There she grows!!

I don't understand the difference between posting a grow journal here and posting one in the 'journal' area. I'm sure I'll be schooled on the correct method.

I'm getting ready to start a DWC grow. It'll be my first one. I have a soil grow of low ryders that is coming to an end. I figured, what the hell. I'll try my hand at DWC. So, I'm starting this journal thingy to document the DWC. It is going to be mega ghetto since I don't want to layout a lot of money to get the nicer lights and all.

Equipment:
3 five gallon cat liter buckets--referred to as 'box' here out (yay for free since I have cats and would just throw them away)
1 aquarium pump with dual out valves (rated for 30-60 gallon tanks)
1 T-splitter for air line
1 twenty-five feet of air hose (cut into 5 five foot sections..and will only be using 3 sections for now)
12 three inch net pots (only using 6 this go round--2 per bucket)
3 six inch air stones
11 liters of hydroton (washed and cleaned)
1 timer (yay for fake christmas tree that came with a digital timer)
8 socket splitters (Y's)
32 CFLs (read below)
8 lamp cords
2 mylar sunscreens (those ones that go inside your windshield...yeah those)
2 Inductor 6 In. In-Line Duct Booster Fans (free from a home upgrade this year)
0 filter/scrubber - I live in the country and closest neighbor is 2-3 acres to either side with woods between. Got to love honey suckle smell. (why not an outdoor grow? Ground here is terrible for growing outside, rainfall is either flood or drought, and our average temp right now is 98 with heat index of 105-110) tada!
1 surge protector in a pear tree

Seeds:
6 Northern Light (I have 20 but only doing 6 this round because I have 4 low ryders that should be finishing up in 2-3 weeks)

Lights:
Ok, get ready to cringe. But I'm going CFL all the way. Reason being, I don't want to outlay the money for HPS or HID. I am a casual smoker and only care about harvesting enough for me and the occasional friend (most of my friends don't smoke).

16 Daylight (6500k) CFL 26 watt (100 eq.) 1600 lumens
16 name escapes me (2700k) CFL 23 watt (100 eq.) 1600 lumens

6500k for veg and then bringing in the 2700k with them for flowering. Light placement is something I am going to mess around with. I was thinking of setting the boxes up side by side and doing two lights on left (of box 1), two lights in between box 1 and 2, two lights in between box 2 and 3 and then two lights on right (of box 3). I'm going to probably use the mylar reflector above the lights like I did with my LR grow. My room is currently a closet with a 3' wide x 3' deep x 6' high area that I have sectioned off for the grow. I am watching craigslist, yard sales and flea markets to find a wardrobe that I can convert into a grow closet.

Anyhow, that's enough of my jabbering on. I need to get off here and grab something to eat before I start working on turning the cat buckets into hydro buckets. Also have to pop the 6 ladies into their jiffy pellets so I can get them going. Ciao Ciao!

Nothing new to put here yet. I got sidetracked after dinner and watched zombieland for the 5th time. Going to get some work in the office done today (read: staying in the a/c) and probably start cutting and drilling on the buckets tonight.

Editing to add some porn pics of my low ryders that are mid-way through flowering. Yep you see seed sacks on bottom bud sites of two of the girls. A friend had a white widow that turned out to be male and he gave it to me so I could collect its pollen.

I'm excited to see how your DWC is gonna go, I'm definitely following you on this one. Also those auto x White Widow seeds should be awesome!!!!!!! to the Nth degree. Lol.

Question: I have noticed that alot of people in the flowering stage have plants that look alot like your auto's, meaning, they are all bud and no fan leaves at all. I;m wondering how much pruning you have done on them, and at what point. If not, how come my girl that is flowering looks nothing at all like that?

nice plants

billcollector99 said:

Question: I have noticed that alot of people in the flowering stage have plants that look alot like your auto's, meaning, they are all bud and no fan leaves at all. I;m wondering how much pruning you have done on them, and at what point. If not, how come my girl that is flowering looks nothing at all like that?

Click to expand...

Most of the lower fan leaves turned yellow and started falling off. I didn't cut any fan leaves off...rather I waited until they were yellow and about to drop before I aided them. One of my girls still has a ton of fan leaves and she is being slow to get her trichs. I put her at about a week behind the others, though they all popped through soil and grew their va-ja-ja hairs at the same time.

Ah yes, I found this out last night, the plant takes all the energy it needs out of the fan leaves, as it is flowering, then as it no longer has uses for the leaves, it slowly starts to drop fan leaves on it's own, so it looks like it has been pruned, but it is natures way of doing it without having to do it yourself.

nice photoshoot

Ok, so I got the buckets cleaned out and sprayed the outside of them with black paint to cut down on the chances that light can penetrate through them. I have to get some flat white to do the tops with. The holes have been cut for the net pots and I drilled my holes for the air hose. I'm kind of on the fence about putting in a drain. I mean, the buckets are small enough that I can pick them up and pour them out when it is time to change out the water (thinking every 10 days). But then I am kind of a lazy bitch and would really like to just be able to do a quick connect to a hose that I can snap on and have them drain out themselves. Of course, if I'm going that route I might as well put a fill connection on too eh? Ah, and I'm looking at getting a different light setup. I don't want to break my bank and I definitely don't need 600-1000w setup for my tiny grow. But I was thinking maybe the 250w and using my CFLs for extra lighting (sides and what-not).

Ok, so second dilemma. I have a wardrobe that is 7' high, 3' deep by 4' wide. I'm considering turning this into a growdrobe. Reason being, I can lock it and it would actually have the buckets sitting up about 3'...i.e., much easier to work with than on the ground. Hmmm, perhaps I'll take pictures of it and see what y'all think.

i would suggest a 400, the 250 is really quite weak and their about the same price. the 400 is only about $30 a month to run for 12 hours a day. it will need to be air cooled but htgsupply has the balast, bulb, hood for like $120 and if you live near one of their locations (michigan and pennsylvania) you can avoid delivery charges.

i ran a 400 in a 2x4x5.5 tent when i first started and it was perfect. i was getting better gpw with that setup then im getting now.

Hmmm, 30.00 extra a month to run for a personal size grow has me pausing. I confess to looking at the sun system 150w hps for how small my grows are..and using the cfls for side lighting. Don't get me wrong, 400w would probably be something I aspire to in the future. But damn, for the price tag you are talking (which is low)...see... too many choices!!

I'm close to pulling the trigger and ordering this though. 150w, 250w, 400w...OH MY! Ok, going to watch tv and think this through a little more.

thats a good deal but if your getting digital then you should buy it locally so when the fan dies you can get it replaced same day rather then shipping it back and having no light for the ladies. also you need to get aircooled hood if your in a small space hid's will make a small cab hit over 100 degrees easy. this is what i suggest and its what i have , i bought it 3 years ago and it still runs great. note that when you checkout you click euro reflector for an upgrade of $59 and thats your aircooled hood. total is like 159.00 http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=47929

Ok, the 'growdrobe' that I was talking about...
Ignore the mess in it...this it what I am being offered by a friend if I'll come pick it up. Was thinking to pant the inside flat white, remove the shelves that are marked and do the other stuff marked on it. Also going to make sure I have no light leaks and fix those as I find them. Also thinking long and hard (there's you one for a comment Bill) about ordering the 400w hps that rzza suggested (hence the duct and fan inserts).

Ok, so more bud porn from my little bitch that refused to show trichs earlier this week. She found the sugar bowl!

That will work i think fine. Make the holes 6 inch for the ducting or 4 inch and use reducers. The buds look great what day is it on?

rzza said:

That will work i think fine. Make the holes 6 inch for the ducting or 4 inch and use reducers. The buds look great what day is it on?

Click to expand...

25 days into flowering.

you da man! er ...well you get the jist

rzza said:

you da man! er ...well you get the jist

Click to expand...

LOL.

Ok, so I went out today and finished off some supplies like the hydroton and flat white paint. Came home, went swimming...walked the dogs...had a friend over and played some stoner band hero/guitar hero 5 along with some 100 proof SoCo. Just got done with friend going to bed and I'm baked. So I'm hitting the sack. Catch y'all tomorrow. One love!

Have a good night

wait that cant be 25 days in ....

Any updates for us S.R. ?

rzza said:

wait that cant be 25 days in ....

Click to expand...

Yep. LR claims 8-9 weeks start to finish. Though mostly I read it is more like 9-11 weeks. She started flowering right at 4 weeks in. The 25th of this month will be 8.5 weeks from seed. That is to say, she showed her sex at 32 days into veg.

Yeah Bill, update that I've been lazy for the grow. Repainting my room and put up a inground electric dog fence. The NLs haven't poked their heads up yet...and the LRs....well, see for yourself on that front (below in a min....gotta go find my camera). I went to local hydro shop and almost fell over at the price difference vs. online. I guess they are that high because they are local. Hmm, good pun there. They must be high. They do have good prices on hydroton and nutes. But their lights are crazy. 200 for a 400w ballast, another 180 for the reflector and 100 for 400w HPS (55,000 lumens) bulb. I asked how many they sell and he says he can't keep them stocked. Maybe garden centers that don't have net access are buying them. *shrug*