Marineman's 1st grow journal - 600w Bio buckets

[marinemansf]

Aquaponics* god damn auto correct!

 

[marinemansf]

Bump for some needed help.

 

[tokersmoke]

Hey marine whats happening?Seems like things really got slowed down.

 

[marinemansf]

Yeah like I said, I think it had to do with the plastic left on the outside of the rockwool, so I think the roots were being blocked from growing outward. But I cut it of and since then they really started taking off.

 

[tokersmoke]

Yeah mighta had some mold from it to.Hope things really pick up for you!

 

[marinemansf]

Quick note. On my way to pick up ducting and a 6 inch in line fan. Hopefully that will take care of the direct line of heat that I believe is stunting my middle two plants.

 

[marinemansf]

Also switched from general organics to bitanicare. Cheaper, easier to use and doesn't smell like a dead donkey's ass.

 

[cravin morehead]

hey marinemansf. with bio-buckets you don't need a bunch of "tricks". heres a link to a bio-bucket grow of mine. notice how low i kept the ppm's the entire grow and how simple you can be with bio-buckets.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=258449
check out my albums for more info. i'm glad to help you out any way i can.

 

[marinemansf]

Hey thanks for offering help. I'm doing fairly well now that I hopefully am done with any and all of the rookie mistakes. And now that the plastic is off the rockwool, the roots have exploded so I'm just hoping their heights follow suit. I guess my biggest question at the moment is when and how to do some trimming. They are so bushy so just wondering how much of the lower to mid parts of the plant I can trim.

Also I installed a 6 inch in line fan and ducting so here's praying that fixes any heating issues from now on. I have just slowly been building up my system as the money allows and I really only need a tent and carbon filter and will be fairly well set.

 

[overbudjet]

When and how to trim your's girls depend on strain and growing method(sog/scrog/three/lst/etc.)
from the last pic i see you can wait!

 

[marinemansf]

Hey OB, thanks for chiming in. I just wasn't sure if doing a little of the lower branches would help get more light to the bottom of the plant. But if you think I should wait, I will. I also topped each of the girls at about the 5th node. My question here is, is topping a process you repeat several times throughout the grow? Or is it usually a one and done type of thing, per grow?

Also wanted to thank some of you veteran growers for taking me under their wing to lend a helping hand.

I did get my fan set up, and it's a 435 cfm. Once I got that going I did notice my direct heat line drop quite a bit.

 

[tokersmoke]

Glad you got the fan set up.Topping is a training method.before you apply a method try to make a picture of what the plant will become.Topping should only be done in veg state.Usually topping slows down vertical growth for at least 3 days.The ''Nodes''Underneath the part you cut should become two dominate branches like a "y"

Search some journals with training methods.I think topping has its places.LST Seems to just as effective and does not slow things down.GOOD LUCK

 

[marinemansf]

Hey all, time for an update and due to me finally getting my cool tube ducted and cooled with my new fan, shit has really taken off! I'm beginning to really understand how this growing shit works! I also realized how much of a killer that heat can be. Also I realized how important the roots truly are related to the size of a plant. Right now I'm running my 600w at 75% (50-125% is the range).

One big question I have for you cravin, is I read in your posts that you keep your ppm, at around 500. Now my question is, is what is the highest ppm that you have, or have heard of people running in bio bucket setups. My friend that actually got me interested in bio buckets, has told me he had a buddy that was up to 3800 ppm without nutes burn. Now I'm not sure how true this is, but I'm just curious if I could be running a higher ppm than 500, which is were I'm currently at. Thanks brotha......

 

[tokersmoke]

Not much experience in hydro but i do alot of reading.Never much of a reason to go over 1000ppm..Glad that things are working out better for you.

Heat and humidity control are one of the most critical aspects of a great finished product.Fresh air and exhaust or c02 supplementation is crucial to vigorous growth.

I wouldnt up the ppm until your plants show a need or you are going into flowering.

 

[cravin morehead]

hey marineman- i can't tell you how high you can run your nute levels. i never saw any need to push too high. with low ppm's, i save money on nutes and my plants look as happy as can be. growth rate is extremely fast and lush. i also like that low ppm's flush out much easier than high ppm's. go ahead and see how high you can go. would be interesting to see, i guess. the plant can only do so much, no matter what concentration or enviornment. go ahead and experiment, just realize its at the expense of your plants. if i were you, i would concentrate on dialing in a controlled environment. then you'll really see some growth...

just my opinion,
cm

 

[marinemansf]

Thanks for getting back to me so quick bud. Yeah my next investment will be a large tent. I think the gains will be exponential, mostly due to the controlled environment but also due to the reflective material. I think the biggest problem for me now, is that I'm loosing so much use full light.

One other question I had is, how do you personally get fresh air into your grow room. Do you have your ducting running to the outside some how? Or do you run a carbon filter of some sort.

I tried posting some new pics but there seems to be some sort of glitch preventing me from posting new photos. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong there. Thanks again guys.

 

[cravin morehead]

a nice tent would do you a ton of good. my tent is in a room with a window banger A/C that is controlled by a thermostat. the room stays about 78*f or so. the tent pulls air into it from the a/c'd room. i built light traps with filters to go over the tent openings. i have a 4" fan with carbon filter sucking in hot air 24/7 from the top of the tent and out the window. my 1k light has a 6" fan pulling from the room (right above the A/C blower vent) through the light and tee'd into the ducting out the window. that fan is only on when the light is on.

 

[cravin morehead]

heres a link to how i made my intake vent light traps:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=135524
that diy link-o-rama is full of awesome ideas.
thats a pic of the light trap installed on the tent. i took little velcro circles and stuck them to the light trap then stick on my filter media to keep dust and stuff out of the tent (not pictured)

cm

 

[marinemansf]

Good news!

Good news!

Hey all been a bit since i could update my post. But now that im getting the feel for this growing stuff, things have really taken off!

Right now im running at 1000 ppm and topping off to keep it at that rate. And the bitches have never looked better, roots are going ape shit!

Cravin, i do have a question for you, i just checked my ph after a few weeks of just letting it go, and it read 4.0! So im just freakin a tiny bit about that. Been adding a little ph up to try and get it back into the 5.5 to 6.5 range. Now is it safe for the ladies to be in a ph that low?? Should i be adding ph up or not?

I do have a few new pics to post too.

Thanks again to everyone who has took the time to help me out on this run... you guys have saved me a ton of time and money in the process! Oh and the new nutes i have been using are the shit! They run clear, dont clog shit up and dont smell like a dead donkeys ass...

Heres the updated pics!

 

[marinemansf]

Hey also, when should i start thinking about flippin that switch to 12/12?

Should i start looking to train?