Critical Kush Flower Room

smokebros said:

Thank you! I went sterile most of the grow. Shortly after the plants burned I decided to stop using food grade hydrogen peroxide @ 5ML/gallon and began using Hydroguard @ 2ML/gallon.

Water temps on average ran between 68-73 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the grow.

My TDS meter only reads PPM so I'll speak in that terminology - not sure which conversion to do to get EC. The hottest I mixed my nutrients was around 750PPM in early/mid flower, with 50 or so of those PPM from tap water.
If I had a chance to do it over again, I'd say 600PPM was the sweet spot I'd try to settle into. Most of the grow she was somewhere between 300-500, a few weeks around 600, and then 750.

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Here is a conversion chart:
https://manicbotanix.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/ec_ppm_conversion_chart.png

I'm guessing your pen is on the .50 scale not the .70 scale making your 750PPM = 1.5 EC. That sounds about right for DWC.... I always talk in EC because it means something, PPM can mean one of three different readings Anyways I guess your pen is .50 scale since 750PPM in .70 scale is only like 1.1 EC which would be pretty low for the top of flower even for DWC...

I tried DWC last run and I did not have results like that! Jealousy thy name is me, lol.
I did sterile using Calcium hypochlorite, and wanted to use Hydroguard but they pulled it from the shelves here in Canada when I went to get it. I switched to ebb and flow and this is my first run but I don't use anything except a high powered recirculating pump in the reservoir that runs 24/7.

HotWaterKarl said:

Here is a conversion chart:
https://manicbotanix.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/ec_ppm_conversion_chart.png

I'm guessing your pen is on the .50 scale not the .70 scale making your 750PPM = 1.5 EC. That sounds about right for DWC.... I always talk in EC because it means something, PPM can mean one of three different readings Anyways I guess your pen is .50 scale since 750PPM in .70 scale is only like 1.1 EC which would be pretty low for the top of flower even for DWC...

I tried DWC last run and I did not have results like that! Jealousy thy name is me, lol.
I did sterile using Calcium hypochlorite, and wanted to use Hydroguard but they pulled it from the shelves here in Canada when I went to get it. I switched to ebb and flow and this is my first run but I don't use anything except a high powered recirculating pump in the reservoir that runs 24/7.

Click to expand...

I just opened a new tab to read the grow journal in your signature, got a fresh bowl packed too .

I have mixed opinions on DWC growing. Personally, I would love the results more than anything but it's not optimal for me. There are too many variables involved that I'm not currently interested in taking on if I scale it up. Down the road I might consider revisiting hydroponics, maybe or maybe not DWC, but for now I'm focused on growing some GDP in some big ole' arepots this winter.

Man, I'm sorry that they pulled that product off the shelf in Canada. That's a cunty ass thing for to do, Canada!!!

Maybe I dabble with some ebb and flow down the road - curious to read this journal.

smokebros said:

I just opened a new tab to read the grow journal in your signature, got a fresh bowl packed too .

I have mixed opinions on DWC growing. Personally, I would love the results more than anything but it's not optimal for me. There are too many variables involved that I'm not currently interested in taking on if I scale it up. Down the road I might consider revisiting hydroponics, maybe or maybe not DWC, but for now I'm focused on growing some GDP in some big ole' arepots this winter.

Man, I'm sorry that they pulled that product off the shelf in Canada. That's a cunty ass thing for to do, Canada!!!

Maybe I dabble with some ebb and flow down the road - curious to read this journal.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I did too much veg time for topped plants, like 26 in total, and they turned into monsters. I am using Rockwool slabs and it is a first for me, I have only done 4 inch cubes before a long time ago. Ebb and flow is great, you can pack a lot of plants into a small space, or veg a few into a big space like what I did in the journal. If not bound by med registration limits, I would pack 150 rooted clones into 4 inch cubes on the 8x4 and go into 12x12 right away, sea of green (SOG) styles. But, I digress, they won't allow me to do that legally.

The great thing about ebb and flow in Rockwool is you have one reservoir to manage, and it is sooo easy compared to my last 12 site DWC or even my last 30 plant 5 gallon soil runs! Just flood the table and you are done feeding basically lol. Some guys I know even put fabric pots with inert soil mediums on the table and bottom feed them.

Update Time

Pheno #2 has been cut from the stems, weighed, and jarred. It weighed 3oz 17gr. 101 total grams.

A few weeks ago I predicted 4oz, so I was a little off with 3.6 being the total. Overall the buds are pretty damn good. 8 of the 101 grams was fluff that I'll use for extract, about 40 grams was nice tops, and the remaining 50% was what I consider AA bud (high quality dense buds but not the top tops).

The main difference in technique I did with this plant was wet trim it, where as pheno #1 was dry trimmed. I'm curious to see if that makes any significant differences.


Couple more days until the Sour Deez comes down, then it's reset, vacation, and GDP time.

smokebros said:

Update Time

Pheno #2 has been cut from the stems, weighed, and jarred. It weighed 3oz 17gr. 101 total grams.

A few weeks ago I predicted 4oz, so I was a little off with 3.6 being the total. Overall the buds are pretty damn good. 8 of the 101 grams was fluff that I'll use for extract, about 40 grams was nice tops, and the remaining 50% was what I consider AA bud (high quality dense buds but not the top tops).

The main difference in technique I did with this plant was wet trim it, where as pheno #1 was dry trimmed. I'm curious to see if that makes any significant differences.
View attachment 4029372

Couple more days until the Sour Deez comes down, then it's reset, vacation, and GDP time.

Click to expand...

I always wet trim, and remove good buds from stalk. I find doing this allows it to get to the mostly-dry stage (where you then move it to the cure stage) quicker and without the bud browning, the buds can't pull water from the stalks and dry quicker and more even. Curious what you think of that.

HotWaterKarl said:

I always wet trim, and remove good buds from stalk. I find doing this allows it to get to the mostly-dry stage (where you then move it to the cure stage) quicker and without the bud browning, the buds can't pull water from the stalks and dry quicker and more even. Curious what you think of that.

Click to expand...

I try to extend the dry as long as possible before curing. If I could go 7-10 days instead of 4-7 I'd do it every time. I've found that the quicker the dry time is, the terpenes and odor wont come on as strong.

I'll be updating this thread once more before I close the chapter on this grow. That'll be sometime mid next week.

Overall I'm satisfied with how this grow went. In my final update I'll provide the total yield & grams per watt totals. I just want to say thank you to a couple of the members who followed along. @HotWaterKarl, @horribleherk - thank you for the kind words and contributions from both of you.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the Sour Diesel from Blimburn Seeds was the late addition to my Critical Kush growout. I chopped it two days ago and she's been drying. Yield is going to be great and the terpene profile is very gassy.

I spent about 8 hours yesterday resetting the grow room & area. It's a lot of hard work but I think the bi-annual resets and cleanings have contributed to the fact that I've never had pest management problems. I'll be switching a few things around in the coming weeks, but yesterday I got things prepared for the GDP grow. This morning I began soaking two rapid rooter plugs in plain RO water and two GDP seeds in another cup of plain RO water. Temps are right around 80 degrees with the heat pad underneath. I'll be starting a new journal for the GDP grow, so all further updates will be on there.

Time to put it in the bag!

I'm pleased to announce that we can put this one in the bag, this will be the final update. Earlier this afternoon I pulled the remaining Sour Diesel buds from the dry room, trimmed the branches, and began curing.

I weighed everything and added up the numbers, here are the results:

Critical Kush (pheno #1) Barney's
Yield - 77 grams.

Critical Kush (pheno #2) Barney's
Yield - 101 grams

Sour Diesel - Blimburn
Yield - 200 grams

Overall Yield
378 Grams / 13.5oz

GPW (Gram Per Watt) Conversion
.96 Grams Per Watt

Note: for much of the grow I had the wattage dimmed down on the QB's. I did add a second QB for the last couple weeks of flowers. My GPW factors in swapping out the Chinese LED, adding a second QB, and having them dimmed down.

Overall, I'm fairly satisfied with how things turned out. Big picture thinking says I have enough smoke to last for the next year. The grower in me thinks I can do MUCH better going forward. Thankfully the experimental Sour Diesel brought the numbers up yield wise. As I prefaced in this thread, this grow was intended to get my feet wet again instead of focusing on maximizing yield. As I became more comfortable and in rhythm with the plants, I began trying increase yields within my parameters.

As I mentioned before, next round with Ken's GDP I'll bump "overall yield" up in the desired results column and focus on it.

Thanks to everyone for tuning and and keep growing friends!

To anyone that enjoyed reading this journal, you can find my next project in the link below.

http://rollitup.org/t/gdp-quantum-boards-smokebros-style.952161/