Hey Goozman. Meters are very essential to any grow, but even more so with DWC (or any hydro setup for that matter). Sounds like you have already come to this conclusion. Temp and humidity meter will help show you what your working with. I have a feeling that you have high temps being that your cab is outside in SoCal. I ran DWC my first grow, and low and behold I got root rot. I soon switched to coco and love it. I am not pressuring you to change, I just see this problem alot when it comes to DWC. Get a small aquarium thermometer (there real cheap at a pet store) and stick it in your res to get a better estimate of your water temps. Not to keep hounding you about having you cab outside, but have you ever thought of putting in your apt? The reason is that temp/humidity in your house or apt is much more stable and tolerable, than outdoors. I have the same cab and also live in an apt, and my cab fits perfectly in my closet. Its not perfectly stealthy by any means, but gets the job done. Not hating on your setup in any way bro, just trying to help you fill those jars up. Good luck, and I will keep an eye on this. Peace.
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Balcony Garden Shed Round 3 - 16 plant SOG in vert tubes, 2x250w HPS
- Thread starter GoozMan
- Start date
GoozMan
Member
Hey drymouth thanks for stopping by, and wick420 I appreciate the words of wisdom. So funny you would mention that as the thought of coco or something had just crossed my mind as an alternative to outdoor DWC, had i not switched to this nutrient waterfall technique. And you know most of socal is hot and dry but I live near the coast in a little pocket with it's own sort of climate: summer highs in the 80s and pretty humid most of the time. Don't get me wrong, I dream of having a garage. Thanks everyone for the well-wishes and words of encouragement, I can definitely use it!
GoozMan
Member
flower day 1
flower day 1
just flipped to 12/12 last night, did a defoliation to get rid of all the leaves that were damaged from drying out and getting too close to the CFLs in the kitchen cab and now things are looking a lot better. I've been diluting the res with RO water, added about 4 gallons over a couple of days, the next one will be a full-on res change. The res holds only 5 gallons and the plants are very thirsty and so the pump stays submerged for only a few days before I need to add water. After diluting the res the plants are looking a lot better with lots of new growth. Lesson learned. Here are some before and after defoliation pics:
and a pic of a fan leaf from one of the four original vegged seedlings, granted this one had the fattest leaves of the four, and I didn't end up keeping the cuts from this particular, but still a pretty fan.
flower day 1
just flipped to 12/12 last night, did a defoliation to get rid of all the leaves that were damaged from drying out and getting too close to the CFLs in the kitchen cab and now things are looking a lot better. I've been diluting the res with RO water, added about 4 gallons over a couple of days, the next one will be a full-on res change. The res holds only 5 gallons and the plants are very thirsty and so the pump stays submerged for only a few days before I need to add water. After diluting the res the plants are looking a lot better with lots of new growth. Lesson learned. Here are some before and after defoliation pics:
and a pic of a fan leaf from one of the four original vegged seedlings, granted this one had the fattest leaves of the four, and I didn't end up keeping the cuts from this particular, but still a pretty fan.
GoozMan
Member
Flower day 2
Flower day 2
Wow I can't stop taking pictures of this cabinet. Everyday that is a success feels so good because I'm not a handy kind of guy and I'm proud of myself for building this functioning garden. Bought an inexpensive thermo/hygrometer - in these last two days temps rise to 72º in the day and humidity has been at a constant 66ish% which sounds pretty good to me. Some plants are growing faster than others. The ones on top of each column are growing the slowest - I wonder if my top light is not high enough. Everyone is responding well to the defoliation though the ones that got topped are looking the best, and now I'm kind of sorry I didn't top the rest.
Flower day 2
Wow I can't stop taking pictures of this cabinet. Everyday that is a success feels so good because I'm not a handy kind of guy and I'm proud of myself for building this functioning garden. Bought an inexpensive thermo/hygrometer - in these last two days temps rise to 72º in the day and humidity has been at a constant 66ish% which sounds pretty good to me. Some plants are growing faster than others. The ones on top of each column are growing the slowest - I wonder if my top light is not high enough. Everyone is responding well to the defoliation though the ones that got topped are looking the best, and now I'm kind of sorry I didn't top the rest.
GoozMan
Member
Okay, another res change trying to find the magic numbers. This time it was: RO water @11 ppm, sm-90 dropped it to 10 (?), CaMag to 196, flora gro to 403, micro to 703, and bloom to 915. That's 6/9/9 tsp of GH nutes total for my 5 gallon res. I've got lots of beautiful new growth as these plants start to fill out. Some are more active than others - there are cuts from two different phenos of this strain possibly accounting for this, and unfortunately they're all mixed up on the shed. Res temp = 67*, pH was 4.8 and pH upped to 5.5.
Had an issue with my pump today, it just stopped working! Luckily I had a slightly smaller backup ready and it's doing the trick just fine. Also I check some more roots today and they're looking great. I'll try and get a pic next time.
Had an issue with my pump today, it just stopped working! Luckily I had a slightly smaller backup ready and it's doing the trick just fine. Also I check some more roots today and they're looking great. I'll try and get a pic next time.
Much respect GoozMan will be checking in as much as I can.
GoozMan
Member
I'm glad you like it! They are ABS pipes from home depot, right next to the PVC. I used a combination of 2" and 3" pieces though if I were to do it again I might use just 2" pieces - we'll see how thick the roots get by the end of this. There's also 1/2" flexible tubing pushing water up the shed
GoozMan
Member
Aw shucks you're too kind. I wish I could say there's an original idea in this thread somewhere but it's all combinations of what other gardeners are doing here.
GoozMan
Member
So my original water pump died a few days ago. I don't what gph it was as I'd bought it used. I replaced with a slightly smaller backup @250gph and it was doing okay but flow had clearly diminished. And then, yesterday I come home to find the tubing had disconnected from the pump and the res water was had sprayed all over the floor! So I got a new 500gph mag drive with adjustable flow pump and secured it with a clamp. Flows has increased nicely. I also put it on a timer - 30min on and 60min off during the day, 90min off at night.
Good job Goozman, I think Bobblehead is using duel 500 GPH pumps in his collissium DIY grow. You gotta get that H20 all the way to the top (lol)..sorry boutthe old pump spilling everywhere hopefully it wasn' too bad. This grow looks real tight will sit back and enjoy the show!
GoozMan
Member
Yeah I've seen bobbleheads grow and it's pretty awesome. It's times like these that I'm glad the shed is rubbermaid and on the balcony - aside from some salt stains it's all cleaned up. Also I redid the res again at ~1050 ppm. Plants are looking great for the most part, some droopiness here and there but otherwise lots of new growth.
Looking good, A little flooding goes hand in hand with hydro, boy do I have some stories...lol
Just the other day, I was filling a 5 gal bucket with R/O water, then a buddy called and said I'm at **** bar by your house, come have a beer. So I left the bucket fillin and returned 2 hours later to find a huge flood in the bathroom... Thank god it's a house and nobody below me to blow the whistle... On the bright side, my bathroom floor has never looked better after the clean up.
I have been wondering so I'll just ask, how do you tend to those plants without blasting the neiborhood with light from your balcony? lights on during the day?
Just the other day, I was filling a 5 gal bucket with R/O water, then a buddy called and said I'm at **** bar by your house, come have a beer. So I left the bucket fillin and returned 2 hours later to find a huge flood in the bathroom... Thank god it's a house and nobody below me to blow the whistle... On the bright side, my bathroom floor has never looked better after the clean up.
I have been wondering so I'll just ask, how do you tend to those plants without blasting the neiborhood with light from your balcony? lights on during the day?
GoozMan
Member
Looking good, A little flooding goes hand in hand with hydro, boy do I have some stories...lol
Just the other day, I was filling a 5 gal bucket with R/O water, then a buddy called and said I'm at **** bar by your house, come have a beer. So I left the bucket fillin and returned 2 hours later to find a huge flood in the bathroom... Thank god it's a house and nobody below me to blow the whistle... On the bright side, my bathroom floor hasnever looked better after the clean up.
I have been wondering so I'll just ask, how do you tend to those plants without blasting the neiborhood with light from your balcony? lights on during the day?
Yeah, lights on during the day so it's not so noticeable, plus the positioning of the balcony over an alley and a busy street makes it pretty discreet. But damn if I open the doors at night before 8pm it's like the gates of heaven are opening on my balcony
I don't remember who here is hanging a bucket over his lights so as to shield his eyes, and I was thinking of adapting that for my shed, maybe some posterboard with aluminum tape curved around the lights cage while I'm working in there cuz my eyes are starting to ache. Or if it's during the day I'll turn off the lights for a few minutes while I'm working and just let the plants bask in some indirect sunlight. Thanks for stopping by, and btw I'm in awe of your beautiful doughnut!
