Tyrone Hamilton
New Member
Re: Best nutes for Deep Water Culture and why...
I used two identical tubs, and put the plants in a new, clean tub with fresh nutes when I grew Deep Water Culture. I washed the pump, flushed the lines with water or h2o2... or when there was algae, weak bleach solution then rinsed really well, and them put them back into the system. I would pour fresh water through the net cups occasionally, mostly when topping the tank. Even this might have been messing with the delicate balance roots tend to be in... another reason I came up with the tubes this time. With the net cups, I actually prefered to set it up so the drip line only hits the bottom half of the cup, leaving the top dry to avoid algae... which also means you don't get that white salt buildup on top.
This time I'm not doing that... not flushing at all as these nutes don't seem to leave any buildup. Plus I'm not using hydroton, so there's nothing to evaporate salts.
In general, I like to mess with the plants as little as possible, since sometimes my "fixes" can shock them... and that can take weeks to recover from. I've learned this the hard way...
Thanks obx, food for thought.
And cleaning my tub with every res change, would I simply pour a gallon or two of fresh water through the system before adding nutes?
I used two identical tubs, and put the plants in a new, clean tub with fresh nutes when I grew Deep Water Culture. I washed the pump, flushed the lines with water or h2o2... or when there was algae, weak bleach solution then rinsed really well, and them put them back into the system. I would pour fresh water through the net cups occasionally, mostly when topping the tank. Even this might have been messing with the delicate balance roots tend to be in... another reason I came up with the tubes this time. With the net cups, I actually prefered to set it up so the drip line only hits the bottom half of the cup, leaving the top dry to avoid algae... which also means you don't get that white salt buildup on top.
This time I'm not doing that... not flushing at all as these nutes don't seem to leave any buildup. Plus I'm not using hydroton, so there's nothing to evaporate salts.
In general, I like to mess with the plants as little as possible, since sometimes my "fixes" can shock them... and that can take weeks to recover from. I've learned this the hard way...