Snow white CFL custom DWC

Hey folks!

I'm back after a long while, ended up taking a break. But i've had a few growing adventures since my old Aerogarden attempts a few years ago! Since then i've tried building a 30 gallon hydro system and it worked for quite a while, but changing the res out was a pain in the ass so i went for a slightly smaller application. Most recently i've reattempted a custom hydro grow with:

Nirvana's Snow white fem
A 10 Gallon res
2 12 inch airstones
2 open ended tubes pumping air into the res
2 Dual spout air pumps
Water pump/Sprayer system in the res (This was beneficial while i was waiting for the roots to take, haven't used it much in the phase the ladies are in now)
General Hydroponics 3 part nutes
Dr hornby's big bud
the light hood from the aerogarden deluxe
7 2700k CFL's for flowering in the 23-32 watt range and I have 5 other CFL's in the 3000k range which aren't hooked up yet
(I've been doing research on some new lights for the last week or two, and honestly i'm really kind of leery about switching to HPS due to the heat. I was thinking about picking up a 200watt flowering CFL. If anyone has any suggestions or advice would love to hear it)

I am currently about 2 1/2 weeks into flowering.

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This grow has certainly been trying.. but this strain is taking everything that could be thrown at it without a hitch.. I started with 4 and am down to 2, I cut the two smaller ones into clones

pics dont werk

Going to start putting up pics from the grow, sorry for the broken links before.

VEG

Pre-Flower to Bloom/Current

So if anyone has any suggestions on lighting please let me know, 200 watt CFL? or should i look into making the transition to a low-medium powered HPS light kit

Thanks

Lucas formula? Not quite Just measure out my own GE nutes and i've started introducing big bud at this stage of the game , not using anything else at the moment. is there something else you recommend?

blackaricanboy said:

Lucas formula? Not quite Just measure out my own GE nutes and i've started introducing big bud at this stage of the game , not using anything else at the moment. is there something else you recommend?

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Didnt know of GE nutes,But look in too the Lucas Formula very easy and works great for me,I use GH Micro+Bloom all the way.Lol but i think you ment GH.I use a little CAl-mag,and trying some Sweet from Bonaticare friend owns hydro store so get alot of freebies.

BEECH

Don't get me wrong your plants look nice and healthy and are growing well but Iwould recommend the HPS over the Cfl's so that your plants don't stretch as much and your buds will grow larger and faster. Like BEECH said you should get a 600w dimmable that you could use for MH and HPS. The 600w are known to have a higher lumen to watt ratio than any other bulb. HID's will also give you more canopy penetration so won't have to have all of those cfl's hanging around like that. Like I said don't get me wrong your doing a great job but HID's are the way to go. If 600w is too much or too expensive you can pick up some cheaper kits. I just bought a 100w HPS ballast, igniter, capacitor, and socket. I am building an aluminum box to house the parts and building a reflector out of aluminum flashing. I got the whole thing for $20.

wow that sounds great. I was just about to ask, do you guys recommend any good websites where the stuff is sold wholesale? I have a hydroponics store nearby, but its obvious they are buying these parts online and marking them up.

@SOMEBEECH yeah man i meant gh, apologies. I checked out the lucas formula it looks great, my nutrient build is similar minus the sweet. How well does that stuff work?

i dont understand what you mean by open ended tubes for air. does this mean you do not use airstones? micro bubbles are much better for do.

superstoner1 said:

i dont understand what you mean by open ended tubes for air. does this mean you do not use airstones? micro bubbles are much better for do.

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I am actually running 2 airpumps on this machine, each one has 2 tubes - one of them hosts 2 12 inch airstones, and the other one has 2 open ended tubes, (no airstones). just a little test i wanted to do for this grow, because a lot of time with DWC i've noticed that nutes don't mix well when topping off the res. But my plants seem to have loved it, the pumps have been running 24/7 since the grow started.

Pics from this morning & this evening

Still finding the plants leaves running into the lights every now and then, so doing daily adjustments (that 400w hps is sounding real good right about now!) and decided that I think im going to invest in a grow tent as well.

Update~
Flowering is going well, the girls are starting to show some resin!

anyone have any guesses to how long its going to be before they're done?

also - i'm thinking about pulling the trigger on this http://www.greners.com/i/grow-tents/secret-jardin/dark-room-ii-pro/secret-jardin-dark-room-pro-dr60-ii.html thoughts?

i'm also waiting to hear back from some CL ads for a 400w hps hopefully i can get it before these girls are done.. see if i cant boost their size

Update from tonight, the babies are looking good. Starting to really show genetics with all the resin. Surprisingly the plant smells extremely fruity.. like cotton candy lol

Update

Still burning every so often on the CFL bulbs - Tallest plant is 3 feet tall with the second right behind her. The sweet smell has intensified, but still hasn't been unmanageable. This strain is great I would recommend it, shes taken a shit load of stress so far and is pushing through it