Barney's Farm - Tangerine Dream - Waterfarm!

Barney's Farm - Tangerine Dream..............2010 Cannabis Cup Winner

Now this is exciting! Drawing inspiration from SCOTTYBALLS and his awesome Pineapple Express grow in the Waterfarm, I've started my own waterfarm grow with seeds from this past years' Cannibis Cup winner, Tangerine Dream from the awesome Barney's Farm. Germination seems to be challenging with this strain, or maybe it's just these particular seeds I received. They appeared a bit small and pale, but I put 2 in a wet paper-towel/plastic bag and 1 out of 2 has germed in 2 days - the other is still not doing anything yet.

For those of you not familiar with the GH Waterfarm, you may want to visit this 'semi-famous' grow journal thread to get caught up...

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/344359-pineapple-express-g13-labs-seed.html

...there, no can you see why I was inspired to try this out!? Here's the story so far...

So I've had my waterfarm and water testers ready to go for a few months now, but hadn't had a chance to prep it all until recently - had extra holes drilled in the bottom of the top bucket and bought a bigger water pump to replace the smaller one that comes with the kit. My tap water (even after it sits out for 2-3 days and gets pH adjusted with pH-Down liquid) is way high on the PPM scale to use (~350). I decided that I would buy myself jugs of RO water from the grocery store at least to get started - eventually I'll need to invest in an RO system and just filter my tap water but for now I can live with paying $3 for 15 gallons of water. It won't need a lot for the first few weeks at least anyway.

My first TD seeds to germinate was ready to go yesterday at about 6 pm but I wasn't setup to start it in the waterfarm yet so I put it back in it's towel. That evening (around 11 pm) I was ready to go and opened the germination towel to find that the seedling had already shed it's shell and was just a small 2" curly root and a white end with immature leaves that were of course tightly closed still. I thought maybe it was too late and it wouldn't take in the hydroton that way...but I thought 'what the hell' and put it in anyway - I just dropped the root down in the hydroton as carefully as I could and supported the rest of the seedling with small pieces of the coco. I then shut off the lights and went to bed. The next morning I was surprised to see that the seedling had made itself at home nicely and was already turning a bit green!! I dug out my CFL splits and a powerbar, and setup a simple light for it to get started.

Now, later in the day it's looking greener and greener - the cotelydons are looking like they should be open by this evening sometime! Take a look at the below pics...it's even nicer looking now since these pics were taken...





This waterfarm really has me stoked! I've got a nice 4'x4'x4' grow tent that this unit will go into in about a day once this seedling is a bit stronger. I'll have a 400w HPS light in the tent to start, possible switching to a 600 watt HPS later on and into flowering - depending on if I can control the heat in the tent properly enough. The plan is to build a nice screen in a few weeks to place above the waterfarm, just like Scotty's. I'm looking for something with nice 2" holes to use - we'll see. I also need to cover the top with foil to avoid white buildup on the drip-ring, but until I start using nutes, it shouldn't be a problem.

Speaking of nutes and such - I'll be using the Flora-Nova Bloom with the popular 'lucas formula'.

PPM: 150 (water started as 25 PPM but the hydroton seems to have raised it up a bit)
pH: 6.5 (I'll bring this down to 6.0 or a bit lower eventually but not worrying about it atm)

Hey man!
Nice to see another grow inspired by Scotty! I myself have taken his ideas and upped it a fraction, hehe.
I am truly amazed that your TD seed even germed!
Most of the people who have bought them have had 0% germination and the ones that managed to germ got mutant looking plants.
Fingers crossed yours is ok!

TD

Great post! Looks like fun ^^
I'd love to try one of those Waterfarms for myself one day. Good luck!
I especially like the power bar in the cardboard xD
Subscribed!

TDooda said:

Hey man!
Nice to see another grow inspired by Scotty! I myself have taken his ideas and upped it a fraction, hehe.
I am truly amazed that your TD seed even germed!
Most of the people who have bought them have had 0% germination and the ones that managed to germ got mutant looking plants.
Fingers crossed yours is ok!

TD

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Thanks TD - yeah I read that some other peeps were having issues getting the TD seeds to germ, and I'm not surprised as the seeds looked kind of pale and a tad on the small side. I'm trying to be patient with them though, as sometimes the sativa-dom strains can take longer to germ. I have another 3 seeds though, so no worries if a few don't pan out... just need to make sure to clone the ones that do, in case this turns out to be a higher than average result. I've had fantastic results with all of Barney's genetics so far though, and we've been thoroughly enjoying their Vanilla Kush, Blue Cheese, Acapulco Gold, Red Dragon and Crimea Blue during the past 2 years - nothing but tastly, potent herb from these girls, no complaints!! I fucked up a Pineapple Chunk grow this past year, but it still turned out 'okay'.

Watching the Spannibis Cup vids on the Attitude site, it sounds like Barney's will be releasing a Pineapple Express Auto strain this year which may actually tempt me to try some autos and see how they turn out...

rollajoint said:

Good luck man

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Thanks! Glad to see you join in with me on this grow - enjoy!!

shand said:

Great post! Looks like fun ^^
I'd love to try one of those Waterfarms for myself one day. Good luck!
I especially like the power bar in the cardboard xD
Subscribed!

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Thanks shand! Yeah, that cardboard piece was in an Ikea box with some stuff and is working well to hold up my cfl lights for now! I'm hoping that will 'gently' get that seedling started so the root can make it's way down enough to get stronger as it's first leaves open. I took those pics about 8 hours ago and it's already looking way greener and the leaves are about to open - should be by tonight! I setup the 400 W light in my tent and it's ready to go as soon as this newbie looks strong enough for the 400. Waterfarms will be my new grow method from now on if this works out for me! I hope to get over 10 oz from this one plant and unit, like the PE that Scotty did. I've got everything the same so far I think - but it's my first crack at hydro, so there's bound to be some bumps in the road! Oh well, I like learning new things...

good luck, can't wait to see how it turns out.

Allright, another "scotty" grow. I'm subbed. I love the waterfarm grows. Good Luck

Crystal Toy said:

good luck, can't wait to see how it turns out.

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Thanks - me too! I've got this CFL light on it 24 hr right now, just to give the root a good chance to sink down further before moving it to the big light - that will likely be this evening. I'll have the 400 W light a good distance away and have it set on a 12 on, 5.5 off, 1 on, 5.5 off schedule for veg.

Ganjasism said:

Allright, another "scotty" grow. I'm subbed. I love the waterfarm grows. Good Luck

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Yeah man - I'm stoked! My PPM is rising for some reason but I'm not too worried at this point since it's not using much water yet. I found an interesting light cycle idea in 'Treating Yourself' magazine where an experienced grower insists that for veg you only need 13 hours of light to keep it in grow mode. The idea is to have the lights on for 12 hours followed by 5 1/2 hours dark and then 1 hour of light and back to 5 1/2 dark - then repeat. This way you save on electricity and the plants actually grow faster. We'll see how it goes - I love experimenting! =) The flowering phase has another interesting light cycle with the time of light/dark changing every two weeks up until the 6 week mark where it stays at 9 hours on and 15 off. Treating Yourlself actually has free downloads of thier magazines on thier website - you can find the article in issue #25 on page 77 (more of a reference for myself..lol...but you may want to check it out!)

I thought i'd follow this early growth nice a close for those interested in how fast waterfarms work from seed. This pic is just 1 day since the seedling was placed in the waterfarm. It's starting to open now and you can see it's already starting on the serrated leaves.



As compared to Scotty's, we'll see how it looks after 7 days as shown in the first pic in his journal! The tin-foil will go on there in the next few days which will become more important once we start adding the Flora Nova to the rez.

Dayzt said:

Thanks - me too! I've got this CFL light on it 24 hr right now, just to give the root a good chance to sink down further before moving it to the big light - that will likely be this evening. I'll have the 400 W light a good distance away and have it set on a 12 on, 5.5 off, 1 on, 5.5 off schedule for veg.



Yeah man - I'm stoked! My PPM is rising for some reason but I'm not too worried at this point since it's not using much water yet. I found an interesting light cycle idea in 'Treating Yourself' magazine where an experienced grower insists that for veg you only need 13 hours of light to keep it in grow mode. The idea is to have the lights on for 12 hours followed by 5 1/2 hours dark and then 1 hour of light and back to 5 1/2 dark - then repeat. This way you save on electricity and the plants actually grow faster. We'll see how it goes - I love experimenting! =) The flowering phase has another interesting light cycle with the time of light/dark changing every two weeks up until the 6 week mark where it stays at 9 hours on and 15 off. Treating Yourlself actually has free downloads of thier magazines on thier website - you can find the article in issue #25 on page 77 (more of a reference for myself..lol...but you may want to check it out!)

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Yeah, that's a different light cycle for sure. It'll be interesting to see the results if you use it. Not quite sure why the ppm would be rising on you though? What's the reading? Did you rinse your hydroton before putting it in your bucket?

Ganjasism said:

Yeah, that's a different light cycle for sure. It'll be interesting to see the results if you use it. Not quite sure why the ppm would be rising on you though? What's the reading? Did you rinse your hydroton before putting it in your bucket?

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Yeah, the light-cycle is quite interesting. I'm using an old MH light that has an old ballast and ceramic socket. It's using a simple bat-wing reflector and it's all setup in a brand new mylar tent.

The hydroton I'm using was soaked for 24 hrs in pH'd water and then setup with normal tap water pH'd to 5.0 or so. The PPM was at over 350 with that setup though, so I bought a few 15 gallon RO water jugs at the grocery store and used some of it to resoak and rinse the hyroton again. I also cleaned out both buckets at that point before putting the hydrton back in. The RO water was tested at ~15 PPM before I put it in the farm and after it was running with the bubbler for about a half a day, I tested the PPM to be ~250 - so I'm left wondering if I still haven't rinsed the hydroton enough... I'm not too worried about it yet though, I'll be changing the water out again in a few weeks time and I expect the roots will be starting to enter the reservoir by then. I'm not using any nutes yet either - waiting until after 10 days to start with the Flora Nova Bloom.

As of this evening, the PPM is sitting at ~260 and the pH is 7.1 I'll be adjusting the pH down a bit in the next few days to try and keep it closer to 6.5 - I don't want to use too much though since it will go down once I start using nutes in about 7 days from now. Today, at day 3 from seed, the cotyledons are open and the first serrated leaves are starting. I'll take another pic in the next few days to compare the progress.

You could just take some of the "high" ppm water out and add RO to keep lowering the ppm to around 100 or less. Maybe a little everyday to get where you want before adding nutes??? I think that the pH for hydro should be in the mid to high 5's. I could be wrong though. Almost everyone I know starts the pH low (5.5 or so), and let's it creep up to the high 6's, or even 7 (which is neutral ph for water), then change out or pH down the water (depending on the ppm's).
It's because a wider pH range will make more nutrients available to the plant at different times. Which I'm sure you already know though. I'm interested to see how this goes. Good luck. You'll do great.

Ganjasism said:

You could just take some of the "high" ppm water out and add RO to keep lowering the ppm to around 100 or less. Maybe a little everyday to get where you want before adding nutes??? I think that the pH for hydro should be in the mid to high 5's. I could be wrong though. Almost everyone I know starts the pH low (5.5 or so), and let's it creep up to the high 6's, or even 7 (which is neutral ph for water), then change out or pH down the water (depending on the ppm's).
It's because a wider pH range will make more nutrients available to the plant at different times. Which I'm sure you already know though. I'm interested to see how this goes. Good luck. You'll do great.

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What a novel idea! =) I think I'll do just that (remove some of the high PPM water and add more straight RO water...). This will obviously raise my pH again (I'd lowered it this evening using some pH Down), but still at this point, my little seedling is developing it's first set of serrated leaves, so the roots aren't that low in the hydroton yet.

This reminds me of my very first grow when I overthought everything and that ended up being more detrimental to the plants than anything - I need to relax and let it do it's thing... and not worry about screwing up to the point where I mess with it too much..lol.

Thanks for your advise and for following along Ganja - should be an interesting grow - can't wait to see what I can get from this single plant in the Waterfarm.

Dayzt said:

What a novel idea! =) I think I'll do just that (remove some of the high PPM water and add more straight RO water...). This will obviously raise my pH again (I'd lowered it this evening using some pH Down), but still at this point, my little seedling is developing it's first set of serrated leaves, so the roots aren't that low in the hydroton yet.

This reminds me of my very first grow when I overthought everything and that ended up being more detrimental to the plants than anything - I need to relax and let it do it's thing... and not worry about screwing up to the point where I mess with it too much..lol.

Thanks for your advise and for following along Ganja - should be an interesting grow - can't wait to see what I can get from this single plant in the Waterfarm.

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I know what you mean. I over analyze EVERYTHING. Hard to relax unless I'm medicated. My mind just can't stop thinking "what if...."?. Really wears me out sometimes. Makes it hard to sleep!

Okay, here we are at day 7 since this seed cracked - since it was placed in the waterfarm a bit 'prematurely', I've noticed that it's been a tad slow to start - but not to worry. Today I drained a little over a gallon of water from the rez and replaced it with RO water pH'd down to about 4.5. My RO water is about 15 PPM, so I did this to even things out a bit better in my rez which has been at about 250 PPM and 7.0 pH during this first week. I think my hydroton has caused the hih PPMs but it seems to be settling down now. After I made a pH'd RO solution (~4.1), I added about a 1/4 strength amount of GH Micro and a very small amount of GH Grow to the mix and the readings were: ~100 PPM and ~4.1 pH. I added that that to the rez to bring it back up to level and now it's at 218 PPM and 6.4 pH....lights are off now, but I got a few pics before-hand.

Please, any comments or observations are welcome! Enjoy the pics!

Notes:

- switched the light cycle to 18-6 for the next few weeks to get a bit more of a boost...will switch it back after 2 weeks.
- I now have a small inline fan blowing fresh air into the bottom of the tent and small desk-fan at the top of my tent pushing air down. Temps are now going higher than 76 during lights on and 60 during lights off. RH is at around 50% during lights on and down to as low as 35% during lights off. I still need to setup some sort of exhaust solution - the tent walls 'bulge' slightly when it's closed up - great air-ciculation, just nothing pulling the air 'out' of the tent. There's vents at the bottom of the tent on each wall which allow air out, but nothing forcibly causing 'negative' air pressure.

- The seedling looks healthy so far, although appears to be a bit slow to start (in size). I suspect that since the root hasn't reached the bottom of the hydroton yet, it's not getting optimum moisture or air yet - but I'm just being patient for now and giving it a chance to get going. I'm trying not to 'smother' it and give everything a chance to take off on it's own.

- I had some extra hydroton left over from the start and added it to the top and made it more level so the water is more evenly dispersed across the top and hopefully keep the seedling more consistently moist.

- Tin foil will be placed over the hydroton in the next few days to prevent the white buildup and save having to unclog it from the waterfarm parts and air-line....

Looking good so far Dayzt looking forward to your updates

Yeah, that little lady is just makin' her way to the res, then she'll take off for sure.

dont need all that light yet.Could still use the cfl's for a while longer.

I believe to achieve a " negative air pressure ", You don't use an inlet fan, just one exhaust fan ( perhaps a bigger one ). That will suck the air into your tent from the bottom vents and exit through your fan out.Should create negative air and remove that " bulge " in your tent. GL looking good so far.