400W HPS DWC Bucket perpetual grow. Old school bud: Super Skunk and Northern Lights

Hello

I thought I'd share some pics of my first DWC Grow.
I am growing Nirvana's Super Skunk and Northern Lights.
NL is the smaller on the left and Super Skunk the one on the right in the pics.
They were started on May 5th (NL on May 11) and topped at 3rd and 4th inter nodes on May 25.

After growing in dirt in the past I can say that DWC is faster and is promoting explosive growth.
The stems on these plants right now are thicker than my finger and growing...

The plants are in 5 gallon buckets with micro-pore air diffusers and on GH's 3 part nutes and SM90.
PH is kept at 5.8-6.2.
I haven't had success in keeping my reservoir water cold but the plants seem to be doing good anyway.

I have two more Super Skunks under T5's right now and they will join these in the bloom tent in 4-5 weeks. This way I get two 5g buckets of plant every 4-5 weeks.
I am putting my timer on tonight ( June 8 )and the best part of the grow will begin.
I assume they will both flower for about 8-10 weeks.

Use mylar or panda film on top of the bucket but under the plant (where your foil is). Your water temperature is usually the same as your room temperature, so if your room temperature isn't hot then the excess heat in the water is coming from your lights heating up the top of your lids. Trust me, that foil isn't doing the job you think it's doing.

-V

I made those foil things when they were under my t5 light.
I just got lazy and left them on. They aren't really effecting the water temps because they are always the same temperature as the room. between 74-90 Fahrenheit.
My 4" inline fan feels a bit weak for the tent set up or it might be bad air circulation in my room.
I'm thinking of upgrading to a 6" fan but the tent vents are 5"... which makes putting duct through it a bitch.
Bottom line is they are growing like crazy. This is my first hydro set up and I'm pleased that it's pretty easy to operate (so far).
Now I just need to get a good fit for 4 buckets in my GL80 tent.

Grow update.

One week into flowering.
The plants are stretching a lot and forming future colas.
They are drinking over a gallon a night now.

Here's a few more views of the canopy.

Update:
Three weeks into flowering now.
Northern Lights is starting to push heavy buds. It looks like the Super Skunks are about a week behind.
I had an accident with my skunk and broke two of its main stems. Live and learn I guess.
I also added two new Super Skunks for my perpetual grow and liquid Koolbloom to the soup.
Heres a few pics:
Keep toking!

Koi2Dragon said:

I made those foil things when they were under my t5 light.
I just got lazy and left them on. They aren't really effecting the water temps because they are always the same temperature as the room. between 74-90 Fahrenheit.
My 4" inline fan feels a bit weak for the tent set up or it might be bad air circulation in my room.
I'm thinking of upgrading to a 6" fan but the tent vents are 5"... which makes putting duct through it a bitch.
Bottom line is they are growing like crazy. This is my first hydro set up and I'm pleased that it's pretty easy to operate (so far).
Now I just need to get a good fit for 4 buckets in my GL80 tent.

Click to expand...

get a 6 inch fan and get a 6-4 in reducer from home depot....

I added an 4" booster fan as intake a few weeks ago. The temps are nice now.

Week 7 update.
My Nirvana Northern Light is doing pretty well.
It is topped and has formed 6 main colas that cannot hold them selves up and needed to be tied due to weight.
It smells less than my 3 week old LSD plants. Awesome strain for indoors!
I will harvest it around 9 weeks.

Has anyone grown NL before?
I am not sure what its flowering time is?
Should I wait for 60% red hairs before chop since I dont have a microscope to check trichomes?

My girls are sitting at 60 days today.
It looks like they could use another week.
What do you guys think?

Almost looks like it can use another two weeks! Great grow very impressed! I am gonna run almost the same setup as you and NL, I hope mine come out as nice as yours man!

I have a couple questions.. how close are your lights to the tops? And where is your tent at? Inside a closet?

OH! and nirvanas site says 7-9 weeks flowering time im pretty sure, but thats just a baseline, keep posting pics and everyone else here along with you can helpl decide the perfect harvest time. dont wanna harvest too early ya know?!

congrats on the grow man

Koi, don't get this far into it and guess when it's done. Spend the $25, buy a scope and know when it's done. Just my thoughts, great grow by the way, good luck.

yea they don't look ready to me, at least a week but yea, you need a scope.

question; How much approx yield are you getting from each 5gl bucket

Thanks for all the feedback.

Magnus I am using a cooltube so some tops are about 9" inches away from the bulb and yes I have a GL80 inside a closet. 5G buckets grow HUGE plants. I vegged that single NL for 4 1/2 weeks and it took the whole tent.. I also have a Super Skunk @ 6 weeks and LSD @ 4 weeks crammed in the tent.

It seems when seed company's advertise a flowering time you need to add 2 more weeks to it every time.

Ow. you guys are right I really need to pick up a scope. Not sure where to get one in my area though? Online the cheapest?

Dank this is my first DWC grow but from what I can tell this NL has to be between 2-4 ounces dry. Only problem growing them this big is you have to water 2-3 gallons every night which isnt practical imo.
I am changing my grow method to a Bato Bucket set up soon (GH's Eurogrower). It might grow a little slower than DWC but is very reliable and has a 40 gallon reservoir.

When u say water 2-3 gallons do you mean your adding that much to your buckets because of evaporation? Im growing in 5 gallon buckets too and i dont really add water at all. I just change my res weekly.

bud man jay said:

When u say water 2-3 gallons do you mean your adding that much to your buckets because of evaporation? Im growing in 5 gallon buckets too and i dont really add water at all. I just change my res weekly.

Click to expand...

What kind of plants and what kind of lighting? I'm deep into flower and have to add 2 gallons a day myself. I have 2 X 1000w HPS. I'm guessing less powerful lights will cause plants to drink less water.

Veg time is a huge factor on how much they'll drink in the end, and yes I add that much water every night because the plant drinks that much.
My other plants that were vegged for less than three weeks only drink a quart or two a night.

very nice man, does the cam take closer pics well? i would like to see them better. hows the resin production?
Based on the pics i would go another week but post the pics on fdd2blk's are they done yet? thread under harvest section and see what he says.
THose things look sexy and delicious, u got clones or more seeds? u even want to grow it again?

they dont look done yet i would say another 2 weeks also but you did a really good job.