# 5 gallon 6 bucket DWC



## Raidernation

Im growing 4 purple kush 1 bubba kush under a 600w aircooled hps. 6 five gallon buckets with a gh pump 2 outlets split.
Im waiting on 3 sour grape clones 2 are gonna be in dirt a little miscalculation.And I have 3 white sharks that didnt root yet.
The purple kush I got from the dispensary has spider mites!! 
Im feeding gh nutes .5tsp-1tsp grow micro i had to cut it in half i got nutrient burn,one of the purps im testing the lucas formula 1tsp-2tsp micro bloom at half strength and the bubba kush im using 1tsp-2tsp grow micro it doesnt seem affected.I just lowered the water level yesterday an inch below the net pot and i got rootsAll ph'd to 6 and this would be day 6


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## Raidernation

only 1 that hasnt showed roots yet and its a inch shorter


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## Raidernation

clones wernt in properly taken care of


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## Raidernation

rest


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## Go_Cougs420

lookin good! Exactly what I want to do, just need to wait to get my own place here in a couple months. Good luck with the babies! kush is a great strain that has very nice buds and the smoke especially is really really one of my favorites!


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## Raidernation

thanks cougs i know kush is pretty bomb huh the purple that i saw last time was actually all purple


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## DonJones

How are you getting the solution up into the media, drip, pressurized spray or bubble bursting like Irish uses?

Also, are these rooted clones that you transferred to the hydro system or are you cloning directly into the hydro net pots with the clay balls for a medium?

Thank you for your help.

I will be using clay balls or coco chips in my first attempt at hydro using the water farm kit in a single bucket and need all the help I can get in regards to a watering cycle plan.  Can you give me any advice there?


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## Raidernation

DJ This is just the simple version bubble bucket I used rooted clones.Pretty simple.I had a little problem overfertilizing but i cut that in half now everythings flowing good.With deep water culture the roots grow more into the solution instead of the media its only there to hold the plant either way the media will still be wet from the bubbles and roots taking up water.But you def want the roots growing out of the net pot thats when i noticed growth.I only have 1 that didnt show roots yet check it out its the shortest. the waterfarm kit is a continuous drip system with a rez for top offs no?


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## Raidernation

Day 8 there growing fast


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## DonJones

Raidernation,

I'm not sure I understood your meaning.  I think you said you root the clones first and then transfer them into the medium in the bubble bucket to grow them.  Is that right?

So for the bubble bucket to work you have to have high volume air flow creating the bubbles and the nute level high enough for the solution to splash up onto the bottom of the lid when the bubbles break.  Is that correct?

How far below the top of the bucket do you let your nutes get before topping off?

Thank you.


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## The Hemp Goddess

DonJones said:
			
		

> Raidernation,
> 
> I'm not sure I understood your meaning.  I think you said you root the clones first and then transfer them into the medium in the bubble bucket to grow them.  Is that right?
> 
> So for the bubble bucket to work you have to have high volume air flow creating the bubbles and the nute level high enough for the solution to splash up onto the bottom of the lid when the bubbles break.  Is that correct?
> 
> How far below the top of the bucket do you let your nutes get before topping off?
> 
> Thank you.



That is basically how I do it.  I generally keep the nute solution at the bottom of the net cups until the roots grow through.  As the roots grow, you lower the level of the nute solution.  When plants have a good root system, I generally keep about 3 gals of nute solution in each 5 gal bucket.  

What size air pump are you running?  Unless it is a large pump, you may need more air.  In veg, each of my buckets has its own dual outlet air pump with 2 8" air stones.  Each pump puts out 2660 cc of air a min.  The air pump for my flowering room is a large commercial air pump (110 L per minute output) with a 12 port manifold.  Each bucket has 2 8" air stones.  The health of your root system depends on providing enough air to the nute solution.


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## Budders Keeper

Raidernation said:
			
		

> The purple kush I got from the dispensary has spider mites!!


I have found it saves a lot of headaches to assume ALL clones from clubs/unknown sources have mites/powder mildew. I quarantine mine for 9 days (I treat'em every 3 days,3 treatments) and dip them every 3 days in miticide/fungicide. Haven't had any problems since.

Very nice set up, should be a big producer:hubba:  Green luck 2 ya!


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## DonJones

Raidernation,

How big are your pot lids in inches and how big of a plant do you usually grow?  I haven't bought any lid yet and am trying to decide what size pots I should get.

Thanks for the great post.


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## DonJones

THG,
 Your input on pot size would be appreciated too.

I don't have any air pumps, but I'm thinking of buying PETCO's largest ones with 4 outlets, 4 check valves, 4 air stones and 4 pieces of 78" long tubing, all for under $25USD ($22.49 + S&H on-line).  *(That brings up another question -- which works the best, air stones, bubble walls or just fastening the tubing down in the bucket and letting the air come out in bigger bubbles?) * Then I would use two pumps using one to power the siphon pump in the water farm drip rings and the other one to aerate the solution.  That way I would have at least one level of redundancy should something mess up with one of the pumps -- unless both pumps went out at the same time I'd have either the bubble system or the water farm drip system going.  Also, that is the setup that my mentor uses so I'm going to follow his lead until I know a whole lot more than I know now.

Also, do you run the bubbles 24/7 or on a timer?  Since the bubbles and water farm both are putting highly oxygenated water on the balls, do the balls need a chance to drain like in an ebb & flow system or can they run constantly like an aero system?

Thank you for your patience and help.


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## Raidernation

DJ Get the water level 1 inch below netpot its better if you set it up and get a feel for it 
top offs-there not drinking much yet
airpump-go with the strongest one 
airstone-use one
bubbler-24/7
res temp-my temps are pretty high but with the good airflow doesnt show any negative effects

Thanks BK these plants are growing almost 1 inch a day ima let it go for another 3.5 weeks looking for 3 oz a bucket


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## DonJones

Raidernation,

How big are your pot lids in inches and how big of a plant do you usually grow? I haven't bought any lid yet and am trying to decide what size pots I should get.

Thanks for the great post.


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## Raidernation

Didnt you get the waterfarm system?it should come with everything that you need square pots right?try to check that out first i could give you advice but the only person thats gonna make the final decision is you

Day 9 Pk 1 inch a day


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## captain1

Looks like 10" pots to me but hard to tell. I use 6" inch pots with no problems.


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## DonJones

Raidernation,

I am using 5 gallon round buckets and will use pot-lids.  I just got the water farm kit with the siphon tube assembly, the drip ring and the stationary out side tube that you secure to the lid and run the siphon tube assembly down through.

The ring is 8" in diameter so I'm thinking the pot probably needs to be a couple of inches bigger.  Is that right?

Thanks again for all of your help.


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## Raidernation

Mine are 6" 
the net pots that i use from bghydro just come in 6" 8" and 10" all fit on 5 gallon buckets
if that helps


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## ozman

Hey Raider,Glad to see you finally getting in the game.Things are looking pretty good for you,
Oh and THANKS again for your help on my clone problem,Im now getting 99-100% sucess rate,Ive started playing around using rockwool with the plastic on them,so far all 15 are still alive.10 SLH and 5 NL.
My flower room is full now,with the second harvest in less then 2 weeks and another harvest 3 weeks from that and on and on Im hoping lol.


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## Raidernation

Yeah everythings running pretty good for me overhere except those damn mites mostly on 1 plant i think i got rid of most of them by rubbing off the underside of the leaf with a soapy towel.Leaves started to burn up, soapy leaves and a HID Im not doing that again.
You said 99-100% rooting?You came a long way from those rotting-half budding clones you had haha nah glad you got it down.
Alright im at day 12 right now. I took pictures everynight so far so ima try to keep that going.
I have 1 pk that i left the res water leveled with the bottom of the net pot and sure enough it didnt grow its still 4" the 2 biggest are double that so i dropped the water level and got roots.And I just put a bag over my GWS clones cuz my RH dropped to 28% *** but there showing roots too.The root shot is of the bubba


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## Raidernation

I know its stretching a lil but take a look this guys pk grow, I dont want mine to be midgets looking like that plus im using 3 cfl's from 6am to 8 am then off until 7pm to 11pm to mimick the sunrise and sunset.The 600 comes on at 7am to 8pm for full sun. 

hXXp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx09t8TJPsI[


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## The Hemp Goddess

Raidernation said:
			
		

> I know its stretching a lil but take a look this guys pk grow, I dont want mine to be midgets looking like that plus im using 3 cfl's from 6am to 8 am then off until 7pm to 11pm to mimick the sunrise and sunset.The 600 comes on at 7am to 8pm for full sun.
> 
> hXXp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx09t8TJPsI[


_*
This is not a good light schedule *_and is most likely causing your stretching problem.  We are not trying to mimic daylight hours--we are trying to optimize growing conditions.  You should be running your lights 24/7 with all the light you have available.


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## Raidernation

Update day 23
thx the hemp godess I knew that but these are indicas and im trying to get them tall i have the light 3 feet from the bottom of the net pot there getting taller as of right now its working alright no hermies cant wait till flower there bushing out secondary shoots are growing 1 inch a day now almost,o ya and topped at 9 inches the 2 pk's.the other pk that was attacked by mites and had a airation problem roots got slime,the other pk had a messed up airstone the kind with big airbubbles that makes it look like a geyser is going off  in there.Let it be known anyone trying dwc for the first time to check the air coming out it should be small bubbles not too strong not too weak to cover the whole top of the water level im gonna get another pump so i can get 2 stones in each bucket because once the roots reach one side the other side of roots will be stale cuz the mass of roots will eat up the water current and oxygen.Be safe and get suction cups to place it in the middle


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## Raidernation

Im flipping on Nov 14


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## Growdude

Raidernation said:
			
		

> Update day 23
> thx the hemp godess I knew that but these are indicas and im trying to get them tall i have the light 3 feet from the bottom of the net pot there getting taller



You dont want stretch, what you want is a compact, short internode plant.
Once you switch to 12\12 your plant will elongate at the nodes to fill in with bud, this will make the buds form into on another to form nice colas.

Keep your light as close as possible at all times, use the back of your hand to tell if its hot. no more than a couple feet ever. This will form big thick stems and dense tight foliage.

Good looking plants besides that.


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## DonJones

Raidernation,

I'm still confused on the clone rooting thing.  Are you rooting them somewhere else and then transplanting them into the clay balls or rooting them into the clay balls in your bucket directly?

Also, what are your rez temperatures -- pretty high is a very subjective and vague term -- for some purposes 100F would be pretty warm and for other purposes 45F would be pretty warm.

I'm glad to see yours are doing so well.  Good smoking.


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## pcduck

DonJones said:
			
		

> THG,
> Your input on pot size would be appreciated too.
> 
> I don't have any air pumps, but I'm thinking of buying PETCO's largest ones with 4 outlets, 4 check valves, 4 air stones and 4 pieces of 78" long tubing, all for under $25USD ($22.49 + S&H on-line).  *(That brings up another question -- which works the best, air stones, bubble walls or just fastening the tubing down in the bucket and letting the air come out in bigger bubbles?) * Then I would use two pumps using one to power the siphon pump in the water farm drip rings and the other one to aerate the solution.  That way I would have at least one level of redundancy should something mess up with one of the pumps -- unless both pumps went out at the same time I'd have either the bubble system or the water farm drip system going.  Also, that is the setup that my mentor uses so I'm going to follow his lead until I know a whole lot more than I know now.
> 
> Also, do you run the bubbles 24/7 or on a timer?  Since the bubbles and water farm both are putting highly oxygenated water on the balls, do the balls need a chance to drain like in an ebb & flow system or can they run constantly like an aero system?
> 
> Thank you for your patience and help.




Many small bubble give you more surface area than big bubbles. When using in DWC use the air stones that give micro bubbles, the bubbling/rolling motion of not using an air stone is *not *what a grower wants.


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## Raidernation

Yeah I wrote at the top that I got the pk and bk clones at a dispensary they were rooted already.The other great white sharks I had I took pics of cuts from a friends plant.I could see how you can get  
I dont think most people throw in clones directly in dwc I dont think ive seen a person do that
Heres 4 cuts I took from 2 pk's yesterdsay and a lil gpd to smoke
res temps are 78 right now according to the therm
The airstones are the same kind they just perform differently
I saw your writeup good **** man.


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## DonJones

Raidernation,

Okay, root the clones out real good before transplanting them.  

How is the best way to do that so that transplanting them into the clay balls, coco chips, grow stones or what ever you use doesn't damage the roots during transplanting?  

I'm pretty sure that using either dirt or soilless like black gold would mandate "washing the soil off of the roots" before before transplanting to keep the soil from washing out into the rez and clogging things up; and I can't believe that would be good for the roots.  I can see where rooting into pearlite might be less damaging to the roots because you can immerse the container into water deep enough to "float" the pearlite away from the roots, which would lessen the trauma to the roots.  

Wouldn't rooting into Oasis cubes and just inserting the cube into the net pot be even less traumatic to the roots?  Wouldn't rooting into Rockwool be basically the same as using Oasis other than the need to prepare the Rockwool by soaking and rinsing it and then wondering if you got everything out that would effect the PH while rooting the clone?

Also, what temperature should the rooting media, including the water if using cloning machines, be at during the cloning/rooting to obtain the best results?

Thanks for your help and patience.


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## Raidernation

took 15 clones and onto flower


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## Raidernation

yeah i saw your setup mindzeye real nice some tall *** plants.Thats kinda what im going for I dont have that much room though maybe 6' - light
How did the pk smoke? smoke report on that?

Clone cab looks poor now but itll pick up


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## Raidernation

nah i dont like the domes they create too much moisture they start rotting if i dont check them for a couple days.pk is not a keeper for you?those nugs look bomb dude.but prolly just personal preference


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## Raidernation

the pk's are branchy and getting a little outta control im pinching them but they wont stop growing.I supercropped them before switch check out the scars


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## Raidernation

not that much room left


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## Raidernation

ive pinched all tops 6" down the stem there still growing!does anyone know if there are any negative effects to doing this?Also anyone that has grown pk how long until the stretch ends?


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## OldSkool

Hemp Goddess warned you about stretching, but you didn't take heed friend!

Next time kep the lights on 24/7 untill they are about a foot tall. Keep the lights close, and add more if they start to stretch. They are telling you that they need more light! If you have adequate lighting you will have internodes that are roughly 1/2 inch apart. I get this with fluoros and cfl's so you can too. Paint the walls white, water and watch!
By the time you switch to flower you will have a VERY bushy plant with MANY branches AND room to flower them. 
No need to pinch, top or lst, unless you want to. I have plants that have stopped upward growth at approx. 26" on this regimen. Indica/sativa cross.
Nice full colas, heavy with resin. Give your plants the love and TLC and they will reward you my friend!


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## Raidernation

shouldve wouldve couldve it doesnt matter now does it? I wanted them to stretch and thats what i got i just wanted to know if there were any negative effects to pinching the length of the stem its def getting thicker though.
And i think 600 watts is enough light there not looking for any more


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## meds4me

Yo raider ! been bouncing in and out on youre grow. IMO i would cut the leavexs in half at every other node from the 4th up. This will create more branching and doesnt affect the plant like topping does. ~


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## Raidernation

sup meds4me thanks for stopping in with advice instead of criticism.
The bigger plants itself are pretty branchy there smashed against the wall the smaller pk's and the white sharks had only 2 weeks veg so the bigger ones are over taking there space,it would be nice if the bigger ones just froze and smaller ones to stretch a lil so i can get a even canopy.Thanks for the advice ima go cut some leaves to open up some bud sites
buds are forming now so ill try to get a pic when lights go off tonight


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## Raidernation

Yeah mindzeye you aint lying about the stretch on this strain it doesnt grow anything like a indica there trying to overgrow the othger plants and the closet there real bushy! i got a gang of clones now just off the bottom of 2 plants ran out of rockwool cubes so rest are in water.Thanks for the heads up on the stretch stopping at 3 weeks ive pinched the length of the stems just 1 more week then i hope? haha
theres about 60+ here i stopped counting


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## TURKEYNECK

I know all about the stretch..look at my Gigabud grow. I think alot of people misconstrue the stretch for plant size thinking they are ganna be lookin at a better yield when IME the extra height is counterproductive. Lot's of good advice here good luck.


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## Raidernation

ive grown this tall purposely we'll have to see about the yeild being less i guess.Take this as a test run for these strains in any case ill know what to do next time


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## Raidernation

blurry pics


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## Raidernation

Im starting to get what looks like nute burn on the top buds that have leaves growing out. a couple of pics are from 2 days ago.
and there still stretching hope it stops soon


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## Raidernation

there looking good except that i sprayed some diatomaceous earth,saw some mites the other day then i washed that off


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## IRISH

looks like the stretch is over. ... just in time too, eh?...starting to put some nice bulk on raidernation...blow 'em up big man... ...


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## Raidernation

Thanks for checking in irish the pk's stop stretching there 3' tall now the bubba and the gws a little shoirter but they were stretching a little longer.
Hey look I got a problem with the ph dropping fast to 4.5 from 5.5 i read the topic post about the plants not feeding and the water could be dirty can cause ph to drop the gws and the smaller pk that doesnt get much light arnt dropping as fast as the bigger plants anybody else have any similar problems and have any answers regarding this problem?
besides that i could see why people say the pk doesnt yeild much it doesnt really connect all the way except the tops and the shoots are more vertical as of now there not close to done yet but hopefully ill get alot of secondary bud growth to get em fat the bubba has a more rounder shape to em and so does the gws its a cross of gws and bk (white bubba?) its showing alot of bk traits in the leaves and buds but it grows faster and branches out more in veg and it only had 2 weeks  veg time


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## Raidernation

..


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## IRISH

plants look great bro...

i have'nt ran into this problem , yet anyways...my ph always rises in first couple days after i do a change over. after that, it holds pretty steady...hmmm...


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## Raidernation

its kinda hard to pull them out now cuz the branches are tied up in there I thought i could get away with not doing that but ill do a rez change on all of them  thanks and the leaves on the pk's up top are getting a lighter shade of green and some older leaves yellowing this too early? the bubba doesnt seem affected by anything it just keeps growing at a slow and steady pace


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## Raidernation

hxxp://xxx.youtube.com/watch?v=7gHtBkBXSAc
a video not a very good one


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## DonJones

Raider,

I would suggest getting a pump with a small to medium hose to suck the solution out instead of trying to move the plants. Then you can refill the rez by slowly pouring the new solution either through the same opening you put the suction hose in or if that it is too little, through the grow medium.

Another refill option is to use a pump to move the solution from the mixing container into the rez putting the suction hose into the mixing container and the discharge hose into the rez.  Be careful about using a high pressure or high volume pump because you could possibly injure the roots if the solution causes too much turbulence coming into the rez..

Good smoking man.


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## Raidernation

thanks don for helping me out your a veterano around here now haha 
how bout this pump seems weak enough at 65gph how do i reverse it  to suck nutes out cuz its submersible


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## Amber Dog

You can get a cheap pump for the end of a drill at home improvement stores.


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