ILGM Bruce Banner - Indoor DWC LED

General: -Custom built 3x2 cabinet with KingBrite 250w LMB301b LED and AC Infinity T4 lined with reflectix insulation. -Custom built DWC with 27-gal storage tote from Menards, Vivosun water pump, Tetrawhisper aquarium pump, and Vivosun large air stones. -First hydro grow (2 prior soil grows completed). Scaled back to 2 plants (27-gallon DWC reservoir is overkill for this) to focus on the techniques and methods to scale in the future. -I am from Missouri and have obtained my medical card and cultivation certification. 8/18: Soaked Rockwool in water pH'd to 5.5 with 600ppm of 1-1-1 ratio of flora trio nutrients. 8/19: Gently shook out excess water in Rockwool, sowed seeds and covered them up with toothpick. Placed on drying rack in a plant saucer in a dark 72 degree cabinet with bucket over them as a makeshift humidity dome. No fan on in the cabinet. Watered once per day with eye dropper (moist but not fully saturated). 8/21: First seedling popped. 8/22: Second seedling popped. Started 18/6 light schedule. Turned LED lights way down. Fan started at speed 3. 8/26: Both seedlings ~3" tall. First roots visible, transferred seedlings, and started top-drip on 8/26. Seedlings looking a little leggy, so increased light intensity. Will increase light intensity until "daytime" temps approach 80 degrees at fan speed 6.

Week 2: -No nutrients added. -Reduced pH from 6.4 to 5.7. Will let it naturally rise to 6.4 before reducing again. This will cover the entire recommended spectrum and allow nutrient uptake at various pH between 5.5-6.5. 0.4 ml/gal of 'pH Down' reduced from 6.4-5.7 (10 ml total for 25 gal). -Significant growth during week 2. Second set of leaves is in and 3rd are emerging. Roots looking healthy and well submerged within nutrient solution. Much faster in hydro than my first 2 soil grows. -Slight twisting of leaves and showing signs of oxygen deprivation (similar to being over-watered, leaves look heavy and plump). This could be a result of temps too high in nutrient solution (75 degree nutrient solution observed. Optimal is mid-60s. Dissolved oxygen decreases as temperature increases, resulting in less oxygen in the root zone which manifests similarly to over-watered/drowning plants in a soil grow.) I will lower the light closer to the plants and reduce intensity, which should reduce temperatures. Another option to reduce temps is to move the light ballast outside of the grow cabinet. Last resort will be to buy an expensive water chiller (will try to avoid during this first hydro grow). -PPM continues to rise by about 10 per day (currently at 627). Maximum recommended PPM during seedling stage is 600ppm, but most recommend starting at 300ppm and only adding more if deficiencies are observed. I'll keep an eye on it, but may need to remove some of the nutrient solution and replace with pH'd water to reduce PPM. -Leggy observations during week 1 were resolved by increasing light intensity. Stems are much more firm and not blowing back and forth anymore. -Planning on growing 5 nodes before topping to the 3rd node and mainlining.

9/10/20 - Plants looking good despite zero attention over the past 5 days (was out of town). Temperature issues have been resolved. 5th node is coming in. Going to top to the 3rd node after the 6th node is in. Also going to turn up the light intensity. The probe for the nutrient solution thermometer was having issues and last week's 75 degree measurement was wrong. Actual temperature of the nutrient solution is below 70, so the light intensity can come back up safely. Roots looking very healthy and the plants are actually taking in nutrients (PPM dropped from 627 last week to 599 this week). Added some additional nutrients with a target of 650 ppm right now. The only issue I'm seeing is that the older growth is slightly leggy and drooping. Seems like this may be a result of light intensity being too low. Will up the intensity significantly starting tomorrow and keep an eye on it. 9/14/20 - Topped both plants to the 3rd node and removed all growth on 1st and 2nd nodes (following nebulous manifold training method). 9/15/20 - Older fan leaves showing signs of deficiencies. Increased nutrients to 800ppm at GHE's recommended "early growth" ratios and adjusted pH to 5.6. Posted a comment with pictures of fan leaves to get other opinions on how to correct these issues.

9/16/20 - Performed first top on 9/15 (see pictures added to week 3). Following the Nebula's manifold method. Waited for 6th node then topped to 3rd node and removed all growth from 1st and 2nd nodes. Next step is to begin LST on the two main colas and top at the 3rd node on each side, removing growth on 2nd node. Fan leaves showing mottling. Asked question to grow diaries and received response that it looks like light burn. Moved lights closer and reduced intensity almost all the way down. After 24-hours, I'm starting to see a slight improvement. I ordered a light meter, so I can start to track the intensity and avoid this issue in the future (will begin recording lumens beginning next week). New growth is coming in very quickly after topping (I can visibly see growth every 8 hours). Roots looking very healthy and growing rapidly. pH, temps, PPM all right where they need to be. Bruce is going to be a monster; the 2nd node had 9-pedal leaves that were 9" across during week 3 from seed! Hopefully my 3x2 cabinet is large enough to hold both manifolded plants, but I'm excited to find out either way.

Week 5 from seed. Started LST on manifold. Manifold 4th node is just starting to come in. After the 5th node comes in, I will top to the 3rd node and remove the 2nd node. Roots from plant #1 beginning to tangle with the air line in the reservoir, which I was able to gently untangle. I'll need to do some research on how to avoid this, because lid/net pots will need to be removed for easier access to defoliate in the future. DWC hydro has been very low maintenance and much more enjoyable than soil for me. I haven't added any pH adjustment or nutrients for almost 2 weeks nor have I changed the nutrient solution within the first 5 weeks, and everything looking very healthy. Have had difficulty dialing in my light intensity and distance, which has previously led to light burn, leggy growth, and heat stress. Purchased a cheap light meter and will begin using this to set the light more consistently. Last week I was at 6k lumens, which I increased to 15k lumens at 21" as recommended on several forums for vegetative growth. I'll increase to around 45k at 18" for flowering. Some very minor tip burn was visible this week, which I'll keep an eye on; but 15k lumens seems to be the sweet spot for now.

9/30/20 - Week 6 Completed topping of manifold (topped both main colas to their 3rd nodes and removed 2nd node). Both plants recovered very quickly. Experiencing some condensation where leaves are overcrowded and touching each other, leading to some light burn in the saturated areas. This should be resolved through defoliation. It shouldn't affect flowering, so I'm not going to do much about it except ensure the new growth nodes are not crowded by older fan leaves by tucking the fan leaves out of the way. Received another response to my question from a couple of weeks ago, indicating the mottling in early veg was a result of a Mg deficiency. I'll add some calmag this week and put that in my early-growth solution on the next grow, though the problem seems to have mostly corrected itself. I continue to be impressed with how easy hydroponic growing is. I haven't touched the nutrient solution in over 3 weeks and everything is still looking healthy. I'll drop the pH and add hydroguard + calmag this week. Next step is to continue training. The colas closest to the center of the plant are outgrowing the newest colas and need to be tied down/spread out. One round of LST should resolve this. I may need to defoliate this week as well. Once the plants reach 18", I'll flip to 12-12 and begin flowering (probably 1-2 more weeks in veg).

Week 7: Plant 1 appears stunted compared to plant 2. #2 grew 4" taller this week, and #1 didn't grow at all. The root ball is noticeably smaller, as well. Additionally, the LST plant tie was too aggressive and one of its 8 main colas broke off. I attempted to tape it back together per instruction I found online, but it was completely broken off and beyond saving. Lesson learned for future grows not to train too aggressively, and to re-tie every day or two. The problem was that the plant continued to grow, but the tie was stationary, adding more strain on the branch which caused it to separate. Defoliated all of the oldest fan leaves on the lower nodes. Also removed 4 downward facing nodes on each plant (first nodes of first nodes on each plant). Moisture was beginning to collect, and the larger fan leaves were getting tangled with new growth and hogging the light. Adjusted nutrients and brought the pH back down. Also added more hydroguard. Raised lights and increased intensity to 20k lumens at the canopy. I'm going to switch to 12-12 light schedule today. I'm not sure what to do about #1's stunted growth. I've verified bubbles are coming equally out of air stones under both plants. They're obviously in the same nutrient bath under the same light in the same cabinet. It could be the stress from losing one of its colas, or maybe it's just genetics. Either way, I don't think there is anything I can do about it at this point. It's interesting with DWC to be able to isolate variables and see the difference between two plants with the same light/nutrient solution/training and watch them side by side. #2 is looking strong and healthy!

Week 8: Flowers not visible after 1 week of 12-12 light schedule, but they have grown a couple of inches and they're THIRSTY. Have taken 3 gallons of water per plant each. Fan leaves have taken over. Completed heavy defoliation. Plant #1 continues to be a runt. Not sure what I can do, so have just continued to treat it the same as plant #2. Added a fan, which has helped remove the moisture on the leaves. Some leaves were deformed because of the light refracting off of the wet spots each morning, and the fan has helped keep airflow to prevent it.

Week 9: Tons of growth this week! Continued with defoliation to avoid over crowding, removing most of the mature fan leaves. Lower branches are stretching significantly, so increased light intensity as high as it would go. Will monitor for light burn. The net pots aren't sitting very well in the tote lid. I made it by drilling with a 4" hole saw, which cut a hole the exact same size as the lip of the net pot. It was too big and fell through, so I used duct tape around the edges of the hole to make it smaller. The duct tape has gotten wet and wallowed out. I think it will work for the remainder of this grow, but I'll need a better solution for the next grow. I may order some plant yoyo's to support the weight if it continues to sag. As such, I'm going to stop removing the lid for root pictures going forward.

Week 10: More growth this week! The stretch has more than doubled height. Flowering is visible and looking dense. Reservoir hasn't been changed the entire grow. Week 10 was the first time solids were visible floating around, but they still look happy. Plant #2 is crowding the space. I've defoliated twice per week for the past 3 weeks. The fan didn't have anywhere to go, so I'll need a more elegant fan solution for the next grow. I'll continue to defoliate, but want to avoid the over-defoliation I performed on my last grow which stunted growth...so I'm erring on the side of under-defoliating. Humidity has been too high the past 2 weeks at >70%. Upped the ventilation fan to 80%, which hasn't had much impact.

Week 11 Pretty much on auto pilot other than two heavy defoliations. The buds are coming in very rapidly. They look way bigger than my first two soil grows at week 4 of flower. Also significantly more trichomes. Excited to see where they go. Got some glamour shots now that the buds are looking pretty :D. Still wondering why Plant #1 is so much smaller than Plant #2. I posed the question last week and someone responded that the light may hit differently and that I should rotate on my next grow. It may also be inconsistency in my air manifold, causing higher airflow to one of the air stones. Visually they look very similar, but the bigger plant's air stone appears to be putting out very slightly more bubbles.

Week 12 Buds really starting to look nice. Growing huge and very frosty for week 5 of flower. Can't believe these beauties have 4-5 more weeks to fatten up. Have defoliated as much as I can for now. The fan leaves from below started to get really leggy and steal light from buds, especially on smaller plant #1. The over crowding also led to some moisture which baked some spots on a few leaves, which I removed. I've taken out a grocery bag full of fan leaves 3 separate times in the past 2 weeks. Plenty of leaves left, but it's right where I want it to be. Other than that, it's been on auto-pilot. No water or nutrients added this week. Still on the original nutrient solution from day 1. The 27 gallon reservoir has proved to be a really nice buffer that has kept levels steady throughout the grow.

11/18 - Week 12 (F35) Solution PH has dropped to 4.18 and PPM increased to 1038. Plants still look healthy, but I'll start checking on them more frequently. The "autopilot" mentality over the past 2 weeks has resulted in these measurements being well out of range. Added 5 gallons of water (to the 27 gallon solution) this week without any PH or nutrient adjustment. St. Louis tap water is naturally ~250 PPM and ~9.2 PH, which evened out the solution to 5.6 PH and 750 PPM. Buds are looking big on a completely different scale from my first 2 soil grows. Trichomes are getting crazy, too. I defoliated today, I've washed my hands thoroughly with soap 3 times and they're still sticky. Really excited to see where this grow goes! Stability of the plant continues to be an issue. Plant #2 consistently falls over, as the net pot isn't firmly secured to the lid of the storage tote. Additionally, the lid of the storage tote isn't very rigid and bows down in the middle from the weight of the plant. I'm leaning (pun intended) towards doing a 1-plant grow next time with a shorter and more rigid container in the 10-15 gallon range with a much larger net pot. The rapid veg growth with hydroponic should allow a single plant to cover the entire 3x2 cabinet without much wasted time...the only concern would be if something happened to my only plant I would lose the entire crop.

Week 14 (F49) Buds slowly starting swell and trichomes continuing to develop like crazy. Starting to smell really good with notes of citrus and berry. Plant #1 buds beginning to catch up, though they still appear a week or two behind the maturity of plant #2. Use a loupe for the first time this week to inspect the trichomes. As expected, they're all still clear. Looks like at least 2 more weeks (probably 3) for these beauties to swell up. Tips showing signs of nutrient burn, despite being about 1/3 the recommended PPM/concentration for flora trio nutrients at this stage of the grow. Removing leaves that show signs of mottling as they appear.

Week 15 (F56) Buds not swelling as much as I would have liked in the last few weeks, but the trichs are going crazy. Trichs looking cloudy and starting to see the first few ambers pop up in the last couple of days. Probably 1-2 weeks out now. PH and PPM got away from me again (similar to week 13). Added 5 gallons of tap water with no nutes, which evened it out to 5.7 PH and 830 PPM. I'll start flushing in a week. Plant #1 isn't just behind on height, it's also about 2 weeks behind Plant #2 in maturity. Since it's smaller, I'm going to focus on Plant #2 to schedule my harvest, and it will just be a little bit premature. Unfortunately, I need to dry the plants in the same cabinet with my air filter to avoid stinking up the house, so I don't have the luxury of harvesting at different times. Very curious to see what the yield will be on this grow. It's only 2 plants and the buds aren't huge, but the training went pretty well. I'm still thinking I'll just do one plant on my next grow. On a personal/side note, I just renewed my Missouri cultivation license. I can't believe I've been growing for over a year! Have really enjoyed the pot growing community full of support and positivity. Having plants to nurture has really been an uplifting hobby during quarantine while working from home.

Week 16 (F63) Checked pH on Sunday and it was down in the mid-4s again, so I added pH up and now it's at 6.6. Added some pH down to stabilize. Also added about 3 gallons of water (no nutes). Will flush in a few days with fresh solution. Buds starting to swell and really smelling amazing. Getting lots of berry notes, like dehydrated strawberries. Uppermost buds are showing >5% amber trichs, but lower buds aren't quite there yet. Going to ask a question to the group recommending how to time an optimal harvest considering the disparity. Leaves starting to fade (as expected late in flower). I did some defoliating to get rid of the very yellow leaves that were also hogging some of the light from the lower buds. Also makes them look better and will make trimming a little easier post-harvest. Have had some friends ask how I've gotten pics of trichs. Just picked up a cheap jeweler's loupe on amazon and put it right up to my phone's camera lens. Hard to see through it clearly enough to examine trichs on its own, but zoomed in on a still photo, you can get a pretty clear picture.

Nice dense and frosty nugs. Heavily wet trimmed to make some good cannabutter, tincture, and canna sugar. The leftover buds were mostly very high quality and tight, with a yield of 6.2 oz. total dry weight. I did make a mistake of significantly over-drying these buds. When I first jarred them, they're at 35% RH. I'm trying to slowly bring them back up with boveda packs, but I'm sure some damage was done. Frustrating, but they still look good and smokable. For my first hydroponic grow, I'm happy with the results and would say this is my best crop to date. It's also my first time using a nationally distributed or award winning genetics. Many say that growing hydroponically is more difficult, but I found it to be easier and less maintenance than growing in soil. I'll definitely stick to hydro, but I'm going to reduce to 1 plant and revise my DWC container to be more stable for my next grow.