Hydroponic DWC - x4 Sour Diesel Autoflowers

[OhHeyThere]

I Growing Marijuana - Sour Diesel Autoflowers x4

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• Hydroponics DWC 5 gallon buckets
• 4’x4’x6.7’ tent
• Inline 100 CFM 4’’ Fan → Exhaust 195 CFM 4’’ Fan w/ filter
• x2 Mars Hydro SP3000 LED
• x2 Honeywell TurboForce Air Circulator Fan
• Ultrasonic Viral Support Humidifier
• Hydrofarm Active Aqua Air Pump, 4 Outlets, 6W, 15 L/min
• pH, TDS/PPM, EC, & temperature meters
• Nutrients
  • Botanicare Cal-Mag Plus
  • Botanicare Hydroguard Bacillus Root Inoculant
  • General Hydroponics Armor Si
  • General Hydroponics Flora Grow, Bloom, Micro Combo Fertilizer

I did a couple test runs with the above minus 1 Mars Hydro SP3000 LED. I was keeping tent temps at 72 with 50% humidity. My solution was staying right at 70. I don’t think the second Mars Hydro SP3000 LED will elevate the temps much. If temps rise I will plan to move the lights control units outside of the tent.

Grow Daily/Weekly Routine

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• 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness.
• Solution temp goal 68. Tent temp 72. RH 50% until flower, then taper down to 35%.
• Check solution daily two times for pH, PPM, EC, and temperature. Once in the morning an hour after lights have come on and another time in the evening hours.
• Check for any signs of mold, mildew, and root rot problems.
• Swap solution every 5-7 days.
  • Bought 8 buckets in total.
  • Will fill with water and let it sit for 24 hours before adjusting nutrients and then pH levels.
  • The four buckets not in use will be cleaned and prepared for the next swap.
  • Fim or top somewhere between weeks 3 and 5. Probably wait to see how first few weeks go.
  • LST (Low Stress Training) as needed

Harvest

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Drying

• Hang in tent with 100% darkness with fans circulating air 24/7
• Temperature: 65-70
• Humidity: 30%
• 5-10 Days

Curing

• Dark room within quart sized mason jars filled no more than 3/4 full
• Temperature: 70
• Using hygrometer target RH: 60-65%; Not dropping below 55% RH
• 2-4 weeks burp daily 2x 20-30 minutes; tapering burping process as weeks elapse

Storage

• Foodsaver Machine for Food Preservation using the wide-mouth mason jar sealer attachment.
• Freezer within light proof cooler

My Experience & Why

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I’ve grown vegetables in a 4x16 Square Foot Garden (SFG) outside the past 3 years. I’ve had success/failures gardening outdoors producing things that I appreciate and things that I will never try to grow again. I hope some things I’ve learned outside in the dirt will cross-polinate over to hydroponics (pun intended). This will be my first indoor hydroponic grow.

I thoroughly enjoy learning new things, which is one of the biggest reasons why I’m doing this. My hobbies always entail a ton of research and reading. Learning how to grow your own food and resources is something I would love to pass down to my children.

Lastly, I’ve experienced marijuana maybe 5 times in my life. The last time I smoked was in college, probably 15 years ago. Up to this point I’ve drank alcohol regularly. I’m getting old enough now that I’d rather have good alcohol on special occasions rather than on a regular basis.

Mistakes So Far

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When building my DWC I wanted sight lines for amount of solution in 5 gallon containers. I bought clear PVC tubing. I should’ve bought colored tubing or disregarded the sight lines altogether.
Similar to 1, I bought clear tubing for my air lines. Seems like this is less of a mistake, but wish I would’ve bought black tubing.

Questions

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Will the air pump I have be sufficient enough for 4 DWC buckets? I fear I should double my air pump (Hydrofarm Active Aqua Air Pump, 4 Outlets, 6W, 15 L/min)?

What nutrients would one add to my setup? And if so, why?

Are my fans sufficient (x2 Honeywell TurboForce Air Circulator Fan)? I’ve seen a lot of people using 16’’ Hurricane brand oscillating fans. I worry if all 4 plants successfully go into flower in the 4x4 tent the two small 6’’ fans won’t be sufficient. I do not want to have a successful run to lose it all to mildew, which I believe Sour Diesel Autoflowers are prone to.

How long should I flush with Hydroponics? I’ve read 2 days is sufficient?

If any of the above looks wrong please help me correct it.

[fast-grow]

I am set to watch your grow. I plan on doing 2 DWC buckets for my next indoor grow in January along side of 2 of the same strains in soil. It should be the last autoflowers I grow indoors.
Looks like you have a great plan laid out and I will be very interested in how things work out for you.

[OhHeyThere]

Thanks man I appreciate the notice. I plan to be very thorough with my first grow logging all my actions so I can learn as much as I can. I work from home and my tent is within my office where I work, thus it should be fairly easy to keep track of things.

With that said, if things are going good I’ll probably give 1-2 updates a week — I don’t want to be too noisy. If things go pour or if there are any events where I learn something I plan to journal them here as they arise.

[HanJolo]

Looking good.

I have a fan under the skirt of the canopy, a fan mid level oscillating, one oscillating between top of the canopy and light to move the heat around and a powerful one blowing on my colas. Growing hydropincaly will boost humidity and once in flower that’s a disaster. So moving the air around as much as possible is essential.

Regarding air pump, as long as the water looks boiling your be fine. If it looks weak upgrade. Raise pump above the buckets…works better that way.

I flush my system every 2 weeks but mines a recirculating system with a reservoir. Haven’t done individual buckets. Just keep an eye on the water, does it look slimy, smell, stagnant etc. Water temp is important and keep PH at 5.8 with hydro grow.

Set to watch. Happy grow bro

[HanJolo]

An intake fan will help with tent temps. I.e intake bottom right, exhaust top left with circulate the air nicely around the tent and prevent heat issues

[OhHeyThere]

I’ve got 100 CFM bringing fresh air into the tent and 195 CFM exhausting up top. The room where the tent is located idles at 68 with 40% RH. Inside the tent it stays right around 70.

Ya I plan to get a 16’’ oscillating fan later on for the top/flowers.

Seeds germinated successfully, took 3 days. Used 6 pH water at 200ppm. I do not recommend 200ppm. I’ve germinated a bunch of other plants over the last 3 years so I was ok taking the risk. They were inside a dome at 82 degrees at about 80% humidity.

Dome has been off now for about 14 hours. Tent sitting at 70 degrees and 80% humidity. Single light on since this morning at 24’’ height and set on 30% light strength.

Unfortunately I caught them coming up probably a couple hours late and one is already a bit leggy.

Few images from this morning and a few 14 hours later.

[peachfuzz]

Your going to have to be extremely careful with those plugs in dwc…
In soil they work great…
In hydro they will probably hold too much moisture and either cause bad bacteria or will damp off…
You will really need to monitor water levels…
Get a bigger pump…
At least a 951 gph pump and 2x2 inch air stones…

[OhHeyThere]

Thanks for the insight peachfuzz. I plan to get another pump — I like the one you sent but I’m afraid of the noise output. I’d work next to it everyday and it makes me a bit nervous. I think I might just get two of the one I already bought.

As far as the rapid rooter — yeah there’s a challenge there. I saw an older journal of a fellow using it and he was putting duct tape all around the plug. It looked like he went weeks struggling. He basically wrapped his rooter in plastic and could never get it dry and started having stem issues. Thanks for the tip, it will be something I’ll be watching out for.

In relation to the DWC and water levels — ya this is going to be a challenge if I’m at all successful down the stretch. Water levels fluctuating daily will increase pH fluctuations. I originally planned to just do 2 buckets, but I figured growing 4 gives me room for error incase I goof up on a couple. The timing of this grow is perfect for where I live, where temperatures in the house are nice and cool, so I wanted to try and grow as many plants as possible.

Thanks again!

[OhHeyThere]

Things are going well. I bumped temps up to be 75 while in seedling stage.

The humidifier is a bit of a pain as it has a rather small tank. I’ll probably swap out for something a bit bigger down the road if need be.

I’ve been using a paper towel to wick moisture away from the rapid rooters. This seems to be working well in relation to keeping them consistent. It also gives me indication if I’ve overwatered. Certainly good tip starting out.

Hindsight 20/20 but the more I think through this the more I wished I would’ve built a RDWC with the reservoir outside the tent. I don’t think it’s too late to do this but if I do I’d need to work fast.

All seedlings are really starting to stretch. Not the end of the world but I wish I could’ve kept them from becoming leggy. Perhaps this is just the nature of marijuana.

[OhHeyThere]

Plan to build and introduce a rDWC this weekend, which will change the initial grow a little bit. 4 buckets inside the tent with one bucket outside being used as a reservoir. Wasn’t cheap to get what I wanted but in the long run, being able to regulate nutrients, temps, etc. from all buckets from outside the tent is a big plus for me.

I purchased a reverse osmosis system to start with lower Ppms. My tap comes out at around 225, so this should help make things easier to get nutrients correct.

Hindsight 20/20 I should’ve transplanted to the DWC buckets earlier than I did. Feels like it it stunted growth a bit, which may be a blessing in disguise so I can transplant to the incoming rDWC system.

[OhHeyThere]

Unsure if it is just new parent anxiety but it seems like my seedlings are consistently droopy. I assume it’s a too much moisture issue.

I have my solution about an inch up into the net basket. I’ve tried to move the rapid rooters to be within range, but I’m assuming the rapid rooters are wicking too much moisture. I know peachfuzz already mentioned they can cause issues.

So if this seems like a problem, what’s the correct remedy? Do I pull up the rapid rooters well above any water levels touching it and try to pinch the water out to get it to dry out, while keeping the roots within range of the solution? The pictures are 3 hours from lights out.

@peachfuzz @BigDaddyCain @Nicky — tagging couple people that may be able to help.

[peachfuzz]

At this point I would run water level 2 inches lower than the jiffey pots…
After you fill to that level just let water levels fall over a weeks period, then by that time roots should have grown down into the water , after that keep water levels 2 inches below the net basket…

[BigDaddyCain]

How far is your light from plant

[OhHeyThere]

It’s 20 inches above the plants and set at 40% light output using 2 Mars Hydro SP3000 LED linked together.

[OhHeyThere]

I moved solution 2” below bottom of the net pot and cautiously squeezed out moisture from the rapid rooters last night. Lights have been on for about 7 hours today.

The one seedling that looks droopy —this one has looked droopy since sprouting and has lagged behind the others in growth.

[OhHeyThere]

Good growth after moving the solution levels 2’’ below the net pot. Solution temps have been steady 68 degrees, 200 ppms, and keeping ph at 5.8-6.0 daily.

This morning I added GH FloraGro and FloraMicro bringing Ppms up to 400. Plan to monitor them closely next couple days keeping ph levels steady.

I still have one seedling that consistently is lagging behind. I think that’s a result of me stunting her though and not the strain/product itself. I think she’ll come around.

I installed a Reverse Osmosis 4 stage filter to get 0 ppms water. I purchased a 44 gallon brute trashcan to hold water as needed. Working great to fill humidifiers as well since I have hard water from the tap.

Lastly still building and planning to switch to a rDWC system. Waiting on couple parts arriving tomorrow before I can finish and start using.

Thanks for the help.

[OhHeyThere]

Got the rDWC setup and running. Very very happy with the product. Currently have 50 gallons circulating throughout with reservoir outside the tent.

The height of the buckets to the lights will offer 48 inches or 120cm grow space. This will limit what I can grow, but I never planned to grow anything outside of autoflowers so I think I’ll be ok.

Realized how hot my lights get at 100%, so I’ll need to move the control components outside the tent down the road.

Ga dang cat munched on two leaves when I wasn’t paying attention. Hands down problem child.

@Waz_Wolf — tagging you in if you want to follow and compare/contrast hydroponics as I go along.

[Waz_Wolf]

That looks really nice and clean @OhHeyThere! Do you have any pics of the inside of a tank?

[OhHeyThere]

From the reservoir outside the tent there’s a pump that sucks water out and pushes it through the top lines that fall into the buckets inside the tent. The 3” pvc pipe is connected throughout all buckets inside the tent and the hump going out to the reservoir returns the solution and sets the water level.

Search PA Hydroponics on YouTube and google — the seller has nice videos on how-tos and how it all works. He seems like a genuinely amazing guy. Sells DYI or pre-made setups. I did the DYI and so far it’s been great. Prices are legit considering he’s done his research.

[OhHeyThere]

Started nutrients light about 6 days ago that went to 350 ppms from 0ppm water. Bumped up the nutrients tonight to 575 emphasizing nitrogen (FloraGro) and have added Diamond Nectar product to the mix.

Nearing the decision of topping or FIM’ing. I don’t think I will do either on this first go being my first grow and the fact that I think I stunted all plants early on by not transplanting them fast enough.

All plants growing very well aside from cat getting her fill on a couple leaves . The runt of the 4 is finally starting to take off — hoping it isn’t too far behind for the new Ppms.

• Solution temps staying right at 69
• Tent temps between 75-77
• RO 50% to 65%
• keeping pH between 5.8-6.0