Good Morning…..I’ve been an absentee grower lately. I knew I wouldn’t have much free time when I started this GroBucket test, which was one reason for using the GroBucket. Now that I have more time to dedicate to this, I figured a quick update on the GroBuckets was in order. Here is the start of week 6 of flower for Gorilla GG4 and Lemonade Haze by Ganja Farmer seeds.
So far, it’s proving to be the easiest watering system that I could imagine. No vacuuming runoff, minimal wasted nutrients (no runoff), and a feed tube that prevents overwatering. It’s almost boring. One downside is that they’re more difficult to move around a grow room, especially when full of water. They also only hold 4 gallons of soil, so if you like to grow monsters you might be better off with a larger fiber pot. (Or get an Octopot).
I’m running with coco loco medium, so I’m also adapting my grow from soil to coco. I’m not doing any top-watering at all…..it all feeds from the one gallon reservoir in the bottom of the bucket. And since it’s dry coco on top, there’s no gnats so far.
I will snap a photo of the rootball after this experiment. Could be interesting since the moist medium is all at the bottom of the bucket.
I have noticed what appears to be a potassium deficiency on both strains while using GroBuckets. I’m feeding plenty of potassium by using the Lucas formula (8ml Micro/16ml bloom per gallon) plus 4ml/g of Liquid KoolBloom (0-10-10), so I’m trying to lower my ph from 6.3 to 6.0 to see if that helps absorption. The other possibility is salt buildup in the medium, in which case I can’t figure out any possible way to flush these plants in their Gro Buckets. That could be a downside to these buckets if it proves to be a salt buildup, because there is no flushing mechanism. I will know in 1-2 weeks if the condition worsens.
Here are the photos from the first day of week 6 since flip. I haven’t trained these at all….and I think I’m going to go back to Quadlining which allowed me to keep the plants a lot shorter. They have reached the upper limits of this tent and within 5 inches of the LEDs on the Lemonade Haze (right). The Lemonade Haze truly doubled in height from 18” before flip to 36+ inches. I might need to add stakes as these colas put on weight.
So far, it’s proving to be the easiest watering system that I could imagine. No vacuuming runoff, minimal wasted nutrients (no runoff), and a feed tube that prevents overwatering. It’s almost boring. One downside is that they’re more difficult to move around a grow room, especially when full of water. They also only hold 4 gallons of soil, so if you like to grow monsters you might be better off with a larger fiber pot. (Or get an Octopot).
I’m running with coco loco medium, so I’m also adapting my grow from soil to coco. I’m not doing any top-watering at all…..it all feeds from the one gallon reservoir in the bottom of the bucket. And since it’s dry coco on top, there’s no gnats so far.
I will snap a photo of the rootball after this experiment. Could be interesting since the moist medium is all at the bottom of the bucket.
I have noticed what appears to be a potassium deficiency on both strains while using GroBuckets. I’m feeding plenty of potassium by using the Lucas formula (8ml Micro/16ml bloom per gallon) plus 4ml/g of Liquid KoolBloom (0-10-10), so I’m trying to lower my ph from 6.3 to 6.0 to see if that helps absorption. The other possibility is salt buildup in the medium, in which case I can’t figure out any possible way to flush these plants in their Gro Buckets. That could be a downside to these buckets if it proves to be a salt buildup, because there is no flushing mechanism. I will know in 1-2 weeks if the condition worsens.
Here are the photos from the first day of week 6 since flip. I haven’t trained these at all….and I think I’m going to go back to Quadlining which allowed me to keep the plants a lot shorter. They have reached the upper limits of this tent and within 5 inches of the LEDs on the Lemonade Haze (right). The Lemonade Haze truly doubled in height from 18” before flip to 36+ inches. I might need to add stakes as these colas put on weight.
