Perpetual Indoor Dwc Leds

Hi! Welcome to my third try at growing weed!
 
This is the start of what is my third grow. After trying small hydro tubs with a T5 and CFL's, and then coco with LED's, I've gone to a perpetual setup with standalone DWC buckets.
 
Currently I have 3 plants started, one more than planned, as one was a test germination of some beans I crossed, and I'm keeping it just out of curiosity. The other two girls are from commerical feminized beans. They are a Pure Africa and an Aurora Indica. The homegrown cross is Freedom 35+Blackberry, and turned out to be an auto, since the F35 pheno it was crossed with was auto.
 
One tent is 32"x32"x5.5'. The other is 2'x4'x'7'. Both have 300w, 10 band LED's, and the tall tent also has a 400w HID cooltube with a dimmable digital ballast.
 
In general, I use General Hydroponic FloraSeries nutes (To about 900ppm), with a few extras like cal-mag, ArmorSi, some humics, and a product called S.O.S. which is nothing more than beneficial bugs, and do a great job of protecting the roots and mitigating unusable minerals in the water into something the plant can use.
 
The three initial plants have had little done to them, except being topped once. All began sprouting around 6/17 and spent 3+ weeks under the T5. After this weekend, I'll have moved the hybrid into the tall tent with both lights.
 
Enjoy. Say "Hi" if you drop by!
 

 

Thanks for dropping by! Looking for good things from the DWC setup.

Sent from my BNTV250 rooted NOOK Tablet via Grass City mobile app

 

7-24-2014
 
Neglected to mention that the DWC buckets I'm using were ones I made from parts I picked up at one of the local hydro shops. They're stupid-easy to make if you have the correct drill bits. Still have stuff for another seven, but I don't expect to be using more than 6-7 at a time.

 

 
Thanks! So happy to have finally started!     
 
And yeah, I'm a bit in awe of how good the plants look so far! Been keeping the ppm right about 850,and tossed in a bit of nutes and my choice of extras today. I swear that S.O.S. stuff makes all the diference! Roots look fantastic, and all three girls are sucking up the liquids - currently getting to about 1/2 - 2/3 litre/day. Yet to see any ill effects from the LED like I was getting last grow. I'll take any stretching contributed to by the light distance for better looking leaves. Still need to do some lollipopping, and I'll do a little more LST on the commercial plants this weekend, since they'll have a chance in there to recover for a bit before they're moved.
 
Holla at me next February or so and I'll shoot you a few of those crosses of mine like Dingus is trying out at the moment. I'm curious to see how they'd do outdors in CO versus the damp PNW.

 

7-27-2014
 
So after trying a couple of different things with the lights in the tall tent, I can't get what I want. You supposedly need 2x the amount of inflow versus outflow, at least in a room. But all that does for me is suck in the sides of the tent unacceptably. Reversing that setup blows out the sides too much. So I don't think I'll get what I want with a 4" and a 6' fan. I pulled the 6" from the 32" tent and installed a 4" in there, which should be enough. It's a veg tent an can get a little warm (82) without too many problems. I was trying to get the two lights as high as possible in the 7', so I ended up removing all the ducting. Much cleaner and somewhat neater except for all the damn wires for fans, air pump, etc. Hopefully I can get the temps to the low 70's with two 6" fans, so I'll have to bite the bullet and order another 6" fan. Right now at plant top it's about 82 degrees in there, but I'd like it cooler.
 
 
At the moment, I'm still  heat testing the big tent. The hybrid is in there to make some room in the 32" tent which looked super full with those three in there.
 

 
Noticed a little leaf tip discoloration in the Pure Africa that looks like nute burn.
 

 
Strange, since I thought I had been VERY conservative with the nutes. The other two were at 850 ppm, but for some reason the Africa was at 1150ppm, with exactly the same feeding. So I drained off a lot of the bucket and replaced it with ph'd water and got her back to about 825. Seeing a little of that burn on the Aurora, and it was at 850pm. So I'll dial the nutes down even more - like to about 400ppm and see what happens. They're sucking down water pretty good now since they're so leafy, so a couple of days watering will have that ppm down low.

 

7-29-2014
 
Finished jacking with the tall tent (For now, anyhow). I managed to recover quite a bit of vertical space, and to keep the tents at a max of 82, depending on how I run the A/C and the HPS. Basically I stuck the 6" fan at the end of the cool tube, and have the 4" blowing over the LED panel and more or less right in the open end of the tube. Seems to work, and no more internal ducting. I also exchanged the air pump for a serious one.
 
So I do need to get in there and lollipop that sucker when I have some free time tomorrow. Pretty sure the next bean I pop will be one of my other hybrid crosses, and hopefully it isn't going to auto, since I want to try to LST the snot out of it, and I need stretchy for what I'd like to try.
 
Note on the 2nd grow - Everything is curing nicely, and I'm staying diligently on top of burping the jars and losening up the buds at least once daily. The Widows really reeked for a bit but are smoothing out. The 35's and BB are all very fragrant., but more floral than weedy. Pretty sure I let most of those girls go too long. The BB I harvested first gets you buzzed, but it also will put your ass to sleep pretty quick if you overdo it. I'm still unsure of the others. But I'm looking for a couple of harvests of some trippier weed the next few plants. I don't mind couchlock, but that BB might as well be anesthesia.
 
The revised setup:
 

 

7-30-2014
 
I got a PM from some lady somewhere wanting to know what, if any, regimen I followed. As the girls needed fluids today, here's what I did.
 
First, I mix up 2-3 gallons of chlorine-free water, either standing out or via filter. Then I go to each bucket and drain a couple of cups of water out via the blue hose on the side of the buckets. I pour that back in and pull a fresh sample and check ppm and ph. Then I top up and repeat. I only added ph'd water with ArmouSi (To protect roots) a little cal-mag, and S.O.S. today. Oddly, the ppm on the Pure Africa was over 1k again. Really strange, and all I can think of for a reason is that the ppm meter is reading the S.O.S. as well, but it's not happening in the other two buckets. All I can do is just keep adding minimal stuff to that bucket. I suspect that Pure Africa strain just might not need a whole bunch of nutes to grow. She's my "Smallest" plant atm, but doing fine. Alway one plant wants to be different. This is my first time with a Sativa plant, so I'm mostly just trying not to kill it. PPM for all plants is now about 800 with a 5.9 ph.
 
Green porn:
 
This is my home made hybrid, roots and all. Currently 27.5" tall, but that was 30 minutes ago:
 

 
These are the other two girls. From left to right Aurora Indica and Pure Africa. That's an 8" cresent wrench to give some size perspective:
 

 

7-31-2014
 
I was thinking of cloning the Pure Africa for fun to try some LST on, but it's not as stretchy as I'd like, and I need to figure out that ppm issue I'm having with her. Later today after I run a few errands, I'll pull another sample and test. I may have to flush and try a different ph than the 5.9 I've currently setup. Maybe it likes it a little higher. I'll also get the ppm down to around 450 or so and see what happens.  <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);"> </span></span>
 
Everyone looks great at the moment! So far, no ill effects on the hybrid after switching to the mixed <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);">lighting, and I'm very happy about that.  </span></span>
 
 
 

 

8-1-2014
 
Wow! Summer half over and on the 1st of August, and we're enjoying temps in the low 80's today. Almost unheard of in N. Texas this time of year!
 
So I checked the Pure Africa this morning and no spikes in the ppm, so maybe nudging the ph up a couple of ticks helped. PPM actually dropped a little. She's sure sucking up the water, which is to be expected since there's still so many leaves and none of the girls have been lollipopped yet. The hybrid is still growing/stretching, and I'm happy I invested in the 7' tent, as she's gonna need every inch of it (That's what she said). Pretty sure I don't need another 6" fan in that tent, since 82 is as hot as it gets at plant top.
 
So I was out and about in the part of town that has the liquor stores, and I remembered I needed Everclear (Yay short-term memory!! )
 
I bought the Brand-X stuff 3 bucks cheaper. It all should be exactly the same 95% alcohol. So last night I took about 10g of the trim and shake and a couple of grams of ABV <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);">and wrapped it in foil for the oven for 10 minutes at 275, and tried to make some qwiso after I re-froze everything. Had to hunt for my pyrex pie dish. I had covered it and stuck it somewhere with some BHO sitting on it and had forgotten about it. For like 2 months at least. The hash on it was really dried out and scraped up easily. </span></span>
 
So the qwiso is still evaporating and I can see the oil in it, and it looks like it'll be a nice amber color. Still uncertain how I'll end up using it. I'd like to get in in a vapable state, so I dunno if I need to mix it with bit of glycerin or what. I'm still looking for info. There's so much shit out there, and nothing absolutely straightforward. I'm not going to buy an essential oil distiller, but I did stumble across some nice alcohol reflux tower stills online, and might spring for one of those. With one of those precise temp control induction cooktops, it'd be dead easy to crank out your own everclear dirt cheap. Just sugar, water & yeast and away ya go.
 
Very anxious to try the qwiso out. I'd like a supply of potent oil to run through the DaVinci. If anything is left, I'll probably mix it with some coco butter and put it in caps.
 
And that's about it. I didn't top the Aurora (Pretty sure I didn't, anyhow), and I'm still looking for signs of a center cola, so maybe I did. Doesn't look as if it's been LST'd. She'll likely go in the tall tent end of next week.
 
Also, I cleaned up the bong while I was cleaning the pyrex, and decided to run some of that BHO hash that I took off the pie plate through my MFLB/bong setup. Got seriously fucked up on 3 good hits, and no butane taste whatsoever. Stuff melted right down with virtually no residue.
 
Nice. 

 

 
I've always been stingy with the nutes just to try and avoid overfeeding. Apparently some plants don't even want them half strength. Seriously, now that I'm in DWC, I'll need to dial in the ppm better. The two in the small tent could go into flower anytime as far as I'm concerned. I'm holding off to try and get some spacing in the harvests.
 
On the Africa I nudged the ph up to 6.2 from 5.9. I also flushed it down to 850ppm. When I checked today, the ppm was down to 765ppm, so something is eating in there. All I'm giving that one is ph'd water, ArmorSi, light cal-mag and S.O.S. until I get the ppm down to around 500. Probably dial down the Aurora as well. The Africa is my first sativa, and I'm trying hard not to fuck her up. The hybrid is fucking perfect so far.

 

8-3-2014
 
Today I swapped the girls around. This may be temporary. The hybrid is almost all up in the light. The other two make the 2x4 look crowded.
 
I gotta admit these big bushy plants are blowing my mind a little, since I'm used to growing those little bonsai sized, by comparison, plants. Since I moved them, I'll give 'em a few days to adjust before I do any trimming. If the lights don't burn her, I'd just as soon leave the hybrid in the 32" tent. There'll be enought room for additional starts in there once she's trimmed up a bit. That isn't going to be for at least three weeks or a month..
 
A wee bit of green porn:
 
In front, l to r, Pure Africa & Aurora Indica. In the back is the hybrid. Notice the size difference!
 

 
Hybrid BB/F35-B in the 32" tent. Like 6" of clearance left below the panel:
 

 
The Pure Africa:
 

 
The Aurora Indica:
 

 
The 2x4 Tent:
 

 

 
 

 

8-3-2014 - 2
 
I mentioned that I was going to order some more beans. I like the smell of my harvest, but none of it smells like pot. All different smells, and lots of floral notes, but I'm craving skunk/cheese. So I placed an order from OSSC, and I deviated from my norm by buying some regular seeds, and skipping the feminized and auto strains. These are all Indica/Sative hybrids. I do want to try some pure sativas, but as they seem to be touchier than the indicas, I'l hold off and see how the Pure Africa goes before I select a couple of strains of those..
 
What I went for:
 
1x Cheese Quattro Kaliman Seeds package. This is a pack of 16 beans in four different flavors.
 
From the strain details page it states:
 
"Cheese Quattro by Kaliman Seeds gives you this 4 strain 16 seed mixed pack at a 10 pack price with
 
4x Cheese#1, pure unhybridised Exodus genetics,
4x Rockster's Cheese which is full on cheese and citrus flavour,
4x Cheese Tease with hints of fromage rather than the off the gauge full ‘mouth coating' taste of Cheese#1 which just like the original Exodus clone is just too much taste wise for some, and
4x Marley's Cheese, our strain with many variations on a Cheese x Skunk#1 theme and due to it's variety comes with pleasant surpises from the sublime to the exotic, with a true ‘Afghan bottom' on some pheno's which is pleasantly discernable on the palette."
 
There's some confusion about the freebies. The strain page says 10x free Cheese #1, but the promnotion banner said 10x Nitro Express plus 2x Cheese #1. All of that companys' descriptions have various free offers, so make sure you email and clarify what you expect to receive if you order and one page contradicts another.
 
The Nitro Express is "A cross of the 1989 UK Exodus clone and pure unhybridised original Haze and then back crossed to the Exodus mother. This has resulted in a true synergy between both parents in terms of taste and flavour and is fully mature in 10-11 weeks. The psychoactive effect is still strongly sativa dominant but with no hard edge to it and which has resulted in a strain that is motivational rather than couch lock and is a very pleasant sociable high that is so great in company and will have you rapping about life, the universe and everything else."
 
Then there's the 2x Cheese #1, which sez "Cheese #1 is Kaliman Seeds's flagship baby and is the first and only cheese strain that totally does what it says on the tin, namely, that it is indistinguishable from the 1989 Exodus clone mother in both taste and effect. 100% original unhybridised Exodus clone genetics in a stable, healthy, male/female population and with up to 50% more yield than the original clone. This is the result of a spontaneous sexual reversal of an Exodus cheese clone that when used to pollinate a sister clone produced progeny genetically identical to the mother plant."  So I should end up with just 6 of these
 
This should otherwise hold me for a couple of years with the library of beans I have now.    <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);"> </span></span>

 

8-4-2014
 
Well, I'm fairly happy with the 3 girls I currently have under the lights. Too soon to tell how they're liking the switch. It's still a big psych to crack open the tents and see these huge (To me) bits of shrubbery in there, A phone camera really doesn't do the human eye view justice. It's really quite dramatic after a mini-plant grow.
 

 
So I mixed up some nutes at 1/4 strength, which comes out right at 500ppm. This was good enough to more or less keep the status quo on the ppm levels in the buckets. I just hope the hybrid doesn't explode into more vertical growth, or I'll have to move her back into the 7' tent, and boy howdy that would be a tight squeeze with the two others still in there.
 
Plan is to give 'em a couple more days to transition, and meanwhile I'll review lollipopping techniques to try and get the most out of them, since I didn't do much of any FIMming.
 
 

 

8-4-2014
 
In mad scientist mode again.
 
Trying to make up a test batch of cannabis infused glycerin for vaping. I did manage to make some qwiso, but other than the bit I tried, I haven't done anything with it. May end up diluting it with some everclear, cutting it down to a managable proof, and just drink it.
 
Meanwhile, 6gm of very nice cured shake and some trim along with 2 oz of food grade glycerin. I pre-carboxilized the weed at 275 for 10 minutes after I ground it up in a grinder. It's in a loosly covered jar in my mini-crock pot, which holds at about 190, and is the same one I use for making canna caps with coco oil. Anyhow, this is only one way of making it. I have a 16oz bottle on the way, and I'll make up a big jar of cold process stuff, which apparently takes months. Very unsure on the proportions. I've seen the "Equal amounts" thing, but fuck it. I can always dilute it with more glycerin if it's too potent. Hopefully the test batch will last me quite some time.
 
My goal is something cleaner to vape through the DaVinci. Weed is messy in that, and I want a product that's smooth and hassle free for the movies. Apparently it's easy to flavor this stuff if you don't care for the taste. I'll update this bit in the next couple of days.
 
<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);"> </span></span>

 

 
 
Seems as if all the "Hot" techniques call for heating for 8 hours, cooling, and repeat a few times. I pulled a little sample of the overnight run, filtered it through a 50 micron screen and put like 5 drops in the vape can and ran it through the DaVinci at about 285f. 3-4 small hits and I have a very nice glow, but tastes ho-hum. I'm off to the vape store for some flavoring. Meanwhile running the cycle again on the bud/glycerin mix. Gonna ask if the store has any how-to data. I see some put PG and water in their mixes. I'm planning on making some long stored cold extract (6 months) when my big bottle of glycerin arrives.
 
But... the shit works! <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);"> </span></span>
 
Meanwhile...
 
So I forgot to press "Add reply." Found a local store that sold me some flavor concentrate, but I forgot to ask if they'd sell me some propolyne glycol, and I didn't want to look like a dumb ass and go back, so I ordered some online. The place I went to does custom mixes for eCigs and vapes, but they sold me the concentrate anyhow, as they too like to DIY, and that's how they got started. On the plus side, I did get to pick their brains a bit, and they mix at about 60/40 PG/VG, plus any flavors. So in the meantime, I'll continue to process this batch and add a drop of flavor to the bit I have already. That'll hold me until I get the other product I need. You'd think the fucking drug stores would have that in stock.