nub question about germination with dwc

[Ghosted]

Im starting my first ever grow with a DIY dwc set up until i have the money to go out and buy the kit and im wondering, if i dont have an irrigation hub pumping water and bubbles directly into the hydroten in the basket, how do i go from germinating and getting my sprout and putting it into the rock wool in the basket. because i know the water isnt supposed to be touching the basket so do i just self water it for a few days until the roots grow another 4 to 6 inches?

 

[PrairiePoet]

In my bubbler, i actually shove the feeder tube from the hub into the rockwool that is in the net pot.

You want nutes running over the roots, until the plant establishes enough roots in the res below. Then you can shut the pump off.

Prairie

 

[Growing247]

What I do is usually get clones already established in the small rockwool cubes. If they are in Dixie Cups with dirt that's ok too but you have to wash as much dirt off as possible without damaging the delicate roots. Next, I trim off the bottom leaves and put the small cube at the bottom with the roots going through the bottom of the netpot and fill the reservoir with 1/2 strength FOXFARM GROW BIG hydroponic solution measured out with a small oral syringe and shot glass measuring cup. I have found that if you use too strong nutes or the wrong nutes the plant will take a lot longer to come out of shock and the Fox Farm works good for me. I would not chance popping seeds in a DWC. I would pop the seeds first (clones would be better for DWC) and then once the plants are strong with a good root system. DWC has been good to me. I use 5 gallon black buckets. Black netpot lids and usually 2 airlines per bucket. One airline for bubble rock and 1 airline for my drip rings. You don't need to add a drip ring, it is extra money, but I did it this time and it seems to be working out great.

 

[Ghosted]

In my bubbler, i actually shove the feeder tube from the hub into the rockwool that is in the net pot.

You want nutes running over the roots, until the plant establishes enough roots in the res below. Then you can shut the pump off.

Prairie

the thing is im not gonna have a feeder tube for this grow so i need to know how to get the plant big enough for its roots to hit the water first

 

[Ghosted]

What I do is usually get clones already established in the small rockwool cubes. If they are in Dixie Cups with dirt that's ok too but you have to wash as much dirt off as possible without damaging the delicate roots. Next, I trim off the bottom leaves and put the small cube at the bottom with the roots going through the bottom of the netpot and fill the reservoir with 1/2 strength FOXFARM GROW BIG hydroponic solution measured out with a small oral syringe and shot glass measuring cup. I have found that if you use too strong nutes or the wrong nutes the plant will take a lot longer to come out of shock and the Fox Farm works good for me. I would not chance popping seeds in a DWC. I would pop the seeds first (clones would be better for DWC) and then once the plants are strong with a good root system. DWC has been good to me. I use 5 gallon black buckets. Black netpot lids and usually 2 airlines per bucket. One airline for bubble rock and 1 airline for my drip rings. You don't need to add a drip ring, it is extra money, but I did it this time and it seems to be working out great.

yeah i guess ill just start with clones until i buy my hub and feeding tubes. Id prefer to start with seeds but i dont know how ill grow a 4 inch plant without any dirt and then transplant it into hydrotren with its roots in the water

 

[YardDog35]

It's simple bro. Set it all up, net pot, media, and rockwool. Keep the water level higher at the beginning...high enough so the bubbles splash the water onto the bottom of the rockwool to keep it damp (not soaking wet). Once roots grow through the net pot into the bubbly water gradually start lowering the water level.

If you're germinating seeds it's simple too. Once the seed pops a root stick it down in the rockwool.

Clones just go right in to the system. Same thing with the water level though.

Try not to buy clones in dirt, find them in rockwool only...my opinion.

Make sure everything gets rinsed and soaked in Ph'd water before final assembly.

Good luck!

 

[Ghosted]

It's simple bro. Set it all up, net pot, media, and rockwool. Keep the water level higher at the beginning...high enough so the bubbles splash the water onto the bottom of the rockwool to keep it damp (not soaking wet). Once roots grow through the net pot into the bubbly water gradually start lowering the water level.

If you're germinating seeds it's simple too. Once the seed pops a root stick it down in the rockwool.

Clones just go right in to the system. Same thing with the water level though.

Try not to buy clones in dirt, find them in rockwool only...my opinion.

Make sure everything gets rinsed and soaked in Ph'd water before final assembly.

Good luck!

thats what i was thinkin, alright man thanks for the input

 

[Growing247]

You grow in DWC and you get roots like you would not believe. One other thing I would recommend is to buy a bottle of SensiZym or Hygrozym if you cannot find SensiZym. Also add AzaMax to the reservoir or at least buy a bottle of that too because if not your water will turn stagnant and your roots might not look healthy and you will get invaded by fungus gnats which will eat your root hairs and lay maggots in your roots. So what I do is mix up my nutrient solution/add Sensizym then Azamax at second to lowest concentration. It will turn the water a white color but its ok. It is just to keep bugs away from your hydroponic system. You may also want to buy a bottle of Pirannha, Tarantula and voodoo juice also. These colonize your roots with beneficial microorganisms and its what I use in all my reservoirs too. With this stuff it helps the plant take in more nutes, makes a more "natural" active medium and makes your plants buds get about twice as big and way more potent.

 

[Pross]

But when do you add voodoo juice and tarantula? D you know about using FF Microbe brew and Kangaroots while there seedlings?

 

[whitey78]

I imagine hydroton is going to be a lot better than the rock wool medium I used (rock wool 1.5" cubes is what I seeded, and the rock wool medium mini cubes are like a 1/4" x 1/4" THEY SUCK....) but I had major issues with it drying out to the point of just about killing my plants when I eventually needed sleep and couldnt water them every hour because the flouros were drying everything out to the point of murder during the 5 hours of sleep a night I would be lucky to get, if I didnt read tulips thread about that setup I would have zero plants growing right now....

Personally dude, if you dont have the cash to get everything you need, buy some good organic soil and some good soil nutes and start growing.... A big ass bag of fox farm organic soil was $25 or something, if I had to do this grow over (my first ever grow) I wouldnt even have touched the hydro until I got a few grows under my belt, the one single kandy kush seed I planted in soil is thriving better than any one of the seeds I have going in the hydro resivoir (I think I have 10 growing in there and a few more sprouts coming in the humidity dome in rapid rooters).

I dont want to contradict anyone here but I would recommend waiting until you get the other setup going, soil weed aint that bad (its just as good I would guess) and its pretty damn easy to grow, much less work than hydro I can vouch for that. I will say I will not be switching to soil next grow, or anything like that its just a lot of work for a newb, and I mean me not you. Seriously dude hydro isnt easy and if you gonna half ass it like I did, and it kinda sounds like you are going that way, its gonna be even harder, MUCH harder. If everything is there and all you have to do is figure out how to use it.... go for it...eventually its gonna work out. Have half of what you need and dont know what else you need to make it work other than a vague idea..... good luck. Its what I did and I regret it, I woulda much rather got in a grow with some good soil and good nutes and got some good weed rather than do what I did. Its going, dont get me wrong but it would have been a lot easier and I would have learned more over a longer period of time rather than having it all go wrong in a week, the first week........