Indoor RDWC grow. Candy Queen, Jack Herer, Blackdog Phytomax 2 800

[BassBuds]

Plants are starting to stretch a bit and I'm getting a crazy amount of growth. Plants are growing around the sides of the screens. More tops than I can count, save for any major issues, the yield here should be pretty nuts. I can't wait until week 3 so I can clean up the blocking fan leaves and get a good luck at what the plant actually looks like. I trimmed a few of the largest fan leaves on a couple of the plants as an experiment. I also bent down some of the highest tops to even out the canopy

 

[Killaki]

It tells me the video has been removed by uploader

 

[BassBuds]

It tells me the video has been removed by uploader

Try this one

 

[Killaki]

Try this one

Nice! That light seems to be doing a pretty good job. I know lots of people hate on blurple colored lights but your plants seem to love it lol.

 

[Killaki]

Man it's good those black dog lights perform because they sure know what they want for them! $$$

 

[jonnynobody]

Kudos on a solid grow man! I have never seen a grow with one of those Black Dog LED lights. The prices are beyond nutty, but you're having some phenomenal results with your unit! You can't argue with results. Subbed! I wanna see the finale!

 

[BassBuds]

Kudos on a solid grow man! I have never seen a grow with one of those Black Dog LED lights. The prices are beyond nutty, but you're having some phenomenal results with your unit! You can't argue with results. Subbed! I wanna see the finale!

The price was a little high, but I got a good deal from a local shop. If I'm going to invest the hours it takes into doing a grow, I don't want the whole thing compromised by a bad driver. Black Dog has top in class customer service (even offering loaner lights). They say that I can expect 2 lbs off a single harvest with a light like this. I'm a very well researched, but still amateur grower.
This is my 5th grow or so.

1. Grow 1 I didn't realize what was involved in growing, and i set up a plant for the summer in my college apartment while I went home out of state. I put a 4 week old vegging plant in the shower to get automatically hosed down by the shower head using a valve timer, and automatically have the lights turn on and off every day. Soil didn't have enough nutes, plant didn't get watered enough and it burnt to a crisp
2. Second grow came out BOMB. I bought a BC Bloombox second hand and did a DWC grow in there. Came out great, though plants were a bit untrained and stretchy. Had constant ph issues and reservoir temp issues requiring daily reapplication of water bottles several times a day
Secondhand Bloombox, First Grow - Chemdawg and Bagseed
3. Tried another grow in the bloombox, but had to move mid grow. New apartment didn't have room indoors for the bloombox so I tried to leave it outdoors. The heat boiled the plants in matter of days and I ended up with only ugly seedy larfy bud
4. Grew outdoors in soil, instead of in the box at the same apartment. Made it 3/4 the way through flowering before management reached out and said I had 1 day to get rid of them or they were evicting me. Welp, chopped down all the plants early, but still got some good ass bud, just lower potency
5. My current grow

The one thing I've noticed with the Black Dog is that even thought there's great light distribution, it's still heavily concentrated in the center. The center plant is overtaking all of the other ones and has grown a BEAST of a stem. The roots literally cracked the plastic net pot in half to support the growth. the stem is close to the diameter of a pill bottle from cvs.
I plan to set up a second tent so I can do 2 simultaneous grows, I was looking at getting a Meiju 650w panel so I can do a comparison the growth. The scientist in me is always fighting with the connoisseur in me that would rather try a different strain though. Oh well.

Thanks for coming to my Ted talk

 

[BassBuds]

Nice! That light seems to be doing a pretty good job. I know lots of people hate on blurple colored lights but your plants seem to love it lol.

It's funny the light only looks blurple through my camera lens. I think it's the uv and infrared messing with the camera. To the naked eye, the light is pure white. The Black dog leds have amazing full spectrum light

 

[BassBuds]

The clones are chugging along. Transplanted them into coco (and 1 in soil). Right now they're getting both light from the window and a fluorescent bulb for some extra umph.



Girls Gone Wild.

 

[BassBuds]

So the plant in the cat litter container is just an absolute beast. She started after most of the other plants, but has far outgrown all of the other plants

More photos? I thought you'd never ask. I think I went a little too hard with the bud blood/big bud I used in the first couple weeks of flower. Got some burn on the leaf tips that's not going away, but it looks like they're growing healthy now. Next time, will definitely skip the bud blood.

Today I'm picking up an extra fan for the bottom of the canopy and some terpinator to resin these gals up

 

[BassBuds]

Added a new time lapse

 

[BassBuds]

Happy 420!

The canopy was starting to get very dense and the gorilla glue was really starting to crowd out the other plants so I gave her a good haircut. We're 2 weeks into dlower rather that 21 days so I hope I don't stunt growth. This let's some of the other buds get some light. Going to finish the defoliation this week or next.

I've also topped my 2 largest clones in preparation for manifolding.

 

[BassBuds]

A defol was definitely the right move yesterday. Now that the other plants have access to light they have started to catch up. I also added some fluorescent grow lights I had sitting around to the underside of the canopy. May as well get as many buds as possible.

 

[BassBuds]

I've been composting:
Avocado pit and rind
carrots
Tomatoes
Celery
Coffee grinds (I know now that cannabis doesn't like this)
Egg shells
ash from my pellet stove
and fan leaves.

I also dumped in part of my old nutrients when I did a reservoir change. It's starting to get really heavy to turn. I'm wondering how do I know when it's time to take the soil out? Should I stop adding stuff so the stuff that's in there can finish decomposing? Was it unwise to add nutrient rich water directly to the compost?

I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing compost wise. I would love some advice if anyone has experience.

 

[BassBuds]

I started futzing around with the under canopy lighting (bad idea), because it looked like the leaves were getting all distorted trying to point down rather than up. I was trying to move the lights to the sides and I accidentally knocked out the hose for one of the buckets, which proceeded to empty out the entire reservoir change I did last night (thanks pump on a timer).

After a good 45 minutes after the lights were supposed to be off, I was trying to vacuum up the spilt water, pouring a new reservoir with new nutes, etc. Ugh.

Crisis averted though. No permanent damage. Long story short, if it aint broke, don't fix it.

One thing I've noticed is the rather long internodal spacing. I think there were just too many plants in there and the canopy was too dense, so the other plants had to climb to get light.

I've been considering doing some super cropping. Anyone have any experience? Is now the right time to do it? I've been just bending the stems (LST) back to try to even out the canopy which has produced some big hearty stems.

I've also noticed the candy queen is a lime green color and not developing as well as the other strains, I think they may have a nute deficiency. Will increase ppm when I do a reservoir change for them tonight or tomorrow

 

[BassBuds]

How late into flower do you supercrop? Is 2.5 weeks too late?

Looks like the gorilla glue is really starting to bulk up. The Jack and candy queen have much more spindly stems and aren't growing as well, but I did another defol so hopefully that will get more light to the buds

 

[BassBuds]

I just ordered a light from china for my next grow! I won't go into specifics on the details so I don't get into trouble with the forum, but it's a set of 10 light bars, totaling 1000 watts, full spectrum with both IR and UV. It will be really interesting to compare the results in my current setup which uses an 800 watt very expensive US made light ($1725) vs a Chinese made 1000w bar light ($1200 shipped).

I'm trying to decide on a proper setup for multiple tents. Currently I'm exhausting through a window that only has room for one 8" duct.
Here's what I'm considering:

Option A:
Connect the tents inline

Dust shroom->8" inline hurricane fan -> 4x4 tent #1 -> ducting covered with black panty hose on both sides -> 5x5 tent #2 -> 8" carbon filter -> 8" hurricane fan -> ducting to window

Pros:
* I don't need to buy anything
* Potentially save on heating costs by sharing a heater

Cons:
* potential light leak in between tents if they are on different cycles
* temps for flower room will be higher since the air will have already passed through the veg room
* potential for pest cross contamination between tents
* CO2 will be difficult

Option B:
Using Y connectors

Dust shroom Y to tent #1 & #2 Y to exhaust

Pros:
* Tents aren't connected directly each other so less cross contamination (though still possible if airflow is ever turned off
* Co2 won't be shared between tents

Cons:
* I have to buy Y connectors
* Lower airflow since it's being split 2 ways

Option C:
Separate intakes, Y for exhaust

Option D:
Install a second exhaust line by taking out the window or something

Eventually I would really like to add CO2, I already have the tank, I just need to get a good controller. If I do that I'm definitely going to have to keep the tents separate.

I'm also trying to figure out what I want to do for a growing setup.

1. soil/coco. since I'm making all this compost anyway, but I am terrified of getting bugs in the house, so I think it may not be worth it. I am totally jealous of how people growing in soil can just move their plants around easily
2. Another rdwc system. I'm thinking of diying this using cat litter containers like the one my gorilla grow is in. The plants seem to really prefer the slightly larger, square reservoir as opposed to the round 5gallons. Probably use this ebay system as a guide. Recirculating Deep Water Culture (RDWC) Hydroponic Grow Kit System | eBay . Still need to determine whether I would make it undercurrent or top feed. If I'm doing DWC it has to be recirculating because having to do 4 reservoir changes per week is totally a bitch
3. Sluckets. These look pretty cool because they have the bottom drain/pump which will help prevent salt buildup at the bottom of the reservoirs. Only problem is their setup guides suggest I need larger than a 4x4 or 5x5 to fit everything. I don't want to commit extra room right now, but it would be cool if I could get the reservoir out of the tent. Slucket
4. The bucket company. This would be nice because it would allow me to use a heck of a lot less water. The system also is raised so it gets better drainage than my current 5 gallons.

www.thebucketcompany.com

Any advice or experience would be greatly appreciated!