5 Gallon DWC - 1st Attempt

[Faint05]

Greetings everyone and thanks for taking the time to read my journal. I have been using this site as my main resource to gather information about DWC. After taking notes and reading different entries I figured it was time to give it a shot!

BRIEF INTRO:

Living in Sacramento CA, love cars, video games, and for work I do software coding. I have been a medical marijuana patient 3 years ago and have enjoyed trying several strains in local shops. I chose to grow for personal consumption. Instead of spending dollars on top shelf, I can focus on school loans and car parts!

THE 411:

What strain is it? Orange Crush
Sativa (Seeds were provided from a friend who found them in his herbs).
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? I'm in Veg state
If in Veg... For how long? I'm only on the 2nd day of veg!
Indoor or outdoor? Indoor Apollo Horticulture 48"x24"x60" Mylar Hydroponic Grow Tent for Indoor Plant Growing
Soil or Hydro? Hydro DWC

Size of light? 6 x 5.1 x 4.4 inches
Is it aircooled? Small office fan from walmart
Temp of Room/cab? 73 degrees
RH of Room/cab? 85 with humidifier on 65 with it off
PH of media or res? 6.0
Any Pests ? None
How often are you watering? Top feeding until the roots touch water in the reservoir
Nutrients - FoxFarm FX14050 Big Bloom, Grow Big & Tiger Bloom Liquid Fertilizer Nutrient Trio Hydro-Formula, 3/32-Ounce Bottles
Clonex Clone Solution, 1 Quart
Bucket Size — (2) 5 gallon
Lights - (2) Vintage Grow HIGH YIELD Full Spectrum Hydroponics LED Grow Light Bulb - 12 watts (Have CFL's that haven't been installed waiting for custom HOOD to be built)
Equipment - Honeywell humidifier *Walmart*, Timer (18-6 / 12-12), PH Tester
# of Plants: 2
Yield : Hoping for the best!
On the way — Just order a thermometer to test bucket water temp.
Just ordered an Aqua pro TDS for PPM readings


Photos on the way!

 

[Faint05]

 

[Faint05]

 

[Faint05]

A buddy in my car club convinced me to go DWC. He gave me a list of equipment to buy, but I'm starting to think he wasn't taking me serious. I bought all the material he told me to now I can't seem to fit in his busy schedule. He made it sound like a cake walk. " Just PH the water, change it every week, and watch them grow". I will give him credit though because I have seen his simple setup and the buds he produced. Nothing crazy but quality bud. So now that I bought some equipment and I can't get my buddy over I found this awesome site. My setup can use some advice! But I had to start from somewhere. As I mentioned previously this is just for personal use not looking to profit. I have seen some good journals go cold, so I vow to document the whole first experience whether good or bad. Thanks for reading!

Regards,

Faint!

 

[Frenchy672]

I'm about to be right there with ya! looking mint so far.

 

[Lazarus13]

Whats up, Faint? Welcome to and welcome to the dark side aka dwc. I am entering the tail end of my first dwc grow and there are plenty of great hydro growers on here that, im sure, will be more than happy to assist. Im at work at the moment but when i get a chance ill look at your pics and read your intro more thoroughly and offer what advice/ help i can or just encouragement. DWC has been awesome so far and i think from now on im going to leave the dirt in my outside flower garden. Good to have you here. Check out some journals on some other dwc grows, comment and get to know some people. Thatll attract more folks to your grow. I dont have a journal but i have pics in the gallery if you would like to check em out.

 

[Lazarus13]

1st thing i noticed, you said you are in the 2nd day of veg but you are still in the seedling stage. Veg doesnt truly start until you get a bit farther along. Some say 2nd set of true leaves some say third. I personally started counting veg at the 3rd set of leaves after the cotyledons. It can be a little confusing. Same as flowering. Some people start counting flowering weeks when they switch to 12/12. I waited til stretch was done so about 2 weeks after i flipped i started counting flowering weeks. Hope that helps a little.

 

[Faint05]

You are right Laz! Thanks for that correction. Just got off the phone with my buddy. He said when the seedlings sprouted I should have put them in a plastic cup with soil until they got about a foot tall. Cut the plastic cup with a razor blade, wash the roots out and then transfer to the rock wool. He also mentioned the plants would go in shock but recover.

I would imagine its too late for that. We shall see if they can survive in the rock wool being top fed. Thanks for the reply buddy, I will def get involved and share my experiences on other journals for reciprocation.

 

[Lazarus13]

I put my seedlings straight into hydroton as soon as they pop. No rockwool at all. Im 4 for 4 with this method. I just use a top feed drip emitter on tgem until they hit the rez. Works great. Not sure why you would want to start in dirt and move to hydro. It can be done, ive done it but only as an emergency save for a messed up soil grow.

 

[Faint05]

6/30/16

Seedling day two. A couple of goodies showed up in the mail today.

TDS 1000ppm calibration solution.
10 " Aluminum reflector
Twin Socket Adapter
*Still waiting on the water thermometer, and TDS tester.

The seedlings grew about a half an inch. The temp in the tent is 75 degrees and the humidity is at 77. I have been top feeding the seedlings with PH 6.0 water, making sure the rock wool and clay pebbles don't dry up. I have the water pump running, I not even sure if that is neccessary at this stage of the grow?

 

[crash32097]

I've always found dwc to be the quickest easiest method, but I use g.h. Flora Nova series nutes so I don't have to adjust the Ph, it contains Ph buffers. Its a he'll of a lot easier than soil to me, no pests, easy corrections, cannot over water unless you lose air to the root zone! I've had four successful grows under dwc, currently on my cookies kush from Barney's farm, yours look really healthy, I don't use a top feed because the bubbles blast water to the root zone for me, here's mine

Sent from my Z958 using 420

 

[Faint05]

Those are looking good Crash! How far in Veg are you?
This morning I noticed one of my seedlings started to uncurl, hopefully see some more growth by the time I'm off.

Since joining this site I have been seeing Flora Nova series nutes. I will def have to read up on those nutes. It is very encouraging to hear you have had four successful grows using DWC. I've been hearing people say you have to babysit DWC too much, but I enjoy working on my grow room after sitting behind a computer in a cubicle all day! Look forward to chatting with you more Crash, have a good one.

 

[crash32097]

I'm on day 12 of veg, 6 100w equivalent 6500k cfls, homemade box, dwc reservoir, lighting reflector and light manifold. Gonna keep this one short, had some head space issues before so I'll probably flip to 12/12 at 3 to 3 1/2 weeks. Its amazing how fast they grow compared to soil, I don't really need to check it but once a week but I pop in frequently to check for leaks and malfunctioning equipment. I change my Res once a week, will start LST-ing in a week or two before flower. I don't have to babysit it though it's pretty sustainable on it's own. You'll be blasting bud porn soon, look forward to the pics

Sent from my Z958 using 420

 

[DocBuddin]

plants look nice. Just some advice on what i prefer. When i use rock wool i put them in a seedling tray with a dome until they are a few inches in height. Also when i transplant them to hydrocorn i cover the rock wool up completely. Reason for it is so they don't try out so fast. anyways plants look good. You can probably move those bulbs closer

 

[StillANoob]

Subbed! Aside from nutes (I use GH Flora trio) and lights (250W HPS) I'm using pretty much the same setup. After a first grow in soil I have to say that DWC is the way to go!

And I agree with Doc bring those lights closer, the plants will love it.

 

[midasone]

Dwc is the way to go for me also. I personally don't change the water every week. I just wait for the plants to drink up the 90% of the rez. Then I change. When I first started I would do like your buddy and grow the plants in solo cup then switch to the buckets. I found placing the starter cubes directly into the net pots and surrounding it with hydroton was much faster for me. I love to follow fellow dwcers and I will be checking in on your grow from time to time.

 

[Faint05]

Good stuff Midasone! I've been reading a lot of journals on here. I was actually able to find out I needed to put my lights closer. Will have to find cheap measuring tape from walmart couldn't find one anywhere in the garage. Day 3 of seedling stage minimal growth. I'll post up a progress photo this weekend. What nutes do you use for your dwc midasone?

 

[Faint05]

Decided to go with dual vintage grow LEDs during the seedling stage. I put the lights a little closer, after reading some of the experiences from another memeber. My TDS meter still hasn't arrived yet Tracker says wednesday next week. I have been able to keep the temp in my tent at 73-77 degrees and humidity at between 70-80 depending how high i turned the fan on. The res temp was 74 degrees.

Next week I plan to return my honeywell humidifier and get a "COOL MIST" humidifier. More valuable information I found from another memebers journal. Right now the heat it isn't too much of a problem but the weather is only getting warmer outside. I also am going to get a tote that will fit two 5 gal buckets put some water in it along with a couple of ice packs.

Day 4 Seedling photos coming up...

 

[Faint05]

 

[Lazarus13]

I got 2 gallon dish tubs from the dollar store for like $2 a piece and my 5 gallon buckets fit perfectly in them. Pour about a gallon of water in them and a frozen water bottle in each corner. They stay snug against the sides of the bucket and really do the trick. I have no problem keeping my rez temps in the mid to high 60s changing them out 2 or 3 times during the light cycle.