First DWC Grow Journal #1 Gorilla Bomb

[reapah23]

Hello fellow marijuana enthusiasts, very excited for this DWC grow. I've only done a few soil grows but they were all successful so I am hoping to do the same with hydroponics.

The plan is to have 2 of them in the 10" pots for hydro then the 3rd one I will be doing soil as I purchased a $50 bag of FF soil awhile back and never used it and also very curious to see and compare them side by side. Hopefully with a bit of luck and love through super cropping and scrog netting I can fill this entire 4x4 full of veg

Seed Info

Strain: Gorilla Bomb
THC: Very High (25%+)
Yield: High (400-550g/m²)
Type: Sativa Dominant Hybrid
Flowering: 9-10 weeks

Grow Operation:

Grow Start Time: Started 9/3/17 at 4:20 AM (legit time when I had checked)
Grow: Indoor/DWC
Soil: Hydroton & Happyfrog Potting Soil
Pot: 10" Rhizicore Netpots with 5 gallon buckets
Light: Global Star 600w LED Grow Light (Veg/Bloom switch)
Temp of Room: It will be regulated, right now their in a propagator (humidity dome).
PH: 5.5 in rockwool, 5.9-6.2 will be in the reservoirs (5gal buckets)
Grow Room: 48x48x80 Matrix tent
Fan: 8" Booster Inline Fan
Carbon Filter: 6" carbon filter
Nutrients: Grow Big, Big Bud, Tiger Bloom

Here is the exterior of the tent



The ducting/cord design, I definitely need to figure out a way to get rid of all the cords so it looks more organized



Got the light right above the propagator dome, the 2 DWC buckets in the back, box with the pump and other tent stuff that'll be used when their done germinating.



It definitely feels good to see some progress, this is how they look after 3 days in the propagator, only one has started to pop through the rockwool. I had soaked the 1.5" rockwool cubes in 5.5 PH water on 9/3/17 at 4:20 PM. So far they have been misted with 5.5 PH water the past 2 days to keep moist.

The light has been on since they were planted, I also did not pre germinate they were simply placed directly into the rockwool then straight into the propagator.

 

[Flashashh]

I'm along for the ride

 

[NaturalSpirit]

Looking good! Subbed!

 

[reapah23]

Not working too well with the rockwool, 1/3 so far. My first purchase with bomb seeds so it's a possibility they were just bad seeds. The only one to pop seems to be doing well although it looked as if it was dieing (the cotyledons looked burnt/dead). I adjusted the light incase it was being burnt and it's doing well now. The cotyledons in the picture were withered up dead less then 48 hours ago they still arent green but they look to be recovering, the leaves were always green though just smaller.

Soaked another seed at 1:20 AM on the 7th for 24 hours planted on the 8th at 1:20 AM. By pre germinating it in the water I'm hoping to have better success rather then just planting the seed like the others. It did sink after 24 hours in the water so that is a good sign usually.

 

[Flashashh]

to me it looks like your rockwool is far too wet, seedings only need a little bit of water in the beginning. looks like your rotting them off with lots of water and heat?

 

[Flashashh]

and... that LED looks wicked powerful! i would definatly think about raising it at least a meter untill they babies are underway..

 

[reapah23]

and... that LED looks wicked powerful! i would definatly think about raising it at least a meter untill they babies are underway..

I'll raise it a bit more although they seem to be doing pretty good now. In that picture I had just watered them which is why it appears to be so wet. The one I soaked and planted began to sprout today it is above the rockwool.

And your right, everytime the cotyledon gets misted it rots, although the leaves stay green. Instead of misting I was debating to just dip 1/4-2/4th of the bottom of the cube in water that way it never touches the cotyledons, think that would be more suitable?

Seedling #1 @ 12:52 AM 9/10/17

Seedling #2

 

[Flashashh]

I'd say that I would avoid misting and let the water in the rock wool evaporate in the propagator to give you the humidity and redial if dry, not sure how long you have used LED but they are mega powerful directly underneath them, I keep mine 1.5M away from my seedings and still get a PAR read of 300! (I know different LEDs vary) check out my journal..

 

[reapah23]

Haven't watered them since my last post (9/10) like you suggested. They seem to be doing very well now and have been growing pretty fast the last 2 days. I'm thinking another week or so when their 4 or 5 nodes, to go ahead and take them out of the propagator and into the DWC (hydroton). I only have 1 more gorilla seed left so I plan to keep it incase something happens to one of these.

Seedling #1 They both seem pretty frosty already

Seedling #2 9/14/17 6:20 AM

 

[Flashashh]

Looking much better, you should see faster growth now!

 

[reapah23]

After that photo I had dunked the cubes in water instead of misting. The next morning didn't look so good, definitely seemed like they were overwatered so I had took the cover off the propagator and let them sit over night under the light to dry it out faster.

On 9/17/17, transplanted them to their final homes in the DWC buckets. Seedling #1 had few short roots poking out the bottom of the rockwool, seedling #2 had a nice long set of roots out the bottom of its rockwool. PH of reservoir water was set 5.8-6.0, average room temperature is 24-27C 50% humidity, highest has been 33C 61% humidity.

9/21/17 Checked water level (10" deep in reservoir is to bottom of core), the PH on seedling #2 was 7.6 and the water level was down to about 7-8" (which started out as 10" deep). Seedling #1 PH was 6.7 and water level was nearly 10". Added 2 TSP of FF Grow Big to each reservoir and stabilized PH to 5.8-6.0; the bottle of nutes called for 2 TSP per gallon of water in a recirculating reservoir every 1-2 weeks. The 5 gallon bucket is 2/3 of the way full so I assumed nearly 3 gallons of water.

Both seedlings roots looked long and already growing in the water, both were nice and white with no signs of rot root. Need to purchase an PPM meter ASAP now that I'm using nutrients. Also adjusted the light cycle from 24/24 to 18/6 (12pm-6pm off since its the hottest time here at the moment) on the 19th. I believe the high PH level and no nutrients and the stress from the overwatering caused them to stunt the past few days but today has shown some decent growth. With the nutrients added and perfect PH of each reservoir I believe they should start looking alot healthier in the next few days.

Seedling #1

Seedling #2

Seedling #1

Seedling #2

 

[reapah23]

Update 9/25/17
They are back looking very nice now especially seedling #2. If you saw in the last photo seedling #2 had white fuzz on the stem which seemed like mold forming to me. I sprayed it once with a mixture of water and 3% peroxide and added a tsp of the 3% peroxide to each reservoir just to test as I read it was good for the roots. It seemed to get rid of the white fuzz and the past day both have been growing exceptionally well I can only imagine what they'll look like in a few weeks.

Seedling #1

Seedling #2

 

[reapah23]

Can finally take a picture of them from a distance now where you can actually see them without zooming in! Pretty amazing how fast they grew in 3-4 days from the last photos. On the 25th they were barely as big as them rocks, look at them now its insane definitely faster then any soil plants I've grown.

Left Seedling #2 Right Seedling #1 10:20 AM 9/30/17

 

[reapah23]

10/4/17
Just another update, not much to say as everything is still going smooth, they've gotten a bit taller and bushier. I should really start supercropping and all that jazz I'm just sort of worried to mess with them and I don't have much help besides videos. I might just end up scrog netting them and not supercropping since I don't really know how I'd rather practice with some bag seeds.

The three seedlings are bag seeds from some herm'd fire, believe they are OG and cheese. Either way I am just growing them in soil (rockwool planted in soil) to practice supercropping and such, if one turns out to be female more the merrier the practice is what I am after.

Heres the nute I've been using and plan to use during flower, currently only used Grow Big. I still don't have a PPM meter but I'll be buying one today so hopefully within the next day or so I can really know for sure my girls enviroment is up to standards. Changed the reservoir water on the 2nd added 4 TSP of Grow Big and 5.8-6.0 PH water to each reservoir. Checked on the 3rd PH was up to 7.6-7.8 like the first time, definitely need to check PH in a few hours after changing reservoir water. Checked PH tonight and they were at 6.2-6.3 PH so not too bad adjusted to 5.6-5.8.

I haven't gotten into how much they drink yet since no PPM meter, but I don't think their drinking much. When I changed the reservoir I had put about 9.8-9.6 inches of water and their down to 9.2-9.0 after a day or two. I'm debating to let them get to about 6" which would put it at the bottom of the netpot instead of the core, I'm one of them ones that believe if its working why try and fix it, so IDK it's really a toss up next time I'll buy a regular netpot and compare to the rhizicore.

 

[reapah23]

Still haven't received the PPM meter, suppose to be here any day now though. Figured I'd throw up some photos since my last ones were on the last reservoir change also. Same thing as before, 4 tsp of grow big 1 tsp of big bloom 1 tsp of peroxide to each reservoir. Roots nice and white no brown stuff.

I've had people tell me peroxide killed their plant but lately these baby girls have been receiving 1 TSP of peroxide, 1/2 tsp of big bloom 1/2 tsp of grow big every single day since last reservoir change. I have been trying to see how much they can handle but these girls are very thirsty and have showed no signs of nute burn.

When that PPM meter gets here I'll be able to keep track of the PPM so I can increase the nutes and actually know how much their really getting. Another week or two in veg and I'll flip the switch on them, they are starting to have a strong odor now so I've got to hook the carbon filter up soon.

10/18/2017 @ 2:20 AM
Heres how high the light is, I raised it up to get them to stretch and the LED seemed kind of bright on them.

This is the bag seedlings from the last photo, looks like 2 indicas and 1 sativa

Leaves are getting huge some bigger then my hand

Heres an old pic from the 15th

Now that its winter my temp seems to stay at 72F even when the outer room temperature is 76F. I bet that will be a nice temperature for flowering stage and not needing a heater to take up space would be great. At night I've always blasted my AC unit the meter has showed temps as low as 55F in the grow room so if they have thrived and survived in them cold temps at night since birth they should have no worries.

 

[reapah23]

Flipped the switch 10/24 so this is day 4 of flower along with 12/12 light cycle. When I had checked the PPM right before flower each reservoir was around 430-450 PPM. Changed the reservoir on the 24th added 5 tsp Tiger Bloom, 1tsp Big Bloom & 1tsp Grow Big which put it at 600-650 PPM. My tap water is 230 PPM.

After another week I'll stop giving it Grow Big and give more Tiger Bloom and probably increase the PPM up to 700-750. I want to finish up on the last week of flower at 1000 PPM so each week at reservoir change I'll bump it up by 50 PPM.

During daily routine they test at 560 PPM with about 1-2" of water consumed, along with an 6.1-6.3 PH, usually 1 TSP of Big Bloom puts PH at 5.9 which is what I aim for. Added 1-2 TSP of BB, TB, and 1 TSP of GB randomly this week each day to keep them above 600 PPM.

Day 4 Flower 10/28

 

[Jack420]

Niceeee led gro

 

[reapah23]

Heres an update from 11/23/2017, I read that the first week or two after light switch doesn't mean day 1 of flower so I'm thinking and gonna go with this is about 2 and a half weeks 3 weeks into flower (flipped switch Oct 24th 12/12 cycle strain claims bomb takes 10 weeks of flower). I've been having problems with seedling #2 since flower, been trying everything to fix it, it's not dieing but it just could definitely be better. Going to try flushing it this week with 0 PPM water instead of the 270 tap and see if it makes a difference.

Heres the red solo cup bag seed plant it turned out to be a female, the other 2 died when my exhaust fan went up, the humidity sky rocketed and killed them overnight.

Heres the issue with seedling #2 if anyone is interested, googled every problem known to mankind and no picture is similiar, I believe its just got a deficiency and it's not able to pull the right nutrients out because of how toxic my county water is. Going to invest in a good purifier to hook to my faucet after these girls are done money is tight right now. It also explains why my seedlings had such a tough time starting, the county water is 270 PPM.

Ordered a trellis net tonight should be here in a few days it seemed like I never needed one but they are doing alot of growth this week, should of flipped the switch sooner so they wouldn't be so tall or did better pruning. I've took alot of the big leafs off and always have kept my bottoms lollipopped.

 

[Hydro Bear]

Looking good. My next grow was going to be gorilla bomb so excited to see how yours turns out. Best of luck, they are looking good!

 

[reapah23]

Looking good. My next grow was going to be gorilla bomb so excited to see how yours turns out. Best of luck, they are looking good!

Thanks, you'll like this strain the stems smell just like gorilla glue if you've ever smoked it before, that gasoline fruity smell it nearly burns my nostrils when I prune a leaf and smell the stem, cant resist. It seems like a very resilient strain you should have no problems, only bad part is it's known to be a slow flower 10 weeks I'm just now seeing the THC/frost show up so I imagine in a week or two they'll be alot more photo worthy! Best of luck on your future grow.