DWC Grandaddy Purp

[calicanna143]

Just started a grandaddy purple seed in dwc
3.5 gallons
Started in rapid rooters
Using advanced nutrients grow,micro,bloom
Perfect sun dwarf star LED

This is my first grow using dwc, I've done soil for a long time, so I figured I'll branch out and try something new.
I just set up a new tent that's taller and longer
The seedling is looking like its starting to droop, it was above the water so I lowered it so the rapid rooter is barely above water line, hope it helps, I also added nutes at 200PPM

 

[TopShelfCBD]

Looking forward to it, good luck!

 

[Greensmurf420]

Front Row!

 

[calicanna143]

So its looking good now, I finally have roots poking out of the bottom, I also purchased a commercial air pump which I think really made a big difference, I also lowered my resivoir below the net pot, starting to think the 3.5 gallon bucket might be too small but well see. I'm only doing a single plant this time around to try to dial this technique and strain in. My humidity is very low and I'm not sure if it will be a problem or not, right now its at 28%. I'm hoping that when the plant gets bigger it will raise it a bit, for this very reason is why I usually grow multiple plants

 

[jayne]

Cool.

 

[calicanna143]

Here's end of first week, I have had low humidity issues so I added a dome which worked very well. She's growing very fast, the perfect sun led I have is amazing so far, I love how it shows the plants natural color instead if that deep purple color, all pics are with the light on. It does tend to heat my tent up quite a bit more than the 2 galaxy hydros I ran previously. All in all I'm very satisfied with everything.
I have lowered my water line quite a bit and I'm at 500 ppm with additives combined

 

[Greensmurf420]

I just finished out a grow with a 3.5 gallon bucket. What I've done for my 2 White Widows is use 2 gallons per res change every 7 days.

I fill up a 5 gallon bucket upto 4 gallons
Mix nutrients
Pour into 2 empty spare buckets
Take out the air stone from the current bucket and put into new bucket
Take plant into new bucket.
Rinse and wipe clean old bucket
Repeat in 7 days.

In my experience I needed to add more water for about 3-4 weeks during veg/early flower. You will need to add 1.5 gallons split between the two plants. You can just add water or water with nutrients. It wasn't much of a hassle.

 

[calicanna143]

Greensmurf thanks for the input, very sound advice. What resevoir temp were you averaging ? I'm staying steady between 68 to 71. I'm not sure if its too high, I've thought about buying a chiller but it would be total over kill for one bucket. If all goes well and I like hydro then I may invest in a rdwc. My grow space is limited due to family. But I'm considering building a grow shed outside

 

[Greensmurf420]

Greensmurf thanks for the input, very sound advice. What resevoir temp were you averaging ? I'm staying steady between 68 to 71. I'm not sure if its too high, I've thought about buying a chiller but it would be total over kill for one bucket. If all goes well and I like hydro then I may invest in a rdwc. My grow space is limited due to family. But I'm considering building a grow shed outside

Thanks! To be honest I didn't use a thermometer. I did notice that the Res temp was higher during the first 5 weeks. The res started to really chill out once I had a canopy and the light raised. I just go in there every day and give the buckets a daily stir, if it gets too warm to the touch, I just throw a couple frozen 20oz bottles of water in the res. I also adjust my fan intake to blow on the buckets, becasue my cabinet is in the basement I have natural cool air intake.

RDWC is a nice idea, you can have your res outside the growroom I was thinking of doing something similar it would make res changes easier that's for sure.

I was thinking i could have 2 - 5 gallon buckets one for week "A" and one for week "B" Every seven days swap pump out between buckets. Mid week rise/wash old bucket and fill with water. Then by the end of the week I just add nutrients and swap pump. Only issue I have with that is i like to keep everything inside and hidden away.

 

[calicanna143]

I purchased a few buckets and a seal for a 2" PVC pipe to go in between the 2 buckets so that one acts as a resivoir, I may try it. Wish I had more room.. I'm also getting brown spots on the leaves which seems to be mag deficiency. I'm using cal mag so I might have to run my PH around 6.2 I'm currently at 5.6 so my next res change I'll adjust it and see if that fixes it.

 

[Greensmurf420]

Sounds about right on with the diagnosis any pics?

 

[calicanna143]

I'm in week 3 now and my plant got very droopy and sad looking. I knew it looked over watered so I added a new air Stine which produces smaller more concentrated bubbles and put dead center of roots. By the next morning the leaves were pointing to the light and grew 3 inches...amazing..I also upped my ppm to 900 and it seems to be OK with it. I'm still having issues with brown spots on leaves which is mag deficiency. I raised pH to 6.1 and I'm running cal mag but still having issue. I've always had this problem even with soil and its never affected it much but I would love to get it figured out. Might be able to see it from this pic.. I will upload better one a bit later

 

[The Germinator]

Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[calicanna143]

Thanks for the info, that chart is great, I read somewhere that I should be higher with pH. I will lower it back down

 

[jayne]

Thanks for the info, that chart is great, I read somewhere that I should be higher with pH. I will lower it back down

With DWC its a good idea to set the pH a little low and let it climb to a little high. That way you hit the whole range needed for your nutes.

As for res temps you should be good at 68-71 but much higher than that and you should consider adding something to your mix to control unwanted stuff growing in your water. Its been my experience that res temps rise in flower for some reason. No idea why. Also, you should cover the buckets with something reflective (I use panda film) to help keep the temps down. Black buckets absorb a lot of heat from your lights.

3.5 gal is on the small side but it absolutely can be done. Less volume means you have to watch it closely though. Swapping buckets when do a res change is definitely the way to go IMO. Just makes everything easier.

Did you get your humidity up? Also, what water are you using? Tap? RO?

I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to get an oz from her.

Disclaimer: I'm no expert, I've had 2 successful DWC grows so my knowledge is limited to that.

 

[calicanna143]

You dont have to be an expert to give advice, i welcome your input and its sound advice..ive grown alot in soil with a 10 year break in between and i still run into problems. I like to hear different methods others use as well. I agree about the buckets being a bit small, today she got very thirsty and took it down to about a gallon. If I decide to stick with dwc I will upgrade to multiple 5 gal with recirculating pump.
I'm currently using dutch master zhone for the roots.
And using RO water. Now that she is getting bigger my humidity is stable at 45% definitely better than 20

 

[calicanna143]

I came home today and she's not looking happy, the roots are loking very healthy I just did a rrs change tonight. It looks like its drowning. The air stone is working good with lots of bubbles, the ppm lowered to about 300. It was up to around 900 at beginning of res change. The only thing I did differently was lower pH to 5.8. Pretty sure that's not the cause. I'm going to hydro shop tomorrow to get another stone to add. In the meantime if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them. Its definitely a sad day coming home to this. Thanks for everyone's help so far

 

[Greensmurf420]

Any idea what might be the issue? Couple questions to get your mind working.

What time of day in their light schedule was this taken?
Whats your room temps?
Do you have a fan running?
Lastly may need cut back on the nutrients. I'm not a big help in this area but have found that when issues arise I dial back on the nutrients or add more ph'd water to dilute the res.
Your res looks great, you've got plenty of air in there.
My PH is 6 - 6.5 and I use the foxfarm hydro nutrient line-up

 

[calicanna143]

So I have a small fan, room temp is average 75 the pic was taken mid to late time cycle. The ppm was around 300 when this happened. Res temp is staying around 64.. I'm completely stumped. It could be that this strain likes higher pH like what you run in your system. To me it looks like its drowning. I will get another air stone today and see if it improves by tomorrow, if not I will change res again with straight ro water for 1 day then add half nutrients

 

[calicanna143]

I just checked it and it looks like its perking up a bit. I did a res change last night with 1100 ppm which includes all additives. I'm using advanced nutrients grow micro bloom with zhone root conditioner as well as cal mag. The oh was 5.6 last night and now its 6.1 it seems with these nutrients it likes to hold at 6.1 no matter what I do.