DWC M-L Strawberry Lemonade First Grow

Howdy! I have premixed 1L worth of PH adjusted nutrient solution which I am periodically syringing on top of the rock wool when it starts to get dry. I see some people only use RO water with cal-mag to start them off, but through my own unscientific opinion I figured 550 PPM won’t hurt considering seeds grow in soil and that isn’t exactly nutrient free! I am using RO water which I will keep in a 70 litre bucket ready for the DWC system once it is up and running. RO system was only £50/$80/€60 from the internet and it’s getting my hard water down to 0-1PPM from 450PPM. Growing my ladies in a smallish tent, 60 x 120cm which is 180cm high. Using one 315w LEC/CMH for the first two weeks, and then adding another 315w after week two. Using 4200k bulbs for veg, 3200k bulbs for bloom. Will take more pictures of the set up in the next week or so once the babies are in the 70 litre DWC Bubble System. Planning on buying Silica Blast to compliment nutrients in the next week or so. Ps, I believe this is the first DWC grow diary for Strawberry Lemonade, hopefully my mistakes and successes over coming weeks will help anyone who reads this! 🌱

29/07 Howdy, Finding it a little easier to manage temps now the heatwave has passed. Plant on the left seems really healthy, however the dude on the right seems okay, just a bit ugly with less root development. Did first main reservior change on day 9 with full range of nutes I'm going to take all the way through the grow. As this is my first grow, I have no idea how well things are going with no benchmarks. All I know is nothing is dead yet :P Will post another set of photos in 2 days time to see how the guys took to the new water. Nutrient calculator on Botanicare is broken. Running off of their PPM figures everything was overstated. Using RO water with 2 PPM I added one ml of each nutrient/product to one litre of water. Obviously not done in lab conditions, but I did take a lot of care, these were my results: KIND BASE 204 PPM/ml/Litre KIND GROW 150 PPM/ml/Litre KIND BLOOM 166 PPM/ml/Litre RHIZO BLAST 52 PPM/ml/Litre PURE BLEND TEA 47 PPM/ml/Litre SILICA BLAST 7 PPM/ml/Litre CAL MAG PLUS 159 PPM/ml/Litre Using figures above I got within 7 PPM of expected reservoir PPM so I think its close enough! Because of this nutes are going to cost me 20% more over course of grow. Overall everything seems pretty chill. 31/07 - DAY 11 UPDATE: Luckily, they seem to have taken well to nutrient water change with new supplements added - Tea, Silica and Rhizo. PPMs are remaining stable - fluctuating between 377 to 401 and then back down to 385 so I think that must mean the balance is okay, I think plant 1 must be eating it all up 😝 a drop of PH down has had to be used a couple times sin but seems fairly stable anyway. Also noticed build up on roots yesterday which gave me a panic, thought it was root rot, but using a sprayer with PH'ed water found that it was nutes, going to dilute before adding next time. Hailea 150a cooler is going to be installed along with a pump next res change so I don't have to worry about reservoir temps anymore and should keep notes well mixed. Found a bargain on eBay. Thanks peeps... 🌱

Howdy, So this last week has been about learning, quickly. Plant 2 has been suffering from yellowing, I noticed that at first it was a darker green than plant 1 - (first signs of Mg deficiency I have since learned). As plant 1 was doing so well until a few days ago, I originally assumed that plant 2 was just a bit of a slacker. I think basically it is more susceptible to PH differences than plant 1. First mistake was not knowing about the benefits of PH range... What I did not know earlier in the week is that Mg and Ca are only absorbed efficiently at 6.0 and above, my OCD kicked in and I refused to let the PH wander above 5.7; as from what I have read in forums, 5.7 is the sweet spot. Main lesson from last week is that I'm not going to be so anal about PH levels, I will let the PH rise to 6.3 before I drop it back down to 5.7, this will give the plants and window of time to grab hold of some well deserved CalMag before I drop it back down so it can retrieve some Mn and P if it needs any. My plants told me they were in need of Calcium over a week ago, but I naively thought that maybe I spilled a droplet of water on one of the leaves, and that caused it to burn. As I was adding CalMag+ to the solution when I replenished the reservoir. My second mistake was panicking... After realising above, I bombed the nutrient solution with 35ml of Cal Mag, bringing up the PPMS to 460, this subsequently gave the strongest plant nutrient burn. On top of this, I gave both plants a foliage spray during lights out with some diluted CalMag as well. So anyway, the main thing I have learnt is when the plants are ill, its probably best to take it easy, do a res swap at the very worst and concentrate on my PH levels first before throwing more variables into the fray. Positive notes: Plants 1 & 2 is now working on their 5th node, I know I am technically allowed to top at this point, but I am going to wait until they are working on their 7th before doing anything, this way I will be able to tell if the new growth is looking healthy, and my investigations are correct. I have now installed a Hailea 150a, with a submersible pump, this is now keeping the reservoir at 20ºc and its keeping the nutrients well mixed, I'll post a video later this week showing the set up. The roots at the top look a little dark, but I have done a sniff test and they don't smell at all, I think it is just where some of the tea has built up where the bubbles meet the air. Roots do seem rather large, maybe they have stretched so far looking for Mg and Ca :P Decided against increasing PPMS, going to do another week, so 5 weeks veg, gives the ladies some time to recover. Trimmed the burns off of leaves mainly so I can keep a track to see if damage is continuing. Anyways, I hope the above makes sense and draws other newbies attention towards PH ranging for hydro; I have posted a pic which shows the PH range for each important element. Thanks! 😊

Howdy! So this week has seen some progress and some backward steps. Firstly, plant 2 is dead, as I was doing a res change last night, I dropped a glass measuring cup in the exact spot it should not have landed. Clay went everywhere and in dust lay plant 2 with both its main branches snapped off and a split down the center stem. Plant 2 has been replaced with plant 3, who has been sat on the windowsill for 22 days waiting in case something bad happens. With plant 3, my intentions are as follows; going to try and grow her as much as possible over the next two weeks, I am only going to top her once at the sixth node, so that should allow her to catch up with plant 1 a bit. Next couple weeks will be make or break for plant 3, if she doesn't like the strength of the nutrient water and fails, I am going to just going to bin her off and just go with plant 1 who will have 16 colas instead of the original plan of having 2 mainlined plants with 8 colas each. I figured the yield wont be awful going down this route as one plant will have two lights to feed from and a whole 14 gallon tank to herself. Just I guess 16 tops is going to add another week on again. Anyway, fingers crossed for plant 3, hopefully it wont come to that... Cheers!

Howdy, This week has gone well, plant seems healthy with no noticeable deficiencies. My res leaked because a tube I had in the back was in the wrong place but all is sorted now. Thinking it was a crack in the tub, I drained it... So I had to replenish with a new set of nutes which I'm going to drag out for another 5/6 days. PPM's are steadily dropping and PH is increasing so shes definitely ready for a richer feed. Also learned about different TDS with the whole 0.5/0.7 conversion rate. When topping for the 3rd time, I was a little too rough with one of the colas and it snapped without me realizing. I noticed about 2 hours later by which time it had already dried out a bit, its still alive but the growth is stunted. Added a bit of PK as I noticed a few fan leaves had purple stems, cleared up within 2 days and back to lime green 🙃🌱 Update 22/08 - Day 30 from Sprout. Changed out res as PH kept dropping and leaves started to go very slightly yellow. New nodes are already growing well, 3 times bigger than 2 days ago. I think I'm going to flip on or around the 6th of September, which means a total of 45 days veg, or 6 and a half weeks. Next couple of weeks will just be about pruning lower leaves and some HST/LST. Might get a scrog net, tried using a tomato hoop but the one I have is shit... Going well so far anyway!

G'day, Things are going well, she's really growing now, having to adjust LST every couple of days to keep her down to fill the area. Bought all the bits to make a scrog net out of pipes and netting which will be installed in next few days. I replaced piping from transparent to black, the transparent ones were starting to grow algae, probs wouldn't cause an issue but didn't wanna take any chances. Changed the reservoir back to black with a spare lid that I had, as the white lid was solar paint I kept being blinded, was getting close to leaving the grow room with a white stick lol Upped the nutrients up to 797 at TDS 0.5. P.s I am really surprised the small plant hasn't had nutrient burn, TDS is like triple what it should be for a plant of that size! Thanks guys... 😊

G’day, So, the time has come, her lights will be switched off 6 hours early tomorrow at 6am, she will then be in complete darkness for 36 hours ready to go onto the 12 hour cycle at 6pm the following day. I read in a few forums that that is a good thing to do, who knows but I am going with it. I haven’t changed her nutrients just yet as I think they have a couple more days life in them due to recent top ups. I will give her a good root flush and wash out the reservoir with RO water prior to changing up. This will be done at the first lights on the 12/12 cycle. As the res has a tendency to increase PH by 0.5 every day, I will PH down to 5.5 later on tonight, I’d prefer not to do it at lights out tomorrow morning as I want to make sure I didn’t over do it. I have double checked the tent in the day today to make sure there are no light leaks, there was one or two which I have taped up and put a couple black bags on the corners for extra coverage. A little nervous, but excited too. Thanks folks! 🌱

Well, what can I say. She’s a beast. No nutrient deficiencies that I can see, leaves all seem green and healthy. Nute balance, PPMS and PH is dialled in, staying at around 1000 TDS 0.7. That’s not a typo, she’s drinking 7 litres/2 gallons per day. I think she’s doubled her size in 7/8 days. She’s a bit bushy, as I’ve been really busy this last week I haven’t been able to defoliate. Nutes remain the same, slight decrease in nitrogen going into week 2 of flower.

Seems like all is in order. I had to go away for a week because of an emergency and luckily a friend looked after them, only thing he wasn’t sharp on was training and defoliating which is why it got so big and bushy last week. Still no nutrient deficiencies. I visited a website called cannastats a month ago and it actually breaks down ppm requirements for each element. Was a lot of work to get my spreadsheet to calculate properly, but really seems to be working. If anyone wants further details on this, feel free to DM me. I think the big stretch last week was caused by high temps, as a window was left shut when it shouldn’t have been, and also the light wasn’t in the middle because my friend moved the lights up and didn’t realise, so the colas at the back stretched more... that’s my theory anyway. Overall all is good, switch back to 3200k bulbs again today. Need a wide angle lenses to take a photo of this thing, she’s huge...

So, they’re still growing vertically, again, I had to go away for 3 days. Not planned. Tops got too close and a load of them burnt to a crisp, the seriously burnt ones have been cut off and the other ones that weren’t too bad have been bent down. It was 14 inches when the plant was flipped, I reckon she would be around 48 inches now if I didn’t have to hack at her. But disappointed as I reckon she would have been a beauty. But... life goes on and I’m sure she will yield alright when the time comes 4ish weeks time. Literally the only problem this week has been vertical space, plant itself is very healthy. Next time I better get a taller tent 🤦‍♂️

More calm this week, not a lot of people mention on here that the work load reduces a couple weeks after the big stretch. Not had to do too much except a little bending as she’s still getting a bit too close to the lights again. Most of the fan leaves are off now, that I can reach that is. No more reservoir changes now until it gets the chop, as my nutrients stay fairly consistent for the next 3-5 weeks. At around 950 TDS @ 0.5 or 1900 PPM. Still no nutrient deficiencies, the longest stretch I have gone without at least some spots or marks on leaves. Would be interested to know what you guys think she might yield now she’s just about into her 5th week of flower?

So officially 11 weeks and 5 days into the grow so a little early to post week 12 but have got a busy week next week. Still having to cut off the odd bud here and there that gets too close to the lights. Unfortunate but hopefully the fact it’s so tall means I’ll still get a fair bit from the buds around the sides and just under the canopy. TDS @ 0.5 is riding around 950 - 1050 Usually alternating days between adding fertiliser and nutrients. She’s drinking about 12 litres or 4.5 gallons every two full days. Once she’s harvested and weighed in, I’m going to post a long list of points and tips I have learned along the way for any other noobs out there. Already bought another tent for the next grow which is 240cm tall x 110cm x 180cm vs the 180cm tall x 60cm x 120cm one I’m using at the moment. Hopefully that means no more burnt buds! Hope the video and pics are interesting!

Howdy, So this is now the first day of week 14, which is 99 days from sprout, 53 days from when I flipped the lights to 12/12. Still maintaining nutrients at the same levels, topping up on alternate days with RO water or Nutrients. Checked the trichomes under the scope yesterday, but forgot to save the video. So will post a video in a couple days time when I check them again. So far it’s looking like they’re about 75% clear, 24.5% cloudy and the other half percent are made up of translucent amber trichomes. I think she’s still got another 2 weeks in her, as I’ve read that people make the mistake of cutting early because they go off breeders flowering type from the day they flip lights when you should do it from the day you see pistols, which for me was about 8 days into 12/12. Really struggling to keep humidity down, so have a 10L per day dehumidifier coming this week to aid me in the last couple weeks to make sure all this hard work wasn’t for nothing! I needed one anyway to use once this lady is hung up to dry. I am still having to cut off about 5-10 buds per week that are burning unfortunately. I am also in the process of building a grow room around the tent, if I can get it finished, that will mean I can give these ladies some more space and finally be able to raise the lights. I think the better quality smoke will be just under the canopy as I have a feeling the lights are frying off the THC faster than the plant can produce it. Hopefully it can recover once I raise the lights... Anyway, waffling over. 🌱

Howdy, Flush time, based on close ups, she’s more or less ready soon. She’s being flushed as we speak, with pure RO water added to tank. Residual nutrients in there is fine, I think PPM will be around 250 - 300. In 36 hours time, she’s going to have her lights turned off for the last time and will be left in the dark for 36 hours. So she’s being cut down 61 days after flip if all goes to plan, which is in line with breeders detail at 60-70 days. Only Tea and Hydroguard will be added to water. Humidity in room will be controlled at around 58 % RV.

Well its that time... She's done, weighed up and dried in jars with hygrometers. RH is around 60 - 69% in all of the jars so now they will be burped daily for the next 3 weeks. She grew very well, technically I grew 2 plants, but to be honest the main one was so established by the time I added the second one to the tent, she had no chance - reckon I pulled 3g off of the whole plant lol If I had a taller space, I think my yield would be quite a bit better, but I am happy overall! Some of the taller colas were very leafy at the tops, due to light stress I think so I chucked out about an ounce and a half of shit weed. One thing I have learnt more than anything on this first grow is that you should not treat what you read on the internet as gospel when it comes to growing weed. I think there is a lot of anicdotal evidence behind what a lot of people claim to be right/true. Try to verify a tutorial by seeing what other tutorials tell you to do. Don't just go a long with the first one you have found. Another tip, listen to GrowCast podcast and try to find the episodes with Dr MJ Coco, he dropped the first bit of science based knowledge that didn't seem like BS or black magic. Also he has a website called Coco for cannabis, even though I am DWC, I found the live chat helpful as someone is usually on there who can help you. Another website I found most helpful was CannaStats.com - you can enter your bottles ingredients to a calculator and it breaks down your nutes into PPM for each molecule/element. Which I think makes it much easier to interchange between nutrient brands. Plus you know exactly what you are putting into your res water. Now I have a benchmark, I am growing Strawberry Lemonade again to see if I can beat my 'score'. 2 seeds have popped already and I'll be making a new diary soon with an upgraded space, higher ceilings and larger floor space :) PS, I will update final weight once burping is finished 😊