Multi-Plant Recirculating DWC Test

Xlr8 said:
Looking great - healthy and happy. :thumb:

Thanks again for the info on your defoliation style. I like the idea of reducing stretch and promoting lateral growth by removing fans on the main stems. Makes sense, and a great way to keep the canopy more even.
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Pruning, trimming, topping, lst tieing down, fimming are all variations of the same thing. You fuck with the plant enough times you tend to know what its going to do next once you understand how it grows. But if you have the room for height, tieing up and stripping fanleaves and undergrowth can also be a good plant manipulator. It all depends on space and light spread versus light penetration and how you go about controlling your plants. I practice all forms except for the FIM. FIM(fuck I missed) works better on larger plants and kinda waste height to get the full effect of multi-branching. If you want to get more scientific you might want to look up auxins, the hormone the plant puts out to speed growth and spread to the tallest and outermost canopy of the plant.
 
Day 22 in flower.
Plants are over 3 feet tall except for the middle.
The 3 inch pot nets can't support a plant that tall and big. I installed 2 stakes per plant and started pretieing the plants up. I also took the time for a final prune and trim mostly stripping the bottom growth. Will still have to remove a leaf or two lol. I will still have small buds to mix with the big ones but popcorn is kept at a minimum. I moved the light barrier closer and added a front light barrier. These barriers are reflective bubblewrap insulation from Lowes. They have good reflection, light defusion and reusability.
Here are the pics from day 22.
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The starburst buds are starting off big. The stretch should start to slow. Caterac kush is a tall stretchy beast with big leaves and looks to be full easy to trim buds.
 
Bassman59 said:
This defoliation is interesting. many kudos
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Its mainly keeping the ends of the outer most branches and laterals. If its too bushy light penetration will suck. I am able to let the girls get some height so I match the trimming to get the most or at least thats the objective.
 
These pics are from day 28 in flower.
As of this day I will be using BPN 2part nutes and the blue booster.
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From the top it doesn't look like I trimmed much.
I was able to take pics with a more natural light so I took extras. This is 5 minutes before the hids come on. The days are finally cool enough so I won't be using athe chiller anymore. I need the power for another project.

Today is 10/31.
Today is day 30 in flower.
 
SteveHman said:
Looking nice Mr Smith. I used the Bloom Booster last grow and it seemed to add some weight to the girls, although I didn't do a comparison (with and without). The buds were nice and frosty.
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I'm liking it so far - though I used it from the start, so not sure what it would have been like without it. I will say it compares favorably so far to the program I was used to (Dutch Master Gold series). I'm trying to reserve judgement until the end, but I'm expecting improved overall yield with the combo of BPN nutes and the Liquid Blue bloom booster (vs. the DM series). This is saying a lot for me, because I was a big believer in the DM line and their Add .27 bloom booster product. I think you'll be really happy.
 
Very nice Mr. Smith! And your plants are absolutely beautiful! I love the color and the leaves show no signs of stress. You should be extremely proud sir!

Great info about the BPN bloom booster! I plan to use that for a grow starting in a few weeks! So hit it with the booster Mr. Smith, I'm dying to see your results.:adore:
 
This caterac kush sure is a stretchy beast. Started at 14 to 18 inches and the tallest is at 5 foot.
Came across a problem. Root mass clogged the 1 by1/4 inch tubes and 3 of the containers sucked down to just inches from the bottom. The pump noise told me there was a problem so I opened the containers and removed the roots from the tubes. I am going to have to do this after every waterchange, good thing I didn't scrog this group or this would be a bigger problem.

Day 32 in flower
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Bummer about the root clogs. I still want to do a similar project at some point. I was going to do 2" uniseals and tubes... Do you think larger diameter would help with the clogging issue? Looking great, btw. :thumb:
 
Thank you 4twenty4all.
Xlr8, I am not sure. I think my clog came from when I drain the system for the waterchange. Mostly the roots bush out but drop to the bottom when I do the change. The system seems to work best with the water level set about a 1 inch or less below the potnet. Ph seems most stable this height and drops when the waterlevel gets low. The 5 plants drink alot. Between 4 to 5 gallons a day. # inch pot nets are not adequate for the job. Each potnet is busted by roots and can't be reused.
 
Mr Smith said:
Thank you 4twenty4all.
Xlr8, I am not sure. I think my clog came from when I drain the system for the waterchange. Mostly the roots bush out but drop to the bottom when I do the change. The system seems to work best with the water level set about a 1 inch or less below the potnet. Ph seems most stable this height and drops when the waterlevel gets low. The 5 plants drink alot. Between 4 to 5 gallons a day. # inch pot nets are not adequate for the job. Each potnet is busted by roots and can't be reused.
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What size netpots did you use - 3"? I have a bunch of extra 5.5" that might work well I'm thinking. I really appreciate you sharing your experiences - should help a bunch when I get around to building one of these.
 
Xlr8
I am only using the 3 inch because I already own a 100 or two for the vertical satelite and the aeroflo systems. The plants need better anchorage and a 5.5 would probally work best with this size container.

4twenty4all
Dwc is hard to beat in root mass developement as long as its being kept healthy. Do you have alot of experience on a normal dwc system? If so I have a few questions for ya that might help me understand some of the differences from a recirculating dwc and a normal dwc. I personally only dabbled with normal dwc and most of my experience is with veg and cloning. As for recirculating dwc, this is my second grow with a second machine, all the others have been hybrids like the vertical and the aeroflos.
 
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