JoJo's Hempy SCROG Bucket C99 Grow Journal - 2015

[jojo677]

The Rundown:
Strain - C99
# of Plants - 1 (plus some others for breeding)
Grow Type - Hydro
Grow Stage - Vegetative (rooting)
Bucket Size - 5 Gallon
Lights - 1x 300W LED, Separate 104W 4100K Fluoro (for veg area)
Nutrients - General Hydroponics 3-Part Flora
Medium - 75% Perlite/ 25% Vermiculite
PPM - ?
PH - 5.8-6.2
RH - 35% to 50%
Room Temperature - 75F
Room Square Footage - 3' x 8'
Pests - None Known

History/Info:
I'm starting a journal after my first grow, both in hopes to show how I do things, and hopefully get some help from the pros on how to get better yields!

I started my last grow with feminized Vision Seeds Northern Lights, and feminized Female Seeds C99. I grew 3 of each, and took clones, and my yield was pretty low, and the buds seem airy. The next go-around of the clones I took, flowered a few weeks after the original plants, and yield was a little better, but still disappointing. I still have clones of 4 plants, and I will keep one plant for a perpetual grow (the C99), and breed the other plants to keep some backup seeds of both parent strains. I know it's not kosher to breed feminized seeds, possibly from the same batch, but it can't hurt for the future.

My first round was a mix of ProMix (mostly peat moss) and perlite. I found a good ratio during my last few clones, but I had pH and watering problems. So now I've cloned into rockwool cubes and will be using a 5 gallon Hempy bucket. I'll run the breeding clones in 1 gallon pots with the same mix as before since I have some extra, with a separate clone in a mini-Hempy for comparison. I'm going to try to keep this thread focused around the large Hempy though.

The Setup:
My setup consists of a raised Hempy bucket, that has been modified for better management. I havent found a good watering tray I'd like to put the bucket in, so I raised it and added a spout (actually 2). This way I can put a container next to it to catch the runoff during watering. I can also pull the cork on the bottom and drain into a container for flushing. This is important to me, because it means less water required, and less waste water being removed from the room, since the plant is stationary.

I also have a SCROG attachment for the bucket, which means I can lift/move/tilt the setup whenever I want to, and not have to worry about the screen. It also breaks down, so it's not in the way during veg, and the line is replaceable. I was originally going to make this a DWC bucket with the SCROG attachment, but monitoring the pH every day drove me towards Hempy. It also has a port that can be used for DWC, or in my case watering with ease, by running a tube to it. If anyone's interested, I can put up a tutorial on the SCROG attachment with dimensions, but it's fairly self-explanatory.

The Grow Room:
We'll call it an attic space, which was wrapped in plastic at the floor, and Panda film around the walls/ceiling. I've built in a small veg cab, with air exchanging fans, and a fairly lightproof door. It is equiped with a homemade 4" carbon filter and 400 CFM fan on a speed control.

Progress:
All of the clones rooted (roots were 3/8" to 3/4" out of rockwool), and they were planted today. The exception is that the final clone going into the 5 gallon bucket is still sitting in the humidity dome. I'm going to let its roots get a little longer than the others.

Stay tuned!

 

[Tead]

Beautiful! I'm in for the show.
Another bonus for hempy... it helps keep your grow area much cleaner than soil... but then again, so would any hydro system.
You may discover (as I did) that the plastic tube coming out of your bucket is a bad idea. Seems good... port your drain water out... maybe hook it to a drain line. Seemed fine to me... until I tested with perlite. I suspect you'll find that it clogs with perlite too easily.

 

[Dan Ultra]

I like your setup brother! Looks very professional and clean! I am not a hydro guy, but Hempy buckets have always fascinated me, so I will be along for the ride. I see that you don't know your PPM, I would get a PPM or EC meter, as that is the main way to tell how much you are feeding.

I agree with Tead about the Perlite clogging up the spout. Maybe you can put a screen on the interior to keep the Perlite pieces out..??

 

[Tead]

Screen clogs up worse. Been there... done that.
To be honest, I'm really not sure a ppm pen in a hempy grow is all that important.
Feeding schedules give one a good starting point. One can ramp up from there.
As one gains a bit of experience with a strain, the signs of strong growth or problems show up pretty quickly... especially in hempy.
You don't need to test your runoff... if you do it will probably confuse you.
I've moved to a measurement based system rather than a ppm test... tho I do test on occasion.
2 cents delivered.

 

[jojo677]

Well that spout idea didn't work out I guess! It does actually have a small screen glued to the inside of the "spout" but it sounds like that won't work out either.. What size perlite did you test it with? I'm using coarse, but I can definitely see how vermiculite will plug it up in no time. The bottom drain is actually set up the same way. I guess I'll see how it works the first time, but I'm doubtful now. Any ideas on how to have it drain into a removable container? I may build a raised platform that drains into a tub or something.

On the PPM, I do actually have a pen, I just don't know what I'll be feeding it at yet, as I just followed a GH feeding guide from one of the stickies in the FAQ forum. My tap water also has a high PPM, and I don't know enough about it yet to compensate; I'll have to do some more reading. Measuring my runoff in my previous grow did confuse me (and help me a time or two), but I learned to not pay too much attention to it. I think the Hempy setup will make it less of an issue too.

Thanks for the kind words!

 

[jojo677]

I was also considering emptying the bucket (while I can) and using half of a tea strainer over each outlet instead of the window screen. This would have more surface area, but may still clog up fast. I may also try to run some water through it to flush out most of the small particles.

Thoughts?

 

[Dan Ultra]

This is just my thinking, as I have no experience wit hempy. I would take a 5 gal bucket and cut the bottom completely off then attach screen the the entire bottom, something with pretty small holes to it. Then set that on top of another 5 gal bucket bottom and put your spout in there. The only concern would be roots getting through the screen, so the smaller the better, just want water going through. IDK, just a thought... my 2 cents

 

[Tead]

I think a better design would be to build a drain system into the pans under the plants. This keeps the bucket unhindered and easier to screw with. I'm a huge fan of keeping things as simple as possible.
Courser perlite might make a drain tube and screen feasible. It's easy enough to tell. Just set your bucket up and run a bunch of water thru it. I usually get clogs while the perlite is settling. I poke a nail thru the hole to loosen the blockages. I've been using MG perlite.

 

[jojo677]

Well I did a little playing around with it today. It turns out, the vermiculite was indeed blocking the screen I had epoxied on the interior of each drain. I also noticed that vermiculite sinks in water (of course perlite floats) so it is going to work its way to the bottom until the root structure holds it in place. Supposedly it helps with water retention/wicking though, so hopefully it was the right choice adding it.

I cut the screens off each drain, and that helped a lot! The perlite still blocks the hole sometimes, but I can poke/prod it out of the way. The bottom drain is a little tougher since it is a right angle fitting. If I did it again, I'd put a straight fitting as close as I could to the bottom. The fitting side toward the inside of the bucket is 1/2", and the exit is about 3/8", so I'd also get a fitting with a straight hole. I'm sure as I use it, the medium/roots will settle and I won't have much of a drain problem.

I'd have to agree with Tead (no offense UltraDan!), it would be better to have the bucket sit on a pan that drains to your waste line, but we can't do everything right the first time. I appreciate the recommendations though, guys!

Any input on when to start feeding? I planned to use straight pH'ed water for the first few days, then start following one of the schedules listed in a FAQ sticky, with an excerpt shown below. Should I start feeding right away? I plan on planting tomorrow, and watering/feeding with runoff daily until the roots hit the bottom, as recommended.

GENERAL HYDROPONICS SCHEDULE
PRODUCTS NEEDED:
GH Flora Grow, Bloom, Micro

WEEKLY FEEDING SCHEDULE:
Week 1 (rooted clones or 3 leaf-sets on seedlings) : 2.5 ml EACH Grow, Micro & Bloom
Week 2: 5ml Grow + 2.5ml Micro + 2.5ml Bloom
Week 3: 10ml Grow + 5ml Micro + 3ml Bloom
Week 4 until 12/12 : 12ml Grow + 6ml Micro + 3ml Bloom
Week 1 of 12/12 : 6ml Grow + 6mil Micro+10ml Bloom
Week 2 of 12/12: 3ml Grow + 7ml Miccro + 12ml Bloom
Week 3: 3ml Grow + 8ml Micro + 14ml Bloom
Week 4: 3ml Grow + 8ml Micro + 16ml Bloom
Week 5: 2..5 Grow + 7ml Micro + 18ml Bloom
Week 6: NO GROW + 6ml Micro + 20ml Bloom USE UNTIL FLUSH!
Flush 10-14 days before harvesting

 

[Tead]

I'm using Dyna-Grow nutes. They're a 2 part routine instead of a 3 part routine. I'm just incredibly lazy.
I use 1/2tsp water for clones and the first week in the pot. Then I ramp up from there. My feeding routine is much more touchy-feely than using a schedule, but I'm super familiar with my strains. I seem to top out around 1000ppm in veg. I often do a spray or two every day with the 1/2tsp water.
My flower feeding technique is similar... I start them around 700ppm and ramp them up.
I think the schedule is a good place to start, but as you become familiar with your nutes and plants, you'll see how it's not so important.

 

[jojo677]

Update:
I got the clone planted in the 5 gallon bucket today. I was reading through Tead's grow, and I saw mention of using a wick to help keep the top of the medium more moist, and reduce some of the slow growth known to Hempy grows until the roots reach the reservoir. This sounds like a pretty good improvement to me! I used a painting rag (old t-shirt pieces) and ran it from the bottom to just below the clone.

Also, the pictures show that all of my C99 clones I took have 2-4 main branches. I topped the previous plant like crazy, and I figured it'd give me a head start on my SCROG grow. The mothers of all these plants got planted outside a week or so ago, and they should finish flowering mid-late June. They just got a little big and I wanted to change to soil. I'm not really worried if critters eat them either and won't pay too much attention to them, but they could give a nice surprise!

I watered it and the other Hempy clone per the feeding schedule I listed before. My tap water is about 255 PPM, and with the 2.5 mL/gal of each nutrient, it raised to about 500 PPM. This doesn't seem too high, and I'd like to stick with tap water if I can (unless it can affect my yield a lot).

I should also note that I have been using AquaSafe for ponds to eliminate chlorine and chloramine. This way I don't have to let my water set out for a day. Hopefully this is kosher...

Everything (barely) fit under my t5's, which consist of 2x 4' 54W 6500K bulbs. They are sitting around 2-3 inches away. When the plants get a big bigger, or won't fit anymore, I'll move them all under the LED. I just don't want to use the extra power since they're so small. I know it's better to get them under LEDs ASAP, but it seemed to work out alright for me last grow.

And the pics:

 

[Tead]

I tried the rag thing for a few pots, then got lazy. I'm not sure it makes any difference really. I don't do it anymore... but just out of pure laziness.
Great looking setup!

 

[jojo677]

Update:
I fed the girls again today, and they seem to still be getting settled in. Not much growth, except from the NL clone that was transplanted a few days before the rest. I noticed roots at the bottom of its container about 7 days after planting, which was about 4-5 inches down. At that rate, it should take my 5 gallon girl a little while to reach the bottom of the reservoir. Hopefully this rag thing will help out!

This hobby sure requires a lot of patience...

 

[jojo677]

Update (9 days in):
I watered all plants again today. The Hempy girls got 500PPM water and the ProMix girls got boring 'ol pH'ed water. The Hempy girls aren't looking too great: they are pale yellow, and they aren't growing nearly as fast as the others. There doesn't yet seem to be any new growth out of the top nodes, as they seemed to be partially flowering since they didn't have enough light from the previous mother. I also recalibrated my pH meter...

I've been meaning to clean my pH meter(s) for awhile, and got some CLR. I soaked them for a few seconds, then rinsed, then vinegar for 20 mins, and rinsed. I calibrated them in a homemade borax solution and confirmed with vinegar. Looks like the meter I have been using was something like 2.0 points off! No wonder they've been growing slowly. The ProMix seemed to buffer the pH a lot with my previous grows, so that's probably why they didn't get affected so much.

I still take these out to water:

And the current grow. The Hempy's are on each end:

A amateur bud porn picture from my last C99 grow. That was my largest continuous cola top, not too big and pretty airy. That's what I'm hoping to improve!

My little stash of NL & C99:

 

[Tead]

Wow... 2 points on the PH meter.... rough!
Hempy is more like hydro when it comes to PH. You really want to make sure they're getting close to 5.8. The ProMix pots will give you much more of the soil PH buffer action. You get no buffer action from the perlite/vermiculite mix.
Seems like this would totally explain why your hempy baby looks tough. At 2 points from 5.8 she was probably absorbing very little actual nutes.
PH really is one of the most important variables in the mix. PH really needs to be spot on in any sort of hydro setup. In hempy every little bit of nutrition comes directly from the water so the quality of that water is much more important and direct than soil or promix where the plants are pulling nutes from the medium.
Give her a week with good PH ... I bet she perks up and greens up. The net effect of bad PH is a basic under feeding. I'll bet now that she can get to the nutes she'll get right back to her job of growing into a monster.

 

[Tead]

Have you seen this chart before? Take a peek and you'll see why 2 points is such a huge issue.
At 7.8 or 3.8 (don't know which way your pen was off... but doesn't really matter) you're almost completely outside the nutrient uptake range for ALL nutrients.
Again.... Wow!

 

[jojo677]

I have seen the chart, and try to stay in the 5.8-6.0 range. In the past I typically watered at 6.0, but I'm going to be diligent about using 5.8 and calibrating my pH meter regularly!

I mixed up some water to test what my pH had been at and it was ~3.95. I'd say that's pretty far outside the uptake range!

As a side note, I'm going to turn the little veg area into my flowering room, and start flowering the Promix girls for breeding. I've made my colloidal silver, and I'm comfortable with their growth to start them now. I'll switch the lights off for 36 hours tonight (haven't done it before, but it's supposed to help boost growth/transition quite a bit) and proceed with 12/12. The two Hempy girls will move to the larger area and keep vegging under 23W CFL's until they're big enough to warrant the LED. I'm excited to make some feminized seeds!

 

[jojo677]

Ok, the last day or so has been fun. Last night, I noticed some gnats flying around the grow room. I caught, killed, and photographed one, and it seems to be a fungus gnat. Yay! There aren't many, but today I bought and sprayed all plants with Neem oil. Hopefully this helps. I also found what appears to be a carpet beetle in one of the Hempy buckets, but it probably just strayed in from outdoors and shouldn't be much to worry about.

After the Neem oil dried, I sprayed two of the selected females (1 of each strain) with colloidal silver. This was homemade, and measured about 15 PPM, which turns out isn't accurate for measuring CS, but it should be sufficient. From now on, those two plants will get the CS spraydown daily until male flowers start to show. Should be interesting!

Other than that, there isn't much to report on. The Hempy's are still recovering under 23W CFLs, and all the others are in their 36 hour dark period before the 12/12 flip. They actually got about 15 minutes of light at the beginning of the day since I forgot to get in there quickly, but that hopefully won't affect them too much.

Check out the bugs:

 

[Dan Ultra]

I've spotted a few carpet beetles in my grow as well. Turns out they are part of the lady bug family and can help to keep thrips and larvae away. Probably not just a single one though

 

[jojo677]

Update (12 days old):

Just a quick update. I continued the Neem Oil spray yesterday, and today, along with the CS on selected plants. The gnats seems to be very sparse now; I saw maybe 1-2. I also fed the two Hempys today, though they still seemed to have enough water and I still haven't seen them droop! The smaller Hempy seems to have recovered and growing well, but the one in the 5 gallon bucket is still quite small. Maybe the roots just needs to hit the reservoir...

And what's an interesting post without pictures?

The Hempys:

The flowering girls:

Look at that new growth! This cutting wasn't getting enough light and had quite a few pistols, so I think its going to be a mini-monster!