Diary of a Plant Grower - Artisun Technology Recirculating DWC (RDWC) Customer Case Study
Artisun Technology Customer and Guest Blogger @rookie_homegrower shares their grower's log with commentary and photos from a grow cycle in a hydroponic rdwc system.
May 22nd
Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 18 hours On, 6 Hours Off. pH: 5.8
Mixed 2 gallons of Jacks 12-4-16 and Epson salt at 300ppm and put clones into aero cloner.
June 1st
Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 18 hours On, 6 Hours Off. pH: 5.8
Put plants into Artisun Technology 4-site RDWC with 4” net pots. Mixed 25 gallons of Jacks 12-4-16 and Epson salt at 650 ppm. Additives used were Mr. Fulvic* 1ml per gallon and Southern AG at 5ml per 25 gallons.
*This is the first time using Mr. Fulvic. I’ve read on Reddit a lot of people using it for nutrient uptake and it’s also supposed to make the terp, and taste more like an organic grow.
June 4th-6th
Top watered until roots hit the water in the buckets.
Clones aren’t exactly “new” plants, but I still wanted to bring the ppm up gradually.
June 10th
Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 18 hours On, 6 Hours Off. pH: 5.8
1st water change.
Jacks 12-4-16 plus Epson salt. Additives Mr. Fulvic at 1ml per gallon. Southern AG at 5ML per 25 gallons.
I kept the ppm low, around 750. They looked very healthy, so I didn’t see any reason to jack them up to “full strength”; Jacks recommend 1150.
June 23rd
Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 18 hours On, 6 Hours Off. pH: 5.8
Jacks 12-4-16 plus Epson salt. Additives Mr. Fulvic at 1ml per gallon. Southern AG at 5ml per 25 gallons.
PPM 750
Last water change until light flip.
July 3
Flipped Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 12 hours On, 12 Hours Off. pH: 5.9
Jacks 10-20-30 plus Epson salt. Additives Mr. Fulvic at 1ml per gallon. Southern AG at 5ml per 25 gallons.
PPM 800. Keeping PPM under recommended dose for now. If plants start to look hungry I will up the dose.
July 10th
Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 12 hours On, 12 Hours Off. pH: 5.8
Water change
Jacks 10-20-30 plus Epson salt. Additives Mr. Fulvic at 1ml per gallon. Southern AG at 5ml per 25 gallons.
PPM 800. Keeping PPM under recommended dose for now. If plants start to look hungry I will up the dose.
July 16th
Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 12 hours On, 12 Hours Off. pH: 5.8
Water change
Jacks 10-20-30 plus Epson salt. Additives Mr. Fulvic at 1ml per gallon. Southern AG at 5ml per 25 gallons.
PPM 900
July 24
Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 12 hours On, 12 Hours Off. pH: 6.5
Jacks 12-4-16 plus Epson salt. Additives Mr. Fulvic at 1ml per gallon. Southern AG at 5ml per 25 gallons.
Decided to try a full nutrient dose PPM 1150.
Aug 1st
Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 12 hours On, 12 Hours Off. pH: 6.5
Didn’t like how my plants reacted to full strength nutrients. I think sometimes less is more with nutrients and will be dialing back to around 900PPM for the remainder of the grow.
Aug 3rd
Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 12 hours On, 12 Hours Off. pH: 6.5
Reached out to Jacks because I was having bad PH fluctuations. We decided that it was because my tap water (35 PPM) was mostly pure and was more susceptible to PH instability. They offered me a product they sell, potassium bicarbonate, to be used as a PH buffer.
Mixed 6 TBSP per 25 gallons (.25 TBSP per gallon) into water and aerated 24 hours before adding nutrients and additives to mixing reservoir.
Aug 4th
Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 12 hours On, 12 Hours Off. pH: 6.5
Water change
Jacks 12-4-16 plus Epson salt. Additives Mr. Fulvic at 1ml per gallon. Southern AG at 5ml per 25 gallons.
The potassium bicarbonate ended up giving my water a PPM of 550. I added enough of my Jacks solution to bring total PPM up to 850.
Aug 13th
Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 12 hours On, 12 Hours Off. pH: 6.5
Water change
Jacks 12-4-16 plus Epson salt. Additives Mr. Fulvic at 1ml per gallon. Skipping Southern AG this mix.
I added 3 TBSP of potassium bicarbonate to 20 gallons of water which brought my water to 350 PPM. Next round I am going to cut the potassium bicarbonate down to 1 1/2 TBSP per 20 gallons. I found it makes the PH real stubborn when trying to adjust the PH. I will keep lowering it until I find a good balance of PH stability and ease of adjustment.
About halfway through flower now and everything seems to be going pretty smooth overall. Tending to the RDWC might take a lot of work one day out of the week but it’s a lot easier than dealing with single DWC buckets or hand watered soil. Can’t wait until I dial in all of the nutrients, and everything will be on auto pilot.
Aug 20th
Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 12 hours On, 12 Hours Off. pH: 6.5
Jacks 12-4-16 plus Epson salt. Additives Mr. Fulvic at 1ml per gallon. Skipping southern AG again this mix.
I added 1 tbsp of potassium bicarbonate to 20 gallons of water 24 hours before I mixed my nutrients. This ratio was easier to adjust PH. Water went in at PH 6.0 and 750ppm.
When changing water I like to pump out as much water as I can, and refill my system with plain water. I run it for about an hour and empty once more before adding my mixed water from my 40-gallon holding reservoir. I am not sure if that is a necessary step, but it makes me feel like I’m starting with a clean slate each water change.
I usually top off mid-week with either my solution that is left over in my holding reservoir or plain water if I notice the PPM is rising.
Aug 28th
Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 12 hours On, 12 Hours Off. pH: 6.5 and PPM 650.
Water change
I have two weeks until chop!
Jacks 7-15-30 (finish) plus epson salt. Mr. Fulvic at 1ML per gallon, Southern AG at 5ML per 20 gallons. 1 TBSP potassium carbonate per 20 gallons.
Switched to Jacks “Finish” nutrient for a week and they recommend a flush on the last week. I am still up on the air on flushing. I may flush or I may just give them a half dose of nutrients.
Buds didn’t really get as big as I was hoping. I’ve seen this cut get grown out before with similar size buds so I believe it’s just genetics. Otherwise they are super frosty and very loud! Can’t wait for the chop!
Sep 2nd
Lights: Mars Hydro FC4800, 12 hours On, 12 Hours Off.
CHOP DAY!
I was thinking this was going to go another week but after checking the trichomes and having an unplanned trip coming up at the end of the month it seemed like the right time to chop. I chopped the whole plant at the base and trimmed off any big fan leaves. I removed as many big fan leaves as I could to try and improve air flow within branches. I’m aiming for 60 degrees and 60% humidity. I am lucky enough get around 63 degrees in the room that I grow and that has done me pretty good in the past. If I get those numbers dialed in I’d love to see a 12-16 day drying period.
