Super Boof DWC | 1-Handed not-Lazy Grow

Hempel420 Week 1 of Veg is officially in the books! It worked out perfectly that this update falls right on a Sunday. Everyone’s in weekend mode, and I actually have the time to sit down and update the diary. What happened so far: September 6th – The Transfer Transferred the sprouted seedlings into the Spider Farmer DWC buckets. Each bucket was filled with 17 liters of water (exactly reaching the bottom of the net pots). For the base water, I used RO water re-mineralized with Canna Mono CaO (1.2 ml / 5L) and MgO (0.8 ml / 5L) up to a base EC of 270 µS/cm. You may ask why single mono-nutrients instead of premixed CalMag. The reason is simply that I grow other plant species that require completely different Ca:Mg ratios than cannabis. Using single elements gives me total control to fix a specific deficiency (like Calcium) on the fly without unnecessarily bumping up Magnesium. Also added Canna Aqua nutrients (Vega A+B) and Rhizotonic according to the feeding chart to hit an initial target EC of 1.2 mS/cm (1200 µS/cm). Set the initial pH to 5.5. Substrate Choice: Pumice over Clay Pebbles Instead of expanded clay (hydroton), I’m using pumice in the net pots. Why you ask: Immediate Nutrient Availability: Pumice holds water and oxygen exceptionally well. The roots get immediate access to nutrients the moment they grow out of the rockwool cube—gaining a couple of crucial days before they even touch the main reservoir. Another reason is Algae Control: Its dense structure blocks light penetration much better than clay pebbles, keeping the reservoir dark and free of algae. Lighting & Tent Constraints Set the Lumatek ATS 300W Pro (dimmed to 25%) at 50 cm (20") above the bucket tops, giving a PPFD of 300 µmol/m²/s. Tent Layout Note: Space is tight inside an 80x80x180 cm setup (that's roughly 31.5" x 31.5" x 70.8" for my imperial friends). The DWC buckets take up 40 cm (~16") of vertical space, and I expect a decent stretch (plus I'm still figuring out if 1-handed mainlining is doable! Maybe I have to change the Diary title to not-so-lazy grow). To maximize headroom, I mounted the inline fan and carbon filter completely outside the tent so the LED can go as high as needed later on. Daily Log & Water Chemistry: Sept 7: pH crept up to 6.2 (expected as the pumice settles in). Adjusted back down to 5.5. Sept 8: Minor pH drift to 6.1 → corrected to 5.5. Sept 9: pH at 5.9 → adjusted to 5.6. Measured EC spiked slightly from 1200 to 1300 µS/cm due to minerals leaching from the washed pumice. Top-up with re-mineralized RO water brought it right back to 1200 µS/cm. Both seedlings sitting happy at 2 cm height. Sept 10: pH adjusted from 5.8 to 5.5. Raised the LED to 59 cm (23") above the buckets (reducing PPFD to 260 µmol/m²/s). The initial 300 PPFD kept them from stretching early on, resting at 2.5 cm (1") height. Sept 11: Reservoir stabilized! pH held firm with no adjustments needed. Sept 12: Small pH correction from 5.7 back down to 5.5. Sept 13 (End of Week 1): Minor pH adjustment from 5.7 back down to 5.5. Plants are showing great progress and healthy leaf development—leaf span measured at ~5 cm (2") on Plant 1 and ~6 cm (2,4") on Plant 2. Both have a height of 3 cm (~1.2"). Ready for Week 2!

Hempel420 This week's highlights: Root Breakthrough, Dimmer Battles & The EC thingy Another week down! Since my last update on September 13th, the girls have made some serious moves. Here is the day-by-day log of what’s been happening inside the tent: The Story So Far: September 14th – Minor Tweaks & One-Handed Light Gymnastics Adjusted the pH back down from 5.8 to 5.5. I also wanted to bump the PPFD up to 350 µmol/m²/s. Since the somewhat finicky built-in dimmer on the Lumatek ATS 300W Pro only allows adjustments in 25% steps—and I’m far too stingy to buy additional control gear so I had to lower the light physically. Doing that with only one hand was… an experience, to say the least! The bright side? As the plants grow upwards, the PPFD will naturally increase on its own. I just need to keep an eye on the canopy distance. Once the roots hit the main reservoir, I’m expecting an explosive growth surge anyway. September 15th – Steady Cruising Noticed the EC drifted up slightly to 1.3 mS/cm. Left it as is. Just brought the pH back down from 5.7 to 5.5. September 16th – Quiet Day Nothing major to report. The pH only rose to 5.6. My threshold for this phase is 5.7 so I don't bother adjusting down to 5.5 until it hits or exceeds that mark. Minimal effort, maximum chill. September 17th – We Have Touchdown! pH crept up to 5.8, so I dialed it back to 5.5. More importantly: roots from BOTH plants have officially broken through into the main reservoir! Game on. September 18th – Smooth Sailing Just letting the plants do their thing. No intervention needed. September 19th (yesterday) – Reservoir Change & A Quick Lesson on Canna Schedules I did a full reservoir change and prepared the mix for Vegetative Phase I strictly according to the Canna Aqua calculator for 30 liters. I input my custom base EC of 0.28 mS/cm and dosed everything down to the exact milliliter using syringes (66 ml Vega A+B, 60 ml Rhizotonic, 75 ml Cannazym). After letting the solution sit for 2.5 hours to settle, I took a reading expecting the target EC of 1.4. Instead, the meter hit a whopping 1.78 mS/cm! The takeaway here: official feeding charts are guidelines, not absolute truth. Especially when working with remineralized RO water, which reacts quite differently than standard tap water. To bring it back down to a safe 1.4 EC, I had to scoop out 6.5 liters of the hot solution and dilute it back up with fresh, remineralized RO water (EC 0.28). Always double-check your readings before feeding your roots! September 20th (today) - pH correction from 6.1 back to 5.5 and video editing for this week's report. Now that the roots are drinking directly from the reservoir and the fresh nutes are locked in at 1.4 EC, let's see how fast they explode next week! A Note on VPD & Climate Controls: You might notice I’m not running a high-end, dynamic VPD-controlled tent with automated humidifiers or smart exhaust triggers to chase the absolute textbook 1.0 kPa around the clock. Why? Because this is a Lazy Grow (maybe not for so long, still thinking about mainlining), not a NASA cleanroom operation. Looking at my environment logs, temperatures stay nicely between 22°C and 26°C with RH hovering in the 50–65% range. This puts the VPD naturally right in the sweet spot for veg (~0.9 to 1.1 kPa) without me having to micro-manage humidifiers or drain my wallet on automated climate gear. Sure, dialing in VPD to the exact decimal point might squeeze out an extra 5% of dry weight in the end, but ambient room conditions are doing 95% of the heavy lifting just fine. Good enough for me!

Hempel420 Week 3: Goodbye Lazy, Hello Mainlining & Tent Issues! Another week in the books! Since my last log on September 20th, things escalated pretty quickly. We officially ditched the strictly "lazy" mindset, made some major training decisions, and even had to deal with an unexpected tent emergency. Here is the daily breakdown of Week 3: September 21st: The EC Component Benchmark I spent Day 1 of Week 3 doing some lab work for optimal nutrients. I took the time to measure and log the exact EC increase contributed by each individual nutrient component. Going forward, this will allow me to dial in custom nutrient ratios much more precisely rather than blindly following stock formulas. You can find the exact readings at the bottom of this days report. September 22nd: Water Top-Up & The Light Leak Emergency Noticeable uptake! I topped up each bucket with 300 ml of remineralized RO water to counteract a dropping EC level. A falling EC is always music to my ears because it means the girls are actively drinking and consuming nutrients faster than water. Later that night, I noticed light leaking through a small puncture in the tent wall and the zipper also seems to have problems. What leaks out can also leak in! To prevent catastrophic light pollution during the future flowering stage (and avoid any hermie risks down the line), the main outer cover of the grow tent had to be replaced immediately. Doing a full tent skin replacement solo with only one working hand was completely out of the question, so I called in some much-appreciated reinforcement. Emergency handled! September 23rd: Mainlining Decision & Top-Feeder Strategy Since I already had help on standby, I figured it was time to drop the "Lazy Grow" label (or at least rename it to Not-So-Lazy). Decision made: we are mainlining! To kick things off, I pruned away the side branches on nodes 1 and 2 to stop energy wastage and force all growth momentum directly upward toward the top node. I also turned off the DWC system's top-feeders on both buckets. The root networks are now fully submerged in the main reservoir and thriving. Moving forward, I’ll only run the top-feeders while I’m actively working on the plants, keeping it strictly airstone-only for the rest of the time. September 24th: The Big Chop (Topping & Defoliation) I’m generally not a fan of stressing young plants too heavily in one go, so I waited until today to top them above the 4th node. I also completely cleaned out all growth at the 1st and 2nd nodes. Thanks to the massive fan leaves, those lower sections were sitting completely in the dark anyway and if a leaf can't catch light for photosynthesis, it’s just stealing plant energy and has to go! September 25th: Smooth Cruising Just a minor pH adjustment today, bringing it back down from 5.8 to 5.5. Plants are taking the topping and defoliation like total champs. September 26th: Drop in EC & Reservoir Strategy The EC dipped below 1.3 mS/cm today. Rather than just topping off the tanks with fresh nutes and guessing which specific minerals were consumed, I’m planning a full reservoir change out. Fresh start, clean water, and precise nutrient ratios for the next stage. Note: Today, Sept 27th, is dedicated to editing footage and putting together this week's log! I also bought a new Grow-Cam … but I haven't figured out how to get the files from SD-card to Computer. there are some format issues and that's a problem for tomorrow Hempel. Not planned but we did a complete reservoir change to a fresh EC 1.5 mS solution because it feels like the plants are hungry. Now that the mainlining structure is set and the plants are recovering seamlessly, let's see how fast those new main mains explode in Week 4! As promised, the Lab Day: I prepared my Base water (CaO + MgO) and landed at a picture-perfect 0.272, basically a carbon copy of the original calibration. Then Vega A went in and only delivered about 90% of the EC bump I was expecting. Note to self, shake that bottle harder, sediment is not your friend. Vega B and Cannazym behaved exactly as predicted, Rhizotonic did its usual "not touching your EC" routine. Then the plot twist: I bumped the pH with 1.4 ml of pH+, and instead of holding steady, the EC actually dropped from 1.430 down to 1.375. Correcting the pH back down afterward didn't bring it back either, which rules out a fluke reading and points to a small calcium precipitation event: dump pH+ in one big shot instead of small sips, and you can spike the local pH high enough to knock calcium out of solution as an insoluble salt before it ever gets a chance to mix in properly. Filed away for next time with smaller pH+ doses and more patience. Closed the 0.125 gap with 6.05 ml each of A and B, and the meter read exactly 1.505. Sticking the landing after a session with that many curveballs felt genuinely satisfying — following Canna's own chart to the letter would've left me nowhere close. Moral of the story: trust your meter, not the label, and the girls get exactly what they came for. So if you are interested, here is the working feeding chart of Canna Aqua Vega to reach EC 1.5 mS in 10 Liter Base Water (EC 0.27): Canna Aqua Vega A - 17.55 ml - EC 1.070 Canna Aqua Vega B - 17.55 ml - EC 1.432 Rhizotonic - 13.5 ml - EC 1.432 Cannazym - 16.85 ml - EC 1.496