First time grower and wanted to share my journey. I initially was going to build a space bucket but had the trash bin so I thought I would use it. I was going to grow in soil but while I was waiting on my stuff to be delivered I decided to go the DWC route. My light will be a "300 watt" led ufo from eBay. I'll post picks of my trash bin conversion as well as list all costs. I'll be growing feminized auto strain blue mystic and will be using LST to maximize yield.
Here are a few pics of the trash bin. It is a little over 3.5 ft tall. It will have a passive intake with a 120mm 103 cfm exhaust fan. Here is a pic of the dryer vent elbow installed. I cut out a access door to access the bucket. Used a piano hinge as well. Real pain in the ass to cut the thick plastic using a dremel cutting bit and a long piece of metal stock as a guide but it was a clean cut with no cracks. Lined the inside with reflective tape instead of mylar sheets. I heard it was easier to work with and I think it looks a lot cleaner. Here it is with the 5 gallon bucket inside. Total cost for the grow bin $64 Reflective tape x2 - $17 Duct tape - $8 Hardware (hinge, screws, etc) - $10 Vent elbow and flex tube - $17 120mm fan - $10 12V adapter - $2
Took a while to finally get my beans. Pineapple Express Auto germinating in a Rapid Rooter. I have a 23w 5000 CFL on 24/0. I'll switch over to my ebay 300W ufo led when I put her in the DWC bucket. Rooter was soaked in a 5.8 ph solution Started on 7/21 this is what she looks like now. There was a single root hair at the bottom of the Rooter so I covered the bottom of the cup with some hydroton.
Careful leaving that bin anywhere in the open. Some jealous trash guy is going to think you stole one of his bins. That's why it has waste management on the outside. They aren't usually owned by the public. A can like that cost probably $150-200 or more. Keep it around back or something.
I moved the rapid rooter to the net pot a few days ago. I'm on a 18/6 schedule with no nutes in the bucket set at 5.8 ph. The ufo was originally 6 inches from the plant but I moved it up to 12 inches as it appears there is some burn on one leaf. The plant is still so tiny, I can't wait until it starts to grow like a weed. Here is a crappy pic of the single root hair that emerged from the bottom of the net pot. It is almost 2 inches long.
Laying that tape took me 2 hours but it should have taken me 45 minutes. The first hour was very slow going and frustrating because I was measuring, cutting, peeling the backing away and then finally applying the tape. This is not the way to work the tape. I learned that the tape cuts very easily. Apply the tape from the roll and pull the backing as you go. No need to measure and cut with scissors. I also put the bin on top of two benches upside down so I could stand up inside the bin to apply the tape. Thanks for commenting.
Some updates from 7/31. Day 10 Not much going on up on top from the Friday post. However, the roots have developed a lot since 2 days ago. A lot longer (9 inches) and the roots are expanding out from the main root. I did position a 130 cfm fan on the seedling.
I think I'm getting some light burn so I moved the light a few inches higher. It is definitely growing as the true leaves are now overshadowing the cotyledon. I added 25% strength GH Maxibloom. Using the Lucas formula that is 7 grams per gallon. I put in 6.1 grams to my 3.5 gallon res and adjusted the ph to 5.7.
Day 13 from seed. Didn't check ph yesterday, surprised to see it at 7.0 today. Added some ph down and now at 5.6. Will need to check daily. Looks good on top to me. Big difference from day 10. Another root to join the first one that dropped.
Day 17 Changed out the rez with new nutes and set ph at 5.2 temps a bit high at 82 inside so I've been putting frozen bottles of water to keep the rez cooler than ambient temps. Here is a side view
Day 19 Comparing the top view pics from day 17 to day 19 show some nice growth. The leaves are beyond the edge of the net pot. Here is a side view. Not very tall and the nodes are very close together. Final pic is the roots. The part of the roots under water is white while the part above is showing a little brown. I believe that is just from the coloring of the nutes.
That is usually the start of root rot. Don't be afraid. Plants have a symbiotic relationship with bacteria. As long as the beneficials in the plant remain in a good balance it will continue to grow. I'm in DWC too. I just had a start with some slow growth. I found a little brown in the roots just like that. I tore off the brown roots Sprayed them with 3% peroxide and have been applying hydroguard for 2 water changes now. Now it has a bunch of new roots and lots of new healthy growth on the plant but it's holding on to a couple of brown spots like that. I had a few plants do that last grow too and they recovered to turn out healthy and put out good buds. As long as it doesn't get out of control don't get too obsessive about cleaning it out. Hydroguard or comparable product at every water change. Recharge is also great and what I will be switching to once my hydroguard runs out because it has a better mix with fungus, humic, floric acid, ect. all in one. Are you using airstones? Those look like big bubbles. I got some massive airstones at the local hydro store for $4. So worth it. Get all the oxygen you can get from that air pump into the water.
Day 28 update I was battling ph issues that resulted in cal/mag issues. I think low ph after my last Rez change on Saturday led to some nute lock out. The ph is now at 6.2 and I also added cal/mag yesterday. The new growth looks good so I'll keep a close eye. The coloring of the roots are not rot as they are not slimy or smelly. I believe it is the coloring of the nutes. I have 2 air stones so there is plenty of bubbles for this bucket. Here are some updated pics Closeup of the top Shot of the spotty leaves. Side view
Day 31 I changed out the rez on day 30. I also purchased a TDS meter so I'm tracking ppm moving forward. My rez is 3.5 gallons so I added 6.1g of Maxibloom @ 25% according to Lucas. I also added 3ml of Cal/Mag. My tap read 77 ppm and with my additions and PH balance additions the reading was 350 ppm. Overshot my PH a bit at 5.6. My readings later that evening was PH 5.9 and 340 ppm. Here is are pics from day 31. PH 6.2 with 335ppm. Is this the start of flowering? Top view Side view
Day 37 I'm definitely in flower. I'm going to need to move this grow into a tent as I'm running out of head room. I'm eyeing a 32x32x63 tent from eBay. I did a Rez change today and upped the nutes to 40%. 9.8 grams of Maxibloom to 3.5 gallons of water. Added 3.5 ml of GH cal mag. My water is 83 ppm and the final ppm with everything mixed was 455 ppm at 5.8 ph. Still battling some spotting issues on the leaves. I'm going to add cal mag to my to my refill bucket so there is some cal mag when I top off. Top view Side Close up