Barney's Farm - Tangerine Dream - Waterfarm!

Well, I kinda almost topped my main top on this girl this evening... was bending the top top a bit and she snapped about 2 inches down - it was an almost 'natural' snapping though, as if it was meant to be. It didn't completely break off though, so I splinted it and taped it back on - should heal up in about a week, no prob. I also removed some fan leaves from the very bottom of the plant this evening - ones that were not getting any light at all, and were getting to be a very dark green since they were the first ones and were obviously getting the most nutes. A few of them were getting damaged a bit from the water on the hydroton and burned from the light/water droplets... so it will help things going forward. I've also removed all of the tie-downs now, so she can snap up faster now and the screen will need to get prepared very soon. I picture it (low LST) kinda like holding it down like a slingshot as she trys to grow upwards, then let it go so she can snap up fast and strong. She'll have only a day or so, and then I'll be doing my next rez change-out, which will mean bumping up the ppm's again, this time slowly to reach about 750 to 900. I doubt I'll give her anything much stronger than that before she goes to 12/12. The LST seems to have been very beneficial and has really 'opened' up the plant while still in a low profile, encouraging around 11-12 nice potential tops, a few of which are already branching thier own new tops out. Look for some new pics in the next few days!!

Heck, might as well get that screen down on her. I'm lovin' this plant.

looks wicked man. following this with a lot of interest. considering buying a couple of tents soon would you say its a worthy investment?

I bought one and have yet to put it up because I'm moving soon. But I did assemble it once just to see how it looked, and I must say it looks great. There are alot of affordable ones on amazon dot com.

Okay, changed out the rez this evening and bumped up my ppms to about 770 with a 5.1 pH. These numbers aren't stable yet and will fluctuate over the next day, so I'll take another measurement tomorrow.

Here's a few pics - lots of tops now, and I've been lazy with my screen - still nothing built, so I need to go to the store in the next few days...











Notes:

- Added a half-teaspoon of micro to the nute solution this time, and a few drops of Superthrive. I'm hoping that will help the curly leaf-edge issue, although lowering the pH will most likely help that as well.
- Great root development so far, nice uptake happening now - need to top off the rez about every 2 days.
- snapped top seems to be surviving fine even though there's still quite a seperation where the snap occurred - may need to support that top carefully once it gets heavier, but maybe the screen will assist with this enough once it's in place...
- removed drip-ring and wiped it down good, tested to ensure no clogging - looks good.

Put in 4-5 tie-downs on the tall tops - bent them out slightly to expose more lower growth.... hoping that with the fresh water/nutes, it will go through a nice growth spurt, so I'll try to train it as best I can before putting the screen down to take over...

did u cut her loose??????? it looks great...very very clean and organied....+rep

ok i guess i have to pass some around first but...ill get t to ya

Tested this morning:

6.1 pH
775 ppm

....I'm happy with these readings. I want to see if this lower pH and bumped up ppms will help with the tops that are looking a bit droopy and still have an issue with curled up leaf edges. Has anyone out there ever seen this happen? It all looks nice and green still, but it's not as perky as I think it should be - and I thought the leaf-edge curling was from excess-heat at the top of the canopy but now I'm not sure...

Hows the oxygen level in the water?
Maybe she could use an additional air stone in her res.

Dayzt said:

Tested this morning:

6.1 pH
775 ppm

....I'm happy with these readings. I want to see if this lower pH and bumped up ppms will help with the tops that are looking a bit droopy and still have an issue with curled up leaf edges. Has anyone out there ever seen this happen? It all looks nice and green still, but it's not as perky as I think it should be - and I thought the leaf-edge curling was from excess-heat at the top of the canopy but now I'm not sure...

Click to expand...

I think your leaf edge curling is more due to PH swings than anything else. I spend effort in maintaining my PH around 5.8 (for Hydro) & correct at 6.1 or higher. My TD drinks about 1 gallon a day, so I check & add back twice a day and my PH is staying around 5.8-5.9.
When 1st setting up & learning how the WF operates, I inadvertently let PH climb to 6.6, I immediately drained/cleaned & started over at 5.8. Even, so I did observe slight leaf damage.
There was a period of about a week or so that my growth/stretch was so rapid that mew tops were extremely fragile.
I would check your PH again late in the day and if climbing, bump your ppm by 50, if not, just add back PH'd water.
One key ingredient that is included in TD's writeup of ScottyBall's WF improvements is the replacement of the standard supplied air pump with a more powerful model.
If you have not done so already, spend a few minutes reading that write up....lot's of good stuff there.

cruzer101 said:

Hows the oxygen level in the water?
Maybe she could use an additional air stone in her res.

Click to expand...

I actually up-sized my pump to a 30 gallon pump before starting this grow - the one that came with the waterfarm currently isn't being used, but it would be difficult to add it in at this point without distubing any roots in the top bucket, so i'm not going down that road - maybe next grow. Thanks for the tip though cruzer - I think I'll add an air-stone next time. When I lift the top bucket right now, there seems to be lots of bubbling action though too, so I don't see how this could be the problem.

I've raised the light about 6 inches, so now it's about 2.5 feet from the canopy - we'll see if that helps. I also need to get my tent exhausting air better - right now it's only got the lower mesh vent to exhaust air. I've got a 250 cfm inline fan at the bottom corner, pushing fresh-air in, and a small fan up top pushing air down - that's it. I may look into getting some sort of exhaust up above the light, pulling air up and out of the tent... that may help too. My temps aren't too bad though - high of 79 with the lights on and low of 59 with lights out. Humidity is around 50% lights on and as low as 30% lights off.

I think your on the right path with looking at interior temps. I have two 7" fans up top & a 10" oscillating down below. I also have a 250 cfm inline pulling though 4 X 24" filter and pushing through light to exhaust. Ideally, I would like to size up to 6" all the way through as I watch my temps, that would let me get my light a bit closer.

Another quick pic update - looking even bigger today after spreading her out some more:





Took another reading this evening, and holding steady at:

6.1 pH
754 ppm

Bought my supplies for the screen today... how do you guys normally suspend the screen in your tent? ...or do you put in on legs in each corner?? I haven't put the screen together quite yet - ended up buying the wrong staple-gun and staples so I have to go back to the store tomorrow and get the right ones... I got some nice plastic mesh for the screen with 1"x1" holes - I plant to cut them into 2"x2" holes in order to make it easier to pull the tops through. My tent is 4'x4' square, but my screen will be slightly larger than 3'x3' square so I'll have some room around the edges.

- I've started to foliar spray again - using pH adjusted RO water. I hope the spray will help rejuvenate the curly leaf edges. It appears the problem is improving since the light was raised as well, so we'll see if it gets better over the next few days.
- Working on a way to exhaust the tent better - if I don't puchase another fan for this reason soon, I may put my short 8" inline fan on the top hole of the tent and use it like a 'chimney', and have it pull some air out through the top...we'll see.

looks good, how long has she been vegging now again? id let her grow a bit more before scrogging her, but it cant hurt to put the screen a little way above her and let her grow up to it. I've never done a tent grow but when the plant starts putting pressure on the screen you are going to want support. I think your plant will pick up now, I wouldnt bother with the spray- its always a little tricky with the water in the beginning stages as the ph swings wildly but now is the time it settles- and it looks to be settling, you will notice a surge in your plant in the next few days i would imagine. also as you up the nutes the ph is balanced nicely by that. all looks very good to me!

Readings this evening...

744 ppm
6.2 pH

Topped up the rez with what I had left from the last change out - not quite enough to top it up completely to the line, but close. I'll need to mix up more nutrient solution soon, as she's drinking considerably faster now...

Damn! That girl's lookin' good!

Look for a pic update this weekend - not sure which day it'll happen, but soon... I'm toying with the idea of moving her into my large tent for flowering - I have a 600w cooltube setup in my larger tent, so maybe the extra light in flowering will be beneficial. She's gulping down water/nute right now so I'm trying to prepare for having to top the rez off more often and make more trips to the store to get more RO water (yes it sucks not having an RO system at home using a waterfarm!). We're replaing our kitchen sink tap soon, so I'm going to implement an RO system when we do that so I can use it for the waterfarm(s). We need it for drinking water too, so it's a necessary purchase in more ways than one.

Questions for y'all....

1. Still waiting for some comments on how the scrog screen is normally 'secured' down or if peeps usually attach 'legs' to it...?
2. I noticed some of the roots' tips are turning a brownish color... not too bad yet, but it this root-rot? What can I do about it - I don't see it effecting the 'greenery', but if it's a problem, i'd like to address it asap.

....I'll get some pics of the roots this weekend as well hopefully. Cheers!!

Dayzt said:

Look for a pic update this weekend - not sure which day it'll happen, but soon... I'm toying with the idea of moving her into my large tent for flowering - I have a 600w cooltube setup in my larger tent, so maybe the extra light in flowering will be beneficial. She's gulping down water/nute right now so I'm trying to prepare for having to top the rez off more often and make more trips to the store to get more RO water (yes it sucks not having an RO system at home using a waterfarm!). We're replaing our kitchen sink tap soon, so I'm going to implement an RO system when we do that so I can use it for the waterfarm(s). We need it for drinking water too, so it's a necessary purchase in more ways than one.

Questions for y'all....

1. Still waiting for some comments on how the scrog screen is normally 'secured' down or if peeps usually attach 'legs' to it...?
2. I noticed some of the roots' tips are turning a brownish color... not too bad yet, but it this root-rot? What can I do about it - I don't see it effecting the 'greenery', but if it's a problem, i'd like to address it asap.

....I'll get some pics of the roots this weekend as well hopefully. Cheers!!

Click to expand...

I have my scrog screen secured with Tie Wraps to the frame of my tent. I built mine to just fit inside my tent frame poles which makes this easy. Each corner of the screen is doubled tie wrapped.
I use synthetic Nutes and address potential root problems with a daily dose of h2o2 with my add backs as well as running an air stone 24/7 in my lower bucket.
Please note, some nutes change root color to light tan/brown. I would wait for an answer from a member who was running the same nutes as you are, in the same setup.
Smell your res....if it does not smell good, flush ASAP and do your research, there are some products out there that have proven quite useful to combat and heal from root rot, if applied early enough.

looking very nice!
i'm thinking about doing a scrog with the waterfarm also.