OTM's DIY Bubble Cloning & Sprouting 40 Year Old Seeds & Current RDWC Harvest

Pat999 said:
Man big outdoor grows are your thing, I love big indoor grows on my side :ganjamon: LoL I am growing a tiny GG#4 currently but only under a small LED light. Hopefully you will be able to grow some huge trees again and soon :thumb:
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That might be kind of tough, finding 40 acres out in the middle of nowhere is what I would like, finding the ideal spot is another thing:laughtwo:!
 
Excellent update OTM. Things are sure looking good.

Our systems must be near the same size. Mine takes 24 gallons on a res change when the plants are younger and then drops off as the pails fill with roots.
 
Everything is looking great! Sorry for joining so late. New grower and member here. I found your journal and it interests me!

40 year old beans are worth subbing for. I'm hoping some of them will pop. It'd be great to have old school genetics in the modern day. I doubt many people have access to stuff like that.

Your RDWC looks very nice. To prevent roots from jamming stuff up did you use net pots in the bottom of the return manifold?
 
Scrogdawg said:
Excellent update OTM. Things are sure looking good.

Our systems must be near the same size. Mine takes 24 gallons on a res change when the plants are younger and then drops off as the pails fill with roots.
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I started out with 20 gallons and just upped it to 25 gallons a couple weeks ago because they are drinking so much. There is a lot of roots in the buckets...I can peek in but cant quite reach in!:laughtwo:
 
Old TimingMan said:
As far as the RDWC system verses the Coco Coir, the jury is still out on which is better, the RDWC is much less work, the Coco Coir showed faster growth in the beginning, that decision will probably made once harvest is done!:smokin2:
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Interested to hear your report. Coco is a great place to start for someone totally new to growing, and a good intro to hydro. However, it is a lot of work if hand watering.
 
Apbeast87 said:
Everything is looking great! Sorry for joining so late. New grower and member here. I found your journal and it interests me!

40 year old beans are worth subbing for. I'm hoping some of them will pop. It'd be great to have old school genetics in the modern day. I doubt many people have access to stuff like that.

Your RDWC looks very nice. To prevent roots from jamming stuff up did you use net pots in the bottom of the return manifold?
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Welcome aboard Ap, :welcome:

My RDWC is a bottom feed top drain and there are screens on both inlet & outlets to keep the roots in check...so far no problems!:wood:
 
Lady Antheia said:
Interested to hear your report. Coco is a great place to start for someone totally new to growing, and a good intro to hydro. However, it is a lot of work if hand watering.
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I agree Lady A, I would recommend Coco to all beginners, over watering is one of the biggest causes of failure noobs seem to have...you can't over water coco and that fact would save many plants.

It is more work but also allows one to learn the art of growing successfully, the more time you spend with your plants the more you learn about them and their needs! There is a old saying that applies in this case "You only get out what you put in" :laughtwo:
 
I dont like watering.. in fact i have under watered my plants before a few times. Maybe my sick and twisted side likes to let them suffer a little lol. Coco would be a tough transition having to water everyday or twice a day even. That sounds crazy to me.. in soil that would kill your plants pretty quick if you did that or they would have very stunted growth.
 
imtoasted said:
Coco would be a tough transition having to water everyday or twice a day even. That sounds crazy to me..
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Watering coco by hand every day or twice a day is a pain. But because you're watering like clockwork, and because you really can't overwater coco, you could set up a timer that waters your plants automatically, which would actually make watering and feeding easier. And the pH of a drain-to-waste coco grow is very stable compared to hydro as well. I have my first coco grow going now and I'm loving it (and so is the plant). Just wanted to point that out...
 
Scientific said:
Watering coco by hand every day or twice a day is a pain. But because you're watering like clockwork, and because you really can't overwater coco, you could set up a timer that waters your plants automatically, which would actually make watering and feeding easier. And the pH of a drain-to-waste coco grow is very stable compared to hydro as well. I have my first coco grow going now and I'm loving it (and so is the plant). Just wanted to point that out...
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I just finished my first Coco grow and it's far easier and much less maintenance than my DWC/Aero grow I've found. I use blumats and a 5 gallon reservoir to automatically water my Smart Pots with Coco. I simply pop open the tank once or twice a day to make sure I've got enough to last till the next time I check. There's a small water pump in the res that keeps things circulating. Other than that that's pretty much it for irrigation. No timers or anything, the blumats open up and water the pots automatically when the moisture level of the Coco is drier than they are. Used Canna nutes, never had to adjust ph or anything. The perfect lazy, low maintenance grow. I guess after a few grows I just realized that I was overthinking everything and making my operation far too complicated...it's just weed, not a space shuttle launch.
 
Agemon said:
Im all caught up on ur grow. How many days did your clones take to show roots. My did 6 days then i had to leave them. When i get home it will be 14 days.
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Enjoy the ride Agemon! :welcome:

I took the clones on the 6th and noticed roots on 2 yesterday, so it was 6 days to first roots, have not looked them over close today to see if any more are showing but will later this evening.

When you get back home you should have a well started root system!
 
beornn said:
I guess after a few grows I just realized that I was overthinking everything and making my operation far too complicated...it's just weed, not a space shuttle launch.
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I think when you're getting started you're in "learn mode." Everything is new and unknown and exciting (for me anyway) and fun. Then gradually you learn what works and what doesn't and how to streamline.

I loved the yield I got with pure hydro, but chasing the pH and changing out the reservoirs was a lot of time and work. Just pumping in fresh nutes seems about the ideal. And like I said, my plant is REALLY happy in coco!
 
7-12-17 update;

As promised clone root pictures from day 7 in the $10 DIY bubbler...yesterday I noticed 2, today there are 5 out of the 6 with roots!:cheertwo: There should be no reason number 6 doesn't produce, it is the biggest and best looking in the group.

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The old beans are still dormant or maybe rotting? :laughtwo: The GA3 shows in-transit so it should arrive tomorrow or Saturday and we can get going on some serious cracking!

The current grow is still stretching, noticing the branches starting to fill a little, started a little leaf picking at the bottom's and a few blocking light, trying to get a head start on it before the weekend when we really get serious!

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Thanks for all the comments and conversation! :thanks:
 
imtoasted said:
I dont like watering.. in fact i have under watered my plants before a few times. Maybe my sick and twisted side likes to let them suffer a little lol. Coco would be a tough transition having to water everyday or twice a day even. That sounds crazy to me.. in soil that would kill your plants pretty quick if you did that or they would have very stunted growth.
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The daily watering don't bother me so much, its when I want to get away for a couple days it bothered me...a search on the net auction site...bingo I have a automatic watering system for less than $30.00 with shipping that did the trick. When I was away this past 4th of July for 5 days I didn't have anyone I could trust to water for me...this little device did the trick with no problems, it can water up to 10 pots.

I have a transformer coming for it so I can convert it to 110V and will try to incorporate it to a full time system with a little tweaking.
 
Scientific said:
Watering coco by hand every day or twice a day is a pain. But because you're watering like clockwork, and because you really can't overwater coco, you could set up a timer that waters your plants automatically, which would actually make watering and feeding easier. And the pH of a drain-to-waste coco grow is very stable compared to hydro as well. I have my first coco grow going now and I'm loving it (and so is the plant). Just wanted to point that out...
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On your 1st grow, getting to know your plants and learning how they respond is the key, with coco, your one on one daily and can catch problems before they turn into disasters quicker...feeding IMO is much easier, the coco is neutral with no hidden/time release things to worry about, the plants will tell you if they don't like what they are getting fed!:clap:

Scientific said:
I think when you're getting started you're in "learn mode." Everything is new and unknown and exciting (for me anyway) and fun. Then gradually you learn what works and what doesn't and how to streamline.

I loved the yield I got with pure hydro, but chasing the pH and changing out the reservoirs was a lot of time and work. Just pumping in fresh nutes seems about the ideal. And like I said, my plant is REALLY happy in coco!
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DWC is tough to get dialed in at first, once you accomplish that, your only real time spent is the rez/bucket change...get a monitor and say good bye to dipping pens!

The normal thing I have found with RDWC/DWC is the PH will rise after a change, it may rise 0.1-0.4 (5.6-6.0) over the next 2-3 days and then will start to drop towards the end of the change cycle, I don't do anything but monitor it, I don't adjust the PH but I keep a eye on the PPM's and as the PH rises. the PPM's will start to drop, a day or 2 later the PH will follow.

I think the biggest problem us noobs have with RDWC/DWC is controlling the water temp...if you can't keep it 70 degrees or less, the problems will start.
 
Old TimingMan said:
get a monitor and say good bye to dipping pens!
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Amen to that. A couple hundred bucks for a monitor is a hard pill to swallow but once you've pulled the trigger you'd wonder how you ever got by without it.
 
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