My First Hempy Bucket Grow

[BuddySkunk]

Well, I started from seed. My plant sprouted up nice and visible April 17th and I started flowering it June 3rd. Just depends on how big you want it or how big your grow area is!

 

[Rusty Shakelford]

I am only working with a 4x4 Flower tent, and with the RDWC, I outgrew it twice, so I am trying to work on keeping things in check a little better. My plan at this point is to veg until they are about 12", transplant them into their final buckets, give them a week recovery, and then take clone and move them into flower. By that time, they should have shown preflowers and good to go.

I am ordering 4 - 55watt CFLs today so I can get them back under some decent lighting. Home Depot and Lowes is absolutely useless when it comes to stocking the right kind of CFLs, so I have to order in. I also need to partition off the veg tent, so I can have Seedlings and Clones in the top and my veg plants on the bottom to better maximize my space. I plan to do this with PVC..

 

[WattSaver]

I'd go ahead and transplant soon, be sure the perlite is as dry as you can get it. Dry it weighs a lot less and will do less damage to your roots, compared to wet heavy perlite.

Since you need height control, I'd let them recover from transplant and start growing hard again and once you have a 6 nodes (about 10" tall) top the bitches, and let them veg for another 4 wks or so till your about 18" to 20". Now flip them, from what I've seen growin' NL crosses is that if topped they will 2x during stretch, and without topping will go 2.5x to 3x. Topping will also increase side shoots, and give you something to clone later. I've taken clones up to the 2nd wk 12/12 with pretty good results, past that and its real hard to get them to root.

 

[BuddySkunk]

My plan at this point is to veg until they are about 12",

Exactly what I did. My plant's 5 weeks deep into the flowering stage and it's about 22 1/2 inches tall now. Good luck man.

 

[Rusty Shakelford]

Upped the feed to 1/2 Strength for the 3 Tall Girls and Kept the Auto at 1/3 Strength.

Since I am only mixing a Half Gallon, my measurements are as follows:
2 Liters RO Water
1.25ml Micro
2.5ml Bloom
20 Drops PH Up
--------------------
PH = 5.90
PPM = 385 (.5) EC = 0.7/0.8

(4) 55 watt 5000K CFL's arrive today

Rinsed Perlite yesterday and that is currently drying. I hope to be able to Transplant in the next day or two.

 

[Rusty Shakelford]

TRANSPLANT DAY!

Has Arrived


I Mixed 2 Gallons of Nutes.

1 Gallon 1/2 Strength
1 Gallon 1/3 Strength

Just the very slightest bit of Tip yellow on Fruity Chronic Juice, so I am playing it safe and taking her back to 1/3 strength.

I watered each one just a little bit, so the medium wouldn't just crumble as I tried to remove them from their cups. With a little bit of squeezing, they slid out of their Solo Cups nice and clean. Unfortunately the Picture does not do them much justice, but we have LOTS OF ROOTS!!

I prepped a whole in each Bucket, then set each one, back-filled and used a Half Gallon Nute Mix per bucket, which is when the water started to flow out the hole.

Thank god I did not get any bigger buckets, cause they just would not have fit in the tent. It got REALLY Small, REALLY Quick.

I hope they like their new homes, as they seem to slow down a bit in the Solo Cups,, Think they may have been getting a bit root bound, and now they have some more room to move.

I am not sure if I need to be watering them everyday now, until they hit the res, or will the 100% Perlite be enough for a couple of days?

 

[Rusty Shakelford]

I did want to add a Note regarding the Lucas Mix that I am using.

I made a couple of Gallons of RO Water yesterday, and let it sit overnight with the top off.

When I mix the Lucas ratio's my PH ends up on the VERY LOW Side - PH 5.2 -- I am just wondering if anyone that might read this thread, and is familiar with the Lucas Mix, might know if this is normal?? And this being the Case, should I PH my water UP a bit before mixing the nutes??

What do you think ??

 

[WattSaver]

I did want to add a Note regarding the Lucas Mix that I am using.

I made a couple of Gallons of RO Water yesterday, and let it sit overnight with the top off.

When I mix the Lucas ratio's my PH ends up on the VERY LOW Side - PH 5.2 -- I am just wondering if anyone that might read this thread, and is familiar with the Lucas Mix, might know if this is normal?? And this being the Case, should I PH my water UP a bit before mixing the nutes??

What do you think ??

I've used the GH Flora nova grow but not the bloom or micro, and it needed a little up for soil. But many nute lines push the ph down, like botanicare, and FF and so on, so your condition doesn't surprise me.

You can pour a little straight water over your transplants tomorrow if you want, but it's really not necessary the perlite will wick water to the roots, and I think they root faster after after transplant if you let them wick out the first full rez before watering again. You will notice after transplant that growth above ground will seem slower for a while and thats because they are putting their energy into setting roots, once the roots hit bottom you'll know by the growth spurt.

 

[Rusty Shakelford]

I've used the GH Flora nova grow but not the bloom or micro, and it needed a little up for soil. But many nute lines push the ph down, like botanicare, and FF and so on, so your condition doesn't surprise me.

You can pour a little straight water over your transplants tomorrow if you want, but it's really not necessary the perlite will wick water to the roots, and I think they root faster after after transplant if you let them wick out the first full rez before watering again. You will notice after transplant that growth above ground will seem slower for a while and thats because they are putting their energy into setting roots, once the roots hit bottom you'll know by the growth spurt.

Yes of course if you put nutes in the water, its gonna drop your PH , but with as little as I have been using, I am surprised its pushing it down that much. Now I am skeptical of all the people that say they just mix and go without checking PH. Not that i wasn't skeptical already, but I expected it to be a little closer to where I need to be. I can say the AN Nutes that I have used as well as Fox Farm (for my first soil grow) didn't kick my PH Down this much.

Thanks for the advice Watts

 

[Gyroscope]

I would water them daily at first since they were newly transplanted.

Before you RO the water is it high in pH? I am assuming it is or you wouldn't be RO'ing it. If I were you I would mix a little non RO'd water in with your RO water and check the pH before and after adding nutrients to get the pH up where you want it.

I have 2 wells. One is pH 5.4, the other 6.8
When I mix for heavy nutes, I use 1 part each of my wells. The result is 6.2-6.3. After I add the nutes it drops to 6.0
When I mix light for seedlings, I use 1 part 6.8 to 3 parts 5.4 since I am using less fertilizer the pH will not dip.

If you mix your water(s), you will not have to buy pH up or down and once you find your sweet spot you can mark your container and not have to check it every time. I used to check mine quite often until I got it dialed in. Now that my jugs and containers are marked I am good to go. Every now and then I drop the meter in just to be sure nothing has changed on me.

Also if you mix a little non RO back in, you will get some calcium and magnesium back in there that the plants will need anyway. Good luck.

Your plants are looking very nice !

 

[Rusty Shakelford]

I would water them daily at first since they were newly transplanted.

Before you RO the water is it high in pH? I am assuming it is or you wouldn't be RO'ing it. If I were you I would mix a little non RO'd water in with your RO water and check the pH before and after adding nutrients to get the pH up where you want it.

I have 2 wells. One is pH 5.4, the other 6.8
When I mix for heavy nutes, I use 1 part each of my wells. The result is 6.2-6.3. After I add the nutes it drops to 6.0
When I mix light for seedlings, I use 1 part 6.8 to 3 parts 5.4 since I am using less fertilizer the pH will not dip.

If you mix your water(s), you will not have to buy pH up or down and once you find your sweet spot you can mark your container and not have to check it every time. I used to check mine quite often until I got it dialed in. Now that my jugs and containers are marked I am good to go. Every now and then I drop the meter in just to be sure nothing has changed on me.

Also if you mix a little non RO back in, you will get some calcium and magnesium back in there that the plants will need anyway. Good luck.

Your plants are looking very nice !

Yea I figured I might have to mix some of my Tap water into the RO. It was kinda coming clear during my last RDWC Grow, but I was hoping not to have to go there. I might have to start experimenting with a Mix and what it does to PH,, as well as what its going to do to my Nute Mix..

 

[Rusty Shakelford]

Yesterday before the Transplant, I noticed the First TRUE set of leaves on the Northern Lights x Big Bud girls are turning a bit yellow. This morning they are a little more yellow. Since they were the First Set of leaves, this might be normal for them to turn and drop off, or am I experiencing some Nitrogen Deficiency?? The rest of the plant looks good as far as I can tell

 

[Rusty Shakelford]

Regarding my Attitude order.. I apparently am not getting the 10% discount they said I would, cause I used the 420 code that anyone can use and got 10% off, so they are considering that my 10% discount.. Basically they were going to give me a 10% discount that anyone can get anyway.. CHEESY!!

I will probably try HERBIES next time.

 

[Gyroscope]

Regarding my Attitude order.. I apparently am not getting the 10% discount they said I would, cause I used the 420 code that anyone can use and got 10% off, so they are considering that my 10% discount.. Basically they were going to give me a 10% discount that anyone can get anyway.. CHEESY!!

I will probably try HERBIES next time.

That's bullshit. I would send them another email asking them to explain how that makes up for anything.

 

[scr]

Herbies is good. I made the switch from Attitude after I read a shit ton of info about them and some real shady business practices. Not trying to bad mouth them, the info is all over the net to research yourself. Anytime you have a question Herbies gets back to you with 1 business day, at least IME. I placed an order for some BC Sweet Tooth and noticed a pretty large price difference between them and the tude. Not only did they match the price but they beat it and I got 8 free seeds to boot. Not too bad!

 

[Rusty Shakelford]

Yea, Attitude was good and responding to my emails, and started out on the right track, letting me know that they will contact the Breeder on my behalf, but obviously never did, and would have just dropped it if I had not kept on them. Then they told me I would get a LARGE discount or refund. This was that response::
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there

We under no obligation to reship a delivered parcel, unfortunately we have no way of knowing this has not arrived with the customer once it has been scanned as delivered, what I am willing to do in this case, is if you want to place a new order I am going to offer a large discount to be refunded back to your card?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well apparently their BIG Discount was the basic 10% that everyone gets by simply putting 420 in the discount code. They basically pissed on me and told me it was raining.

I did a little research on Herbies and see they have some great feedback. I did not see them beating Attitudes prices, but they did match them,, Also no 420 Discount (that I know of), their freebies were not that great (let me explain).. When I order Fem Seeds on Attitude, they give Fem Freebies. Herbies does a couple of Fems, but then seems to throw in a regular seed. This regular could be male, and that could possibly cause problems. None the less, if their customer support is better, then that is the way to go.

 

[Rusty Shakelford]

Harvesting the rest of my last grow today, so I am remove all of the RDWC Equipment and put the room back together in an orderly fashion.. Hopefully I can get a better handle on the heat also..

I did not feed the girls yesterday cause the perlite was still quite moist and I am afraid to over water. I will check again today when lights come on and make a decision whether or not to feed today. I hope I can cause the lower leaf yellowing is bothering me a bit, and I would like to up the nutes and get a little more Nitrogen to them. I want to get the Northern Lights x Big Bud up to 3/4 Strength, and Fruity Chronic up to 1/2 strength along with the Auto Northern Lights Blue.

 

[Rusty Shakelford]

Fed the Girls today! I used Gyroscopes Idea and purchased a Bleech Sprayer, and just didn't put on the Spray tip. It let me feed the girls nice and easy without a bunch of splashing and I could get the wand up under the leaves in order to water closer to the stem as well.

I noticed ONE Rust spot on Fruity's leaf (pic attached) SO I hope she likes the 1/2 strength I gave her this morning.

You can see the lower leaves yellowing, so everyone got bumped up in nute strength today. NLxBB got 3/4 strength and FCJ/ANLB got 1/2 Strength. Hopefully this will help me get a handle on the yellowing.

1/2 Strength
------------------
2.5ml Micro
5ml Bloom
30 drops PH UP
PH = 6.08
PPM = 401 (EC 0.8

3/4 Strength
-----------------
3.75ml Micro
7.5ml Bloom
30 drops PH UP
PH = 5.96
PPM = 520 (EC 1.0)

Each container takes a little less than 1/2 Gallon of water for a nice flow out the drain hole.

Not much noticeable growth for the last week or so and the leaves feel dry.

 

[Rusty Shakelford]

This post will be about Fruity Chronic Juice - She got a little worse yesterday, but I don't think she has gotten any worse today, so hopefully the Feeding is giving her what she needs. I will know more later today or tomorrow, but apparently she is going to be more of an aggressive eater than I thought.

I have attached pics of Fruity (taken this morning) in case anyone wants to comment.

 

[Rusty Shakelford]

Fruity Chronic's lower leaves are certainly going to get used up and dropped off, but it looks like its been contained.

I did notice a little discoloration of the Brand New Growth this morning and took some pics to show. I believe this is the same coloration I noticed back on page 7 of this Journal.

The perlite is still very moist, but I would certainly like to feed tomorrow. Everyone looks like they would be just fine with another bump up in Nutes. This will put the NLxBB at full strength and Fruity Chronic & Auto on 3/4 Strength.

As soon as their roots hit the res, I would like to top em and start looking for preflowers, so I can move them into the Flower Tent.