The Big $6,500.00 Adventure UnderCurrent 8XL13 under 7000w

Really clean setup, I always love the UC and those plants are going to be monsters!

Well I put the plants in on Sat and on Monday they looked sad, humidity was way down so I plugged in a humidifier and a day later they looked worse. So now I have 2 humidifiers running full time for a total of 30 gal a day. They also looked like they were starving so I went from 260 ppm to 460ppm and they are starting to look better. Had roots since Monday night so I think I’m back on track. Also a pic of new recruits that I got from Sannies Seeds. Double kush, KO Kush, Jack Berry, Herijuana x Bigwhite, Uberkush, Anesthesia and El Monstre. All I need now is for them to keep growing. I hope to see a change in how they look in a couple days.

Threads like this scared me.. I gonna be doing dwc for the first time after I get my clones going
See, you did everything right, spent way more money than I plan to spend, and things are still going wrong.
Fuck... I was thinking of going to soilless in a drip system but I already spent the money on the air pump.
What would you say went wrong? For us newbs out here who rely on brave people like you to learn from.kiss-ass

Well I think I jumped the gun on my judgment, they did look like shit but I upped the food and man they are flying now except one plant and I had that one in dirt so washed it all off and put her in to fill one spot. My mistake. I'll get more pics in a bit but the plants are rocking now. My first week under my belt with the new system. You can do DWC cheaper than this but to make this work well you need a chiller $1000 and the system was 1700$ but if you can grow 1# a bucket don't take long to pay for it.

Beansly said:

Threads like this scared me.. I gonna be doing dwc for the first time after I get my clones going
See, you did everything right, spent way more money than I plan to spend, and things are still going wrong.
Fuck... I was thinking of going to soilless in a drip system but I already spent the money on the air pump.
What would you say went wrong? For us newbs out here who rely on brave people like you to learn from.kiss-ass

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I went wrong is what happened, I was worried about the amount of nutrients I was feeding them so was running them at 260ppm for the first 4 days than they were still looking sad, so the grower in me said more food so I up the ppm to 450 and they started rocking. I'm an organic dirt farmer for the last 10 years so a big change for me and a new learning curve. The system I have comes with lots of hardware that puts the price up.

Thanks for stopping by

Don't worry too much.LOL With 10yrs. you'll know what you're girls are telling you. I agree the initial cost to set-up is greater than dirt, but I think you will find it cheaper in the long run. I for one find it easier to manage, also I like not hauling dirt around any more, but to each their own. Looking good ....things can turn around real fast for you, get ready for some speed growing. Can't wait to see you dial it in.

woodsmaneh! said:

I went wrong is what happened, I was worried about the amount of nutrients I was feeding them so was running them at 260ppm for the first 4 days than they were still looking sad, so the grower in me said more food so I up the ppm to 450 and they started rocking. I'm an organic dirt farmer for the last 10 years so a big change for me and a new learning curve. The system I have comes with lots of hardware that puts the price up.

Thanks for stopping by

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Cool cool.
I wasn't trying to dig you for spending the money, shit I would if I had it. I've spent a little over a thousand (including seeds) for my indoor setup myself, and its still a little jankey. But I'm proud of it. I've come to realize that spending money really makes growing a lot more pleasurable. Thanks for the tips.

The girls are starting to rock I have one strangler that I took out of dirt and washed up. I must have stressed the shit out of it but I'm hoping it will come back.

Just wait for those girls to push out some more roots then it's all over. I think you'll be happy with your results.

wow that looks very nice. i want mine to be at least half that nice. are those containers specific for hydro?

bonghittersanber said:

wow that looks very nice. i want mine to be at least half that nice. are those containers specific for hydro?

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Yes they are, the system is called the Under Current. I got a big smile on my face as the roots are growing fast I took pics but my camra is gone for the day so tomorrow I will post.

wheres the pics!!!!!!?????

here are today's pics and some of my organic dirt room girls they still have 20 days to go.



So it has been 10 days since I put them in the buckets, #3 is a plant that was in dirt and I cleaned it off to put in here, I hope she makes it. It's a new one I started a few months ago.

Looking good!

IMHO: I would've taken a clone of the outside plant to then run in an indoor hydro. No matter how well rinsed, the chance of introducing a soilborn pathogen, (one that could've easily been under control in the soil and un-noticed/or not expressed) is simply not worth the risk. I've seen successful transfers, but have also seen whole ops soured. Soil and Hydro, two seperate worlds that just don't mix well......hope all is good and keeps going well. FB

Yup your right, I just wanted to get one of my new Shiva plants from Dr Atomic in there to see what it will be like. Dumb thing to risk the whole grow.

Welcome to the hydro gang Sweet looking setup for sure. I have heard strange things about the recirculating DWC in terms of nutrient requirements and PH swings or what not but I'm sure that you will get it figured out. If this is your very first hydro run ever, I can't over emphasize the less is more mantra in terms of nutrients. If you keep your nutrient concentrations on the low side and some deficiency or problem in the plants shows up, the you know its from not enough nutes and not some issue like nutrient antagonism or PH lock out or whatever.

That said, many people often underfeed in the beginning. I start off at 500 ppm (rooted clones), and always try to stay under 1200-1300.

Remember to calibrate the PH meter every now and then. And I know you probably like your buddy in the grow room but dogs can bring pests into the garden with their dirty feet.

But anywho, if you think they are rocking now. When they get 6-7 nodes they are going to blow your fucking mind in terms of growth rate. Especially if your using Co2. My 2 week old plants grow1-2 inches a day (and they have 7-8 tops)!

Don't be hard on yourself, Woodsman. I wouldn't call it dumb, maybe just overly enthusiactic to grow a good strain. Your roots look nice and healthy!! I'm sure all will be fine. I find maintaining cool(64/67 degrees), consistant temps really helps. Root systems don't like quick or major swings. Legals right, less is more. I never go above 1200ppms, peak during veg is 800, and like he said, when the roots hit the water.....look out!! Things happen quick in hydro, I'm sure with your soil experience you'll be fine at reading what your girls want. Since my first outdoor/organic grow in '76 when I was 16yrs old, I've made MANY "enthusiastic" decisions that turned into "learning experiences" though with little regrets, because I find growing my knowledge and skills as a grower at least as rewarding as growing dank weed!

Some go the sterile route, some use benificials to combat root zone troubles. Knowing you grow soil organic, I would assume you will lean towards beenies. I brew a very fungal dom tea to inoculate my root crown area, and a more bac/fung balanced tea to LIGHTLY inoculate res/root zone. (too much is not good) I think this is how the UC maker/designer runs his too?....Good luck, FB

Yeah, I almost made the recommendation of myco root inoculation but I'm not sure how that translates in a DWC situation. I mean, the fungus will colonize the root zone but there won't be any organic sludge or what not to help feed them. They feed on the roots for the most part but they also depend on substrate for some things. I added perlite to my hydroton this round and I also have a mesh bag full of perlite and myco spores floating in the rez. Can't hurt to try as its not that expensive and you only need to add them to the rez once or twice. There is no need to be adding them with every rez change.
Ditto on root zone changes. If you find that your PH got out of whack, raise it slowly over the course of the day. Don't just zap it up to where it needs to be (and REALLY dilute your ph adjusters, don't just add them to the rez.).

Also, never get stoned and then start filling your rez with a hose and then leave the room, get distracted, go over to your friends house to return a movie, have a beer, and then come back an hour later. You may find that you have 8 30 gallon shop vacs worth of water on the floor. (not that this has happened to me )

I just guess some of us have been growing a long time and all have had shit happen, the hose one I have done 4 times in about 9 years and I left the lights on for 4 days in week 6 of flower, 150 plants of garbage.

Everything I read said go easy on the food, so it made me kind of gun shy at first, started at 360ppm and than moved to 460ppm and I think they could take 600 but the pH is rock solid on 6.0, I would like it to be 5.8 but I don't chase pH I just keep it between 5.6 and 6.6, now I have only been doing this rdwc for 11 days. I did see a drop of 20ppm after the first 8 days so I added 15ml of a and b and it went up to 480 and pH went to 5.8 but in the morning it was 6.0.

I did buckets about 10 years ago but was disappointed with the results, I did not know how to use them. So this adventure has got be all jacked up and I hope I do well.

Thanks for the advice and stopping by. More Pics in a few days.

yeah I don't fuck with PH until it gets below 5.8or above 6.4 or so. Sounds like you have it handled. You will see that as the plants start cranking (especially during flower) that AFTER you top off with tap water (or is there an automatic top off?) that your ppm will drop almost everyday. I don't typically sweat that unless they are dropping like 200-300 ppm. Then I either add balanced nutes to bring it up or just decide to change my rez early. What nutes are you using? People have been really pleased with my product using the botanicare pure blend pro line. Organics apparently really help with hydro taste. They are pretty damn stable, produce good results, and are not that expensive but in the end I guess you can judge for yourself.

I'm quite certain you will do much better than you did 10 years ok. If not, maybe their is no hope