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Would ya just look at that.

Hey water growers. Im a dirt grower trying DWC for the first time. From a few youtube videos I got enough information to pop a GG4 seed in distilled water. Once the tap was exposed a couple days later I put it in a rockwool cube and collected and washed round river rock to lock the cube in the basket. I got my ph between 5.5 and 6.5 and the little start got bigger. Since Im a noob to dwc I didnt put any food in the water for 2 plus weeks, but when I did the plant took off.

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And then disaster...

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Picture above is the day after I changed reservoir water. My PH meter was malfunctioning and I ended up giving them 350ppm water PH 3.5! In just one day the roots turned to brown and two days later the roots were mush. I treated the top like a clone and cut all the big fan leaves to promote new root growth and I pulled off all the mushy roots. Fresh water, no nutes, and I foliar sprayed the leaves since the old roots were pretty much gone.

And here is the Gorilla 8 days later... Making a nice comeback. I just gotta say; soil is much more forgiving than DWC, but DWC if run Perfect grows quicker than soil and I have seen very impressive harvests from DWC.

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I wonder why so much hydro tastes like stagnant water and moldy carpet?

LOL, My friend grows some Cheese monsters in 5 gal dwc that is some of the nicest smoke I have ever inhaled. You gotta get a little more technical than this experiment of mine to reach that level of success. Master controllers, reliable ph and ppm meters, co2, water chillers, rdwc etc. Soil is my forte, and is much more forgiving. She is sprouting new growth now and the new roots are pure white and growing at an incredible pace. I imagine if you have all white roots at the end then it should be some nice clean smoke. Definitley not giving up on soil but expanding my knowledge base about how plants grow under different conditions. I think I have already learned from dwc knowledge that I can apply dirreclty to Soil growing.... keep learning

I am also studying veganic cannabis and no till. Trying to get some really good medicine this next round. Adding very little to the soil as far as nutes are concerned.
 

v1ru5

Active member
I wonder why so much hydro tastes like stagnant water and moldy carpet?

I have smoked only hydro from my own grows for the past 13 years and I have to say that I've never had my stuff taste like the stuff you mention.

I don't know what your sources are doing wrong or is it your taste buds, but that sounds weird... :biggrin:

@Watchgrassgrow: 3.5pH!!!!! You wanted to give them an acid bath huh :biggrin:
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
Yar, DWC is impressive when everything is kept in check. :) Good job on the recovery. I have yet to run across better soil flower than my best DWC. Which is crazy, because I've been using cannabis from many states, places and growers for over 30 years.

I'm sure there's soil grown just as high quality, just haven't run across it yet. Maybe another 30 years? lol :)
 
Recovery for roots is quick in dwc. Soil gives a slight buffer when feeding or ph is off, but if you get your roots to rot in soil the same buffer can turn into the reason new root growth propogation is not possible.

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Palindrome

King of Schwag
Nice recovery, I find hydro in general is easyer then soil when it comes to recovery.
The fact you just change the nute mix, flush the media and in this case remove mushy roots. Where removing soil is a pita and will stun the plant even more.
 
Very minimum, Ill chop a few of the fan leaves off on the top of the plant. Ill focus on the ones on the bottom covering the lower branches bud sites. Right now I wanna let her stretch 2 weeks before any more fans come off, and when they do it will stunt the top a little and allow the bottom more light.
 

armedoldhippy

Well-known member
Veteran
DWC IS easier to fuck up, but as you have proven to yourself, man it works! my biggest problems have been water temps. been looking at chillers & am ALWAYS on lookout for a working water fountain out of closed school/business etc. much cheaper if found...:)
 

Sport Farmer

Active member
Veteran
Beautiful plant! Thanks for sharing! And hey... you gotta screw some shit up to learn, unfortunately... So this just makes you a better grower in the end. Nice job recovering from your mishap! Looked to be a close call!

Having a couple ways to check the PH is always good as well, just to make sure as meters can loose calibration and go bad, etc. You can always go analog and buy the little tester kit from GH or whoever and those readings never lie. After awhile you will just know what your PH is in your mixtures without even looking it as long as all conditions stay the same... I love DWC buckets though! They're great for the detailed, OCD type personality who needs to know what's happening at all times... Soil, not so much... But I still run Pro mix, but soon converting to full DWC because there are just too many positives over soil for me personally.

- No soil to buy or dispose
- No soil bugs
- No guessing what's happening in your medium.
- Don't have to water every 2-4 days.. Can actually go on a trip for a week with zero worries
- Visually inspect the whole plant through out its life.
- Problems can be fixed faster then soil.
- More control over what the plant is eating.

The list goes on for me... The only sucky part is the res change, really.. the rest is like stupid simple.. Once the ph locks... you are golden!
 
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Thanks for the compliments and advice. When I started this plant I had the water level 1 inch below the lid, but learned it should be just below the bottom of the pot. Baby steps but Im learning. Now we'll see if I can get it all the way through bud mode. Im just using what I had given to me for nutrients which is a 3 bottle set by general hydroponics. A couple caps full of the green veg bottle gets me to 350ppm in 4 gallons of water. I used this darker maroon bottle 5.0.1 NPK and it stained the roots a little yellow but they are all healthy and no root rot is present.

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