The Vivosun Bud Factory: Dessert Time! 5x5 VSF6450 RDWC

[LKABudMan]

The Vivosun Bud Factory
Featuring the VIVOSUN Smart Grow System and the VSF6450
Sponsored by VIVOSUN​

---

Welcome to the Vivosun Bud Factory, a Vivosun 5x5 (60x60x80) advanced grey tent equipped with a custom Vivosun Smart Grow System (SGS) with a Vivosun VSF6450 and a 45g 4-site RDWC system.

Vivosun Smart Grow System settings: ** Late Veg Mode **​

• Light - Vivosun VSF6450
  • 22:00-04:00 OFF
  • 04:00-22:00 Spectrum:Vegetative, Intensity:80%, Simulate Sunrise/Sunset (32 DLI)
• Circulation - Vivosun AeroWave E6
  • 00:00-24:00 Natural Breeze Oscillating
• Exhaust - Vivosun 6" AeroZesh
  • 22:00-04:00 60% RH, Speed 5, Default off
  • 04:00-22:00 High 85F / 70% RH, Speed 8, Default off

Other Equipment:
- Vivosun 13" Air Circulator oscillating horizontally on speed# 1
- Vivosun AeroWave A6 on low oscillating

---

Date: 5/12/23 Day# 23​

Strains: Banana Pudding (BP), Mango Mousse (MM), Apply Betty (AB), Forbidden Fruit (FF)
Nutrients: Stout MSA, Megacrop, Voodoo Juice, Pirhana, Hydroguard, z7
Medium: 8" Netpots with clay balls in RDWC system (5x13g buckets)

---

Screenshot_20230512_073047.jpg

• LKABudMan
• May 12, 2023
• lovewhatyougrow smart grow system vivosun

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Weekly Temperatures

On Wednesday the @VIVOSUN app moved the Bud Factory to late veg, right on schedule. The VSF6450 went to 80% and, along with warm temperatures outside, really turned up the heat in the Bud Factory.

When it switched I had the maximum temperature in the tent set to 82f. When the temperature went above that, the GrowHub increased the exhaust and removed all of the humidity, bringing the VPD way up. I countered by increasing the maximum temperature to 85f and turning the humidifier back on to 65%. That's keeping my VPD where I want it, right around 1.2 VPD.

The only worry now is the res temperature, which is increasing. For now I'll just keep adding bennies & z7 to keep it as clean as possible. I am seriously looking at chillers now, though.

These girls seem to love the increased heat, light, and nutrients. I finally got the net installed today, 8" from the buckets. It was right on time, as AB (back-right) was above the net and needed a little spreading out. FF (front-left), on the other hand, wants go stay right on the bucket. The other two are in between, just about to hit the net. No worries, though, they'll all grow up with time.

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• LKABudMan
• May 12, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 23

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• LKABudMan
• May 12, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 23

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• LKABudMan
• May 12, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 23

At this point, I'm just trying to keep everything under the net. As branches grow above, I'll spread them to the outside. At the rate they're growing, it's an everyday job. I expect that within two weeks the net will be full and I'll be flipping to flower

#VIVOSUN #LoveWhatYouGrow

 

[Grand Daddy Black]

...takes time and energy. At my age I have more money than either of those

Same here. And I only have about $44.

 

[bluter]

you might wanna add the chillers sooner rather than later. as the grow continues, your temp and rh is only going one way. you don't want the onset of an issue occurring at or in flower.

bud rot in flower is hard to save or come back from.

those big undercurrent pipes really help. it's a great system.

 

[LKABudMan]

you might wanna add the chillers sooner rather than later. as the grow continues, your temp and rh is only going one way. you don't want the onset of an issue occurring at or in flower.

Actually, early veg is when the res gets the warmest. In flower the situation tends to resolve itself.
- The light is only on 12 hours/day instead of 18.
- The buckets are covered by the canopy. Most of the light energy is absorbed by the canopy, keeping the buckets and the rest of the tent below the canopy cooler.
- The plants are larger and respiring more, and the RH is set lower. That means the exhaust runs constantly, removing both the moisture and the heat from the top of the tent. Right now I need to keep the exhaust lower to maintain enough RH for good VPD.

In the past, my average res temperature goes from 76f in veg to 70f in flower. At this point, probably only two more weeks until I switch to 12/12.

bud rot in flower is hard to save or come back from.

And then there's this. My main reason for not getting a chiller in the past was lack of electricity/outlets. With the new subpanel in the basement, that's no longer an issue.

those big undercurrent pipes really help. it's a great system.

Agreed, the res has lots of movement and aeration which helps a lot. I also add Hydroguard and z7 weekly. Right now the res still looks and smells fine, and the plants aren't complaining either. Of course, that can change quickly.

 

[bluter]

Agreed, the res has lots of movement and aeration which helps a lot. I also add Hydroguard and z7 weekly. Right now the res still looks and smells fine, and the plants aren't complaining either. Of course, that can change quickly.

the undercurrent systems can take higher temps. bud rot occurs partly because the water circulation in the bucket slows down or becomes zero in the center of the rootball. that's where it starts. the undercurrent buckets keep water moving fast enough that it lowers the occurrence.

 

[InTheShed]

Amazing growth with the roots all happy in the res!

As branches grow above, I'll spread them to the outside.

Yeah, outside the tent.

you might wanna add the chillers sooner rather than later.

Like he needs a push!

 

[LKABudMan]

The Vivosun Bud Factory
Featuring the VIVOSUN Smart Grow System and the VSF6450
Sponsored by VIVOSUN​

---

Welcome to the Vivosun Bud Factory, a Vivosun 5x5 (60x60x80) advanced grey tent equipped with a custom Vivosun Smart Grow System (SGS) with a Vivosun VSF6450 and a 45g 4-site RDWC system.

Vivosun Smart Grow System settings: ** Late Veg Mode **

• Light - Vivosun VSF6450
  • 22:00-04:00 OFF
  • 04:00-22:00 Spectrum:Vegetative, Intensity:80%, Simulate Sunrise/Sunset (32 DLI)
• Circulation - Vivosun AeroWave E6
  • 00:00-24:00 Natural Breeze Oscillating
• Exhaust - Vivosun 6" AeroZesh
  • 22:00-04:00 60% RH, Speed 5, Default off
  • 04:00-22:00 High 85F / 68% RH, Speed 8, Default off

Other Equipment:
- Vivosun 13" Air Circulator oscillating horizontally on speed# 1
- Vivosun AeroWave A6 on low oscillating

---

Date: 5/17/23 Day# 28​

Strains: Banana Pudding (BP), Mango Mousse (MM), Apply Betty (AB), Forbidden Fruit (FF)
Nutrients: Stout MSA, Megacrop, Voodoo Juice, Pirhana, Hydroguard, z7
Medium: 8" Netpots with clay balls in RDWC system (5x13g buckets)

---

As the plants create more moisture, the @VIVOSUN SGS vents the tent more often. This keeps the temperature in check as well, dumping the heat out of the tent along with the moisure. The Bud Factory is back down to a high of around 80f where it should stay for the rest of the grow. I bumped the RH down to 68% today to bring the VPD back to 1.2 with the new daytime temps.

The RDWC system is dialed in right now. It's staying right at 5.8 pH and I'm continuing to bring the nutrient concentration up to 2 EC (1000ppm). The res is still dropping between feedings, so I feel comfortable being a little aggressive adding nutes. The res is down 1G or more every day now, so they're drinking more. It makes it easier to see changes in pH/PPM.

Dessert Mix RDWC Tracker 20230517.png

• LKABudMan
• May 17, 2023

Dessert Mix RDWC Tracker

I'm still just pulling everything to the outside under the net. If a branch needs to be pulled down but doesn't reach to the next part of the net, I'm using gardening wire in some places to 'bridge' the gap. I don't attach any branches to the net or weave anything through the net. I just keep everything under it.

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• LKABudMan
• May 17, 2023

Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Mix RDWC day# 25

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• LKABudMan
• May 17, 2023

Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Mix RDWC day# 27

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• LKABudMan
• May 17, 2023

Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Mix RDWC day# 27

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• LKABudMan
• May 17, 2023

Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Mix RDWC day# 27

AB (left below) looks like she is ready to take over the tent all by herself. She has the most space between her nodes and is starting to stretch out on the scrog net. BP (right below) is right behind her, starting to be spread out in the middle. They're on the right side of the tent so they have more room to stretch out, anyways.

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• LKABudMan
• May 17, 2023

Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Mix RDWC day# 28 - AB & BP

MM (left below) is just making it up to the net but is really tight. Nothing compared to FF (right below), though, she's more like a cabbage and still hasn't reached the net. With short internodal spacing and thick DWC branches, they might be difficult to spread out when they finally get up to the net. The key is to take is slowly and do a little at a time.

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• LKABudMan
• May 17, 2023

Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Mix RDWC day# 28 - MM & FF

It's hard to believe they've been in the RDWC for four weeks. Nothing really happens the first two weeks, then all of the sudden they take off. They all look healthy and happy and are all growing well. Patience helps here, there's no reason to try to hurry the plant. No matter what I do, that net is going to fill up quickly. There's no stopping them now!

20230517_095653.jpg

• LKABudMan
• May 17, 2023

Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Mix RDWC day# 28

#VIVOSUN #LoveWhatYouGrow

 

[bluter]

they must've reached the res ... hang on now the ride begins lol
keep it up.

 

[StoneOtter]

04:00-22:00 Spectrum:Vegetative, Intensity:80%, Simulate Sunrise/Sunset (32 DLI)

Hey BudMan, They're ready for sure! I have a question. How do you get to know that the DLI is 32. I see the light is as high as it can be I think. Do you have a device constantly measuring at canopy level feeding that info to the controller or is it simpler?

 

[LKABudMan]

they must've reached the res ... hang on now the ride begins lol
keep it up.

Thanks Bluter. They've had roots in the water for a couple of weeks now. I've noticed the same thing with my hydro lettuce grower, though; once the roots hit the res, the growth speeds up exponentially. As the roots and leaves grow bigger, they can process more nutrients and grow faster.

 

[LKABudMan]

Hey BudMan, They're ready for sure! I have a question. How do you get to know that the DLI is 32. I see the light is as high as it can be I think. Do you have a device constantly measuring at canopy level feeding that info to the controller or is it simpler?

Hi SO. I use the Photone app on my android device to measure the DLI. I also have a cheap LUX meter that I use to calibrate and verify the app.

 

[bluter]

Thanks Bluter. They've had roots in the water for a couple of weeks now. I've noticed the same thing with my hydro lettuce grower, though; once the roots hit the res, the growth speeds up exponentially. As the roots and leaves grow bigger, they can process more nutrients and grow faster.

i miss the insane explosive growth i used to get in active hydro. it's been 20 years or so since i ran that way when i stop to think about it.

i was gearing for hydro when i joined here like 5yrs ago and got sidelined into hempy. before that i grew in hp for over a decade in a med grow.

 

[LKABudMan]

i miss the insane explosive growth i used to get in active hydro. it's been 20 years or so since i ran that way when i stop to think about it.

i was gearing for hydro when i joined here like 5yrs ago and got sidelined into hempy. before that i grew in hp for over a decade in a med grow.

I'm growing my autos in a SIP bucket and I'm suurprised how close to hydro it is. I still get the huge stems and amazing growth, just not quite as much as hydro. SIP is a lot more forgiving, too.

 

[bluter]

I'm growing my autos in a SIP bucket and I'm suurprised how close to hydro it is. I still get the huge stems and amazing growth, just not quite as much as hydro. SIP is a lot more forgiving, too.

hempy is about the same experience. it's a bit slower, but once it catches it runs crazy. still slower than hydro overall, and i can treat it different if i want as well, to include dry cycles etc. you can run it wet pretty well all the time too if you want.

i actually put my hempys on a regular feed schedule. just for simplicity. like coco though, you end up daily in flower. i've never bothered with multiple daily feeds like coco though.

sips from what i've seen here looks very very similar, but i'm guessing it's more stable. i keep calling it a dirt hempy.

 

[LKABudMan]

hempy is about the same experience. it's a bit slower, but once it catches it runs crazy. still slower than hydro overall, and i can treat it different if i want as well, to include dry cycles etc. you can run it wet pretty well all the time too if you want.

Very similar. I let my SIP reservoir go dry every 2 weeks or so just so nothing gross can grow in it. Other than that I fill the res daily and keep it as full as possible.

i actually put my hempys on a regular feed schedule. just for simplicity. like coco though, you end up daily in flower. i've never bothered with multiple daily feeds like coco though.

sips from what i've seen here looks very very similar, but i'm guessing it's more stable. i keep calling it a dirt hempy.

Dirty hempy it is! Both have a bottom reservoir and a hole for an air gap, and I would imagine the growth rate is similar. You're right that SIP is probably more stable because it has the soil to buffer the nutrients.

 

[InTheShed]

MM (left below) is just making it up to the net but is really tight. Nothing compared to FF (right below), though, she's more like a cabbage and still hasn't reached the net.

If you strip all the lower growth that's going to come off later it should create more (and more flexible) growth up top where you want it!

 

[LKABudMan]

If you strip all the lower growth that's going to come off later it should create more (and more flexible) growth up top where you want it!

Thanks Shed, and you're right. I guess I hadn't really been looking, but they have leaves stacked up on the bucket. Old, leathery looking, huge Jurrasic-sized leaves. Some of the fingers are as big as my hand! They'll all get a cleaning soon.

 

[LKABudMan]

The Vivosun Bud Factory
Featuring the VIVOSUN Smart Grow System and the VSF6450
Sponsored by VIVOSUN​

---

Welcome to the Vivosun Bud Factory, a Vivosun 5x5 (60x60x80) advanced grey tent equipped with a custom Vivosun Smart Grow System (SGS) with a Vivosun VSF6450 and a 45g 4-site RDWC system.

Vivosun Smart Grow System settings: ** Late Veg Mode **

• Light - Vivosun VSF6450
  • 22:00-04:00 OFF
  • 04:00-22:00 Spectrum:Vegetative, Intensity:80%, Simulate Sunrise/Sunset (32 DLI)
• Circulation - Vivosun AeroWave E6
  • 00:00-24:00 Natural Breeze Oscillating
• Exhaust - Vivosun 6" AeroZesh
  • 22:00-04:00 60% RH, Speed 5, Default off
  • 04:00-22:00 High 85F / 68% RH, Speed 8, Default off

Other Equipment:
- Vivosun 13" Air Circulator oscillating horizontally on speed# 1
- Vivosun AeroWave A6 on low oscillating

---

Date: 5/22/23 Day# 28​

Strains: Banana Pudding (BP), Mango Mousse (MM), Apply Betty (AB), Forbidden Fruit (FF)
Nutrients: Stout MSA, Megacrop, Voodoo Juice, Pirhana, Hydroguard, z7
Medium: 8" Netpots with clay balls in RDWC system (5x13g buckets)

---

The Vivosun Bud Factory is dialed in now. The plants are drinking and creating plenty of moisture to keep the VPD at 1.2. The venting is keeping the tent a bit cooler, around 80f. Well, that is until yesterday afternoon! You can see the drop in humidity and rise in temperature on Sunday as the plants lost a lot of their 'respirators'. By this morning they were back to filling the tent with moisture.

I've just been letting these girls grow and spreading everything to the outside. They had become much too bushy, with huge fans just laying on the buckets.

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 32 before defol

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 32 before defol

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 32 before defol

Yesterday my wife and I started the cleanup. I started with MM in the back-left (MM). I cleaned up everything in the middle, removed most of the suckers, and then removed a few more big fans from the perimiter. I then went over to AB in the back-right (BP). She is so spread out, with her bottom nodes still growing straight out horizontally. I got rid of anything on the bucket and her suckers, but ended up leaving more of her than I wanted. Both of the back plants have more in the middle of the tent than I prefer just because I couldn't reach it.

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 32 - Mango Mousse after defol

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 32 - Mango Mousse after defol

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 32 - Apple Betty after defol

Meanwhile, my wife went wild on the front two plants. FF, on the front-left, was just a bushy little cabbage. She had barely reached the net and was impossible to see into. BP on the left is the second-largest in the tent, but she was too bushy as well. My wife took care of them good. Both her and my son tend to remove a little more than I do. Someday I'll learn, as taking more tends to work out better in the end.

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 32 - Forbidden Fruit after defol

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 32 - Forbidden Fruit after defol

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 32 - Banana Pudding after defol

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 32 - Banana Pudding after defol

The only casualty was BP's lowest right node, which snapped off. Oh well, still plenty of plant to fill the tent. My wife kept a cup of the biggest leaves and suckers for use in her art. Everything else went in the trash.

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

Some of the keepers after defol

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The carnage

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 32 after defol

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 32 after defol

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023
• lovewhatyougrow smart grow system vivosun vsf6450

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 32 after defol

It may look like they were massacred, but by this morning (about 16 hours later) they had already covered back up. BP had even sprung above the net and had to be spread back out. These girls are in high gear now and can shake off pretty much anything. We'll continue to stretch them to the outside and clean them up, especially in the middle of the tent. At the rate they're growing it looks like I'll be flipping to flower by this weekend.

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 33

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 33

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 33 - Banana Pudding spread out again

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• LKABudMan
• May 22, 2023

The Vivosun Bud Factory - Dessert Grow day# 33

#VIVOSUN #LoveWhatYouGrow

 

[gwhunran]

They are looking really healthy. Once they reach a certain level of growth, it seems that healthy pruning only seems to make them bigger and thicker, huh.
I am again noticing some of my best looking buds are happening on the periphery, instead of the middle. It seems like they should be in the middle directly under the light. I wonder why?

 

[StoneOtter]

Outstanding work Buds! I'm now a desert guy! YUM!