Marijuana DWC Bucket Flowering Stage – Presented by Scootter82 of DenverGrows

by scootter82

Critical Hog grown in DWC bucket just before harvest - See her in her tent - Denver GrowsA 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

Growing Area: 2′ x 2′ Grow tent

Grow Lights: Combination of 150W HPS & 130W (true power draw) LED

General Hydroponics Flora Series QT - FloraGro, FloraBloom, and FloraMicroNutrients: 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)

Critical Hog strain under HPS and LED - Flowering Week 5 to Harvest - Moving gif

I have an LED that pulls 130W from the wall 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

Critical Hog - flowering week 6 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.

Critical Hog strain - See the ScrOG setup from the side

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

Growing Critical Hog marijuana strain in DWC bucket with ScrOG under HPS/LED combo - View from the side

Critival Hog cola - grown in DWC bucket under HPS / Blackstar LED - DenverGrows

Day 82 of Flowering

View full photo album: http://imgur.com/a/bxWwZ

Critical Hog marijuana plant just before harvest - Grown in DWC bucket with ScrOG - DenverGrows

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.

Day 83 of flowering - Time to harvest marijuana plant!

Critcal Hog in DWC bucket just before harvest - view root system

Why are the roots brown?

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.

Critical hog marijuana harvest - drying in my closet on hangers

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!

Critical Hog - one cola was 7g! Grown indoor in DWC bucket - DenverGrows

 

The Complete Setup List

1 x 2′ x 2′ x ~5′ grow tent
w/custom SCROG setup

Here’s what that tent looks like with my Critical Hog plant at harvest

Critical Hog grown in DWC bucket just before harvest - See her in her tent - Denver Grows

 

2 Different Grow Lights

1 x 130W (true power draw) LED grow light

130W watt LED grow light works best when combined with an HPS grow light

1 x 150 Watt HPS Lighting System

A 150W HPS Plug-N-Play grow light - works great for marijuanan when combined with an LED grow light

Other Supplies

1 x Digital PH/EC tester

A digital PH tester makes it easy to test the ph when growing cannabis in a hydro setup

GE 7-Day 8-Outlet Power Strip Timer

GE 7-Day 8-Outlet Power Strip Timer makes it easy to put your grow lights on a timer when growing marijauna

A HEPA Air Purifier

HEPA Air Purifier will help remove marijuana related odors from the air

6″ Clip-on Fan

6" Clip Fan will help move air around your grow tent and keep stagnant air pockets from forming

 

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)
General Hydroponics Flora Series QT - FloraGro, FloraBloom, and FloraMicro

Other General Hydroponics Supplements

Here’s the GH Flora Series Expert Recirculating Nutrient Schedule I followed.

Note: did not use FloraNectar

Answers To Your Questions

Why are the roots brown?

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 (renamed to Hydroguard) and added more air stones my roots are white as can be!

powdertoastman420

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 of 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 (now Hydroguard) 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!

Dongerding

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 🙂

hitchuwithjitsu

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!

-GeorgeLuni

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

How do I deal with root rot?

Stealth Growing: How to NOT get noticed Growing Weed

Soil vs Hydroponics: Which is better?

 


 

 

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