Nirvana Bubblelicious Waterfarm Scrog in a Secret Jardin Tent 600 Watts

In the beginning....

..... God created seed.....


Right before the 600 watt metal halide bulb was invented.

Discussions for this journal are taking place at this discussion thread.....
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journal-discussion/395231-nirvana-bubblelicious-waterfarm-scrog-secret.html#post5085693 <<-- LINK

The thread that started it all!! https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/344359-pineapple-express-g13-labs-seed.html <--LINK


High everyone. Thanks for dropping in. This is my third indoor grow. My first two were successful, in soil. I am still working on the same 10 seeds I originally had. I have two left for a later grow. I have some Barney's Farm Tangerine Dream on the way for my next grow.

This is my first time growing hydroponically. I had followed a thread by Scottyballz that convinced me that soil was for beginners. Actually, the General Hydroponics Water Farm can be easily used by beginners. Once you get a feel for the plant's needs, the rest is easy.

Let's take a look at some of the components of this grow....

Strain:

Nirvana's Bubblelicious:

Bubblelicious was developed in the Midwest, U.S.A., then brought to the Netherlands in the 1990s to be further refined. Its plants grow vigorously and finish flowering in about 8 weeks. Bubblelicious is highly resinous and extra sweet. Certain phenotypes will actually display a distinct pink bubblegum scent and flavour. This strain of cannabis is also very suitable for medical marijuana users

http://www.nirvanashop.com/us/bubblelicious-feminized-5-seeds.html

GH Waterfarm:

WATERFARM®
Drip Hydroponic System

Our
best selling hydroponic module, the WaterFarm is built with high-impact plastic
to assure a long service life. The WaterFarm unique square design allows growers
to closely pack WaterFarm units to create large, high-density installations. The
WaterFarm will grow small, medium, and large plants. With its large water
capacity and low water requirements, the WaterFarm is simple and efficient.
Offering the features of larger systems at a lower cost without sacrificing
quality or performance, the WaterFarm is seen as one of our very best buys.

Pics soon? sounds like a plan with that waterfarm, cant wait

mane2008 said:

Pics soon? sounds like a plan with that waterfarm, cant wait

Click to expand...

LOL, I meant to reserve second spot for the beginning pics
... No worries...

The one pic of jars is my last harvest. Not bad, but it could be a lot more. That was 5 plants. I'm showing the pic, cause this grow will be 2 plants and a 4' x 4' screen grow, or scrog.

The remaining pics show very early stage and today, before going into the tent. I've included one of the tent as well. Tomorrow when the lights are on, I'll get some new pics showing the screen in place and how I fastened it inside the tent.

I've been using waterfarms for a few years they are great! Have you modified it yet?

Yes to the modification. I did not add an airstone, the water gets all of the oxygen it can hold from the drip ring and the hydroton surface area. All holes for the upper section were drilled out and opened up and some new holes added.

Pictures:

I just took some shots to share. The ones of the dry net were just taken from my veg/nursery, closet. The 4' t-8 6500k flouros are hanging down low and above them I hung the dry net. I usually dry in a spare room closet, however I have a guest in for the Holidays and to keep the odor down, I'm using my converted nursery. That is why you see a mom plant in soil, included in the pictures, up front. She is fixing to get a trans-plant and major toppage.

NEW PICTURES:

Weekly Update

PH 5.8
ppm 1150

Babylicious, the bigger of the two plants, finally had a ph swing, for the south. The PH this morning was 5.1, a big drop from it's previously stable 5.8. This new drop in PH lets me know that the plant wants a higher concentration of nutrients. I'm taking her to 1400 ppm. That is for maximum growth. She is branching out nicely after the topping. I'm seeing many branches with new growth tips. At her current rate, she'll easily take up to 2/3's of the screen.

I'm hoping runt catches up fairly quickly. Runt was a second attempt to germinate a seed in a rapid rooter. The seed germinated upside down, sending the tap root into the air. Rather that watch mother nature correct her mistake, I took action. After all, I had just lost a week on the first failed seedling, and I didn't want my second plant to be even further behind. I carefully removed the plant from the rapid rooter. Sure enough, the cotyledon leaves were where the tap root should have been. I carefully placed the tap root down into the hydroton, and I used the bottom of a clear soda 2 liter container as a dome for the first few days. Amazingly, the plant took off and grew. I love the waterfarm! I cannot say enough about it.

Here are the pics... notice that Babylicious is near the screen and I'll get to start training her very soon. At this rate, I predict harvest will be the 3rd or 4th week of March. I will veg for up to 30 days IF needed. I'm thinking though I can fill the screen in about 20 more days. I'll flip the light cycle to flower and change bulbs when about 80% of the screen is covered. The last 20% will easily fill in the first week of 12/12.

excellent idea on the drying technique i got the same little net things didnt even think about using them going to on the next harvest in a week. thanks a bunch +rep nice grow to keep it up

Serapis said:

NEW PICTURES:

Weekly Update

PH 5.8
ppm 1150

Babylicious, the bigger of the two plants, finally had a ph swing, for the south. The PH this morning was 5.1, a big drop from it's previously stable 5.8. This new drop in PH lets me know that the plant wants a higher concentration of nutrients. I'm taking her to 1400 ppm. That is for maximum growth. She is branching out nicely after the topping. I'm seeing many branches with new growth tips. At her current rate, she'll easily take up to 2/3's of the screen.

I'm hoping runt catches up fairly quickly. Runt was a second attempt to germinate a seed in a rapid rooter. The seed germinated upside down, sending the tap root into the air. Rather that watch mother nature correct her mistake, I took action. After all, I had just lost a week on the first failed seedling, and I didn't want my second plant to be even further behind. I carefully removed the plant from the rapid rooter. Sure enough, the cotyledon leaves were where the tap root should have been. I carefully placed the tap root down into the hydroton, and I used the bottom of a clear soda 2 liter container as a dome for the first few days. Amazingly, the plant took off and grew. I love the waterfarm! I cannot say enough about it.

Here are the pics... notice that Babylicious is near the screen and I'll get to start training her very soon. At this rate, I predict harvest will be the 3rd or 4th week of March. I will veg for up to 30 days IF needed. I'm thinking though I can fill the screen in about 20 more days. I'll flip the light cycle to flower and change bulbs when about 80% of the screen is covered. The last 20% will easily fill in the first week of 12/12.

Click to expand...

SERAPIS - How old are they that you're giving them high ppm ( 1150 ). take it you're still in veg? how many weeks. Thanks, sweet grow, +rep, gonna follow.

Crystal Toy said:

SERAPIS - How old are they that you're giving them high ppm ( 1150 ). take it you're still in veg? how many weeks. Thanks, sweet grow, +rep, gonna follow.

Click to expand...

Babylicious was germed on 11/17/2010. She would be bigger, but was raised for the first 5 weeks under flouros, as the tent was being used to flower my soil grow. The second plant is about 2 weeks behind. The first seed was a no show, and the second seed was tap root up. I was able to extract the seedling and pot it in a water farm. It took off after a few days under a two liter dome.

I'm at 1100 ppm because I watch what the PH is telling me. If my PH is 5.8 one day and the water is at 900 ppm, the following day, if my PH has dropped, it indicates the plant is taking in more nutrients than water, and could use more nutrients. If the PH raises a bit, I back off the nutes and just add water. Following this method, my current ppm is at 1150 ish. For the first few weeks of flower, I expect it to require more nutrients than I have been giving. I'm thinking about using the Fox Farm solubles, as I already have them from a previous grow. I was going to use just the Flora Nova Bloom for the entire grow, but I'm tempted to push the buds. My last grow, I skipped the solubles and I can tell the difference in bud quality and bag appeal.

I am still in veg. I'm not counting weeks as the time under the flouros was five weeks, but the growth is about only 2 weeks, compared with a MH bulb. I'm going to cut (2) 4" squares out of screen near middle, so I can reach underneath and work the plants towards the rear of the tent. Once the screen is about 80% complete, I'll flip the lights and change the bulb to an HPS. (new bulb, as I want to get max results on this grow to set my own standard) I need to get out of the habit of replacing bulbs between grows. I now have two sets of bulbs, partially used, back in their boxes. I guess they'll be back ups.

The method I am copying was done on RIU and the guy got 16 ounces, dry. I was very impressed. His space was a bit smaller than mine and he used only one water farm. He grew Pineapple Express. I'm growing Bubblelicious, another indica blend that grows fairly well. The first time I grew it, some of the buds were about 18" and ended up developing mold because they were to thick to dry out. I now have a designated drying area to prevent that from happening again. My old grow closet is still ventilated, so I'll use it.

Feel free to comment in this thread if you are reading along and have reached this post. It seemed like a good idea at the time to keep comments in another thread, but it no longer does. Feel free to question, comment, or share your similar grow.

This is my first hydro grow and only my second grow with 600 watt MH/HPS. I have high expectations for this grow. I'll get a pic or two on the next update of the thickness of the stalk. It is unreal.... It's easily several inches in diameter. I can imagine that the roots are well established and a couple feet long at tap. By topping, and then scroging the plant through vegetation, my goal is to fill the screen with growing tips while keeping them all at the same height. When I'm near 80% filled, I'll change over to HPS and flip to 12/12 to begin flowering. The initial stretch spurt will hit all of the tops, creating beautiful stems upon which to build colas in the following weeks.

Feel free to hang out, subscribe, and watch this grow along as it happens.

Looking good I will make sure to stop in from time to time, My next grow im going Reserva Privada HeadBand AKA Sour Kush along side Barneys Farm Red Deisil.

Looking good. I'm subscribing to this thread for sure. Scotty's method is really fail proof. My buddy was supposed to harvest our power kush yesterday. I'm at home for break, so I don't get to join in on the fun this time although our first harvest was 5 plants in soil and that was a bitch. Yielded 5.14oz. If we yield more than 5oz off 1 plant under a 400w MH/HPS, then hellssss yes.

Oh btw, we topped the plant when it hit the screen. And then he had to go away for 3 days and his dad didn't weave it properly so we didn't end up with an even SCROG. And don't worry if the pH jumps out of the recommended range during veg. When you start using more and more nutes, the buffers will work. For us it was at about 900-1000ppm.

Serapis said:

Babylicious was germed on 11/17/2010. She would be bigger, but was raised for the first 5 weeks under flouros, as the tent was being used to flower my soil grow. The second plant is about 2 weeks behind. The first seed was a no show, and the second seed was tap root up. I was able to extract the seedling and pot it in a water farm. It took off after a few days under a two liter dome.

I'm at 1100 ppm because I watch what the PH is telling me. If my PH is 5.8 one day and the water is at 900 ppm, the following day, if my PH has dropped, it indicates the plant is taking in more nutrients than water, and could use more nutrients. If the PH raises a bit, I back off the nutes and just add water. Following this method, my current ppm is at 1150 ish. For the first few weeks of flower, I expect it to require more nutrients than I have been giving. I'm thinking about using the Fox Farm solubles, as I already have them from a previous grow. I was going to use just the Flora Nova Bloom for the entire grow, but I'm tempted to push the buds. My last grow, I skipped the solubles and I can tell the difference in bud quality and bag appeal.

I am still in veg. I'm not counting weeks as the time under the flouros was five weeks, but the growth is about only 2 weeks, compared with a MH bulb. I'm going to cut (2) 4" squares out of screen near middle, so I can reach underneath and work the plants towards the rear of the tent. Once the screen is about 80% complete, I'll flip the lights and change the bulb to an HPS. (new bulb, as I want to get max results on this grow to set my own standard) I need to get out of the habit of replacing bulbs between grows. I now have two sets of bulbs, partially used, back in their boxes. I guess they'll be back ups.

The method I am copying was done on RIU and the guy got 16 ounces, dry. I was very impressed. His space was a bit smaller than mine and he used only one water farm. He grew Pineapple Express. I'm growing Bubblelicious, another indica blend that grows fairly well. The first time I grew it, some of the buds were about 18" and ended up developing mold because they were to thick to dry out. I now have a designated drying area to prevent that from happening again. My old grow closet is still ventilated, so I'll use it.

Click to expand...

Thanks Serapis, looking really good, gonna keep an eye on you lol +rep, i too am inspired by SCOTTYBALLS 1 waterfarm + 1 plant = almost 16 ounce. trying it out on a Jamaican bad seed, unreal the rate of growth.i'd be very happy to get even 5-8 ounces. good luck. any updates?

bongmarley2009 said:

Oh btw, we topped the plant when it hit the screen. And then he had to go away for 3 days and his dad didn't weave it properly so we didn't end up with an even SCROG. And don't worry if the pH jumps out of the recommended range during veg. When you start using more and more nutes, the buffers will work. For us it was at about 900-1000ppm.

Click to expand...

I found that with NO plant in a working water farm, the PH is impossible to stabilize. I don't understand any scientific reasoning for that fact, but test runs with no plant are useless. LOL

My PH is currently stable, however Babylicious tends to stay at around 5.6 while her sister maintains a perfect 5.8, day after day. The water farm, combined with Flora Nova Bloom nutrients is near fool proof. I learned the basics on soil, the only new thing to me was PPM, but once you get the meter and understand how PH and PPM interact, anyone could do this. It is that easy.

Crystal Toy said:

Thanks Serapis, looking really good, gonna keep an eye on you lol +rep, i too am inspired by SCOTTYBALLS 1 waterfarm + 1 plant = almost 16 ounce. trying it out on a Jamaican bad seed, unreal the rate of growth.i'd be very happy to get even 5-8 ounces. good luck. any updates?

Click to expand...

Good luck with your Jamaican!! That sounds scrumptious! The rate of growth on my plants has been phenomenal as well. I hope to bust over 1.5 pounds, dry. I'm going to take 3 days to harvest, just so I don't go insane while trimming bud. I want it to be a fun time with my product, not neck straining stress and sore fingers. The most I have trimmed in one sitting ended up being about 10 ounces once it was dry. That was pure murder by myself. I used to never think I could use a trimming aid, but I'm considering now.

As for updates, I'll pic update again this weekend. I'll also begin to clean up the lower areas of the plants, removing what obviously will never grow to the screen.

I will share some thoughts however on this grow, as I have just partaken in some of my last grow and I suddenly feel euphoric and chatty, all at the same time.

Flora Nova Bloom is the bomb. The buffers work great, it has EVERYTHING the plant needs for basic growing. I however, never settle for the basics.
I know that ScottyBallz laid out a great case for not mucking with the Lucas Formula for hydroponic growing in his grow journal, and I encourage everyone
interested in going to hydroponic for the first time to follow it. However, I'm going to change it up a bit, kind of like Emeril's trick of kicking it up a notch.

I have been adding about 10 ml (I'm trying to convert to metric for years, and finally growing has motivated me to finally do so.) every other day of 17.5% H2O2. (35% is illegal to mail). I am also occassionally adding a few drops of SuperThrive. I'll quit adding it when I go 12/12, as it prolongs the flowering period. It assumes you are growing pretty garden flowers as oppossed to a crop that needs to be harvested, and it makes flowers grow slower and thereby stay on the plant longer.

I am debating using the Fox Farms solubles during flowering. I had great success when I have used them before and they are already bought and paid for from my previous soil grows. If I do, I'll start slowly and see how the plants react.

Thoughts? Concerns? Jokes?

thanks Serapis, and yes the jamaican is sweet, got 2 phenos ( got 1 that has purple in the leaves ) both heavy head buzz 1 more than the other ( the purple one ) but wow very nice sativa, grows tall too, even crossed it with CRYSTAL ( WW and NH ), cant wait to taste that, gonna be on the next run.Good luck and hope you hit your 1.5 lbs mark, can't wait to see.

nEW pICS:

As you can see from the photos, Babylicious is all up in the screen's face. I have begun to train the taller growth outwards, opening up the center to light. Her sister is just starting to touch the screen. Combined, these two are drinking almost a gallon of water daily. The leaves look healthy, no signs of over or under feeding. The PH is stable at 5.6 at 22.5 centigrade. The PPM is at 1150 and the plants seem to like that rate for now.

looking real nice.nice grow, gonna be a big one. How long did you vegg for till it hit the screen? also seen a plant (photo 006) with some yellowing lower leaves, is that normal at this stage? How long do you think it will take to weave 80% of the screen before going 12/12 ?

Thats some nice netting, Cant wait for those girls to fill that screen in and show their pistils.

Crystal Toy said:

looking real nice.nice grow, gonna be a big one. How long did you vegg for till it hit the screen? also seen a plant (photo 006) with some yellowing lower leaves, is that normal at this stage? How long do you think it will take to weave 80% of the screen before going 12/12 ?

Click to expand...

The plant with yellow leaves is a mom that needs attention. I'll tend to her and top her a few times this weekend. She won't be in the tent much longer. I think I can fill the screen in about another 2 weeks. Both plants combined are drinking a gallon of water a day. I removed a lot of the bottom fan leaves that were below the screen, last night, and she drank a little less today, because of that I think. The stems on the fan leaves were almost the size of a pencil. Hydro ROCKS!

jimbizzzale67123 said:

Thats some nice netting, Cant wait for those girls to fill that screen in and show their pistils.

Click to expand...

I love the net. Easy to work with, easy to hang in a tent. I can't wait to flip these girls either. I'm excited about nursing a ton of colas. If I can get a cola every other spot in screen, I'll be happy. Once she hit the screen, it seems as though every part of the plant wants to branch up now.