Questions about overcrowding in top fed DWC system

Hydroponics
#1

Hello all,

I’m a new cannabis grower who decided to give hydroponics a try for my first grow. I have done lots of initial research but the amount of info out there is overwhelming and sometimes contradictory so I decided to “just jump in” with my grow and keep learning as I go. This approach has mostly worked, but I think I’m late to the game on thinning my grow. I started 8 autoflower seeds, 2 of each strain together in a 4” net pot, 18 gal reservoir, top-fed recirculating DWC system. Everything is going great! The plants are huge and leafy and herein lies the problem. I didn’t expect 100% germination and I thought it would be easy to pick strong specimens and remove the stragglers…. But now I’m looking at these huge girls and I think I waited too long to thin them. It’s the 5th week since spouting and I still have two plants per net pot. They haven’t started to flower yet, but it’s getting clear to me that not all plants are getting equal light. I have done minimal light stress training so I’m getting decent horizontal growth, but some plants are growing over others and blocking light. I’m not sure what my next steps are, my thoughts have been:
Option 1: Keep on keeping on and do nothing. The biggest plants will get the most light and hopefully my yield won’t be too impacted by growing so many plants in one system. I check them daily so I can keep my reservoir topped off.
Option 2: Try to carefully remove the smaller plants and keep the biggest plants under the best lights. I have another system I can move the smaller plants to, but they would have weaker grow lights. I’m worried this option would damage roots and impact the growth of all the plants.
Option 3: Just chop the smallest plants and let the biggest plants thrive. This probably would do the least damage to the remaining plants, but it would leave behind the roots of the cut plants and I’m not sure what would happen there. Also, it kinda breaks my heart to think of killing plants that are healthy just because they are smaller. :cry:

There are probably other options I haven’t thought of yet. I welcome your experience or articles pertaining to how to proceed in my grow. Thanks all!!

Here is how it looks currently
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#2

@Matryoshka that’s how use growers learn it’s all about your environment if you have a smaller light and there not autos you can keep few in veg and flower the rest or its cutting time and that’s the hard part

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#3

@Matryoshka, this is another opportunity to learn as you grow!

I wouldn’t want to give up on any of the plants, if they were healthy. I’d first start doing a little pruning: removing the lowest leaves on each branch. Especially ones that are pointing into the canopy or overlapping. After that, if the canopy still looked a little thick, remove the next one up.

Now, if I thought it was still looking like too many branches, now that I can see them better, I might start looking for lower ones that just aren’t looking like they’ll reach enough light. If one of those happened to be one of the smaller plants, then so be it.

Point is, do a little pruning first, it may help with your decision.

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#4

As long as you have good tops like @CurrDogg420 says get rid of little stuff underneath @CurrDogg420 im on a roll I’ve been in little bit of moonshine buddy give me for new years from VA. that i worked with for 20 years it’s new year tradition for that long i love good bud and good moonshine buddy love it lol :laughing:

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#5

Where you go @CurrDogg420

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#6

Buddy of mine from Michigan makes some good shine. He uses Kellogg’s corn flakes in his mash and swears by em.

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#7

I’ve heard of them useing raisen brand also me myself i like the taste of the corn it makes me feel like im back in time if you know what I mean. i have a old soul i love living off the land my friend as much as possible

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#8

By the way @CurrDogg420 your plants look awesome :+1: nice job beautiful plants my friend

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#9

I have some about 3 week’s til end pure indica they look awesome my friend @CurrDogg420 there close

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#10

Hi @Matryoshka I feel your concerns. I started my DWC journey 2 years ago and as you said there is lots of info and much confusion. …as @CurrDogg420 wrote you can start by just trimming and see what happens but I can tell you all of your plants will struggle all feeding from that same reservoir and 2 in each pot… it will get very crowded in there for roots and plants are going to grow up and not out since they are crowded, you will have high moisture build up with all of them together so watch for mold… All of this crowding is going to have drawbacks. It is always hard to cut living plants but you have to for the better good of the remaining plants. you are definitely in a pickle here…you definitely will have to do some aggressive pruning to make this all work if you keep all of them. I personally like to give plants room to grow and not overcrowd. So now what do you do???

I say cut down to only one plant in each pot. How are you draining/flushing your reservoir? You need to be able to do this so nutrient/salt build up doesn.t happen and you get lockout. I see you have 4 pots in this reservoir and again in my opinion you need to pull 2 of these pots to reduce to only 2 pots. I guarantee your grow will go better and your harvest will be better if you don’t overcrowd.

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#11

@Matryoshka just to give you an idea of how much root growth you will have…I have one plant in a 12 gallon reservoir and by the time I harvest she has between 2 and 3 inches of solid roots covering the entire bottom of the reservoir and over each of my air stones, I have 2. the roots entomb them and form root balls there the size of a kids soccer ball that extend into the air…

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#12

Thank you for the reply @CurrDogg420 ! I did some pruning last night and that helped get more light all around! Unfortunately I ended up breaking a few stems in the process, so we shall see if that impacts, since they are autos. Shrug.

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#13

@Daddy1971 They are autos. Some light is better than no light I guess. :sweat_smile:
Enjoy your moonshine!

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#14

@retiredoldguy Thank you for your insights! Do you think taking two net pots (with 2 plants per) and putting them into individual reservoirs will reduce the mold risk/humidity on the big reservoir? I’m struggling a bit with humidity versus temp management at the moment. When I keep my exhaust fan on all the time I lose too much heat from my tent, but when the fan is off my humidity sits between 70-84% to the point that moisture is collecting on the walls of my tent. No good. I’m growing in a 2’x4’ tent in a basement, so it’s on the colder side.

As for flushing/draining the reservoir, it’s been a week since I did a full change, but my res was almost empty when I refilled it. No smell, algae or root rot to speak of. I have many years experience with houseplants and passive hydroponics so I’m familiar with the smell and look off damaged roots and dirty water, that isn’t happening here. I’m using reverse osmosis water and General Hydroponics Flora trio plus Armor Si, Calimagic and Hydroguard with light feeding schedule (500-600 ppm) since the system is dripping from the top and bubbling from inside the reservoir. These are Autoflowers, so I thought the grow timeline was short enough that I would not get excessive mineral buildup or nutrient lockout as long as I stayed on top of my ph and kept the reservoir clear. Do you think I need to do more to maintain my reservoir? Also, is it possible for you to post a pic of your hydro setup? I’d love to see the root mass you mentioned! I’d like to get ideas on how I can modify my setup for my next grow. Thanks!

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#15

@Matryoshka yes taking it down to only 2 plants will definitely help you with mold and sweating. I use the same nutrient line as you do with water run thru the ZERO water filter. I don’t have a lot of auto experience mostly photo but I just finished up a 3 auto plant grow and I can tell you they are quite finicky. I change out my reservoir when I see the plant trying to control the PH or 7 days during heavy growth. Lucky you I just harvested the last 2 autos today and had not tossed this one out into the compost bin yet,… here is a picture of the root mass and a picture of the auto Deelite that grew with it. The other picture is a White Widow that struggled to live and is not the prettiest girl at the dance but she did end up producing for me after much love.

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#16

@retiredoldguy That’s sure one pretty lady! Never seen such hairy legs!

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#17

@retiredoldguy :v::grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: damn, that looks fun

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#18

WOW!!! That is a pretty sight, and a hell of a root system. Salut!

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#19

@retiredoldguy thanks for all the lovely pictures! It looks like you had a beautiful grow! I know you said you had less auto experience, but do you find they need as many nutrients as photoperiod plants and require the same reservoir maintenance? When you say “drain and flush the reservoir” what steps do you take on your own plants?
Due to life biting me in the ass this week I’m just getting around to thinning my plants into separate reservoirs today. So hopefully my delay won’t impact my grow too much. The autos are not flowering yet.

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#20

@Matryoshka auto require same amounts of nutrients for the most part, just an adjusted schedule based on the fact they really don’t have a veg phase. Reservoir maintenance is the same. I have a stick pump to suck out my reservoir to a 5 gal bucket and to pump from a bucket into the reservoir. I do this either 10 days or 7days.

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