My First DWC Grow Journal - White Cookies From Seed

[kushnoj27]

White Cookies from Crop King Seeds - First Time DWC Grow Journal

Hello All! I am very excited to join this forum and hope I can receive some valuable feedback from some of the growers on the site!

This is my first post and will be continuing to update my progress with growing White Cookies from seed in DWC. I recently became a medical marijuana patient with the ability to grow just over a year ago. I've done a couple soil grows and just finished a coco coir run, all with successful results. I would super crop during the vegetative state.

I have used only clones up to this point and have done massive amounts of research through youtube/forums/sites on how to start from seed and use the deep water culture system. This will be my first grow journal and I hope that this can help as a learning experience for other new growers out there! Feel free to chime in at anytime with feedback!

I will not be using a water chiller at this time. I am hoping my temperatures will be stable enough to allow for proper root growth. This tent does not heat up very much at all, I am able to keep temps within 75 Degrees and can cool the room to what is needed if it becomes an issue. The plan is to purchase a water chiller for the spring/summer months.

The plants will be topped and I will be using the scrog method - installing a Gorilla Grow net trellis made specifically for my tent size with attachable clips (very excited to use it!).

Grow Room Setup:
- 2x4x5.8' Gorilla Grow Shorty Tent
- 600w Kind LED Light
- 4" Carbon Filter
- 4" Inline Stealth Fan
- Small Clip Fan (x2)
- Exhaust Silencer
- Insulated Ducting

Hydro Setup:
- 5 Gallon Bucket (x2)
- Net Pot Lids (x2)
- Active Aqua Air pump (2 Outlet)
- Large Active Aqua Cylinder Air Stone (x2)
- Gold Label Hydrocorn

Nutrients:
- GH Rapid Start
- GH Cal Mag
- Dual Fuel 1 & 2 (Standalone 2 part system) Dual Fuel :: GreenPlanet LTD, INC
- Green Planet Finisher
- Organic Blackstrap Molasses

TO BE CONTINUED!

 

[kushnoj27]

Strain Info:
White Cookies by Crop King Seeds is the hybrid cross of old school White Widow and new school Girl Scout Cookies. With potency and acclaim on either side of this cross, White Cookies utilizes the sweet, uplifting euphoria of the old school and masterfully blends it with new school OG elements that relax the body, creating a strain that is effective at curbing pain and enhancing mood. Enjoy White Cookies with a side of cookies as this strain can stimulate appetite, as well as soothe chronic pain and help mitigate stress.

Type: Indoor / Outdoor
Flowering Time: 9 Weeks
Indica/Sativa: 60% Indica
Effect: Indica Body Rush
THC%: 19.25%
CBD: 0.75%
CBN: 0.24%
Country: Netherlands Netherlands
Yield: up to 400 grams indoor
Genetics: White Widow X Girl Scout Cookies

______________________________________________________________________

I am following the steps outlined by Crop King Seeds, However I might veer a little bit on some things depending on the situation. I will be using Rockwool cubes once the seeds are ready to be transplanted.

The plan is to use the 1.5" Rockwool cube (PH'd @ 5.5 for 30 seconds w/ GH Rapid Start) for seed sprouting, those will be enclosed in the humidity dome under my LED light (36 Inch distance) away from the seedlings until roots begin to show on the bottom of the cube.

At that point I will be transferring the 1.5" cube into the bigger 6" Rockwool cube (PH'd @ 5.5 for 20 minutes w/ GH Rapid Start). Once the roots begin to show at the bottom of the bigger cubes, then it's time to place them into their final DWC setup with hydrocorn.


Germination Stage

Day 1 - Placed seeds in RO water at room temp. Put in cupboard above fridge (Temp: 70 Degrees / 80% Humidity)

Day 2 - Placed seeds on moist paper towel inside grow tent (Temp: 72 Degrees / 82% Humidity) **added 2 more seeds in water to ensure 2 plant germination**

Day 3 - Had 1 seed pop, added slight amount of water to keep paper towel moist - added humidity dome with vent open as humidity dropped to 60%, was able to bring back up to 80% **placed 2 seeds from water onto paper towel as well**

**Next stages will be transplanting into these Rockwool cubes**

 

[Lazarus13]

Welcome to 420 mag and welcome to dwc. I will follow along to see how it goes for you and to offer any help i can.
First thing that popped in my head is you should think about moving your pump out of your grow space. Leds dont give off a lot of heat compared to other lighting but it will still get warm up there. You will be pumping heated air into your rez and that can be a killer. Are you running a sterile or living rez? I run living because my rez temps can get into the low 70s in the summer and that is an invitation for a case of slime. There are pros and cons to both tho.
You will be amazed at the rapid growth in dwc once those roots hit the water. I am excited for you brother. Waiting on the next update...

 

[kushnoj27]

Hey Lazarus, thanks for posting and glad you're going to be around for the ride! I will definitely move the air pump out of the tent.

When you say living, do you mean active bacteria for the nutrient solution? The only thing I am currently using is GH Rapid start which has beneficial enzymes. What would you suggest for my setup? The temps during the summer stay around 78-85 degrees inside the tent at the highest. The temps with the lights off never goes below 68 degrees, so i hope im keeping it within range.

I am a complete newb when it comes to DWC but i want to learn as much as i can. I do have a question. Do you think i should just place my 1.5 inch rockwool cube in my net pot, filled around with hydrocorn and have the water just below the rockwool so that the bubbles can wick up the cube? Water line touching the cube? Or should i transfer them into the bigger rockwool and just top feed until roots grow out? I just want to get my dwc going as soon as possible.

I read that until i can provide an air gap with the roots and the water, that i should have the water touching the rockwool cube so that it can wick up for absorption. I have also never grown from seed before, so this is a completely new experience for me. just trying to make sure everything is dialed in!

Here are some pictures of them today. 2 have completely sprouted out of the cubes and 1 is about to poke. This is the first time they are seeing light, set to 18 hours on 6 hours off. They look good to me, i know that the seeds can stick onto the seedling but will eventually fall off.

Should i keep the dome on? if so, how much longer?

Temps are currently 85 Degrees and 73% Humidity. I had the heat on to keep the seedlings warm during germination. Its turned off now so it should go back down to around 75 degrees.

Lights On w/out glasses

Lights on with Method 7 LED glasses

 

[Lazarus13]

I use Botanicaire's hydroguard and have not had any problems even with temps in the rez up to 75° Same with voodoo juice from AN. Voodoo is just a little too much $ for me to shell out for benes but it works like a charm.
I can't answer your rockwool questions as i don't use it myself. I take my sprouted seed and put it right into my clay pebbles and top feed with a submersible pump and a drip ring for the first week or two til the roots hit the rez. I know you need to be careful with rockwool tho. It can throw your ph off if not prepared before use and it can hold a decent amount of moisture and i was always worried about stem rot and such, so i just skipped it. I am 7 for 7 now with this method.
Once roots hit rez i pull the pump and slowly drop my water level until I'm at about a 3 or 4 inch gap between the bottom of my net pot and the top of the water.

 

[kushnoj27]

Ok I have read about both the hydro guard and voodoo juice so I will definitely pick up one, most likely the voodoo juice. it will be nice to have something on hand just in case.

The rockwool cubes were initially soaked in 5.0Ph water and rapid start and I've let them dry out to about 20-30% saturation.

I made up a bucket of water and rapid start with 5.5Ph this time and place half of the cube in the solution for about 4-5 seconds. That filled them right back up and hopefully it will do the trick! It was something I read in a couple of other threads.

Just a day later though they are looking great! I took the seeds off them by hand and can already see a serrated set of leaves coming through on one. The one yellow one is turning more green by the hour so I'm happy overall. I think 1 seed is not going to make it but that's ok because I'm only growing 2.

I will post the pics shortly!

 

[kushnoj27]

 

[kushnoj27]

Quick update.

Nov. 6 - I can see taproots at the bottom of my 1 inch rockwool cubes now so I decided to transplant to the 6 inch cubes. Soaked the bigger cubes for 25 minutes in 5.5Ph water with root enzymes.

I Put a 1-2 inch layer of hydrocorn into the net pot, then placed my 6 inch rockwool cube on top and filled the surrounding area with the remaining hydrocorn, making sure there were no light leaks.

I then filled my nutrient solution (1/4 strength 200ppm) to the top surface of the hydrocorn allowing for the bubbles to hit the rockwool keeping the medium saturated.

It will be a while before the roots will reach the bottom of the cubes but once I am able to span an air gap between the water and net pots, I will drop the solution about 2-3 inches.

Lights on 24 hours a day now until flower.

 

[Lazarus13]

If you are going to top feed you're going to want to cover your rockwool with something or it will start growing algae.

 

[Pat999]

Sup my man thise grow looks great I will be subbed up right along! Pat

 

[kushnoj27]

Thanks for the follow!

 

[kushnoj27]

NEED HELP

My reservoir temperatures are higher than expected and I am unable to keep it down. At this point I am no longer going to be growing DWC until I make the decision to purchase a water chiller. However now thinking about it, I might just scratch the whole idea given that I have such little growing space at the moment.

One of my seedlings was stretching so I lowered the light. I think the growth rate slowed down the last couple of days due to all the messing around with ph in the reservoir and just dealing with the whole DWC / rockwool. At this point I want to continue to grow these 2 plants but unsure as to how. Keep them in rockwool entire grow and top feed daily? Transplant the 1 inch cube into coco and continue growing?

Given that I have any grown from clones, I have no experience growing from seed. It's the transition part from seedling to veg that I am having trouble with. Any feedback is appreciated!

 

[Lazarus13]

How high were your rez temps?

 

[kushnoj27]

74-78 degrees inside reservoir.

 

[Lazarus13]

Thats where my temps were. I insulated my buckets and moved my air pump to where it would catch cooler air to pump into my water. That got my temps down to between 68-71. With hydroguard or voodoo juice or one of the other beneficial bacteria product out there those temps are very doable.

 

[kushnoj27]

What material did you use for insulation? I do have a ton of aluminium foil tape I could wrap around.

I did take your advice and moved my air pump out of the tent just after reading the post, but my tent has had higher temps for some reason. Maybe I should place a fan near my air pump to blow the heat away.

well I will continue to top feed until I can get the roots to the bottom of the net pots as it's pretty deep. I'll pick up the voodoo juice and give it a go. Oh and I am going to cover the rockwool with some plastic cover to prevent the algae as well.

 

[Lazarus13]

For my buckets i went to walmart and picked up those car windshield reflectors and cut them to size. Fastened them with velcro and good to go. With the cold weather coming i have moved my air pump to the windowsill with the window cracked and my temps are staying at about 68 in the rez. I also put my intake duct at the window and that has brought my tent temps down into the mid 70s with my hid ballast on 100% before i could only run it at 50% because my temps would get up to the 90s if i ran it any higher. Good luck man. DWC is awesome and i hope you can get it to work out for you.

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Is this grow still alive?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read our Photo Gallery Tutorial.

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.

 

[kushnoj27]

Hey Guys, sorry i haven't updated this in a while - I ended up going a completely different route and changed plans. Please continue to follow my progress on the new journal!

I changed from DWC with 2 plants to 20 plants flood and drain with coco coir.


Death Bubba - Flood & Drain Journal 2x4 setup