Dezracer's Perpetual Grow

Your plants are looking great and nice harvest. I know i am late but sub'd and +rep.

SmokeyMcPotJK said:

SmokeyMcPotJK likes this.
I was the one person! I knew your where testing the dro system
I saw a video just like this grow I will see if I can find it.
[video=youtube;amO_4T0Ec7g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amO_4T0Ec7g&feature=player_embedded#![/video]

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This isn't the system I'll be running but good guess. I didn't remember telling you so I guess there's not just one person, lol. Theirs is a mess and transfering plants like that is messy and risky with the tote lids cut in half, makes them very weak. Those things could fold in half while he's transfering so he's taking a chance of killing the plants every time he does it. I'll be using the mesh bottom pots instead of net pots in an ebb and flow setup instead of DWC and much smaller plants.

The goal here, for me anyway, is to get reasonable amounts of dense buds every 2 weeks and knowing the capabilities of my 400w light I've decided to go with more plants with less on each to ensure good penetration from the light. Since I won't really be vegging anymore, I won't be using LST or FIM or Supercropping anymore either. I'll be relying on removing the lower branches during flower to avoid tiny insignificant buds as well as crowding. I just want to get a main cola and a few side branch buds from each plant to get 1/2oz or so from it. If I harvest 4 plants I'll get about 2oz each time.

It's going to be at least a week or two before I have any of the hydro setup in my flower room but when I do I'll put up pics. Maybe I'll scan a drawing I have of the system and post it or something.

n1knightmare said:

Your plants are looking great and nice harvest. I know i am late but sub'd and +rep.

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Thank you and welcome to the grow...

Here's a pic of the veg room which will really just be mother plants and clones most likely going forward.

Above the clones is a 10" shop light hanging from the ceiling with two 26W 6500K cfls in a 'Y' connector.

That's not the 150w HPS light over the other plants but two 68W 2700K CFLs in one of my DIY setups. I'll get the other light in there in place of this once I can have an air cooled reflector ready for it. I know a 150 HID light doesn't create that much heat but since it's only 150W I want to be able to keep it close to them.

I know nothing about Hydro setups. Your not doing DWC? How does ebb and flow work. Can you briefly describe the types of hydro systems if you dont mind.

DWC is where you suspend the plants over a nute solution with an air stone in it. The bubbles breaking the water's surface creates humidity that is oxygen and nutrient rich. Eventually the roots grow down into the solution and then the growth takes off like crazy. I decided to scrap this idea for a few reasons, one of which I mentioned in one of the above posts (messy when transferring) and another is because I worry about buildup in the res over long periods of time and it would be diffecult to remove the reservoirs in the back if I needed to clean them without pulling the front ones out first. This means I'd have to pull everything out of my flower room to clean one tote and that doesn't make much sense to me

Ebb and Flow is where you have your plants in pots that either have holes in the bottom or the bottom is mesh. You can use just rockwool or hydroton (clay balls) or any of a bunch of different media inside the pots. The pots sit in a tray that gets flooded to a predetermined level and for a predetermined amount of time and then the pump shuts off and the nute solution drains back out of the tray and into the reservoir. You set it up on a timer so it repeats this cycle as often as you see fit, like three to five times per day depending on how your media holds moisture and the plants needs, etc.

Mine will be in the pots with the mesh bottoms and hydroton. I'll be using rockwool to clone and just stick the clone with the rockwool in the hydroton when it's ready. My reservoirs can go under the table or in the veg room if needed since theyre next door to each other. If I put them under the table I can only get to two of the four reservoirs easily but sliding 5gal buckets out from under the table would be much easier than removing 18gal totes with plants and solution in them. I'll use flexible hose for plumbing instead of PVC so I can move the res without worrying about breaking anything or spilling.

What do you think?

There's another type that I was considering using but decided against it because I don't like the idea of having to take it apart every two weeks to clean and reassemble it. It's called Aeroponics and uses the same idea as the ebb and flow but instead it sprays the roots more often and for shorter periods of time. There's many different ways to make these and one example is to use the 4" vinyl fence posts, cut a bunch of 2" holes in them for the 2" netpots and make a manifold with the spray nozzles in it from PVC. The manifold goes inside the fencepost, which is laid horizontally, and you seal up one end. when the pump turns on the roots get sprayed for about a minute and then the solution drains out the one open end and back into the res. Five minutes later it repeats the cycle and so on.
The drawback is, like I said, you have to take the thing apart every time you harvest to clean the nozzles and stuff. You also then need to keep track of where you are in your grow to ensure you are running the right nute mix since you can't simply move the plants from one place to the next. The roots end up growing together and get all tangled up so you can't just harvest half of them or even remove them without killing them because you'd sever the root structure.

I was taking some more clones from the Sour Grape plant just now and noticed that one of the four clones that I cut 11 days ago has roots sticking out tof the bottom of the rockwool. A couple of the roots are out about an inch! I hope that means the others aren't far behind because I think 11 days is pretty damn good!! The hope was to be putting them in soil at 14 days from cut and stick them straight into flower but I may change that a bit and veg them for one week before flowering them to get a better root structure going. Either way I decide to go, as long as I do it the same every time going forward It'll work out the same.

I have been wishing I'd taken more than four clones since I wasn't sure how many would make it so I planned on taking more today just in case. I still took six today from the bottom of the Sour Grape plant that is big enough to afford to lose a little weight, lol.

I'll take some clones from the Green Cush plant in a couple weeks to make sure I don't fall behind on the harvest schedule and hopefully by then the SLH and CHurch will be alternating nodes (sign of a mature plant) so I can force them to show sex and start taking clones from them as well.

My op is going to get a bit crowded and complex it seems before it get's going as a perpetual SoG. I need to put the SLH and Church under 12/12 to get them to show sex before taking clones from them but am worried that if I put them back under 18/6 they will hermie. If I let them flower through to harvest there won't be much room for the SoG plants. I will have some ready to go in the flower room to start flowering in about a week and then about two weeks after that I will have more. HMMM...

I guess I will appease my new buddy and my best friend by letting them have some of my clones once they're ready and get some more experience with clones while all of the plants are flowering. I'll keep one of each strain to have as mothers and start the true SoG op once the Church and SLH are far enough along to do so. The Hindu Skunk will need to be out and the Sour Grape and Green Cush will need to be close to finish at least in order to have the room I need.

So I guess I'll go get some 3 or 5gal pots to transplant the SLH and Church into and put them in the flower room. There are two upsides to this situation. The first is I will have a monster Sour Grape plant, Green Cush plant and the other two will be pretty good size plants. This means I will have a bunch of bud between all of them over the next few months. In about a week or so I'll harvest the HS, in about 6 weeks will be the SG and GC and in about 8-9 weeks will be the SLH and Church. After that there will be a small lull in the action but then it will stay pretty steady at every two weeks like planned. The other upside is I will get some practice with clones from the GC, SG, SLH and Church in the meantime and end up some good mother plants.

I know about aeroponics but I didnt know you had to clean it so often...f that....Your ebb and flow system sounds smart to me

Also...damn! you got alot going on man

SmokeyMcPotJK said:

I know about aeroponics but I didnt know you had to clean it so often...f that....Your ebb and flow system sounds smart to me

Also...damn! you got alot going on man

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I'll take some pics of the flower room tomorrow and you'll trip. There's three small plants and two big ones in there right now. The Sour Grape is going to be huge evidently. I noticed it was getting tall quick so I searched it and low and behold, these get BIG. There's grows of people vegging their clones for as little as two weeks and having 4 FOOT TALL plants!!! Mine was about 24" tall including the 5gal pot when I put it in there and in only 11 days it's now close to 40" tall!!! I had to raise the light tonight which sucks because it moves the light away from the Hindu Skunk. The lens was only a few inches from the top of the HS plant and now it's close to 6" away. I had to put my baker's rack in there to raise the newbies up over a foot so they'd have a fighting chance for light,lol.

Oh, the only time you have to clean the aero system is when you harvest and since I'll be harvesting some plants that often, I'd be cleaning a system that often. Every two weeks I'd be removing the plants from one of the four systems so I'd have to disassemble that system and prep it for the next crop.

Sounds like you going to have a huge plant on your hands....and yeah F--- the aeroponics thats to much trouble

So here's what's inside the flower room today, Sour Grapes (almost two weeks), Hindu Skunk (almost 8 weeks), Green Cush (2 days) and the SLH and Church went in last night. The two newest additions are sitting on a baker's rack against a wall, the GC is sitting on a 2gal bucket, the Hindu SKunk is centered under the light and the Sour Grapes is next the the Hindu Shunk.

In the veg room, one of the clones had roots sticking out the bottom a coulpe inches long and out the side if the 4" rockwool cube an inch long this morning so I put it in soil and under some 6500K CFLs. Tomorrow I'll pot another clone that is showing good roots and in about a week I'll transplant them into their final pots that will be 2gal (I think). They'll veg for another week in those pots and then go into the flower room on the baker's rack. By that time the ones on the rack should be ready to come off and if not I'll put the other half of the rack in the flower room where the SG plant is now since the HS will be out by then.

It seems a little chaotic but I've mapped it all out on paper and will work out fine as long as the SG doesn't get much taller. If that happens, I'll cut a hole in the table and let the SG's pot drop down through the table so I don't have to raise the light any further away from the rest of the plants. I can't raise the light much more even if I wanted to so this would be my only option besides supercropping it and it's already got buds on it so I don't want to do that. I hope it doesn't come to that (cutting my new table) but at least I have a plan.

I need to get some more panda film to fill in that back wall and I want to line the area of the veg room that's for the mother plants. Next time I get to the hydro shop I guess...

Lookin good man!...The hydro shop by my has the panda film for $1 per foot and it folds out to 10 feet...so $1 for 1x10..pretty sweet pricing....

Yeah the place by my house has it for $1.50/foot.

After trying many different configurations in my room I've decided to go with 2 hydro trays instead of 4. It's not a problem to get 4 trays in there but servicing the reservoirs will be difficult no matter how I arrange them. I would basically need to cut the table down from 36"X48" to 36"X36" and I'd still have a hell of a time since the room is only 48" long. 12" isn't a lot of space to try and get in there to drain, clean and fill the ones that arent right in front by the door.

Ok so the first of 2 hydro systems are installed in the room. I got it all in there, hooked up and filled the res. I will test it to make sure the tray is water tight tomorrow after the silicone has time to cure. Squeezing a second res in will be tough but I think I got it figured out. I'll try and fit one after the HS has been harvested and if it's too tight I'll just stick with the one tray and res and keep on going with a soil SoG too in the remaining space. We'll see in a couple weeks how it's going to all work out.

I decided I just really don't want to cut a big ass hole in my table so I cut off the main stem with a handful of baby buds on it. I know I'll lose bud weight by doing that but decided it's the lesser of two evils in this case. The options were to A) cut a hole in the table and lower the SG. B) raise the light to where the ducting is touching the ceiling and play games with the HS and GC to get them close to the light again. C) lop the top off of the SG plant and leave everything else alone.
The problem with option B is that it only solves THIS issue and when I put a bunch of small plants in the hydro setup they will be so far away from the light that they will most likely stretch like crazy and give me air buds. Who'sto say this plant is done stretching anyway? For all I know, I could have raised the light and then next week I'd have to find a new solution for the same problem all over again. I'm even considering making a whore of the plant and turning every branch on it into a clone for the SoG grow. If I was to do this I could lower the light back down onto the HS and then when it's done I could lower it to the right height for the SoG plants that will be going in soon enough.

The only thing left would be the GC plant and it's small enough to work it all out with. It looks like it wont get very big and will probably only yield an oz or so like my first two plants did.

Dezracer said:

Ok so the first of 2 hydro systems are installed in the room. I got it all in there, hooked up and filled the res. I will test it to make sure the tray is water tight tomorrow after the silicone has time to cure. Squeezing a second res in will be tough but I think I got it figured out. I'll try and fit one after the HS has been harvested and if it's too tight I'll just stick with the one tray and res and keep on going with a soil SoG too in the remaining space. We'll see in a couple weeks how it's going to all work out.

I decided I just really don't want to cut a big ass hole in my table so I cut off the main stem with a handful of baby buds on it. I know I'll lose bud weight by doing that but decided it's the lesser of two evils in this case. The options were to A) cut a hole in the table and lower the SG. B) raise the light to where the ducting is touching the ceiling and play games with the HS and GC to get them close to the light again. C) lop the top off of the SG plant and leave everything else alone.
The problem with option B is that it only solves THIS issue and when I put a bunch of small plants in the hydro setup they will be so far away from the light that they will most likely stretch like crazy and give me air buds. Who'sto say this plant is done stretching anyway? For all I know, I could have raised the light and then next week I'd have to find a new solution for the same problem all over again. I'm even considering making a whore of the plant and turning every branch on it into a clone for the SoG grow. If I was to do this I could lower the light back down onto the HS and then when it's done I could lower it to the right height for the SoG plants that will be going in soon enough.

The only thing left would be the GC plant and it's small enough to work it all out with. It looks like it wont get very big and will probably only yield an oz or so like my first two plants did.

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Hi Dez,

you've been a busy little beaver lol, option c sounded good to me mate,

Hope its all going well for you mate, it certainly sounds like its all go.

Good luck mate