I need guidance with DWC

[BAM55448]

So my cycle is finished and I am drying my Runtz now. I want to run HulkBerry in Deep Water Culture next, this is the first toe in hydro. I’ve been growing soil for a year with good to mixed results, I do know how to read the plants and I meticulously write down and measure my PH/EC and nutrients content of the water. I can’t find much info on DWC. What PH are you working with
What is my EC? I’m sure it’s not the same as soil because soil forgives a lot this is pure nuts on roots. I got 3 gallon pots I will run I think 5. 1 boy in soil and the ladies will make seeds.

Any links to journals, articles, or books would be appreciated!
thank you

 

[Dr Fish]

I started out my dwc using a GH Waterfarms and diy WFs. Stand alone they get good results, but like a bubble bucket need daily attention when they get growing.. No air stones or electric water pumps used in WFs.. With a constant drip from the WF drip ring, the wet hydroton supplies all the dissolved oxygen the plant can use.. When a remote reservoir and an add back reservoir is added, they run themselves for days.. Check my mixed hydro and waterfarm threads... Maybe even drop by off topic: Projects from my Shop thread..

 

[Delps8]

I can’t find much info on DWC. What PH are you working with
What is my EC?

Any links to journals, articles, or books would be appreciated!
thank you

Bam - if the question is what pH and EC to use with DW, "go up" one level and look for that info for hydro. DWC is simply one of the different ways to grow hydroponically.

Short Answers
EC is mainly dependent on the strain, including auto vs photo, and the stage of life of the plant.

pH for hydro should be between 5.5 and 6.5 with 5.8 considered being "optimal". BTW, pH it a topic of lengthy discussion among hydro growers (look for threads about "chasing pH").

There's tons of info on either of these topics. Just type "ph for hydro" into your favorite search engine and you'll get plenty of links, though, not to over simplify things, keep pH between those two values you'll do fine.

 

[sneekymofo]

Hello Bam! I’ve been in buckets for over a decade and have been pretty lazy for most of those in pH and EC/TDS, less so in the latter. I’ve only recently come around to monitoring pH and I am having so much more success in yields keeping up with it than letting it run rampant. My general plan these days is to start around 5.6x or so after mixing nutes, then pH ’should’ drift up as the plant consumes nutrients, top-off (pH’d) water is returned, and if nutes are dialed in at the correct EC/TDS level, the pH will start dropping back down at the end of the week. I generally start at 5.6x, drift up to about 6.2x or 6.4x range, then drift back down to around 5.8x in time for the water change. I like this style as it makes nutrient availability for everything the plants need at both ends of the spectrum. Plus, if everything is working in the grow and the system, I should never have to pH adjust midweek.

Now, TDS is a totally different story. Right now I grow a lot of super lemon haze, which I find to be a heavy eater, so I have no problems in flower of running TDS up into the 1300’s or so. Other plants won’t tolerate this, so since I use GH nutes I figure out which plants will tolerate their ‘aggressive’ schedule, which ones are happier on ‘medium’, and which just want ‘light’. THEN I adjust from there once I figure out what the individual plants can handle in DWC. Some plants seem to burn if I get anywhere near 1000 TDS, others don’t seem to care. Hope that helps you get your system dialed in! Feel free to ask - happy to help in any way that I can!

 

[BAM55448]

Hello Bam! I’ve been in buckets for over a decade and have been pretty lazy for most of those in pH and EC/TDS, less so in the latter. I’ve only recently come around to monitoring pH and I am having so much more success in yields keeping up with it than letting it run rampant. My general plan these days is to start around 5.6x or so after mixing nutes, then pH ’should’ drift up as the plant consumes nutrients, top-off (pH’d) water is returned, and if nutes are dialed in at the correct EC/TDS level, the pH will start dropping back down at the end of the week. I generally start at 5.6x, drift up to about 6.2x or 6.4x range, then drift back down to around 5.8x in time for the water change. I like this style as it makes nutrient availability for everything the plants need at both ends of the spectrum. Plus, if everything is working in the grow and the system, I should never have to pH adjust midweek.

Now, TDS is a totally different story. Right now I grow a lot of super lemon haze, which I find to be a heavy eater, so I have no problems in flower of running TDS up into the 1300’s or so. Other plants won’t tolerate this, so since I use GH nutes I figure out which plants will tolerate their ‘aggressive’ schedule, which ones are happier on ‘medium’, and which just want ‘light’. THEN I adjust from there once I figure out what the individual plants can handle in DWC. Some plants seem to burn if I get anywhere near 1000 TDS, others don’t seem to care. Hope that helps you get your system dialed in! Feel free to ask - happy to help in any way that I can!

Thanks for the tips I’m gonna start slow. Would it be better to use distilled water so they get more notes? Low EC high nut content? I’m gonna mess this up in about a month, I hope not too bad.

 

[sneekymofo]

Thanks for the tips I’m gonna start slow. Would it be better to use distilled water so they get more notes? Low EC high nut content? I’m gonna mess this up in about a month, I hope not too bad.

Frankly I use tap because my water is ‘pretty’ good municipal water, so it isn’t too hateful to work with. If I had to use adulterated water, I’d suggest RO but distilled s/b fine. You want water with nothing so you can give them more of exactly what you want. Fortunately my local water was almost designed for DWC.

I don’t know if you will mess up in a month - I know I did….A LOT. But over the years you’ll get it dialed in to the point where you almost don’t think about it anymore unless there are problems. And eventually those are rare lol and you are hitting 1-1.2 grams a watt

 

[Rexer]

So my cycle is finished and I am drying my Runtz now. I want to run HulkBerry in Deep Water Culture next, this is the first toe in hydro. I’ve been growing soil for a year with good to mixed results, I do know how to read the plants and I meticulously write down and measure my PH/EC and nutrients content of the water. I can’t find much info on DWC. What PH are you working with
What is my EC? I’m sure it’s not the same as soil because soil forgives a lot this is pure nuts on roots. I got 3 gallon pots I will run I think 5. 1 boy in soil and the ladies will make seeds.

Any links to journals, articles, or books would be appreciated!
thank you

Hey BAM,

Here's some journals for reading.

Thread 'Mars Hydro Grow Journal SP 3000: Blue Kush, RDWC, ScrOG' Mars Hydro Grow Journal SP 3000: Blue Kush, RDWC, ScrOG

That one is rdwc. Same thing, just an easier way. I'd really recommend reading, Googlegenie did a great write up.




Thread 'Mars-Hydro DWC 1 Plant 4x4 Scrog' Mars-Hydro DWC 1 Plant 4x4 Scrog

Tokin roll did a great write up on dwc, and is active hear...he will most likely wonder in here soon.



Thread '420’s DWC 4 Dosidos MC 2020 Grow' 420’s DWC 4 Dosidos MC 2020 Grow

And of course, West Hippie...an incredible hydro grower. Pay close attention to what he says- this guy knows what he's doing.


PH set to ~5.5-5.8 and let it drift naturally to 6.5

When you check your EC/PPM (I use the lateral) and ph, cross reference it against this chart (print it, save it and remember as a guide it's highly useful but not infallible):

Hope that helps!

 

[BAM55448]

Hey BAM,

Here's some journals for reading.

Thread 'Mars Hydro Grow Journal SP 3000: Blue Kush, RDWC, ScrOG' Mars Hydro Grow Journal SP 3000: Blue Kush, RDWC, ScrOG

That one is rdwc. Same thing, just an easier way. I'd really recommend reading, Googlegenie did a great write up.




Thread 'Mars-Hydro DWC 1 Plant 4x4 Scrog' Mars-Hydro DWC 1 Plant 4x4 Scrog

Tokin roll did a great write up on dwc, and is active hear...he will most likely wonder in here soon.



Thread '420’s DWC 4 Dosidos MC 2020 Grow' 420’s DWC 4 Dosidos MC 2020 Grow

And of course, West Hippie...an incredible hydro grower. Pay close attention to what he says- this guy knows what he's doing.


PH set to ~5.5-5.8 and let it drift naturally to 6.5

When you check your EC/PPM (I use the lateral) and ph, cross reference it against this chart (print it, save it and remember as a guide it's highly useful but not infallible):


Hope that helps!

Thank you for this great info. I have printed the charts and will hang them in my room this helps a lot this is what I was looking for.

 

[Tokin Roll]

What's happening @BAM55448

DWC is not hard, but you do have to keep your reading in a specific perimeters.

Do you have all the equipment and supplies?
What strain were you thinking about trying first?

When your ready to start a grow journal I will follow along to make sure you succeeded.

Here is the link to other journals if you are interested in seeing what other growers are doing.

Grow Journals

Index of real-time growers showcasing indoor and outdoor grow journals in soil, coco, hydroponics - compare LED grow lights, nutrients and methods of growing cannabis

www.420magazine.com

Tag me when you are ready to start.

Stay safe, and grow well my friend,

Tok..

 

[BAM55448]

What's happening @BAM55448

DWC is not hard, but you do have to keep your reading in a specific perimeters.

Do you have all the equipment and supplies?
What strain were you thinking about trying first?

When your ready to start a grow journal I will follow along to make sure you succeeded.

Here is the link to other journals if you are interested in seeing what other growers are doing.

Grow Journals

Index of real-time growers showcasing indoor and outdoor grow journals in soil, coco, hydroponics - compare LED grow lights, nutrients and methods of growing cannabis

www.420magazine.com

Tag me when you are ready to start.

Stay safe, and grow well my friend,

Tok..

Hey thanks for the reply I don’t get on here often enough to do a journal but I will think about it. I am going to be running HulkBerry from royal queen seeds. I grew it before it is a great flower grows fast and not too large with potent, sweet, dense buds.

 

[Tokin Roll]

That's cool.
If you have any questions let us know.

Tok..