100% organic DWC tent grow

[shibbysurfrider]

Hello Cannabis users!
I am currently starting my first solo grow and have decided to share my progress, findings and mishaps with everyone to receive input. I am going to grow DWC, vegging under T5s and budding under a 1000W HPS. The entire grow is indoors in grow tents.

My current strains:
GreenHouse Seeds Trainwreck Feminized (5)
Greenhouse Seeds Super Lemon Haze Feminized (5)
Barney's Farm Seeds Vanilla Kush (5)
Female Seeds Grapefruit (4)

Yesterday I soaked all off my seeds in a cup of water. After 12 hours all but 1 Grapefruit seed sank. And by this morning, all 19 seeds have sank. In my experience, the seeds that sink are absorbing water meaning that they are viable. Today I drained the cups and placed damp paper napkins around the seeds. Going to get organic Rapid Rooters ASAP but my hydro store was closed today!

Please feel free to chime in with any comments and/or advice. I'm hoping to learn a lot and maybe teach some others a thing or two about growing.

[shibbysurfrider]

I have just relocated and this is my first grow where I am the sole caregiver of the plants. All my equipment is recently purchased and this is my first grow with this set-up.

Veg Chamber:
24''x48''x60'' grow tent 75$ + 25$ shipping on Amazon
2- 4 bulb 48'' T5 Sunblaze grow lights
4'' 135cfm oracle inline fan

Flower Chamber:
48''x48''x78'' grow tent 99$ + 25$ shipping on Amazon
1000W Quantum Digital Ballast
Super Sun II reflector
8'' 735cfm oracle inline fan

Nutrients:
Advanced Nutrients Mother Earth Super Tea Grow
Advanced Nutrients Mother Earth Super Tea Bloom
Humboldt Nutrients Roots
Roots Organics Trinity Catalyst
Roots Organics Orgeonism XL
Advanced Nutrients Nirvana

[shibbysurfrider]

Today all my nutrients have arrived. I got some organic root plugs to place my seeds in. So far, all 19 of my seeds have sprouted roots! I am very excited.

Anyone know anywhere to get a cheap TDS and PH meter. Local hydro store wanted 70$ for PH meter and 110$ for TDS!!!!

I can't seem to figure out how to post pictures either. Some help with that would be much appreciated.

[shibbysurfrider]

Unfortunately my web supplier was backordered on the roots organics Orgeonism XL and will ship it ASAP. I was looking forward to using it because I've heard good things.

No one on where to get a cheap TDS and PH meter?

Do I have to have 50 posts to attach pictures?

[Shovelhandle]

Yes, I think that's true about having so many posts before we can do photos.
Sounds like a winner grow you got planned there. Thanks for sharing, welcome to the forum and best o' luck with the green.

Shovelhandle

[neceros]

I got a PH meter for about $13 at my hydro store. Not sure why yours is so expensive. Just look for a low budget version, perhaps near a pool center. I don't know what TDH is.

[shibbysurfrider]

Well I'm impatient and found a 35$ TDS meter (to measure PPM or EC levels) at a hydro store and went ahead and got that 70$ PH meter bc I cant wait. My babies are growing fast.

So far I've had 100% success with all of my seeds sprouting and all but 4 are beginning to poke out above the rooters.

I want to throw them in the dwc containers right away with a WEAK solution of Humboldt Roots and AN super tea grow. But I know it's far too soon....

I must practice patience....

[shibbysurfrider]

Just picked up a TDS meter from local hydro store. My tap water ppm is 470!!!! I have a cheapy '2-stage filter' on my faucet for drinking water. Guess what the ppm is? 470!!! Is this bad for my plants? Definitely won't be needing CalMag or anything like that.

[shibbysurfrider]

So as I wait to find time to get to the store all but 2 of my little seedlings are poking about the surface of the rooters. Some seem to be stretching over an inch tall and are just about to shed their seed shells and open up their seedling leaves. It might just be me, but they seem to be stretching upwards. Are they reaching for light?

I do not have them under a grow light yet because my veg room is still under construction. Hopefully it'll be done today with a DIY carbon filter and duct muffler.

[shibbysurfrider]

FYI the 4'' 175cfm oracle fan is LOUD! they are advertised as 'extremely quiet' on the website i purchased them at. Maybe the motor is quiet, but the air rushing out sounds like a hair dryer. I hope my DIY muffler and carbon filter help.

I don't want to be like my friends grow and her little sister asked "why does it sound like you have a vacuum cleaner in your closet?"

[shibbysurfrider]

I got some organic brown ganular sugar from Walmart because it looked like Sucanat and it was 3$. What is the application rate for this? 1tsp/gallon in veg, 2tsp/gallon flower?

[shibbysurfrider]

Seed Packs:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/IMG_2685.jpg
Soaking:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/IMG_2686.jpg
Veg Tent:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/grow014.jpg
Sprouts!:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/grow016.jpg

[shibbysurfrider]

Ladies and gentlemen, we have roots. Gotta finish up my DWC and grow tent set-up now.

http://http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/grow001-1.jpg

[drudown11]

FYI the 4'' 175cfm oracle fan is LOUD! they are advertised as 'extremely quiet' on the website i purchased them at. Maybe the motor is quiet, but the air rushing out sounds like a hair dryer. I hope my DIY muffler and carbon filter help.

I don't want to be like my friends grow and her little sister asked "why does it sound like you have a vacuum cleaner in your closet?"


I have a fan similar to yours thats i use in my closet. Its not as loud as your friends, but it tends to keep me up at night sometimes.


I just counter it by smoking some of the weed i grew in the closet. Works like a charm:thumbsup:

[shibbysurfrider]

yes it does. luckily I dont have to sleep in the room, but I do not want anyone to notice my grow.

So I freaked out about my seeds stretching too much and I rigged up a temporary lighting setup to prevent them stretching to the heavens! My veg chamber is extremely height limited and i need to keep my babies short.

Here are some pix of my temporary set up and some DIY carbon filter, duct muffler and dwc container pictures in the works.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/grow001-2.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/grow002-1.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/grow004.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/grow005.jpg
http://http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/grow006.jpg

[shibbysurfrider]

So All is going well EXCEPT my GreenHouse Seeds Trainwrecks. Out of the 5 seeds, I fear that 2 have died while trying to emerge above the rooter plugs. 1 of the others is a 2.5'' tall stem with the unopened seed on top and the other 2 that are actually showing leaves look sort of retarded. I'm not sure what to do with these. Yield and quality are very important to me. Should I grow these out? Or start one of the other strains I have lined up?

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/41.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/42.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/43.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/45.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/shibbysurfrider/46.jpg

[shibbysurfrider]

finally got my veg chamber up and running! Temps are a little higher than I want so I'll probably have to put frozen bottles in the rez's. One of my mutant trainwrecks that never sprouted is a confirmed goner...

I will give them a week, and if not, then I'll pop either my Reserva Privada Cole Trains or my DNA Genetics Sharksbreath.

I also put the seedlings in a WEAK nutrient solution consisting of Humboldt Roots, Roots Organics Trinity Catalyst and Advanced Nutrients Mother Earth Super Tea Grow.

[shibbysurfrider]

Thanks man. Right now I'm working from home so I have plenty of time to tend to my babies. I catch myself watching them grow haha. lights are about 4'' from the tops now and the stretching has definitely stopped. After lasts nights move to the DWC containers and veg cab, they have all perked up.

3 of my remaining 4 Trainwrecks seem to be looking more normal now. Weird, bent leaves seem to be growing out normal.


The vanilla Kush look shorter and I can already tell she is gonna have fat indica leaves.

The Super Lemon Haze seemed to stretch the most but have evened out now. Big variation among these, expected from an F1 pheno. Hopefully I pick the right winners to clone.

The Grapefruit are the unknown in this mix. Never smoked or grown, just a strain that caught my eye. An 8 week, maximum yielding sativa. Its supposedly a pineapple pheno C99 crossed with another tropical sativa. Very happy so far. Seedlings are VERY uniform, like i was growing cloned seedlings.

and now the pix!
My setup with fan plugged into light.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/aug14001.jpg
lights on!
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...rider/8132.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/aug14003.jpg
grapefruits
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/aug14011.jpg
retarded trainwrecks
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/aug14009.jpg
stretched super lemon haze
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/aug14006.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/aug14004.jpg

[neceros]

I'd suggest being careful with blowing on them right now. I'd give them at least a few weeks before you use a fan on 'em.

[shibbysurfrider]

ok will do. thanks.

what is the reason for this? I understand I don't want a tornado in there, but a little breeze? I figured that the wind helps circulate the air and promote strong stems.

[jtsik330]

I never have had to use any type of support for any of plants during flower and I think its due to I always keep a small fan that keeps them moving around. So much that they grow on a lean and I have to rotate them. In other words they will always benefit from the movement as long as you don't break them.

[shibbysurfrider]

that's what I figured. they do move quite a lot with the fans on high, but it's not like they're blowing over or anything. my ambient temps are what's killing me.

inside my tent is mid 80s with 30-40% humidity. 90 degrees exactly if I have to shut the closet for stealth reasons.

my res temps are about 10 degrees cooler(mid 70s). should i freeze bottles and put them in the rez?

[jtsik330]

I wouldn't, res temps are okay if they are 70 I would just keep an eye for anyi issues with roots. The closer the water gets to 80 the higher the chance of issues. Don't worry about the temps so much if its peaking out around 90. I have to battle temps of 115 -125 on the normal and although it takes longer then it should I get an end result. Temps make a difference but if nothing can be done, use your energy to keep an eye on other things. :thumbsup:

[shibbysurfrider]

115 to 125?!? wow that's really hot. My rez temps got into the high 80s last night. I put in a frozen water bottle in each one and they were thawed and warm within 5 minutes.... My plants seem to be doing OK but I am considering ditching the Trainwrecks and consolidating the remaining plants into 2-10 gallon DWC totes and only running one set of t5s. The room temps these plants are in are in the low 70s. But my tent temps are still in the mid/upper 80s. I wouldnt mind so much if my rez didn't feel like a spa. I'm afraid of my plants going hermie on me. I've heard feminized seeds are more likely to than normal seeds?

[shibbysurfrider]

So today I checked my rez temps... Exact same as my ambient temps. mid/upper 80s. EEEK!!!! My plants have grown, but the trainwrecks are looking weird/spindly and one fell over limp and died. All my other plants are doing great.

So I decided to take drastic measures, I ditched my 2 level setup and put my remaining plants in 2 10gal DWC totes. I insulated the totes with Stick-on duct insulation on top and foil tape on the sides. I consolidated my 4 air stones and put 2 in each container. I took out one of the t5 strips and my temps are exactly at 80 and my res stays at 70. YAY! I have SO much more room now and I rez changes wont be such a pain.

My plants seem to love it already and I swear there's been growth in the last few hours. First set of true leaves opened yesterday and I can already see the 2nd set forming on 10 out of the 12 plants!!!

I also added half strength Humboldt Roots and Roots Organics Trinity Catalyst.

Advanced Nutrients Mother Earth Super Tea says to add 3.5-7.5ml per liter. So that's close to 15-30ml. I added 2.5mL per gallon of solution.

My TDS meter is all but useless with organics. Barely registers any PPM change.

I will add pix tonight I promise!

[shibbysurfrider]

Tonight all is well with my revamped grow. I now have 4 plants of each strain:
Grapefruit
Vanilla Kush
Super Lemon Haze

My rez temps are still a little higher than I want (mid 70s) but I'm going to put my air pump on the outside of my grow tent and see if that helps. I swear I can see growth in one day.

PH went from 5.6 to 6.8 over the course of a few hours. I added a little PH down to both rez's and its been stable the last few hours. Hope I prepped my hydroton right.

Some stems are a darker reddish? (i'm mildly color-blind lol) I know this can be due to a deficiency, but the growth seems good on all my plants and only 2 don't show the darker stems, but they are at the same growth stage as the others.

I'm about to embark on a 3-day trip to Mammoth. I can't wait to see how much they grow over the next three days! Until then...

[shibbysurfrider]

first pic is of my new set up
2nd two are of a super lemon haze that stretched when I had the lights too high but now is doing just dandy
4th pic is of a Vanilla Kush baby
last pic is a grapefruit for some reason I'm the most excited for this strain. and the other two are Cannabis Cup winners... haha

[shibbysurfrider]

So I'm wondering what nute concentration I should be using right now? I assume very weak, but how weak?

AN recommends 15-30mL of MEST Grow per gallon. Right now I have 2.5mL per gallon.

I have half strength Humboldt Roots and Roots Organics Trinity Catalyst.

Should I put more MEST Grow in? I ask this because All but 2 of my plants have darker/reddish stems. I read this can be Nitrogen or Magnesium deficiency....

[shibbysurfrider]

Ok well due to amazing new trails in Mammoth, my vacation was not 3 but 5 days. Unfortunately, I didn't cure my hydroton properly and my pH was at 7!!!! All my plants were showing various signs of pH lockout (yellow leaves, deformed growth, spindly). But amazingly they over doubled in size since I left.

Upon further inspection I noticed my rez was full of yellowish/white slime and the temps were 76.

So I put my poor plants into smaller rez with frozen bottles to keep the temp down, and I've been constantly adding pH DOWN to keep the pH at the right level. It's been starting to stabilize after a day. I also purchased HYGROZYME and my plants have been soaking in that. Already all that gunky whitish stuff is falling off and my white roots are showing.

All my plants are turning green again and I swear they are still growing. These babies can take a lot. 1 Vanilla Kush looks like it has nute burn? and another vanilla Kush looks all spindly but its new growth looks normal.

I have purchased calcium and magnesium supplements and got 10 gallons of Sparkletts for my rez (my tap water was at 570ppm this morning). I also bought another air pump and bubble wall to aerate the resevoir even more to prevent rot + add O2.

I will post pictures tonight.

[shibbysurfrider]

Sorry it's been so long. Between nursing my poor babies back to health and dealing with epic surf conditions, I have had little time to post here. All my babies are doing well. I have 2 'sick' Vanilla Kush and 1 stunted Super Lemon Haze that seem to be recovering well. All my Grapefruit are doing excellent and look the healthiest/largest overall. It's mostly C99 so not a big surprise there.

Here are some pix of my extra air curtain (instead of airstone) and I added an extra air pump. I have 2 pumps rated to 175gallons pumping air into about 15 gallons total lol. Somehow I got green buildup in rez, cleaning and sterilizing this and checking for light leaks.

[shibbysurfrider]

1st 2 pix are of my rez with the algae or growth in it. Now I have a regimen of frozen bottles keeping the temps 68-72 at all times.
3rd pic is of my Grapefruit.
4th is another Grapefruit.
5th is my sad Vanilla Kush that's browing

[shibbysurfrider]

some more pix. they all show various signs of nute lockout due to pH being close to 8 for 4 days straight. They were all horribly yellow and look amazing now compared to how they were. These pix were all from yesterday.

[shibbysurfrider]

1st-3rd pictures are all my other Vanilla Kush plants. Note the one with the super large leaves and the spindly one was feared dead a few days ago but it has new growth that appears normal.
4th-5th are my Super lemon Hazes. One has very large leaves and is tall but the other is very stout. I expected lots of differences bc its an F1 but this is crazy!

Probably due to my noob mistakes. But atleast I'm learning one mistake at a time.

[shibbysurfrider]

last 2 pix!

[shibbysurfrider]

those were my other 2 Super Lemon Haze, one seemed to stretch for the moon, then stop growing. The other is staying short.

[camoxnhx]

so how do you like the grow tent!? i saw some yesterday at my local grow store and i was just intregue by them but just a little short on cash atm. what size tent are you working with for your grow?

*pulling chair up to sit and watch while packing the vape*

[shibbysurfrider]

hey, thanks for stopping by!
As to the tent, for the price, I love it. Any name brand equivalent (HydroHut, GrowLab, Homebox) would have run me about 200$ without shipping. My hut cost 75+25 to ship. The size is 24x48x60''. The material is nice, but I have a few small (smaller than pin hole) size light leaks along the lower zipper. And the vent holes through the top are kida funky, the exhaust out of the top has a 90 degree bend built into it.... But for the price it can't be beat.

I have a 48x48x78 tent for flowering, but I havent even taken it out of the box yet.

It is pretty sturdy and I had 2x 48'' T5 fixtures, a 4'' inline fan and a 12'' carbon scrubber all hanging from the roof of it at once without it even sagging.

Look for them on Amazon, I got mine from LEDwholesalers.

[camoxnhx]

Thanks for th info!! Yea I wanna step it up from cardboard to a tent after this grow I'm doing. Bit just seeing how fast everything is moving in your thread is encouraging me to get one

[shibbysurfrider]

Grow tents rock if you need a controlled environmentand don't want to build a cabinet. They are a cheap alternative, built in vent holes, intakes, light mounts, light proof and reflective lining. Not as stealth, but it depends on what you need.

So today I got a little worried about my high ambient temps at plant level. After reading, the consensus agreed that anything over 85 F can cause heat stress. My ambient temps hover around high 80s - 90.0 at the hottest. But they stay there. My rez temps stay 67-73 except for an hour or two they reach 75 bc my little frozen bottle wont last overnight.

My new growth looks good, but some leaves are yellowing and some tips are browning... nute burn? Nothing looks too bad.

1 of my Grapefruits is going to be really bushy.

[neceros]

Grow cabinets are great if you can afford them. It actually is cheaper to build your own space. Plus the grow tents are limited in space.

I'm trying to sell mine right now. It's too small.

[shibbysurfrider]

Good Morning Everyone!
Did a rez change yesterday. Organics kind of have me on the fence, nutrient solution seems OK until you stir it and all kinds of black gunk appears. I believe it was on the bottom of the rez. But, my plants seem to be doing just fine. So far I have 3 amazing Grapefruits, 2 decent super Lemon Haze and 2 really good Vanilla Kush.

I want to start LST and tie them over but I remember reading somewhere that you wait until the 5th node? Unfortunately I am on a time table and promised some patients medicine at the start of November, so I'm only going to veg out another week.

I'm going to set up my flowering chamber with my 1000w Quantum ballast and maybe turn it down to 600watt and veg them for a few days under that. Is it possible to dim just any HPS bulb? And what is a good height to start the light at?

I upped my nutes a littls so I'm running:
7.5mL Advanced Nutrients Mother Earth Super Tea Grow
5mL Roots Organics Trinity Catalyst
2mL Humboldt Roots
6mL Hygrozyme

along with my Calc and Mag supplements for my R/O water

PPMs are at 360-370, but I know my TDS meter isn 't picking up all the organics.

1st shot are of my 4 grapefruits (bottom right and middle) and 2 smaller Vanilla Kush on the top.

2nd shot is of my 4 Super Lemon Haze on the left and middle with 2 more Vanilla Kush on the right

The last 2 are of my Grapefruits. These are about 1 Node ahead of the others as far as growth, they are also showing lots of leaves opening at the nodes. I'm very excited for these. I hope the rest will pick up when i put them under the bigger bulb.

[shibbysurfrider]

The first two pictures are of my better Super Lemon Haze plants. 1 looks very squat and Indica dominant while the other is taller with thinner leaves and looks sativa dominant. I love sativa Dominant bud, but I'm not going to keep her as a mom unless she finishes in 10 weeks or less.

The last picture is of one of my Vanilla Kush. These all seem short and stout and very Indica dominant with dark green, fat leaves.

[Theym420]

What happened to these plants? Almost a month and no updates :(

[headshake]

My TDS meter is all but useless with organics. Barely registers any PPM change.


that's because TDS stand for Total Dissolved Solids, aka salts, hence the Parts Per Million reading it gives you. these are the dissolved solids that reside in your water, or the salts that deliver the elements your plants need. organics aren't salt based. organics contain carbon-based foods that the mircrobes in your soil eat and in turn give your plants the elements they need.


-shake

[shibbysurfrider]

Sorry everyone who was following and helping with this thread. Let's just say that I'm a novice grower who jumped in over his head. Organics in a DWC are NOT EASY!!!
Work got super busy so I was away most of the day and my pH was going haywire. I did a little research and Humboldt Roots is supposedly Roots Excellurator with a different label. RE says specifically NOT to use it in an aerated rez... My Roots looked so nasty and the smell was horrible. By week 3 of flower my poor plants were barely growing or showing buds so I made the switch to synthetics.I am now running AN Sensi Bloom, Dutch Master Zone, cal mag + and AN Big Bud powder. My plants exploded and are coming along nicely. I think they re a week or 2 behind in flowering bc of the fail with organics.
I learned a LOT with this organic DWC attempt. My ph would rise 1.0-1.5 a day!!!! I was literally dumping in pH down. My rez would stay all brown/green and i had horrible algae that no organic remedies worked on. My TDS levels were climbing daily, and honestly, i'm surprised my plants grew at all.

I don't want anyone to do lose faith in organics due to my experience. I am not an expert and my plants definitely suffered from lack of attention. I Believe sterile synthetics are the way to go with rez based hydro systems. I have a few clones of lemon kush and cotton candy kush side by side 2 of each in hydro with chem nutes vs. 2 of each in coco with the organic nutes. I want to compare the taste/growth/yield.
Once again, I apologize for not updating. And thanks to everyone who was folloowing. I will post pictures of how far they've come along when the lights go on in a couple hours.

ADIOS!!!!

[shibbysurfrider]

Hello everyone,
So due to issues stated above I am no longer 100% organic and this thread is kinda bunk. My ladies have been coming along nicely and i feel I am a few weeks away from harvesting my Grapefruit! One is super all and has buds all alon the main stem. Another is shorter with about 7 shoots at the bottom with 4-7'' long buds on each along with a good looking main cola. I have one giant grapefruit that looks behind in terms of budding. and one runt thats at abt the same stage as the giant.

I am 7.5 weeks into a (supposedly) 8 week strain but bc I stressed the crap out of them by trying to use organics in DWC and panic LST 4 weeks into flower because the growth exploded and I ran out of head room. The Grapefruit are holding up remarkebly well. 2 are really rewarding me and the other 2 are doing OK. I am going to give them nutes for another week and a half (8 weeks total of nutes, 1 week flush possibly longer). I DO NOT want to harvest prematurely and waste all of my efforst.

And here are the pictures! How much to you think I will yield off the big cola? I am just curious. My original goal was an oz per plant, but I am a noob and made a TON of mistakes. I think the stout plant with lots of bottom colas will yield pretty well. They smell amazing when touched! Kind of like strawberry soda mixed with melted cherry ring pop. If you get what i'm saying...

[shibbysurfrider]

that is a 15'' ruler for scale. I found I can get dry ice cheap and had styrofoam coolers laying around that keep a couple pounds frozen during lights on, slowly bathing my plants in co2. The bud development has really taken off. They are swelling very fast. I am crossing my fingers for an OZ a plant with grapefruit. definitely the best looking and smelling (so far) strain I got going. All trichs appear clear still, but my hads are not steady and my 60-100x scope makes it VERY hard to get a good look (think earthquake).

My Vanilla Kush started producing huge calyxes and is throwing out white hairs. It only started about 6 weeks into flower about a week after i switched to Sensi Bloom and ditched the organics. I hope I am not 6 weeks behind in flowering.... My super lemon haze have a lot of white hairs but bud formation is minimal. They smell like sugar flavored pinesol when touched. I hope they stay lemony!

[Terps]

I dont know if its just me.... but your plants look like they have a LONG ways to go. they calyxes are not swollen at all...id let those girls go atleast another 4 or 5 weeks.

How do you like DWC? my first experience with DWC didnt go to well but i didnt give up on hydro i just switched systems and now i grow with Ebb-n-Flow table and find it MUCH ezer.

[shibbysurfrider]

hey! thanks for stopping by. yes... they do look like they have a long way to go...

As for the DWC, I love it with my Advanced Nutrients Sensi Bloom, CalMag+, AN Big Bud and Dutch Master Zone. My poor plants are behind because I decided to use organic nutrients. Even though the labels say "safe for hydroponics'', my pH went crazy, root gunk everywhere and overall nastiness. Once I switched to synthetics my growth took off, pH stays normal and all my root zone problems have gone.

Each of those totes holds about 10 gallons of water. It is a BITCH to get the water out (i use a milk jug with the top cut off and bucket it out). Wish I would have had the ingenuity to build a rack system with drains.

I am currently doing a synthetic nutrient DWC grow side by side with a 100% coco grow with clones I obtained at a dispensary. I have 2 clones of each strain in DWC and in Coco. My DWC plants are about a third bigger than the coco plants and look amazing! I can't wait to compare yield and smokes!

[Terps]

when you say your pH was out of wack while using organics are you sure it was the nutes? and not something else...like dirty hydrotron or rockwool? iv noticed that if i use a new bag of hydrotron and i dont soak/rinse/soak/rinse a shit load of times my pH is crazy unstable for the first month or so of the grow (Same can be said with Rockwool)

The thing i didnt rly like about DWC was i could never leave for a few days of vacation. my pH wasnt stable enough where i trusted it to leave for a few days. with ebb-n-flow i fell VRY comfortable leaving the house for a few days.

P.S. for the record i am NOT a fan of organics ether! i just think its better to think with a open mind and not write off anything based on 1 try

[shibbysurfrider]

Ok well i'm not 100% sure it was the nutes.... BUT my pH problems went away as soon as I switched to sterile sunthetics. I use Dutch Master Zone and couldnt be happier.

My pH rarely drifts more than .2 in a day. Usually it doesnt change at all.

I feel you on the vacation thing. I have to turn on an A/C when my light kicks on and since it's a digital A/C so a normal timer doesn't work and I cant put it on it's own timer for more than 1 day at a time. Big pain.

And as to organics, I'm using my full line up on some plants in smart pots with coco. I want to see the difference in taste, yield, growth etc. I'm running 4 cotton candy Kush and 4 lemon kush with 2 of each in DWC with synthetics and 2 of each in coco running the organics.

I think my pH problem was due to Humboldt roots. It looks and smells exactly like H&G Roots Excellerator which clearly states on the bottle to NOT use in an aerated hydroponic system and only drain to waste. I mean even the bottles look exactly alike just with different labels. When i refer to my pH problem it was raising 1.5 points a day!!! I was dumping pH down capfuls at a time. I went through a whole bottle of Earth Juice pH down in less than a month. And my rez aren't big at all...

[Terps]

I feel you on the vacation thing. I have to turn on an A/C when my light kicks on and since it's a digital A/C so a normal timer doesn't work and I cant put it on it's own timer for more than 1 day at a time. Big pain.


I dont know how tight you are for cash but one thing i think ALOT of people over-look is climate controls. you can get a simple Tempstat Heating/Cooling controller that will monitor the temperature and if it rises or falls 3 degrees beyond the setpoint, the unit will turn on heating or cooling equipment. (it works just like the thermostat in your house)

....now if only they had a relatively cheap pH control that would add pH up or pH down depending on what the pH is at.

Are you still using Earth juice natural pH? I found MUCH better results with good ol General Hydroponics pH control products. like you said before with earth juice i was pouring CAP-FULLS of pH down in to get the pH right, with GH pH down i only needed a TSP. worth (and thats for big pH swings)

Are you using anything like HYGROZYME or Hydroguard in your systems to keep everything clean and fight off root rot or any other problems that may occur?

[shibbysurfrider]

As far as the thermostat. My A/C is digital, so a simple timer that just turns power on or off to the unit doesn't really work for me. Since the unit sits OUTside my tent, the thermostat on the unit doesnt really help bc it can be 75F in my room, but 90F in my tent!!! My Yield Master II reflector's glass heats up a lot. I have to have a flan blowing directly on it. The other sides of the reflector don't even get warm. I have a 765cfm 8'' inline sucking air through a carbon filter and the reflector. With my A/C running my tent is always under 80 at the plant tops (because of noobness I let the stretch to about a foot or less from my light!

I'm thinking about co2 now b/c I wouldnt have to run the a/c for 12 hours everyday. It will make it cheaper power bill wise, take advantage of the high temps and give me better growth rates. I've been using dry ice lately and have seen amazing results. My veg plants under T5's are growing an inch a day. I have to LST atleast twice a week, very excited for those...

I did buy a bottle of hygrozyme. IMO once you have severe root problems, there's not much in the way of organics that can save you. But once again, I think my problem lies with the Humboldt Roots. I dont think it's made for DWC. I still have the Earth Juice Natural pH up. My bottle is almost full still. I do use it infrequently when I accidently add too much GH pH down. Seems to work fine for me. When it runs out I'm going to switch to liquid pH though. Mixes a lot faster and is easier to measure.

[shibbysurfrider]

since I use synthetics in my DWC now, I use Dutch Master Zone. It does the trick, one of my Cotton Candy Kush started showing a little root/rot bc the rez temps are mid-upper 70s and I added DM Zone at recommended strength for problems and it cleared up within 2 days. I now use DM Zone for every rez change. No problems since.

I really like DM b/c their products are reasonably priced (half of AN) and they tell you NOT to use additives with their products. I like not having to buy 20+ additives to have the 'perfect' harvest. My next nute purchase will be the DM Gold line when my Sensi Grow + Bloom runout. The DM nutes are literally HALF the price of Advanced Nutrients. And the gold line specifically states not to use bloom boosters bc their product is so strong. We will see, hopefully I'll save some money.

[shibbysurfrider]

Here are my grapefruit. Unfortunately I had to chop the Super Lemon Haze and Vanilla Kush because i was out of room. 6 plants in a 14 gallon tote does not work. I saved all the little buds and i'm going to make edibles. I also saved a mom of SLH and VK and put them in coco for later cloning. Everything looks pretty yellow due to the HPS, but the buds on the left two are swelling like crazy while the other two are still throwing lots of hairs. It's going to be a while til these come down. I just hope they don't take up the whole tent...
1st picture: my newly arranged flower tent

2nd picture: the stout one with tons of side shoots. I'm pretty sure this is going to be my Mommy if the buds keep swelling like they are. The plant behind it is nice too. entire stem covered in buds for almost 2ft!

3rd picture: all of the grapefruits. 2 on right are taking a while. the one in the back is a giant beast that I want to top, but am afraid of hermies...