DIY Ebb & Flow - I'm learning!

[Belle of Buds]

Morning everyone...

Today is the day I go back to the eye doctor for another injection in my eye...oh joy. Hopefully this one will result in restored vision in my right eye. I am SO tired of the pirate look (I have to wear an eyepatch when I work on the computer) and I just really want to see again...

Anywa, just thought I'd share a few "5 minutes before lights on" pictures. The girls have been sleeping all night and the lights are on now, but I caught them just as they were waking up. Aren't they pretty? LOL



This lady is my favorite. I did not top her... the clones nearly all died before I got them in the flood table and somehow she just ended up this way.

 

[TalonToker]

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr matey, time for another shot in the arm....I mean eye, huh? <---**spoken in my best pirate voice** lol Sorry Belle, but I just had to do that. By the time I'm making this post you will have had it done so let me say that I sincerely hope everything went well for you. Let's also hope you don't need any more of those shots and that you will soon be able to see even better than before.

Love the pics, thanks for sharing. When I first began growing I had a plant that topped itself, similar to what you have. I loved that plant as it was growing so incredibly vigorously. Unfortunately, shortly after flipping the lights, 'she' revealed herself to be a 'he'. Before he showed his balls I was warned by someone on this site who knew it topped itself that it would most likely be a male because of the stress it endured which caused it to top itself. I don't know if that was just a lucky guess, and it was also not from a feminized bean, but the warning came true. I wish for you to have a better outcome with that than I did.

Your garden's looking great, keep it up!

 

[Belle of Buds]

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr matey, time for another shot in the arm....I mean eye, huh? <---**spoken in my best pirate voice** lol Sorry Belle, but I just had to do that. By the time I'm making this post you will have had it done so let me say that I sincerely hope everything went well for you. Let's also hope you don't need any more of those shots and that you will soon be able to see even better than before.

Love the pics, thanks for sharing. When I first began growing I had a plant that topped itself, similar to what you have. I loved that plant as it was growing so incredibly vigorously. Unfortunately, shortly after flipping the lights, 'she' revealed herself to be a 'he'. Before he showed his balls I was warned by someone on this site who knew it topped itself that it would most likely be a male because of the stress it endured which caused it to top itself. I don't know if that was just a lucky guess, and it was also not from a feminized bean, but the warning came true. I wish for you to have a better outcome with that than I did.

Your garden's looking great, keep it up!

LOL, Yep... got another shot in the eye. Apparently the first one did what it was supposed to do and the swelling inside the retina has reduced so I guess that's a good thing. Still can't see crap and I have yet another appointment in 4 weeks...and they may do it again.

But on to happier topics! I'm sorry to hear that your topper was a boy, but I am pretty sure that won't be the case for me since my topper was a clone from a fem seed. I realize that isn't 100% guarantee, and I have had one fem seed turn out to have balls "she" never shoulda had, but I'm fairly comfortable with the whole fem seed thing. The rest of the tent however, is suspect until proven female... the rest of the tent, other than the three clones, are a pack a regulars.

I have noticed, though, in my past experience, that male plants do grow more vigorously than females. I think that's because they have to ripen first in order to "get the girls" at the right time.

My plants have been under 12/12 for 5 days now, so in about 5-7 more I expect we'll have a "revealing of the sexes".

 

[Belle of Buds]

Hmmm... somebody is already starting to show their dainties... and they are probably balls. They have only been in 12/12 for 5 days and girls usually start their little hairs around 10-12 days, so I'm thinking this is a boy... Dare I hope its the only one? It's the only one showing any signs so far...

 

[TalonToker]

I'm so glad the swelling went down, and I would definitely call that a good thing. It sucks that you still can't see well, if at all, from that eye. I hope they don't end up having to give you another one of those shots. Even if it doesn't hurt, you've got to be getting sick of that process. If it were me, I would get all anxious in the days leading up to the appointment just thinking about it. If you have 4 weeks before your next appointment, then I want to hear about much improvement from you between now and then.

I was not aware that your self-topped plant was a clone from a female. That sounds like good news to me. I am also a firm believer in feminized seeds. That's pretty much all I grow anymore, over the last 4-5 years. So far 100% of mine have been what they were supposed to be (female). In fact, I have only had one herm and it was a plant grown from a regular bean. It showed to be a male and I was going to town collecting pollen. About 4 weeks in 'he' starting spitting out pistils all over the place. lol I continued collecting pollen for another week before I finally realized "I don't want this pollen!" Guess my mind just wasn't working for a while there.

It's hard to tell if those are balls you circled on that last pic, but I agree that it does look like that's the case. Hope that's the only one.

 

[MrMeanGreen]

Wow thanks for sharing that! Your roots look awesome, all wispy and fine. I admit that I love root porn almost as much as bud porn. LOL

I like your vertical grow set up too... what exactly are you going to do in the planters? I know you are trying to go hydro with no medium so how are you setting this up? Very interesting and if you start a thread on this grow, please let me know! I'd love to follow it.

I have been growing for 2 years and I am still looking for my "perfect experience". I think I might be getting close with the EnF. I tried DWC and it was a fruitful venture, but at the time, it was just too much work and I had a very hard time keeping my buckets cool enough. My big res for the EnF though seems to stay much cooler.

I also did soil for a long time. Soil is fine, but my water is so crappy that I had to keep gallon jugs of treated water sitting around for watering day and it was murder schlepping all that around. My water is still crappy, but I can treat and prep 12 gallons at a time in one big res and it is SO much simpler for me.

Hi. I have a large family, a business and 2 grows so a journal is out of the question, just aint enough hours in a day, sorry.

My vertical grow is just a taster thrown together out of equipment I already have. Gonna test before I invest. It's up and running now, I kept it to 4 planters, 2 plants in each around a 600w hps. I must admit, the theory behind it makes perfect sense, more than double the light footprint of normal grow. My plants had been under a normal 600 for 3 weeks of flower so they haven't had the full benefit of vertical but already you can see the lower growth (flower) is almost as good as the top. Usually I would already have a canopy and very little light hitting the lower sites by now. I will try to post some pics later.

What did I do with the planters?

4 planters in a square pattern directly above the res.
all 4 tanks are linked to it's neighbour by 2 tubes in each corner creating a loop, a low pipe to flood ajoining planter and a higher pipe to set the flood level.
1 x 1000l/p pump pushing feed to 1 planter (which then feed the other 3 planters). the same planter has a master drain to prevent overflow.

A warning to all if ya gonna try this. I have fixed my fan onto the top of my cool tube, the whole unit is then suspended from the cieling on ratchet ropes. When I powered up for the first time, the fan had such immense centifugal force that the whole unit began to spin..... really fast. It ripped out the wiring from the light and almost fucked everything. The same happens when you power down. Either fix the unit somehow or hold it each time you power up and down.

Back later with pics.

 

[PetFlora]

Nice clean set up.

I prefer watering/nutes from the top, which helps lateral roots to develop in the top ~ 3".

I use Air Pots instead of a bed of hydroton or any other media. This allows me to move plants in case of issues

I just completed my first Hydro Halo Drip Ring grow, and am blown away by how small the root mass is/was compared to plant size

Pics in my thread

 

[Belle of Buds]

Hi all, thanks for all the input. As I stated in the beginning, I'm learning... and I already know of a few things I want to do differently next time. For one, PetFlora, I'm thinking I like the idea of a drip ring, or at least a top feed. I am also rethinking the media thing, MrMeanGreen. I like the look of your roots. I am going to use this chunky perlite that I now own a lifetime supply of, but I think I will contain the media in the pots and not in the table bed. Gotta think about a top for the flood table.

Also, I may adjust my number of plants. I have 12 in there right now, fully expecting several males to come out. And that may yet be the case. I wouldn't normally start a new project like this with regular seeds, but it was what I had and I really, really, really love the Bubba 76 strain, so what the heck. My last Bubba plant was the absolute stickiest, stinkiest plant I've ever trimmed. My hubby, who doesn't smoke but doesn't mind my indulgences, actually asked me to go trim that one somewhere else... and every time I opened the jar, somebody started looking around for the skunk. LOL

 

[MrMeanGreen]

I tried and failed with the drippers. Salts are your enemy with drippers, easily clogged and as with ventillation, your water/feed will always find the easiest route. when your drippers / nozzles get a slight blockage, the flow stops on that drippper and pushes through an easier route. You may succeed but I failed on that one. Before anyone jumps all over me, I had a 1 bar sump pump pushin through and it still failed me. F&D is the proverbial dogs IMHO. I don't understand why you lot over yonder pond like regular seeds.... why not fems. Why not clones? I aint bought seeds for 2-3 years. Got pics for ya by the way just can't find my USB lead to rip pics from my phone... tmz.

 

[Highocaine]

I tried and failed with the drippers. Salts are your enemy with drippers, easily clogged and as with ventillation, your water/feed will always find the easiest route. when your drippers / nozzles get a slight blockage, the flow stops on that drippper and pushes through an easier route. You may succeed but I failed on that one. Before anyone jumps all over me, I had a 1 bar sump pump pushin through and it still failed me. F&D is the proverbial dogs IMHO. I don't understand why you lot over yonder pond like regular seeds.... why not fems. Why not clones? I aint bought seeds for 2-3 years. Got pics for ya by the way just can't find my USB lead to rip pics from my phone... tmz.

There are products for maintaining drip systems.. Home & Garden Drip Clean is favored among many. I haven't had a problem with my homemade rings, but then again I currently only do drip to waste.

Lots of people are prejudiced against fem seeds for the belief that they have a tendency to herm more often. If the bank uses colloidal silver to convert their females, then theoretically no "herm tendency" trait is passed on.

As to why not clones, I don't know why not.

 

[Belle of Buds]

There are products for maintaining drip systems.. Home & Garden Drip Clean is favored among many. I haven't had a problem with my homemade rings, but then again I currently only do drip to waste.

Lots of people are prejudiced against fem seeds for the belief that they have a tendency to herm more often. If the bank uses colloidal silver to convert their females, then theoretically no "herm tendency" trait is passed on.

As to why not clones, I don't know why not.

I may reconsider the drip ring. I am very low maintenance and expect everything around me to be also... so far, the flood and drain has proven about as low maintenance as anything I've tried to date. As far as reg seeds vs. fem seeds, I'm all for fem seeds and I have a small collection, but when I try something new, I always start with seeds that I don't have anything invested in. I do computer work on the side, and I sometimes give impromptu "classes" on cloning to new growers in the area and I am often rewarded for my contributions with seeds. Of course, I accept other forms of green currency as well, both smokeable and spendable

When I first started growing, I invested about $100 in fem seeds and I still have the bulk of those left. I've grown out a few things I actually bought (and I only buy fems), but most of my grow is freebies. So I can't be too picky. In this particular grow, the Poison clones are from a fem seed that I got as one of the UFO's from Attitude. The pack of Bubba's were a gift.

EDIT: As for clones, absolutely. If I grow a plant from seed to maturity and don't take clones, I feel like I've squandered the seed. I once got a clone from someone for showing them how to clone, and I ended up growing out 18 plants from that one clone. I finally quit when I decided I was tired of that strain.

 

[Belle of Buds]

Okay, I know I should have updated long before now... sorry... I lost my damn camera again. I swear, I believe that somebody is breaking into my house and stealing random shit every now and then just to confuse me. I am missing two pair of navy stretch pants, a dust buster, a pair of earrings, and my camera. Either that or I went to a wild party I don't remember...

Anyway, my ladies are doing spectacular! I did a bunch of pruning last night and cleaned out the underside pretty well. The canopy is so thick that nothing underneath is EVER going to see light, so I took a lot of it off. Unfortunately, the pic I took of the underside, and the one of my sweet little flowers will not load for love nor money so I can't share them right now...

And... oddly enough, I believe all of my plants are female. The one I took a pic of earlier, sure that it was going to be a male, turned out to be female (which is why Inever pull a plant until I am absolutely certain of the sex). And I've been examining the plants daily.. okay more than once a day cuz I'm a big OCD like that, and all I ever see are more girly parts. There are still two plants "undeclared", but they are not showing any male signs...

Anybody ever heard of a whole pack of regulars being FEMS?

Today starts Day 15 of flowering and look at the difference!

The first pic was on Day 1, and the second on Day 15

 

[TalonToker]

That was me breaking in, although I did not steal anything. lol I just moved stuff around to keep you on your toes. The only exception is the dust buster. Don't you remember me asking you to bring it to the party the other night? Well, you did, and you left it here. I'll bring it back later.

Your girls are looking great!! It's amazing how only 2 weeks can make such a difference. Glad they're almost all female too. Let's hope those last 2 are also fems. Good thing you didn't pull that one plant that you thought might be a male. I've been through the same thing and love it when I find out the early indications are wrong and a plant is actually a female.

They all look nice and healthy to me. Great job, keep it up!!

 

[Belle of Buds]

More than the dustbuster, where'd you put my pants? I really like the navy ones...

And it's unanimous... they are all female! I've never had a pack of regs with NO males. And wouldn't you know it, the grower down the road was asking me just a week ago if he could have my next male. I was ready to give him one, but alas, he'll have to wait awhile now...

On the upside, while I'm awaiting my ladies, I got my hands on some kicking Grape God... Wow am I stupid tonight... LOL

 

[Belle of Buds]

Well, I still can't find the camera (or the pants) but I did manage to be standing there when the lights went off so I got some less yellow pics with my phone camera.

My girls are doing something rather ... strange. The seedlings are sort of self-scrogging. It's hard to explain without a better camera, but all the bottom buds, the stuff that would probably never develop into much, have stretched themselves all the way to the top of the canopy and become additional terminal colas. It's pretty amazing. Here's a pic of the whole gang. If you look, you see that there are way more than 12 tops. One plant's bottom stems have shot right past the top cola!





I tried to get a pic of the underside so you can see how the bottom stems are stretching up to become tops. I did very little pruning to get this effect.




And here is one of the flowers on the clones. I don't know if you can see it, but she's already sugaring up her bud leaves.

 

[TalonToker]

I didn't take the camera or navy blue pants. If you haven't found them yet, then you haven't looked everywhere yet. lol Next time I 'drop in' I will move them back to where I moved them from...perhaps that will help.

The garden's looking great Belle. I can't even begin to try and count the number of tops, but it sure looks like a lot more than 12. Glad they are all females for ya, but that might end up being a bad thing.....It's still early and your jungle is looking really thick. Hope that doesn't cause issues such as the girls fighting for light. Even if it does become a problem, that's a good one to have. They all look so nice and healthy. For a first run with this method of growing, you are truely kicking some but.

How is your eye coming along? Any improvement?

 

[Belle of Buds]

Evening! Today starts week 4 for my girls and they are looking spectacular. They are a bit too crowded, and next time, I'll start with fewer plants, but we're managing and they are doing okay despite their circumstances

AND I FOUND MY CAMERA!
Not the pants, though.

I'm really feeling like I've found my grow method. I've been doing weekly res changes and everytime I do it, I KNOW I've got a great setup. It takes me 15 minutes and no real effort to change the 12 gallon res. I just pop my drain tube onto the pump, stick the other end down the drain pipe left over from removing the tub, and turn on the pump. In no time flat, the res is 99% empty. I use a little 1-gallon shop vac to get the majority of the rest and call it good. Add fresh water and nutes and I'm done in no time without ever getting up off my stool.

So, how are my ladies looking at the beginning of week 4? Tall and sexy. The canopy has evened out for the most part and stands about 30" from the floor of the tub. My tallest top as seen in the pics below is actually a BOTTOM bud. I've decided that my girls are Jewish. Rather than the traditional "Christmas-tree" shape, they are all growing like menorahs.

And now for the ladies...

First a little teen bud porn. The first pic is one of the clones (Veneno) and the bottom one is a Bubba 76. I can't help but notice that they are both collecting a bunch o' sugar!




Here's a couple of group shots. Note the tallest top? That stem originates from the BOTTOM of the plant. The stem just jumped right up, skipped all the leaves in between and surpassed the top. Lots of the bottoms are doing that.



And here's couple of shots of the undersides. I've pruned a few fan leaves from underneath, but for the most part, they just shot on up.

 

[TalonToker]

Lookin' tall & sexy indeed....Now let's hope they get fat!!

Glad you found the camera, too.

 

[Belle of Buds]

Well, today ends week 4 of my current grow. My bedroom stinks so pretty!!! Those Bubba 76 are going to drive hubby out before they are done . He was not particularly thrilled when I just had one in there because it is very "aromatic". Now that there are nine in there, it's gonna reek! Might have to upscale my carbon filter. I'm fully legal so I don't worry too much about covering it up beyond rudimentary efforts, but for the sake of my marriage, I might have to tame these ladies.

Everyone continues to be healthy and lovely. The flowers are stacking up nicely and I can hardly wait! We're about halfway...and I'm outta smoke I just hate paying money&#8203; for weed...

 

[Belle of Buds]

Evening. Just a few baby bud shots. The ladies enter week 5 tomorrow, with a new res change.