Alaskan Purple Auto / DWC

Ordered pH down from GH since my tap water pH was a little higher. Starting to realize the hydro system I ordered was not really RDWC since lines were too thin and no water flow or return. I'm switching the hydro setup to DWC, the water changes were taking me less than an hour so I ditched the reservoir.

Roots are starting to make its way into the DWC system. I added my Jack's 321 nutes at half strength (300-350 ppm) and have been dialing in my pH at 5.8 consistently. Things are looking up! I had to order a large capacity humidifier for the tent to get the RH levels up, it's been around 30 to 50 during these last few weeks.

Vacation week for me, so doing the first water change. Boosted the PPM to 600-650 and pH around 5.8 for each bucket. While on vacation and after the water change these girls went wild 😜 For nutes I am just trying to keep it simple with tsp measurements. I brought the scale out in the early weeks but felt it was doing too much. This way I can do it on the fly, eye balling it and just keeping watch over the plants to see how they react. I'm in a good range I believe.

1st try at LST I ripped a huge fan leaf off. 2nd try I think I got it right. Other than that I just check water levels, PPM and pH, then adjust as needed. These girls are a little short and bushy...pause....so I backed the light off a bit and noticed them climbing. I also messed up and bought a wave maker to move water but didn't realize it'd rip my roots. This didn't matter because the roots 50x growth within a day or two. During mid week 3 I upgraded the air pump and air stones after failing with the wave maker. I upgrade to a 2"x4" air stone and a nice 20w 475gph air pump. I believe this helped with growth tremendously because the girls are taking off 🚀 Also, water change! With the water change I bumped the PPM up, plants haven't responded negatively but I think I will back it down to about 700-750 since they seem to be taking in more water (pH rising, PPM rising).

Looking through my journal, this past week I dealt with some light and nutrient issues. PPM was nearing 950 so on the next feed I added about a half gal of plain pH water to bring the levels down. This seems to have helped because one of my plants seemed to be super bright green/yellow but is now back to normal. For the light issue, I tried to ramp it up to 100% but was getting the symptoms above so I put it back to 75%. Idk if I overreacted on these issues but I've read that nute manufacturers would recommend too much sometimes, and also the lighting thing was just me testing it out for a day. I also found some hobby twist ties and switched the jute rope out for it. This way we can identify these plants easier in pics! Seems to work great for LST as well, gives the stems a good rug to chill on!

Thank you for following along so far, here's my Week 6 break down: 3/4 plants started flowering (non lst, blue and stunted plant) I've added a Mars Hydro TS600 to the setup to cover more square footage. The plants love it but it's been a battle keeping temps down with the lighting and summer heat. I switched to EC measurements and set it to 1.7 across all plants, pH is in the 5.9/6.0 range. They seem to be responding well with rapid growth and healthy leaves. I also introduced a bit of GH Armor SI to my water before the nutrients are added. Jacks 321, so simple and easy to use for me, also cost effective. My formula is switched to a 421 now Per 4 gallons: Armor SI - 1ml Jacks 4 - 2 tsp Jacks 1 - .2 tsp (cutting back on epsom) Jacks 3 - 1.6 tsp pH down as needed I've been doing some light defoliating on older, weaker leaves but that's it.. this tent is getting packed! I do want to defoliate more but have heard mixed reviews and don't want to mess with my plants too much. What are your thoughts? The stunted plant in the back right has taken off, I topped her as an experiment and it seems to have responded well, she's the tallest at this time at about 25". I've been battling temp, humidity and electrical problems. I introduced an AC to help battle temp and humidity but it over loaded my circuits since I have another AC going in another room. I just have to have only one AC running at a time (they are portable). Next time I won't be growing during summer months, it's just too much of a hassle. If I do it would be 1 or 2 plants at most. A dehumidifier is definitely in the cards, I tried one off Amazon that claimed 600+ sq ft but wasn't doing a thing. If you have suggestions for a 4x4, leave me a comment! PEACE

Quick update for the growmies! Week 7 I did some defoliating to get better air flow, battle humidity and prevent any mold from forming. I had to do this since the plants were taking up the 4x4, the leaves and buds were touching, I never thought I'd fill up this tent so easily. My water change, which is done every 7 to 10 days, included 2ml of Armor SI and then Jacks nutrients added to bring the water up to 2 EC. Buds and leaves are looking healthy and accepting more nutrients without issues. Everything is going smooth, buds are forming, getting bigger by the day. The plants are drinking close to 1 gal a day and showing a good amount of trichomes. I usually refill once or twice before a water change happens. I'm also getting a new light with more wattage, can't wait to put it in, the girls will be happy. Check the pics and have a good one! PEACE

I wish this week went smooth but it was a battle once again VS high temps and high humidity. Also my AC wanted to take a leak all over the floor which was stressful as well..but the grow continues and the plants are going strong. I find myself refilling the DWC buckets with about 2 gallons every other day, I use sitting pH tap water and add nutrients if the EC reading tells me to. With the humidity issues, hitting over 70% RH at times, I had to do some heavy defoliating and also leaving the tent open at times, the smell pouring out is GAS. Also, the Spider Farmer G8600 light was picked up for a crazy deal, I'm stoked to have it in the tent so quickly and it's definitely giving adequate lighting. Wall to wall, 860 watts of greatness helping the plants thrive!

Nothing much to report for this week. Just keeping up with refilling the buckets, feeding and pH levels. Also a ton of defoliating on the plant on the back left. I've been dialing down nutes to get them ready for flushing and harvesting, trichome is starting to build and little hints of purple showing throughout the plant. Thicker nugs, more trichs and more purple please!

Flowering stage seems like autopilot, more hands off and usually just refilling the DWC buckets, adding nutes if needed and checking pH levels. For the front left plant I've just been adding water and taking the EC levels down to get ready for chop. I'm looking for more trichomes and a fade on the leaves. The back left plant is taking down 3 to 4 gallons every 2 days, it's hungry and lifting the pot is super heavy. Everything's good so far, see ya next week!