Barney's Farm - Tangerine Dream - Waterfarm!

I've found the majority of peeps growing out the TD are experiencing heavy sativa dominance. This plant doesn't show as much of the sativa dom traits - at least not yet. I'm seeing some fairly fat leaves (see the above pic of the one I trimmed this evening) but we'll see how she looks after the flowering stretch. I want to veg this baby as long as I can. I'm not sure how much longer I'll LST, but she really doesn't seem to mind so far, and is still growing quite fast regardless of the bending. The roots look great still, and were totally coated in bubbles when I lifted the top to check. It's been a month now since this grow started, but I don't want to even think about that - there's no 'time limit', so as long as it looks good I'll continue to let her grow out as much as possible before I start the scrog and think about when to flip the light cycle.

Again, anyone out there watching that has any comments on the LST, please feel free to chime in - I've done LST a few times before, but never more than one tie-down. I have 3 ties on this girl already now, and as long as she is happy, green, and growing, I'll keep moving around the pot-top in order to give all that new growth a chance to develop.

yeah buddy waterfarms r dank as hell....almostoperate alone with times for lights.... DONT TURN OFF UR AIR PUMP EVER OR U WILL GET ROOT ROT.....yeah u prolly know that.....

realnyjuggalo23 said:

yeah buddy waterfarms r dank as hell....almostoperate alone with times for lights.... DONT TURN OFF UR AIR PUMP EVER OR U WILL GET ROOT ROT.....yeah u prolly know that.....

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Fo sho man - the pump isn't on a timer, it only gets unplugged when I do a rez change. I toyed with the idea of putting a second pump on a waterstone in the rez, but decided I'd keep it simple this time around - maybe next time and then compare. I may also order myself another waterfarm kit soon, and try it on that one - we'll see. I'm thinking I'd like to have 2 different strains growing at the same time so with 2 waterfarms I can do that. We enjoy the sativas but also like the indica 'stone', so my next grow will be a nice combination.

She looks very lovely. I like your LST work, that will really open her up. I would agree that she looks like she's ready for more nutes. It's usually around this point I usually get a bit overzealous/overconfident, and screw up. From hard earned lessons, I would caution you to raise ppm slowly, rather than in larger increments.
Basically, less is more until your plant tells you otherwise.
I'm learning that 100 ppm or less, increases in ppm at a feeding, is kinder to my plant, and keeps my stress level to a minimum.
And you know your nutes best.
Forgive me, I just think your plant looks so great, that I feel protective towards it.

dishinit said:

She looks very lovely. I like your LST work, that will really open her up. I would agree that she looks like she's ready for more nutes. It's usually around this point I usually get a bit overzealous/overconfident, and screw up. From hard earned lessons, I would caution you to raise ppm slowly, rather than in larger increments.
Basically, less is more until your plant tells you otherwise.
I'm learning that 100 ppm or less, increases in ppm at a feeding, is kinder to my plant, and keeps my stress level to a minimum.
And you know your nutes best.
Forgive me, I just think your plant looks so great, that I feel protective towards it.

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Thanks dish - I really appreciate these comments!! I'll keep my ppm increase to around 100 as you suggested - this is my first time watching the numbers this close, so it's awesome to have you watching with your experience having dealt with this before. I've noticed my water level is going down a bit quicker now, so I take it that means it's eating/drinking more considering the growth rate as well... this will allow for more opportunities to adjust things as I'll be topping off the rez more often. I'm guessing I can go 1 more week before doing my next complete rez change-out.

Hopefully once I have the ppm's up to about 650, my pH will come down to something between 6-6.5 or even a tad lower...

sounds like u have the farm well figured... i 2 plan to get another waterfarm for my fall grow...how is the Kandy Kush i wanna grow 2 next indoor hydro grow... i hear she is a real stretcher but produces like hell...growin PE sour kush midnight kush & my fav the sage....idk really i like the idea of the air stone inthe res.......and a dual outlet air pump to run both items seperate... i noticed towards harvest i had to clean the drip ring almost daily, but no big 4 whut it produces......

Dayzt said:

Fo sho man - the pump isn't on a timer, it only gets unplugged when I do a rez change. I toyed with the idea of putting a second pump on a waterstone in the rez, but decided I'd keep it simple this time around - maybe next time and then compare. I may also order myself another waterfarm kit soon, and try it on that one - we'll see. I'm thinking I'd like to have 2 different strains growing at the same time so with 2 waterfarms I can do that. We enjoy the sativas but also like the indica 'stone', so my next grow will be a nice combination.

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Lookin' real nice. Keep up the good work!

My bulb burnt out this evening - not sure when it went out since I didn't check it at light's on time... but I've switched the bulb out, had to use my 400w HPS conversion bulb, so I guess the rest of this grow will be with HPS...hope this girl doesn't mind! =)

Tested rez:

6.8 pH
507 ppm

...didn't have a chance to fix it this evening - tomorrow morning I'll top off the rez and bring up the ppm's with the intention of bringing the pH down some...

Looking really good still, despite the light problem and high pH - lower growth coming up nice now that she's tied down 3 times...more LST to come in the next few weeks at least.

how bout some pix?????dont know if ur a pic mongar but i love pix even in veg.....sorry to be pushie....

Dayzt said:

................... I've noticed my water level is going down a bit quicker now, so I take it that means it's eating/drinking more considering the growth rate as well... this will allow for more opportunities to adjust things as I'll be topping off the rez more often. I'm guessing I can go 1 more week before doing my next complete rez change-out.............

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Well get ready for changes as you fill up your screen...........
I now have to check water level twice a day, it makes me nervous as to how low the Res will go in 24 hours.
I am imagining a whole lot of roots in there lapping it all up.
Your Idea of running two Water Farms may make sense if they are both filling the same screen, less plant to gulp down the nutes per sq ft.
Somebody's has had to figure out Pot size vs Scrog size. or in our case, single Water Farm size vs optimal screen size?
Or is it always a moving target?

I topped off the rez this evening with a strong nute mixture (5.5 pH, 750 pmm) to try and raise my ppms and lower the pH. I did a test afterwards and the ppms were coming up and pH going down, but I can tell it will need a day or so to mix in before I can get an accurate reading - will test again tomorrow eve.

Here's a few pics for all you pic-whores out there... lol.. =)





Notice the nice spiral of large-to-small tops following the stem that's tied down.. Once those lowest ones start to take off more, I'll need to start getting my screen ready.

I moved one of the ties over and brought the tip of the main stem over once again, revealing all ~10 tops forming. It's been fun keeping this girl nice and low. She's still keeping some nice tight nodes and is about 6-7" from top to bottom right now. I should be able to keep the screen super-low once I put it in - only leaving enough room to be able to reach it and change the rez.


Observations:

- The main-stem is about the width of a pencil now, and my anchor tie-down is pulled extremely tight as she's at close to a 90 degree angle.
- Some of the low fan leaves are getting some nute salt buildup and and few have tiny burn-holes (only saw a few), but other than that it's still very green.
- The lower fans are the darkest green color and are a more 'rough' texture.
- No signs of deficiencies anywhere - all leaves are burn-free up to the tips.

one month and a few days from the first pic and WOW the growth is looking great!

looking good

Okay - picture update time again! This girl is really responding well to this low LST. I really don't know when I'll need to put down a screen on her since she's been bendy enough to keep growing fairly horizontal up until now. The first branches lower down the stem are now matching the main stem but I keep turning her down to expose her new branches, still making the circle path around the pot rim.

Enjoy the pics! For those comparing earlier pics, note that I've turned the waterfarm around 180 degrees to give the girl a different view of the light.. =)









A few of the tender new tops were starting to get curly edges so I raised my light up a bit this evening. The plant seems to really be enjoying the HPS lights which is a bit of a relief since I wasn't sure how she'd respond to the unplanned switchover... I used more of my leftover nutrient solution from the other night (nice strong mix) to top off the rez this evening as well. Took a look at the roots and was pleasantly surprised to see them all still nice a white, with tiny 'foamy' bubbles coating them. =)

The 2 td's that I started have 2 completely different phenos. One is super tall and lanky and the other is super short and bushy. Looks like you got the latter of the two.

thegrouch34 said:

The 2 td's that I started have 2 completely different phenos. One is super tall and lanky and the other is super short and bushy. Looks like you got the latter of the two.

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Yeah, it would appear it's a bit heavier on the 'G13' side I think - since the other cross is the Neville's Haze... although without the LST it would be about 8-9 inches tall by now. I've heard some of the TDs look more indica when younger and then stretch out showing more thinner leaves later on, so who knows.

Nice lookin lady!

I also have 2 TD seedlings about a week younger but way smaller as they started in solos and moved to hempys. Started 3 and had 1 mutant. My 2 look like they might be different phenos but they haven't branched out enough to tell, one looks a few days smaller with skinnier leaves. I'm happy to see grows of TD beyond all the failed germs a couple months back. The 2 TD are on the right

Kaiser Puff said:

Nice lookin lady!

I also have 2 TD seedlings about a week younger but way smaller as they started in solos and moved to hempys. Started 3 and had 1 mutant. My 2 look like they might be different phenos but they haven't branched out enough to tell, one looks a few days smaller with skinnier leaves. I'm happy to see grows of TD beyond all the failed germs a couple months back. The 2 TD are on the right

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Thanks Kaiser! They're looking nice and healthy! I just realized my last rez change was almost two weeks ago now (April 14) so I'll be doing a complete change out in the next few days

Some great growth in just this past day. I eased up some on the main tie-down to allow the main top to come up a bit. No pics tonight, but the next update (likely Friday or Sat.) will show some nice differences from yesterday's pics for sure. This is going to be a big girl once she's done vegging, and I hope keeping her nice and low will help later on once she's weaved into the 4x4 screen that's going into my tent.

hey sorry i have been by been bizzy looks great...hopin for some new pix..n some cooler temps.....