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DWC happy vs Stressed Glog

Okay well as some of you have probably seen, I started a thread about the heat of a pepper in different growing conditions and it sort of changed into a thread about the possibility of stressing a plant to increase production and potency in a hydroponic environment. So this is going to be an experiment to see the effects of DWC stressing of a plant as compared to a plant that is not stressed.

For this experiment, I have decided to keep some form of control. The pepper selected is the TS Moruga. The seeds are from the same pod and have been put to germinate at the same time. I will be selecting two seedlings that pop up within 2 days of each other or less if possible.
These 2 seedlings will be put into 2 identical black buckets with identical 6 inch net pot lids. The pots will be filled with the same amount of plant-it expanded clay and the 2 plants will spend their growth period both being fed the same amount of botanicare pure blend pro grow nutrients and water.

They will both be under the same light which I have yet to decide upon and the two DWC's will be oxygenated with the same 2 port air pump using identical air stones. It is noted that PH, TDS and EC will be monitored and kept identical throughout the growth of these 2 plants.

Now the fun will begin after this. During the bloom phase of the plants life, when I switch botanicare pure blend pro bloom, I will choose one of the DWC's to start adding advanced nutrients bud factor x in addition to the bloom nutrients. Bud factor x has chemicals in it that trigger defense mechanisms in plants to cause extra oil buildup in fruit. In addition to bud factor x, i will also raise the EC on that DWC to make it harder for the plant to uptake water as a higher EC affects the transfer potential between the water and the roots.

Now all this working according to plan, I hope to notice a physical difference between the 2 plants in hopefully yield quantity and health status. I will also supply a pod from each plant to willing members as well as performing a taste test myself to see if there is any difference in flavour and heat between the pods from the two plants. This will be a survey performed after the grow season which should help shed light on the best way to grow chili's in hydroponic setups to provide maximum yield and or best quality pods

Wish me luck and expect pictures of the germination setup soon and also lots of pictures along the way during this experiment.
 
Okay update!

As of 06/05/2013, the experiment has officially began. The plants have been on bloom nutrients for two week now and a fresh batch was mixed today except for a couple slight adjustments.

Plant 1 got a regular mix of 3 gallons of RO water, 90ml of pure blend pro bloom and 15ml of calmag. PH was adjusted to 5.5 for optimal nutrient uptake and TDS was measured at 1520 ppm. Plant 2 got a mix of 3 gallons of RO water, 105ml of pure blend pro bloom, 15ml of calmag, 25ml of bud factor x and PH adjusted to 6.2. I tried to get the PH higher but the nutrients PH buffer would not let it go higher even with additional PH up. Plant 2 has a measured TDS of 1820 ppm.

So the theory behind this is, plant 1 will have a regular nutrient mix as per the bottle directions and optimal PH levels. Plant 2 has a higher nutrient concentration increasing the EC which would make it harder to get water uptake. The higher PH will block nutrient uptake partially as compared to plant 1 but will still allow nutrients in and bud factor x is suppose to stimulate a defense response from the plant causing it to dump oils into the fruit to make them more potent. I could go for higher nutrient concentration and higher EC but I am not trying to kill the plant or hamper its growth significantly. The idea is to stress is more than plant one and see the results through the peppers.

Here are some pictures of the plants currently.

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Please for anyone following this, I am open to suggestions and criticisms. If we can make this experiment successful through additional advise, then please provide it.
 
This was a cool little experiment, I'm sad to see the thread sort of died out. Any word on the results in the fruit?
 
I'd love to see somebody try a larger scale version of this and get testing done.
 
Very interesting experiment! Followed!
 
Your roots look great! I also love the staking method you used, I'll have to keep that in mind for future grows. Right now I have some bamboo shoved into my 10" netpot and it does a terrible job of keep my huge tomato upright.
 
Wow! 1500+ TDS. That's impressive they're taking that much up! I've been under 1000 the whole time (granted my plants are still relatively small) but still showing signs of over-feeding.
 
Cant wait to see how this bud-factor works out. The local hydro shop was trying to up-sell me on it... didnt fall for it. But if it works, I just might have to pick some up for myself!
 
Flame and Nick, the last post in this thread was 6 months ago and I don't think Dan has been very active on the forum in months. I doubt he will have updates in this thread. 
 
Jeff H said:
Flame and Nick, the last post in this thread was 6 months ago and I don't think Dan has been very active on the forum in months. I doubt he will have updates in this thread. 
 
Bummer, I didnt even realize that...
 
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