RDWC+Top Drip Feed- Water Pump / Nutrients Feed Schedule

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legalgrow88

New Member
Hello I am starting a 4 bucket RDWC with Top Drip Feed. Wanted to know when I should water my plants. Do I keep water pumping 24/7? Do I only pump during Lights On? Do I pump 15mins per hour during Lights On? Please let me know. Thanks in advance.
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
I've done 50 tubs of DWC since '01 and never done top feed so I can't really help with that.

I just sucked up a bit of nute water with a turkey baster and top fed my clones until roots emerged from the net pots, Maybe 3 days/twice a day.

Easy-peasy.
 
L

legalgrow88

New Member
OldMedUser said:
I've done 50 tubs of DWC since '01 and never done top feed so I can't really help with that.

I just sucked up a bit of nute water with a turkey baster and top fed my clones until roots emerged from the net pots, Maybe 3 days/twice a day.

Easy-peasy.
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Thanks for getting back. I do appreciate it. I dont have any clones yet. This is my 1st grow. Im trying to find out how often do I use my water pump for RDWC
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
I'm telling you right now that once the roots emerge from the pots top feeding is a waste of time and a submersible pump will only heat up your water. Maybe for another week or so after that while feeder roots may still be in the pots but soon they are all in the tub and the main roots in the pots are just pipelines that don't absorb anything.

I've only been doing DWC since 2001 when even Ed Rosenthal told me he didn't think it would work so maybe I'm wrong but I don't think so.
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
legalgrow88 said:
Thank you guys for all the feed back. OldMedUser I will get rid of the Top Drip and since I am doing a RDWC I will keep my recirculating water pump on 24/7
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Have you got any plans to keep your nutes cool? One of the biggest problems hydro like DWC runs into is temps over 70F letting root rot take hold. I used to use peroxide twice a week and that worked but built a DIY chiller out of an old water cooler and that was better.
 
Major Blazer

Major Blazer

Well-Known Member
OldMedUser said:
I'm telling you right now that once the roots emerge from the pots top feeding is a waste of time and a submersible pump will only heat up your water. Maybe for another week or so after that while feeder roots may still be in the pots but soon they are all in the tub and the main roots in the pots are just pipelines that don't absorb anything.

I've only been doing DWC since 2001 when even Ed Rosenthal told me he didn't think it would work so maybe I'm wrong but I don't think so.
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You're not wrong. Top feed on dwc is a waste of time/money. Just keep the water level high enough to give the emerging roots something to strive for and they'll find their way into the res quickly. One might argue that the top feeding actually hurts this process.
 
TIMtoKILL

TIMtoKILL

Active Member
Major Blazer said:
You're not wrong. Top feed on dwc is a waste of time/money. Just keep the water level high enough to give the emerging roots something to strive for and they'll find their way into the res quickly. One might argue that the top feeding actually hurts this process.
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Not to mention the huge possibility of over watering them and stunting them.
 
mytwhyt

mytwhyt

Well-Known Member
A submersible pump that runs 24/7 will add enough heat that you'll have to deal with it in some way.. You might get by with an additive to the water that lets you run your reservoir at higher than recomended temps.
I've got a little different take on Waterfarms and rdwc 5 gal buckets, and water levels, and pumps.. I use Waterfarms which are essentially the same thing.. I've modified my Waterfarms to recirculate their own water at about 5-6 gal an hour directly from the reservoir.. Gravity return.. No submersible electric water pump.. This mod is not difficult when using 5 gal buckets..
The only water pump used is the waterfarm drip ring itself, which is by definition, an air lift water pump.. They've been used for hundreds of years in one form or another..
This is where i'll get a lot of differences of opinions of what's the right water level.. It can vary by several inches, depending on who you ask.. At or one inch above the bottom of the basket works for me..
I maintain a constant water level throughout my small system by using a feedback reservoir.. With this type system, with the constant top down water movement, there will always be oxygenated water available in the hydroton that's submerged..
I'm not ignoring the fact that air pumps add heat to the air they pump. I've found that light air movement across the top of the hydroton seems to cool, by evaporation, the small amount of heat added by the drip ring water.. Oh by the way, no air stones either..
This is the reason you run your drip ring 24/7.. This waterfarm didn't recirculate. Just a dwc.. https://www.rollitup.org/t/pineapple-express-g13-labs-seed-to-harvest.344359/page-14 Post 273
Read this thread, at least the first 12 pages..
If you're interested i can link to posts of these modifications.
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
TIMtoKILL said:
Not to mention the huge possibility of over watering them and stunting them.
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Overwatering is really only a problem in plants grown in pots where stagnant water leads to root rot. With net pots there's no place for water to pool and become stagnant so that's not an issue. All the water and nutrient absorption happens at the tips of the roots, (the feeder roots with the fine hairs), and there's none of them in the net pots once there's long roots down in the water so top feeding doesn't really help the plant grow after that.
 
mytwhyt

mytwhyt

Well-Known Member
Here's a Heath Robinsons modified top feed dwc grow with the bottom of the hydroton submerged about an inch... Doing it his way gets rid of the thick roots above the water level.. Only those small feeder roots that pickup the nutes and do are growing.. OMU Check out the roots in the basket of the Pineapple Express in my first post.. page 14
 
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OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
mytwhyt said:
Here's a Heath Robinsons modified top feed dwc grow with the bottom of the hydroton submerged about an inch... Doing it his way gets rid of the thick roots above the water level.. Only those small feeder roots that pickup the nutes and do are growing.. OMU Check out the roots in the basket of the Pineapple Express in my first post.. page 14
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Page 14 where?

Nice system in that video for growing lots of pot. Still don't see the need for top feed tho.

Some of my previous roots without top feed.

20dayslater.jpg

A few days after putting this home made net pot with a larger plant into DWC. 1000s of fine feeder roots there.

ScroGApr091001.jpg

I aim for simplicity and adding top feed to something that works well is less simple.

Each to their own tho. :)
 
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