?? about what size net pots and size rock wool to use for DWC grow

DrGribble

Well-Known Member
6" are plenty, you don't need anything bigger and you'd be fine with smaller even. I use the 6" netpot lids and there's no conceivable way I'd ever need anything larger unless I was growing 5lb trees... I use 1 or 1.5" starter plugs and clay pebbles easy breezy. As you can see from this photo taken today I'll never even come close to using that whole 6 inches of space.

 

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
I used to use 5inch netcups and thought bigger is better, but now i swear by these 3 inch netcups with giant holes in them. They work way better than the 5 inch ones I had with tiny holes, and they even stay up better, and gives you more versatility when you're considering putting more than one cup per system. Also, I need WAY less hydroton now.

Make sure the holes in the netcups are big enough for large roots to fit through.
 

budtoker0987

Active Member
Its just not needed and it has been cause for many noob problems. Remember all u need is support for the plant, i use just pots and foam collars in aero and dwc and it is so much easier than using a media like rw or hydroton. No mess, no cleaning and very cheap, 13¢ per plant.

I am 100% down for whatever is easier and more cost effective. I have never grown from Seed, in fact I have only had one previous grow and it was in soil. Went well, but now my I'm jumping to DWC after some research and what not. Oh, and in that Soil grow I had some clones brought to me.

If you could let me know what to do, so I can try your way I would be more than happy to give it a go. As it sits we have a bunch of stuff to buy so whatever we can do to save some money would be KEY :)

I'm still deff a noob so all the help is very much appreciated. everyone!
 

superstoner1

Well-Known Member
Collars generally have a small center hole and a slit to allow for placing around stem. I will use a slightly larger than the center hole drill bit to drill down about 3/4 of the thickness of the collar. This makes a little area for the seed to sit and allows for placing the tap root down the center hole. I pop my seeds in a glass of water and when ready i transfer.
 

budtoker0987

Active Member
Collars generally have a small center hole and a slit to allow for placing around stem. I will use a slightly larger than the center hole drill bit to drill down about 3/4 of the thickness of the collar. This makes a little area for the seed to sit and allows for placing the tap root down the center hole. I pop my seeds in a glass of water and when ready i transfer.
Do you have any pics of this? I deffinetely dont want to annoy you with the same questions, I just have ZERO idea what a "collar" is. I get what your saying it does, but literally what is it? Do you buy them? You said you make yours, how? and once made and modifications you say are done and your transferring your seed to it, then where does it go? A net pot? No hydroton? Fill my water in the DWC bucket how high?

I really appreciate your time man!!
 

nameno

Well-Known Member
Do you have any pics of this? I deffinetely dont want to annoy you with the same questions, I just have ZERO idea what a "collar" is. I get what your saying it does, but literally what is it? Do you buy them? You said you make yours, how? and once made and modifications you say are done and your transferring your seed to it, then where does it go? A net pot? No hydroton? Fill my water in the DWC bucket how high?

I really appreciate your time man!!
He has a thread I believe it's called my three weeks of flower or something similar.
If you don't have a hydro store close you can get the idea of what a collar looks like online @ any store.
I try to keep my water up to the bottom of the plant.
I tried it all different ways I believe I'll go back to using nothing, cause I been wondering why my starts are so slow.
 

UncleReemis

Well-Known Member
I use 2" netpots without any media from clone to harvest and they work perfect. I dont understand the statement about having to remove the lid every day and cracking, my lids come off 3-4 times total and plant never comes out of lid. Just drill a second netpot hole near side of lid and use that as access for readings.
I'm glad to hear that smaller net pots worked well for you. Idk man, maybe our setups are vastly different, but mine are placed into an appropriately cut hole on the lid. I also grow rather large plants. In fact, my last lady due to harvest is exactly 6 ft, not including height of the bucket. A 6 ft plant shouldn't be in a small net pot, that's for sure.. but maybe yours are much smaller. And I agree about the rockwool and clay pebbles. Yes granted rockwool and pebbles work, but they really aren't the BEST. I plan on switching away from them soon.

Reemissssssssssss
 

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
Size of the net cup has nothing to do with size of the plants you can grow in them, as long as the holes in net cups aren't really small. My 3 inch netcups have giagantic holes in them that are so big, some of the smaller hydroton balls fall through. Perfect. I just sieve those out with a netcup first into a "too small" pile. Giant roots can fit through!

The 5 inch ones with smaller holes really constricted the roots, like the roots wanted to rip the plastic apart.

Check out "grow stones" grow media for larger media if you haven't bought your media yet. The larger ones wouldn't fall through and look really spongy, but pure glass i think.

http://www.growstone.com/hydroponic-substrate/

problem is with small netcups, you won't need the giant bag...

I'm glad to hear that smaller net pots worked well for you. Idk man, maybe our setups are vastly different, but mine are placed into an appropriately cut hole on the lid. I also grow rather large plants. In fact, my last lady due to harvest is exactly 6 ft, not including height of the bucket. A 6 ft plant shouldn't be in a small net pot, that's for sure.. but maybe yours are much smaller. And I agree about the rockwool and clay pebbles. Yes granted rockwool and pebbles work, but they really aren't the BEST. I plan on switching away from them soon.

Reemissssssssssss
 

UncleReemis

Well-Known Member
Size of the net cup has nothing to do with size of the plants you can grow in them, as long as the holes in net cups aren't really small. My 3 inch netcups have giagantic holes in them that are so big, some of the smaller hydroton balls fall through. Perfect. I just sieve those out with a netcup first into a "too small" pile. Giant roots can fit through!

The 5 inch ones with smaller holes really constricted the roots, like the roots wanted to rip the plastic apart.

Check out "grow stones" grow media for larger media if you haven't bought your media yet. The larger ones wouldn't fall through and look really spongy, but pure glass i think.

http://www.growstone.com/hydroponic-substrate/

problem is with small netcups, you won't need the giant bag...

What i mean is that the plants tend to lean or tip if the cup isnt big enough, with a large diameter, to support or distribute the weight of the plant. I have an over six foot plant right now with a 3.75" haha so yeah.
 
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