DWC bubbleponic. first hydro attempt.

[WeedyMcWeedWeed]

ok so I posted something about my setup in another thread. now im starting the journal.

my setup for this grow.

250W MH light (i plan on getting an HPS in the future)
18 gal. Roughtneck tote.
30 gal air pump.
18" airstone
4" bubble disk
hydroton and rockwool
FF nutes


anyways. i ran it for a about 4 days before putting anything in it.
we only have the liquid test kit for pH. its been pretty constant in between 5.0 and 6.0 so im figuring around 5.4-5.8. the best i can do for now.
no ppm test yet. probably next week. just been following FF nute chart. to a T. and watching how plants react.

i do have a couple questions.. 1 clone was doing better then the other when we put them in, and the one has probably 6-8" of roots, and the other only has maybe 1-2" with no feeder roots yet. but i took them off the seedling/cuttings, and put them on a semi weak week 1 nute schedule. do you think this will affect the one thats behind? and also, weve done everything we could to avoid light leaks into the water, and have done really well. the roots appear somewhat brown, but it looks like nutes? should we flush them and run them in nothing but distilled water or just let them continue?

oh and also, i had 4 clones from my buddy. one purple haze, the sativa looking one. you can see in my other journal. and one that looks like sometype of hybrid. and then two that are similar, one is in this DWC and one i have in FFOF. they both have an extremely long center leaf, and 2 smaller ones. and only three to each leaf. idk if its normal or not.

this is my first hydro grow, and im hoping too just have them grow. so any help would be great.

[Pericodaking]

I'm in!

[CharlieMopps]

Me too. Lets see what you got weedy.

[obxgardener]

It looks like the tips are showing nute burn... a PPM meter is really important at this stage... get the cheap Milwaukee... I don't know anything about FF nutes... are they organic?

I use chem nutes, and start at a very weak 400 PPM at that stage. Do you have anything dripping the water from the tops, or are you doing it manually?

You might try flushing with R/O water for 24 hours...

[WeedyMcWeedWeed]

yeah i need a ppm meter bad.. i know. and yes fox farm nutes are all organic. and no i dont have anything dripping from the top ive been doing it myself. but once the roots are in the water i no longer need too do this. even though i may do it from time to time. just to refresh the rockwool. but everything ive read about deep water culture, is that you have no feeding tube. the roots hang in a 100% humidity area, then they are submerged in an nutrient rich, solution with plenty of air. i checked out your grow, you bought the 6 site DWC from stealth. i built the DWC bubbleponics with the ideas directly from stealth hydros setup..

i started with 1/2 strength nutes and now with after the res change im using like 3/4 strength week 1 nutes, i ran them for a little over a week in the seedling/cutting nutes. one should have probably stayed in that longer, but the other definetly need different nutes already.

i gotta go right now, ill be back later for more ifno.

[Dat Doud]

nice so far?

[obxgardener]

I guess I've heard of doing it pure DWC, but with regard to the roots... I've found that the regular pumping seemed to stimulate more white shoots. Especially after I'd screwed up something lol... I literally rotted my roots off running the pump too much. Once I dialed it back, they grew like crazy.

Not sure about organic nutes and hydro... I know some swear by it... to me, hydro is hard enough without the added complexity of organic... just MHO. Glad you are trying hydro!

[WeedyMcWeedWeed]

Originally Posted by Dat Doud

nice so far?

why the ? lmao. i think theyre doing pretty well dont you?

Originally Posted by obxgardener

I guess I've heard of doing it pure DWC, but with regard to the roots... I've found that the regular pumping seemed to stimulate more white shoots. Especially after I'd screwed up something lol... I literally rotted my roots off running the pump too much. Once I dialed it back, they grew like crazy.

Not sure about organic nutes and hydro... I know some swear by it... to me, hydro is hard enough without the added complexity of organic... just MHO. Glad you are trying hydro!

yeah i feel you on that. but i kinda just assumed they would be fine seeings how it says to use them in hydro. but yeah. my next grow will have dutch masters. this is just a trial to see how my DWC will work. but idk i guess well see what happens.

as far as more info on my grow.

the temps have stayed between 74-86. 86 being when the lights on and my closet is closed. i open the closet it gets the ac and cools down to around 78-80.

the ph has stayed between 5.4-5.8 im guessing. with the liquid test kit.

the rh is around high 30s low 40s. but my thermo. is jsut on top of the dwc so its probably not 100%

the roots on the weird one grow like inches a day.
the other is getting there. it now has feeder roots, and im guessing it wont catch up but im hoping it will catch up enough that the nutes will be ok. i plan on getting a ppm meter this weekend. hopefully.

anybody have an input on how weird the one looks with three leaves? why is the center one so long? is that a problem? the other clone that looked like that one, i have in FFOF in a cup. and it has the same thing, three leaves and the center one is longer. however it looks completely different. they are clones from different plants, but they looked the similar at my buddys, and stayed similar all the way through the cloning process, until i put them in the soil and the hydro, now they look different. idk maybe im just looking to far into it.

any opinions or suggestions would be appreciated.

[stevo1963]

Originally Posted by WeedyMcWeedWeed

yeah i need a ppm meter bad.. i know. and yes fox farm nutes are all organic. and no i dont have anything dripping from the top ive been doing it myself. but once the roots are in the water i no longer need too do this. even though i may do it from time to time. just to refresh the rockwool. but everything ive read about deep water culture, is that you have no feeding tube. the roots hang in a 100% humidity area, then they are submerged in an nutrient rich, solution with plenty of air. i checked out your grow, you bought the 6 site DWC from stealth. i built the DWC bubbleponics with the ideas directly from stealth hydros setup..

i started with 1/2 strength nutes and now with after the res change im using like 3/4 strength week 1 nutes, i ran them for a little over a week in the seedling/cutting nutes. one should have probably stayed in that longer, but the other definetly need different nutes already.

i gotta go right now, ill be back later for more ifno.

im trying a similar setup , i cut some holes in a piece of styrofoam that fit the net pot and the styrofoam floats on the nutrients. so far so good

[Pericodaking]

^try and get some O2 to the root zones maybe add a few more airstones?.. also the level of your water, how close is it to the one with the shorter roots?

[obxgardener]

I wish I could help with the leaf question... but I've not learned much about clones yet.

As long as those roots are growing, things should be ok. It's amazing how fast they grow once they hit the water.

Do you have a thermometer in your tank?

[stevo1963]

i built my own bubble system using a blue tote without the lid. i cut 6 holes in a piece of inch and a half thick styrofoam to fit the net pots with clay rocks. im using hydro nutrients . it works good my plants float on the nutrients and the roots are going nuts really fast . this is my first attempt at growing in a closet but im hopin to grow some dank. pics to come im new here

[Dat Doud]

sorry weeedy yes i think they are doin well lol they look healthy when r u goin too update!

[WeedyMcWeedWeed]

obx
i have a 18" airstone, and a 4' bubble disk. i had planned on replacing the bubble disk with probably 2 6" airstones. and no i need to get some stuff still, like a thermometer and a ppm and ph pen. they will most likely be coming soon. i want a ppm gauge first. and i think its probably the most important right now.

steveo
is the water exposed to the light? thats not good if it is. good luck also buddy.

dat doud.
hahah thanks man. and i just updated. i probably will again in a day or 2.


i plan on flushing them for a day or so here as soon as i go buy another tote, today or tomorrow most likely.

[Dat Doud]

why r u goin too flush are u transplantin?