Scrogdawgs 400W RDWC White Widow Fem Scrog Grow

[Scrogdawg]

Thanks everyone for taking time to look at my my first grow journal. I've included below a list of my setup and a few pictures to illustrate where I'm at.

Preface
I set 3 White Widow Feminized seeds in paper towel to germinate on Nov. 21st, 2016 hoping for two to germinate as I had built a 2 bucket RDWC for my grow. All 3 germinated and were planted to soil in 3" pots on November 21st, 2016. The three seeds broke the surface of the pots on Nov. 23rd (I considered this as day 1 of the veg cycle) and two of the seeds were transferred to the RDWC system on Dec. 11th, 2016. Although the one remaining plant continues to grow in the soil I'll confine my journal mainly to the RDWC plants. My plan is to top and LST the two plants to incorporate a scrog screen that I will build in the near future.

Early Days
Immediately after moving two plants to RDWC my ignorance and stupidity stood up and took a bow. I nearly killed both plants. I had gone ahead and started the RDWC without enough research, poor equipment and virtually no way to measure or control my water. After a few days of watching the plants deteriorate I went out and purchased a proper digital monitor to measure PH, TDS, EC and Temp as well as nutrients designed for a hydro purpose. I found my PH was in the neighborhood of 7.7, TDS was 1440. I did two water changes in the next three days and finally got my system in shape. The two plants began to recover and are now doing very well. I believe I set them back about 10 days and I learned a very valuable lesson about being prepared before I start.

Currently (Day 42 veg.)
I have topped each plant twice previously and began to LST yesterday. The root systems are developing nicely and the plants seem to be taking off rapidly now. At this point I'm going to sit back and see what they look like in a week or so. I'll continue to LST as necessary to fit the scrog screen and I'll research some more as I'm not sure if I'll need to top again or if I have enough branches to eventually fill the scrog screen which is 30" x 27" (5.6 sq/ft).

So there you have it, a brief insight into my first White Widow Fem grow. I'll make every effort to keep this journal updated through to completion and as accurate as possible.

I would ask for any advice and help this most knowledgeable community can offer to assist in making my first grow a success.


Strain - White Widow Feminized (Crop King Seeds)
# of Plants - 3
Grow Type - 2 Hydro, 1 Soil
Grow Stage - Veg (Day 41)
Setup - RDWC
Light - 400 Watt MH 18/6
Nutrients - General Hydronponics (FloraMicro, FloraGro, FloraBloom) 30% mix rate
Medium - Hydroton
PPM - 580
EC - 1.14
PH - 5.8
RH - 30%
Room Temperature -70 to 80
Solution Temperature - 69 to 73
Room Square Footage - 35
Water Pump - 320 gph Submersible
Air Pump - 2 x 4.0 L/Min @ 3psi with stones (1 in each bucket)
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A couple from the early days.
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Day 41 Veg.
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[Nismo12]

Looking nice and healthy! Topping twice should be enough to fill your screen. The side branches will fill it up for sure. Excited to see how this works out. Glad you caught your mistake early. Keep it up.

 

[nivek]

Extremely tidy,,

 

[Scrogdawg]

Just so you all know, it's colder than a witches tit outside today. Did a little more LST this morning and cut a few fan leaves that were blocking light. I'm recirculating about 9 gallons of nutrient water in my system (2 - 5 gallon grow buckets and 1 - 5 gallon reservoir) and at day 43 of veg both root growth and plant growth are noticeable every day. In 5 days since my last water change the TDS has gone from 620ppm to 540ppm and they have licked up 1/2 gallon of water. PH hasn't budged from 5.8. They are luvin it right now. All of a sudden I'm in a hurry to finish building my scrog screen.

 

[Chase420Davis]

Damn dude looking really good . Keep updating. I'm interested in lst and ntm it's a hydro which is like wonderland to me lol. But where do you get your seeds from? Because I have only seen a few seedshops online but idk how trust worthy some of this stuff is.

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[Scrogdawg]

But where do you get your seeds from?

I would be happy to share but...unfortunately my post count is not yet high enough to be able to "Private Message" you and I am reluctant to say here as I don't want to violate any forum rules. If an admin says its cool to post or allows me to PM you I'd be glad to help you out.

 

[nivek]

the seed shops, probably including the ones sponsoring here, are very reliable,, there is near never a bad review of the seed shops,, folks always get nervous cuz the seeds don't show,, worry like mad for days,, then the seeds arrive,, all is good

stick with the well known banks,, one rymes with gerbies,, i have used twice, no prob,,

i certainly understand any reluctance, buying anything online,, but, it is the way these days,,

 

[Scrogdawg]

I got my scrog screen built today. The cost was about $8. 2"x3" lumber with 19ga. wire spaced to have three inch holes. It's a bit bulky but will serve the purpose nicely. I'm going to change the bucket configuration before my next grow to make better use of my limited space and will most likely use PVC for that one as it will be a more permanent setup. I'll be installing it when I have another 4" of height on the plants, I'm guessing about a week.
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[Lazarus13]

I didnt like how bulky wood frame scrogs were. PVC is a good choice for your next frame. The wire is a bit frustrating to deal with at the end as well. Gotta cut it all out to harvest.
I like my 3/4 in pvc and twine now.
Hope you dont mind me sharing a pic of it. Cost like $10 to build two 2x2 frames.

Your plants are really taking on a nice shape. Should fill up your screen nicely.

 

[Scrogdawg]

So yesterday I figured I had about a week until I'd need to put in the scrog screen. The RDWC plants were 4" below the height where the screen would sit. Turns out I had to put it in last night and today I expect they'll be touching it. I did not anticipate how quickly a hydro grow can progress when you have your system running well. Not to say I won't have first timer issues tomorrow but today this things on fire.

Just for reference, My buckets are 16" tall and my screen is built to 24" tall leaving only 8" between the top of the buckets and the screen. If I'd have gone much taller with the screen I'd run into lighting trouble when the plants stretch. I believe I have enough, but not an abundance of overhead clearance.

I guess I'll be in the trim and train mode now for a few weeks. I'll have to tidy up some wiring and get some reflector material up as well.
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I'll sneak this one in...Day 44 of Veg.
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[nivek]

I had to read back to see where and why the soil plant was there,, it will be inyeresting to watch the progress of the two types of growing,, iffin you keep the soil one, that is,, the two hydro will take up a tonno space soon enuf

Fun stuff indeed. I whipped together a quick dwc project,, damned if I could find any proper equipment round here, but i got er Goin,, will journalize it all up today

Cheers friend,, great stuff, indeed

 

[Lazarus13]

Awesome Nivek! DWC is fun and fast when its going right. When you get it dialed in it is satisfying to watch these babies take off.
Scrogdawg, i made my screens the same height, 24". Its a little tight trying to get to the back of the screen but since you are not in an enclosed area it should work out pretty good for you. Ok, lets see this screen fill up, brother.

 

[Scrogdawg]

I had to read back to see where and why the soil plant was there,, it will be inyeresting to watch the progress of the two types of growing,, iffin you keep the soil one, that is,

I'm wondering the same thing about the fate of the soil plant. Its been topped twice and has 4 main branches, I'm thinking of cutting everything back except the 4 which I could lolipop and just have the 4 main colas come up through the outside edge of the scrog screen as screen space will surely be at a premium.

 

[Scrogdawg]

Busy morning in the neighborhood. I got my wiring cleaned up properly as best I could. The girls got a little trim for better lighting and I got one side of my reflectors up.

I whipped up a new batch of nutrients that are simmering right now. I'll water change either this evening or tomorrow morning. I added Ca/Mg (CaliMagic) for the first time at 25% the bottle rating and that alone shot my TDS up by 100ppm, wasn't really expecting that. Also mixed my Flora series nutrients 10% heavier than in the past so now water is 200ppm, Ca/Mg is 100ppm and nutes are 400ppm. So the new recipe going into the system when it warms up a few more degrees goes like this: PH - 5.9, TDS - 700 ppm, EC - 1.40 µS and Solution Temp - 62 ⁰F. Seems a little hot with the TDS and EC to me but I'll see what the plants say. I can always pull a couple of gallons and replace with an equal amount of PH'd water to calm things down if need be. Just looking for the sweet spot I guess.

Oh....also gotta mention like a proud new papa, the first twig poked itself up through the screen...lol.
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[Lazarus13]

Congrats on the crowning of your branch. Let the games begin. Weaving a proper scrog is fun. Learning how full your screen needs to be before you switch light schedules is an art. My first time it got out of control and grew a little farther past the screen than i wanted it too. Hoping to have a little neater canopy this time.

 

[nivek]

Wow, perty high tek, indeed, nifty stuff,,

A q for ya iffin Ok,, the first pic shown,, three plants, two dwc, one soil, all three near the same size,,

The later pics, three plants but no longer the same size,, the dwc plants much larger now

So, is the soil one a runt,?

Was planted later?

Receives no ferts?

Or can all that growth be attributed to the dwc style of growing?

Quite a comparison, holey

Are you making a third dwc for the soil plant?

 

[Scrogdawg]

For reference nivek, the RDWC plants are 17" wide x 10" high (due to LST). The soil plant is 7" wide x 6" tall. They were all germinated the same day and have equal growing days so far. I set the RDWC plants back about a week with bad water in the start and the soil plant stalled out for about a week after moving to a 3 gallon pot, so, really a saw off there. All 3 look as healthy as can be. I can only attribute the size difference to the RDWC system. They were all progressing about the same until the root ball started to form on the hydro plants and from there they just took off. This morning for example, one of the RDWC plants poked just through the scrog screen. It's just 11 hours later and its about 2" through the screen now. It really is hard to describe without actually seeing it, but what a blast. And just as a side note, and no BS, I've already trimmed more out of the RDWC plants than there is of the entire soil plant by quite a bit. I've cut fan leaves off that were big enough where 2 of them would cover the soil plant.

I can't really describe it to you nivek. Just wait until you get a root system going on yours and you won't believe it, honest.

 

[Lazarus13]

Nivek, just wait until you see for yourself... When everything is going right I've gotten 3"-4" of vertical growth in a day and that or more side growth. I swear, sometimes when i open the tent it looks like different plants have been put in there.
I am trying to tuck leaves this time in veg and save my defol for after the stretch but, like a cross-dresser in skinny jeans, i am running out of tuck space. Lol

 

[Scrogdawg]

like a cross-dresser in skinny jeans, i am running out of tuck space. Lol

I just conjured that image up in my mind....

 

[wellwaters]

Subbed in! Your setup and ladies look great!


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