First DWC Grow

[Midwest Grower]

First dwc grow, would appreciate any help.

Lights:
Osram Zelion 3x2 160w - 2 feet away from medium.

Nutes:
Botanicare Pure Blend Pro Grow

Equipment:
2-5gallon buckets
2-6 inch net pots
2-tetra 10 gallon air pumps

So here’s the issue, started bag seeds in Rockwool. Once the tap root broke the bottom of the wool a inch, moved them into the net pots. Sat them on top a layer of clay pebbles, set water to barely bubbling to the pebbles and sat the cubes down and covered with pebbles. They sat there for 4 days and no roots. I lowered water and finally some roots. Now a little over a week in I still only have coly leaves and 1 set of leaves, the second sets are barely coming in and now one of the babies is starting to turn yellow and wilt. Bottle of nutes said 15ML/Gallon of water. I added way less, 7.5ML total. I’ll try and add some pictures here soon. PH and PPM meters are on the way in the mail, With liquid PH tester I’m around 6-6.5 PH. Probably next week I’ll move to RO water and add calmag to the mix. I added nutes AFTER the wilting to see if that helps, it’s been 24 hours and it doesn’t seem to be getting worse. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Silverfox125]

@West Hippie

I’m not sure if you got all these details ..

WH is who I consider a great resource. Every hydro question I have he is the first person I reach out to.

good luck!

 

[West Hippie]

Sorry guys been hectic this morning! Good job on the 50% nutrients but could have been in from the start on dwc . Start with a ph of 5.8 and let it rise to about 6.1-6.2 max , it’s called a perfect condition ! How close is the light and what kind , cfl or led or mh? Do you have any hydroguard or I prefer Z7 ? Water temp also important! I like 65-70 degrees .
Here’s the hydro bible I grow by .

 

[Silverfox125]

I need multiple emotions!! I want to thank and love this at the same time!!

thanks as always west!!

 

[No Pain]

Sorry guys been hectic this morning! Good job on the 50% nutrients but could have been in from the start on dwc . Start with a ph of 5.8 and let it rise to about 6.1-6.2 max , it’s called a perfect condition ! How close is the light and what kind , cfl or led or mh? Do you have any hydroguard or I prefer Z7 ? Water temp also important! I like 65-70 degrees .
Here’s the hydro bible I grow by .

hes got you on this ! Only thing I will add is it wouldn't hurt to top water every other day or so to soak your cube before roots start exploding out of the pot .
On a side note I usually leave my seedlings in the cubes(rapid rooters for me)in the seeding tray until the tap is about 2' or so and side roots are getting close to the bottom of the cube.

 

[Stltoed]

hes got you on this ! Only thing I will add is it wouldn't hurt to top water every other day or so to soak your cube before roots start exploding out of the pot .
On a side note I usually leave my seedlings in the cubes(rapid rooters for me)in the seeding tray until the tap is about 2' or so and side roots are getting close to the bottom of the cube.

I'm with you on the Rapidrooters.

 

[West Hippie]

hes got you on this ! Only thing I will add is it wouldn't hurt to top water every other day or so to soak your cube before roots start exploding out of the pot .
On a side note I usually leave my seedlings in the cubes(rapid rooters for me)in the seeding tray until the tap is about 2' or so and side roots are getting close to the bottom of the cube.

Myself, I sometimes 4 or 5 inches on the roots ! And a firm believer in topping off the reservoir. Learned from using the advanced nutrients if you didn’t top off the ph never rose !

 

[No Pain]

I'm with you on the Rapidrooters.

I love those things !!!

Myself, I sometimes 4 or 5 inches on the roots ! And a firm believer in topping off the reservoir. Learned from using the advanced nutrients if you didn’t top off the ph never rose !

I have let them go longer but most people aren't that patient and don't like to hear it , lol I also top with fresh solution I have used advanced twice the full line and didn't care for it burnt my plants every time in hydro and coco . I have had better luck with and prefer current culture nutes and they are the cleanest I have ever used , I have never seen any kind of salt build up anywhere with them !

 

[West Hippie]

I love those things !!!

I have let them go longer but most people aren't that patient and don't like to hear it , lol I also top with fresh solution I have used advanced twice the full line and didn't care for it burnt my plants every time in hydro and coco . I have had better luck with and prefer current culture nutes and they are the cleanest I have ever used , I have never seen any kind of salt build up anywhere with them !

Now that you mentioned salt build up , this is my second MegaCrop nutrients grow and I hadn’t seen any like ANutrients ! The clay pebbles would cover with salt like HD’s in the above pic .

 

[Stltoed]

It sounded like you could turn up your bubbles, is this the case? If so turn it all the way up. Your roots need to migrate through the media, and then make it through the gap to the water. Humidity is a good thing. I have a large linear pump and 2 12 inch defusers for 2 17 gallon tubs.

I like Hydroguard. Z7 started to foam up in my res. And it destroyed my float valve. It's also not as cheap as they advertise, you need to add it a couple times a week. Hydroguard isnt like that. Once your roots hit the water I use a root booster like Rapidstart, it's a little spendy, but it really works. This plant got Rapidstart

20180302_182140.jpg

• Stltoed
• Sep 28, 2019

Use a Silica additive. This stuff is amazing. If you haven't heard about it, look it up. It helps heat stress, cold stress, cell wall thickness, the Foem and Xylem systems, and general strength of the plant.

Here's a couple shots of my rig...

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• Stltoed
• Nov 7, 2019
• 2

20190928_173057.jpg

• Stltoed
• Sep 28, 2019

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• Stltoed
• Jul 20, 2019

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• Stltoed
• Jul 20, 2019

I hope this helps

 

[No Pain]

Now that you mentioned salt build up , this is my second MegaCrop nutrients grow and I hadn’t seen any like ANutrients ! The clay pebbles would cover with salt like HD’s in the above pic .

yeah and I cant stand salt build up ..Ive used GH,advanced and current culture and Current culture is the only one that I haven't seen it , not even around the rim nutrient bottles ! I don't know to much about mega crop but I don't see myself moving away from Current Culture.

 

[West Hippie]

MegaCrop current grow now I can afford Z7 . It bubbles when it works , if it doesn’t bubble it’s the cleanest reservoir out there ! It will chomp down on those floating dead roots .

I can only get 3 gallons in the 5 gallon reservoir otherwise it over flows the bucket!

 

[No Pain]

I have used both hydroguard and z7 . I like both as they both have a purpose ..z7 will rip through any nasties in the res and hydrogaurd keepks them clean and promotes strong root growth ….Take a peak at the journal in my sig and see what hydoguard did in a matter of days its within the first two pages .

 

[Stltoed]

I have used both hydroguard and z7 . I like both as they both have a purpose ..z7 will rip through any nasties in the res and hydrogaurd keepks them clean and promotes strong root growth ….Take a peak at the journal in my sig and see what hydoguard did in a matter of days its within the first two pages .

I looked. I didnt see what you were referring to. The only problem I've ever had with Hydroguard is it can get old. They somewhat recently changed the formula and that's not supposed to happen, but I dont know.

 

[West Hippie]

I have used both hydroguard and z7 . I like both as they both have a purpose ..z7 will rip through any nasties in the res and hydrogaurd keepks them clean and promotes strong root growth ….Take a peak at the journal in my sig and see what hydoguard did in a matter of days its within the first two pages .

I wished my hps light wasn’t on that root ball is snow white . I used 6 mL of hydroguard after I adjusted the ph . Then after Next morning check I add 2-1/2 mL of Z7 . @Pennywise turned me on to Z7 and have used it since he told me about it and I think he was the one to tell me to keep using it with Z7 for the best looking roots .

 

[No Pain]

I looked. I didnt see what you were referring to. The only problem I've ever had with Hydroguard is it can get old. They somewhat recently changed the formula and that's not supposed to happen, but I dont know.

its within on the first page 7th post from the top Here ..root growth went through the roof , just look at the dates of the post as it was a live jornal . I never had an issue with it and yes the downside is after its opened you have a certain timeline to use it . so never buy more than you can use in that time frame

I wished my hps light wasn’t on that root ball is snow white . I used 6 mL of hydroguard after I adjusted the ph . Then after Next morning check I add 2-1/2 mL of Z7 . @Pennywise turned me on to Z7 and have used it since he told me about it and I think he was the one to tell me to keep using it with Z7 for the best looking roots .

Your root ball looks great ! Penny wasn't wrong about suggesting you use z7 to kep things in check z7 is more of an enzyme and eats whats in its path ...hydrogaurd is full of bennies that promote and descale the root zone and aid in keeping bad things from happening .

 

[Northern Hydro]

I need multiple emotions!! I want to thank and love this at the same time!!

thanks as always west!!

You are adorable!!! He is some kind on special for sure!

 

[Northern Hydro]

I wished my hps light wasn’t on that root ball is snow white . I used 6 mL of hydroguard after I adjusted the ph . Then after Next morning check I add 2-1/2 mL of Z7 . @Pennywise turned me on to Z7 and have used it since he told me about it and I think he was the one to tell me to keep using it with Z7 for the best looking roots .

Have you tried z9 yet? Canadian version?

 

[West Hippie]

Have you tried z9 yet? Canadian version?

I haven’t seen it on the amazon.
My trunks use to not grow like that till I used them . She actually busted through four wraps of scotch 33 electrical tape.

0C437885-E468-4A28-ABF9-261634748FE0.jpeg

• West Hippie
• Jan 8, 2020

Four layers of electrical tape, even a croc couldn’t do that !

 

[Stltoed]

I haven’t seen it on the amazon.
My trunks use to not grow like that till I used them . She actually busted through four wraps of scotch 33 electrical tape.

0C437885-E468-4A28-ABF9-261634748FE0.jpeg

• West Hippie
• Jan 8, 2020

Four layers of electrical tape, even a croc couldn’t do that !

That's awesome