Bubbler DWC Tutorial - PART 7

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Bubbler DWC Tutorial - Part 7

This tutorial has been copied and pasted from 420magazine.com

Up above you see two pics of the same tank. The plants are 6 days behind the other tank, but they will catch up. In 4 weeks, no one will be able to see or notice any difference. That is also the tank on 1/4 nutes. That tank is almost one week behind the other tank because I swapped some sprouts around. One tank has sprouts almost two weeks old, and the other tank has sprouts almost one week old. The bucket has three sprots three weeks old.



The bucket is 6 days ahead of one of the tanks.

I went back and added more lights, placing three bulbs over each tank. I used one 105 watt 6500K, one 85 watt 4100K and one 85 watt 2700K over each tank.




I 80% drained the two tanks and the bucket, I added back a full dose of nutes in one tank, 1/4 dose of nutes in one tank, and 2/3 packet of nutes into the bucket.
As I added the nutes and water to each reservoir, I added 1/6 teaspoon of pH down to my gallon jug thatn was poured into each tank.
I then pH tested my three serervoirs and found 6.7, 6.4 and 6.2.
I went back and added 1/6 teaspoon of pH Down to each container and got it down to where I wanted it in all three, within 5.9 to 6.4.

5.9 pH ! Close enough for me. I always remove a sample of water and test it in my little cup or glass. FOR A BETTER MORE ACCURATE READING, DO NOT TEST IT IN THE TANK.

Feeding my babies

I use nutrients that have ground-up sea shells and bone meal in them. No matter how much they were pulvarized and ground up, they do not disolve well in water. I put my nutes in a quart jar, add 1/2 jar of warm water, and stir them briskly in the jar. Then I add them to my gallon jug, pouring them through my tea strainer. If I see any clumps in the strainer, I smush them with my finger and wash them through my tea stariner again. I fill up my jug with cool water, and pH test it and adjust the pH accordingly before adding it to my tank.

FEEDING

If you are using the SH Deep Water Culture System, or a DWC grow, be it a store bought or a do it yourself homemade, this will help you learn more about feeding your babies and plants. Here I am discussing a 8 gallon reservoir using 6 gallons of water.

When a new born baby comes out of the womb, he comes out hungry! Same thing applies to puppies and most mammals. But you do not give them an 16 ounce T-Bone Steak and a giant baked potato to start.

You give them a weaker smaller feeding, with no spices, no onions, no large amounts of salt, and not too acidity.

Well, the same theory applies to your new pot sprouts.

When your seeds have germinated or sprouted or cracked, or been added to the tank, then about a week later, (much sooner if you pre-soaked the seeds) you will have your first node of leaves. A "node of leaves" means two opposing leaves, one directly across from the other. Do not count those first seen round leaves, called seed leaves or cotyledons.
When the second node first appears, meaning the 3rd nd 4th leaf, it is time to introduce the GROW and MICRO Nutes, also called the VEGGING and MICR nutes.
If using the SH premeasured nutes, add 1/4 packet or 1/4 dose of nutes (Grow and Micro nutes) to a gallon of water, pH adjust that one gallon and add it to the tank. As I said, new born babies are born hungry, but not ready for a full meal deal.

If you are using other brands of nutrients follow thier directions or use 1/4 recommended dose.

Once a day, every day, you check the water level and pH. It will be 2, maybe 3 weeks before they start drinking a half gallon a day that needs to be replaced.

As they grow, about every other day to every 2 days during the second week, you add another 1/4 packet, until you have used a full dose or full packet of nutes.

I use 1/4 dose when I see the 3rd and 4th leaf appear, no matter how small they are. (Again not counting the round seed leaves called cotyledons)

After the first 14 days, drain out 5 gallons, and add one gallon at a time, that is pH balanced, adding 5 gallons back. In the 5th gallon, add one full packet of GROW and MICRO nutes, shake and stir it good, before adding it.

After approaching 3 weeks, they will start drinking one half gallon a day. Around the 4th to 5th week, they will be drinking a full gallon a day.

Every 7 to ten days, you DRAIN AND REPLINISH. I prefer every 7 days to give the roots that much needed air bath that they love. If I find extra time, I do it every 4 days, but I put the drained water back in the tank on that EXTRA Drain.

FEEDING IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A PPM METER.
You will daily add one gallon of pH water TO REPLACE THE ONE GALLON MISSING. (Or 1/2 gallon daily earlier in the grow, clsoe to the 3rd or 4th week) If the water in the tank tests a pH of 7.0 (too high for example) and you know you want it lower, make one gallon of 5.0 water, and it will make the tank about 6.0 or in that neighborhood. ALSO, in that one gallon of water added daily, add 1/6 packet or dose of new nutes. One gallon or 1/6 of the tank was drank or absorbed, so you need to replace 1 gallon of water and 1/6 of the nutes.

Or in other words, if they drank 1/6 of the tank's water, they ate 1/6 of the nutes, so you need to replace that 1/6 that was consumed.
IF the grow area is VERY HOT, add back a little less than 1/6 nutes, the plant is just drinking and needing lots of water.
If the grow room is cool, or NOT VERY HOT, use the full 1/6 dose.


DRAINING AND REPLINISHING

First two grows I did, I syphoned the water out into a 5 gallon bucket with an Aquarium syphon hose. That was really a chore!

Then I learned to prop the lid open about three or 4 inches, STILL LEAVING THE LID ON THE TANK, BUT PROPPED UP ON ONE END and I reach in and take the Irrigation Hub off of the pump. I jsut lift it up. Then with a 1/2 or 3/4 inch hose, I use my fist as a coupling, I sit my fist on the upward pump tube with the hose half way in my fist, on top of the pump, and let the pump.....pump the water out into a 5 gallon bucket. It works good for me.

AFTER I remvoe the pump, I still use it to draint he tank, by removing the filter and filter cover, and lowering the pump back in, from a corner of the tank.

You can also use a WET-VAC, to drain it.

Let me add here again, I can not emphasis enough, that Roots love the AIR BATH they get during a Drain and Replinish. This is a very important step. The more often you can do it, the faster the plants will grow.


Remember what I am telling you here.

Pot plants sprout with two round leaves, called
cotyledons . Do NOT count those as leaves, they are really the inside of the seed.
AFTER 2 full leaves appear and the 3rd nd 4th are starting to be seen, tiny as they are, use 1/4 dose of nutes.

When you start a new grow, and AFTER the seeds have sprouted, and you have done one feeding, you do a Drain and Replinish at 10 to 14 days, then every 7 to 10 days.

AFTER the first week, the water is still fresh, and you may have only added 1/4 packet of nutes or 1/4 dose of nutes to the tank at the end of the first week IF you saw two full leaves, besides those FIRST two round ones, the cotyledons .

During the 2nd week, you probably added 1/4 DOSE OF NUTES 2 more times 3 or 4 days apart.

AFTER 14 days from germination, you do the first DRAIN AND REPLINISH. Then, again, every 7 to ten days you DRAIN AND REPLINISH. I do a complete DRAIN AND REPLINISH weekly, every Saturday afternoon.
BUT, every Wednesday, half way through the week and if I have the extra time, I drain the tank into a bucket, pH test the bucket and adjust it, and then, after ten minutes of having an empty tank AND LETTING THE ROOTS GET AN AIR BATH, I add it right back to the tank. That way I did not use ANY EXTRA NUTES or too many nutes, but I did give the roots an air bath.
You will see a RAPID GROWTH SPURT the very next day.

Let me say this again.
IF you do not have a ppm meter...........
and you do a DRAIN and REPLINISH........Try to think in term of SIXTHS. You got 6 plants, and 6 gallons of water in the tank. AFTER ABOUT the first two weeks, you are going to come home from work one day and find the plants drank half a gallon of water, and need to add half a gallon of water back. Half a gallon is half a SIXTH, so add back half a sixth of a packet of nutes back and half gallon of pH adjusted water.

Later, AFTER about three or 4 weeks, you will check the plants and they will have drank one whole gallon of water in one day. ONE gallon is 1/6 of the tank's water, and if 1/6 of the water is gone, then 1/6 of the nutes are gone, so add back one gallon of pH adjusted water and 1/6 does of nutes.
AFTER 3 or 4 weeks, you will find they drank two gallons in one day. Then add two gallons of water, (1/3 of the tank's water) so also add 1/3 packet of nutes.


IF you got the drain plugs, (little black faucets for the tank) make sure you use some plumbers glue or teflon tape or they will leak. The problem with using the DRAIN PLUGS is most of us have to sit our tanks on the floor, making it very difficult to drain the tank that way.

I'm often asked do I drain it out 100%? NO, I don't everytime, IF they are healthy, I always leave about 1 inch of water or half a gallon. I'm too lazy to get it all, and it doesn't seem to matter.

IF THEY ARE SICK, THEN I DO DRAIN IT 100%.

I'm often asked do I clean the tank when I drain it?
No, I don't let it get dirty to start with. I do not use nutes that color the water or roots, until about the last few weeks, I do use some Liquid Karma the last 2 or 3 weeks as a catalyst IN VEG. But I still do not let trash or any thing foreign into the tank to have to clean it out.

The airstones can become slimey or snotty. The Water Pump can harbor trash. Either can cause pH problems, and if I am having a pH problem, I do clean the airstones and water pump, or remove or replace them.

Why do I get different advice from different Deep Water Culture Growers?

Because feeding babies is a difficult question to answer because Strains vary, the system you grow in makes a big difference, (Plain DWC, or Feeder Tubes, or DRIP or Aeropinic) ) and there are 3 inch tall CLONEs with three roots like hairs, and there are clones ten inches tall with roots like a mop. Also sprouts are often different sizes.
And the nutrients you use make a big difference.
I always try to give very safe advise that will not harm or kill your plants. If I told you to start clones on full nutes, and you have clones only two inches tall, with two hairs for roots, it wouLD kill them, and you'd be upset with me.
If I tell you to start 1/4 dose and increase it every two days, (to be safe) and you have clones 18 inches tall with roots like mops, then you're going to be starving them, and again, be upset with me.
You have to play it safe, expecially when giving advice or when money is involved for expensive seeds or expensive bought clones.
And you alone can determine whether to play it safe or whether to feed them the full meal deal.

If you use a ppm (TDS - EC) meter, you should first read and follow the instructions on your nutrients.

When I first start a new grow I start with 1/4 dose nutes to be safe. A day or two after I see the second node or 4th leaf, (two sets of two leaves, not counting those first two round leaves, the cotyledons), I introduce 1/4 strenght nutes. I increased them to half strenght, or a 2nd dose of 1/4 strenght nutes two days later when I see the 3rd node. I could safely do this with the Stealth Hydro Nutes. They are not too strong to cause damage at that strenght because they are designed for CFL grows. HID light users can and should use higher NPK nutes, or stronger strenght nutes.
A day or two later, I see a 4th node, and increase the strenght of the nutes again by adding another 1/4 dose, bringing me to FULL-Strenght nutes.
That is when I measure my ppm, but by then, the plants are eating the nutes too. My ppm is only 200 to 300 then, and 75 to 100 of that is my well water. (I am still in the Feeding Sprouts Stage) In no way am I saying that is what your ppm should be too. I am just telling you what mine normally is. I try for a weaker strenght feeding to make sure I do not burn them up and get nute burn. In past grows, I did use more nutes, strongers doses, more often. And consequently, I always get some nute burn, although I never killed any.

After the first two weeks pass, I do a Drain and Replenish. I add back a full dose of nutes and my ppm is 280 to 350, telling me my target ppm to stay at the same level during the late Sprout Stage or Early VEG or GROW cycle.
As I daily added a half of gallon of water, and a 1/12 packet of nutes, my ppm grows to 350 to 400, or bounces between 250 and 350 as they eat. (Before the feeding, it is 220 ppm, after the feeding it is up to 350)

By the time I am in my 3rd week, and they are drinking a full gallon of water a day, and I am adding back 1/6 dose of nutes, my ppm is between 360 to 440 daily. But that number is not important to me or you. What is important is tracking it, writing it down daily, to determine how much more nutes I should add or not add. Let me rephrase this.
Do not worry about the exact ppm number, or any number from a chart or from me and my grow. Instead watch, record, and track how it rises or falls from day to day. The differences between what you have in there on one day, and the readings you get the next day will tell you how much your plants are eating. Of course, you do this daily, at the same time of day.

And remember, just because a gallon of water is gone, does not mean they also ate 1/6 of the nutes. Maybe you had HIGH HEAT and they were very thirsty but not as hungry. They can drink he water and not eat the nutes.

First, determine the ppm of your water sourse. Say it is 100 ppm. Then fill the tank with the proper amount of water and a complete dose of nutes and read the ppm. Say it is 350 for example. If tomorrow a gallon of water is gone, and the ppm says higher than 350, or is still close to 350, then they did not eat and they do not need more nutes, they only need more water. Your reservoir's water and nute solution is more concentrated, telling you to add more water only to dilute the concentration.

If the ppm went down to say 250 from 350, and a gallon of water is gone, they need a gallon of water, plus enough additonal nutes to bring the ppm back up to 350. And that is the real purpose and use of a ppm meter, to determine that need and how much.

No one can tell you what your ppm should be PRECISELY OR EXACTLY. It will vary from garden to garden, to Different Sources of WATER, and vary from different nutrients too.

If your plants are very happy, and drinking and eating at the same level, then the ppm will remain the same daily.
If for example, 1/8 of the water is gone, and 1/8 the nutes are gone, then the concentration remains the same and the ppm will remain the same.

I would like to offer a ppm chart as a rule of thumb or ball park target ppm, but each grow or garden is going to be different.

These numbers are based on EC readings, .500 readings, TDS readings converted from EC or the common Hannah Chart:

Seedlings, Early Sprouts 100 to 250

Early Vegging 300 to 400

Full Vegetation 450 to 700

Early Blooming 750 to 950

Full Mature Blooms 1000 to 1600

(this excludes the ppm of your water)




According to the chart, I am under feeding them in my examples, and my grow could handle a stronger dose of nutes. But I am playing it safe because I get tried of getting Nute Burn when I tried to step it up a notch.

Tell me more about Feeding IF I do not have a ppm meter.

Feeding Without a PPM Meter

I did half a dozen grows without a ppm ppm meter, enough that I do not rely on it now that I do have one. You have to just use common sense.
I often read "you need a 1200 ppm nutritonal solution
during VEG". Well, how does that 1200 ppm take into consideration what the ppm of my plain water is? If I have 7.6 pH water out of the faucet, and it is 100 ppm out of the faucet, and I add a half a teaspoon of pH Down and now it is 200 ppm, do I just add 1000 ppm of nutes to get to 1200 ppm? What if I use Distilled water that is 6.0 pH and 20 ppm, do I add 1180 ppm of nutes to get to the suggested 1200 ppm? And the person, book or chart that recommended the 1200 ppm has no idea what nutrients I am using to start with, whether they are high ppm chemical solids or low ppm liquid organics.
Again, you have to just use common sense.


When it is time to start the first feeding, you will see the seed germinate and show you the first two round leaves. Disregard them, and after you see 4 new leaves, start 1/4 dose of recommended nutes, for 6 small sprouts in the tank. After I see a total of 8 new leaves, I add 1/4 dose again. I want to be cautious not to get nute burn by over feeding. I wait two days and add a 3rd 1/4 dose, and wait two more day, (usually the 7th to 9th day, and add the last 1/4 dose, looking at plants that are little bushes about 4 inches tall.
AFTer 7 to ten days later, I Drain and Replenish with a full packet or full dose of nutes.
By then, they are drinking half a gallon a day, and EVERY OTHER DAY, I add 1/6 packet when I add a half gallon of water. Then, after two weeks, into the 4th week, I am seeing them drink a full gallon daily, and when I add a gallon back, I add 1/6 packet. I watch the tips and if I see any yellow tips on the upper 1/3 of the plant's leaves, (not the lower ones) I skip two days of nutes. I stay on the schedule of adding 1/6 every day to every other day, depending on if the six plants drink a full gallon. After about 5 weeks of VEG, I am adding 1/6 daily almost every day, but ocasionally skipping a day.

Then I start 12/12, the Flowering Cycle. I stay on VEG nutes for two days and start replacing them as they are eaten and drank with the BLOOM nutes, adding 1/6 packet daily. I strongly believe in a gradual change.

WHEN I remove 3 males, and only have 3 female plants remaining, I back off and reduce feedings. It is just common sense. 3 plants eat less and need less than 6 plants. (many growers argue with that theory, bu I go by it)
If and when I have 3 large plants, say over 18 inches tall, I can still feed a full packet. I adjust the nutes to the number of plants and size. After I have some larger plants, say over 24 to 26 inches tall, I might add a packet and 1/6 extra, and watch them closely. If I see yellow tips, I remove a gallon and replace it with plain water AND skip two days of feeding.
UNDERFEEDING is much better than OVER FEEDING.

AFTER A WHILE, YOU JUST GET A FEEL FOR IT, watching for those yellow tips. Again, it is better to under feed, than over feed.
IF you have some giants, like 3 Flowering, add a little extra and watch them closely. If you only have two plants, do not use a full packet. It is just common sense and getting a feel for it.

This is something, a simple tip, we all need to remember. It is not absolute gospel, but it is a good rule of thumb to go by.When you over feed a plant, the leaf tips curl downward or curl UNDER and YELLOW at the TIPS FIRST or RUST, or get SPOTTY, and eventually get crispy.
When a plant is HUNGRY and being under-fed, the leaf tips Curl UP and turn brown.


That just about almost completes the first two full weeks for the bucket and one tank, and one full week on the 2nd tank that I had to start all over, after I robbed it of sprouts for the other tank.

I am not going to discuss ppm and ppm meters here a lot, I do not beleive in letting the ppm meter boss me about my plants and grow. My ppm meter is just a guide to me. I've done several grows without it.

That completes my SET-UP, and I am ready to answer questions here and share the thread as my grow journal with anyone that visits.
I will be adding info on growing and speeding up the grow, increasing trichs, problem solving, etc and sharing my tips and advice.
Please feel free to ask me what is not already answered here.
Please do not hi-jack this thread and attempt to change it into a chat room. If you do not know how to start a thread of your own, or post pics in YOUR grow journal, then ask me.

I hope this thread helps all the new growers just starting out.

What about feeding clones?

Feeding babies is a difficult question to answer because Strains vary, the system you grow in makes a big difference, (Plain DWC, or Feeder Tubes, or DRIP or Aeropinic) ) and there are 3 inch tall CLONEs with three roots like hairs, and there are clones ten inches tall with roots like a mop.
And the nutrients you use make a big difference.
I always try to give very safe advise that will not harm or kill your plants. If I told you to start clones on full nutes, and you have clones only two inches tall, with two hairs for roots, it woudl kill them, and you'd be upset with me.
If I tell you to start 1/4 dose and increase it every two days, (to be safe) and you have clones 18 inches tall with roots like mops, then you're going to be starving them, and again, be upset with me.
You have to play it safe, expecially when giving advice or when money is involved for expensive seeds or expensive bought clones.
And you alone can determine whether to play it safe or whether to feed them the full meal deal.

I urge you to follow the Instructions on your nutes, for clones, or just start slow and gradually.

As a rule of thumb, for all purpose growing, for any nutes in any system, wait until you see 4 full leaves, although they might be 1/8 inch long, not counting those first two round leaves, and when you have 4 full leaves, use 1/4 dose of nutes.

I have two tanks, one is one week ahead of the other one. One tank has 6 plants two weeks old, with 6 leaves on 5 of the 6 plants. In that tank is one runt. I took a big chance of killing that runt, by using full strenght nutes in it for the other 5 plants. I, nor MC, nor Purp or anyone wants to advise you to take a chance of killing a baby plant.

In my 2nd tank, i have 5 plants with 2 full leaves, so I started 1/4 nute, again , taking a chance of killing the runt. I did not buy my seeds, I did not buy clones and if I kill one, well ca sara, ca sara. I'll start over.

I do not drive 55 mph, and I love to speed things up and I will take a chance often. Everyone else is not like me, thank God. I have promised myself on this grow NOT to overfeed. We'll see how I do.

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Re: -------'s Deep Water Culture Tutorial, SH Kit & DIY

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-------, I have a plain DWC system, and no feeder tubes.

Lots of people grow in a plain DWC system successfully, by starting clones or sprouts with roots already present. Starting a seed in a DWC is not so easy, and YES you can water the cubes by hand frequently, like every two hours and it can survive. You can also make a simple DRIP system, but poking a hole in the bottom of a large plastic coke bottle and letting it drip out, or secure a tube in the hole, running to the grow cup.

There are lots of successful DWC growers here on this site, and they can better advise you.

Can you see any difference in 5 days?




Here you see the difference in five days.
These pics were taken 9-10-09. Bo back to Post # 92 and Compare it to the pics of 9-5-09.
I am astonished how the runt in the front row, 3rd in the corner, took off growing! She's not a runt now.







There is a cup of water sitting on the bucket, hidden between the plants to increase humidity.

Notice the rolled up wet face clothes on the reservoir lid, to increase humidity. You won't and don't find advice like that in a book.

Aren't the three plants in that bucket too crowded and too close together.


Those three in the bucket as well as all of them, are from seed, not feminized seed or auto flowering. I will VEG them 5 weeks, maybe 6 weeks, to maturity. Then I will start 12/12 and SEX them. The 3 in the bucket will become one or maybe two females, IF I am lucky. The six in the tanks will become 3 females on average too. I play the odds or averages. This is my 8th grow. I know what to expect and what I will get.
Of 6 in a tank, I always, always get 3 females. In the bucket, one or two females at best.
Of the 6, I will get a dud in each tank, or a early death due to my mistake, or a fallen light will get one, or it will go hermie. Of the 6, I will get a runt in each tank for sure, and I will also get a giant too. I always do.

I will bend them over, I will train them, I will tie them down, I will put a bulb or two down inbetween them, and if you stay to finish this Tutorial, you will see that they do not crowd each other out, and they will grow just fine. Hey, I am growing a pound of buds in a clsoet with CFLs! I've been told a 100 times that it can not be done until it is seen.

By having them close together, I slightly increase humidity, and I get more lumens from less bulbs on them. The goal is the most PLANT I can have in the less square footage. I will harvest or yield more than IF I only had one in the bucket.

My grow area is staying 84 degrees with the air conditioner off, and about 80 with it on. Not perfect, but good enough for me. I have an oscilating fan blowing OVER them, a ceiling fan on, and two wet bath towels hanging in the closet, dripping into 5 gallon buckets. I also have 2 cups of water sitting on each top of the tanks and the bucket. My humidity is up and down, hanging as low as 44% and sometimes up to 52%.

I did get a little leaf tip burning, about 1/4 inch of curled up and yellowed and cripsy leaf, on two of the bucket plants from over feeding while they were too young. But the growth rate is amazing! I have enough lumens so that they can eat the bigger meal.

I adjust my pH to close to 6.0 everyday, and every day it goes to 7.0, and I adjust it back down .5.....usually twice, in 12 hour intervals.

I have one 85 watt 2700k bulb and one 105 watt 6500k bulb over each reservoir. Last year I started with a 65 and 85 watt bulb over each tank, and I do not see any difference on growth rate now with more wattage. I hate the 200 watt bulbs and do not much like the 105 watt bulbs, because lower watt bulbs make more sense to me as far as the lumen/watt ratio used.

DARE TO COMPARE
SOME growers start seeds in a wet towel, or under a bowl, and use 5 days to sprout, take a 4 day old sprout (that is 9 days ) and place it in soil for 7 to 14 days, (that is 16 to 23 days later) then put it in a DWC system, and fill up the tank with water, so the baby one inch long roots are in the water, barely out of the cup. That is about a 3 week process, to get a root two inches long. The cube and root base is not being fed with nutritional rich water and oxygen.

In a Deep Water Culture system, with a feeder tube and irrigation hub and under water pump, a seed is placed in a cube, in the cup, in the system, sprouts in 3 or 4 days and in 23 days I got a 23 inch tall plant.

Without the feeding tubes, I 'd have a 4 inch tall plant.


I am very satisfied.

opping, Pruning, Fimming

Essentially they are the same, "Pruning" and "Topping", just two different commonly words used. Fimming means a lot of indesriminate Topping. It is also known to some as "Pinching" as well. In this page it will be refered to it as "Topping".

Topping is done to increase yield and make them bushy, bushy, bushy, make more buds, promote "branching", and increase the overall yeilds of the plants. With higher overall yeilds, a grower will successfully harvest many more buds, or floral clusters, and from smaller, bushier and more compact plants.

To the indoor grower that does not use this technique, but allows their plants to grow tall, it can be a waste of their artificial lighting, and growing spaces potential. With its own natural growth pattern, and without the benefit of topping, your lady will have one main central cola" bud, at peak flowering. Several other small branches will grow outwards, down its main stalk, with much smaller bud tops.

The natural growth pattern of a plant is to grow upwards at its main stalk. From this main central stalk, it will begin to grow side branches. The side branches come out as tiny shoots with leaves, and usually there are a pair of them on opposite sides of the main central stalk.

When the seed leaves have long died off on the main stalk, the first true seed leaves commonly can or will, wilt, dry up, or die off of the plant as well. (the little round ones) Once healthy new vegative growth begins the rate of growth can be very fast, with excellent lighting supplied.

As the new growth increases the light reaching the lower portions of the plants becomes less. Thus it is common to see first leafs wilting and dying. Growers that see leaves wilting or dying, etc, will opt to pulling them off of the plants. It is cool to remove dying, yellowing unhealthy leaves IF the leaf is 75% dead. IF it is 50% dead, then 50% is still eating and making new growth. I NEVER remove a healthy leaf.

The main central stalk is topped off just above the branches Or new growths that are coming out below it. A pair of very small sharp scissors can be used but a razor blade or razor knife is best.
There are no rules to where you top your plant or how old it needs to be. As long as your plant has shoots protruding further down the main stalk it is able to be topped. When topped the growth of the plant will be concentrated towards the new, younger vegative shoots.

Once you have topped your plant(s) the younger shoots will rapidly begin growing. With the removal of the main central stalk the lower braches grow more. With topping completed we keep the plants on their regular lighting and feeding schedules.

Now each new shoot tip will essentially grow as the main stalk did, however the growth is not concentrated to only one central stalk. So as each new shoot grows outward new shoots will grow from each one of them stalks as well.

Therefore topping can be done again, and again, and as each shoot becomes a growing tip with other shoots forming down its stalk, it is removed. By completing these topping or pruning tactics, a grower can acheive any desired height, or desired bushiness they desire in their plants.

I TOP and FIM, at the end of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th week, and I PRUNE and FIM after the thrid full week of growth.






With proper pre-planned Topping and Prunning, I was able to persuade a plant to make 13, (depending on how you count them) to produce 12 or 13 major stalks and it got about 46 inches tall, and produced 7 ounces of dried manicured buds.

Today is the day for the first Topping.

I determined that the 3 plants in the bucket and 5 of the six in the first tank were ready to TOP. They all had over three full nodes. Some had 5 nodes. Regardless, I took the top node out. I think it hurt me worst than it did them. I was not able to hold the camera and snap the pics and do the cutting at the same time.

Here is what I took off or out:



I laid my TOPPINGS on a plate so you can see how much I actually removed. I will wait about 5 days and TOP the other remaining plants.

Link to Part 8 - http://www.strainhunters.com/portal/forum/bubbler-dwc-tutorial-part-8