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Snype's Guide To RDWC - Part 2 - Featuring BYTCH & 4,000 Watts!
- Thread starter Snype
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Glad you like the thread! The plants should be in the RDWC systems any time now.
captinahab
Member
I use 2 tbs per 8 oz water in a spray bottle as my ONLY cleaner for my garden walls, floors, outside of containers. I use 1 tsp per gallon put in a sprayer for foiler. I.take them out of the room spray them down and put a fan on them making sure they are dry before i put them back under lights. Of course i never spray flowwering buds with it. Love the smell of neem. Carbon filter block zero neem smell (just an fyi if you dump outside). I never use them in the soil thou because the one time i did my plant went from tlo to deserted. It drives off all bugs even the benificial ones... plus i love my springtails.
I hope the plant gets the same benifit from foliar feeds as soil.... or close.to it as your hudro gets.
Ok 4 tomorrow it is.
I transferred 20 of the healthiest plants into the 2 x 10 Bucket RDWC Systems. When I transfer the plants into this RDWC system, I cut the bottoms off of my 6" bucket lids that are attached to this system. The reason why I do this is so I can fit my 5" net pots from my VEG-A system right into the 6" bucket lids. This means that my roots hang directly in the solution and the solution never touches the pot itself in any way.
The plants varied in heights from 7” – 9” once I got them into the RDWC Systems, The plants sink into the buckets so they lose height in my measurement process because I take my readings from the top of the new net pot and when the plants in the 5" pots go inside the 6" bucket lids, they sink inside. The smaller plants were put into the middle of the system and the larger plants were placed on the outer buckets in the system. I don’t like to put them right into 2,000 Watts HPS, so I use 2 Lumatek dimmable ballasts and turn both 1000 watt ballasts down to the 600 watt setting and still use the 1000 watt Hortilux bulbs. The bottom of the reflector is 62.25” away from the top of the 6” bucket lids. I don’t lower the lights at all and I let the plants grow toward the light instead. The goal is to Veg the plants to 19” and SuperCropping the tallest branches every few days. In my experience this will take up to 10 days to occur under 2 x 600 Watts HPS while turning up the ballast to 750 and 1,000 Watts over the next week. If I were to put them under 2000 Watts HPS now, the plants would grow faster and I would be able to put them into flowering a few days earlier but I like to let the plants get use to their new home so I don’t add any stress to the equation. Stress can lead to major root problems in RDWC so the less stress that you add the better.
This specific system for me contains roughly 30 Gallons of water. Before I added the plants in, I poured 30 Gallons of tap water into the system. My tap water is 150 TDS (500 conversion scale) and has a pH of 7.5. After I put in the water, I added:
150 mL General Hydroponics FloraMicro
300 mL General Hydroponics Flora Bloom
60 mL pH down
1 mL Clorox Bleach
That brought my pH down to 6.0 and my TDS was at 740 (500 conversion scale). I always keep my pH in the range of 5.8 – 6.2 at all times. Regardless of what other people tell you on this site, going below a pH of 5.8 or above 6.2 in RDWC can cause lockouts which can cause stress and lead to major problems so it is very important to stay at these pH levels at all times. Lots of growers think that your pH will always rise as plants are eating but it is not always true. A lot of times it works out that way but when you set your pH below 5.8, it doesn’t always make it back up to 5.8 in a timely manner and can lead to major problems that can cause you to lose your crop within days in extreme cases. Now that we are in RDWC is where the fun begins and you will see how extreme the growth rates are.
Date: June 24, 2014
Stage: Day 1 Veg-B
Heights: 7" - 9"
Top Off: 30 Gallons
pH pre: n/a
Added (pH): 60 mL pH Down
pH post: 6.0
PPM pre (500 scale): n/a
Added (ppm): 150 mL Micro, 300 mL Bloom, 1 mL Clorox Bleach
PPM post: 740
Water Temperature: 70
Air Temperature: 66 - 73F
rH: 55%
CO2: None
Pump Cycle: 24/7
Other Information: plants put into RDWC under 4 x 600 Watt HPS. Water level is set to 0.5" below the net pot.
The plants varied in heights from 7” – 9” once I got them into the RDWC Systems, The plants sink into the buckets so they lose height in my measurement process because I take my readings from the top of the new net pot and when the plants in the 5" pots go inside the 6" bucket lids, they sink inside. The smaller plants were put into the middle of the system and the larger plants were placed on the outer buckets in the system. I don’t like to put them right into 2,000 Watts HPS, so I use 2 Lumatek dimmable ballasts and turn both 1000 watt ballasts down to the 600 watt setting and still use the 1000 watt Hortilux bulbs. The bottom of the reflector is 62.25” away from the top of the 6” bucket lids. I don’t lower the lights at all and I let the plants grow toward the light instead. The goal is to Veg the plants to 19” and SuperCropping the tallest branches every few days. In my experience this will take up to 10 days to occur under 2 x 600 Watts HPS while turning up the ballast to 750 and 1,000 Watts over the next week. If I were to put them under 2000 Watts HPS now, the plants would grow faster and I would be able to put them into flowering a few days earlier but I like to let the plants get use to their new home so I don’t add any stress to the equation. Stress can lead to major root problems in RDWC so the less stress that you add the better.
This specific system for me contains roughly 30 Gallons of water. Before I added the plants in, I poured 30 Gallons of tap water into the system. My tap water is 150 TDS (500 conversion scale) and has a pH of 7.5. After I put in the water, I added:
150 mL General Hydroponics FloraMicro
300 mL General Hydroponics Flora Bloom
60 mL pH down
1 mL Clorox Bleach
That brought my pH down to 6.0 and my TDS was at 740 (500 conversion scale). I always keep my pH in the range of 5.8 – 6.2 at all times. Regardless of what other people tell you on this site, going below a pH of 5.8 or above 6.2 in RDWC can cause lockouts which can cause stress and lead to major problems so it is very important to stay at these pH levels at all times. Lots of growers think that your pH will always rise as plants are eating but it is not always true. A lot of times it works out that way but when you set your pH below 5.8, it doesn’t always make it back up to 5.8 in a timely manner and can lead to major problems that can cause you to lose your crop within days in extreme cases. Now that we are in RDWC is where the fun begins and you will see how extreme the growth rates are.
Date: June 24, 2014
Stage: Day 1 Veg-B
Heights: 7" - 9"
Top Off: 30 Gallons
pH pre: n/a
Added (pH): 60 mL pH Down
pH post: 6.0
PPM pre (500 scale): n/a
Added (ppm): 150 mL Micro, 300 mL Bloom, 1 mL Clorox Bleach
PPM post: 740
Water Temperature: 70
Air Temperature: 66 - 73F
rH: 55%
CO2: None
Pump Cycle: 24/7
Other Information: plants put into RDWC under 4 x 600 Watt HPS. Water level is set to 0.5" below the net pot.
w4tch
Member
Always impressive Snype. Looking forward to seeing whats in store for us. Quick question, back to flood and drain. How many minutes do you flood for ?
Great question! I flood for 15 minute intervals.
Day 2 VEG-B
Date: June 25, 2014
Stage: Day 2 Veg-B
Heights: 7.5" - 9.5"
Top Off: 0 Gallons
pH pre: 6.4
Added (pH): 20 mL pH Down
pH post: 6.0
PPM pre (500 scale): 740
Added (ppm): n/a
PPM post: 750
Water Temperature: 70
Air Temperature: 66 - 75F
rH: 55%
CO2: None
Pump Cycle: 24/7
Other Information: Lights still at 600 Watts.
Date: June 25, 2014
Stage: Day 2 Veg-B
Heights: 7.5" - 9.5"
Top Off: 0 Gallons
pH pre: 6.4
Added (pH): 20 mL pH Down
pH post: 6.0
PPM pre (500 scale): 740
Added (ppm): n/a
PPM post: 750
Water Temperature: 70
Air Temperature: 66 - 75F
rH: 55%
CO2: None
Pump Cycle: 24/7
Other Information: Lights still at 600 Watts.
lookin proper as always Snype! How are things? Better than last time I checked in I hope?!
jointventure420
Member
superCropping
superCropping
Hello Snype.. First, i would like to say Thank You for your efforts and for taking the time to document your work…Having read most of your tutorials(again..great reading) i have a question about your method of superCropping…Does your superCropping method vary from your pruning and defoliation methods discussed in other threads..? If all of the above methods are one in the same, please, disregard my question..
Thank You again for your time
JV...
superCropping
Hello Snype.. First, i would like to say Thank You for your efforts and for taking the time to document your work…Having read most of your tutorials(again..great reading) i have a question about your method of superCropping…Does your superCropping method vary from your pruning and defoliation methods discussed in other threads..? If all of the above methods are one in the same, please, disregard my question..
Thank You again for your time
JV...
ssq.talker
Member
love your roots, so perfect 
I'm not sure what you mean but I will answer as best as I can. When I SuperCrop, I pinch the stem about an inch below the top of the branch. I squeeze the branch gently until I hear or see it crack. I don't cut anything off. That is how I learned it from a member here named "doneit".
No matter if I top a plant or SuperCrop a plant or LST a plant, I will still prune the bottom of the plant and defoliate during a period of time. All my pruning of the bottom branches of a plant is always done by day 14 of Flower. After that I focus on defoliating after about day 28 of Flower.
jointventure420
Member
superropping
superropping
Snype.. Your response answered my question..Wasn't sure if you stopped pruning and defoliation in favor of super cropping…I understand now that all three methods are used..
Thanks again…!!
JV
superropping
Snype.. Your response answered my question..Wasn't sure if you stopped pruning and defoliation in favor of super cropping…I understand now that all three methods are used..
Thanks again…!!
JV
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