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DWC, Transplanting teens, PPM?

ChonBoi

New member
Hello and thank you for taking the time to read this.

BACKGROUND OF MY SITUATION.
I have grown indoor with soil a few times years ago and this is my first hydroponics grow. My investor got excited when he saw we were a few days from testing a 16 5 Gal DWC system. He decided on his own to buy some "Lemon OG" teens in 1 inch rock wool that was put in a solo cup with dirt. He watered them for a day and a half as I completed our set up. I went to the local hydroponics store and spoke with someone who claims to have done DWC a few times. He told me to gently remove dirt from the roots and transplant them into 6x6x4 rock wool cube and wedge it in the net pot. I did so and was top feeding with 6PH 650PPM GH nuits and H2O2 (there was already white powder fungus on the stems of half the plants) for 2 days then RO water the 3rd day. Majority of the 16 plants weren't looking so good even though the fungus looked to be fading so I spent the day researching. Coming to the conclusion the big block of rock wool was my problem I transplanted them again. Only one plant had noticeable root growth when I broke down the rock wool. I put the 1 inch rock wool cube in the net pot and gently tried to pull some of the roots through the bottom and filled it with hydro stones. I have been feeding them the same nuit mixture and am approaching day 3 after the most recent transplant. Most seem to be doing fine but some are looking even more unhappy with green-yellow droopy leaves.

The room is high 70's during the day Mid to high 60's at night with humidity between 35-40%. I also have been misting them with RO water twice a day.
Bucket water is 65 dropping a couple during night 6.1 PH 950PPM PPM week 3

MY QUESTIONS ARE.
Judging by my situation is there anything I should have done or be doing differently?
Is it to early after the transplant/fungus infection to tell if there is anything else wrong?
Is 950 ppm to high for a newly transplanted teen (about 18-24 inches) to be getting splashed on from underneath?

This is the chart I am using which I think is a little high but what the hell do I know.
900 PPM for week 2
1200 PPM for week 3
1500 PPM week 4
1800 PPM week 5+
Flush
1000 PPM week1
1300 PPM week 2
1600 PPM week 3
1900 PPM week 4

Any input is greatly appreciated!
 

Junk

Member
I have grown indoor with soil a few times years ago and this is my first hydroponics grow. My investor got excited when he saw we were a few days from testing a 16 5 Gal DWC system. He decided on his own to buy some "Lemon OG" teens in 1 inch rock wool that was put in a solo cup with dirt. He watered them for a day and a half as I completed our set up. I went to the local hydroponics store and spoke with someone who claims to have done DWC a few times. He told me to gently remove dirt from the roots and transplant them into 6x6x4 rock wool cube and wedge it in the net pot.
I'm not a fan of Rockwool in net pots. I'm assuming you filled the empty space with hydraton or something?

As far as the transplanting, if you rinsed off the roots, it should be ok. I would have let it set in the solo cup and took cuts... You lose some time, but you also lose time moving the plant around etc.


I did so and was top feeding with 6PH 650PPM GH nuits and H2O2 (there was already white powder fungus on the stems of half the plants) for 2 days then RO water the 3rd day. Majority of the 16 plants weren't looking so good even though the fungus looked to be fading so I spent the day researching.

That's why I don't like Rockwool in DWC.

Coming to the conclusion the big block of rock wool was my problem I transplanted them again. Only one plant had noticeable root growth when I broke down the rock wool. I put the 1 inch rock wool cube in the net pot and gently tried to pull some of the roots through the bottom and filled it with hydro stones.

1" you will be fine, and the mildew will probably stop. You don't need to pull the roots through the bottom if you have a top feed. Just fyi. But shifting the plants back and forth over and over is stressing them and slowing them down. That's why I would have waited for cuts...in the end, the time difference wouldn't be huge.

I have been feeding them the same nuit mixture and am approaching day 3 after the most recent transplant. Most seem to be doing fine but some are looking even more unhappy with green-yellow droopy leaves.

If they don't have roots, they will do that after a while. W/o pics it's hard to say exactly what the issue is, but the rock wool, the fungus, the transplanting, I'd be surprised if they weren't showing signs of stress.

The room is high 70's during the day Mid to high 60's at night with humidity between 35-40%. I also have been misting them with RO water twice a day.
That humidity is a little low but once they have roots they will be fine. You don't need to mist them...mist the air. Or better yet, add a humidifier to the room and get it to 50-60%

Bucket water is 65 dropping a couple during night 6.1 PH 950PPM PPM week 3

65 is too cold, and lower is even worse. 68-72 is approx the range you want to be in. Your PH isn't dropping when you feed?

I don't know the size of the plants, but 950 is very high if they are small. It's an extremely rough estimate...but think of your PPMs as a "watt to ppm" correlation. 950 would be appropriate if the plants were under 1k light. If you were under a 600 watt, circa 600 ppm would be appropriate. This is not a rule...it's just a way for you to have an idea of where your feeding should be. And it should be even lower if they are small.

MY QUESTIONS ARE.
Judging by my situation is there anything I should have done or be doing differently?
See above
Is it to early after the transplant/fungus infection to tell if there is anything else wrong?
It is soon...pics would help though.
Is 950 ppm to high for a newly transplanted teen (about 18-24 inches) to be getting splashed on from underneath?
They are that tall with no roots? It's a little high...see my wattage comment above. Again, it's not a rule, it's just to give you a rough starting point. You will figure it out as you go.

This is the chart I am using which I think is a little high but what the hell do I know.
900 PPM for week 2
1200 PPM for week 3
1500 PPM week 4
1800 PPM week 5+
Flush
1000 PPM week1
1300 PPM week 2
1600 PPM week 3
1900 PPM week 4

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Way too high, and I feed heavy. Even with a ton of light, co2, and heavy feeders, it's way too high. W/o co2, I wouldn't venture over 1400 peak.

I'm not sure if by flush you mean flower? Flushing is just ph'd water...no nutes. The flush period is the final 2 weeks and is just water. I also do it intermittently during the cycle.

If it helps, this is what I use
Photosynthesis Plus (per instructions)
Orca (per instructions)
GH Armor Si 5ml per gallon (mix per instructions...important)
GH Cali-magic 8 ml per gallon
GH Micro 8 ml per gallon
GH Bloom 16ml per gallon
Botanicaire Liquid Karma 5ml per gallon


That should put you around 1400ppm. I use co2 though, so you would probably want to scale back on those amounts to @ 1200, but keep them in proportion. Once they have legs, you can feed the above the entire life cycle...veg to harvest. You can scale it down further and build to the above levels. I suggest you keep it simple for the first couple runs.

I flush for @ 3 days, a few days before flip, then week 3-ish for a few days, then weeks 7 and 8 (all of them) I flush.

Dropping and raising the ppm is strain specific and something you have to get a handle on by growing them a few times and watching how they do. If you use the recipe I posted above, you don't have to worry about that for now. If you are under a 1k, I wouldn't go over 1200 ppm (2.4 ec) unless they are loving it.
 

Junk

Member
Also, when I say scale back the amounts...I mean the Cali-magic, Micro and Bloom. Maybe do 6ml, 6ml, and 12ml on those. In flower, if the plants look happy, you can work up to what I posted above.

Leave the others as is. If you need to skip something, skip the photo-plus. Personally, I love that stuff. (same as Mammoth, but lighter on the wallet bottle size).
 

coldcanna

Active member
Veteran
Less is more- I run coco on drippers and never go over 900ppm even in flower... now I know you could push that up but your going to see diminishing returns at some point. Thats my max, so working backwords seedlings and transplants get 1/4 strenght and then I gradually pump it up every week. Usually up to 750 or 800 2 weeks after transplant then ride that through stretch and use bloom boosters to hit 900 for mid-late flower
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
DWC? I don't run cropper strains, so I'm maxxed at 750ppm usually. 900 is HOT and you'll be killing roots with it. Junk has the rundown straight, though personally I never go over 69F for water temps. 15 years of DWC and temp is a hardcore rule.

Rockwool... *sigh* Please stop asking the local hydro store employees for advice. The majority are running on incomplete and erroneous information. :)
 

clown baby

Active member
that PPM sounds really high.

FWIW i can run 1.2EC from clone to flower without seeing deficiencies. YMMV
 
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