i hate my dwc and wanna go back to soil, should i?

[LadyLargely]

Actually an Oomycete or "water mold", not a bacteria. Tell your friends I only know this because there was some dude on NPR yappin for like an hour about it.

Your system looks intriguing, I will take a look.

As for suggesting benes, I just started using Earthworm Compost Tea in my DWC. We'll see how it goes I guess. I'm certainly not paying the crazy amounts of $$$ companies want for bottled benes.

Yes! You are correct sir! All I knew is that its not a fungus, a mold, that's right.

As for bennies, I go with these guys:



Its a powder and will mix up many hundreds of gallons of bio-active water. But this gear is designed for use with soil. It contains many fungi which cannot live in straight water.

Hygrozyme is prolly one of the most effective and cost-efficient bennie solutions meant specifically for hydro applications. It contains many bacteria and enzymes that should be great for cobating your issues.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Are we talking from seed or are we talking clones from outside sources?

 

[LadyLargely]

lady, I also would like to learn more about your bio box setup, sounds like something id like to try out.

Nothing to it mate. This is the general Bio Box hangout and is a good place to go to get familiar with the concept and see what other gardeners have done with it:

Club Bio Box:
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=137656

And this is my own grow diary. Its got a pretty decent step-by-step on how to slap an OBBT together.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=130800

Organic Bubble Bath Tub is a specific kind of Bio Box. It is similar to DWC, simple, scalable, and generally straightforward. So far all Bio Box gardens featured on ICmag have been built around the OBBT design and it is a good place to start.

However, Bio Box is more far-reaching than that. It is the simple concept of pushing air through a soil-laden medium in order to raise an army of beneficial microbes. OBBTs are NOT the only way of doing this, the Bio Box effect has much more potential than that. Already people are looking into adapting it into a large scale table-grow, a super-fast compost pile, and a daisy-chained self-watering dutch pot-style system.

And we've only just scratched the surface of what it could become. It is indeed an intreaguing little biological machine.

 

[deviant1]

well freezer, I know exactly where your going with this, unfortuniately NO jus from seed, I wish I could have gotten a clone from over there. cheesey.

 

[LadyLargely]

*nods* sounds like he's got a prized mother or two and that's it. They'll definitely be in need of some biological rehabilitation. Hopefully with the right combination of soft cleaning and bennies you can turn them around. As for a pythium-resistant growing method to raise and flower your clones which utilizes gear you already have on hand: I frequent all the major Bio Box/OBBT threads, as do a handful of like-minded gardeners. Snoop around in the organic hydro section we love lending a hand.

 

[PetFlora]

NO NEED TO SWITCH hardware! You just need to incorporate one or two elements.

Before you pull everything, are your babies in net pots? If so, take each out individually. Cut away any nasty roots; believe me they grow back once the soup is premo. Soak the entire net pots for 5-10 minutes in 3% H2O2 (use fresh for each plant) as diluted from 35% FOOD GRADE H2O2- available on line from Guardian of Eden, possibly a local hydro store. 3% dilution formula: 1 oz 35% to 11 ounces distilled or RO water. Repeat several times in a row, then several times a day. Soak in 1/4 strength soup before reintroducing to res. Within a week you should see new roots developing, assuming you resolve the issues that caused this. Keep reading...

I too am using a 10G rubbermaid tote. Nutes either Botanicare or FoxFarm hydro- organic. I use 3 G of soup (nutes + RO water), but combine mist and fog with my new toy- not that you need all three. In fact some guys do quite well with bubbleponics alone, but usually in much smaller vessels.

Seems your soup is the problem. Dump it as you are having pH issues. The Lucas Method is not needed for a small grow. I use about 3 TBS of nute to 3 G of RO water to get 1100 ppm. This produces high 4- low 5 pH. Then add very small amounts of Baking Soda to slowly raise pH until it is in range- 5.5- 5.8, even 6.0. I dump soup weekly and go with fresh nutes. My yard and plants love it!

See my post New Toy in Town ) for ideas. Float Foggers and Filter Pumps are available at WalMart.

Concentration of soup is dependent on the amount of light you are using. You can run up to 2000 ppm if your PAR is high

Hang in there. You can salvage this grow and be ready to rock on the next.

 

[PetFlora]

TO: Hydro-Soil

Dude run, don't walk to to bioag website. Fulvic Acid is a terrific chelator (there are others, combining them is a good idea), and mercury is highly suspect in Autism. No doubt you already know it was used in vaccines. Also search for holistic doctor who has Autism experience

 

[Cranberry]

Deviant!: get your ppm or tds down you need to be in the 500-700 range till flower then ramp up to 1100-1400 ppm depending on sativa or indica. Then add a tablespoon of 3% h2o2 from the store cheap stuff.. every other day. Add 1/4 teaspoon of epsom salts per gallon also. Ph in the 6.0 - 6.5 range.. do this for a week before you give up.

Did you bleach your tubs before you started. If so did you over do the bleach> Cap full to five gallons is best.. Bleach can leave a poisonous residue on your plastic.. Last but not least. I have learned about floride in some city water... And it had this affect... But Thats a long shot.

Good Luck.. Dwc is very forgiving and pretty simple.. Next time dont wait 52 days.. K

 

[Mr.Jones]

since i switched to topfeed hydro on hydroton i never would go back to soil again! its simple, cheap, and very effective - the plants love it and its easy to control:






i have grown a little micro in a dwc and dont like it too much either. topfeed is soo easy to maintain - you just have to pay attention that when you plant the clones that they get to the nutrient soultion so they wont dry out.

 

[America]

I think hempy buckets are your deal..

I think hempy buckets are your deal..

Ever thought about doing hempy buckets? They are a passive hydroponic setup with no pumps, reservoirs, net pots, etc. Very similar to soil, like what you're used to, but still hydroponics. All you need really is perlite and hydro nutes. Check it out, I think this will solve all of your dislikes about dwc and other hydroponics setups. I love hempy buckets because they are perfect for semi-lazy potheads like me.

Same results, a fraction of the work.

-America

 

[headfortrinity]

wow that is a lot of info. all you guys make it sound like its sooo easy, but I have been battling with for almost 2 months, what is the problem? my nutes aren't usually that high, got that way from using so much ph down to control the ph. I jus wanna know why my roots and leaves won't grow right. what am I doing wrong? the thing that really sucks is that I've done most the thing everyone here has suggested, (except for of a few). most of you give such great advice, that I don't know where to begin. btw, I am using tap water, if anyone missed that before.

Here is a pic of my dwc in july of this year, temps were over 100 every day sometimes 120 in the greenhouse, the water and roots up to 100 every day
Got them started using voodoo juice and then just maxibloom once the roots got going and the foliage covers the container, I only added the voodoo once a month after. Hygrozyme is enzymes and vitamins doesn't have beneficials you need to add them I added botanicare guardian tr because it's the cheapest liquid I found.

Check out my greenhouse vegetable album all went thru extreme temps and root death as I was fine tuning, the voodoo juice saved them all. I don't have root pics but the bucket tomatoes roots came out like a big round loofa, pure white and healthy. I wouldn't be praising this product if it didn't work. H2o2 works great too with synthetic nutes using any organics or beneficials is pointless when using h2o2. Voodoo juice is $50 a bottle, hygroyme and guardian tr together is $40. Small price to pay for results.

 

[deviant1]

I hate to sound like im agaist everything you guys suggest, but the fact of the matter, is that I've done most everything people said. that's why I haven't tried to get help till now. wow I really don't know what to do now, there aren't too many more options for me, hempy buckets sound alright though.

 

[deviant1]

petflora, I have done all that you have mentioned,4 times now, that's why im at 52 days veg. I used the right amount of bleach also, jus in case I rinsed the tubs out with very hot water. I went so far as to cut all the roots and most of the rockwool their in, jus make sure I got it all. but I didn't, after I did that I used h2o2 jus like you said, it helped untill the nasties came back now for a 5th time now. I am so jus about ready to through everything away, and say fuck this bullshit. it has to be a bad room, that's only thing that could be doin this over and over again. I jus don't know what to do anymore, please send more help my way.

 

[dmt]

nice work yall

the only time ive seen root rot in dwc is

1 when the res is not light proof and algea forms leading to rr

2 when the air from the stones is in a co2 enriched space and the nute solute becomes enriched with co2 which causes anarobic pathogens = rr in the long run

3 when organic additives are not filtered properly befroe adding to res

4 air pump and stones not big enough to supprot

5 nute deficiency which leads to lowered immunity which leads to root rot

6 bad salt build up which leads to stunting, lowered immunity the rr

7-not enough oxygen for whatever reason if not stated above

when i first started it didnt take me long to realise if anymistakes are made and not properly dealt with, rr is always gona take over fast,d

 

[America]

hempy buckets sound alright though.

I switched from organic soil to the hempies. All you have to do is measure out the lucas formula and feed them. No worries about reservoir temps or anything. Water every two days until harvest.. Check out the hempy collective thread. Keeping it simple is the best idea if you're fed up with the technicals of other hydro setups.

If even that doesn't work out, you're only out a little bit of perlite.

 

[Cranberry]

Deviant1: cold water rinse, heat releases gasses and other nastiness from plastic. Plus kills the bleach that you just sanitized with..

Haps is the man, I have read his posts for years and have always liked his advice... "One of the few that I do trust."

FloraSheild can be used to sterilize dwc and keep your crop at the same time. You will just have to use only chem nutzs with no more organics. do a root drench and flush mixture through pots a few times..

And Smile....

 

[deviant1]

damn that's funny, I was using florashield, till I ran out. I didn't think too much of it, but that does seem to be the time I started to have problems. maybe that's what i ve been missing and why I can't figure out what's wrong. thanks im gonna try that 1st after a good rinsing, of course. thatnks

 

[abnorml]

Just my 2 cents, drain your system, flush with tap water with some hydrogen peroxide for 24hrs, drain and refill with a lower nute solution, say 500 ppms. You can't go forward if you've got rotten roots in the water even if you've fixed the problem. As for the cause of the rot, in my mind it can only be a few things. You burned your roots with too strong a solution, light is penetrating into your water/root zone, or the most probable is what others have already said that your water was too warm.
Watch your nute level. If your ppms go up and not down, your solution is too strong. You need to flush.
Once you get your roots clean and have new shoots coming out keep your water 65 to 75 degrees, ph 5.8 to 6.2 and your plants should start responding.
good luck

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Hygrozyme is prolly one of the most effective and cost-efficient bennie solutions meant specifically for hydro applications. It contains many bacteria and enzymes that should be great for cobating your issues.

Uh sorry. That's just flat wrong. Hygrozyme contains no bacteria. Enzymes only. I agree that it's a great product and I use it myself. Just thought I'd correct you there.

On topic. My first thought is 1100ppm is way too high for tiny plants. Lucas formula for HIDs only comes out to around 900ppm at .5 conversion. I don't even break 1100 for an entire grow with Floranova Bloom (1 part Lucas formula). You shouldn't have any root rot at your water temperatures. However you may have the brown algae issue (check Strange Slime infirmary sticky). Also, just how much are you bubbling? Plants don't need a ton of bubbles in DWCs. Just a steady supply.

My advice to you specifically is get some AquaShield from Botanicare and add that to a freshly poured res. Reinstall the plants and wait a day then add your Lucas formula (8ml/gal micro and 16ml/gal bloom if using an HID...it's less if using LEDs or CFLs....don't remember offhand but you can find the low strength formula if you search for it). The roots should start growing and your plants will recover. Actually, given your issues so far, I suggest switching to Floranova Bloom. It's so easy to use. 5ml gal to start and you'll be in good shape.

Here's the thread with the low strength Lucas mix. Read the whole thread twice. You'll learn a lot and I bet you'll figure out what you're doing wrong.
https://www.cannabis-world.org/cw/showthread.php?t=892

Hydro kicks soil's ass btw.

 

[ak-51]

DWC is bullshit... I mean it can be good, but if u live and sleep with ur grow in an apartment or house, dwc can be a pain... The pumps are loud, the bubbling noise is loud, the extra electricity cost.. The temperatures must stay between 70 and 75.. With foxfarm soil, im yielding as much as i was with dwc.. I water with ro water, every other watering I add nutes (maxibloom or grow) They grow like crazy in soil.. If u have no way to keep ur res temps low, soil is the way..

Plus with DWC, it only takes about 10 seconds for your entire root system to die, if the roots r sitting in stagnant water with the pump off. UIt could be really easy to killllll your plants

I cannot disagree with your experience but I must say that my own is much different:
Neither the pumps nor the bubbling in my DWC system(s) are very loud. The Tetra Whisper pumps I use consume a whole 4 watts, small beans compared to the consumption of any light system reasonably capable of growing plants. The low pitched humming of the pumps would be unlikely to disrupt my sleep even if I had them in the room where I sleep. Many people that have fishtanks find ways to cope with the same bubbling noise, pump noise, and electricity cost; I would be willing to bet that none of those 3 things rate high on the cons to owning an aquarium.

I'm not sure about the last statement you made though, I would not call water that had been still for 10 seconds "stagnant", was the 10 second figure for dramatic effect? I use redundant air pumps to make sure that one pump failure would not hurt anything.

Everybody has a preferred method I guess, and maybe I haven't found mine yet but I don't have any major gripes about DWC.