Changed from DWC to Coco coir. Followup

[bumper55]

Greeting everyone, I switched from DWC to Coco and here's a followup. Growing Granddaddy Purple Indica and Fire OG hybrid 60/40 Sativa/Indica. The Hybrid is 6 weeks old and I have to tip the pot to accommodate the 5' grow tent. I am gently standing the pot upright to feed twice a day. The Indica clone is 4 weeks old and I've taken clones from the plant already because this Indica is perfect for the tent. I think the plants are healthy but still wanted others suggestions as to the general health of the plants at this point of the grow. I'm using a 1200w full spectrum LED (400w HPS equivalent), is it too early for the hybrid to show pistils and should the Indica clone have denser growth. I removing some of the mature, larger leaves on the Indica to allow light into the lower growth. I'm using GH Flora Trio series, Calimagic with the Professional grow chart for additives and I'm mixing nutes with RO water to obtain 800 EC with PH 57, the waste nutes EC ranges from1200 -1400. There are no nute burns so far. Should I increase the EC of nutes at this point for bud potency and size? thanks ahead.:smile:​​​​​​​

 

[Farmall]

Bear in mind this is a free opinion and valued accordingly: these plants look wonderful. Rich green foliage strong looking stems. As for pistils showing, my own girls started this same exhibition at about 6 weeks and my mistake was not keeping them at a lower height. They were all bent and tied as well as topped. They became VERY dense, tall and stood about 40-42” at the light switch to 12/12. I had 2 grows at the same time in the same room. One in dwc. The other in soil. My soil grow looks like text book photos, even calendar photos! The dwc has a broad space between nodes ...possibly as much as 7”. Now the flower stage had caused a huge stretch and the did double in height. I have 9 feet of ceiling and minus the high mount to the lights...they are very close to the lens and glass. I’m using all kinds of lights however on the soil and only LED with dwc but 3-1000 w worth. They are now 8-10 inches from the led lens. Hard to believe there is no light bleaching or leaf burn on those leds. The soil has HPS, CMH and a 1200w (302w) led.

the dwc used the same trio you are using but after the flower switch with lights I added bud candy to the mix. My well water provides a 7.4 pH and about 90ppm without added nutes. All adjusted accordingly of course. Whenever I raised the nutrient levels to 1000 or more, I found some burn to lower fans and while I’m still not sure it was a ph issue, when I keep the level under 900, I’m much better and I still am not sure it wasn’t the ph. My dwc was also a 15minute per hour on...top feed with a 20 gallon reservoir t drai back into.

at week 3 trichomes started to be easily visible and led Iike one of the jelly donuts splatters with glistening sugar. By week 5, too sticky to walk by and brush against. I added only the bud candy to the dwc and molasses to the soil. I also removed some of the deep lower fan leafs but I have 2 -21 inch fans moving air above the canopy and 1-6” fan on each lower “bucket level” bottom zone. The temperatures on the top of the dwc canopy where the tops are inches away from the lights is only 72-75 degrees F. Not sure that this has helped keep the burn off but ....it ain’t burnin’.

gotta go, Pioneer Woman is on FOOD Channel 😄

good luck.... seems like your doing great. Any particular reason you switched to coco after the dwc? It certainly cost a bit to setup a good sized dwc and I was hoping to keep using it but the soil has been so good... I am rethinking. Maybe I’d try coco on a smaller scale?

 

[PRIMO]

I'm all for tall plants, but when it becomes an issue I just super crop them into shape.

 

[bumper55]

Thank you for suggestions. I have had success in growing with DWC with a 400w HPS, but I needed the 2' lost in the reservoir's depth and with a 5' tent height, it became dangerous for the plants when I had to flush and move them about, so I went smart pots, coco/perlite with LED. The plants were practically touching the 400w HPS during the flowering stage in the former grow, as my 3rd grow was a Sativa and not an Indica. Fortunately, I could lower the wattage and I used the air conditioner blowing directly through the light tube to lower the temp. I couldn't do much about the fluffy buds caused by the intense light and the potency suffered. The grow went way over budget running the HPS and the air conditioner, so I switched to LED and added smart pots instead of the 20 gal reservoir. I have a closet grow and there is now a 24'x48'x7' tent available which wasn't available when I began growing and buying equipment. I'm finding that coco is more like growing in soil which I'm used to. The freedom to move the pots around without harming them and still have almost all of the advantages of growing DWC. There is also no need to run a high amp. exhaust blowers to reduce the tent temps, not to mention the cost of running the HPS and the AC to keep the tent cool. I prefer medicinal Indicas over Sativas but there is a hybrid, F*ucking Incredible which is an Indica hybrid with the same growing tendencies in height as the Fire OG hybrid I'm growing now. It is the most effective plant I've found for my symptoms. I'm thinking I can determine which growing method I use according to the plants I'm growing, but in the same growing enviorment. I watch Pioneer Woman too! Thanks again and much luck with your grow. I subscribed to your page.

 

[Farmall]

Thanks for the information on your DWC. I faced the same events due to the height needed for the reservoir or face a flood from the drain down. I've been pleasantly surprised by the cost of electricity so far but when the next time comes, I know several things I'll do differently. My Indica grew huge and it is limited by the heights in the lamps but I did wait too long before flowering them and learned a lesson as a result. As for super cropping them... its way too late for that now... I also missed out on a few great clones prior to flower but...YOU CAN teach this old dog a few new tricks

 

[bumper55]

I had to Super crop, chop and fold on the last grow with the Sativa, it just wouldn't stop stretching. I've decided to stick to Indicas to better manage the height of the plants and SOG the grow that may allow me to top-off plants in the veg cycle quicker. I may even be able to lessen the amount of LST and let the plants just do their thing. Happy growing everyone!