RDWC + DWC Durban Poison (600W MH/HPS & 600W LED)

H1ghTime

Well-Known Member
DAY 6 (Continued)

A few extra pics.

I am going to start bending plants #2 and #3 tomorrow for LST, so I glued some metal rings onto my netpot lid to serve as anchors. I wanted to give them another night of rotting before I begin slowly bending them downwards. I have had a lot of success in the past with this very easy method of plant training.

My Sunshine Lady is also doing great.

This is the music I play when I work inside my tent:
So cool you play music good stuff. :D
 
DAY 43, WEEK 7 (Week 4 FLOWER)

I did my nutrient exchange yesterday. The plants in the RDWC have already drank a few gallons by the end of day today, so I topped off with RO water.

I was pretty impressed to see how with one plant that was bent over 90 degrees for LST, a new stem grew right out of that bend and became a new top0 (among multiples).

https://streamable.com/0gj425
 

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DAY 45, WEEK 7 (Week 4 FLOWER)

RDWC: The system continues to chug along. Still ZERO leaks, ZERO clogs, ZERO issues. The system was a bit loud when I first ran it, but with most of the space now filled with dense forest and wet buds, plus the roots taking up a good chunk of the bucket, I can’t even hear the fans OR any type of water noise. The difference in sound is staggering. You can hear it by comparing earlier video posts I did—where you can hear waterfall falling—and a few days ago where you can hear the soft hum of the air pumps and that’s about it.

The plants are drinking about a gallon and a half a day and I usually top off with plain water before I go to bed for the first few days of the week, but for the last few I just let them plants drain the res.

The main colas continue to stretch, with the tallest branch sitting at 5 feet, easy. They are about even level with the cool tube/light, but they are on the side right now so I am not worried about them getting fried. My light is reaching the upper limits; I have only a few links on my chain left to go!

LED DWC: This plant really loves the full spectrum light I have it under. No doubt, the RDWC is bushier and more robust, but in terms of bud production, they are equal and dare I say the LED plant has SLIGHTLY larger buds. It could just be a trick of the light of course.

I don’t know if the slightly more robust plants in my RDWC system are due to the RDWC or the HPS light compared to the SLIGHTLY less robust LED DWC plant, At the end of my RDWC system the plant branches that are farthest away from my HPS are reaching out towards the edges of my LED light, for one of the RDWC plants, about 1/3 of the plant is getting its light, happily, from the LED, while the rest gets the light from the HPS.

I am considering buying another full spectrum LED light and adding it closer to my HPS light for my net grow to give that full spectrum benefit AND to give better light towards the rear plants in my system that are farthest from my HPS. I wonder if that is a normal thing for to do?

CFL/Sunshine Mother Plant: This plant will not stop growing vertically! I have topped it, but it keeps growing back. I removed the chain that was hanging the CFL and replaced that with small O rings so I got a little more vertical space for my plant under the light.


The smell is just amazing in the tent. Very sweet odor, it’s not skunky at all like you would think, or like how it smells when it is dried. I’d say it smells like something sweet is baking in an oven and a honey bee hive, which has a unique, intoxicating smell. I’m sure I’m not the only grower who obsessively hovers their nose over a growing bud and inhales just for the joy of smelling that amazing aroma.

This is also when I start to get most nervous during the grow. This is when bugs and other disasters like to strike, after weeks of work and with so much prospective bud in sight.
 

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Day 47, Week 7 (Week 4, Flower)

https://streamable.com/jyxwwx


The buds on the plants SLOWLY continue to swell. I think there was a little slow down over a 24 hour period because I have had an unusual cold spell moving in and it got into the low 60’s in the grow room. I added a space heater in the room and it’s keeping it at a relatively toasty 71 degrees at night right now.

I was paranoid the other day as I noticed the leaves seem to be thin, and some are slightly curling up towards the light. But everything smells amazing, so I’m just assuming it’s doing a strain/flower thing.
 

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DAY 49, WEEK 8 (WEEK 5 FLOWER)


Nutrient changeout today. Another 20 gallons @ 85% recommended nutrient strength. Everything smells fantastic. I am not accustomed to such thin leaves, especially after such monster growth during veg, but I am reading that this is normal for this pure sativa strain during flower.
 
DAY 53, WEEK 8 (Week 5 of Flower)

My PH has been dropping over the past two days and it has me worried. The PPM/TDS is pretty steady and the system is being drained at a gallon or so a day, so I think there might be too many nutes in the mix. The buds also seem somewhat small to me for 5 weeks into flower, although that could just be this train.

I went ahead and removed 4 gallons and replaced with 4 gallons of RO water and that dropped he PPM down to around 900. I’ll see what the PH does overnight. I checked the roots and they all looked great, everything smells fantastic, and the plants are starting to frost up everywhere so I am hoping this PH dip is just a nutrient or flowering thing. The frosting that is happening on the leaves and buds is nice to see. I just wish thee buds would fatten!

Am ai Just being paranoid? Do these buds look on the smallish side for Week 5?

 

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DAY 54, WEEK 8 (Week 5 of FLOWER)

The PH and TDS have been stable since I watered down my nutrient solution, so I am confident that the plants were telling me that the solution was too strong. I have a nutrient changeout in 2 days, and I’m dropping the nutrient strength down to 60%; the plants did not seem to like the 85% strength I used last time.

While the leaves continue to get very frosty/crystally, the buds themselves still look smallish to me for being in week 5, heading into week 6. I guess I’ll just have to be patient and see how it all plays out.

 

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DAY 55, WEEK 8 (WEEK 5 FLOWER)

The plants continue to frost up all over and smell absolutely divine. The plants are also showing some purples leaves and stems.

The nutrient schedule I am using has me flowering for a total of 8 weeks, which gives me three weeks more for these plants to fatten u and ripen. They look like they have at least 5 – 7 weeks left to me. That said, I made the decision to repeat the nutrient schedule for this week for next week, which begins tomorrow. The buds look like they need more time to develop so I am adding at least one week to the flower. I’m repeating this week, then will move on to the original schedule and nutrient recommendation.

I mixed up my nutrients tonight. I used 65% of the recommended nutrient strength and it got me RIGHT in the zone where the plants are sitting right now and they are very happy. 65% seems to be their preferred strength.

Everything is still working flawlessly. My last RDWC had been clogged and leaking by this point in the grow so I am very satisfied with my system. 1 ½ inch drain pipes with domed mesh screens seem to be just what the doctor ordered to prevent root clogs.
 

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bernie344

Well-Known Member
DAY 55, WEEK 8 (WEEK 5 FLOWER)

The plants continue to frost up all over and smell absolutely divine. The plants are also showing some purples leaves and stems.

The nutrient schedule I am using has me flowering for a total of 8 weeks, which gives me three weeks more for these plants to fatten u and ripen. They look like they have at least 5 – 7 weeks left to me. That said, I made the decision to repeat the nutrient schedule for this week for next week, which begins tomorrow. The buds look like they need more time to develop so I am adding at least one week to the flower. I’m repeating this week, then will move on to the original schedule and nutrient recommendation.

I mixed up my nutrients tonight. I used 65% of the recommended nutrient strength and it got me RIGHT in the zone where the plants are sitting right now and they are very happy. 65% seems to be their preferred strength.

Everything is still working flawlessly. My last RDWC had been clogged and leaking by this point in the grow so I am very satisfied with my system. 1 ½ inch drain pipes with domed mesh screens seem to be just what the doctor ordered to prevent root clogs.
Whats your EC on feed?
 
Right now I have them sitting at around 800PPM/1,700TDS.

EDIT: I thought I'd add that they were floating a little higher over the past week, which the plants did not like.
 
DAY 56, WEEK 9 of grow, WEEK 6 of flower

I did my nutrient changeout today and I have my solution strength sitting at around 65% what my schedule recommends.

My TDS is sitting at around 950ppm, with the EC at around 1.7. I’ll probably lower that by 10%-15% for WEEK 10. This week is a repeat of the previous week to add 1 extra week to the flower to allow the buds more time to develop.

As you can see in the pictures, the leaves are a beautiful shade of green. the buds are SLOWLY swelling, and the plant is covering itself with frosty trichomes. The smell is amazing inside the tent, and these are all signs of a happy, healthy plant.

I accidentally bumped into my light timer so my HPS took 5 minutes to come back on. In the meantime, I had my full spectrum LED lighting the tent for this video. Not a great color spectrum but it does give a good contrast of the white buds so you can get a better idea of their size:

 

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DAY 58, WEEK 9 of grow, WEEK 6 of flower

The plants are definitely starting to put on some weight. I had to move a heavily frosted branch to the side and, like some dirty Marijuana pervert I couldn't resist sniffing my fingers after touching the plant......holy cow, they need to bottle this scent into a cologne. It smelled like a mixture of cotton candy, diesel fuel, and brown sugar. I've smoked Sour Diesel before, and this plant has that distinct diesel smell to it. I wonder if SD has some DP in it?

I've decided that based on what I am seeing, I will progress into the new feeding ratios when IU enter into week 10 next week. I think adding this extra week is just what the doctor ordered.

 
DAY 58, WEEK 9, WEEK 6 of flower (part 2)

The buds are getting heavier and the long side branches are starting to dip. I may need to start tying these to the main stalk lol.

My mother plant is a monster and completely out of control. I have topped this thing a half dozen times and it KEEPS GOING. It laughs at my feeble attempts to control its growth. I circled each topping I performed in one of the pics below, and include a 1 gallon water jug for scale.
 

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DAY 60, WEEK 9, WEEK 6 of FLOWER



NEAR DISASTER!!!! For the last day or two I have noticed all of my major branches starting to lean a bit. I didn’t think much of it as I assumed the plants were taking on a little weight. Well DAMN, they were taking on a LOT of weight. I opened my tent and say my entire LED DWC plant had tilted over, one of my main cola branches bent ☹

So, lack of preparation (creating a trellis!) had me scrambling to string lines along and try to prop the plant back up. I got COVERED in sticky trichomes and I really felt the massive weight these buds are taking on.

I propped the bent branch up and tried to prop all the heavy bud packing branches up as best I could. The RDWC system didn’t suffer too badly, only some of the smaller branches that were leaning on the LEDD DWC branches. I rigged a string trellis up for the RDWC as well, which should make harvest a pain in the ass .

So, will the bent bud branch recover??? It didn’t snap clean off or anything, it just bent completely over and snapped internally, I think. I have it leaning against a rpo so it is still facing skyward.
 

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DAY 63, WEEK 10, Week 7 of FLOWER

I started WEEK 10 (week 7 of flower) today. I also beefed up my makeshift trellis and support structure (see pictures). I am still concerned at the small size of my buds. I am so perplexed by this strain/grow. They smell AMAZING and are incredibly sticky, but they seem small to me. Will these really beef up in the last few weeks? I guess we will see…..

I’ll try to get some pics without the lights later this evening.

 

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