My 2nd 1st Attempt - Bubble Bucket Grow

[hydrofun]

Well got some pictures of the end of the day before starting week 5/3. Not much The LSD plant finally grew about a 1/4 inch on its main top and the 2 other tops that formed moved about 1/8th of an inch. Hopefully that will pick up to half an inch per day then I can say maybe bloom time in 2 weeks. Wanted to bloom in a week and a half but this LSD mutant held me up. If it don't move along in 2 weeks I'm moving on. Got a shot of the main stock on the short fat 1 looking thicker everday. The tall plant is completely tied down on every branch and has been double topped (so 4 main center colas).

 

[hydrofun]

Good news today I saved a lot of money by switching to Geico (joking) but really I was told I can't use An ancient earth with my synthetics and can't find anything in the literate but... It (ancient earth) can be used as a folier spray at 1/8th strength (@1/4ml per L) strong stuff! Well AN advertises this stuff as granma engys (something like that) combined F1 and H2 in 1 bottle. So tonight starts the spray. I'll use it for last 2 weeks of veg and first week flower. Getting closer to switching over can't wait to see if I got females other than the LSD which is....

 

[hydrofun]

week5/3 day 2. Well topped the tall plant again that's 8 colas now readjusted the LST to keep it short checked the water temp is 72.5F PPM 1053 and PH 5.8 no adjustments to ph even after adding 8oz of water. Bucket#2 removed some central top leaves so the tops can breath and spread out some. LSD 3tops still growing biggest 1 got a little light colored yesterday... spilled a drop of calmag on 1 small leaf at water change thought I cleaned it but its yellow now. The other 2 tops are nice and green now no problems but small. Hopefully its just the light is to strong as the parts that are shadowed look nice and green no color problems. Bucket#2 PH 5.6 water temp 73F PPM 850. Room temp 79F RH??. Updated from IGL my 3rd light is just under 4 weeks away (I guess they are walking). At least it will show up at some point in the 1st or 2nd week of flower. I'll post pics at just before lights out.

 

[hydrofun]

Pics week5/week3 day2 As you can see yellow leaves on the LSD but I gota keep moving the nuts up for the big 1 o well (like dolf lundrung said in rocky "if he dies, he dies". I still think it will live the 2 tops underneath that big round leaf are all green in the shade once they grow out maybe in 2 weeks (fingers crossed). Otherwise I got a pic of the stalk on the short 1 looks like the bottom set of leaves will stretch to the lid lever of the bucket and that's where I was hoping it would be (hopefully this will give me more budding room). The first set of branches are connected to the main stalk underground (hydroton) now. The tall looks fully recovered from lack of calmag and weak nutrients. Looks like both buckets held at bucket#1 2/3 strength G M B and bucket#2 at 1/2 G M B recommended. I started foiler feeding ancient earth last night. Anyway pics...

 

[hydrofun]

Today I defoliated some of bucket #1 adjusted the LST and the 4 bottom branches have finaly reached the hooks on my bucket and now are looped through and can now grow upwards!! PH 5.8 PPM 1050 water temp 23.5c. Bucket#2 short fat 1 still growing fatter I guess its moved upwards about 2-3 inches this week. LSD seems to be surviving 3tops growing. Main top seems burned either nuts or lights (but surviving) the other 2 tops are green and fine just shaded by main top. PH was low like 5.6 so I added some regular tap water and GH ArmorSi to get to PH5.8 PPM 890 water temp 22.8c. room temp 80F. RH?? but its raining outside.

 

[hydrofun]

week 5 day 4 bagseeds week 3 day 4 LSD (barneys farms). Bucket#1 still big but I got some decent side growth with pictures. PH 5.8 never moves. water temp 23.5c PPM 940. Bucket#2 (the challenge) I defoliated the bagseed today big time to just give the 6 bigger tops room to move up and out. All under growth is now level with the lid or above. My biggest hope is that this plant will start grow taller it is already bushy enough and requires no toping or LST. The 3 tops on the LSD are still growing even moved and grew through the yellowing like no problem the 2 shorter tops stayed green (I'm thinking light stess 20/4 cycle). My plan is to let to take the smallest top from the LSD and clone it to a friend who has space. That will give me piece of mind I can get clones back from that plant later as I have no way to keep a clone. It has hit 2" of growth just barely tonight so by the end of the week (3 more days) it should have the 3" I wanted, and hopefully next week it can get 5" at that point I think I'm going to say flip time depending on health of plants. I cant really hold the tall 1 down for more than another week and half or 2 at most. 1 huge problem is that bucket #2 has a major PH problem the ph is going down down. I keep adding GHArmorSi and (2x already in 2 days) yesterday I caught the Ph at 5.0 and brought it up to 5.7. Today the PH was 4.6 way to low and so I brought it up in stages first stage to 5.3 then later today PH to 5.9. Why is my PH crashing anyone? Plants seem fine I defoliated the hell out of it its growing great! Well pictures tell the tale..

 

[hydrofun]

Week 5 day 5 /week 3 day 5 Bucket #1 No change PH stable 5.8 water is down to about 1 gallon at most will change it tomorrow at lights, the bottom 2 sets of branches are grown through the hooks on my bucket and turned upwards 1-3 inches. Bucket#2 PH was crazy low again in the 4.5 range again, so I said fuk it made PH 6.0 flush water 5 gallons to the rim of a bucket and then dipped my plants in it flooding it all the way to the rim completely soaking the hydroton for about 30min while I mixed up a new 3 gallon mix of AN GMB at half strength (2ml per liter) calmag at 4ml per gallon, GH armorsi at 5ml per gallon, plant success Orca at 3.5ml total, and Aquashield at 10ml per gallon. PH my water to 5.8. PPM at 1200. Well I'll see if tomorrow they burn and if the PH is stable now and not dropping through the floor. Bucket#2 is still growing fast now but... PH issue for 3 days.

 

[hydrofun]

week 5 day 6/week 3 day6. Bucket #1 I changed the water and soaked the plant in 5 gallons of PH 6.0 water while mixing up a some nutrients. I used 11liters of water ( root displacement is taking up my reservoir now). I added 11ml of GHcalimagic total, 5.5ml GHArmorSi total, Botanicare Aquashield 30ml total, Plants Success Orca 3.5ml total, AN GMB at 32ml, 30ml, 25ml respectively. PH stable at PH 5.8 water temp 21.c (added ice bottles). I defoliated this tall plant 1 last time before setting up for flower I removed about half of the fan leaves that were shading undergrowth now I have about a week and a day for it to fill in and be ready to start the flip. Either at the first day of week 7 or sometime during that week I will flip the lights to 10/14. Bucket#2 PH 6.0 today so much better than the 4.5 I was seeing. Plants still look nice. I stretched the big one out some to give it some room to stretch. The LSD plant is going to make 4 inches this week instead of the 3 I though I added some hydroton to cover the stalk up to the first set of leaves which are yellow and dead. Hopefully the LSD will grab a 8 inch growth spurt next week. I put a box under bucket#2 as I realized WTF I'm holding 1 plant down so the short will even up under the light making an easy canopy but all I needed was a box under the bucket (got the stupids). Now both plants are pretty much 14" from the lights. PICs later today

 

[hydrofun]

PICS almost end of the veg cycle 1 more week or so.

 

[Greenthumb J]

What are those stumps off your stalk?

 

[hydrofun]

LOL those are not stumps. That is just how thick the fan leaves stems are that connect to the main branches I'll take a pick of 1 of the few main fan leaves and its connecting stem they are approaching 1/4 the thickness of pencils. Ya that short 1 is thick all the branches look like green fingers the leaves have huge connectors like straws. I guess that's good they can hold a lot of weight and drink tons of water. I have hit the wall though today I can tell for sure to much N. So I added plain water to both rezz. I got about a week or so left to veg so I hope its not to bad of a burn and I don't need to keep vegging to recover. This officially Day 42 the LSD is at day 28 but is really stunted so whatever its unfortunate it didn't work out but I was warned. I'll post some pics in a few got some clawing in Bucket#1 the tall plant finally hit the wall on N uptake, hopefully the 1 quart of water I added will be enough. Bucket #2 has fallen into limbo again the PH dropping like a stone but thinks to KingJohn posting somewhere else I saw that this was because nutrient mix is just to strong so the plants are not taking up nuts and the PH is dropping into the 4.6 range. So same solution I added more water. I am checking the PH 4 times a day or more now for 3 days. It seems the PH drops when the lights go out only. PH is fine when I watch it all day then next morning (4 hours dark period) the PH is 4.5-4.9. Suxxors

 

[hydrofun]

Bagseed day 42 LSD day 28 PICS. You can see the cut stumps now are just fan leaves that were chopped the straw tells the tale of thickness. Removed and added water from both buckets today to avoid the nut burn problems I think are coming. Hopefully I headed off the main damage.

 

[hydrofun]

Well maybe this proves Kessil+CLW can veg OK to good. Both lights just under 100W of output each. running real watts of 176W. Still waiting on the kessilH380. IGL says Oct3-5 at their location and priority mail to me. So Oct. 10? Lets see next week what happens when kessil goes to bloom!

 

[hydrofun]

Day 44 bagseeds day 30 LSD (barneys farm) So today I was reading on 420mag that LEDs are bad for seedlings and now that's another potential reason this LSD is so mutated and now locked out nuts screwed. So I replaced another 3liters of water and today in both buckets. Bucket #1 tall bagseed looks to be already past the N overdose and smoothing out but I switched out 3L of nut water for 3L of plain water to be safe PH is holding at 5.7 I didn't bother to adjust it just added icebottles. Bucket#2 again was down at 5.1 after light on so I did the 3L swap pulling out the nut water and replacing. Hopefully I can add all this nut water back in at some point as I have saved it in sealed bottles. Anyway I got a few pics coming plants still growing. If there isn't a fast recovery I will delay bloom for whatever days required to see full recovery. At this point light switch is scheduled to change in 6 days.

 

[hydrofun]

Day 46 bagseed Day 32 LSD. Bucket#1 still growing and drinking water and nutrients, it recovered fast from the overfeeding and is growing strong I supercropped 2 dominant tops yesterday but I can't tell today they already turned back up. I've added about a gallon of PH 5.8 water its still about a half gallon bellow full. PH is 5.7 water temp 22.3 C. Bucket#2 well I gave up and finally did what everyone told me ( I was wrong and you guys were right!). I changed the water today because I just can't control the PH fluctuations with 2 plants together. So.. Bucket #2 is just the short bagseed now I stretched it out, and did half the recommended nutrients asked for on AN 3part (2ml per L) and 10ml calimagic, 4ml armorSI, 3ml Orca, 16ml Aquashield, PH water to 6.2 (plants were sitting in 4.8 PH so I went high on the PH to be safe) water temp 23.6C. So now I have a new homemade bucket#3, I made this from a plastic fish tank and wallpaper+mylar and a empty old sour cream container, a bit of hydroton my extra airstone and 4 liter water bottle. I basically cut a 4L bottle and glued it to the bottom of the fish tank bottom filter, flipped it over so the filter is on top of the bottle with the bottle opening lined up with the air hole on the bottom filter. There is already a spot to run an airline, so I ran an airline and airstoone into the 4L bottle so that the airbubble no move straight up the column into the raise bottom filter from the fish tank. The airbubbbles disperse directly under my home made net pot that is a sour cream container with about 50 holes burn through the bottom and lower sider to allow water and roots to come through. So I did the same water for the LSD as bucket#2. So now Bucket#3 LSD water temp 23.5C, PH 6.2, and room temp 78F. Pictures look bad for the LSD and bucket#2 you can see both plants suffered from overfeeding. DAMN YOU osmotic pressure.

 

[hydrofun]

well today looks like things are doing as well as can be expected after a late date transplant. I add some cloning liquid to the rockwool of bucket#3 the PH 5.9 so it dropped a little in 24 hours but looks way more stable than the last 5 days. The color on the LSD is terrible all yellow except undergrowth, hopefully it will start growing roots fast as I only lost about 25% of the root. I am foliar feeding all plants with AN ancient earth and the LSD with a lite 3part mix. Bucket#1 bagseed is just huge now its got to start flower next week no matter what. PH 5.7 water temp 24C. I don't know how it will turn out but I tripled toped this plant at the 5th node and the side branches are all growing into main tops as well, so that leaved me with 8 tops and 8 side branches that are as dominant or more so than the 8 main tops. So a possible 16 tops with the same in smaller secondary tops. I like defoliation but I am really going to try and wait to day 30 of flower before I remove anymore leaves from this beast (I cant see how that is better but ill try to keep my hands off this time). Bucket#2 bagseed is growing and looks to be recovering from the bad PH times. I wish it would get taller but it does have a super even canopy without me even trying. PH is 5.8 water temp 24.2C room temp 77F. So if bucket#2 recovers by Wednesday next week I'll be switching into flowering and starting the blood bud regime. Does anyone have experience with bud blood? All the videos I have seen say its super strong but also say use it at full strength or it wont be effective. Scary stuff. I tried before without bad effect but I used 1 week at half strength and 2nd week was full strength I did see white hairs in 10 days but who knows they were killed in a fit of rage!! Bucket#3 will be wheeling in and out of the flower room as I don't have an extra light besides a lamp with a CFL, so that will have to be used during lights off. Hopefully bucket#3 LSD will produce some usable clones and some decent bud after all this trouble.

 

[hydrofun]

Day 47 badseed Day 33 LSD. Bucket#1 bagseed tall and still getting bigger side branches reaching up closer to the top, PH 5.8 water temp 23.5C. Bucket#2 bagseed still recovering from the bad water and still kinda light on the leaves color but its fat and bushy I may hold off on this plant a few days until it recovers from this PH problem it had last week. PH 6.0 water temp 25C. Bucket#3 LSD its still losing leaves and very light but the undergrowth is coming in green and the main top looks to have some greener color coming up out of the main shoot. IF this plant survives I will be moving out of the closet and letting it get light from a small CFL during lights off. Bucket#1 and maybe #2 will be going to bloom cycle starting Wednesday.

 

[Greenthumb J]

Bucket #1, the sativa dominant looking one, taller one.. put that into flower now. It is going to double or triple in size, so dont let it get too big unless you have the space for it.

Bucket #2 wait 3ish weeks and put that into flower.

>>> IF this plant survives I will be moving out of the closet and letting it get light from a small CFL during lights off.

You live in the closet? the plant is evicting you? haha i'm done now, sorry

Please explain to me your reasoning behind you taking the plant out of the closet when the plants are sleeping, to put it under a CFL?

If you dont mind good sir


OH i almost forgot.. taking the LSD and putting it in its own container.

just watch it start to really grow now! The lighter green was looking like the plant needed some Nitrogen, glad to see its bouncing back!

 

[Greenthumb J]

Also, how badly is your PH fluctuating still?

the cause of that could be because possibly you are using tap water?

If thats the case, you might want to try switching to RO or distilled water. You will find less PH fluctuations in your res.

 

[hydrofun]

Thanks greenthumb J! ya I want to pull the 2 small plants out of the closet when the lights go out for 12 hours of dark cycle. Is that wrong? I though I need more recovery time and a little more height before veging bucket#2 and well the LSD in bucket#3 is just a joke and is far from bloom cycle. Is there an easier way? I got a cart with wheels just going to wheel them out everyday. My PH fluctuation OMG its always in bucket#2 lights on allday and I have a PH of 5.8-6.0, when the lights go out and come on the next day the PH is 3.8-4.9 everyday. Its like the lights go off and the plants release tons of acid into the water. Lights on I adjust it to PH 6 and for the 20 hour light cycle its fine 4 hours of darkness and the PH is back to 4. WTF?? Roots look good I can't figure out how the plants is not dead in that acid water every morning. I know we talked about AN ancient earth and it not working with synthetics but I was reading on the forums that people are using botanicares equivalent to ancient earth and they use synthetic GH and it works fine. Ancient earth makes the roots red and brown but the water was stable. I think next water change Im adding ancient earth back in if for nothing else it buffers the PH nicely. I think the color was nutrient lock out due to PH and overfeeding.