Coming in from the cold, DWC + scrog + tent + newbie

[MtnSkunk]

Time to bring it indoors for the winter, too cold, and I don't want to spend the money trying to heat the greenhouse.

Here's my setup -
4'9" x 4'9" x 6'7" tent
Mars Hydro LED
4x 5ga DWC buckets w/6" baskets

My question and dilema is how in the world am I going to do res cleaning, flushing, etc once I have these ladies under the scrog net? I have sight glass setup on the buckets, so I can easily drain them out, but cleaning them once they are full of roots, it seems I might need them to actually sit on a base that's the same height of the bucket so I can pull them out safely. Another concern is how to hang these baskets once I pull them out of the DWC buckets.

Mostly I will be doing everything by myself, but my step-son may be around to help on occassion.

Anyone have any ideas or pictures of similar setups they don't mind sharing with this newbie?

First time hydro, first time indoors, this will be my fourth grow.

Thanks for your time!

 

[LostTribe]

first off are you just doing dwc or rdwc? if you don't use a reservoir and use a netting which I never do...you won't be able to enter the buckets at all once they get big if they are big enough for netting.

how many watts is your light i don't recommend led, go hps. that size tent is good for 1000w vented with an inline fan. with 4 buckets you would want to veg 2-3 weeks maybe 4 depending on strains to get a full canopy of buds. you might want to go soil for this first run are you even familiar with hydro?

hydro you need to check ph and ppm or ec so you would want meters and there is quite a learning curve. dwc is overrated imho. tried it several times and the taste isn't there. I run 5 gallon recirculating dutch pots with 100% hydroton on a drip timer. 4 on a 1kw.

soil is ok just use a mix with good aeration i.e. added perlite, peat moss, vermiculite, castings and your set. Only differences are the veg time but imho the end product is usually better with soil as hydro takes time to do it right....mixing back proper nute levels and keeping ph just right are key.

 

[MtnSkunk]

I will be running dwc. So perhaps putting up a scrog would be more of a pita if I can't change out the buckets for clean ones. I toyed with the idea of just using strings to position the canopy, it just seemed like a lot more work versus training them into the screen.

I know only what I've learned from forums and youtube about dwc. This is by no means an important grow, I am willing to chalk it all up to learning and being happy with whatever the results will be.

I have ec, ppm, ph meters, all the nutes, ph up/down, cal mag, etc. I will eventually post some pics of the grow room w/tent, it's built up to be a considerable pile of kit compared to what I was doing outdoors.

The LED is the new mars hydro cree 256, it's supposed to be equivalent to an 800W HID lamp. I may run an HID in the future, but for this run I'm just going straight LED. I may need a UFO or two for added light during bloom, I just don't know, too many unknowns especially with this LED. This is all about learning for me, to see what the potential is, work on it, and get it going in the right direction or change direction.

Last grow was autos in the greenhouse in a mix of coco, perlite, vermiculite and worm castings. Fed them GH FloraNova nutes (basic feeding schedule), never had any problems other than the excessive heat which caused some fluffy buds and foxtailing. The buds however turned out great.

 

[LostTribe]

you could do a screen over the top of each bucket with 1 inch pvc frame also attached to the lid of the bucket. They like to grow upwards so tying them down ie lst is always good to get them to bush out. training can go along way. I use a combination of topping and lst with bamboo poles and ties.

what strains you gonna run?

 

[MtnSkunk]

I figure I have a few weeks to try and build something and figure out the max height. Strains are all dutch passion femenized, orange hill special, mazar, desfran and white widow.

 

[thesloppy]

you could do a screen over the top of each bucket with 1 inch pvc frame also attached to the lid of the bucket. They like to grow upwards so tying them down ie lst is always good to get them to bush out. training can go along way. I use a combination of topping and lst with bamboo poles and ties.

what strains you gonna run?

This is similar to what I do...I considered PCV at first, but my frame's made out of bamboo, aluminum brackets and masking tape, because I'm ghetto and cheap.

It's important to make sure your frame is very securely attached/bolted to the lid of your bucket, so the frame/net/plant/bucket all move as one, since you'll be moving them around a lot. You don't want the frame/net to start sliding around independently while it's attached to your plants, or it could slide and/or get bumped, and rip your plant apart.

 

[LostTribe]

This is similar to what I do...I considered PCV at first, but my frame's made out of bamboo, aluminum brackets and masking tape, because I'm ghetto and cheap.

It's important to make sure your frame is very securely attached/bolted to the lid of your bucket, so the frame/net/plant/bucket all move as one, since you'll be moving them around a lot. You don't want the frame/net to start sliding around independently while it's attached to your plants, or it could slide and/or get bumped, and rip your plant apart.

The dp ww used to be really nice almost like og kush back 10 years ago fem's.

You can buy a tressel or make one out of twisty ties and bamboo thats what I do.

LT

 

[Joint Lock]

What Mars LED u using how many true watts of draw power

 

[MtnSkunk]

It's the cree 256 pro series, up to 680w in bloom mode. Hoping to get some stuff setup today, beans won't be here for another week.