You are hereMarijuana DWC Bucket Flowering Stage - Presented by Scootter82 of DenverGrows
Marijuana DWC Bucket Flowering Stage - Presented by Scootter82 of DenverGrows
by scootter82 (follow him on DenverGrows)
A friend of mine actually built the bucket from scratch and gave me the plant (a clone) already vegged in the bucket.
In my last grow, I used a soil hybrid, and heavily LST'd the plant. This time I was fortunate enough to be given a plant already in a DWC bucket.
I built a custom ScrOG setup for my tent.
You can see what she looked like at harvest (pictured to the right)
Jump down to the full supplies list (with pictures) so you can create this exact setup for yourself
Strain: Critical Hog (from clone)
Growing Area: 2' x 2' Grow tent
Grow Lights: Combination of 150W HPS & 240W LED
Nutrients: I used the full line of General Hydroponics Flora series including their Floralicious Additive, but without Flora Nectar
Here's the GH Flora Series Expert Recirculating Nutrient Schedule I followed.
Temperature: Temps were in the upper 80s when the lights were on, probably as low as the 50's some nights when they're off. I'm in CO, after all!
Humidity: Humidity was usually around 45 - 55%, really didn't have to worry about it while growing. However during drying, I actually had to bring in my humidifier to make sure buds didn't dry too fast.
Air Circulation: As you can see from the setup list, I had one ionizer air filter circulating air down low, and a small clip fan up top between the colas and lights.
Jump down to the supplies list and create this exact setup for yourself
Veg Time
I want to say the plant was vegged for about a month. It came from a clone a friend gave me. I tend to flower plants on the early side. Next time I will probably let the plant veg a bit longer to fill up under the screen more.
Watch colas fatten up from week 5 of the flowering stage until harvest!
(HPS and LED both turned on)
I have a 240W LED light in the rear of the tent and a 150W HPS in the front. That's why it's pinker in the back and more yellowish towards the front when the HPS and LED lights are on.
The nug in the back right and the nug in the front left are the two main colas.
Here's the same plant in normal light - watch from flowering day 42 to harvest
More Pictures and Info!
Day 42 of Flowering
View full photo album: http://imgur.com/a/P2ryf
The plant was just transplanted to a custom made DWC bucket.
The nug in the back right and the nug in the front left are the two main colas. It was topped during veg. But the one in the front left is bent over a lot more, so that's kind of why it looks smaller. It's just squished under the wire. But I'm really curious how they turn out. During the last grow, I rotated the plant daily. This time it's stationary, throughout.
Day 57 of Flowering
View full photo album: http://imgur.com/a/GnlCy
A week or so ago, when the plant was transplanted, I snapped the main stems a little (where it'd been previously topped). I immediately used some string to pull the break together a little bit and poured some agave nectar in the break to help seal things up. She never really showed any signs of stress, though I'm sure it stunted some bud growth.
Day 59 of Flowering
View photo album (many closeups of clolas): http://imgur.com/a/dkFI4
Day 66 of Flowering
View photo album: http://imgur.com/a/qnek1
Day 76 of Flowering
View full photo album: http://imgur.com/a/m5zEp
Day 82 of Flowering
View full photo album: http://imgur.com/a/bxWwZ
Harvest time! Day 83 of Flowering
View full photo album: http://imgur.com/a/aVdEu
This Critical Hog plant flowered about 83 days. The flowering period for this strain is 8 - 14 weeks. I wanted to shoot for a longer flowering period to get more of a couch lock, stoney high. I work a graveyard shift and this should help put my ass out, lol. Critical Hog is supposed to be a heavy indica.
Getting ready to trim her, she's covered in buds!
Drying/Curing:
Drying/curing in CO is a little different from what I'm used to, coming from a more humid/sea level area. I noticed my first few grows up here, the bud dried out much faster. I was originally thinking 12 days hang time, but had to take them down after 6, and I thought that was pushing it.
For this grow, I decided to bring in my humidifier for the drying process, and it was the right choice.
Harvest Weight: 127g total yield or about 4.5 ounces!
Here's a pic of just one Critical Hog nug. This one was 7g of the total 127g!
The Complete Setup List
1 x Secret Jardin DR60 Grow Tent (2' x 2' x ~5' tent)
w/custom SCROG setup
Here's what that tent looks like with my Critical Hog plant at harvest
2 Different Grow Lights
1 x Blackstar 240 Watt LED Lighting System
1 x MINI FloraLux 150 Watt HPS Lighting System
Very similar to the slightly cheaper Hydrofarm Mini 150 Watt Plug-N-Play HPS System
Other Supplies
1 x Hanna Instruments HI 98129 Digital PH/EC tester
GE 7-Day 8-Outlet Power Strip Timer
General Hydroponics Flora Series Complete Line-Up
General Hydroponics Flora Series - FloraGro, FloraBloom, and FloraMicro
(you can get away with just these 3 nutrients your whole grow if you're strapped for cash, though you'll get the best results using their whole lineup)
Other General Hydropnics Supplements
- KoolBloom
- Diamond Nectar
- Floralicious Plus - Note this may stain your roots
Here's the GH Flora Series Expert Recirculating Nutrient Schedule I followed.
Note: did not use FloraNectar
Answers To Your Questions
Full Question: What color are your nutes? I noticed your roots looked a little brown. I started using Aquashield for my DWC and it got rid of all brown roots and is leaving me with awesome healthy root systems.
I sometimes use Jungle Juice AN and that can turn my root colors brown, but not to the extent of yours.
As soon as I started to use Aquashield and added more air stones my roots are white as can be!
Answer by scootter82: I use the just about the full line of General Hydroponics Flora series. The brown colors appear after using their Floralicious additive.
I'll definitely be upgrading my airstone. It said it was rated for 5 gallons, but I've realized it's just way too small for the bucket I use.
Note from Sirius:It's hard to say without a closer picture, but it appears scootter82 experienced a bit of root rot (judging by some of the spotting towards the top odf the root formation). In Colorado, root rot is much less of an issue to deal with, but I would definitely suggest that anyone growing in DWC use beneficial bacteria. Aquashield is by far my favorite, and the price is great, too!
Do you have advice for a soil grower who wants to try DWC?
Full Question: I'm an experienced grower in soil but new to DWC and wanting to try it, need some advice. I have grown successfully in soil for a while now but want to try hydroponics but I don't know much about the specifics of it. I want to build my own system instead of buying a retail system as it is much cheaper that way. What size reservoir, pump and air stone would be suitable for 4 plants? Also some suggestions on pumps would be nice and where to purchase them and any other tips you guys might have, thanks!
Answerby scootter82: DWC is soo much easier than soil. I switched over from soil to DWC two grows ago and don't think I'll be looking back. That is, unless it's a special one-off grow. I might actually try a micro, flower-from-seed grow pretty soon.
I'd suggest starting off with a one bucket DWC system. They're real easy to build and maintain. I can leave my bucket for a week without so much as checking on the plant and it'll still be fine. On my last grow, I used a 5-gallon dwc bucket, custom built. I had one small air pump/stone I picked up from PetSmart. I pretty much used the cheapest parts I could find and it still worked out great. I'm doing some upgrading of parts for the next go-round.
I also do like growing in soil, but I think my problem is that I want to be very controlling of the nutes and I couldn't seem to get that right with soil. I had to keep to a very strict watering schedule because I tended to over/underwater in the beginning. Then I didn't realize you needed to test the ph runoff. Just seemed like I always needed to adjust something and it was harder to correct my mistakes in soil. In a DWC I just drain and refill. I've spent too much time researching for one technique and not enough on others, lol. Kudos to you for being able to get all your nutes from your soil mix! Plus, it always seemed like I was needing to go out of town right near harvest time, when growing in soil, and I still am. At least this way I don't have to worry so much.
Does that air purifier really help fix the smell?
Answer by scootter82: lol. Not at all. But it has an air ionizer on it that will (I assume) help prevent mold and bacteria from forming.
What does she smell like?
Full Question: Curious about anything with hog genetics. I've never had them but am interested in all strains that smell horribly offensively awesome :)
Answer by scootter82: It is terribly strong! I only have one plant growing in the basement and it stinks up the whole house! I'm actually in the middle of finishing my exhaust system.
Can you tell me more about your ScrOG setup?
Full Question: A quick question regarding your SCROG: how do you thread the fishing line (at least I think it's fishing line) through the tiny holes in the PVC pipe? Sticking it in and hoping it comes out the other hole seems kinda impractical. Or maybe it's one of those things that are easier in practice than when you think them over... Thanks!
Answer by scootter82: I drilled the holes straight through the PVC and used bailing wire to run through them. The wire is super sturdy so it was pretty easy to make it through. All in all, the scrog cost about $30 to build, and that includes the $12 cost of buying the pvc pipe cutter w/line guider/holder/thingy. Bought everything at Lowes.
Have you ever grown with JUST LED grow lights?
Answer by scootter82: I've not used just the LED. But I can't imagine I'd get these results with only the 150w HPS, either. Both of the lights I use are tiny and in my opinion, work incredibly well together. I only use a 2'x2' tent with these lights side by side and there is still plenty of room around them.
I think there's this whole quality vs quantity debate with LED's and HPS bulbs. HPS will definitely deliver the quantity. But I feel you can cover a larger light spectrum and gain a more quality if you have both. I only grow one plant at a time, so I'm not really sure how this would translate to a larger grow.
Jump to...
How to grow marijuana in DWC / Hydroponics
Stealth Growing: How to NOT get noticed Growing Weed
Soil vs Hydroponics: Which is better?
