(DWC) how it works?

[Dr.Dank]

I have a few questions I'm new to this DWC.... I bought some net baskets and black 5 gallon buckets, now if I wanted to add nutes do I put half strenght first or full? how often do you guys change the water???? I use general hydroponics 3 parts and I'm experienced but not with this so sorry for the noob question.

 

[Dr.Dank]

also do I put the water just under the net pots? or a few inches under? I bought a bunch of air pumps and air stones and I'm running The pure, jack flash, satori, ak47, nl#5 x haze, brumes kush, 8 mile high, and ssh

 

[jm420]

watch this ,freezer boy
can you help this one out?

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

I start at 300 ppm @ .5 conversion, you can start the water above or below, its kind of like the bubble cloner argument. Do you have it lower and tease the roots down? Or do you raise it and minimize the risk of loosing your clone? Honestly man I have done it both ways, and either works. I start below the netpot, and if my girls look droopy I dump nute solution throught the rocks and on their roots, but is not necessary.

 

[Dr.Dank]

so I read somewhere to have the water half inch from the bottom of the net pot and change the water every two weeks is this right??? it seems to easy and simple....anyones help or photos would be great thanks

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

Starting just below will be fine. You can change the water as often or as little as you would like. Some go without any changes except flush and some change out the reservoir religioulsy every 10-14 days. Once again I have done both, and both are fine. I met in the middle, I start with veg reservoir and dont change it until Day 14 flower, then I empty the flower reservoir to flush. I get away with 3-4 res changes per round. Get the feel for her first with more frequent res changes, work your way up. Also, you will need to check the PH and PPM daily if your not auto-topping off with fresh water.

Click on the link in my sig labeled: 24 Bucket RDWC 4000 watt by PK

This will answere alot of your feeding questions as far as strength and maybe some others as well.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Hydroton neither absorbs or wicks. Planted "too high", clones and seedlings can dry out in a matter of hours. Maintain direct contact between roots and waterline until roots have escaped the pot and are long enough to clear the airgap.



GH 3 part Flora series better approximates marijuana's NPK needs if you leave the green Grow bottle out of the mix. It's the 0 in Lucas 0-8-16 formula (as in 0ml-8ml-16ml per gallon of water)

Start with 1.25 ml (1/4 tsp) Micro and Bloom per gallon. When they clear the gap, use 2.5 (1/2) ml per gallon and start charting EC and pH to determine adjustments to nute strength. EC up-pH Down is too rich. EC Down-pH Up is too lean. From here on, regardless of the amounts used, feed at (Micro:Bloom) 2:1 for veg, 1:2 for flower.

With such varied strains at the same time, I'd strongly consider sticking to single buckets.

 

[superusa]

Hydroton neither absorbs or wicks. Planted "too high", clones and seedlings can dry out in a matter of hours. Maintain direct contact between roots and waterline until roots have escaped the pot and are long enough to clear the airgap.



GH 3 part Flora series better approximates marijuana's NPK needs if you leave the green Grow bottle out of the mix. It's the 0 in Lucas 0-8-16 formula (as in 0ml-8ml-16ml per gallon of water)

Start with 1.25 ml (1/4 tsp) Micro and Bloom per gallon. When they clear the gap, use 2.5 (1/2) ml per gallon and start charting EC and pH to determine adjustments to nute strength. EC up-pH Down is too rich. EC Down-pH Up is too lean. From here on, regardless of the amounts used, feed at (Micro:Bloom) 2:1 for veg, 1:2 for flower.

With such varied strains at the same time, I'd strongly consider sticking to single buckets.

Just curious as to why you say 2:1 (micro/bloom) for veg. I know lucas has said 0-8-16 for veg AND bloom if under HID lighting. Is this something you developed yourself? how have the results been? Not bashing just curious

 

[FreezerBoy]

Laying claim to nothing, I figured out the "no Grow bottle" thing some 14-15 years before I heard of Lucas. Matching NPK numbers from Frank and Rosenthal's Grow Bible was impossible using Grow but, you could get darn close with Micro and Bloom.

All these years later, have I confused actual findings with ratios printed on the bottle...? You have officially stumped my band, I don't remember. Obviously, 2:1 is aggressive and better left to tree growers with 1:1 being sufficient for micro, especially a DWC.

 

[Dr.Dank]

thanks alot freezerboy and everyone else that put their opinion... Well right now I'm starting from scratch due to loosing all my genetics in pure panic thinking someone saw my outdoor crop I killed everything.... better be safe than sorry I did loose all genetics... But I just planted all those seeds to find a new mom hope I do... jah bless me please

 

[Dr.Dank]

also is it okay to use tap water or i need to go get an ro so i can keep an eye in the ppm

 

[cygnus]

What is the PPM's of your Tap? I have a well and do not use RO. My tap is 225 PPMs. I just pulled down a Jah Kush that yeilded 9 Zips. Plus a bunch of popcorn for Bubble Hash. I love DWC.

 

[Dr.Dank]

its around 300s... do you also use lucas formula??? I need to read a little more about that... is it better than using all 3 gh? I had great results with gh 3 parts pulling 2 1/2 on soil per 1k light... im looking to pull a little more.

 

[MacGyver420]

sup Dr. Dank your gonna be happy you chose DWC

let me start off saying i have very limited growing experience so take what i say with a grain of salt

and your very smart for choosing the GH 3 part


Freezer boy is 100% right you only need the micro and bloom

if you go with 8ml micro and 16ml bloom per gallon all the way through you will be pretty stoked on your results... i was using other additives (kool bloom) but i decided not to anymore seemed to just cause nutrient lockout issues
- after i flip my girls sometimes i find they are stretching too fast and they need some Nitrogen; i will add about 2ml per gallon of the floragro for a single feeding to help this problem... you just gotta watch the plants but the golden rule of the lucas forumla still stands 8/16 is the general idea here...

if you have nice water that combination of nutrients sets me right at 6.0 PH and i just change the resivor every week; in between changes i top off with plain water daily

what are some other little tricks? well i couldnt decide if airstones or just straight tubing was better so i decided to put 1 tube and 1 airstone in each bucket... best of both right?!! haha my roots just love it!!!

also i found that my airpump gets hot after running 24/7 for months on end... make sure you get a quality air pump and i found that training a fan on the aircompressor lowers the temperatures DRASTICALLY

ideally you want your temps to be in the 60-75 degree F range but some people have had successes with higher temperatures; but just note that the lower temperatures increase the avialability of dissolved oxygen and also increase nutrient uptake

check out my grow thread for some pictures of how i did it man its almost too easy! http://icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=136978
peace and happy gardening

 

[Skrappie]

are you using hydroton?

Also my personal belief that a good time to change your nutrient solution in deep water culture is when you notice your root growth slowing down.

I'm sure you'll find a rhythm and can eventually catch it before your root growth slows, that way you have a better chance of keeping your plants healthy.

In most hydro systems we have the advantage of being able to see the health of our roots: A plants leafs will tell you everything you need to know, though they get that information itself via snail mail from the roots.

 

[FreezerBoy]

its around 300s

You're probably fine where you are. My tap reads 0.5 EC. Up to 0.7 or 0.8, consider GH Hardwater Micro. Over that, consider RO.

 

[Think Green]

I can tell you this, I have been running dwc for awhile now and found that my root structures do not use most of the 5 ga. buckets I have been using. If you are not growing plants that are 6ft tall, I would recommend a smaller bucket size to save on water & nutes. Granted a bigger rez for your dwc provides more stability and thus less frequency in water & nute change, but unless its a recirculating system you will have to change each bucket individually and that can become a lot of work if you have more than 1 or more plants. Take it from me, I was changing 40 gallons of water every week or so to replenish my nute solution. I personally am switching to 2 ga. buckets, reducing my over all water consumption & nute schedule also providing a bigger headroom for larger plants.
Hope this helps. It seems to take a long time to dial in a garden. I've been at it a year and am still making new systems & grow tents ect. Hope this helps a little. By the way, I have been running tap water in my dwc the whole time with no problems, however I still plan on getting a R/O system in the near future. Hope this was helpful.

 

[Think Green]

This may help to encourage ya... Take care of those roots!

 

[Dr.Dank]

WOW thank you guys everything helps me a bit... I now have and idea, but how do you guys keep the water cool? I have a chiller but would i be able to do a recirculating system with dwc?? I grow big plants veg them for a month then bloom. I really need to figure out the Lucas formula... so have you guys found you got better results with this??? I think this will be a piece of cake and hopefully i'll get it dieled in quick....i WILL only run 4 1k max and I've taken care of about 34 k before.... also i would love to post photos but how do you clean them from having the location or any info that can lead me to sadness I'm paranoid. I Done hydro with a return and that seem a bit more complicated than this... having to have the reservoir downstairs a constant ph ppm meter on the tub and keeping temps 68-72 for oxygen to reach its peak.... I was also using some very complicated Advance nutrients that i had to blend in a blender.... and having about 30 maybe more strains running it was a head headek.
So my main question... Can i grow better bigger healthier plants with just the Micro and Bloom??? how would i go about the ratios for veg and flowering??? i have a bunch of general hydroponics DUAL DIAPHRAGM AIR PUMP and this things are wicket they work wonders and are very quiet never used them but I plugged one on and I never seen cold water boil like that! thank you guys Dr.D

 

[Dr.Dank]

Think green I notice your bucket is white, you don't have any problems with algi??? nice roots mate i have a rein forest airponics that my mom bought me it when i was 16-17 and I used to love to check them roots every day!
thanks for the encouragement you guys rock