1st Grow - Easy Ryder Auto Fem

[zeeightster]

After my first failed grow: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=181568 I decided to switch to some proven genetics. So, without further ado...

"Easy Ryder" - Lowryder #2 x AK-47 (Feminized)

The Setup:

• DR60
• 110w PL-L
• DWC bucket (hydroton/net pot/air stone)
• GH Micro/Grow/Bloom Nutrients
• 2x 120mm Computer Fans w/small carbon filter for odor

Germed a single seed, no problems. Had a bit of a mishap with a Mag deficiency (or something caused by a low pH) due to a pH of about 5.0 for a few days. Got that up to about a 5.5 and the plant has been doing pretty well ever since.

She showed some tiny pistils about 6 days ago and many more have sprung up during these last few days. She is also drinking more and growing quickly. One night, she got a few leaf tips onto the light (I try to keep the light close because it's only a PLL).

Here she is at day 30:

I've been checking the pH religiously and recently got a bluelab truncheon so that I could check the EC. She's been right at 1.0 for the last two days. I'm not sure if I should be giving her more nutes or not because now I'm into uncharted territory. I'm going to be doing a reservoir flush this weekend, so that will give me a chance to get the nutes just where they should be.

Any advice is welcome -- hopefully I'll have some nice picks up in a week or two. She's already grown bigger than I had anticipated, but that's just fine by me

 

[S_a_H]

Hope this grow goes according to plan and so far it looks like it is.

S_a_H

 

[sanjuan]

Best of luck!
I've got some of these seeds if I need to go auto in the future.

 

[Iron Lungs]

looking good my friend! she def. looks right on track! Cant wait to see her in full bud.

 

[zeeightster]

So am I mixing up a new res in another bucket here and I'm wondering if there is a specific EC that I should be shooting for. I'm using roughly 4 gallons of distilled water (pH adjusted, of course). My pH is ~5.6-5.8. How conservative (or aggressive) should I be with nutrients at this point? This is the first time I've gotten to flower, so I'm not sure how much to give my plant. Thanks for any advice -- this is GH Flora series.

 

[zeeightster]

Just a couple more pics. She's been stretching quite a bit and more and more pistils are starting to show at bud sites. Got her into a fresh res on Saturday, and am excited to see the fun stuff beginning

 

[endofwed]

Looks great so far! Could you explain your nute schedule to us?

 

[stankj]

looking good... id like to see some cab picks, have you thought about using the lucas formula?

 

[zeeightster]

Ok, so this plant is like out of control. She's taken up most of the DR60 and the light is almost to the top of tent. The center branch has just topped off and the bud is growing. I guess I'm going to have to tie some of these upper branches down. Remind me never to try DWC in such a small environment without some serious LST.

The good news is that there are bud sites everywhere.

A few questions, though -- should I be trimming at all? The lower, original leaves are pretty much covered by leaves higher up on the plant.

 

[VERMI]

whats your water temps because those roots are looking really healthy.

 

[Sandnut]

Woaaah, I love DWC grows!!!!! Like vermi said what are the temps? have any troubble in with keeping a stable water temp??

tip: you should really LST that plant as you seem to be on limited space !

keep it up

 

[uptosumpn]

Personally, I wouldn't trim any...UNLESS the are yellow and dying.....The Plant is nice and big, full of vegitative growth< which will bring more bud sites as I'm sure your starting to see.....! Jus go ahead and LST her and do take pics so we all can see......SUBBED'!!
I too would like to know what your res temps are....Oh, what size pump and what type of air stone are you using? <because roots look VERY healthy,,,could you show us a shot of it....

Ok, so this plant is like out of control. She's taken up most of the DR60 and the light is almost to the top of tent. The center branch has just topped off and the bud is growing. I guess I'm going to have to tie some of these upper branches down. Remind me never to try DWC in such a small environment without some serious LST.

The good news is that there are bud sites everywhere.

A few questions, though -- should I be trimming at all? The lower, original leaves are pretty much covered by leaves higher up on the plant.

 

[zeeightster]

day 42

day 42

Here she is at approximately day 42.

Above: Note the lighter for size reference (standard bic)

Above: Root structure. Looks a bit more dense. They appear discolored due to the FloraMicro and the color temp of the flowering light.

Above: Those hairs are totally white, but, again discolored due to a shitty camera and the color of the lighting. She's just started to get some frosting in the last day or so. I can't wait to see where she is after another week!

---

For those asking about the grow -- there's not much going on here. It's my first grow and I don't really know what I'm doing, just following basic advice that I've picked up reading here. I'm using GH FloraMicro/Grow/Bloom. Been mixing things up with distilled water (just been feeding micro and bloom for the last two feedings) and feeding whenever the res starts to get low. I've been checking EC at least once per day and it's been hovering between .8 and 1. Usually, the pH is 5.8 and the EC is 0.9 right after a fresh dose of water+nutes.

The air pump is just a little Millionair Aquarium Air Pump that is putting out 1660cc of air per minute (I think?). Frankly, I think that I'd like to go to a bigger pump, but my roots seem to be pretty healthy.

I think that I've got everything under control now as far as the feeding and stuff -- the plant seems to be doing well. Luckily, she's stopped stretching (!), but I did lose one top bud site because she was too freakin' tall (bud was touching the light bulb). I'm guessing the AK in her is making her so stretchy? It also probably doesn't help that this is all growing under a 110w PLL. I think I'll definitely move to a 250w HPS in the winter, especially now that I have this big ass vortex fan.

 

[stankj]

Looking good, I feed my easy ryders 0-5-10 gh micro/ bloom as well and they love it.... Also 1 tbsp of molasses for every gallon right now

How does she smell? One of my three stinks really good,
more so than the other two

 

[Sandnut]

yo zeeig, I'm considering switching over to dwc for my next grow, mainly cause it shows a whole different side of the strain when you run it in dwc rather than soil, and let me tell you your pics are a perfect example of that!

how much maintainence does this setup need compared to soil? how often do you have to clean the bucket and fill it up with new water? and how do you protect urself from getting root bacterias and stuff? and how strong is your air pump, getting noisy in there?

ur doing very well, that plant is gonna give you some nice yields i can tell you that!

/san

 

[zeeightster]

how much maintainence does this setup need compared to soil? how often do you have to clean the bucket and fill it up with new water? and how do you protect urself from getting root bacterias and stuff? and how strong is your air pump, getting noisy in there?

Unfortunately, this is my first grow, so I can't really compare it to soil. From what I understand, hydro is less stable than soil and your plants will react very quickly if something is off (but will respond very well when you have things just right).

Some people flush their stuff every week, or every two weeks, etc. In the early stages, there's very little involved once you get the initial reservoir set because the plant does not consume very much at all. Once you are a couple weeks in, the plant starts to want more nutrients and water, so frequent checks are a good idea. I've only flushed once -- about 3.5-4 weeks in when the plant just wasn't looking as healthy as I had wanted.

My air pump seems to be doing ok. It's just a little cheap aquarium pump. I'd like to go to something slightly bigger, but I'm not sure if it's necessary.

No real noise from anything but the vortex fan, and even that is pretty quiet considering how much air it moves.

How does she smell?

It's smells like weed inside of the tent, but I've got a vortex blowing through a carbon filter (made one off of the DIY Thread) so there's virtually no smell once you get about two feet away from the tent. Inside, the plant smells like weed with hints of burnt cocoa or, perhaps, coffee. Not really getting any hints of citrus or fruit. I've noticed more complexity in the odor over the last few days -- maybe now that it's really in full-on bloom mode things will get stinkier.

 

[endofwed]

Looking good, I feed my easy ryders 0-5-10 gh micro/ bloom as well and they love it.... Also 1 tbsp of molasses for every gallon right now

How does she smell? One of my three stinks really good,
more so than the other two

were you growing under cfls?

And back to zeeightster, are you just doing add backs (nutes) to the bucket?

 

[zeeightster]

were you growing under cfls?

And back to zeeightster, are you just doing add backs (nutes) to the bucket?

I did do one completely new bucket, but for the last two weeks, I have just been adding water/nute mix to the bucket. I've been checking the EC to ensure that I'm not overloading the nutes. I'll probably flush for a week in a new bucket with just water, when the time comes.

 

[stankj]

-endofwed yes cfls

Zee, I can't wait to see how the flowers progress
in that dwc

 

[endofwed]

Looks great so far! How will you know when to change your lighting or when it goes into flowering?