Hey Gc, Planning my first attempt, got some super lemon haze, and tangerine dream seeds from the additude, thanks to your advice! planning on running 4-6plants in a 4x3.5x8' box under 600w mh/hps. A few questions for you guys. #1, I am planning on running individual bubble buckets, because of the different strains. I have the choice between 3.5 or 5 gallon black buckets. Considering my space, would it be smarter to run the larger or smaller buckets? #2 should I run the 6 plants to start, figuring I may loose 1 or 2 in the process, or run 4 and keep my fingers crossed hoping they all make it, and grow them a little larger and if I had grown the 6? #3 Im very interested in LST training, and the scrog method, but wondering what happens if you have a problem where you have to clean out a bucket or something. Can/do you guys do both LST and scrog with bubble buckets? How do you go about changing buckets if needed? I am sure I'll have lots more questions as I flesh out my plan with all of you guy's help, already gotten some great advice in my first thread. Thanks a ton in advance for all your help and advice.
In a 4x3, I would only do 4.. Over crowding will just cause a low yield using only 50w per sq.. I lot of people figure, "the more plants I can fit in, the more I will get in the end".. NOT TRUE @ ALL!! You will get a bigger yield and better potency if you just fill your canopy so each budding site has at least 4" of it's own space, and direct sun.. And that is one of the things you will dial in from grow to grow.. There is a fine line between filling the canopy up, over crowding causing low yields, and wasting space because you could have got one more plant, or should have let them stretch just a couple more days in a scrog.. Well I did a DIY ebb&gro for my mothers, went with the 3-1/2gal, and wish I would have went with the 5gal.. The root ball on them is just packed in the smaller buckets.. I personally would have run femalized seeds.. But if you want to do a scrog, that has to be done with femalized seeds (and pray you don't get a hermmie), or clones.. Or I guess you could wait the 6 weeks veg, take a clone off each plant and flower it to see which plants are male and female.. But you would have to do this before the screen goes on, because you don't want the males woven up in the screen... LST training, no problem, just lift the the plant and it's net pot out.. SCROG, you don't.. It is a drain and fill only until the plants are done.. Again, I grow ebb& gro which is a flood and drain bucket system, and the ONLY time I ever touch the net pots, is because I turn them a little so the roots won't clog the flood and overflow ports... No need worrying about having to clean the buckets in the middle of a grow.. Most of the systems I setup are DIY ebb&gro buckets, almost all these systems I setup grow from seed to harvest without having to clean the buckets.. You do have to drain and fill the reservoir, so if you use a Bubble bucket and SCROG, make sure you can drain and fill that bucket's reservoir some how.. As far as having to clean the BB's reservoir (wash the bucket out), that don't need to be done.. But it does make it nice to have the option of cleaning the reservoir if you want too, and thus one of the reason I went with the Ebb and Gro flood and drain.. Good luck...
Thanks for the reply, man, I appreciate it. The seeds are all fems, forgot to add that in the first post. So 4x 5 gal. Buckets. I definitely don't want to overcrowd the growspace and hurt yield, but don't want to waste available space, either. Would love to hear from more of you guys using the bb's!!
He seemed to cover most everything. Only thing I can think of is make sure to make the buckets light tight and lots of aeration. Start off right and you won't have to battle algae. It's a bitch! Do the hand test for the lights. If it is too hot for you, it will burn the girls. Keep the water level an inch below the bottom of the pots after rooted. Don't fuss over them, I think they stress when we do. Talk to them. I tell my girls how pretty they are. Maybe I'm crazy.... Good luck!
running individual bubble buckets with a scrog is next to impossible. once you have your plants woven into the screen, you will have no way to drain, refill, or top off the buckets without risking damage to the plants. I understand you are set on not using a reservoir due to the different strains. My first suggestion would be only grow 1 strain in a scrog. the goal of scrog is to keep an even canopy, hard to do when all of your plants have different growth rates and styles. That way you could use a reservoir and you don't have to worry about lifting the plants out of the buckets when they are all tied up in a screen. However, if you don't want to take this advice and stick with individual buckets, then you will have to devise a system to drain and refill the buckets without lifting the plant out. This can be done using ebb n flow fittings at the top and bottom of the bucket. basically you would have to do something like put a shut off valve on the bottom fitting and you would use an inline water pump to pump the fresh solution into the buckets. it would be a pain in the.. but i'm sure people have done it
Hey thanks man, that's exactly the kind of info I am after!! I have read a few how-to's on BB's that include drain and fill holes, so I will probably go that route for my first run. I am a liile worried about running a res, if I screw something up in there I could potentially ruin the whole grow, where with the buckets, if I want to try something, I can limit it to 1 or 2 buckets, so I don't risk all the girls. Once I get thru this first run and get settled in on one strain, I will more than likely run a res, just seems even easier to setup and maintain once it's going. Thanks again for your help, everything I'm learning here is amazing. Keep the info coming guys, it's a great help, and I really appreciate it.
Do you guys think a better idea would be to just LST each plant down to the rim of the cover for the bucket? I really want to try and get the plants opened up to help with yeild as much as possible, so I'm thinking SOME form of training is gonna be necessary, right? I've been reading up on topping and fimming and want to incorporate that as well to help bush it out.
sounds like you are on the right track. and your right, running a res has its pros and cons. it limits the experimenting that you can do since each change will affect all the plants at once. But you are also right that it makes your life a lot easier, so definitely something to think about for the future. Good luck!
#1 go with the 5 gallon bucket you have to consider room for the water pump net cup room for roots. #2 I did my first bucket with 6 and it seems to be crowded but for smaller plants you will be fine. I have a mother bucket that I use with only 4 net cups in 10 gallon Rubbermaid. Also when I did 6 all my roots netted up into a giant root system. I am going to try net cups in the bucket to catch the roots and stop them from tangling next time. #3 I took a few pieces of 2x4 and screwed a few hooks to them around my grow room so I could tie strings in different directions. I also made a stand out of pvc tubing so I can leave my plants in the same spot while the tubs get cleaned.
If I'm understanding you correctly, youve got 6 plants in one 5 gal bucket? I am planning to use 1bucket, 1 plant. I only want to grow 4-6 plants total, not 4-6 in each bucket.
no 6 plants in a 10 gallon. and if you go to http://forum.grasscity.com/do-yourself/600352-budslingers-recirculating-bubble-buckets.html he is doing something that I think you are looking for.
Use no less then 5 gallon buckets. Have a drain and fill in each bucket. Running single bucket units is fine, no reservoir is needed. The only time you need to clean the buckets is after harvest. Keep it light proof to keep slime from growing. A simple screen/grid 10" to 20" above your buckets is a good idea. This will work better and faster then topping, pinching, or tying. As fast tops push through the screen, relocate them to a far away hole. Keep doing this until all the holes in the screen are filled.
check out my shit i do all 3 lol!i have a serious hieght issue in my room plenty of horizontal though which i why i scrog and lst if done properly one plant will cover a 4x4 screen mine is 3x5 and i got 4 in there but not sexed yet so leaving room to pull the males if they show their nasty balls !