IslandGrower's 1st DWC Grow - White Widow

[islandgrower420]

Hi island grower i am not a hydro guy but from diaries i have read and searching the net you need beneficial 's to prevent the rot coming back and aid recovery. Hydroguard is a good option but there is others out there. Also do you keep a air cap from the solution to the base of the net pot?

Hey Kbag thanks for reaching out. Yeah I do keep a gap between the basket and the res water. When I looked in thats when I seen the couple slime balls hanging from the bottom of the pot. I will be looking into hydroguard. it is quite the cost so it will be something I will invest in later. Between that and having to purchase more nutes this month it will be a price tag.

[islandgrower420]

Hey everyone!

Have not had any time to get my journal updated between Christmas and Christmas work hours. 100 hours worked in 12 days has me set behind.

I don't have any photos to share with you but I wanted to give you a little update on the root issue

So as we know it looks like I had a rot starting, there was slime on the roots and the res was hitting up to 25C

I have added H2O2 to the res which never seemed to help any. Was thinking of just dipping the roots in the H2O2 for a while to see if it helps...never did that yet...not sure if I should...

I took the plant to the tub and I ran water over the roots directly, using my hands that were well sterilized I began to very gently remove the slime. It seems most of the slime is removed from the plants roots, its something I will do again in a few days.

Now...I learned something last night. Maybe it is just luck but here is what happened....

I have been feeding my plants a nutrient solution from Green Planet. You can see it in the video on the 1st post. There was a lot going into the res. I know this caused the browning of my roots, and its organic and its recommended to not use H2O2 with this nutrient solution. I have been monitoring my res temps daily and they have been between 23.5 to 25C. So I started added frozen bottles of water twice a day. This brings the temps down to 21.5 which I am more than happy with.

When it was time to change my res (2 days ago) I decided to NOT use the nutrient solution from Green Planet. I cleaned the res, did the ph thing and I decided this time to go with my 3 part Advanced Nutrients (Micro, Grow, Bloom). As soon as I put the solution in the res I noticed the res mas much clearer and I could actually see the bottom. PH was dialed in at 5.85-5.90 without any ph up/down (its the Perfect PH Technology from AN)

Now for the mind blowing results...the temps of the rest went down and has stayed at 21.5C. It appears that the nutrient solution I was using was causing my res to heat up. I had no idea that this was even possible, but I guess with everything in the res, the reaction causes heat. So I have not added any more of the Green Planet nutes and I went straight with AN. So far, my temps are low and have not spiked any. I have bottles ready just in case.

Have any of you ever experienced this? I had no idea that nutrients can cause temp changes in the res. With AN I am seeing more responsive plants, my roots are still a work in progress but the temps are down and there is no slime as of now. Only slime that may be in the res could be within the growing pebbles. May run some water through her to see if I can push any out without actually removing the pebbles and causing other issues. The tap root touches the bottom of the pot now I am hoping for some root development.

I probably wont see much root development as I switched to flower last week. I am guessing roots don't grow much when in flower...could be wrong but time will tell

That's all I got. Would love your feedback on this and if you ever experienced nutes causing your res to heat up.

[Bulls]

Hello buddy. Well done on sorting the situation! You want healthy roots to have a healthy plant! Advanced Nutrients got good reputation and if it's working with them stick to them buddy. Also even you're temps are down to 21.5 I would still put a frozen bottle to keep them a little lower. Looking forward to some photos from you!

[islandgrower420]

Thanks!!

Yeah I will post some photos tonight when I get back at the desk. I checked temps and she is down to 20.4C so will keep a close eye on her.

Was looking at chillers and may look into it for next grow. But if AN is keeping my temps down then there will be no need.

I am blown away how one nutrient product causes heat while another doesn't cause any heat. Strange shit right there

[islandgrower420]

Here are a few photos of the grow so far

Even though we had some root issues, the plant does seem pretty healthy and no signs of issues on top.

I did flip the switch to 12/12 on December 25th Christmas Day - Still no white pistils..but they can appear quickly so not worried yet.

This plant is very short and bushy. I did FIM and Topping on her so when stretch kicks in I look forward to seeing what I have to work with

Although short and bushy it kinda looks like it was tied down where the canopy is fairly flat and even, this will probably change when stretch is in full gear!

[Keeno]

She is looking good mate, that hydrogaurd is good stuff and worth a look, in my experience its better to prevent a problem before it starts rather than have to deal with one as it appears. You have a very nice groom anyhow, a chiller, while expensive will finish your set up off and give you peace of mind while keeping your numbers spot on. Id get one next grow if possible. She looks to be loving the new light, colour of the light looks very good too. Keep up the good work buddy!

[Bulls]

She is beautiful buddy. You can still adjust the tops and do lst first couple of weeks of flower to maintain wven canopy. She is going to be a beautiful girl when she's loaded with buds.

[islandgrower420]

She is looking good mate, that hydrogaurd is good stuff and worth a look, in my experience its better to prevent a problem before it starts rather than have to deal with one as it appears. You have a very nice groom anyhow, a chiller, while expensive will finish your set up off and give you peace of mind while keeping your numbers spot on. Id get one next grow if possible. She looks to be loving the new light, colour of the light looks very good too. Keep up the good work buddy!

Thanks Keeno, yeah the light is powerful mate. plant seems to be loving it so far. I will look into that Hydroguard, i checked the price and ouch..almost $100 for a bottle. I can get a chiller for about 150 so I may go with a chiller over hydroguard, still undecided. Temps have been lower since the nute change to Advanced Nutrients. I also picked up a new bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide today. The stuff I used last time was about 6 months old, never opened, bust still older :mrgreen:

[islandgrower420]

She is beautiful buddy. You can still adjust the tops and do lst first couple of weeks of flower to maintain wven canopy. She is going to be a beautiful girl when she's loaded with buds.

I was thinking about the tops and adjusting her, but where its a hydro and I have to take the top off to test ppm/ph and feed, not sure the best way to do this yet. may make some hooks out of garden wire I have and attache it to the lip of the DWC bucket. Would only be temporary as I have to move it if I do go that route.

I am hoping she will flower great. I flipped her to 12/12 on Christmas and she is finally showing some great progress, she is a female, she has hairs, she is already working on her tops...update coming up now so stay tuned :)

[islandgrower420]

So things are moving along nicely, at least I have myself believing they are haha

With all the root issues that I had, I am surprised the plant is still functional, I may have got my hands on this issue just in time, with some washing of the roots, some frozen bottles for lower temps, change in nutes and adding H2O2 I think we have it nailed down.

The roots are not great looking and I refuse to take a photo for here, but one thing I will say is that roots are growing, there are bright white roots growing top to bottom, the rest are brown from the previous issues and with the new H2O2 solution I have gotten today, I am hoping it will clear it up. Either way lets get on with the show!

Last night I took the girl out to examine and as much as I never wanted to, I gave her a trimming. She is week officially 14 days from switch to 12/12, after moving a few leaves I seen all sorts of opportunities for growth so I said f*@k it and decided to make away with them. There was not a whole lot removed, just enough to allow light on the branches with some sites that were visible.

Here are some shots of the plant before any trimmings













For a plant that has been through hell and back she is green and is alive!

Now for some shots of her after I had opened her up...











As you can tell from the last photo, you can see what leaves were removed. Not a lot, maybe a handful, and it opened her up all over.

I have to say, I was not expecting my plant to be so short and bushy as this. The plant grows more width than height. I read this can be triggered when using FIM. I did FIM & 1 topping. So far there has not been a great deal of stretch, maybe she wont grow big, but hopefully the buds will!

Have read about people removing lower areas where popcorn buds grow, once I know stretch is over, I will be removing the bottoms small parts where the popcorn grows so the energy can be sent to other areas for better bud development.

Fingers crossed all goes well and we have a great ending to this crazy story!

Until next time...smoke em if ya got em!