By continuing to use the website or clicking Accept you consent to our cookies and personal data policy and confirm that you are at least 18 year old. For details please see Privacy Policy and Terms
This will be my first grow attempt. My plan is to grow two White Widow Auto-flowering plants in a deep-water culture hydroponic system: two five-gallon DWC buckets in my 2 x 4 x 6 grow tent. Seeds: two seeds from i49 seed bank (weed seeds canada). I soaked the seeds in water for 13.5 hours, then used the paper towel method to germinate in the dark in a warm room. Both seeds popped @ 2 days and when they had 1” sprouts I transplanted into rapid rooter plugs (pre-soaked, briefly) in shot glasses with some water in the bottom. The plugs stayed very wet so I moved them out of the shot glasses so they could drain, and I kept them moist. By day 7, there were signs of life from the tops of both rooter plugs.
On Day 9 I transplated the rooter plugs into their home in the DWC buckets. I hand watered them from the top until the roots reached through the mesh into the nutrient rich water. They are on an 18-6 light schedule. I am using Canna Aqua nutrients and I decided to simply load up their recommended 'normal feeding' nutrients. The PPM reading seems a little high compared to what they recommend in their grow guide, though I am a little confused by their online tool . They have 3 different types of PPM measurements on their web page (Truncheon, Eutech, and Hanna) and I cannot figure out which type is the 'common' or typical one which would match my Nutri+ 'quick check' TDS tester (Truncheon seems closest to my measurements).
These plants are really starting to take off. I knew that the PH levels and PPM were a bit too high going into this week. Twice during the week I topped off each bucket with 1L of clean RO water, and the Ph and PPM readings are closer to where they should be now. Also, I realized that some light was getting into the buckets (needed to put in the last few clay pellets into the baskets, plus I wasn't clipping down the lids). Also, the temperature in the buckets was beginning to get too high (22.5 C), so I turned off the small aquarium heaters (it's a cold concrete floor) and turned down the air temp in the tent a tad. I have a tiny space heater in there on a thermostat, and the water temp drifts up a little with the air temp. So, I brought the bucket water temp down to 18, air temp is at 19.
There are some rust-colored spots that appeared on a few of the lower leaves but it does not seem to be spreading and I hope the issue is now corrected.
In soil you can grow with a ph between 6 and 7 to be on the sweet spot , in hydro the sweet spot is 5.8 all the run long so your EC is even too high for a classic outdoor grow. Reduce your ph , fix the fluctuation by checking the clay balls ph : did you fluched the clay balls ? because the natural ph of the clay ballas is not good for cannabis , it require a flush to bring the ph to the good level and sometimes it can take up to 3 days so it is a long process but necessary to avoid ph fluctuation.
The air humidity is also clearly too low , after the seedling phase , when the plants have 3 or 4 set of leaves like yours , your huidity level should not be lower than 70% , even 60% can be enough but 35% is clearly too low , you can buy an himiidifier or you can spray watter on your plants during night time ( the second solution is not the best ) , or you can even let a water bucket in the tent and let the heat makes some humidity.
Toward the end of the week I changed the water and nutrients. I dialled down the levels some, more so to half-strength Canna 'light' feeding schedule for the one that seemed to be in trouble before I changed the water. The other one I put on a full 'light' Canna amount. Both plants seemed shocked after I refreshed the buckets. I have better humidity in there now (added a humidifier) and the EC values are closer to ideal. I trimmed the lower two sets of growth tips on both plants as my intention is to top and train them.
The plant on the Canna 'light' feeding schedule was doing a lot better than the other one, which I had put on 50% of that, so I brought that one up to the Canna 'light' levels too. They both seemed to be doing pretty well. I topped the one on the right on day 33 when it reached 6 nodes. The one on the left is a few days behind.
Things seem to be going okay. I topped the one on the left on day 39 when it reached 6 nodes. I kept the tops and stuck them in rapid rooter plugs. If can keep them alive I will try to grow them by sunlight in pots with soil or coco coir.
Good week! On Day 44, for the plant on the right, I topped and supercropped the main branches, and pruned the 2nd node growth tips. The one on the left will be ready soon. Starting to notice a light aroma when I open the tent :)
Good week :) On day 51 I topped and supercropped the two main branches on on the left (it was a few days behind the other one, which I already did). It recovered well. I am trying to grow one of the tops in coco coir. I bought the Canna coco a/b nutrients and I am trying it on their 'light' feeding schedule. Before I got it into the coco coir I think I over-watered it, since it tumbled right over and there was just a brown stump for a root! I propped it up with toothpicks, hopefully she'll sprout new roots.
Growth really started taking off. I am topping them off every other day or so with a litre or two per bucket. PPMs are dropping as they suck down nutrients. Pretty soon I will change out the buckets entirely, but everything seems clean and the girls seem very happy so I plan to wait until it is time to change over to flowering nutrients and light schedule.
Another great week :) Early in the week I switched to the 'light' level of Canna "Vegetation Phase II" transitional nutrient schedule, i.e., slightly higher levels of the A/B "Aqua Vega" veg nutes plus a little bit of "Boost". Early in the week I raised up the lamps by 2" when the plants were getting really close and seemed to be a tad wilty. Toward the end of the week I raised the lamp on the right 2.5 more inches when that one seemed wilty again. She responded well. Soom I am going to move to the next step on the Canna feed schedule, "Generative Period I." I had been planning to pump the buckets out and start with fresh nutrients and water, but everything looks so clean and healthy and the EC and PPM numbers are dialled in, so I decided to simply start topping up with blooming nutrient water and see how they respond. I'd rather not waste what's in the buckets and they seem to be drinking it all.
The ladies seem very happy. Topping them up about every other day with Canna "Generative Period I" light nutrient mix and the PPMs rose accordingly, they seem to be liking it. The buds are developing really well and I see some amber coloration starting to come in now especially near the tops. I guess maybe I am about two weeks out from harvest? Moving to "Generative Perod II" mix which is just adding in their PK 13/14. Planning to switch to water top-up to flush about a week before harvest.
Buds are bulking up nicely. I had them on the Canna "Generative Period II" light nutrient mix this week. Now I will go to "Generative Period III" mix. Everything continues to be super clean inside the buckets so I plan to simply keep topping up with nutrient water.
BranchRanch
