Beginner Growing

I was wondering if anybody could help me in starting up with DWC growing. Like what all do I need as far as equipment, I know I need a tote, net pots, lights, but what else?

Also what sort of lights should I look for? It would be going in a room 5x5 8 ft tall, so not really that many plants I'm only looking at like 5-6 plants at most including 1 or 2 mothers. But if I can get more, I'll definitely go for it.

Now I am trying to keep this on as low of a budget as possible as I already have some materials, but if I could just get a list of what I need and help with picking out lights that'd be greatly appreciated.

for that sized area and that amount of plants, i'd say a 600 watter would be perfect for you.. you could also pick up a t5 fixture for the mother's and clones if you're going to go that route later down the line..
htg supply has some nice deals on their brand of lighting, and from what i've seen from them, they are a very good company ime.. i'll try and find you some links for them in a moment..
you will also need a timer, some fans, and pumps and a carbon filter as well.. most of which can also be had from htg supply.. i'll try and think of some other things you may need, but that should cover the basics..

http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-Digital-Greenhouse-600-watt-HPS-Grow-Light.asp

here's a link for a decent starter set up from htg supply.. if you check out the link, you'll see that they have options to upgrade at the bottom, and you can spend as much or as lil as you'd like by opting to either upgrade or not..
take a look around that site, they have a lot of nice stuff at good prices...

We use a 4x 4' t5 lamp for our mother\veg\clone room\closet. Then we have a 600watt in a 5x5 tent. If you can only get one get the 600 watt hps.

Alright thanks a lot, yeah I'll be checking that link out now, and Greater how big is your mother\veg\clone room? Just wondering if its the same size or not..

Bsw9090 said:

Alright thanks a lot, yeah I'll be checking that link out now, and Greater how big is your mother\veg\clone room? Just wondering if its the same size or not..

Click to expand...

6.5x2x8 basically a closet. No mods done to it just yet.

I'm Doing my 1st run in a 4x4x6.5. I'm using a 600w hps from ebay, and its working fine. But light is your biggest limmiting factor, if you can afford and control a 1000w go for it. Your buds will only show you more lovin.

Also, DO NOT skimp on bubbles. You want your roots to be healthy as possible. I had only one airline for my bubbleponic set up and wondered why my girls were mad at me. I talked to a buddy of mine who has way more experience than I and offered the simplest solution to my root problem, more bubbles. Needless to say I went out that day and picked up the biggest airpump/ stone I could find and now my girls are looking great, new root growth everywhere but the damage has been done.

Hey! man I wish you guys were there on my post months back i had the SAAAME question haha

What size tote would you guys recommend? and Greather how big is your current tote?

Also for a 5x5 room is it really necessary for the fan, starting out? or is it possible for the OP to get it later?

I have everything to get started except the exhaust and intake but I can get that on next paycheck.

Also for bubbles, wouldnt it only be necessary to get once the roots start touching the water?

the bubbles are creating oxygen for the roots so i would get those asap.

I would grow with a rockwool cube in the basket with hydroton, the cube retains water better (so you can get away with just using the dripper at the START) than once the roots get bigger PAST the hydroton out of the basket and TOUCHING the water, I would definatley get the air stone turned on, whats the use in wasting electricity from running an air stone if it is doing nothing to the water your dripper is putting out?

Thats like me putting an air stone in my 5 gallon container and watering my outside plants.. theirs just no use if the medium has the oxygen-water ratio in it.

if im wrong please correct me its just a lil something I thought of common sense wise.

FriendlyGuy said:

I would grow with a rockwool cube in the basket with hydroton, the cube retains water better (so you can get away with just using the dripper at the START) than once the roots get bigger PAST the hydroton out of the basket and TOUCHING the water, I would definatley get the air stone turned on, whats the use in wasting electricity from running an air stone if it is doing nothing to the water your dripper is putting out?

Thats like me putting an air stone in my 5 gallon container and watering my outside plants.. theirs just no use if the medium has the oxygen-water ratio in it.

if im wrong please correct me its just a lil something I thought of common sense wise.

Click to expand...

everyone grows in different ways if u feel that method is gonna work best for u then go for it, my best suggestion is to experiment see what works better i started with a aerogarden my first grow i used no airstone from start,my 2nd grow i used airstone from the start and i noticed a big different on how they grow fast with just adding the airstones its all on u.
chill out on making a thread for ever question u ask keep it simple

calikush420 said:

everyone grows in different ways if u feel that method is gonna work best for u then go for it, my best suggestion is to experiment see what works better i started with a aerogarden my first grow i used no airstone from start,my 2nd grow i used airstone from the start and i noticed a big different on how they grow fast with just adding the airstones its all on u.
chill out on making a thread for ever question u ask keep it simple

Click to expand...

Yeah based on pics it seems that the aero garden is VERY VERY VERY effecient in the root growth aspect, I would prefer to try it but I havent done any research into it, I was intitially going to do an ebb n flow but shit happens and it turned out to be a DWC since I couldnt get a table to hold the flood tray that was higher than the res.

And today was actually the only day I made threads on every question I had (they were VERY important) time is of the essence m8! i have a Fat mother that needs to get cut, 5 lady bugs I saved that are dedicating their lives on the plant (been 1 WHOLE week now) and i REALLY REALLY wanna get some doktor doom to regulate anything that has been getting on my plants. (see how good my morals are? haha)

Anyway! I need to get these cuttings out the way, I need the lower branches out because its too close to the ground making it hard to water, and making it easier for bugs to latch on to, and I know from experience that if I dont get anything STARTED than it will never happen, so im using the energy I have to get the clones started which will buy me 1-2 weeks to get the rest of the grow space started :]

The amount of energy an airpump uses is so small that shouldn't be a reason not to instal it from the begining. You aren't going to be there the second the first root touches water so you want that bitch to have as much o2 as possible when she's ready for it. Bubbles are the key to hydro, don't take a chance with them. If you think you have enough bubbles go buy more. You can never have too much o2 in the water but you can have a lacking problem very easy and it will kill your crop very fast.

As far as your mother, take clones now. Get a ghetto rigged cloner and put them in there.. if you want 20 plants to flower, clone 40 and pick the girls with the best roots after a week or 2 under florecent lights. All you need is a rooting hormone (get a gel, don't skimp buying powders), tray with cover (hold in humitity), and rockwool. Some people clip the leafs tips to stunt growth for a few days and encourage root growth.

I'm new grower as well so I don't know everything but the best way to learn is to try and fail.

Hope I helped,
FLgrwr