My First Hempy Bucket Grow

Gyroscope

Well-Known Member
I only had about an inch submerged. And I don't think that I had a trimmed node under water, which you do and I always do in soil. Also I didn't ph my water, just used tap water straight which has a ph of 7. I was wondering about the differences between your different wells, other than the ph. With the large ph difference you have I'm willing to bet there is a difference in the mineral makeup and content in each. Does either source leave a mineral crust on your faucets? Or has a different flavor?
Yes there is a difference. The 5.4 ph is a deeper well with less than 20 PPM. It is very cold and clear and virtually odorless and tasteless. It is my favorite of the 2.

The one that is 6.8 stands at around 80 ppm. It too is a good well, Not as deep as the other. In comparison, it has a sweeter taste although odorless. I suspect that the 6.8 will grow algae faster although I have not done a test. I love experimenting. That may be my next little test...
 

Rusty Shakelford

Well-Known Member
I told you I have 2 wells...They seem to do better with the one that is pH 5.4 vs 6.8

When I clone in water I do not put anything in it.

No Clonex or root powder/hormones.

The only ones that I ever lost doing it like this were ones that were on weak stems and the leaves had either some sort of deficiency or tip burns already.

I have joked with others on here and called it my 5 cent "hydro-cloner" system.

I have always thought about building an aeroponics cloner, but I think I will stick with individual cups. The reasoning for this is because I have seen too many threads where people lose the whole batch when something goes wrong. Also the pump makes the temps run high and that makes a perfect breeding ground for pithium and algae. Sure you can use additives to keep the bad stuff down or you can use a 3 cent cup per clone and get the same results...I have had some start making roots in as little as 5 days. Usually they are rooted in about 14 days and by 21 days some get very long.

I use my Fiskars micro tip shears to take the cuttings. I leave the tip and 2 leaves and strip it down from there. I use a sharp paring knife to make one scrape down the stem. Not too deep mind you, but I do scratch a little off. I then put the cutting in a big clean cup filled with water and make a steep cut under water. Some say 45 degrees, but I make mine a little steeper than that. Then I transfer it into a cup already filled and waiting. Be sure it is long enough to have at least one node well under water. I have used 3 oz opaque plastic bathroom cups with great success. They no longer have these atwalmart and now they are slightly bigger at 5 oz. Very cheap cloners. Change the water every 3 days and you won't have to worry about algae.

During my testing, I noticed that the roots always formed on the other side that was not scraped. I jumped to the conclusion that scraping did not help and was not needed. The next few I did without scraping and they took a lot longer. I am a believer that scraping does indeed help.

I am testing something different this time. Remember my test 2L/DWC with just a smidgen of perlite at the top ? I bought some net pots and collars and have some cuts floating in 5 oz cups. When they root, I will suspend them in full size 2L's without any medium....I may even journal it.:peace:
I think I will take a run at this type of cloning when I snip the next ones :-P Thanks for the detailed description and if you Journal it, keep us posted!!
 

Rusty Shakelford

Well-Known Member
Today was feeding day, and again, even though the Perlite is still moist and the Res is not COMPLETELY dried up, I watered anyway, cause their last feeding was Saturday.

This time, I decided to add a Half Dose of CalMag Plus to the Full Strength Lucas mix. This brought my PPM (after using PH UP) to 736 (.5) EC - 1.4/1.5 and my PH was 6.0

The Auto seems to be really starting to take off with Visible Growth daily.
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The others are still quite small and not really doing much but getting Compact and Bushy. Its almost like their Roots have not reached the Res yet?? No EXPLOSIVE Growth, and quite frankly,, just not very good overall.. I have no idea what the problem is. :wall:
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One of the NLxBB is showing an odd problem with her leaves. They look like pale scrapings, and I am not really sure what it is. I did take pics and Circled the issue with a Red Outline in case anyone wants to take a crack at it.
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Other than that, the Clones were QUITE DROOPY yesterday, but today, the lower leaves are pretty limp, but the upper leaves/stems are not as droopy as yesterday, and seem to be holding themselves up a bit, so that is nice to see
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WattSaver

Well-Known Member
Rusty, the def on the NLBB doesn't look serious, when I grew this strain a couple of times they never looked quite as healthy as the others in the garden, and the ones I grew didn't like excessive feeding, when I hit them with bloom booster they would yellow quicker, where the other girls just added bud mass. Even without the boosters the NLBB was a good producer.

Your auto looks real nice, I've never done any autos, so I want to see how much faster they are to finish.

As far as the clones looking droopy that's a good sign. My clones always look like they are on deaths door step right before perk up and start to build new growth. I started some cuttings last Friday, one was a Duckfoot from a friend, I asked for a cutting from his plant he agreed and said he would call when he got into town. When I picked it up he gave me a wet paper towel with a wilted little branch. By the time I got it into soil it had been over 4 hrs since it was cut. It laid limp over the edge of the cup for the next day and a half. Then all of a sudden it picked itself up and is now standing tall with it's wrinkled leaves, I can't believe that it is trying to make a comeback. Cannabis is a hardy plant for sure.
 

Rusty Shakelford

Well-Known Member
Rusty, the def on the NLBB doesn't look serious, when I grew this strain a couple of times they never looked quite as healthy as the others in the garden, and the ones I grew didn't like excessive feeding, when I hit them with bloom booster they would yellow quicker, where the other girls just added bud mass. Even without the boosters the NLBB was a good producer.

Your auto looks real nice, I've never done any autos, so I want to see how much faster they are to finish.

As far as the clones looking droopy that's a good sign. My clones always look like they are on deaths door step right before perk up and start to build new growth. I started some cuttings last Friday, one was a Duckfoot from a friend, I asked for a cutting from his plant he agreed and said he would call when he got into town. When I picked it up he gave me a wet paper towel with a wilted little branch. By the time I got it into soil it had been over 4 hrs since it was cut. It laid limp over the edge of the cup for the next day and a half. Then all of a sudden it picked itself up and is now standing tall with it's wrinkled leaves, I can't believe that it is trying to make a comeback. Cannabis is a hardy plant for sure.
Thanks for the Vote of Confidence!! I too am curious about the Auto, This is my first one, and it seems to be kicking into gear,, Pistols are thick. I had to raise the light this morning to keep it off her head, and she is sure loving the full nutes, when I had been reading that auto's are light feeders.

At this point, I am looking for signs of Maturity on the 3 girls, then I want to move them into the Flower tent where they can get 400w of HPS. This should really kick them into gear.

I have basically been upping their PPM's every watering, and expecting some tip burn any time now, but none so far. When I move them under the 400 watts, I will need to UP the Lucas to the 0-8-16 feed schedule, so an even higher PPM. I am always a bit gun shy after burning a previous grow and having to spend a week in recovery.

Clones look even better today. All upper stems are not drooping at all and look pretty normal. I have just been spraying the Inside of the Dome as you suggested a few times a day and making sure the top of the Root Riot Cube does not dry out. I am kinda surprised at how well they look.
 

Moebius

Well-Known Member
Great work Rusty ......

Its always makes me smile when I see another Hempynaut doing his thing.
One thing I would definitely do if I was you would be to build an Aero Cloner. This will provide you with as many clones with long roots as you need.


Very Nice, Subbed and +REP
 

Rusty Shakelford

Well-Known Member
Great work Rusty ......

Its always makes me smile when I see another Hempynaut doing his thing.
One thing I would definitely do if I was you would be to build an Aero Cloner. This will provide you with as many clones with long roots as you need.


Very Nice, Subbed and +REP
Not sure I have the Space for an Aerocloner, but I might be able to squeeze in a Short Bubble cloner at some point. My veg tent is only 2'x2' so I am only able to fit 4 plants in veg at a time, which unfortunately means I dont need much in the way of clones.
 

Rusty Shakelford

Well-Known Member
Feeding Day again..

This time I went with 3/4 Dose CalMag and Full Strength 0-5-10 Lucas, and I put 2ml of PH Up in the water before adding anything else, so I wont have to add it after.

This put my readings as follows:

PH = 6.05
PPM = 777 (.5) EC = 1.5/1.6

Everyone is looking better, the yellowing has stopped and they are starting to grow again, and really getting Bushy where they were topped. Its hard to find the topped area through all of the tight foliage. I dont know why I ever bother to try and cut CalMag out of the equation, I always end up needing it, and the plants always love it. :leaf: No Signs of PreFlower Yet, so still waiting on that!!! You can clearly see the 4 TOPs on each plant, so I cant wait to get them into flower and watch them grow.

NLxBB #1
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NLxBB #2
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Fruity Chronic Juice
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Auto Northern Lights Blue is doing very well!
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Clones have not rooted yet, but are still hanging in there
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Just a couple shots of my Small Veg Tent. I used PVC so I could split the tent with an Upper and Lower section, the top being for clones and seedlings, the lower being for Veg plants.
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Gyroscope

Well-Known Member
Looking good dude !! Glad to see them bounce back.

I vaguely remember someone asking you if that LF was giving you enough cal mag with that RO, lol.

Good job.
 

Rusty Shakelford

Well-Known Member
Yea, I am apparently not getting away from the CalMag anytime soon, whether I Like it or Not.. That's OK,, if the Clones take hold, I am going to start them on the GH 3 Part Bottle Schedule, and see how well that works.
 

Gyroscope

Well-Known Member
Yea, I am apparently not getting away from the CalMag anytime soon, whether I Like it or Not.. That's OK,, if the Clones take hold, I am going to start them on the GH 3 Part Bottle Schedule, and see how well that works.
It was worth a try anyway. We never know what is best until we try it ourselves !!

+ Reps Rusty....
 

Rusty Shakelford

Well-Known Member
Its feed day again... And WOW, I believe I can now say that THE ROOTS HAVE HIT THE RES, cause the girls are finally taking off. That means that it took a GOOD 2 Weeks after transplant for the roots to get down into the Res. This is something I am going to have to work on, cause 2 weeks is an awful lot of down time :shock:

Anyway, I just stuck with the last feed and went 3/4 CalMag to Full Strength Lucas 0-5-10 with 2ml PH UP.

PH = 5.95
PPM = 780 (.5) EC = 1.5/1.6

Still no Pre-Flowers on the Girls yet.. I am hoping to have those by the end of this week so I can move them into the flower room by Saturday. This will have given them 6 Full Weeks since Breaking Ground.

NLxBB #1 (38 days old)
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NLxBB #2 (38 days old)
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Fruity Chronic Juice (38 days old)
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Auto Northern Lights Blue (32 days old)
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My Clones Sprouted Roots - Took 8-9 Days to root
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Nice to see things are looking up :weed: and the Hempy's are kicking into gear.
 

scr

Member
Glad to hear your girls finally hit bottom. Im in the middle of my first hempy as well and I have to say the growth has been slower than Im use to. Im also into the whole less is more with nutes and have really fallen in love with Dyna Grow. IMO I have gotten more bang for my buck and when mixing with RO according to the BroRevised chart floating around, ZERO PH adjustments (have hit 5.7-5.9 every mix). Using their Grow, Pro Tekt, MagPro and some rootbastic that I got free samples of. Dyna Gro was pretty cool too. I contacted a rep and let them know I was making a switch and wanted to do some comparisons, they sent me lil bottles of the whole line. I cant speak on the how they run in flowering but veg is spot on! The rootbastic isnt keeping up with my usual roots excelurator but since they sent me both root/bloom bastic figured WORTH A TRY.......
 

Rusty Shakelford

Well-Known Member
Glad to hear your girls finally hit bottom. Im in the middle of my first hempy as well and I have to say the growth has been slower than Im use to. Im also into the whole less is more with nutes and have really fallen in love with Dyna Grow. IMO I have gotten more bang for my buck and when mixing with RO according to the BroRevised chart floating around, ZERO PH adjustments (have hit 5.7-5.9 every mix). Using their Grow, Pro Tekt, MagPro and some rootbastic that I got free samples of. Dyna Gro was pretty cool too. I contacted a rep and let them know I was making a switch and wanted to do some comparisons, they sent me lil bottles of the whole line. I cant speak on the how they run in flowering but veg is spot on! The rootbastic isnt keeping up with my usual roots excelurator but since they sent me both root/bloom bastic figured WORTH A TRY.......
Yes, growth had been slow for me as well, and I was getting a little doubtful, but a few days ago, they perked up, and have really started growing. Leaves are getting big, and bud sites are really sprouting nicely. I hope to move them into flower this weekend and mini hempy the clones.

You say the Dyna Grow is hitting a nice PH? That would be great, cause the GH is nowhere near a decent PH after mixing. I have been putting PH Up in the water before mixing in the nutes, so after mixing, my PH ends up where I need it, Though I would love to get rid of the PH Up. Are you still using CalMag with the Dyna Grow?
 

scr

Member
My girls are the same. Once their roots were established and hit the res they took off. I have 2 in 2 liter bottles just to see what to expect when I try the 2L sog. Since I ran them from seed I topped for 4 and tied them way down. I have 2 in 2 gallon buckets topped as well and 1 is firing the other is a pain in the ass. The 2L girls are just so so, but I anticipate a good flower. I actually sealed up the hole that was 2" up the bottle today and raised it to 3. I couldnt keep enough nutrients for them, had to feed twice a day. Im running OG 18 and when I ran them with cannas line, they were VERY light feeders. They are eating the Dyna line right up and this shit is concentrated. The only time I have had to use any pH up/down was when I first started and used tap water. Something about the stabilizers used for the city water would cause some fluctuation. Once I got my RO running: dead on each time. Gotta make sure to add the Protekt to the water first though. Get that mixed in really well before you add anything else. Once thats nice add the base, whether its the grow or bloom then supps (if you want to use them). The only thing im worried about is the sweetener going bad. Theres really no aeration to keep it fresh so Im afraid it may turn on me if sitting in the res too long. I know people say no need for any air to the res of hempy but i may run a few tubes through the drain hole just for that basic reason. The BroREVISED Dyna chart is def put together for our fav plants. Im not sure why they have the MagPro being used so early but its working and my plants are thriving. If you get ahold of them through their contact info and let them know you want to make a change without investing a fortune right off the bat, they will probably hook you up like they did me. Not only that, but they were very helpful when it came to the use of other companies products and actually advised the use of a few. Very straight forward and I think I may stick with them. Ill let you know in about 10 weeks after the run is done. We seem to be at the same point in our grow so we could also compare come harvest. Would be perfect since we seem to both be complete noobs to hempy.
 

Gyroscope

Well-Known Member
Hey Rusty,

Things are looking good your way. I have been busy harvesting finally. I still have several late phenos finishing up, but was glad to have room on the table for the next run. My last run was 12/12 from seed so I am curious to see what my clones will do in the 2 liters. I think I like defoliating ! I have less leaves and stems to dispose of. These buds on sticks turned out really nice. I should have my DWC/2LHempies ready to go soon.
 

Rusty Shakelford

Well-Known Member
Hey Rusty,

Things are looking good your way. I have been busy harvesting finally. I still have several late phenos finishing up, but was glad to have room on the table for the next run. My last run was 12/12 from seed so I am curious to see what my clones will do in the 2 liters. I think I like defoliating ! I have less leaves and stems to dispose of. These buds on sticks turned out really nice. I should have my DWC/2LHempies ready to go soon.
I am picking up some 2 Liter Bottles today and will move one of the clones into flower this weekend with the others. I should also be able to take more clones, but instead of putting them all into Veg, most will go into Flower and I will just keep one (of each strain) that will go back into veg, so I can keep the strain going.

Defoliating the 2 liters is apparently the way to go. I plan on doing the same thing :-P,, Be sure to keep us posted on your grow..

Oh and how does your recent harvest look? Did the 12/12 from seed work well? Share pics if you got em!!
 
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