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

[marinemansf]

Can you go into a little more detail about what you mean by self hermied?

Gonna have to wait for the pics till tomorrow, just missed the lights comin home lol. Still used to that 18 cycle.

I had no idea dynapro wasnt organic....FUCK! lol Hydro store in town told me they were.... bout to take em back and order some of your nutes crave. Then i gotta ask if there are any chemicals in my nutes?? Guess im miss defining "organic." Can you throw down what makes something organic. I was thinking it was just not using chemicals or pesticides... "Swimmy, swammy...... SAMSONITE!! I WAS WAAAAAY OFF!"

And i know i dont need to use grow nutes now, i was telling toke what i had used in the past and present, and i bought the grow before i knew i didnt need em thats all. And my next run, im runnin same as you son! Those roots are fucking nuts! They look soo pure white and clean, i think i just caught feelings for a plant.... they in my dreams is what im sayin! lol. And i will do a little tinkering after this run, on the res and the way it connects to the buckets, put the res and buckets on a cart, with the res directly under the buckets. Correct me if im wrong, but is your res directly under your buckets? Then im gonna try and make it so theres a two foot fall into the rez. Tons of oxygen.

 

[marinemansf]

Oh can you take a few pics of your res setup. Im really interested in how you have yours running and what brand water pump you run. Thanks yo

 

[tokersmoke]

selfed hermie seed is when the fem grew male parts and pollinated itself.That is how i got the blue doctor seeds only the pollen pollinated a doctor instead of itself.I have plenty clones left i just dont want anymore hermies.Maybe the new room and great care can help me steer away from hermies.ive only run the strain 2 times without it herming out.

 

[marinemansf]

Thanks bro, i knew what hermies were, just had never heard the term "selfed hermied." Thanks for clearing that up.

Quick question, and crave when you see this, there are a few other questions i had about 3 posts up, but anywho... Right now my room bounces between 66 degrees Fahrenheit with lights on, and about 62 with em off. Is that a safe range?

 

[tokersmoke]

66 is ok..Ideally you want 75 lights on 65 lights off.is the grow in your house?

 

[marinemansf]

Its in the basement of my house.... midwest in the winter and springs is quite cool. I think i might move the whole operation into a spare room upstairs.

Heres those pics i promised... last two are just some anomalies i noticed.

 

[cravin morehead]

whats up guys-
marineman- i a little confused on the nute you are talking about. when you type it comes out as dynaPRO. it is called DynaGro. i'm not sure if that is an auto-correct thing happening or if we got our lines crossed. so to clarify, here is what i use:

over the years i started with dyna, tried house and gardens, gh, foxfarms, etc... now i've come full circle back to dyna, for me, the best. great products. this stuff is not organic. don't listen too hard to hydro store sales people. most are just trying to sell stuff. alot don't have a clue. you are best off to ask questions on this site and go from there. i'm not sure what the label means by "beyond organic". marketing hype i'm sure. to me, organic nutes are raw forms of elements converted to be used by plants. what i'm using is nutes already in the form useful to plants. when it comes down to it, they are virtually the same. IMO. this is a highly debated topic around here. while i can totally respect growers wanting to be totally organic, i just don't see how it fits into hydroponic growing. soil growing for sure. THIS IS JUST MY OPINION. i've had some awesome tasting buds grown organically in soil. i've also had some great tasting buds grown hydroponically. i believe with bio-buckets you are getting the best of both worlds. speed and ease of nutrient uptake with the "chemical" nutes and buffering and nitrogen cycle altered elements of "organic" hydro styles. here is a interesting link to the whole straight hydro vs organic hydro debate. the opening post makes sense to me. :
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=5669
decide for yourself. i can't help much with hydro growing organic style, i've never seen a need for it myself, but to each there own. however my soil grows are done organically. mainly because it makes sense to me.

as far as my reservoir set up, here we go.
heres my reservoir, it is outside of my tent. there are two fans mounted on it. one blowing fresh air at the waterfall return (the 2" located under the ballast in the pic). the other fan is sucking air out of the reservoir, keeping fresh air exchanging.
heres the float valve inside the reservoir. it is run with a copper icemaker line to a cold water copper pipe near by.
this is the 2" main drain return line. it runs between the buckets, with 1 1/2" drain line at each bucket. the 2" is elevated to allow for about 1/4" per foot of fall of the return line all the way back to the top of my res. in order to achieve this, i had to put the tent on a 8" stand. as far as my pump, i use a danner mag drive. its rated at 1800gal/hr. it is situated in the tent, under the 'carts' (actually they are stands, carts without wheels). be sure to install a valve and union on both sides of the pump. if something happens to your pump, the valves and unions make it really easy to remove the pump without a ton of water spilling out. thats about all i can think to add about reservoirs. as you can tell, i took the parameters and ideas that BigToke laid out, and i just 'modernized' them and adjusted them to the available fittings and parts i could find.
66*f isn't bad at all. i wish i could grow in those temps. that would mean i could dial down or even shut off certain fans and save energy. you could use the lights to control the temp.

nice pics! they are looking happy. nice, no overferted burned leaf tips. looks like bud sites are starting to set up. here comes the real fun part of the grow.
toker- i hope you do try out a 1 bucket system. would be cool to see the differences between organic soil vs. bio-bucket hydro on the same strain in the exact same enviornment. once again, i'm here to help you design a 1 bucket system, if you need it.
we are having a great little bio-bucket discussion here.

cm

 

[marinemansf]

Hey crave, yeah i was getting auto correct boned... also i dont know what i was thinking about my nutes, i was waaaaay off! Im using botanicare nutes. That chronic got ya boy slippin! lol. Got bored and decided to start snapping some pics.

One is the real nutes im using....

The one side shot of the plants, should i be clearing all the little branches out of the lower plant to boost the upper canopy? Like you did on your c99 run?

Some of the pics are from the smallest plant, looks like she might have taken being out of the buckets a little hard. Some limp leaf tips. Not really worried, just hopping it bounces back. And one is from one of about 3 leaves with a little nute burn from when i decided to be dumb and crank the nutes to 1000 ppm. Back to 500 now.

Now that I have something to take pics of finally, gonna have to start bustin out my Nikon D5000 DSLR camera and start takin some macros!

By the way, the cooler idea is fucking genius, im definitely gonna make one of those of my own. And if we could come up with some way of automating nute adds, we'd both be rich, and this would be literally, the easiest way to grow.

One question, do you use co2 at all? Thats one thing i havent noticed on your setup? I dont have one but had an out of the box idea for us if you dont. I went to the pet store to get some fish for my tank, and noticed in one of the aquariums they grew only plants in, a type of co2 diffuser, kind of like these (link to pic at the bottom). Is this something that would be worth incorporating into the bio buckets? Small co2 cartridges are cheap, like ones for bb guns. I just thought maybe you could put it in the res, and might be better than not running co2, but waaaaay cheaper than doin a full air co2 kit. Let me know what you think.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CO2-kit-pla...user-check-valve-bubble-counter-/271206362165

 

[tokersmoke]

I think you have thrips!!!look at some pics in google search and from my own experience.I would get a no pest strip and the insecticidal soap.

 

[marinemansf]

Really? Cause I'm pretty sure it's just a little over fertilization. What makes you think thrips? Also, remember I'm in the midwest, so bugs aren't even out yet. I have a pest strip out and used neem oil like 2 weeks ago.

Update: Just confirmed it, just nute burn. Looked over everything with a magnifying glass and I pretty sure I would have seen one of them if it were thrips. Plus this is my first ever grow, so I know I havent brought in anything from anywhere. But thanks for the heads up though.

Also i did a little trimming on one for the ladies. In the pic you can see how much for light is now penetrating the canopy. Did I do it correctly?

 

[tokersmoke]

hard to tell from pics usually nute burn shows on the tips the second pic makes it look like pests but again hard to tell.getting bugs sucks!!

 

[cravin morehead]

hey guys- looking good in here! roots are making a nice comeback!
marineman- toker could be right about bugs. that type of discoloration is unusual for over-ferting. if you say you checked than you checked. it would not hurt to throw a couple no-pest strips around your girls. use them for a few days then put them into a ziplock bag to preserve, then put them out for another few days. try this 3 times. i don't like to use them more than 3 weeks into flower. so i try to be preventative rather than reactionary. thats the good thing about a tent, its very easy to control and filter the openings to control what goes into it. of course you can be dumb like me and go straight from working in my outdoor veggie garden to the tent and introduce spidermites too. oops... i noticed something in your pics. inside your buckets you have the fitting that brings water into the bucket. you have a tube connected to it going to the bottom of each bucket. remove that tube. in the event of a power outtage, that tube makes it possible for all the water out of each bucket to be siphoned back to your reservoir and overflow it. thats a mess. also, i ran my feed lines not inside the drain lines. because, the only design flaw i've found is the roots will grow into the drain lines. i had roots grow through 8' of drain line and were growing in my reservoir! with roots and feed lines in there, you could have a flood there too. don't fix it now, wait until after this run, when your doing your refinements for the next run.
as for co2. no i do not use it. in order to use it correctly, you got to have a sealed room. with exhaust set-up to not suck all the co2 out before it does any good. in order for co2 supplementation to be useful, the ppms have to be real high (the exact levels escapes me right now). that level is hard to reach without the correct set-up. as for the aquarium co2 stuff, it might actually kill your grow. plant roots need oxygen (o2) (so do our beneficial bacteria), the plants leaves use co2. the reason it works in fish tanks is because the leaves are underwater. i would try to get your enviornment enclosed and controlled before any of that stuff. besides, after a couple bio-bucket runs, you'll see you don't need any co2. they will be monsters on their own.
as far as trimming, you are on the right path. don't do too much now, it could stunt the growth. i do all my trimming when i flip to flower cycle. this is just how i do it. there are many ways to skin a cat, this is just my way. during veg i begin tying the main stalk over to like a 90* angle. i try to keep the braches spread out to let light and air flow freely through the plants. periodically, i remove 'suckers'. those are new secondary branches that grow off of main braches. when its time to flip. i remove all growth on all branches except for the main top to each branch. i also remove any branches that just aren't as strong as the others. i usually end up flowering like 4-10 branches per plant. so, theoretically, the only thing growing buds are the tops of each branch. the stretch in flower usually dictates the size of my buds. looks like you pretty much got the idea. just do it sooner. remember, don't make too many changes in 1 grow. too hard to figure out which change did what. you always will have a next grow to try out something different. being patient always rewards the grower.
toker- getting bugs does suck!! good call on a possible pest problem. i'm not the best at diagnosing which bug is at work. thats why i just try to stay preventative. also, marineman is using botanicare pure blend pro, so good news for you, they are organic. one step closer to trying bio-buckets.

did someone say macro photos??

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[tokersmoke]

Cravin ive used bontanicare nutes extensively.The exact same bloom formula.It has organic ingredients.But it isnt wholly organic.I know in soil or co co it has to be used with every watering i go through it like a stuck pig.The bottle says use with every watering.I am aware i will prob use way less nutes in the buckets.I want to build a basic one bucket system that can grow a plant no taller then 36 inches.

IF it goes good ill make a 20 pot system and give it a go.My hydro store guys the best organic nutes out are nectar for the gods.He agrees the botanicare is good stuff.TRUE organics is a science among the hardcore.

 

[cravin morehead]

toker, feeding 20 plants every watering, i bet you go through some nutes. glad to hear you are going to give a bucket a go. i think you'll like it. if not, thats cool too. i am not the kind of guy that has to believe my way is the best or only way to do things. i enjoy seeing the different ways us stoners use to grow buds. whoever said stoners are stupid, needs to open their eyes... and yes, true organics is crazy involved. but, it is a great skill to know, especially the way things are going in the world today. makes it much easier to stay self-sufficient. 36" tall you say. that shouldn't be a problem. i've got similar height restrictions. which leads me to a downside of bio-buckets. the buckets take up some valuable real estate, heightwise. but, then again, most indoor techniques suffer from similar height restrictions. i have noticed that some strains seem to stretch a little more than with other techniques. i can't say for sure its a bio-bucket thing or just different circumstances made it happen. but, just something to be aware of.
marineman, macros? i'll try to get some macros of my current run. i'm not sure of the strain, came from an old bagseed i had from the late 90's. been having a hard time cloning it. but, i'll keep trying because she smells awesome. she's also got a nice sativa-ish structure to her too. got nice trich's already too.

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[tokersmoke]

I really wanna try something i can dial in with nutes,With my current technique the soil is pretty hot when the clones go in.In fact the 20 i just put in 5 gallon bags are showing a little burn.But i wont have to use nutes the whole flowering cycle.And things should slow down in time for harvest.Ive never gotten a Green taste but i like the plants to run out of nutes by the end.

 

[cravin morehead]

bio-buckets will let you play with nute levels to dial in a strain. no nutes throughout flower is great. and i too like to ween them off the nutes at the end. i figure the plants should have nice fall colors at harvest time. for me, fall colors give the best chance for good taste. i've got some good seeds in my fridge, but phenotype hunting takes me a long time to find the good flavored ones. i got to grow out 1 seed at a time. pop a seed, clone it, veg and flower that clone, dry and cure it, then decide if i should keep the mom or move on. my mom cabinet only has room for like 3 moms at a time. 4 or 5 if i bonsai them. a long process that i will keep plugging away at...

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[leadbyexample52]

Nice idea's.....got me thinking........I've heard of people using rain water for hydro I think it's a good idea,but u might have to strain it also I've been told depending on where you live it might not be kosher,....could be to acidic

 

[leadbyexample52]

Also Jack's hydrophobic works great if your not trying to grow organic.....
Very cheap....long lasting(when stored properly)...

 

[marinemansf]

Hey leadby. I have been using natural water, ie rain and melted snow in my buckets, i then strain and filter it with a simple Brita filter once. Nice thing about bio buckets is you don't need a lot of water to keep it topped off, like maybe a gallon a month. I just store the excess water in some extra 5 gallon buckets. The really nice thing I like about doing things this way, is the ph of the rain in my area, (northern midwest) is almost dead on 7.0, also you don't have to either add water conditioner or let it sit to dechlorinate it. Might be a bit overkill, but I like it.

Cravin, dude! I'm getting my first little bud hairs! So fuckin psyched! Question, when do you begin weining you lady's off of your nutes? And what kind of pest strip do you use? I did do a little more digging into thrips, and I'm pretty sure I could see them if that were the problem. I'm 99% sure it's just a little nute burn. I even documented the problem when it happened. It happened when I tried boosting the nute levels from 500 ppm to 1000. Also, wouldn't the neem oil I applied keep bugs out?

Also cravin, as far as the siphoning affect I got covered. I drilled a small hole in the 90° fitting so it won't siphon the water back into the res. And running the in lines outside the return hose is already in the plans for my re work of the system at the end of this run. But good lookin out bro!

As always, cravin and toker, yall the shit! Pimps up, hoes down! Lol

 

[tokersmoke]

They are called hot shot no pest strip.If you are using neem it will help.But neem is more preventative then a one shot kill it all pest prevention.The strips knock em dead.Either way ive had thrips and spider mites its not fun.This go around ive had some thrips.I couldnt see any bugs but i knew they were there.I use insect soap and the strip.BOOWWW everything dead.You dont want the strip in the room constantly it is far from organic.

When flowering starts things start getting more fun everyday.The plants grow so fast its unbelievable.I will be establishing my perpetual grow again just so i can always have plants flowering.And so i can keep toking.Ive got no bud now because all the ladies went toward cuttings.I have one flowering blue dot left.It has days left till its done.I hate the waiting part.Even if i culled it now i would have to wait days to smoke it.But its all worth it when the bud is PERFECT>

Marine thanks for the shoutout.I have enjoyed learning things and giving advice.I will soon be asking your advice when it comes to these bio buckets.