Sponsored by
VGoodiez 420EDC
  • Welcome to VaporAsylum! Please take a moment to read our RULES and introduce yourself here.
  • Need help navigating the forum? Find out how to use our features here.
  • Did you know we have lots of smilies for you to use?

Grow LA Zkittles 2x2 135W LED Deep Water Culture

NizzyJones

NizzyJones

North of Normal
wide 2.jpg


Here we are, about seven weeks from seed. These are some L.A. Zkittles from Bred By 42 [L.A. Kush x Zkittles], they were started in solo cup hempy buckets then transferred to ~1 qt. hempy buckets, topped and LSTed, until mid week six when I transferred them to the DWC (largest plant (#1) has been in the DWC for three days longer than the others because reasons). I number the plants by size from largest down, so starting in the back and going clockwise.

Feeding: Pure Blend Pro Grow, Liquid Karma, and the Botanicare CalMag. Currently 15ml/gal Grow, 5 ml/gal LK and ~3ml/gal CalMag.

Veg space is just a closet under a 100W quantum board LED panel, flowering will be one bucket in a 2'x2' tent under 135W QB LED panel (both actual watts).

Water is tap water, my unadjusted tap water registers 120ppm and slightly basic.

Saturday (after this picture) I started defoliating. My basic process is: find the growth tips I would like to slow down a bit and take the leaves off the second or third node from the top to help expose the branches around them. Newer leaves have a nice spicy taste with a hint of fruitiness, older fan leaves still spicy but more vegetal. Started with 2.5 gal of solution in each 3.5 gal bucket (enough to cover the bottom ~1.5" of the net pots) so I haven't had to top up any of them yet but I did throw another 5ml of Grow in #1 as it had eaten the TDS down to ~480ppm (net) from ~620ppm (net) and the new growth was starting to look a little pale. That bumped it up to ~800ppm (net).

Hoping to free up the flowering tent next Thur/Fri, around the time that #1 has been in the DWC for two weeks, but 2/3 of the Rocklock girls in there might need a little longer. Depending on how fast the L.A. Zkittles bush out I may put the closet light on 12/12 before then to give them a head start. Still not 100% sure what I want to do with the plants that don't go in the flowering tent.
 
Last edited:
Eight weeks

The slower Rocklock pheno is definitely staying in the flowering tent past this weekend, and since things are already getting tight in here I did a heavy defoliation of #3 Monday, so now I'm pretty locked in to flowering #1 or #2.
3-before.jpg
Today:
3-1.jpg
1-2.jpg

Did a full res change out because the perlite/verm mix is still making the res a little messy. May see how long I can get away with leaving it and just topping up if that stops.

Net TDS 660, pH 5.8
 
Last edited:
I did my first DWC years ago but I don't have a ton of experience (I've just always used Pure Blend Pro stuff because I'm familiar with it for example). The DWC method is nice because the only "building" I had to do was cut little 1/2" notches in the bucket rims for the air line, everything else is as it came off the shelf. Oh and I did add check valves (that were included with the air pump) to the air lines but that's only necessary if you don't keep your air pump above the water level.

Honestly I think it's easier than soil in a lot of ways. If something looks off you can always dip a sample out of your res and test it and you can get a pretty good idea of what's up and you can always dump the res and start over so you can correct issues immediately. I could have gone the whole week without checking on these at all at this stage but since I just put them in and wasn't sure how fast they would drink and eat I did take a look at the water level and test them Saturday like I mentioned. If you're someone who likes to grow out the same cut from clones you could learn exactly what they want and when over time. Sort of true for soil as well but it's harder to test and quantify exactly what's going on in the soil. Just need a decent pH meter and need to take care of it.

Main additional concern you don't have with soil is root rot and that's generally only a problem when your res is too warm, with my set up that's not really a concern. If your grow room is warmer or you're running a system with a submersible water pump you might have to have something to control res temp. There are also beneficial microbes you can add to protect against root rot but that gets pretty expensive.

Edit: oh, and in "roots in" systems like this power failures are extra bad, so there's that.

Re-adding the group shot here because I forgot to photoshop something out :lol:
group.jpg
 
Last edited:
I've thought about what I would do if I lost power and it's not something that would scale well at all but it would save the plants. Just transfer your plant to empty buckets and give them a dip in the nute solution every hour or so to keep the roots from drying out. Haven't had occasion to test it so I don't really know what frequency it would need.

If you're running lots of plants the flood and drain model or some other "roots out" system with a common res is probably better.

The hempy bucket method I used on the Rocklock is totally legit too and fully passive so your only power issue is the lights. I might even switch back, I got frustrated with how much attention they needed in 1 gal. hempy buckets but 3.5 gal or 5 gal buckets would be better. I knew going in that 1 gal. was small but the buckets were free and I wanted to get as many plants in the tent as I could for that round.
 
Last edited:
That's an excellent idea as well.
 
After growing hydro since 1995 I have tried most systems and techniques and now use Autopots.
https://www.autopot.com.au/
No pumps, heaters or airstones and I no longer tip or defoliate(why cause extra stress and somewhere for mold to take root). I use 16x10" pots(2x8 pot kits).
https://www.autopot.com.au/kits
I just left my kit for 19 days while away on holidays and came home to find a lovely sea of green,
IMG_20190316_185021.jpg

I can't grow shit outside in dirt but hydro nutrients and Autopots make me look like a green thumb.
This system is great for water conservation as the plants use as much nutrient as they need and only get 'self-fed' once their level gets too low.:thumbsup:
 
group.jpg


Checked in and re-arranged so the contenders are under the light and #3 is back in the corner.

Gross TDS: #1 1130ppm, #2 878ppm, #3 1076ppm.

pH all right around 6.0.

Added distilled water to get the TDS down under 1000.
 
Alright, flipped to 12/12 yesterday and today I got them situated in the new 32"x32" tent
20190326_164212.jpg
 
Then Wed. (so yesterday, on the 1/wk schedule) I changed out the buckets with 10 ml/gal ea. PBP Grow & Bloom, 2.5 ml/gal ea. Liquid Karma & CalMag. pH 5.7-5.8

Just got some ducting to hook this tent up to the other one so I can run them both on the same exhaust, which was my rationale for having an overpowered fan running on minimum before, bumped it up to about middle of the speed dial.

Thought I might see the first hint of nute burn so I topped up with some distilled water.
 
Last edited:
Thur. (F10)

They getting thristy for sure. Topped up again on Saturday, some of them quite a bit. Was pretty sure #3 was a boy yesterday, but left it 'til today to make sure before culling it. Switching over to all PBP Bloom for the primary nutrients.

I stuck both stones from my 4 L/min pump into #2 to try to get it to catch up to #1 in the stretch.

I'm gonna switch direction and leave these in the 32"x32" tent after all. I'll take the hit in W/sq ft to finish the two phenos at once. Just a hobby grow so I'll take variety over efficiency.

#1
1-1.jpg 1-2.jpg
#2
2-1.jpg 2-2.jpg
#3
3-1-1.jpg
And the tent now
gr-1.jpg
 
Oh, and re: power failures: I left the bucket with #3 sitting by the window by my desk to see how long before not having the pump going becomes an issue. It's still looking fine this morning. So that's good to know.

I hadn't bothered to top it up or change out the res Wed., since I was pretty sure it was a boy, so the water level is a good inch or two below the bottom of the net pot, there's plenty of roots getting air.
 
Sat. 4/13 - F19
IMG_0551.jpg


Filling out nice. Got a little touch of light bleaching on some upper leaves.

The male, #3, that's sitting by the window without an air stone in it for over a week now is still pretty healthy, haven't done anything but dump a little water in it so over two weeks since I added nutes (though I'm sure not having the air stone reduces growth speed and nutrient needs). That combined with that podcast with a botanist which touched on how over concentrated bottled nute feeding schedules tend to be has me backing off feeding, did 12 ml/gal of the Bloom, 2 ml/gal ea. Liquid Karma and CalMag+ in the res change out on Wed. and they seem pretty happy. Just topped up with plain tap water today.
 
NizzyJones said:
Sat. 4/13 - F19
View attachment 8476

Filling out nice. Got a little touch of light bleaching on some upper leaves.

The male, #3, that's sitting by the window without an air stone in it for over a week now is still pretty healthy, haven't done anything but dump a little water in it so over two weeks since I added nutes (though I'm sure not having the air stone reduces growth speed and nutrient needs). That combined with that podcast with a botanist which touched on how over concentrated bottled nute feeding schedules tend to be has me backing off feeding, did 12 ml/gal of the Bloom, 2 ml/gal ea. Liquid Karma and CalMag+ in the res change out on Wed. and they seem pretty happy. Just topped up with plain tap water today.
Click to expand...
I grow outside mostly however I’ve grown indoors (hydro & 600 )

Nice girls!
We don’t call them boy’s?
 
NizzyJones said:
podcast with a botanist
Click to expand...
Just because someone calls themselves a botanist does not mean they know anything;

Australian Horticulturist spared jail time for growing unusable cannabis

An Australian man caught growing cannabis has managed to evade a jail sentence after a judge determined that his plants were unusable.

On September 19, 2018, police conducted a search at a farm in Balingup, Western Australia where 37-year-old horticulturist, David Giumelli was working.

During the search, officers discovered 39 small cannabis plants, five seedlings, and ten mature plants.

Police also found more than 316 grams of loose cannabis material in a hydroponic shed where some of the plants were growing and 30.2 grams inside the house, reports the Kalgoorlie Miner.

Giumelli began using cannabis socially in his late teens but started smoking it daily after a relationship breakdown last year.

When it became difficult to afford $400 for an ounce of cannabis each week, Giumelli decided to try growing “medical marijuana” for personal use and sharing with friends.

Defense lawyer, Twistie Venning said that Giumelli had only intended to grow six ounces but ended up growing 54 plants because he had been unsuccessful in producing viable material.

“Had he have been able to actually grow the cannabis plants to a point where he could get flowering to occur and buds to develop then he would have not have had 54 plants—he wouldn’t have had ten mature plants,” said Venning. “It is slightly ironic that he is a trained horticulturist, but actually failed to obtain usable material from the cultivation of cannabis.”

On Monday, Giumelli pleaded guilty to possession and intent to supply and received a 12-month suspended jail sentence during which he will be subject to supervision and other program requirements.
 
>Just because someone calls themselves a botanist does not mean they know anything;


Sure. But this woman has been working with LPs in California for awhile.

Edit: Link the nute discussion starts about 10 min. in.

Dr. Allison Justice

Allison graduated from Clemson University with a Ph.D. in Plant and Environmental Science. During her time at Clemson, Allison taught greenhouse management to undergraduate students, where they focused on organic methods and production. Allison’s dissertation involved investigating the effects of a beneficial mycorrhizal type organism (Piriformospora india), where she learned that organic, sustainable growing can be easy, cost-effective, and produce aesthetically pleasing plants when done properly. Through research, Allison is elevating the standards of cannabis cultivation both indoors and in greenhouse settings. Allison also is a partner of a 40 acre hemp farm and large scale extraction facility in South Carolina.

Dr. Justice has been appointed to the California Industrial Hemp Advisory Board, through May of 2020. She was also named one of "40 Under 40 in Cannabis" by Marijuana Venture Magazine.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Sponsored by
VGoodiez 420EDC
Back
Top