New Grower 1st Grow, Think Different, DWC, LED

[bobqcarter]

This is the first time that I've had the means to grow my own, but I wouldn't consider myself inexperienced. I have a degree in aquaculture, and have worked on koi, aquaponics and algae farms, so I know my way around the water.

My system is DWC, one 5 gallon bucket with the 10 inch netted pot top. I went with the wider pot because I felt that the gas exchange of the bubbles through the rocks would increase overall O2 in the water. The air pumps (2) I am using are probably under powered, but for the time being it doesn't seem to be an issue.

My nuitrents are Canna Vega, Canna Rhizo, and CalMag, then Canna Flore and 13/14 in about a week.

I'm using a Lighthouse Hydro Blackstar 135w 6 band 3w LED and have been using a 25 watt floro to "exercise the plant", by which I mean I've been moving it from one side of the plant to the other, making the stalk bend back and forth. Now I'm just aiming the floro at the side branches to get them to catch up to the main stalk. i'll probably add more light soon before the real action starts.

I've got a couple of tricks going too. I've been playing Beethoven's masterpieces on a loop 24/7 since the beginning. I've also been making CO2 bottles. I bought 1 lb. of distillers yeast and have used sugar, honey and even flour based mashes. I just fill 2 liter bottles half way up and screw on a cap with a hose coming out of it, then place the hoses into the plant. I also wrap the bottles so they don't get exposed to the light. I also hang a soaked towel in the room every day or two to keep the humidity up.

So here we are. Haven't had any ph problems, even though my ph meter never showed through the mail and I've been using the GH dropper ph tester. But at this point I think I've mastered it. I also have an EC meter that I rarely use. I just feed when she looks hungry. The only hitch I've had so far was when I got a little ballzy with the light distance and cooked a set of leaves a bit. It was only for 5 hours though and she recovered. I also showed slight fert-burn right before my last reservoir change and I was underfeeding a little at the beginning.

The one thing I've probably been doing wrong is I haven't turned the lights off yet. She's 23 days old, from seed, and has been showing sex since the 18th day. I'd love to get some scientific feedback as to what happens if the lights stay on 24/7. Is the only Con that the plant needs to "rest"? If that's the only reason, I think I'd be comfortable doing everything else right and this one thing wrong. But if anyone has tried it and it's gone terrible please chime in.

I've been cross checking my grow with Seymour's and think I am on par. The gap will widen though when the buds start coming in strong and I don't have enough light.

These pics are from the beginning to today, day 23.

 

[bobqcarter]

Here's another pic of day 23. I probably won't be posting more pics for a few weeks. This next part is likely to be more challenging than it's been so far.

 

[bobqcarter]

Day 26, that's from the time the seed cracked, which was less than twenty four hours after the seed soaked, but it helps me (keep track) that I started at the first of the month.

She's doing good, but doesn't seem to be blowing up as quickly anymore. I topped off her nutrients with Flore today to see how that goes. I'm doing a full res. change in a day or two and will go straight to full flowering nutrients.

The floro on the side did do a good job of pulling those branches out, almost horizontally, but kept them from stretching, like the other side did. I turned it off and expect them to start going upwards now.

I also had to rearrange things, she's getting big! The guy I am renting my spare room to is moving out, so I may take the whole thing up there so I can have some space.

Been thinking about making this grow box. I've got tons of huge pieces of cardboard and could get some mylar emergency blankets and glue them on. I'd go square, or I could get fancy and do like the design I made (the second picture).

Odds are I do it the easy way.

 

[bobqcarter]

Here's a sharper pic from the other side. Still day 26.

 

[TXBudz75]

Looking Good FishyBob... I'm just going to grab a seat over here...

I decided to go the grow cabinet route... similar to what your talking about if your only trying to do 1 plant at a time.. take a look @ my grow...

Good luck brotha, I'm subbed...
:smokebuds:

 

[bobqcarter]

Thanks man, cool setup.

The growth rate right now is awesome! Here's a picture like 12 hours from the last ones and there's a noticeable difference.

Clearly she's hungry though.

 

[The Dude]

Best of luck with the Grow bro.Looks pretty darn nice!! :thumbs: 12 hours.LMAO!! thats fantastic.LOL!

 

[bobqcarter]

Day 28, four weeks in.

The ph dipped over night, but it's back to normal now. Res. change tonight. The light is almost as high as it can go in this closet, I think she is outgrowing this space.

Interesting thing here in this pic. the left two branches had the floro on them, the right two(four?) were leaf tucked and the back one was left alone. If I were going for an even canopy, I'd want them all to stretch like the back one did to catch up to the many stalk.

I'm thinking it's a few things why that back one is so big. Less light causes more stretching, so if the grow tip is buried under fan leaves it stretches to get through them. Also, the fan leaves are like the main power plant to the branch, so giving those older and more developed leaves, more light priority in turn fuels the growth of the entire plant.

On the other hand, the tucking brought up more branches than in the back because I kept exposing their grow tips.

So,
-Side floros inhibit vertical growth,
-Tucking encourages more even but shorter branches,
-Doing nothing encourages one big branch, but inhibits the other branches around it.

Does that seem right?

Either way, that canopy is dense and I am definitely not wasting a photon of light from the top. I really gotta do something about some reflective material though when the time comes to need more light.

 

[bobqcarter]

Day 30.

Had a rough res. change the other day. I have an empty bucket and two black ones. So, I put the plant on the empty pot, switch the black tanks and put the plant on back on.

Well, I went to take the plant off the old res. and the roots were all wrapped around the airstone lines. It was like a three foot root and I had to try and hold the plant up and untangle the roots and I thought it was screwed. She looked saggy there for a few hours, but is back in business now!

I switched to flowering nutrients, but get the feeling that she is eating up all the N and less of the PK. What's the rule on mixing vega and flore?

 

[testor]

:thread:
Interesting Idea for the diamond shaped, one plant Growbox!

Can not help you with DWC but it seems to me that you have everything under control!:gthumb:

Will be following this!:smokebuds: