second grow, hydroton continuous drip, LST

**ganjaboii024** · 03-20-2009, 12:45 AM

so this is my second grow, my first grow is in 12/12 under my 250 hps right now, in soil, on flora nova nutes (watering after next im flushing), 3.5gal buckets...but enough about that

i started off 5 seeds in paper towel sandwiched between 2 plates on top of my modem, they cracked in 2-3 days, put em in 1 inch rockwool cubes, they rooted in 3-4 days, put them in cans filled with hydroton on a DIY continuous drip system, a week after that it was time to transplant, they are in 1/2 gal pots filled with hydroton pellets now and i had to make new drip rings for the new size pots as well

the first 2 pics are 10 days after they had there first set of real leafs, they are a bit droopy, its 2 hours after the lights went out, it it normal??...
i decided to go with lst this time around and at 12 days i decided to start on one of my plants, the biggest one. the next 2 pics show the first step in my lst prosses.

feel free to give any input or advice

**ganjaboii024** · 03-23-2009, 12:09 AM

today is the 18th day that that plants leafs are seeing the sun
i got a bit confused seeing as my camera doesnt have the right date set, lol
here is an update,
the plant i started lst on has low fully lifted its head back up and produced 4 more nodes...if it developes enough today by lights out ill tie the head back down and to the side making it the second training
i have also started lst on one other plant, the third one is taking its time growing up...the more foilage the faster they grow so the biggers are taking off leaving the littler one behind
here are a couple pics

also im thinking about getting some 5 gallon buckets and making them into buble buckets and transplanting my babies into that...has anyone transplanted like this before?? input anyone..??

**ganjaboii024** · 03-26-2009, 01:27 AM

so i tried the second tie-down on my plant and the stem started to TEAR so i stopped and its been 2 days since that but the top has continued to grow healthily but that plant is one thick stemmed mother fu@%er so i dont think i will continue lst, ill probly stick her (hopefully) in a bubbler bucket i made and flower

the other 2 plants are doing well, one i have started lst on as well and its doing great and im about to start lst on the third plant

the smallest plant has some burning on the leaf tips cuz i increased the nutes and the bigger plants took it great but that one got a lil burned so i watered down the rez

**Gastanker** · 03-26-2009, 01:31 AM

Lookin good man. Love the nice clean simple setup.

**ganjaboii024** · 03-26-2009, 01:50 AM

they are growing well its just a pain to clean the drip rings on a regular basis, i just put holes in some drip tubing with a hot pin and the holes get pluged over time by random residue in the rez and salt buildup
thanks for your input

**ganjaboii024** · 03-28-2009, 03:42 PM

so i got fed up with my drip rings, its such a pain in the ass to keep cleaning them out
i was originally thinking of either switching up the pot size and buying some drippers or making a ebb and flow bucket system
to much work, i spent quite some time checking out dwc buckets and grows, seems to be that if you can keep the rez temps down your good
so i popped my 2 biggest plants out of their pots and stuck em in 5" net pots, those sit in the lid of 5 gallon buckets, iv got 2 6" air stones in the bottom of each bucket hooked up to my air pump
both had great healthy looking rook systems, very massive (hopefully theyll get just as massive but in the bucket

)
had a bit of rot on one of the rw cubes, i scrapped that off

so i got 2 plants in 5 gal DWC buckets, and one more that i dont know what to do with...any ideas??

**ganjaboii024** · 03-31-2009, 06:08 PM

twenty-seven days veggin

its been three days since the transplant from my drip system to the 5 gallon bublers i set up, i can see several roots poking out already, i was checking on it today to see if there was root development and to see if i should lower the water level but the plants did that for me already, i actually had to top them with 2 litres (0.5 gal) of ph water
both plants are growing well, the one that i tore the stem on i stopped lst-ing in and topped the 5 tall tops poking out, the other i have continued lst on and its going well
ill get some pics up later tonight or tomorow

**ganjaboii024** · 04-01-2009, 01:24 AM

so here are the pics
i have 3 pics of my biggest plant (plant 1) i started lst but i ended up tearing the main stem (you can see a good macro pic of this) when i tried bending it so i stopped lst and topped the 5 tallest shoots, i will top more when they get there
the plant is doing great, really bushy, and everywhere i topped its splitting into 2
my second plant is doing great, that one im still doing lst and have not topped at all, i will probobly continue this one lst all the way through flowering and not top it.
and i have a pic of my third plant that i took off the drip system but i curently water it once every 12 hours or so, and it seems to be holding out well. im not sure what im going to do with it, maybe get a pot, throw it in some soil....i dunno, but i feel bad killing it off so ill keep it around unless it gets in my way too much

**cruzer101** · 04-02-2009, 01:40 PM

Hey Ganja

I thought I would take a peek at your grow and offer any advice that may help.
One thing I can tell you is this. Some of these stalks are strong as fuck and hard to bend and if you push them too far they will snap. I have found a way to do it though.

What you do is pinch the stalk where you want the bend until you squeeze about half way through, then bend it over, if the outter bark splits a bit no worries, it will heal. If you do it right the plant will form an elbow and start to grow sideways, then it is much easier to keep it growing that way. If you don't pinch and bend it enough it will straighten back up. If you pinch it too much it will slow growth down a bit but come back. If you squish it down to nothing, well you just topped it.

Try it on the one extra plant you have. It really works great.

**ganjaboii024** · 04-02-2009, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by cruzer101

Hey Ganja

I thought I would take a peek at your grow and offer any advice that may help.
One thing I can tell you is this. Some of these stalks are strong as fuck and hard to bend and if you push them too far they will snap. I have found a way to do it though.

What you do is pinch the stalk where you want the bend until you squeeze about half way through, then bend it over, if the outter bark splits a bit no worries, it will heal. If you do it right the plant will form an elbow and start to grow sideways, then it is much easier to keep it growing that way. If you don't pinch and bend it enough it will straighten back up. If you pinch it too much it will slow growth down a bit but come back. If you squish it down to nothing, well you just topped it.

Try it on the one extra plant you have. It really works great.

i wish i knew that before i tried lst on my big plant, i managed to tear 1/2 way through the stem after the second bending, lol, it healed well and is growing strong so well see what hapens
glad to have you on board