Growlow's 2000 Watt Organic RDWC HYDRO Headband - CottonCandy - Diablo OG

[Growlow]

Great set up! Its so clean and organized, i love it!

May i ask and poke and prod a little bit?

When you "ph'd" the water, what ph level is it at? When i adjust the PH level of my DWC (and future Monster sized RDWC) my reservoir PH is always around 5.6. For hydroponics, you want a PH of 5.5-6.5, with 5.8 being the best level for nutrient uptake. I keep it a bit under to allow my plants to intake more Calcium and Manganese which are both more available at lower PH levels. When i change out the res on my DWC the PH has always fluctuated a bit and is usually around 6.3, which is good for Magnesium intake, when i drain

But different strokes for different folks right? You have this soil happening in your net pot, so you need to have higher PH when you water, i'm just confused why the reservoir PH is rather high for a hydroponics setup if you have roots that are submerged in water.


Exactly how much root mass makes its way through the coco/hydroton layer? if hardly any get through, i question why even do a RDWC when your root mass isn't even in the reservoir at all? Why not just do a 5gal soil grow? I dont mean to question your methods (even tho i kind of am in a way) i'm just curious since RDWC and DWC has the majority of the root mass sitting in a nutrient solution, which i'm sure you are more than aware of, haha. Just trying to wrap my head around your method is all!

Also, since your roots cant really grow through the packed coco mold, wouldn't your plants get root bound very quickly in the pots?

Please excuse my need for knowledge.

I happen to have quite a good sized bag of some Tuna kush for us to puff on!! (check my latest post on my journal for the picture.)


Screw it.. Dig in guys!!!

I love intellectual conversation, so first and foremost welcome and thankyou for the poke and prod Also much appreciation is shown to the big old bag of goodies you brought with ya

So firstly to cover the pH question. The level of pH I post is the level of pH when I am doing the post. So this is something I am working on currently with this thread and my newest thread is to be much more informative and thoroughly detailed in describing everything that's going on. I more often than not set the res up at around 5.6pH and it usually rises up to 6.2/6.3pH with in a day or two. I usually post right before I do a res change so this is something I'll be much more clear about. I have a thirsty garden of fruits and veggies outside so I change my res every 3 days even though it is just water. Just to keep things as crisp and fresh as possible and to reduce any bad fellas getting comfy in my res. Though with that in mind I have black buckets with a 100% light seal so I'm not too worried to begin with. I guess you caught onto how I like things clean! It's the only way to grow the best medicine is by starting with a clean growing environment.

So next I'll cover more of your questions regarding the netpot itself. So when I transplants into this layered system the Coco is damp not saturated but has a looseness to it. It's why I make an inch or two so that it filters without having to be compacted. That way those bigger thicker roots go straight down into the res. Even some of those nute suckin roots make their way down.
If you take a look at my 1st journal you will see the size of the root mass that comes through. Like you guessed I am well aware of the concept for DWC and RDWC. I just like to work outside the box to see what I can come up with and if all results are less than the designed purpose, you can be sure I am not stupid. I will switch back in a heart beat.

 

[Growlow]

I thought I'd save you the trip. Here is a shot of the root mass. Not in great condition but there is a story behind it I have had GREAT success with organic nutes in the res. Also had terrible results when water temps went over the 90 mark.

 

[Greenthumb J]

I also enjoy these conversations. Its why i'm am growing the way i am now.. Half my apartment is a grow op now! an 8x8 tent, a 4x4 tent as well as an automated grow box PLUS my bathtub in my ensuite bathroom in the master bedroom is my veg area. 3 Rooms dedicated to this! I started off with the little grow box, and although it would be good enough for just myself, i have people who rely on what i grow for medicinal reasons, so my operation has expanded exponentially. I blame the conversations that i have with people here (as well as patients medical needs) on changing my methods for optimal production for my harvests. I used to think a room full of plants was the way to go, but i have found that maintaining one plant, that yields as much as that whole room of plants, is much easier to take care of. its also less time consuming to trim less plants! Had this grand idea to get a tent and fill it with as many plants as possible, now i'm taking an 8x8 tent and flowering out 2 plants, with 3 being the max. They will each be over 1lb a plant, and i have nothing other than as the reason behind my upcoming success.




Alright now that i'm stoned to the bajesus, lets talk shop! I am relieved to hear your water res is 5.6. Do you add any nutrients to the RDWC sytem or is it simply ph balanced water?

Damn, i thought i had more questions? maybe i do and a couple more bong tokes are required to remember haha

 

[Growlow]

I also enjoy these conversations. Its why i'm am growing the way i am now.. Half my apartment is a grow op now! an 8x8 tent, a 4x4 tent as well as an automated grow box PLUS my bathtub in my ensuite bathroom in the master bedroom is my veg area. 3 Rooms dedicated to this! I started off with the little grow box, and although it would be good enough for just myself, i have people who rely on what i grow for medicinal reasons, so my operation has expanded exponentially. I blame the conversations that i have with people here (as well as patients medical needs) on changing my methods for optimal production for my harvests. I used to think a room full of plants was the way to go, but i have found that maintaining one plant, that yields as much as that whole room of plants, is much easier to take care of. its also less time consuming to trim less plants! Had this grand idea to get a tent and fill it with as many plants as possible, now i'm taking an 8x8 tent and flowering out 2 plants, with 3 being the max. They will each be over 1lb a plant, and i have nothing other than as the reason behind my upcoming success.




Alright now that i'm stoned to the bajesus, lets talk shop! I am relieved to hear your water res is 5.6. Do you add any nutrients to the RDWC sytem or is it simply ph balanced water?

Damn, i thought i had more questions? maybe i do and a couple more bong tokes are required to remember haha

Farkin aye brother! Way to go. There is definitely no short of great minded people in here. It's brilliant. I spent the majority of my life growing in the Tropical Rainforest of Far North Australia

Those are all in 35 gal pots with soil from the ground they sit on. Super rich soil, it's what you get for living in the oldest rainforest in the world.. including the Amazon The only time I grew indoors was in the wet season and it was pretty much just to breed the genetics out so I had seeds for the next year. Those are my small girls. I had some big 10 ft girls in a place I called the Magic Valley because I would literally put the plant in the ground walk away come back at harvest and get 2-3lb dried everytime. I will admit the plant I put in the ground was sizeable to begin with and topped like a mofo I was raised around growing so to me it's my biggest passion besides music and stone carving.

The nutes I've been feeding have been following the General Organics feeding schedule, though threw a top feed approach. I can say I've grown in both reservoir set ups. Although the GO in the Res was with a DWC not RDWC. So far I'm not seeing too much difference in terms of size or by how much frost, though I did find the smoke noticeably smoother. Same strain and same light intensity. The only difference was the res.

 

[Tamir]

Magic valley sounds about right!!! Damn I need outdoor space! Lol after my 5 seedlings are all harvested I'm gonna run a single plant in a 20gal tote, scrog, top/fim, supercropped and all... See if I can pull a 1lb'er

 

[Greenthumb J]

I took a look at the roots on your first journal. Crazy. I had something similar to that happen to me when in first started in my small grow box. i thought i would keep a sterile environment in the res, but the bad bacteria had other plans. Root rot killed off a bunch of nice young plants i had started, and it wasnt until I started using Aquashield in my water res, that i have not run into a problem other than my own stupidity and negligence.

My water temps have hit almost 30 degrees and plants haven't noticed. The water evaporates very quickly in a 5 gal bucket under a 600w light at 30 degrees tho, so my negligence has been letting the plants go dry for half a day to a day. The aquashield has prevented any root issues associated with high water temps. I've since run out about 3 weeks ago, and still my White widow i have in the bathroom is just recovering from a Cal/mag deficiency because i forgot to add it in a res change, then went almost 2 weeks before changing the bucket again..

Again my own negligence!

Damn those plants look wicked! i wish i had pics of when i was a late teenager just graduated highschool helping do a couple outdoor crops here in BC. We pulled in some plants 12ft tall i swear! Colas that were as big as my leg! I wish i had the space to do an outdoor plant somewhere near me. Problem is, its too populated. People walk too many places and the smell would attract some adventurous stoners to my outdoor garden. NO thank you!

I took a decade off, and now i'm back. I got a 1000sqft 2 bedroom and den apartment to play in. Not a forest like before! Now smell and stealth are of some concern, so i got some rooms inside rooms to grow in. My tents an grow box like i mentioned.

I've also never grown hydroponically, so i'm basically a newbie all over again. Plus i forgot a lot of what i knew back then, which wasn't even that much.

I've since run into a few problems that i have fixed and and i quite proud of where i have gotten myself to thus far. My new spaces will really give me what i need for my growing needs, and once i get my last bits and pieces to start up, i will be starting 2 new journals, one of which is a Sponsored LED grow journal and review from seed to smoke.

I plan to make my indoor garden perpetual, and have a plant come down every 4 weeks. Each plant will have at least a 2 month veg period and at least 10 weeks of flowering (except my BC SweetTooth i just picked up. It has a 45-55 day flowering time, so if its done, its done and chop chop chop!) i will do 3 plants at a time in the tents. 2 in the big tent, maybe 3, and one in the 4x4 tent under the LED, after the Review journal is over.

My plan is this: Plant #1 veg for 1 month, start new plant (#2) and veg that for 1 month. Then, take cutting of plant #1 and start a new plant (#3) Root the cutting, and put large plant #1 into flower. In 1 month, take cutting of Plant #2 and put it into flower. A month later, Plant #3 is ready to replace Plant #1 thats ready to harvest. Take a cutting of plant #3 and put it into the flower room to replace Plant #1. In a month Plant #2 is ready to harvest and Clone from Plant #1 is ready to replace this plant and so on and so forth

See how i got it going? I think i managed to time that all right.. and I REALLY hope i wasn't too stoned and it came out clear enough to understand.

Bong hit anyone?

I just picked up 4 new strains for the collection, which set me back $150 for 10 seeds, but the genetics are great.

2x Bomb Seeds THC Bomb
2x Dinafem OG Kush
2x BC Bud Depot Girl Scout Cookies
4x BC Bud Depot BC SweetTooth because they're regulars and not feminized like the others!

If i manage to get my grow schedule down pat, I will be rollin in green.. Rolling green.. mmm

 

[Growlow]

Don't mind if I do

I just did the same. My newest journal is simply about the newest genetics to hit my yard. All are TGA 15 seeds. Set me back about 200. Which I'm happy with I followed fluently, so no worries man. Maybe we're both baked enough to understand each other and come tomorrow this journal is filled with some cryptic script that is impossible to translate

I've got 3 friends taking on the same genetic and approach to growing as me.All with 140sqft of working space. Though I might just set them up with General Hydroponics Organic line straight in the Reservoir because they have cooled res's. That will be a great way to gauge which is more proficient

 

[Greenthumb J]

I wish i had buddies here that grew. I had one, but he had to take his room down for some reason. I forgot to ask him if he got it back up yet. I was meaning to give him some widow clones for taking care of my grow while i was in Vegas at the end of June for a week.

I mainly wish i knew people around here that grew so we could exchange strains and such. I really want to grow some of the BC Clone-only strains that go around here, Like Grapefruit, and UBC Chemo kush. Or how about the Tuna kush i picked up today. Someone had to have grown that shit! It didn't come packed in a brick like transported shit does. I want some cuts of that! Ah but i digress.. Stealth right? Would just be kinda neat to have someone to actually come check my shit out that knows a thing or two and can lend some useful knowledge.. and maybe share a strain i've never heard of, who knows!

This current journal i have going is a bit of a mess. Its like 10 or 15 pages already and i'm not even doing the clones in my grow box anymore. I'm actually doing the seeds that were produced in my first grow in the grow box. got 9 in the 18 site hydro tub right now. I currently have the clones from my large widow under the LED that was so nicely given to me by Twilight Groups Ltd. as part of a grow journal and review. Its only a temporary home for the clones as they will go under one of the two 600w cooltubes in the 8x8 tent once they are ready to flower!

The widow in my bathroom is getting a bit big for the 6.5ft tall tent with the cool tube attached directly to the tent rafter. not much higher that thing can go unless i punched holes in the tent to put zip ties through to hang the lights.. that will give me maybe 1/4 of an inch more in height? hahaha not worth it! Shes going to get topped tomorrow and going to start tying down some branches cause shes going to be put under a scrog so the plant doesn't stretch into the cooltube reflectors. I'll message my buddy, and if he's up and growin again, maybe i'll take a clone or two for him!

 

[Greenthumb J]

re-reading my perpetual cycle, it slightly confuses me since i just mashed the keyboard with my thoughts!! I will try revised, more stoned approach!!

-Plant #1 is started.
-1 month later, plant 2 is started
-1 month later, plant 3 is started and clone (c1) is taken from plant 1 and plant 1 is sent into flower.
-1 month later, clone is taken from plant 2 (c2), and plant 2 is sent into flower.
-1 month later, clone is taken from plant 3 (c3), Plant 1 is chopped down and replaced with plant 3
-1 month later (hopefully) the first clone taken (c1) is ready to replace plant 2 which is then harvested
-1 month later Clone 2 is ready to replace plant 3 and the cycle continues, over and over until i switch out the strains, which is as easy as deciding which strain is the weakest link and not taking a cutting of it.

This way you never need to keep mother plants. i have a plant thats like 6 months old almost and i haven't flowered it yet. Its almost gotten too big for the space i have set up for this particular plant! My idea was to keep mothers and pump my grow box full of clones and put em on a 12/12 light cycle almost right away.. couple weeks of veg. or i was going to use it as a flowering box since it has the only carbon filter in the house so far haha!! but now with this idea, i have a quick turnover rate of the plants, and i can switch something out easily if me or the patients or the GF gets tired of something!

 

[Growlow]

Magic valley sounds about right!!! Damn I need outdoor space! Lol after my 5 seedlings are all harvested I'm gonna run a single plant in a 20gal tote, scrog, top/fim, supercropped and all... See if I can pull a 1lb'er

I can't wait to see that

 

[Growlow]

In other news my Cotton Candy lost her head... well one of them. This is the plant I'm in the process of saving... well one of of them. This is one of the two I gave to a friend to try his hand at growing. He didn't fair so well so I'm in the process of recovering them Anyway He had bent all 3 of the top branches at a right angle pretty much. Leaving them hardly attached as he didn't do this by breaking down the fiber he pretty much just snapped it. So it was very flimsy to begin with. It took no more than me not paying attention and brushing it slightly and she came off

Then I decided after that performance to somewhat train out my Diablo. After which my fan fell right on the middle of the plant. So a bit of masking tape should hold her for the time being.

Hope you are all high and happy after this beautiful weekend

 

[Greenthumb J]

Holy shit!! Hurricane Growlow sure came through your grow room with a vengeance eh? I sure hope i dont experience Hurricane GreenThumb!!

Although, if you read my first journal around the middle, you will read that a Particular booze fueled hurricane came through and wiped out my White Rhino mother i was planning on keeping because i was dumb and used the wrong sized hole saw bit to drill my holes for the net pots in the 5gal lids, so the plant wouldn't stay up after a res change!!..

speaking of which. I got my Aquashield today!! time to go do a res change on the widow!!

i'm also ripped as the tear in your crotch in your jeans!!! could be a fun night here on

 

[Growlow]

Holy shit!! Hurricane Growlow sure came through your grow room with a vengeance eh? I sure hope i dont experience Hurricane GreenThumb!!

Although, if you read my first journal around the middle, you will read that a Particular booze fueled hurricane came through and wiped out my White Rhino mother i was planning on keeping because i was dumb and used the wrong sized hole saw bit to drill my holes for the net pots in the 5gal lids, so the plant wouldn't stay up after a res change!!..

speaking of which. I got my Aquashield today!! time to go do a res change on the widow!!

i'm also ripped as the tear in your crotch in your jeans!!! could be a fun night here on

Hahah oh you know it bro. I saw that bit about the 5 gals on your thread.. Booze fueled hurricane. Bloody hilarious! I wish I was as ripped as the crotch in my jeans... I keep it spacey for emergency access heehee

 

[Greenthumb J]

sometimes you just cant bother with buttons and zippers!!

yea i'm really disappointed in myself about the Rhino i lost.. She was an amazing specimen! had to be one of the most perfect plants i have seen. i would really be thrilled to see what she would look like today.

The widow that i have tho, i will make sure i flower her out properly. I will take her 12 weeks if i need to get those frosty buds and the right ratio of cloudy/amber trichomes.

I'm super stoked on the 4 new strains that arrived last week!!

 

[Growlow]

sometimes you just cant bother with buttons and zippers!!

yea i'm really disappointed in myself about the Rhino i lost.. She was an amazing specimen! had to be one of the most perfect plants i have seen. i would really be thrilled to see what she would look like today.

The widow that i have tho, i will make sure i flower her out properly. I will take her 12 weeks if i need to get those frosty buds and the right ratio of cloudy/amber trichomes.

I'm super stoked on the 4 new strains that arrived last week!!

I know the feeling. There are a couple females that come to mind who I lost through carelessness or by being clumsy and sometimes just simply not knowing what to do.. enough of that back to the plants haha. All jokes aside I wish I knew what I knew now and I'd have some of those genetics now. No need to look back though. I have had some pretty awesome success with my TGA seeds I popped. I'm really excited to have Nurse Jackie in on rotation and to try out Hurkle. Though that will be some 6 months from now.

I know a guy up here in the north who has a WW he bred back to WW a bunch of times and ended up with something in the 31% THC range.. well that's what he claims at least. I'm yet to try it so until then I'll treat it like he is breeding unicorns

 

[Greenthumb J]

White widow, the original genetics, which i am lucky to have from greenhouse seed Co. since the creator originally bred the WW with GHSco, is still one of the most talked about strains on the planet. Kush is getting there tho!

WW is known to hit the high 20's for THC %. And if you know how to breed, and backcross strains for their genetic qualities, theres no doubt someone could backcross the WW to the most potent phenos and keep that particular plant in their rotation for generations!

I wanna just grow a big plant to FULL maturity! not chop it a couple weeks early! I have no choice but to be patient with my new strains as i paid some good coin for them!

 

[KingJohnC]

White Widow was originally bread by Shantibaba and is now renamed to Black Widow to distinguish itself from all of the copy's.

 

[Greenthumb J]

Glad he originally bred the White Widow with GreenHouse Seed Co. and i was able to get some of the genetics!!

I would like to eventually pick up some Black Widow tho, and compare it to what i grew from GHSco.

 

[Growlow]

So I had a bit of an accident guys and girls. So I wont go into detail on here about it but if any are you are curious and want a bit more back story on me, then you can see it all on my "Growlow's 1st journal on 420". I'm going to keep it short and sweet. I thought I'd share a couple revealing close shots at the tops of my girls.. or under their tops??

OG Kush Diablo cut

818 Headband

Cotton Candy

I hope you all have a great night and better morning

 

[Greenthumb J]

looking great in there..

hope you get better soon friend!