 112 — READY TO FLOWER

Whew! I had a trip planned and was away from the plants for 10 days... I refilled the buckets before I left and hopped for the best... I got back and wow! Plant went nuts! They grew so much that the soft ties that I had around branches and then attached to the buckets all came loose!

I had to get rid of the shelf, as I just didn't have the vertical space left! I swapped out the nutrients this morning and I'm going to start the process of flowering in the next day or two... swap out the bulb and change the lighting, just need to do some research on the whole process...

On to the pics!

Overall tent pic, had to loose the shelf!, I've already added the tie downs in the front

Northern lights

Northern lights root ball

AK-48 root ball

Both plants

 

[nightOWL]

UPDATE 11 - DAY 123 OVERALL / DAY 7 OF FLOWERING

I started flowering last week... switched the lighting from the glr schedule to a 12/12 setting. I also swapped out the veg bulb for the flowering bulb.

I've been using the gh basic nutrients. since flowering started I've added florolicious, flora nectar, and kool bloom.

I know I need to start keeping a close eye on the humidity... I've added a fan to the top vent of the tent and opened the bottom vents to get some better air flow. I've sealed the garage up as best I can and I've got a dehumidifier in the garage but out of the tent keeping the humidity to around 50 or so..

this is my first grow and I have no idea what to expect moving forward... i know next time I'm going to start flowering way earlier or at least trim some of the lower stuff off before I get to flowering!

on to the pics

DAY 1 OF FLOWERING


DAY 7 OF FLOWERING

 

[NewBoy420]

nice set up man. is hard to maintain that system? the girls look amazing!

 

[nightOWL]

nice set up man. is hard to maintain that system? the girls look amazing!

the maintenance isn't too bad... I have 4 buckets - two that the plants are sitting in and then two empties - I mix the new nutrients up in the empties, swap the airstones and then the net pot/plant out of the old buckets and into the new...

with the plants that big, it's been a pain to move them and get at the back.

 

[NewBoy420]

i see, your right not to bad. how often do you change your buckets?

 

[nightOWL]

i see, your right not to bad. how often do you change your buckets?

I've fill them with nutrients and 3 gallons of water once a week and then keep tabs on the water level, when it drops to about half, I mix up a 3 gallons in a bucket and top the two buckets off.

 

[nightOWL]

UPDATE 12 - DAY 126 OVERALL / DAY 10 OF FLOWERING

Swapping out the nutrients tonight and snapped a few pics... humidity is staying in the mid 50s w/ lights on, mid 60s w/ lights off.. with setup of dehumidifier outside of the tent, vent and inline fan in the top duct of the tent.

 

[nightOWL]

UPDATE 13 - DAY 129 OVERALL / DAY 13 OF FLOWERING

just plugging along with flowering... swapped out nutrients tonight and took a few pics... temps and humidity area all holding with my setup... keeping my fingers crossed that i can keep it up

ak48 closeup


overall tent

 

[Rifleman]

Pics pics! How is she looking?

 

[blvck]

These babies look amazing, keep up man !
I am also currently doing northern lights but autos
Good luck with your garden man

 

[nightOWL]

UPDATE 14, DAY 140 OVERALL, DAY 24 OF FLOWERING


Hey all... haven't posted this past week...been a crazy... plants have been doing really well though. I've been changing nutrients on fridays and then mixing up 3 gallons of nutrients on either monday or tuesday and split it between the two buckets.

I've purchased a USB microscope so i'll start posting some of those pictures as soon as i figure out how to use it. In the meantime, here's a picture of one of them main flowers on the AK-48... i'm still trying to figure out how to photograph these ladies with the freaking hps bulb.... i think i've figured out the right settings so i'll try to get a few more of the flowers as they grow...



EDIT: added another picture of the ak-48

 

[nightOWL]

UPDATE 15, DAY 147 OVERALL, DAY 31 OF FLOWERING

Hello all! Thought I'd snap a few pictures tonight... halfway through week 5 of flowering and things are hanging in there... flowers are getting bigger and bigger. Temps are hanging in and with the dehumidifier running I can get the humidity in the tent down to the low 40s-high 30s.

I do have one of those USB microscopes but I'm having a hell of a time getting a good shot... anyone have any tips?

Overall tent


AK-48 flower


Northern Lights flower


AK-48 plant

 

[nightOWL]

UPDATE 16, DAY 153 OVERALL, DAY 37 OF FLOWERING

Happy 4/20 everyone... I'm chugging along with my grow. Tent smells fantastic, flowers look great! I'm still trying to figure out how to get decent shots with the USB microscope, but I thought I'd post a few pics nonetheless... any thoughts on how close I am?

AK-48 Flower


Northern Lights Flower


Closeup AK-48


Closeup AK-48


Closeup Northern Lights

 

[nightOWL]

UPDATE 17, DAY 169 OVERALL, DAY 53 OF FLOWERING

hey all! i need help!!

about the 4th week of flowering i started to notice a few of the fan leaves starting to yellow on the northern lights... i assumed it was just part of flowering and it was giving up on the non essential leaves? i've seen some leaves fall from the bottom every so often. It's been staying about the same, maybe a few more leaves each week, but the overall plant seemed ok and flowers looked good...

This morning, right before the lights went out (i run them overnight) i peeked in and the northern lights looks sick... more yellowed and sickly... i'm not sure if you can see it in the pictures...

what should i do? i thought i should harvest to save the flowers, but i haven't flushed yet... should i even try to salvage these? will the taste or high be off with the stress to the plant?

this has been a crazy long grow for me... learning along the way, but i'm on freaking day 169 since germination. the ak-48 plant looks fine

 

[nightOWL]

UPDATE 18, DAY 178 OVERALL, DAY 62 OF FLOWERING, DAY 9 OF FLUSH

Hey everyone! Everything has been chugging along. Plants are looking a little weak, but flowers are looking awesome. I've had to tie up so many. I was using thin twine but ran out, thus the parachute cord in the picture below.

I think I'll harvest both plants tomorrow night, that will be 10 days of flushing. This is my first grow so it's also my first harvest. I've been reading everything I can on harvesting and manicuring... but I suppose nothing beats actually doing it... I'm planning on take lots of pictures... I'll try to post them on Sunday

 

[nightOWL]

UPDATE 19, DAY 180 OVERALL, DAY 64 OF FLOWERING, DAY 11 OF FLUSH

HARVEST !!

Hey all! Today was my first official harvest! This has been a crazy grow! I learned a lot and made a shitload of mistakes, but hey... i made 180 freaking days with live plants, and crazy big flowers!

I'll fill in more details later and answer any questions anyone posts, but for tonight I'm exhausted... it was 10 hours of cutting/manicuring/etc.

I'm not sure how everyone calculates their weight for a harvest, but this is what I ended up with on the day of harvest, with full understanding that the stems are still on, and they're wet and these numbers will drop significantly, but at the end of the day I have:

• 31.4 oz northern lights
• 29.1 oz AK-48
• 8 oz trimmings in a ziploc in the freezer

I removed everything from the tent and set up the drying rack and a few other strings to hang the bigger buds. Humidity with the dehumidifier running is holding at 45% for now...

I want to seriously thank all the folks on this site... great help and insight on growing... still have lots to learn, but I'm hooked! Already planning my next grow!

On to the pictures!

Night before the harvest:


Root ball from Northern Lights:


The biggest flower of the day!!!


Northern Lights done!, buds to hang, mid range buds to go on the drying, rack, and freaking popcorn buds, yet to trim


View in the tent, AK-48 hanging


View in the tent, Northern Lights hanging


View in the tent, drying rack