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By day five all nine plants had roots extending down into the nutrient solution. Note about my lighting - it is a mix of one 250W ceramic metal halide, one 250W HPS and two Telos 8 (240W) LEDs. This is my first DWC grow, having previously always used coco. I could tell almost straight away that the plants were growing much quicker.
The RH was initially very low - around 35%. I added a small ultrasonic humidifier and it was able to raise the RH to around 45%
Amazing growth - roots were well into the nutrient solution by now. A Hailea chiller kept the nutrient temperature around 21C. I'm using a 9 pot recirculating DWC system from Urban Deep Water Culture (urbandeepwaterculture.co.uk). The brain pot and reservoir sit outside of the 1.5m x 1.5m tent.
On day eleven all the plants were topped.
The plants are really exploding! The roots are massive and very healthy (unfortunately I don't have pictures of the roots). Also the humidifier was no longer necessary by now. Daytime RH around 50%, at night RH around 70%
In coco I veg for at least 4 and maybe 6 weeks but these plants were growing so explosively in the DWC that I switched to 12/12 lighting on day 20! They were already almost filling the tent horizontally and they still had the stretch phase to come. The only lighting spectrum adjustment was to swap to a flowering bulb on my CDM lamp (the LEDs are not adjustable). I can't emphasise enough how much quicker they grew in veg compared to coco. Amazing.
5 days into flowering (day 25 total) I defoliated for the first time. As you can see in the photos I was quite brutal but the plants weren't bothered at all.
One aspect of this first DWC grow that was not dialled-in was the nutrient strength. At this stage it was only 0.7 EC which was way lower than is recommended by Shogun (1.3 - 2.0 EC). The plants seemed very healthy though.
Only one week after the first defoliation, the plants had filled the tent again so I did another heavy session of fan leaf removal (see photos). On this grow I only removed leaves and left all the side branches intact.
By now I was getting paranoid about the low nutrient strength and decided to gradually raise it until the plants showed signs of stress. By the end of week 5 it had increased to 1.4 CF. Just inside the range (1.3 to 2.0 CF) recommended by Shogun. I also added Shogun Silicon to help strengthen the branches which felt very soft.
I continued to raise nutrient strength day by day and it ended the week at 2.1 EC - the nutrient reservoir by now contained mainly Bloom formula. All but one of the plants were clearly starting to flower so at the end of the week, Shogun PK Warrior 9/18 was intoduced to the reservoir at 1ml/litre.
Plants have really stretched and I have used High Stress Training to bend the tallest tops away from the lights. There is quite a variety in terms of the height of the individual plants and this grow would have benefitted from a SCROG net. Also there are a lot of scrawny side branches that I probably should have chopped early on. The tent is extremely crowded and I am having to defoliate throughout flowering to keep the bud sites exposed.
I have one plant at the back corner of the tent that has only just started to show pistils i.e. it's a couple of weeks behind the others. No idea why. Anyone got any thoughts or had this happen from plants all grown from the same batch of seeds?
Another issue I have is humidity. It is maxing out at 70% over a 24h period, which is too high for my liking. During lights-off time I am running a dehumidifier in the room where the tent is situated so not sure what else I can do to bring the humidity down. With the lights on, RH is around 60%.
Generally plants are thriving with very healthy roots (see photo). Chiller is doing a great job keeping nutrient around 20C/21C so roots get plenty of oxygen.
I have nine plants grown from seed and one is behind in flowering. They are all in the same tent with the same nutrient. For a couple of weeks into 12/12 she showed no signs. Now she is flowering normally, just way behind the others in development. What gives?
Gradually reducing EC but increasing the ratio of PK Warrior 9/18 to Bloom nutrients.
Buds fattening nicely but huge differences between the plants - the space (1.5m x 1.5m) is dominated by two of the nine plants and a couple of them are hardly producing anything.
This shows what happens if you pack the plants in and then don't prune and/or train them to uniformly fill the space. The main thing is they are all healthy and I'm happy with that for a first DWC grow.
The late plant - in the back left corner is very weird. It is about 3 weeks behind all the others but at least now has proper buds forming.
Run out of PK Warrior 9/18 but am skeptical of flower boosters so continuing without it. Throughout this grow I have been pretty heavy with the nutrients and these Critical + 2.0 plants have taken everything in their stride - I've had no leaf discolouration or clawing at all.
Flowers majorly putting on weight now, a few amber pistils but maybe 3 weeks of bulking-up before harvest.
Interestingly, the plants within the light-fall of the CDM lamp sparkle more than elsewhere.
All good in the garden! Really happy but should have pruned the plants just before switching to 12/12. In fact, this is something I did in a previous grow (see photo of 3 plants in coco) but I somehow forgot this time. Doh!
Bud sites are putting on weight like crazy. Definitely top level genetics. Very happy. These plants are flourishing despite my mistakes. Respect to the breeders.
What a beautiful herb.
DAY 67 (day 47 of flower
Think we're about a week or so from harvest and am starting a gradual flush. From now I will be adding only water to keep the volume of liquid in the system stable. Gradually the ratio of water to nutrient will increase, with the aim of having EC at 0.6 (background level) a couple of days before harvest.
DAY 68 / 48 Flower
EC 12
pH 6.1
DAY 70/ 50 Flower
EC 10
pH 5.8
Continuing the gradual flush - EC at beginning of week is 0.8. This will be changing every day - see below for updates.
The colas are not perceptibly fattening by now and I am just waiting for more amber trichomes - a sign of optimum harvest conditions. Here the trichomes are a blend of clear and cloudy, so not ready to harvest yet.
Really strong smell in the tent - kind of like coffee mixed with petrol and a bit of pine!
I've had really healthy roots from day one without using any additives/peroxide etc. Surely down to the chiller which has kept nutrient temperatures within an 18C to 21C range, even when lights-on air temperatures were pushing 30C earlier in the grow. Definitely a good investment.
**** EC & pH daily updates ****
Day 70 50 Flower EC 0.8 pH 6.2
Day 71 51 Flower EC 0.6 pH 6.3
Day 72 52 Flower EC 0.5 pH 6.3
Day 73 53 Flower EC 0.3 pH 6.0 - Some amber trichomes. Probably start harvesting very soon (days)
Day 74 54 Flower EC 0.2 pH 6.1
Day 75 55 Flower EC 0.0 pH 6.3
Reached EC 0.0 and will be harvesting in 2 days time. Plants looking perfectly ripe and heavy with promise!
Ok, I'm giving full marks not because this is the best strain in the universe but because all the faults with this grow were my own and I still got a really good amount of quality buds. You can see in the pictures how the tent was filled with many, many spindly side branches. Despite my lack of control, I got a sense that, where it was able to, this strain really burst with life and was completely robust - I had no health problems whatever and it was my first DWC grow, so hats off to the genetics - this is a fucking lovely strain.
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Will update as buds dry etc. I'm about halfway through harvesting and my drying rack is almost full. I think the yield is better than at first thought. Some nice size buds in the mix - see pictures.
Just uploaded root pictures from my two biggest plants. Root mass in DWC is off the charts. Thanks to Urban Deep Water Culture for the great rig.
Everything is trimmed up and in the drying rack - I also have a pile of airy/undeveloped buds that I'm keeping. My drying area is kept at about 20C and 50% RH (with a dehumidifier).
Turned out 587g of dry bud - all in jars to cure, plus the pile of airy almost buds that is still drying (see pic).
Smoke Report: Just had my first proper joint from this harvest and the first thing that struck me was how smooth the smoke is. Even though it has not been cured at all yet, there was no harshness at all (I don't use any tobacco in my joints). This is a very good sign. The taste is still to be developed in the cure and is quite subtle at this stage but very pleasant. The effect is definitely more in the body than cerebral and feels like a classic Indica stone which certainly reflects the genetics. Very nice ganja, basically and it feels like it has a high THC content.
This was my first RDWC grow and it went very well. I had no nutrient or environmental problems but in retrospect, I should have removed a lot of the lower side branches because I now have three refuse bags of trim which is mainly thin side branches and undeveloped bud sites. My feeling is I didn't quite do this strain justice and it is capable of much more. It is also very forgiving in terms of nutrient strength and humidity - i.e. no bud rot.
I will definitely be growing Critical 2.0 again and I will update this report with the dry weight (it was 587g plus quite a few reject buds) and, more importantly, how it smokes!00
@CRiSPrGrow, Hi man, this nine pot system only just fits in a 1.5m x 1.5m tent. The header pot and reservoir are outside of the tent and I don't think the nine pots would be a good idea in a 1.2m x 1.2m tent, even if if you could hack up the piping to make them fit.
It's a great system though. Maybe look at four pots?
@Hybrid, You may still be learning my friend but you've done an amazing job with our Critical+2.0 👌
Congratulations on the harvest mate and enjoy that dank and frosty end product 👍
All the best ✌️
Mark..
@CrawlSpaceGrower, thanks for the kind words. They are doing amazingly well considering how overcrowded things are in there. Kudos to Dinafem! This is only my second grow in the tent and my first with the DWC system, so still learning.
@Hybrid, Totally agree my friend 👍
I find it best to continue to feed vegative feed until day 14 of bloom then make the transition into bloom feed 👌
Nice advice mate 👊
All the best ✌️
Mark..
@Hybrid, thanks mate, I need to change the res though as only changed once in 7 weeks, think I will go 70/30 veg/bloom and then top up with bloom nutes, how does that sound? wish I had a top off tank lol
@MrGreenFingers, Hi man, I make the change to bloom nutrient gradually. I have a big (200l) reservoir feeding my dwc pots and just gradually shift it over to 100% bloom nutrient, adding a bit more bloom each time I fill the reservoir.
Makes sense to do it like this because the plant is itself gradually shifting into flower mode, it doesn't happen overnight.
@MrGreenFingers, Hi mate, thanks - they're looking really promising. Almost every grow I have a bit of a panic halfway through flowering thinking things are looking sparse, but the girls always come through for me!
I have four lights in my 1.5m x 1.5m tent:
One HPS set on 250W
One CDM set on 250W
Two Telos 008 LEDs which draw 240W each
I hear you mate, I get the same thinking nothing's happening but I think that's because you see them everyday, then u go back 1 or 2 weeks in the diary and always notice the big difference in growth!
You must have a nice spectrum in there, I was looking into the telos before I bought my light
@MrGreenFingers, Very happy with the Telos - build quality is outstanding and they seem to be doing the business. This is my first grow with them.
What is your lighting set-up?
Now that's a beautiful sight to see. A room filled with our Critical+. Getting ready to put on a flower show for all to see 👍
Those buds are going to get big and fast now mate.
Things look great from this end and we will follow this grow as you update 👊
Well into bloom and looking lush 👌
All the best ✌️
Mark..
@DinafemSeeds, thanks! Really happy with the genetics - just wish I had trimmed off some of the lower side branches,
Really happy with the Critical +. I can't wait to get home from work every day to check them out!!
Looks real nice in your jungle lol, I was going to say if you need any tips let me know with it being your first grow but looks like your smashing it bro 👍👌💪👊
@MrGreenFingers, I'm measuring my nutrients with EC readings - I keep adjusting the reservoir. The ml/L bit of the diary is not really relevant - it just shows the different feeds I'm using.
@RusSwedeWeed, Thanks very much. It's going well for my first DWC grow - just wish I had taken off the lower side branches. Really happy though, generally.
I'm only in a 4x2x8ft tent mate, I had a 900w Viparspectra pulling about 420 from the wall but I bought a 265w invisible sun board using the Samsung Lm301b diodes, a quantum board basically lol, should pay for itself in saved electricity after a couple grows but more importantly it has alot more red so hopefully flowers are better also, even though I was happy with first couple grows I just want to grow the best quality weed I can lol
Hybrid
