I mixed up 21 gal. of Jack’s 35 days ago. Took about 15 mins. I added a capful of pH down since then…. Whewww… I’m beat! 
4 Likes
Welcome freind
And thank you 
You can do exactly what i do. I learned alot from this forum…
1 Like
That’s why I’d like to get a 40 gallon reservoir, just so I don’t have to be a feeding slave to my ladies. Whether I go 2 or 4 is now the question.
I did just get 5 big black plastic buckets for free yesterday, so I’m sort of leaning towards the Dutch Bucket drip system as I wouldn’t need to buy totes for the plants, just the big reservoir. I could always switch to RDWC later, if the drip system doesn’t work out. I just want to be able to go away for a week if I need to and not have to rely on others.
3 Likes
And it didn’t get crap growing in it??
Maybe my bucket wasn’t clean enough or something blew in while I was mixing or something,. cuz I kept a lid on it and 4-5 days later there was kinda fluffy looking slimy white/clearish mold spots drifting around suspended in the water, and it smelled bad
2 Likes
The biggest problem with hydro that I see a lot is light, water temp, and volume of water.
Light: It penetrates through pipes, buckets, and even pvc. A hydro system needs to be blacked out as much as possible. Light penetration will cause the algae to grow and is just not good for the nutes or roots.
Water temps: Too high. A plant will grow better with warmer temps but you may end up fighting roots issues. Too cold will slow down the transformation of all the nutes. 65-73 is a better range with 68 being optimal from what I have learned and experienced.
Volume of water: More water make it easier to keep the root environment healthy and stable. You can see this by watching folks grow in buckets and fight pH swings and ppm fluctuations; just the opposite of folks that have larger volumes of water.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of folks that grow in buckets and grow very successfully. Most that I have seen were good growers before they started a bucket grow. I would not recommend it for first time growers.
There are a lot of different hydro growing options with many being successful. I choose this way because of my life style and the way I like to grow. There are restrictions to growing this way such as only having room for two plants at a time but it is what it is… for now!..lol
I see more folks than not that want to be able to stick their plants in water and watch them grow with very little attention given to the plants and watering.
I post on my thread just how little of attention I spend with my system and the ability for it to maintain pH and ppms, not to boast but to show folks, it can be done. Many systems will do the same once you figure out what your plant is telling you. That’s why I encourage folks to check out other systems.
It’s so easy even a cave man can do it…lol
Hope there’s no cave men here…lol
This water is 35 days old. Clean as the day I put it in there. Keep in mind, there’s not that many roots. but even still, it stays clean for the most part.
Could have been a bad batch of nutes or maybe something wasn’t mixed good, no telling. 
2 Likes
Yep, light = algae growth. I have black 5-gallon buckets, and the tote I’m looking at is a Rubbermaid Roughneck Jumbo Storage Tote, 189-L which would be outside the tent. I can always wrap it in black plastic to keep ALL light out, altho it is thick grey plastic and should be light tight. Plumbing would be 1/4" black irrigation lines, with drip rings under the lids, so minimal light leakage. Return lines would be under the tent in PVC. So I’m not worried too much about light issues. Also plan on using Jack’s 321 and hydroguard to ward off potential nasties.
Water temps…tote will be on concrete floor in garage. I don’t have an issue purchasing a water chiller for summers. Might even need a water heater for winter, as garage can get a bit cold out there! The garage doubles as my allowed smoking room in the house (I only smoke weed, no cigs).
Volume of water…the thing holds 189 litres, that’s lie 50 US gallons! Probably only fill it with 40 gallons tho. And each bucket would have 2" of water in the bottom at all times as the buckets are higher than the reservoir but the drains are drilled at 2" from bottom. The system I saw on You Tube, the guy used 5 gallon paint straining bags filled with large-grain perlite, I’d probably mix it coco or ProMix. Was thinking of putting an air stone in each bucket and 2 big ones in the reservoir as well, running 24/7. Drip pump would be run maybe 4 times per day for 1/2 hour at a time, all on timer.
Not my first rodeo! This would be my first automated watering system tho. I just want the flexibility of being able to get away for a few days or a week at a time.
I could start with 2 buckets and shut off 2 of the 4 “taps” on the water disperser. If I wanted to go 4 buckets, it’s a simple (and cheap) task to add in 2 more rings and drill 2 more 3/4" holes in the 3" PVC running under the tent back to the reservoir.
My biggest effort would be to build a 24" raised platform to put my tent on. It would have to be 4’6"x4’6" or so and then I could strap my 4x4 tent on it. I have 9’ ceilings so it WILL fit height-wise. I am handy enough to build that . My future son-in-law is a plumber so parts are easy to get. Plus our local hydro store went under and the 2nd hand store next door is selling all of their leftover products…I can get 5" net baskets for $1 each, fittings for pennies on the dollar, etc. Already have a water pump, air pump, air stones, etc on my Amazon shopping list so the kids can get me this stuff for Christmas! Future son-in-law also said I can have his air pump and stuff from his attempt at DWC…he’s now in a place where he can’t grow.
@BlueGreen has a similar setup here BlueGreen Colorado Grow - #23 by BlueGreen
using Air-Pots filled with hydroton. I’m not opposed to using them instead of a mix in paint straining bags. Should see if they have them at the old hydro place!
I DO appreciate all the help and advice you’ve given @HappyHydroGrower , either directly or thru your posts and other folks’ questions 
. I’m still not sure WHEN I plan on doing whatever it is I decide on, if my clones don’t reveg, I may do it in December, or I might wait until I shut down the tent for a month next September before I start back up again after my son gets married in Sri Lanka…everybody is gone then for 3 weeks, hence shutdown.
3 Likes
XD just for the hell of it before you leave put a couple small veg girls in autopots or something, and have a lovely surprise of growth when you come home 
I’m gonna check out that autopot-hydro grow! That sounds cool and I’ve got all the airpots I’ll ever need haha
2 Likes
And the rampage begins
Iffy on when to count true “flowering” as having started, but it was likely last week. So probably about a Christmas harvest for the GSC, maybe slightly sooner on the SGK
The only of my GSCs that I actually like lol, the others have too much spindly crap. This ones got an insane amount of branches but all seem strong enough for decent buds so I’m not risking trimming in flower.
2 Likes
Looking good! You’re gonna be fighting for space 
2 Likes
Yuppp, did it to myself again even though after last time when it was a 4x8 I told myself I’d learn from that.
Guess it didn’t happen 
And already set myself up for the same with the next group, did the math with how old these are and it’ll be similar when the veg tent takes flower room.
… Except there’s 13 of those instead of 10
Supposed to be my “easy access watering path”
It’s shrinking lol
I don’t care Too much about having to crawl on the ground around them with buckets of water lol,
But at this point I am concerned there will be a crapton of little larfy middle buds because of the lighting/way too much foliage.
When I decided on making this room work with just 2 of the GB480s, that was with intentions of not being way late to get groups in to the room lol
Width and length I think my canopy is Perfect for the coverage.
But not the depth… -stems and lower stuff I trimmed off, still over 3 feet deep of leaves and bud stalks.
It’s 2k ppfd/90 DLI in the center lol, but a tenth of that towards the outside and halfway down into the canopy:/
I shoulda trimmed more but was iffy about stressing them after flipping lights…
2 Likes
Not too late to defol to get better light penetration.
For what it’s worth, though, you don’t need light on bud sites, just maximum exposure to as many fans as you can get light on.
3 Likes
Oh snap O.O
So the typically-larfyer and less resinous lower buds aren’t a result of their leaves not getting good light?
What’s the actual variables that cause that? Just plain too many budsites for the plant to support or ?
I guess I’ll just kinda trim in a picky way, taking a few leaves here and there where I find like a jumbled up group. Seems like half the plant is a bunch of sumo wrestlers trying to fit through a doorway simultaneously.
1 Like
That’s my thought, to be honest. I think they will focus their energy on uppermost buds regardless of plant size - the buds are designed to catch pollen in the wind. Dunno about you but I can’t say I expect much pollen to be blowing around below waist height.
This is my plants always. I have a mother plant who grew in an S shape to get out around the blurple and up toward the real light in my veg tent. I don’t want to imagine what a feat it will be to get her out for a haircut. 
Not in my limited opinion. Low growth is always slow to mature largely because it doesn’t receive the same light exposure - but that makes logical sense because we all already know that heat and light degrades thc. Stripping fan leaves slows overall bud growth and energy production of the plant while creating this goofy illusion that the lower budsites benefit from being exposed to the light. It’s because of that degradation - it forces those bud trichomes to mature faster than they would have if left alone to just do their thing. That’s why I’m a proponent of selective harvesting - removing the uppers when they’re ready and giving the lower half another week to finish up. Not sure if it’s as relevant in your circumstance since larf and popcorn buds are still product for manufacturers.
4 Likes
#science! Makes sense… do you think plant “shape” effects that then? With the last harvest- the stupidass mystery strain, I noticed that the whole group had basically the same “shape”; 6 or 8 large colas and then a handful of medium ones in the middle and of course the popcorn buds lower…
But the One plant I leaned over and tied down since it was younger smaller and more workable,
Came out different. It didn’t have any small stuff, most of its colas were pretty uniform and it was a month younger and smaller but that’s the one that actually yielded the most O.o
But they were all seeds so there’s the phenome variable too so idk.
But maybe being leaned over, all it’s lower fans got better light thus it took in more than the others? 
Clever girl!
Noted. I did trim off some tiny baby bud branches down way at the bottom, but only ones that honestly probably wouldn’t even survive where they were lol,
Tomorrow night I’ll see what I can do to nitpick certain stuff to maximize surface area the fans get.
I haven’t even found a local manufacturer sadly, seems all the concentrates and such down here come from up there lol
So at this point ill just be doing the best trim jobs I can for the sake of getting a good name with the shops while I’m still the new guy. Of course some of that in a batch is def expected, can’t all be top buds… But will likely “destroy” some of the less desirable stuff and me and my sister will be set for months 
So that sounds like a good idea, giving that low stuff some extra time. Ill try that might as well have quality in the stuff I keep haha
3 Likes
If u look to not want the larfy bottom buds so far into flower start to lollipop.her and get all the bottom unwanted shit off and let all that energy focus on the buds u want to. Econe something. Then there is always leaving buds from staggered grows. I’ve don’t it a few times but feel with the amount of plants I do each grow it don’t harm me to toss the larfy loose buds in a bag and do bubble hash or butane extraction on it and just smoke on the resins from all the trimmings seems like u have a good control on it grow area as the plants appear pretty nice Graysin is a super grower and has learned more than me in less time but she is a bit more devoted to it than I am lol. My kids keep me from playing with my plants as much as I would like to I used to pull them out one by one clean them up and do shit to them but now it’s basically set it and forget it besides giving them food to eat. Lol. A snack here and there
2 Likes
Yeah, that’s a viable practice. @SynysterChris removing lower buds is absolutely valuable, but exposing lower buds to light is the practice I was referring to that isn’t helpful - perhaps even harmful.
2 Likes
Graysin has good point. Dispensary sells premiun buds for premium price. Popcorn/smalls at discounted price, shake at heavier discount. Putting a little effort into having more premium has some benefits, but the rest isn’t waste either.
4 Likes
For sure. I’m a newbie to business in general but the jist I’ve got from the shops I’ve talked to it seems like I don’t have to separate it or anything, I think the shops buy the whole batch and then separating it the way they want is on them. I just wouldn’t want to give them a batch that’s like half lower larfy stuff,
Plus the trimming effort sucks when trimming a big heavy bud takes me the same time and less effort than trimming a lower loose one, so just want to “limit” the amount of that stuff. Definitely don’t want to rid it completely though. Maybe I’m worrying for nothing haha,. I’ll settle down if this group grows something to be proud of 
The current flower group is mostly from seed with just a couple clones of the favorite parents, not enough to experiment with but the current veg group is all clones of the same age so maybe I’ll try lollipopping one of them and see how much difference there is in yield and/or quality
If it barely lowers my yield per SQ ft, then it’ll be worth doing if nothing else to save the trimming hassles haha
Haha I know the struggle… I’m raising a 6 yr old. I set my lights to run at night so after I cook dinner I have a while to water, then after bedtime I can work until I get too tired 
This was my thought too. I run my lights from 8p to 8a, hoping by 8pm I’m still awake enough to get stuff done, or if I’m not, I can get up early and get to everything before lights out.
Largely, I water and prune at 7:30am and operate frantically
2 Likes
Ahaha that was the exact reason I set them to 6, so that I can force myself to water while I still have something else I have to stay up for, so I can’t blow it off with ease
Plus the whole watering during the plants “morning”, then I don’t have to worry about them getting too dry during the part of the light cycle I’m not awake for.
I’m useless in the morning I don’t think I’ve Ever been in there close to lights out, unless i was still stuck out there at 4am lol
Which might be why I’m useless in the morning. If I get to bed by 1am it was an easy night haha
I aim for not frantic, but doesn’t always happen
1 Like