Dropa Dope My First Grow Journal 400 Watt RDWC 02/17/2010

S

SFImage

Active Member
your set up is so clean! My grow is similar but I'm not doing RDWC, just plain old DWC. I have 4 plants as well and maintaing the 4 different buckets can get old. Can you point me to a place that describes how to build a set up like yours, or maybe give me a head start?
are there any disadvantages to your set up vs individual buckets or am I just being primitive? hah.

The plants are looking good! they bounced back nicely. can't wait to watch em develop.
 
Dropastone

Dropastone

Well-Known Member
SFImage said:
your set up is so clean! My grow is similar but I'm not doing RDWC, just plain old DWC. I have 4 plants as well and maintaing the 4 different buckets can get old. Can you point me to a place that describes how to build a set up like yours, or maybe give me a head start?
are there any disadvantages to your set up vs individual buckets or am I just being primitive? hah.

The plants are looking good! they bounced back nicely. can't wait to watch em develop.
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Thanks for you comments and welcome aboard the more the merrier. To be totally honest with ya I bought mine from eBay for around 80 bucks. They're real simple to build and there's not much to them and the only reason I didn't build mine is because I don't drive and that's because I have a suspended drivers license and I don't want anybody knowing what I'm doing so I buy all my supplies from the internet. I'm trying to be as stealthy as possible. I haven't told anyone not even my best friend.

I'm using 2 gallon buckets because I'm not planing on my plants getting to big. The bigger the bucket the bigger the plants will be. You can get most if not all your supplies like your buckets, your 1/2" and 1/4" hose, and pump from Lowes to build the buckets. You may need to go to your local hydro store or go to eBay to find the feeder hub and some decent air pumps for your air stones.

If you go the the FAQ section you can get some Idea's of what you will need to build one. Although I couldn't find my exact setup.

https://www.rollitup.org/view.php?pg=faq&cmd=category&id=106

I use a 160 gph pump in my control tank that pumps water out of the control tank and into my chiller, then back out to the control tank, then into the 4 way feeder hub which then goes to my grow buckets which get recirculated through the hoses at the bottom of my grow buckets leading back to the control tank. Hence RWDC (Recirculating Deep Water Culture).

As for disadvantages, You can't empty all the water when you do a complete res change, you can get it all except for the last inch of water in each bucket but I've not seen any negative reactions from my plants so I don't think that's really a big deal. You also have to siphon the water out because you can't just unhook your buckets to empty them because you will have water all over the place if you do, unless you have a shut off valve installed between your grow buckets and your control tank. After this grow I'm considering raising my shelf 18" inches from the floor that way I can install a drain hose with a shutoff valve. That way I can just let gravity do it's thing. For now I bought a battery operated siphon pump for mine, it will suck out 5 gallons of water in a cpl of minutes.

As for the advantages, It takes way less time to change out 4 reservoirs. You only have to monitor the control tank for ppm and pH levels. If you have to adjust the pH, you just increase or decrease the control tank and then it slowly raises or decreases the pH to your grow buckets instead of quickly going from say 8.0 to 5.8. Adjusting your pH this way takes a little time to figure out but just do it in slow increments until you get the hang of it. I can basically look at my pH level and know exactly what I need to make it perfect the first time.

I hope I answered your questions and good luck to ya. I'll be looking forward to seeing you around.

Peace.:eyesmoke:
 
Dropastone

Dropastone

Well-Known Member
Hey josh what's up man? I haven't heard from you in a while. That's good to hear about the new grow. What are you gonna grow this time around?

I really like what's going on in my room now. The plants are getting so big and looking real healthy. The biggest one in the right rear is 19" and the smallest in the left rear is 15" and the two in the front are 17". Man I hope they are all female but I'm getting a feeling that the biggest one and the smallest one are males because they look a little different than the other 2 but time will only tell. I'm gonna switch to 12-12 on Wednesday but I'll post some new pics before I do.

Later on my friend and don't be a stranger.:bigjoint::eyesmoke:
 
J

josh420stillblowed

Well-Known Member
I actually had some good selects but I switched em around Ima get all autos this time speed devil and early bud also a couple freebies sharksbreath and cole train. Sharks breath is the bomb love that shit. just gota wait till these damn floors are in. Ill be around peace
 
Dropastone

Dropastone

Well-Known Member
Right on josh I'm checking out some auto grows right now. I want to see what they're all about.

Till next time Peace.
 
Dropastone

Dropastone

Well-Known Member
Well as soon as the light goes out in a few hours I'll be switching to 12-12. I'm still gonna be giving them veg nutes for about a week or so till they get through stretching part.

I was gonna try my hand at fimming and super cropping but I was a little nervous being my first indoor grow in 20 years. With the problems I had early on I didn't want to mess'em up. This has just been an all around learning experience for me this time around. I did however supercrop just one top on my biggest plant a couple of days ago. I wanted to see how it was gonna react and it is doing well with no adverse effects. So my next grow I will definitely be super cropping from early growth stages.

Okay so here are the last pics you will see of them in veg. The 3rd and 4th pic is the one I super cropped and I can definitely say that I see some lower growth pushing it's way to the top. I'm beginning to wonder if I should just do the other 3 as well. I've read that you can still supercrop about 1 week into flower.




















​

Any comments, tips or suggestions?
 
BU5T4

BU5T4

Well-Known Member
Wow they are great pictures mate. I cant give you any advice on super cropping as I am on my first grow and have only done some LST'ing to my plant but if you get good results from super cropping it may be something i look in to for my next grow.

Best of luck with flowering, i'm just on day two of flowering and she has already had a hell of alot of new growth in two days.

Ive subbed so will check back regularly for some new updates.

Best of luck and peace
 
Dropastone

Dropastone

Well-Known Member
BU5T4 said:
Wow they are great pictures mate. I cant give you any advice on super cropping as I am on my first grow and have only done some LST'ing to my plant but if you get good results from super cropping it may be something i look in to for my next grow.

Best of luck with flowering, i'm just on day two of flowering and she has already had a hell of alot of new growth in two days.

Ive subbed so will check back regularly for some new updates.

Best of luck and peace
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Hey thanks for the comments. I'm clearly no expert when It comes to SuperCropping. I wouldn't even say I'm a novice. I should have started it early on in the grow but from what I have read you can start anytime in veg and only about the first week into flower. Yeah it was just a test branch to boost my confidence a bit.

Here, read this thread it will tell you all you want to know about SuperCropping.

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/288113-step-step-how-super-crop.html

And here is one on fimming

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/289002-step-step-how-fim.html

Here is another one to check out.

https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/151706-uncle-bens-topping-technique-get.html

All of those are excellent reading material.

BU5T4 said:
What size of grow tent is it your using? It looks ideal for my next grow.
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Ha ha that's funny. I'm not using a grow tent. This is my bedroom closet it's 3x3x8. You should check out more of my journal, it's fairly short compared to others. It'll tell you exactly what I got going on and cpl of bad experiences I had.:wall:

Peace my friend chat with ya later. :bigjoint:
 
BU5T4

BU5T4

Well-Known Member
Dropastone said:
Hey thanks for the comments. I'm clearly no expert when It comes to SuperCropping. I wouldn't even say I'm a novice. I should have started it early on in the grow but from what I have read you can start anytime in veg and only about the first week into flower. Yeah it was just a test branch to boost my confidence a bit.

Here, read this thread it will tell you all you want to know about SuperCropping.

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/288113-step-step-how-super-crop.html

And here is one on fimming

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/289002-step-step-how-fim.html

Here is another one to check out.

https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/151706-uncle-bens-topping-technique-get.html

All of those are excellent reading material.



Ha ha that's funny. I'm not using a grow tent. This is my bedroom closet it's 3x3x8. You should check out more of my journal, it's fairly short compared to others. It'll tell you exactly what I got going on and cpl of bad experiences I had.:wall:

Peace my friend chat with ya later. :bigjoint:
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Cheers mate the fimming and super cropping look like a doddle, almost what I was doing on this grow TBH.

I've read uncle Ben's Topping Technique a few times but i'm still not 100 % clear on it. The post by simpsonsampson420 are amazing and very simple to follow, ill need to have a look through his other posts to see if he has done one on topping.

I thought you were using a grow tent based on your latest pictures, I did have a quick look through your entire thread but obviously didn't pick up on that info lol.

Thanks for the advice mate your grow looks great. +rep
 
Dropastone

Dropastone

Well-Known Member
BU5T4 said:
Cheers mate the fimming and super cropping look like a doddle, almost what I was doing on this grow TBH.

I've read uncle Ben's Topping Technique a few times but i'm still not 100 % clear on it. The post by simpsonsampson420 are amazing and very simple to follow, ill need to have a look through his other posts to see if he has done one on topping.

I thought you were using a grow tent based on your latest pictures, I did have a quick look through your entire thread but obviously didn't pick up on that info lol.

Thanks for the advice mate your grow looks great. +rep
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Anytime my friend.:eyesmoke:
 
Dropastone

Dropastone

Well-Known Member
josh420stillblowed said:
lookin good man gittin a bit bushy in there huh ready to see how that supercrop turned out as well good luck on that cant wait to see the yield.
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Yeah they're real bushy. I'm starting to wonder if four plants in there is a little overkill. I wont have to worry bout that if I get a male. Man I hope I don't get a male.

Oh about that super crop. I hardly think just doing that one top is gonna amount to much. I got a late start on that. Again, that was just a confidence booster for my next grow. I'll be fimming and SuperCropping after the 2nd or 3rd week in veg next time. This whole grow is just practice for my next grow and I got my mind set on Northern Lights # 5, they're 55 bucks for 10 seeds and I think can afford that.

I just got finished changing out the bulb and resetting my timers. I also just did a complete res change. I got those GH nutes dialed in now. I've been going by the nute calculator on the GH website and it's way off. If I measure everything out for 5 gallons it's not even close to what the website suggests. They say it should be 1080 but it's like 1600 ppm. So instead I'm basing everything on a 3 gallon mix but I'm still using 5 gallons and it comes out perfect right on the money 1080 ppm. I'm so glad I got that figured out.

Peace:eyesmoke:
 
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