DIY Ebb & Flow - I'm learning!

hammer21 said:

Looking good belle a good cure and things will only improve with time. So what's next on menu?

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Thanks! The next players are Blue Mystic (BM), now 17 daysfrom seed; Exodus Cheese (EC), 10 daysfrom seed, and Northern Lights x Big Bud (NLBB) fresh up on Day 3. These ladies will move from DWC to the Ebb andFlow table in about a week to 10 days, once the tent is empty again and the apparatus has all been cleaned.

I'm going to see now if I can get as much from three plants with room to grow properly as I will from 12 plants shoved in too small a space. I plan to veg them until around the first of October.

Harvest starts tomorrow!

Okay, I lied... harvest started tonight. I couldn't stand it any more. I took the top colas from the Bubba 76 plants and then left the rest to continue for a few more days. The tops have really been light hogs the whole grow so the rest is going to have a few days of unadulterated lighted goodness.

Here are the tops



There was this one... way in the back





And here's what's left over to harvest...

Well, the lights have dimmed and the pumps have stopped... this grow is concluded. I started yesterday evening and I cut and trimmed all 9 Bubba 76 plants. It took me over 2 hours just to remove all the sun leaves! Then, I spent the next five hours watching Saturday Night Live -1970's and trimming. I got it all done and hung up to dry around 3:00 am. I left the Poison plants (2 of them) for today. I trimmed them up this morning and disassembled the whole flood table for cleaning.

I have a few pics, not very good ones because apparently I was too tired and wasted to take decent pics and didn't even know it until this morning. I think my fingers were high when I went to bed last night. I never bother with wet weight so the final haul remains to be seen.

I'm going to give the drying rack a week in the tent before putting the table back together for the next grow. It's a perfect place to keep everything in the dark and cool with plenty of air circulation. It should be good.

Here's the batch, sun leaves removed and ready for trimming





This is pretty representative of about 50% of the "small bud" collection - that's anything that isn't a top and isn't just fluff or popcorn.




A couple of pics of the whole take, minus the top colas which are hanging elsewhere...



And I have enough trim for at least a couple of pounds of butter. I loves me some edibles...

Well, the final tally is in...everything is dry and ready for jarring to cure. The final take was 214g of Bubba 76 and 33g of Poison for a total of 244g or 8.7 zips. Not as much as I had hoped, but absolutely satisfactory for a first-time Ebb and Flo grow.

My next project is now to exceed 244grams in one grow, this time using only 3 plants. I feel that the last ones did not meet their full potential due to overcrowding so I think I can do better with less.

The apparatus is being cleaned out this weekend and by Monday or Tuesday, the next grow will be on the table and underway.

Belle of Buds said:

Well, the final tally is in...everything is dry and ready for jarring to cure. The final take was 214g of Bubba 76 and 33g of Poison for a total of 244g or 8.7 zips. Not as much as I had hoped, but absolutely satisfactory for a first-time Ebb and Flo grow.

My next project is now to exceed 244grams in one grow, this time using only 3 plants. I feel that the last ones did not meet their full potential due to overcrowding so I think I can do better with less.

The apparatus is being cleaned out this weekend and by Monday or Tuesday, the next grow will be on the table and underway.

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Very nice work for your first ebb and flow. I've been thinking of building myself one.

Thank you for taking the time to share this experience with us. It was great to read! I wish you further success.

Very nice job, Belle. I know you will do even better on your next run, too. Now you can enjoy the fruits of your labor. Enjoy, you earned it!

Thanks all! It is an extremely "good" harvest and I am enjoying it immensely. I have the next grow underway in the same set up using only 4 plants this time... Blue Mystic, Exodus Cheese, Northern Lights x Big Bud, and Purple Haze. Im going to veg until mid-October and then the fun begins again!

Oh yeah, and I made 3 lbs of butter from the trim and today is going to be a baking day! Space brownies and Sugar cookies coming right up...

Really nice grow bella. It was like reading about my first grow lol minus the mites😁. I have basically the same setup as yours with 6 pots and yes even that is very crowded near the end. I use 6" net pots in the upper tote with a lid that they sit in. I use hydrotron in the pots and nothing in the tote it self, the roots just hang in the air. Also if your flooding there really isn't a need for the air pump IMO. I also let the water fall into the lower tote (no tubing) which creates a waterfall effect so again no need for pump (and its a very soothing sound &#128524. As far as moving the net pots, i tried and it was a real pain in the ass so now a have a few 😚 identical systems and i move the whole lid, pots and all. Height has been an issue with my setup and i have started to veg for 7-10 days which keeps the girls at a manageable 3-4 feet. Isn't it amazing to witness such amazing results from something you created? The other thing that you might consider is an overflow system that lets the water flow from upper to lower if the drains plug up, its only happened once to me but it was a real big mess lol. Again great first grow! And an awesome amount for your first grow. Really that is probably not that far off from the average grow for mure mortals like ourselves 😊. Some early LST would probably be way to improve the consistency of the canopy. My first grow was White Russian, let it veg for 3 weeks and the shit grew 6 feet tall 😳. I was bending and breaking branches to keep it from catching fire on the light near the end lol. Good luck with the next one. Oh and BTW did you ever find the pants 😳 ?

Belle of Buds said:

Oh yeah, and I made 3 lbs of butter from the trim and today is going to be a baking day! Space brownies and Sugar cookies coming right up...

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Mmmmmmmm, sounds yummy!

waterdawg said:

Really nice grow bella. It was like reading about my first grow lol minus the mites. I have basically the same setup as yours with 6 pots and yes even that is very crowded near the end. I use 6" net pots in the upper tote with a lid that they sit in. I use hydrotron in the pots and nothing in the tote it self, the roots just hang in the air. Also if your flooding there really isn't a need for the air pump IMO. I also let the water fall into the lower tote (no tubing) which creates a waterfall effect so again no need for pump (and its a very soothing sound &#62988. As far as moving the net pots, i tried and it was a real pain in the ass so now a have a few  identical systems and i move the whole lid, pots and all. Height has been an issue with my setup and i have started to veg for 7-10 days which keeps the girls at a manageable 3-4 feet. Isn't it amazing to witness such amazing results from something you created? The other thing that you might consider is an overflow system that lets the water flow from upper to lower if the drains plug up, its only happened once to me but it was a real big mess lol. Again great first grow! And an awesome amount for your first grow. Really that is probably not that far off from the average grow for mure mortals like ourselves . Some early LST would probably be way to improve the consistency of the canopy. My first grow was White Russian, let it veg for 3 weeks and the shit grew 6 feet tall . I was bending and breaking branches to keep it from catching fire on the light near the end lol. Good luck with the next one. Oh and BTW did you ever find the pants  ?

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Thanks! It wasn't my first grow, but was by far my most successful. I'm using the same basic set up again this time but with only four plants. I had some difficulty getting my seedlings going this time, so all four plants are a week apart. I've been LST'ing the oldest one (Blue Mystic - 21 days from germination) for a couple of weeks now, and I bent over little miss Exodus Cheese tonight (14 days). Northern Lights x Big Bud (7 days) is growing very tight and compact and may not need any LST at all. She's on her forth set of leaves and only about 4 inches tall. And finally, Purple Haze has sprouted and is standing tall.

Your set up sounds great! I'm already thinking of changes for my next run but I'm loving the ease of ebb and flow.

And my Bubba 76 is curing SO fine... If I can't catch a buzz at the moment when I want one, I just pop open my container and take a sniff. Smoking weed may not be addictive, but I think I am seriously hooked on smelling my stash. LOL!

Oh yeah, and an overflow system is unnecessary for my setup. The volume of my table is greater than the capacity of my reservoir. Even if it runs dry, it won't overfow the table.

My res is 100L and i actually seem to get better growth with the water recirculating 24/7 so if it drains plug i have one hell of a mess. I also made an outlet on my pumps that actually flooms the water as well as the waterfall effect from the upper res. so i get lots of dissolved oxygen. Air pumps do work great as well. The most i got last season in one grow was 410g from the six plants. Just started 12 (3 trays) half r Critical Kush and the others are White Russian. Keep us posted with your new grow it sounds like you'll have a nice variety 😃.

Dude,
grow looks great but your pipe parts are NG, PVC if heated is poisonous, Teflon is also not healthy to have in a pipe.

Belle of Buds said:

Thanks. They gave me an injection right in the eyeball!
Actually, that is a lot worse to say than to experience. As a matter of fact, it really didn't hurt at all by the time they finished drowning my eye in numbing potion. But it's almost fun to tell folks, specially boss-type characters who have to pretend to show sympathy for your plight when you call out..., because watching them flinch at the thought is just... cool... But I'm twisted like that. LOL



Welcome to the show! This is my first Ebb and Flow grow as well. I just wrapped up a year long perpetual grow, using a modified soil. But then I got it in my head that EnF was what I wanted to do, so that pretty much sealed the deal... LOL...

There are some superb experienced EnF growers on this site (as well as coco, soil, DWC, etc. LOL) so I started reading Flowamaster and Hellraizer30's threads and that's why I titled mine "I'm Learning".

OH, and my DIY attitude extends beyond my grow. I tend to reengineer pipes as well. I love to buy those cheezy little $5 metal and plastic two-hitters and incorporate plastic tubing and/or PVC bits. Here's one of my latest creations... a $6 bullet pipe and a 28cent PVC elbow and a little teflon tape.

View attachment 2727329




Yeah, my babies did fine. I've vegged under a 150W HPS for nearly a year during my perpetual grow, but I did have a few CFLs in there for color. See the next post for an update.

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Hey gang! Sorry I've been AWOL... been enjoying the fruits of my labor.

The next grow is well underway with 4 plants. Due to germination issues, I have four plants that are all a week apart.. there will be maturity differences, but I'm thinking to wait until mid-October to flip the lights to give even the youngest time to veg a little. I've also started some LST on Blue Mystic and Exodus Cheese (the oldest two) and they are responding very nicely. Blue Mystic is getting extremely bushy and Exodus Cheese has literally exploded with tiny new sprouts. My goal this time is to exceed last harvest's yield of 244 grams. I did that with 12 plants. I'm hoping to exceed that with only 4. I think I can do it. 12 was WAY too many for that size flood table. Now that I have four in there, I'm thinking 5 or 6 might be the absolute max. I'll do well with four, but next time I'm thinking five... I always love the planning ahead stage.