Bubblegrower's Perpetual "Budget Grow" Journal

[Eggybuddy]

I'm gonna be 'erecting' a bubbling system for a s.o.g..

This was and Organic endeaver.

[Grow Thread]

since the old one got trashed:

 

 

DOUBLE BUDGET BUBBLE BUCKET

here we go. i'm using some extra parts around the grow room for pics, but the majority of the equipment was bought in bulk, so i used what i had

 

here's what we are starting with:

 

 

and also a 5" mesh pot. not sure how i left that out of the photos

 

 

anyhow, here's your parts list:

 

5 gallon bucket

5 gallon bucket lid

20-60 gallon wal-mart air pump $8.99

4 feet of 1/4" aquarium air line

one 6" air stone

one 2" mesh pot

one 2" mesh pot insert

one 5" mesh pot

1/4" airline tee

 

 

lets start with the lid:

 

you see 3 holes in the lid.

 

a 4 3/4" hole in the dead-center for the 5" mesh pot.

a 1/4" tiny hole in the very edge for the airline to pass through.

a 1 7/8" hole for our "lookout" hole

 

now lets grab our air pump and attach about 4-5" of airline to each port:

 

and then you want to connect those 2 ends of the airline to your 1/4" tee:.... (a little more secure than in the picture is preferred as i just threw it together for picture purposes ) :

 

 

then attach the rest of your airline (about 3 feet) to the open end of the tee. run this line through the 1/4" hole into and through the lid.

 

 

after the line is run from the tee, through the lid, and into the bucket, attach the 6" air stone to the end of the line. the 6" airstone has enough weight to itself that it will stay at the bottom of the bucket.

 

now let's get your 2" mesh pot and 2" insert together. these were leftovers in the grow room as i had bought mad bulk of each for various aerocloners. they are about 20 cents each for the 2" pot and the 2" insert:

 

these work as a GREAT airtight "plug" for the lid of the bucket. insert the set-up into the 1 7/8" hole in the lid and then put your 5" mesh pot in the big hole, and you should be somewhere about here:

 

the particular brand of buckets that i have here gives me exactly 4 gallons of water to reach a level that is 1/8" below the net pot. after plugging in the water pump and pulling the 5" mesh pot, i can see some action

 

 

 

ok, now here is where our 2" hole comes into play remove the little meshpot and we have an access hole:

 

from that access hole we can see the 5" mesh (growing) pot. we can also see what the water level is, and where we need to be.

also, we can use a 99 cent turkey baster to retrieve some water/nutes from that holefor testing:

 

 

 

so we fill/check/add, WHATEVER we need to do through the little hole and when we arent playing around in there, the 2" meshpot with the 2" insert inside plugs the hole for us and keeps bad crap out.

 

WE GOOD?

 

 

of course now we need a plant here's a newly rooted clone from the aerocloner:

 

and twinkle twinkle, click your heels together, and here she is after 20 days in veg:

 

i will leave the flower and harvest pics up to you guys

 

5 gallon bucket -- anywhere from $1 on craigslist to $6 in the hardware stores

5 gallon bucket lid -- $1.50 at home depot

20-60 gallon air pump -- $8.99 at wal-mart

4 feet of 1/4" aquarium air line -- pennies

one 6" air stone -- $1.50

one 2" mesh pot -- 20 cents

one 2" mesh pot insert -- 20 cents

one 5" mesh pot -- $1.20

1/4" airline tee -- $1.20

[Grow Thread]

well, the general set-up pics for the new journal plants got trashed too..................... if i get time i will go back and upload those pics again.

 

anyways, here's the herd as of now:

 

 

 

and then 2 of these third dimension clones will be hopping into a 2plant bubbletote and tagging along for the ride as well:

[Grow Thread]

remember the original journal plant??

 

haha

 

here's a few of her as of today:

 

[+RevThad]

:drool: LOOKS GREAT, and tasty too I bet.

[Grow Thread]

she's getting pretty large. i will see about some full plant pics tomorrow.............. or at least some better bud shots

[Grow Thread]

anybody remember this post from june 29th?

 

well, since we have the whole budget theme going already, let's take some clones without the use of a fancy machine.

 

i use rockwool cubes. the last time i went to the hydro store to buy some they were out of stock so i purchased one of the big 6" x 6" x 6" cubes and cut it up myself. i think i ended up getting 48 cubes out of that $4 block so thats like 8 cents a clone or something. thats budget. i am using r.o. water just because i have it, but tapwater would work just fine here as long as you set it set out overnight in an open container to let chlorine evaporate.

 

 

some cubes:

 

 

many people say to soak them for 24 hours or whatever, but this isnt necessary IMO. i do soak them for about an hour though. no need to do anything crazy with the ph. 7.0 is fine. if using tapwater, assuming its not nuclear waste, your ph will probably be in the mid 7's. this will work as well. remember, this is budget cloning and will take an extra couple days compared to an expensive aerocloner. we are cutting corners, and saving tons of money, but at the expensive of a little time. this strain will show roots in 9-11 days using this method.

 

1/2 hour soak:

 

 

 

obviously, the bowl has been cleaned and so have your scissors right?

 

ok, our journal plant. im taking the bottom set of branches off again:

 

 

 

i make the cut with scissors right at the main stem and put the cutting into a cup of water (r.o., or day-old tapwater again).

once we have both the bottom branches we are ready to get to work:

 

 

 

both of these branches are pretty good sized with thick strong stems so i am going to take 2 clones off of each one. i could take more probably, but they would have thin stems and would take longer to catch up to the others in growth. as far as prepping the rockwool, just take it out of the bowl and let it drip/drain. if you have pre-packaged cubes they will have a hole already in them. i find this hole is usually too small so i widen it a little. since i cut my own cubes off of one huge one, i dont have any holes. this isnt rocket science. i just take the scissors and stab them about 3/4 of the way through the cube. a hole that is a little too big is better than too small. ok, lets cut up the branch.

 

you can see where i cut this one:

 

 

 

cut off/strip any fan leaves or extra branches that are not needed. then we are ready to take the actual clone. make those cuts (above) at a 45 degree angle with the sharpest, cleanest scissors or razor knife you can find. after making the cut, i take the edge of the scissors and scrape at the flesh over the entire bottom 1/2 inch or so of the stem. this can be a little scary, but once again, it isnt rocket science, and less is better. i just scrape the very top layer of flesh off. scraping too much will do too much damage and cause the stem to become limp and unusable.

 

very difficult to get a picture but just a light scraping is all you need:

 

 

 

 

ok, we are just about there now. insert into the rockwool cube.

 

 

repeat, and with less than a dollar you have a little family of clones ready to root.

 

 

 

here are those clones 50 days (or so) later and 2.5 weeks into flower........ the ones on the right side in this pic:

 

and here's another pic of most of the gaggle:

[Grow Thread]

for those budgeteers that are using the lucas method and some low-budget testing equipment............. but have r.o. water............ this is for you:

 

ok, the best thing for you to do right now is to get the most exact liquid measuring equipment that you have and mix up a gallon................

 

get one gallon of r.o. water. as exact as you can get.

 

then add 8ml of micro and 16ml of bloom........... mix up good and take a reading.

 

if it says 1000ppm (give or take 50ppm) then your meter does in fact read at .05 conversion and your goal is 1000ppm. once again, +/- 50 ppm isnt going to hurt anything at all.

 

if you add 8-16 to a gallon of r.o. water and your meter reads 1400ppm (give or take 50ppm) then your meter reads at .07 conversion and 1400 is your goal throughout full veg and flower.

[Grow Thread]

HYDROJACK

 

do you peek in here ever??

 

a DIY on BHO would be cooler than a joint man

[totung]

Do you start you clones in a bubble bucket, then transfer to 1 gallon and 5 gallon soil buckets for veg and flower?

 

Can you explain your vent/exhaust setup?

 

Also, do you have a diagram of your room setup?

 

 

Here's some details on the setup we've been using -

 

Vegetative Phase:

4FT wide x 3FT deep x 3.5FT tall. Mylar on all sides and top. The bottom is black.

Illuminating the box is a SunBlaze 4FT 4Lamp High Output T5.

The HOT5 is fitted for full spectrum. Two 54w 6500K bulbs and two 54w 3000K bulbs.

We run 1 Gallon pots for vege phase.

 

Bloom Phase:

The room is 7FT deep X 7FT tall X 11FTwide. The walls are all line with insulating plastic and panda plastic. White side showing on all walls and cieling. Floor is black side up.

Illuminating the room is one 1000w Hortilux SuperHPS on an HTG Supply Magnetic ballast in a Cool-Tube and a 600w Pulse Start Metal Halide on a Lumatek digital ballast in an air-cooled square reflector.

The reflectors are all connected in-line, air-cooled via a closed system for the lights that brings in air from outside the room, through the reflectors and back out under the house...

We run 5 Gallon buckets for bloom phase.

 

The whole idea of this setup is perpetualism. We only use 12 plants; harvesting 4 at a time. It's a 3 step perpetual grow cycle.

 

We start with 4 plants in 1 Gallon pots. Vegetative phase lasts for about 4 weeks. Once those 4 plants are big enough to go into bloom phase we take 4 clones. They then move into the bloom phase room and are transplanted into 5 Gallon buckets and placed under the 600w SunPulse to kick off the blooming. They stay under the 600w for the majority of the time, about 4-5 weeks, until the next set of clones is ready to move in. They then move over under the 1000w Hortilux to finish off the bloom phase. And thus the cycle begins...

[Eggybuddy]

since the old one got trashed:

 

 

DOUBLE BUDGET BUBBLE BUCKET

here we go. i'm using some extra parts around the grow room for pics, but the majority of the equipment was bought in bulk, so i used what i had

 

here's what we are starting with:

 

 

and also a 5" mesh pot. not sure how i left that out of the photos

 

 

anyhow, here's your parts list:

 

5 gallon bucket

5 gallon bucket lid

20-60 gallon wal-mart air pump $8.99

4 feet of 1/4" aquarium air line

one 6" air stone

one 2" mesh pot

one 2" mesh pot insert

one 5" mesh pot

1/4" airline tee

 

 

lets start with the lid:

 

you see 3 holes in the lid.

 

a 4 3/4" hole in the dead-center for the 5" mesh pot.

a 1/4" tiny hole in the very edge for the airline to pass through.

a 1 7/8" hole for our "lookout" hole

 

now lets grab our air pump and attach about 4-5" of airline to each port:

 

and then you want to connect those 2 ends of the airline to your 1/4" tee:.... (a little more secure than in the picture is preferred as i just threw it together for picture purposes ) :

 

 

then attach the rest of your airline (about 3 feet) to the open end of the tee. run this line through the 1/4" hole into and through the lid.

 

 

after the line is run from the tee, through the lid, and into the bucket, attach the 6" air stone to the end of the line. the 6" airstone has enough weight to itself that it will stay at the bottom of the bucket.

 

now let's get your 2" mesh pot and 2" insert together. these were leftovers in the grow room as i had bought mad bulk of each for various aerocloners. they are about 20 cents each for the 2" pot and the 2" insert:

 

these work as a GREAT airtight "plug" for the lid of the bucket. insert the set-up into the 1 7/8" hole in the lid and then put your 5" mesh pot in the big hole, and you should be somewhere about here:

 

the particular brand of buckets that i have here gives me exactly 4 gallons of water to reach a level that is 1/8" below the net pot. after plugging in the water pump and pulling the 5" mesh pot, i can see some action

 

 

 

ok, now here is where our 2" hole comes into play remove the little meshpot and we have an access hole:

 

from that access hole we can see the 5" mesh (growing) pot. we can also see what the water level is, and where we need to be.

also, we can use a 99 cent turkey baster to retrieve some water/nutes from that holefor testing:

 

 

 

so we fill/check/add, WHATEVER we need to do through the little hole and when we arent playing around in there, the 2" meshpot with the 2" insert inside plugs the hole for us and keeps bad crap out.

 

WE GOOD?

 

 

of course now we need a plant here's a newly rooted clone from the aerocloner:

 

and twinkle twinkle, click your heels together, and here she is after 20 days in veg:

 

i will leave the flower and harvest pics up to you guys

 

5 gallon bucket -- anywhere from $1 on craigslist to $6 in the hardware stores

5 gallon bucket lid -- $1.50 at home depot

20-60 gallon air pump -- $8.99 at wal-mart

4 feet of 1/4" aquarium air line -- pennies

one 6" air stone -- $1.50

one 2" mesh pot -- 20 cents

one 2" mesh pot insert -- 20 cents

one 5" mesh pot -- $1.20

1/4" airline tee -- $1.20

 

 

OMG! The ironey of this is just amazing! I have a bunch of square 10 gallon fishing buckets that I got from a place I used to work. With lids!

 

I have all of this stuff ,except the mesh pots, and they will be bigger, 10'maybe. With these 10 gallon babys I can bubble some really big plants! Thanks so much for posting this because I was sure that someone else had already tried my idea and you have given me loads of tips for building my big buckets. I mean, these plants can really grow fast with this set-up. Thanks Again!

[Grow Thread]

OMG! The ironey of this is just amazing! I have a bunch of square 10 gallon fishing buckets that I got from a place I used to work. With lids!

 

I have all of this stuff ,except the mesh pots, and they will be bigger, 10'maybe. With these 10 gallon babys I can bubble some really big plants! Thanks so much for posting this because I was sure that someone else had already tried my idea and you have given me loads of tips for building my big buckets. I mean, these plants can really grow fast with this set-up. Thanks Again!

 

since you have the square theme going already, here are some 9" x 9" hydrofarm pots

 

 

http://www.hydroponics.net/i/134099

[vial]

are their any real grow journals on these forums ?

[Grow Thread]

are their any real grow journals on these forums ?

 

nope. we figured that we would let you be the first.

 

smartazz.

 

fire it up!!

 

we wanna see YOUR grow journal.

 

[Grow Thread]

Bubblegrower, you have given much of your time freely .........................

 

:gym: as always i thank you..................................................... and this update is for everyone EXCEPT that guy:

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

here is where we were 5 days ago:

 

at that point, the clones had basically just begun showing roots through the rockwool cube for half of them, and the other half had about 1.5" root beards from an aerocloner.

 

not much has happened as far as visible growth on top in the past 5 days.

BUT, the little roots have finally busted through the net pots with full force and the show is about to begin i presume

 

since the roots are stable, and they are beginning growth on top, i have upped the nutes from 5-10 to 8-16 (lucas method) and am holding steady at about 1000ppm at a ph of around 5.4-5.8.

 

here's 6 of the bubbledick:

 

those 6 (plus a couple extras you can see in the pic at the bottom that are not involved with the journal) are under a 400w MH.

 

and here are the other 2 buckets, along with those 2 third dimension in a 10gal bubbletote that will be coming along for the ride.

 

 

those two 3D plants were an afterthought and those clones were taken from a mommy that was already 4 weeks into flower. they will grow out of their funk in just a few days and will actually look VERY similar to the bubbledick throughout veg. the deal with the 3D is THEY GET TALL!! and i mean tall. they will nearly triple in height during the 2 week stretch, and the bubbledick will double. this is going to create a height difference of about 18" or more.

 

obviously the way to correct this problem is to top/fim/supercrop or whatever is necessary during veg............. but we cant do that in this predicament. i need ALL THE SPACE i can get for those 8 bubbledick plants. 6 under a 1000w lamp is crowded. 8 is nuts. 8 plus 2 extra is too much. i need the 3D to grow UP, and not OUT.

 

so the plan is to top the 3D once during veg. probably around day 15-20. (the bubbledick will all get topped once as well)

 

sometime during the 2 week stretch, when the 3D begin to surpass the bubbledick in height, i will do a half-azz supercrop on them. i will be bending them over ever-so-slightly. the weight of the newly formed bud-sites will be too heavy to let the branch totally straighten back out, but i will not be bending enough to halt nutrient/water uptake to those tall branches. they will just grow sideways.

 

more details to come when we get to that point whatever it takes to have 1000 grams from 1000 watts

 

 

the original journal plant has started to come down in sessions. the main cola came off nearly 2 weeks ago to make butter for a new patient. (shortly after its disappearance from the journal)

 

i have never chopped a main cola of this strain so early before, but i was happy to see that i chopped it early enough that some of the other top buds took over command, and grew way bigger than expected and that made up for much of the loss. she is still going to produce 4-5 ounces in total. it is 85% harvested at the moment. i left a couple branches on her to harvest the fem beans that she ALWAYS produces for me

 

 

 

just an absolute sticky mess

 

 

 

 

 

and, for those who joined the journal early........... you remember we took clones at days 16 and 24 of veg from the journal plant??

here are those clones today. 4 of them went into flower on 8-3 and the other 4 went into flower 6 days ago:

 

 

[Eggybuddy]

are their any real grow journals on these forums ?

 

Dammit! Bubblehead here has helped me find a way to not have to lug a ton of soil around save lots of MONEY@!~#$

 

So can't folks refrain from the snide remarks and go with the flow?

 

Also, I found like 15 10" mesh pots for these big square buckets for only 3 bucks!!!! At a sell out.

 

If I use rough lava rock, and just fill the pots half way with the rock,,,I think I can use these. I found a way to hang the pots from the top with a teak wood rack and I just hang a black plastic skirt around the pot to keep in dark down in the roots. I will try to show a pic of this bucket/pot, it's so cool. In this 3 gallon mesh pot, and 12 gallon bucket,this could just grow a monster!!!

 

I already have like 4 bags of rough garden lava rock. Can I use that as my medium? Those clay balls have to be expensive!

[Grow Thread]

Those clay balls have to be expensive!

 

no, hydroton is not expensive AT ALL!!

 

and it is much more stable than lava rock. there is a reason you see 99% of medium-based hydro journals in hydroton and not lava rock

 

here's the 50liter bag..............enough to fill 35-40 5" net pots............... for only 30 bucks:

 

http://www.4hydropon...ItemNo=hydroton

[michiganmedclones]

To VIAL, only chance at redemption here is to post your own grow journal top to bottom and have it be better then BGs, and to you sir I wish you luck becasue BG is one of the most helpful people on here and this is a TRUE grow journal, he shows how to build the system, all the way to how to hang and dry in the above photos for new growers, and is keeping it cost effective for everyone who isnt sleeping on matresses full of money. I offered in PM to compensate BG for a consultation and he refused, if thats not compassion and showing that he is here to help and not make any money off of anyone for HIS time then he deserves many praises.

[Grow Thread]

To VIAL, only chance at redemption here is to post your own grow journal top to bottom and have it be better then BGs, .............................

im pretty sure VIAL is like my ex-wife................ show up for a day to raise hell........... and then quietly disappear for months.

 

a B I T C H nonetheless

[Eggybuddy]

no, hydroton is not expensive AT ALL!!

 

and it is much more stable than lava rock. there is a reason you see 99% of medium-based hydro journals in hydroton and not lava rock

 

here's the 50liter bag..............enough to fill 35-40 5" net pots............... for only 30 bucks:

 

http://www.4hydropon...ItemNo=hydroton

I just called SGS and got a price quote, 40 bucks for 50 liters of Hydroton. that site charges shipping so I'd be best to go an get hydroton from SGS.]

 

I know, the lava rock was wishful thinking..I'm not rolling in money here and i just thought...I'm trying to use the stuff I have laying around to do this and I think have most of it. I've only blown about 3000 bucks over the last 10 years for equipment.

 

I think this is a GREAT thread/journal,,,I don't know about the other tardo...

[Grow Thread]

I just called SGS and got a price quote, 40 bucks for 50 liters of Hydroton. that site charges shipping so I'd be best to go an get hydroton from SGS.]

 

I know, the lava rock was wishful thinking..I'm not rolling in money here and i just thought...I'm trying to use the stuff I have laying around to do this and I think have most of it. I've only blown about 3000 bucks over the last 10 years for equipment.

 

I think this is a GREAT thread/journal,,,I don't know about the other tardo...

thanks for the kind words

 

im not gonna knock lava rock because i cant............ ive never used it before. i just know that hydroton works, and its fairly cheap

 

and dude, trust me............ a 50 liter bag is LARGE.

 

you probably wont need that much. a 50 liter bag........... for those who have never ordered hydroton, is about the same as a 15 gallon kitchen sized trash bag FULL.

[jonh420]

so what is a good height to start flowering to get a good yeild.i have c99 clones that are about 5 inchs tall..in your great bubble buckets.they are going under a 1000 watt light.4x5 room and its 7 feet tall..

[Grow Thread]

so what is a good height to start flowering to get a good yeild.i have c99 clones that are about 5 inchs tall..in your great bubble buckets.they are going under a 1000 watt light.4x5 room and its 7 feet tall..

 

i hope there are a couple growers with c99 experience that might just come along and add............ i do not know this strain as well as others........but i would say that 24" would be sufficient if you want a "tree"............... 12-14" if you are growing in a sea of green ..................... maybe 16-18" would be more for you if you were going for "average".

 

those are just basic numbers.................

 

its all about the grower, strain, and preference

[welj31]

im pretty sure VIAL is like my ex-wife................ show up for a day to raise hell........... and then quietly disappear for months.

 

a B I T C H nonetheless

 

 

lololol

[Grow Thread]

humidity is a PIA and this is a weird time of year for it

 

this morning at "lights on" in the flower rooms, my humidity was 78%. (i turned all climate control off last night)

my veg room was at 38% after having all lights/climate control off for 6 hours.

 

haha........ can i switch them for a dollar??

 

anyways, i checked the water level in all the buckets/totes for the new endeavor and the plants are just now starting to drink a couple drops. i added a splash or two to each bucket/tote and topped them off with 8-16 R.O. nute/water.

 

turned all climate control back on and straightened the numbers out

 

and here's few of the ladies looking perky this morning: