250W Top-fed DWC aka Bubbleponic Grow Journal

[Green75]

Reading your plant is pretty easy I think...when you cut something off weather is a branch or a leaf you pay attention to what that area looks like before and after cutting..when that area lifts up our grows a bit then you know she is ready for a pat on the back...and then give another day or so to prove her vigerousness...then go again....

My rule of thumb is...if a spot offers two take one...tie and form the plant the way you want and trim accordingly...

Hope that helps ....

Btw...I am no master...I just like a gnarly looking plant that all....and big buds !!!

[Jibblerjoe]

Well your doing things a lil different, and seeing positive results. I was brought up don't knock it till you've tried it. Keep breaking the rules.

[Ingwe]

Mmmh I have to agree and disagree with you Green, reading your plant isn't that easy, for you I am sure it is as you have spent so many hours watching and observing them and over the years you've been talking to hundreds if not thousands of plants, gives you huge experience and you know what they say, you become an expert at something when you've spent 10'000 hours practicing. I am sure you are no too far from that Which in my books makes you a master, now don't get me wrong you can be a master in any domain there will still be tons to learn, you can never know it all, but you can push the knowledge you posses to some form of perfection. I am not saying you are all knowing but you definitely are very well informed and experience isn't something you lack, you are some sort of expert I'm going to stop praising you now.. Haha I just have a lot of admiration for people who will go the extra mile to explore and understand any aspect of our dear Mother Nature.

We human think and see every living organism from a human perspective, which is wrong and doesn't any make sense as every living thing perceives the world in a different way than us.
I mean catfish sees the world around them according to taste (body covered in taste bud), scorpions see it in the form of vibration as the feel their surrounding more than they see them, we can't look at nature from our perspective, we need to go to the specific organism's level and look at life from their perspective if we want to understand them... With our programmed brain it become a difficult task as we bring everything back to a human level, hence me disagreeing with you as it can be very challenging for some people.

But yes you are also right, learning to read your plant isn't impossible it just takes a bit of observation and patience.


Royal Nugs I went and had a chat with her, she says hi by the way We came to an agreement, I will clean up her canopy first making light available for all those new shoots and then give her a day of full light and rest. Then I will give her a nice haircut. Might do it over 2 days though as there is so much to remove, don't want to stress hereto much at a time. Will see how she reacts.
Thanks Nugs

[Green75]

You will be an awesome grower of the weed plant...I promise

[Ingwe]

Thanks man, I'll do my best.

[dontknownuttin]

Didn't you say the same to me? "You will be an awesome grower of the weed plant...I promise"

[Green75]

And you are....lol
Your first harvest RockedThe Joint

I struggle daily with new and uplifting comments

[Ingwe]

And I wanted to say "I'm sure you say that to all the new grower here" Hahaha
Should have..
You made me feel so special haha

[dontknownuttin]

Did I get that right? YOU ARE QUESTIONG GREENS KNOWLIGE.

[Ingwe]

Did I ?
Its good to have people questioning you, the day it stops you'll get too complaesant in your situation and stop evolving and exploring new paths

[Ingwe]

Update ! Starting to really enjoy doing those update and sharing her life with you guys !

This is day 19 of flowering. (Day 52 of grow)

Air Temp : D: 23-27°c(73-82) N: 20-24°c(68-75) Temp raised a bit due to the upgrade
Tank Temp : 20-21°c(68-70)
RH : 40-70%
pH : 5,8-6.2
Nutes : 1tsp/gal, 1/2tsp/gal, 1 1/4tsp/gal, 35L
Top-ups : 0-25% top ups
Lights : Youhou, made the switch to 400W and everything is working great !!

So lots has happened since the last update 3 days ago.
As I mentioned previously I cleared her canopy and was about to give her the first session of a 2 days haircut. I am now done with both session and have rearranged everything nicely.

Between the 2 haircuts I went and met up with a good friend, Lucy. We had a great journey and some excellent talks, when it came to my girls we brainstormed and decided to improve the box slightly.
I spent a good portion of a night working on them, it was fantastic ! I took out my wooden anchor plank and added cable ties as anchor points as twisty ties were not strong enough anymore. Unfortunately I did not have stronger twisty so I stripped some old cable and used the inner wires, works perfectly and makes everything look very colourful. My plant were getting too close to the light so I had to make a plan, I've tied them all down and managed to gain around 5cm (1.9in) and reorganised all the colas and the canopy for maximum light and light penetration. And some general improvement and tidiness int the box as well.

As I moved to 400W I noticed the radiant heat is intense, had to check everywhere for hotspot and maximise air movement, after a long trial and error process I managed to find the right positions.
If there is one thing I learned during this grow is that however powerful your extractor is you might still have some issue with heat (in small grow area). But all this can be fixed by a good air movement, placing fans and extractor strategically saved me up to 2-3°C (5-7°F).

Here they are now, there is 3 picture, 1st is before, 2nd is after 1st haircut and third is them now.

[Green75]

Good job and execution...looks great...nice defo...

[Ingwe]

This is day 28 of flowering. (Day 61 of grow), they turned 2 months today !

Air Temp : D: 25-29°c(77-84) N: 20-24°c(68-75)
Tank Temp : 21-22°c(68-72)
RH : 40-70%
pH : 5,8-6.2
Nutes : 1tsp/gal, 1/2tsp/gal, 1 1/4tsp/gal, 35L
Top-ups : 0-25% top ups

They recovered very nicely from the defoliation and got very thick again quickly, I did some clean up and small defoliation between this update and the last.
As you might notice the second plant on the right is nearly gone, I had to chop him down, yes you read it right its a him, well a her as well but way more him than her, so as I can't remove him from the system as the roots are way too entangled I will have to keep watching him a cut any pollen sac he produces... Not ideal but can't think of another solution.

On the other hand she is giving me trouble ! She simply doesn't want to stop growing its ridiculous, she now stands at 115cm (45in) and would be standing at 125cm(49in) if it wasn't for all the bending...
Which by the way started splitting the stem... tapped it all together and lessened the tension. The tension pulling down on the plant also made the net pot go through the lid, I can't fix it as the plant is too tall and if I lift it the colas are going to start touching the cool tube... Its a mission...I even had to unscrew the shelf where my lamp is attached and extractor and else to try and lift it up to gain more space for the plant... once again, a mission !!

But other than that they are doing good, bud site are getting very hairy ! Beautiful to see!

Otherwise,you can see the tip of my leaves are always slightly curled and brown, I know it can be a sign of nutrient burn, but they have had that for now over a month and I've been decreasing cute strength and even only give them plain water refill during a week but never goes away.. Any thoughts on that ?

Cheers.

[Silverback]

Hi Ingwe, great first grow. I applaud you.
I'm new to this game too. Found hydro beyond me and switched to soil. The main problem being with pythium and generally around week 5 into flower. I understand hydro is supposed to produced bigger yields??? I was wondering if you knew the equivalent to HYDROGUARD here in the UK. Having tried loads of growshops without any joy.

One thing I would suggest is to proceed with seeds next time. You'll know what you are growing.

Merry Christmas

[Green75]

Time for some super cropping if you want...

[Ingwe]

Thanks Silverback, much appreciated !
Yeah who knows maybe a first grow in hydro might not have been the best option but well we'll see how she does... You are scaring me with pythium comming at week 5... I'm nearly there...
And yes hydro does tend to promote faster growth and bigger yields.
As for Hydroguard... I have no clue, I don't think there is any equivalent anywhere ... I ordered mine from the US.
Yes I was supposed to receive my seeds before the grow but unfortunately got lost in the mail... So had to use random seeds..

Green75 , I did not think of that, although already did it by mistake on a few branches as they snapped when I was bending them, taped them up and now I see she healed very well, might try to do it on purpose next time. Thanks

[Ingwe]

Did a quick defoliation yesterday, here she is before and after. She needed it but mostly the stress of the defoliation slows down her growth which is what I am looking for.

[Ingwe]

This is day 35 of flowering and day 69 of grow.

Air Temp : D: 25-29°c(77-84) N: 20-24°c(68-75)
Tank Temp : 18-21°c(64-70)
RH : 50-70% Starting to have high humidity... not good, busy trying to find a way to fix that.
pH : 5,8-6.1
Nutes : 1tsp/gal M, 0 tsp/gal G, 1 1/4tsp/gal F, 30L Stopped giving her grow today and will see how she reacts from there.
Top-ups : 0-25% top ups

Those plant are taking so much of my time haha , its great !
Everyday I need to tie them down as they keep getting taller and taller , you can see on the picture how much I had to bend those stems.. But they are doing great and don't mind it too much. If it wasn't for the bending and tying down they would stand by now at approximately 135-140cm(53-55in) instead of 117cm(46in) now.

I've just had my 1st encounter with root rot ! But I caught it fairly early (roots were getting really dark), and managed to heal the roots. To do so I added everyday 5L (1.3gal) of ice cold water, wether ph'ed or with note top up, and HYDROGUARD, 115% strength. Kept my tank at a comfortable 18c°(64) for a while. Roots were back to normal in 2 days.

Otherwise as Green75 suggested I started intentional super cropping, or at least some version of it. I will add picture of that once it is healed and I remove the bandage.
I basically bent some of the branches and tapped them up and some occasionally snapped by themselves as I was pulling them down with twisty ties, I have around 9-10 places with bandages... but once again she didn't mind it at all, she just keep growing and growing.

The burnt tips that I mentioned previously still hasn't disappeared even after a full week of ph'ed water top ups. Will see if with supercropping and starting to produce buds she might eat and drink more.

[Green75]

nice job...great examples...your right they don't skip a beat when you supercrop..

Looking great...

[Karlee]

I had a BIG bud pass my light the first grow never again....knock on wood

[Ingwe]

Shame man ... It already happened a few times here but I keep bending and pulling down, working for now.
How did your bud look in the end? Did it affect it a lot ?

[Green75]

Not at all..better...let light on every site within each cola

[Green75]

Good example

[Ingwe]

Oh cool ! Thats an interesting bud shape !
For now I managed to keep them below the light but some colas are too close and some of the leaves are slowly fading to yellow , but its cool and I don't really have any other choice...
Did you supercrop those colas ? Or is it a "natural" bend ?

[Green75]

Supercrop

[Ingwe]

Okay interesting ! Thanks!
And thanks for the support Green ! Looks like you are one of the only few left following the grow..

[dontknownuttin]

Green is, "Always around".