First Grow Ever: HSO Blue Dream in DWC

[Bleedmaize]

Coming along nicely!

 

[The Average White Grower]

@The Average White Grower
Just tunning in and nice looking ladies! Great looking even canopy.

I kind of skimmed thru...bare with me. Did u say ur switching from hps to T5s?

If I might add I saw your deficiency up there and the cause could be low Nitrogen levels this earily in Flowering.
Also ive seen plants that look like that from too high or low PPM.

GREAT LOOKING GROW. ANY QUESTIONS HMU. ILL BE WATCHING THIS GROW!

The switch was from T5 to HID... And it was from T5's to MH early in veg... So it's been basically a 600w MH/HPS grow from the beginning.

 

[The Average White Grower]

Ok, so again... progress looks terrific. If there's a deficiency, it's not going away, but it's not getting any worse either, so I'm not worrying about it anymore. I think I have the chemistry down now... Buds are getting REALLY nice (in my humble, but biased opinion)... Here's some samples:



Some of these buds are so frosty, my fingers stick to the leaves with just the lightest contact. Most of the buds are about the size of a 2 liter bottle cap in most places, and I can see some of the tops forming colas. Opening the tent, the smell is still spicy and almost metallic, but getting your nose close to the flowers, the scent turns a bit fruitier... Yum.

They've been flowering almost 4 weeks now... That means I'm a little less than half way through the flowering cycle. If what I know about flowering marijuana, the next 5-6 weeks should be AWESOME!

The clones? Taking off just like their mommies... I'm bending and training the shit out of them



The third pic from the left was topped last week. Yo can clearly see the two tops coming. The rest will be topped too, but not quite yet. The plant in the first two pics is easily the most robust right now, but all of them are looking terrific. I can keep these clones under 3 x 23w CFL's and take clippings as necessary... I can veg them under the T5 I bought and get them into the flowering room a week or so later... I'll probably put these ladies in 6" pots at some point, but we'll see... I don't need or want them getting huge... I just need clipping sites.

Things in the cloning department are good. I'll have to get some pics from the other site when I can. I'll work on that sooner than later.

 

[The Average White Grower]

It's been a few nights since I updated last... So goes the flowering cycle I guess... I spent some time in the tent tonight with the DSLR camera instead of my phone... The photos are WAAAAY better Things are looking good... The odor is getting thick in the tent too... It makes me smile... Here's a wide angle shot so you can get a gist of the impending yield:



Here's the biggest stalk on either plant:



Here, have some bud porn



The clones? They look like I sat on them... But it's all by design...



Tomorrow night is a nute change... Everything else seems to be going well... Please have a close look at some of the bud closeups and tell me if anyone sees anything that shouldn't be there... I have an untrained eye. Thanks, y'all!

 

[The Average White Grower]

Snagged an oops nug last night while grooming the girls... Dried it overnight and smoked it a few minutes ago... Mild buzz going... nothing special, but hey... I successfully got myself high from seed. That makes me feels good

 

[ADriftingGinger]

Lol snagged an "oops" bud. The feeling of smoking and getting high off your own product is one of the best feelings ever just wait till you get stoned off the final product trust me it only gets better.

 

[The Average White Grower]

No pics tonight... My buds are getting fat... I did a full reservoir change out tonight... Same formula I've traused since I started flowering.... What I really need to do is do some more lollipopping and pruning. I'm a little more than halfway through the flowering process and already amazed by the number and size of the buds in my little tent... If I had amber trichs next time I checked in on the ladies, I'd still have a hell of a yield... Give it another 30-40 days and I'll have more bud than I could smoke in 3 years.

Next time down (tomorrow) I'll take a tape measure with me and take some scale pics...

The clones are doing their thing too... I lost track of which clones came from which girl, but now that they're growing, I know what's what again... Two are growing in much more sparsely than the other two... The phenos are clear. I have some growth I could probably cut and clone, but for now I'm not doing anything with them... Once this grow is over, I'm going to take a few weeks off (the holidays are busy for a family man like me :] ) I'll get back on it again after the new year... I'm also going to reconfigure my grow space to support both veg and flower... Probably dwc in veg and rdwc in flower... Not sure yet.

Goodnight rollers...

 

[The Average White Grower]

Ok... again, there's not much to tell... but pictures speak a thousand words, so without hesitation:

 

[Spittn4cash]

Looks good...maybe 10 weeks to go?

 

[The Average White Grower]

Looks good...maybe 10 weeks to go?

10?! God I hope not! I'll have buds the size of pineapples and bowling pins.

Im actually expecting to finish up in 3-4 weeks. The flowering time for these is said to be 63 days... Which puts me about 4 weeks from expected harvest. If they go long, cool, but I don't know they'll flower 6-7 additional weeks.

My my eyes water and my nose gets runny when I'm in there with the ladies. Even just brushing them leaves my hand sticky. It's incredible!

 

[blackstoneinstitute]

So how are they looking? You should be at about about 7 weeks? At that age mine were hard and solid but the calyxes needed to fill out some more. When I checked with the scope they were mostly all clear but I did see 1 amber. Now at 9 weeks the calyxes are swelling but still 80%-90% clear. Will start the flush in a few days and chop when the tricomes look right. How are yours looking and feeling?

How is your ph? Mine started out rock steady but come mid-late flower and the swing is in effect.

What about bud size? The largest colas are about the size and width of two D cell batteries end to end. Wish they weighted that much.*

I harvested a stalk at about day 55 so I will have something to compare the finished product to. I wanna know if the only difference is just the size. The shrinkage is amazing. From D cell to AA. Well not that bad and when dry are some rock hard red haired nuggets(the red hairs came after drying). I can see how someone could harvest in 8 weeks+ if needed.

 

[The Average White Grower]

I didn't forget about you guys I just started a new job, loads of new responsibilities, and it's taking a bigger chunk out of me than I'm used to or expected... I'm acclimating now though... And I'm still tending to my ladies who are definitely close to the end... My scope shows the trichs clouding up all over... maybe 50% cloudy now... so it definitely won't be long... I'm expecting another 2 weeks or so...

The smell? It's strange... If you're standing in the room with the girls, it's a funky cheesy smell... If you pull a flower up close to your nose, it smells more like Trix (the fruity cereal). It's REALLY strong... My nose starts to run a tad, lol... The pics I'm posting tonight don't do these girls justice.. They've produced way more than I'm capable of capturing in pictures... Of all the shit I've learned on my first grow, the biggest thing is that I suck at photographing bud

So the trichomes are clouding up.. The pistils are turning orange now (more so on the edge of the screen than the middle, but I don't have a single bud without orange hairs), and the buds look sugar-dipped... Size? My four main colas are about the size of Red Bull cans in diameter... Two of those are the size of two cans stacked together... The rest are D size batteries like you have... The fan leaves (not on the bud colas) are starting to curl and yellow... I'm definitely in the home stretch... I understand the harvest window to last about two weeks... I'm going to be harvesting more on the early side of that window I think, so when I start to see a few amber trichs, I'll begin the flush process until the plants use up their reserves...

Here's some bud porn for ya

 

[blackstoneinstitute]

Great looking field of buds. *I had not realized it but cheese is the smell when entering the room. I always thought it was a little funky but did not equate it to cheese. Now that you mention it I see that is the aroma. Touching it smells more hazy with a hint of ripe fruit for me. I asked about the bud size because I read someone claiming he/she was getting coke can sized buds from this strain. Just wanted to see what you were getting. A few of my bigger colas are about the redbull can size but the vast majority are D battery size. *

At 50% cloudy 2 weeks plus a flush might be a little long. Make sure you check the trichs at a few different locations on the canopy.

 

[The Average White Grower]

Great looking field of buds. *I had not realized it but cheese is the smell when entering the room. I always thought it was a little funky but did not equate it to cheese. Now that you mention it I see that is the aroma. Touching it smells more hazy with a hint of ripe fruit for me. I asked about the bud size because I read someone claiming he/she was getting coke can sized buds from this strain. Just wanted to see what you were getting. A few of my bigger colas are about the redbull can size but the vast majority are D battery size. *

At 50% cloudy 2 weeks plus a flush might be a little long. Make sure you check the trichs at a few different locations on the canopy.

I'm checking the trichs on 5-6 different buds each night... As soon as I see some amber, I'm emptying the soup from the tanks and replacing with water... I figure from there it's 3 days before i get out the shears... I can barely keep myself from cutting right now... I'm so anxious, but I'll contain myself

Next pics on this one will be pre/post harvest

 

[ADriftingGinger]

Your photography may not be pro status but your buds sure as hell look it lol beautiful frosted blue dream nugs .
If you're planning to harvest soon id go ahead an do a flush now though. The way I understand it a flush/fresh water only should be done atleast a week before harvest though im sure it'll be fine if you dont flush for that long.

 

[Ogracious]

Cool grow dude, how are you liking the DWC? Buds are looking nice and sugary and are just about done. Very nice setup for a first grow!

 

[The Average White Grower]

I started to flush the ladies out a few nights ago... Topping off with tap water and keeping ph in check... Tonight or tomorrow night I'm going to drain the tanks and refill with plain water... I'm not seeing very much amber yet... But I'm not waiting for that... Here's why:


My lady and myself sampled the goods last night with a bud I harvested while lollipopping a little last week... The stem was rubbery and the fan leaves were light green. The buds were small and under-developed... hairs were white only... I hung it up and dried it out for a few days. We popped into the bubbler last night and blasted off... And when I say blasted off, I mean BLASTED-THE-FUCK-OFF... We enjoyed about 3 hours of "Oh hell yeah!" and "LMFAO" which came to an end when my body said: Let's lay down... So I did... then my body seemed to evaporate... I was so relaxed... I stayed zooted like that for another hour before fading off to dreamland... By far my best experience with the stuff... The heady high was very clear... The body high was as relaxing as anything... I don't want to mess with the formula too much... I'm in love.

So it's time to flush the nutes and get these bitches hung. I'm so excited.

 

[The Average White Grower]

Cool grow dude, how are you liking the DWC? Buds are looking nice and sugary and are just about done. Very nice setup for a first grow!

How am I liking the DWC? I love the DWC.... EXPLOSIVE growth in both veg and flower... Sure, hydro isn't nearly as forgiving as soil, but that's a good thing... If you pay attention and follow basic instructions, hydro will give you very consistent results from grow to grow... That's what I want. I will say that as much as I love DWC, I'll never do it this way again... If you're going to do DWC with more than one bucket... spend the extra cash and time to build a recirculating DWC (a separate control reservoir for doing changes and adding nutes/ph). I only have two plants going right now and despite being the same strain and showing similar characteristics, the truth is, their chemistry has been very different. Sometimes the ph is up in one and down in the other... Sometimes one took water and left nutes (water level down, ppm up), while the other took the nutes and left the water (water level down slower, ppm down)... Sometimes they did the same stuff at the same time... This meant having to ph and feed separately or else do full rez changes on each to get them back on the same feeding schedule... Way too much work.

Next time I'll add a control bucket and a circulation system so all the plants are drinking from the same nute solution, which can be amended or replaced in one place. Doing rez changes in a DWC with ScROG is really f*cking difficult... I'd have to drop a pump into each reservoir, pump out as much soup as I could, then steal the pump back and pump fresh soup in... It could take me 90 minutes or more... With a RDWC, I'll just hook a hose up to the system and run it over the hillside in my yard (or in my vegetable garden when in season) and open the drain... Then I can refill with water with the same ease. Adding nutes is trivial too... Finally, the larger the volume of water, the less volatile the ph level... When I had my plants solo 5 gallon buckets (3.5 gallons of soup max), the ph level could go from 5.8 to 4.5- or 7.0+ overnight... When I put the girls in the new buckets (6.5 - 7 gallons of soup max) the ph stabilized considerably... I'm imagining in a 25 - 30 gallon RDWC, the ph will stay put nicely... This will improve yield, plant health, ease of administration, etc... I'm taking a few months off I think though... Enough time to redesign my grow space

 

[blackstoneinstitute]

AWG- Here are some pics of my girls. Sorry about the quality of the pics but they should give you an idea of whats going on my end. I will take some more at chop, chop time hopefully the lighting will be better. 5 days into the flush and the leaves are barely starting to turn yellow. Those are two blue dreams in the pics and they tried to take over the entire 4x4 screen.



​

 

[The Average White Grower]

AWG- Here are some pics of my girls. Sorry about the quality of the pics but they should give you an idea of whats going on my end. I will take some more at chop, chop time hopefully the lighting will be better. 5 days into the flush and the leaves are barely starting to turn yellow. Those are two blue dreams in the pics and they tried to take over the entire 4x4 screen.

View attachment 2877382View attachment 2877383View attachment 2877384View attachment 2877385View attachment 2877386View attachment 2877387

​

Hey, looks awesome! Hopefully they're the same generous yielders as mine were... If they are, you'll really have me beat... Next post is a wrap!