White Russians in DWC 2014 - My First DWC

MedFarmer

Well-Known Member
My first journal.

I have experience in nft, soil and coco but this is my first DWC grow.

I have 4 white russians in 20 litre(4 gal) black buckets with a 30 litres(6 gal) a minute/1800 litres(360 gal) an hour air pump pumping into a 150mm(6") air stone in each bucket.

The buckets are in a 1.2x1.2x2.0 (4'x4'x6'6") growtent.

The light is an LED giving 675 watts of light but consuming 380 watts. It uses 225 x 3 watt diodes with a 90 degree lens. The light is currently 80cm(31") above the plants.

The nutes are Vitalink Max supplemented by silicon, cal-mag, Rhizotonic, Cannazym and Superthrive. My current EC is @ 1.1 with pH @ 5.8.

The relative humidity is normally below 40% but is currently between 40-50%. Air temperature in the tent is between 25-32oC(77-89oF). My 125mm(5") extractor fan has arrived this morning and this should change the figures. The figures are quite high as we are getting loads of sun at the moment in England.

Water temperature in the buckets is 22oC(71oF).

I soaked 5 seeds and they all sprouted successfully. 4 came through together which are the 4 in the tent and the fifth came through a couple of days later and is in coco in the garden.

This is day 16 from seed.
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This was the roots @ day 24 on plant no. 2.
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Another root pic showing plant no. 3 @ day 24 alongside plant no. 4s roots.
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This is the bath for the roots.
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Roots @ day 29.
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Day 37.
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Day 41.
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And this one will have you saying WTF!
It's seed number 5 which is a couple of days behind the 4 above and in coco in the garden.
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Re: White Russians in DWC 2014. My first DWC.

Very nice setup. That fan should help big time. I see heat stress with the leafs taco going on. I wish you the best.
 
Re: White Russians in DWC 2014. My first DWC.

Very nice setup. That fan should help big time. I see heat stress with the leafs taco going on. I wish you the best.

Thanks man.

It's just this sun we are getting at the moment. On a normal English day everything is great in the tent as the light doesn't cause any heat issues.

I bought the fan for air exchange really to get the co2 in there. The hot weather is not normally an issue here.
 
Re: White Russians in DWC 2014. My first DWC.

Day 49.

I avoided disaster this morning when I went to leave the tent and realised I had not plugged the air pump back in after checking the EC in the buckets. It would have been off for 12 hours had I not realised.

On a positive note, the girls are getting their first night time now and the pH & EC in all 4 buckets has not changed since I last refreshed the buckets on tuesday.
 
Re: White Russians in DWC 2014. My first DWC.

Thanks paddysmoke.

That yellow edging has been there from very early on but other than a bit of heat stress early on they have done very well.

What I will say about DWC is it becomes awkward when tending to the buckets as the plants get bigger and heavier. I have a spare bucket and air stone. I part fill the spare bucket with new nutrients and then I lift the lid and plant and drop it into the fresh bucket. All I need to do then is disconnect the existing air line and plug in the fresh one. I then top up the bucket to my water line mark on the side hose.

I am going for a recirculating system next time as it's only one reservoir to deal with and it would be easier to control the water temperature.
 
Re: White Russians in DWC 2014. My first DWC.

Day 51 update.

How's this for negative pressure?
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This mornings pictures.
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I got a humidity problem with the RH being 99% on Sundays night cycle. The 5" fan was left on for Mondays night cycle and the RH reached mid 70s.

I got myself a dehumidifier today and that will go in on Tuesdays night cycle. I will initially set it on a timer for a 15 min on cycle every hour and keep a close eye on the RH and then change tactics accordingly.

I am still over a week away from showing any flowers so I've got time to dial in.
 
Re: White Russians in DWC 2014. My first DWC.

Subscribed.

My one concern is plant no. 1. Any ideas peeps?
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Your leaf damage appears to be from heat stress and either nutrient burn or pH fluctuation causing a nutrient lock out.
 
Re: White Russians in DWC 2014. My first DWC.

Thanks KingJohnC for the diagnosis.

A couple of weeks ago I was running an EC around 1.5 so I'm now running around EC 1.1. Heat is not a concern so it must have been the EC.

The other 3 have received the same treatment so it's obviously plant no.1 is more fussy in her feeding habits.

Plant no.1s EC has increased to 1.4 over the last 2 days and her pH has dropped to 5.3. She has been corrected with a weaker feed and will probably stay on the weaker side from now on.
 
Day 55 update.


Plant no.1.

The girls have had a trim as it was just too crowded in there. They are looking good for it. Plant no.1 is on a weaker feed and she looks to have recovered well.

I got a dehumidifier in there running 24/7 and my RH is now between 35-64%. The reservoir needs emptying every 12 hours which works well. I am considering raising the unit and running a hose for constant drainage.

Temperatures are a concern at the moment with the weather being too good. Yesterdays temps were 24-26C(75-96F) which I know is way too hot but this weather won't last.

The temperature is affecting my water temps which are at 24C(75F). The roots are all looking good still as aeration is good but I am going to administer all changes and top-ups with chilled water from now. The water temp is accumulative so top-ups with chilled water should bring the situation under control.

EC on all buckets is dropping with pH holding firm so it looks like they want more food(except no.1). My plan is to up the EC to around 1.8 once flowers show.
 
i know its no work of art lol , but ill give it a go , gona just use it out doors , ive no room left :rofl: its just an old tub i had laying about from pound stretcher , an old fish pump and two air stones , an normal flower pot drilled with lots of holes , luck i had some rubber air hose that fitted every thing

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good looking gals subbed to this for sure!! New grower here :) check my sig :)
 
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