1st crack at hydro

[Waxman420]

I am going to take a wack at dwc for 1 plant.
I started this girl minus the cooler temps were 78 too warm so added a.n. piranha and voodoo as ive read bennies will help avoid root problems at higher temps.

Brain fart i remebered about the 12v cooler i had collecting dust. So i tried taking it apart , as i was after the pelitier chip and the pc fans heat shield ect. diy a chiller type of deal. no deals this thing was built in canada so solid, I couldnt even get the lid detached
So i popped the bucket in the cooler insultated top half ass bam temps dropped to min63 max67. Yipee

Am i safe to not add the voodoo and piranha next water change? I dont want the roots to turn to slime or something also dont want to waste a.n. products arent cheap.

I am absolutely blown away at how fast this thing is growing easily 4-5x faster than the cuttings in supersoil over an inch a day. I topped it and it didnt even stall. Plan is to cut some clones off her for a few weeks and then scrog a 4x4 . I plan on adding a gravity 1-2 gal top off res beside the plant when i flower it, as i dont want to have to add soup daily or twice daily i can imagine the roots taking up damn near all of the 5g bucket.

Couple questions

1 )should i bother with a root zone thermostat? i could have it set for solid 68 instead of as cold as it will go fluctuating.

2) whats the best way to handle top offs. Can i let it drink half bucket for couple days let ph swing and then fill it up?
Ive been adding water then food(megacrop) to 900ppm 5.8ph to an inch below netpot daily. Drinking a couple liters easy but major<p.i.a..

1st week i made an extra jug and topped off but after few days ph was like 6.2 after i added so i found myself adjusting ph daily anyway.

 

[Streetpro09]

I am going to take a wack at dwc for 1 plant. View attachment 4296
I started this girl minus the cooler temps were 78 too warm so added a.n. piranha and voodoo as ive read bennies will help avoid root problems at higher temps.

Brain fart i remebered about the 12v cooler i had collecting dust. So i tried taking it apart , as i was after the pelitier chip and the pc fans heat shield ect. diy a chiller type of deal. no deals this thing was built in canada so solid, I couldnt even get the lid detached
So i popped the bucket in the cooler insultated top half ass bam temps dropped to min63 max67. Yipee

Am i safe to not add the voodoo and piranha next water change? I dont want the roots to turn to slime or something also dont want to waste a.n. products arent cheap.

I am absolutely blown away at how fast this thing is growing easily 4-5x faster than the cuttings in supersoil over an inch a day. I topped it and it didnt even stall. Plan is to cut some clones off her for a few weeks and then scrog a 4x4 . I plan on adding a gravity 1-2 gal top off res beside the plant when i flower it, as i dont want to have to add soup daily or twice daily i can imagine the roots taking up damn near all of the 5g bucket.

Couple questions

1 )should i bother with a root zone thermostat? i could have it set for solid 68 instead of as cold as it will go fluctuating.

2) whats the best way to handle top offs. Can i let it drink half bucket for couple days let ph swing and then fill it up?
Ive been adding water then food(megacrop) to 900ppm 5.8ph to an inch below netpot daily. Drinking a couple liters easy but major<p.i.a..

1st week i made an extra jug and topped off but after few days ph was like 6.2 after i added so i found myself adjusting ph daily anyway.

First off good idea on the cooler!

1. I would still add something to the root zone no matter the temps. May not have to add as much but I'm not positive here. I'm a new grower and still learning too.

2. I would fill bucket and let run for several days checking ph and ppm. I would write them down each time so you can track it. Use this chart and it should get you headed in the write direction. I would sweet ph at 5.3 and let it swing up to 6.1. Ppm should decrease as ph rises. If not things need to be adjusted.

 

[Streetpro09]

With topping off there are several ways to do it.

1. You can set your bucket ppm at like 4-500 then top off with full strength premixed nutes.

2. You can set your bucket ppm at full strength and then top off with plain water.

3. What I do is try and find the happy spot for ppm where ph and ppm stay the same while water level drops. Then top off with premixed nutes at the same ppm and ph. This way you can steer the system ph if needed. Again I'm still learning this part myself.

 

[Waxman420]

You ph your water to 5.3 ? Thanks for the chart there is some kick ass hydro growers here lots of info. And people to help if i can get it to taste half decent i may do both. I cant see giving up living soil as im stubborn and am to far invested

 

[Streetpro09]

You ph your water to 5.3 ? Thanks for the chart there is some kick ass hydro growers here lots of info. And people to help if i can get it to taste half decent i may do both. I cant see giving up living soil as im stubborn and am to far invested

Yes 5.3 and then it'll raise slowly over the next few days up to 6.1 as nutes are taken. This is not adding any water or nutes. If ph drops while ppm drops suspect root issues. I had this for several weeks this run for veg when I found the right ppm.

There are a few good hydro guys Ive seen here! Hopefully they'll be around to chime in. Hydro is fun if you're a precise type of person. It's fun to dump nutes in and get your measurements then the next day you can actually see how much the plants have eaten. Would be cool to be able to monitor each element in the water but I'm sure a meter to measure that is pricey.

I've heard living soil is the way to go. My wife is currently on her first run organic living soil. Can't wait to give it a taste!

 

[Waxman420]

I started the sip at the same time actually the sip pot had advantage it was rooted in soil way before dwc was set upor even thought of.
Sorry green I dont think you can win that battle. I am loving the convenience of the sip tho and it is doing better than the non sip siblings.

 

[Streetpro09]

Hydro is amazing! But I did some clones in DWC and my wife's living soil. So far they are pretty darn close. I haven't really been putting much nutes to the hydro yet though!

Here's another chart for ph uptake. There are so many of them out there it's hard to believe a certain one. From what I've seen from the guy who shared this it works. He was killing it! And from my small personal experience doing the same thing, it works. You will get crazy quick growth once everything is dialed in.

 

[Waxman420]

Hydro is amazing! But I did some clones in DWC and my wife's living soil. So far they are pretty darn close. I haven't really been putting much nutes to the hydro yet though!

Here's another chart for ph uptake. There are so many of them out there it's hard to believe a certain one. From what I've seen from the guy who shared this it works. He was killing it! And from my small personal experience doing the same thing, it works. You will get crazy quick growth once everything is dialed in.

View attachment 4386

Hows that comparative did some clones ? You wont see growth with unrooted cuttings? Some ppl feed dwc clones others swear on just tap water. You are confusing man ,dialed in? There is no magic number you want a swing so roots can uptake all the nutrients . Maybe layoff the keyboard when blazed out. Do some more reading instead.

There is no comparison in the 2 methods its well known that a plant in hydro grows much faster than in soil and a sip(sub irrigated planter) grows faster than hand watering soil.

Of course they are looking close the living soil has food the dwc doesnt. I need to get as high as you were when you wrote that.

I would like to see the growth of dwc under the sun . But in the house under a tarp. This one time at band camp .....

 

[Streetpro09]

Hows that comparative did some clones ? You wont see growth with unrooted cuttings? Some ppl feed dwc clones others swear on just tap water. You are confusing man ,dialed in? There is no magic number you want a swing so roots can uptake all the nutrients . Maybe layoff the keyboard when blazed out. Do some more reading instead.

There is no comparison in the 2 methods its well known that a plant in hydro grows much faster than in soil and a sip(sub irrigated planter) grows faster than hand watering soil.

Of course they are looking close the living soil has food the dwc doesnt. I need to get as high as you were when you wrote that.

I would like to see the growth of dwc under the sun . But in the house under a tarp. This one time at band camp .....

Will then so much for me trying to help you. Sounds like you have it all figured out. Maybe that's why no one else is commenting. Now I'm done.

 

[Armdog]

Hows that comparative did some clones ? You wont see growth with unrooted cuttings? Some ppl feed dwc clones others swear on just tap water. You are confusing man ,dialed in? There is no magic number you want a swing so roots can uptake all the nutrients . Maybe layoff the keyboard when blazed out. Do some more reading instead.

There is no comparison in the 2 methods its well known that a plant in hydro grows much faster than in soil and a sip(sub irrigated planter) grows faster than hand watering soil.

Of course they are looking close the living soil has food the dwc doesnt. I need to get as high as you were when you wrote that.

I would like to see the growth of dwc under the sun . But in the house under a tarp. This one time at band camp .....

I'm surprised your dwc
isn't killing the soil. Give em some food and they will grow like hell as long as you have adequate lighting. I was always told and found if in veg your pH is rising your plants are growing and taking up nutrients needed. If falling in veg your nutrients or ppm is to high and needs reduced or you have root issues. In flower mine always falls. I believe this is due to the nutrients being used by the plants. I added a top off res to mine and I just stear it to where I need it with ppm and pH. Heisenbean has a good video on this.