Outdoor Hydroponic Rooftop Grow - Recirculating DWC - No Airstones & No Medium!

[Crazy Chester]

Super Lemon Haze Autopsy

Super Lemon Haze Autopsy

Irrefutable proof from the autopsy that Douglas Curtis was absolutely right about both the cause of death (fungus gnats) and the manner of death (destruction of the plant where the base of the stem meets the roots).

The cambrium at the base of the plant was relatively undamaged:



And the cambrium was relatively healthy on up the branches:



But, just below that where the roots first formed it is full of fungus gnat larvae and rot:




Thus, the manner of death Curtis called...

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Ouch, sorry to see that. Excellent documentation though, thank you for posting it. Glad the rest of the plants are doing well.

 

[Crazy Chester]

Ouch, sorry to see that. Excellent documentation though, thank you for posting it. Glad the rest of the plants are doing well.

You're welcome, Douglas - I figure the bad and the ugly deserve as much attention as the good - maybe it will help someone save their plant if they face the same issue. Capstone was doing well, but yesterday she looked like SLH did when she first started showing signs of falling ill. So, I'm going to pull her planter apart to spray the hell out of where the roots join the trunk and hope she overcomes it. If she doesn't return to healthy growth in a few days I'm going to shut down the roof garden for the season, as Fire OG looks like it's about ready to be harvested in any event.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Harvesting a Fire OG would be nice right now Congrats on nearly finishing it.

Whatever else happens, it's been an amazing journal and thank you for it!

 

[hamstring]

As a bother who owns a mortgage/house I like the fact the light dep tie downs seemed to be fastened to the ridge vent rather than through the shingles.

Since I realize my plants are getting root bound, I want to make the most of it and flower them now.

Of course, that means light deprivation.

I've been trying - so far unsuccessfully - to get a tarp to stay down in regular 20-40 mph winds.

I really need to pull this off - the plants just look like they want to flower. Actually, Fire OG is flowering and has probably been flowering for weeks now, but my sativa doms haven't yet.

Time to get them all flowering - and put plants in that will finish in early November for a second harvest!

Anyways, here's what I've been up to, light deprivation-wise:

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=83028&pictureid=2048844&thumb=1]View Image[/URL]

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=83028&pictureid=2048845&thumb=1]View Image[/URL]

 

[Crazy Chester]

As a bother who owns a mortgage/house I like the fact the light dep tie downs seemed to be fastened to the ridge vent rather than through the shingles.

Welcome, hamstring - yep, that thing is quite strong! All of the setup is either lying on top of the shingles or fastened to the multiple ridge vents with a hook through the slots in the vents. It worked fine - despite it being wicked windy during this grow, but no damage to the roof!

 

[Crazy Chester]

Harvesting a Fire OG would be nice right now Congrats on nearly finishing it.

Whatever else happens, it's been an amazing journal and thank you for it!

Thanks for the compliments, Douglas - yeah, I'm always stoked for some Fire OG! And the others - they'll have their day for sure!

 

[Green81]

Crazy chester. Sorry for your woes but respect for showing the good and the bad. Also when will your next grow happen?

G81

 

[Crazy Chester]

Crazy chester. Sorry for your woes but respect for showing the good and the bad. Also when will your next grow happen?G81

Hi Green81 - thanks for the compliment. My original plan was to grow them to maturity with them vegging out all summer into huge plants that would finish in the normal course of things by late October.

But, Fire OG started flowering by mid-June, I think it was, so I decided to tarp them all to get the others to flower - thinking I could harvest by the end of August, fill the containers with new plants and harvest them by the beginning of November.

Well, the fungus gnats have made me change that plan. I don't think I'm doing the style of grow I did on the roof (where it is intended to be closed to keep out pests), until I figure out how to deal with the gnats finding a way to get in near the base of the plant. It's too difficult to get in there throughout the grow for any kind of IPM, like I do on my DWC plants. That said, I'm sure I'll come up with something that is worth trying by next outdoors season.

The other part of why I'm not going to try it again next year is that I have other plants outdoors - both in soil and in DWC that seem like they are going to make it. Fungus gnats haven't had a change in my compost mix on the soil side and I can IPM the base of the plants on the DWC side - whereas, on the roof, they were screwed in to their containers and had insulation around the tops.

Here's why this year's outdoors grow will probably be a success despite 2/3 of the roof garden failing:

The other third of the roof garden (Fire OG):



Alien OG Bagseed in 50/50 compost/vermiculite:



MAC 1 in DWC:



Peak Seeds C99 in DWC:



And, Capstone in DWC:



And, who knows, I may put something else out there soon next to the Alien OGs...

 

[Crazy Chester]

RIP Capstone:



Although Super Lemon Haze showed symptoms of the fungus gnat damage first, Capstone actually had it way worse, but for some reason made it a bit further along than her sister:



She had a huge root-ball occupying the entirety of her 10 gallon container - but, the black on the roots is actually individual adult fungus gnats - yuck!

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Wow!

 

[Crazy Chester]

Wow!

Lol - I know - I've never seen anything like it! Moral of the story - if you don't plan on inspecting your roots because you created a closed hydro system - you'd damn better make sure there's NO way a fungus gnat can get in there.

 

[Crazy Chester]

Final Roof Grow Update of the Season

Final Roof Grow Update of the Season

Puffing on some Fire OG:



Roof garden is closed for the season:

 

[Mars Hydro Led]

Hi Curtis - I delayed my response to you because I was hoping to bring you good news a few days later about the SLH - but, alas, it went the other way and is now all but dead:

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=83028&pictureid=2063253&thumb=1]View Image[/URL]

But, Fire OG:

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=83028&pictureid=2063254&thumb=1]View Image[/URL]

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=83028&pictureid=2063255&thumb=1]View Image[/URL]

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=83028&pictureid=2063257&thumb=1]View Image[/URL]

And Capstone:

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=83028&pictureid=2063256&thumb=1]View Image[/URL]

Are progressing nicely...

That is really a monster tree. Nice