I'm looking for any help or advice on building a simple deep water culture system for my patio plant

[fire_it_up]

Taking my first step towards my thousand mile journey of learning the art of cannabis cultivation LOL. So I ran acrossed a nice clone and my goal here is to keep her alive on my outside patio in a homemade deep water culture system in a vegetative state so I can clone and learn from her. I live in Southern California and an hour Inland from Los Angeles which tends to get colder in the winters and hotter in the Summers...

What I know so far.....

-To get a light proof bucket as a reservoir..
- get a lid for the bucket with a hole big enough for the net pot
- fill that pot with hydroton type medium
- add an AirStone to the bucket
- wash the soil off roots of the Clone
- and the Clone 2 the medium

What I don't know

- I want to keep her in a vegetative state a few feet tall outside on my patio all throughout the year and not sure if I should use the CFL bulbs or the LED type bulbs and how many to use Watts wise Lumen light color spectrum etc in the area I plan on having her in an area where she gets natural sunlight and also artificial light if needed ...
- what about water temperature... Can I use an aquarium type heater if the temperature gets too cold during the night time... what temperature range would be optimal
- what about the plant herself being cold temperatures during the evening
- have no clue about nutrients LOL yes I do plan on researching plenty but I'm trying to throw this together pretty quick with all the help I can get... any chance I can pick any type of nutrients that I might need at my local store...
- any other products or devices (pH stuff...meters... anything I might have missed from the start to the end ...I might need in case I run into some common problems that will require me to run back and forth to the store... just a little reading I've read I ran across ..fungus.. mold or slime or bugs etc....

I'm literally starting from ground zero here so I'm sure I've missed plenty ... hopefully I can get enough info to head to the store and get what I need before they close today LOL

 

[VRZ711]

- I want to keep her in a vegetative state a few feet tall outside on my patio all throughout the year and not sure if I should use the CFL bulbs or the LED type bulbs and how many to use Watts wise Lumen light color spectrum etc in the area I plan on having her in an area where she gets natural sunlight and also artificial light if needed ...

CFL cheaper, easy to mange, but u need many lights, at least 200 watts 8 bulbs of 24 watts,
LED produce the right spectrum at low watts cost but is expensive, and if u want to invest in one make sure u do right research and buy from a company with reputation, but the light it self looks like alien spaceship, red and blue and its not good for your eyes.

- what about water temperature... Can I use an aquarium type heater if the temperature gets too cold during the night time... what temperature range would be optimal
optimum water tempreture 60-65F

- what about the plant herself being cold temperatures during the evening
u can make a cover for them with blankets and stuff

- have no clue about nutrients LOL yes I do plan on researching plenty but I'm trying to throw this together pretty quick with all the help I can get... any chance I can pick any type of nutrients that I might need at my local store...
there is many types
GH trio: what i use now.
Advance Nutes has their own product line and they have an advanced technology that you dont need to check the PH of the water

Rooting product is optional, usually beneficial bacteria and anzumes, also there is a sticky post here for hizenberg tea

CAL MAG if you use RO water.

- any other products or devices (pH stuff...meters... anything I might have missed from the start to the end ...I might need in case I run into some common problems that will require me to run back and forth to the store... just a little reading I've read I ran across ..fungus.. mold or slime or bugs etc....

ph of the water should be 5.5-6.5 (5. optimal so u need a PH electronic meter is the best choice, also u need a celebration liquid for it PH down is also needed to bring ur PH down usualy tab water 8-9

 

[xitears]

- I want to keep her in a vegetative state a few feet tall outside on my patio all throughout the year and not sure if I should use the CFL bulbs or the LED type bulbs and how many to use Watts wise Lumen light color spectrum etc in the area I plan on having her in an area where she gets natural sunlight and also artificial light if needed ...

CFL lights bro, honestly I would grow using MH/HPS if I were you its better overall (Natural sunlight is over rated).

- what about water temperature... Can I use an aquarium type heater if the temperature gets too cold during the night time... what temperature range would be optimal.

60 degrees would be good I use frozen water bottles swap out every 12 hours.

- what about the plant herself being cold temperatures during the evening

Take her inside especially this time of year its optimal to have them sit at 68 degrees. (Thus the whole spring time for MH lights and autumn for HPS lights)

- have no clue about nutrients LOL yes I do plan on researching plenty but I'm trying to throw this together pretty quick with all the help I can get... any chance I can pick any type of nutrients that I might need at my local store...

Don't buy at a local store they will take you for all the money you have amazon has the exact same products for less. I use the whole advanced nutrients line check it out. Advanced Nutrients is a great line for people who want a superb product.

- any other products or devices (pH stuff...meters... anything I might have missed from the start to the end ...I might need in case I run into some common problems that will require me to run back and forth to the store... just a little reading I've read I ran across ..fungus.. mold or slime or bugs etc....

https://www.rollitup.org/t/my-dwc-grow-guide-draft-critique-correct.170310/ Its a old post but he talks about it all.

And if you take my advice and do advanced Nutes, you wont need to waste money on a ph pen all their products are PH perfect, I would still get a starter pack from General Hydroponics you can do your daily check of PH to make sure. PPM meter is rather important, when you buy nutes go to the website for that company they will have feeding calendars.

As for fungus if you do the nutes I recommended Voodoo juice and Phirana are both root booster with healthy micros prevent root rot fungus and etc.

 

[The_Enthusiast]

OK, i know this isn't really what you asked - but only mi opinion.

Mother plants are here for a long run so they need to be fail-proof.

I had SOIL / HYDRO and SOIL / SOIL (as time passed by) mother plants.

With premixed liquid nutrients, PH fluctuates a lot (at least with HESI, Platinium, GH)

PH fluctuations aren't great for a plant that has to be in its prime most of the time.

Now when I started mixing my own nutrients PH is stable (max 0.2 / week) but still Hydroponic system is prone to fail so you need double or triple protection ->complicated/expensive.

So to conclude - In my opinion it's easier to have mother plants in big soil pots (make 2 of them or more if you need more clones)

Hydro mother plants have the potential to give more better clones but as well then can fail easier (and if you are kind of new to hydro - - better learn / get some experience on bloom systems (because there is only 2 months of "accumulated failure" and mother plants can have 2 years or more of accumulated failure")

 

[fire_it_up]

OK, i know this isn't really what you asked - but only mi opinion.

Mother plants are here for a long run so they need to be fail-proof.

I had SOIL / HYDRO and SOIL / SOIL (as time passed by) mother plants.

With premixed liquid nutrients, PH fluctuates a lot (at least with HESI, Platinium, GH)

PH fluctuations aren't great for a plant that has to be in its prime most of the time.

Now when I started mixing my own nutrients PH is stable (max 0.2 / week) but still Hydroponic system is prone to fail so you need double or triple protection ->complicated/expensive.

So to conclude - In my opinion it's easier to have mother plants in big soil pots (make 2 of them or more if you need more clones)

Hydro mother plants have the potential to give more better clones but as well then can fail easier (and if you are kind of new to hydro - - better learn / get some experience on bloom systems (because there is only 2 months of "accumulated failure" and mother plants can have 2 years or more of accumulated failure")

That makes a lot of sense... I'm actually new to everything here LOL ... now that you mention it I might even get a couple different clones to grow different ways just to see the difference... Hydro just catches my curiosity..