You've got the basics already but honestly wouldn't bother with DWC now that I seen how much easier and better aeroponics is- it's just a more complex initial build- better planning helps. Be sure to keep a mama or 2 in soil to pull your cuts from so you've got a perpetual thing going.. These rails do well in a perpetual setup & can be used for veg. Oh yes I'm not complaining I've never grown plants this healthy- This is likely the best yield I've ever seen before so as long as I can keep them going for another 4-5 weeks they'll be ready to chop soon after
I was using a cheapass timer but one stopped working yesterday - glad I found it early or there would've been major problems and good thing I have a backup in my aerocloner I stole from to keep the plants alive. I ordered a c.a.p. ART DNE hydroponic timer controller which I should've got in the beginning $60 US. Do yourself a favor and get one for your grow when you get to putting it together- cheapass timers can kill them in hours if they break while you are away- I was lucky
Yeah, no plan to keep mothers per say, but I'm trying a method which should be fine. Throwing in an extra 1 or 2 plants to each round, then keeping those as "mothers" for long enough to grab some good clones from some of the better plants, then flower them with the next upcoming round. Taking 1 or 2 from any veg plant that's looking good as well and keep things moving around in a circle. Not worried about huge yields, a lb a month or better is good enough and should have no problem doing that, specially if I throw in some aero into the mix. I'm using the veg cabinet for now but my next building project as I'm just about done my grow room is a veg room in a corner of the laundry room, part of finishing my basement, it'll just be a part of that build. I have a nice corner that's 7' long, will make a raised floor "storage room" in that corner about 3x7x7', that'll keep things moving well. Nice thing there is I have the dryer vent I can tie into, and no smell worries to speak of, it'll be veg/young plants.
Funny you mention that cap timer. I had the exact one, tried some vegging in the aero-cloner. I thought the same thing, go higher end, the f'ng thing lasted a month, then would shut off, click, click and not start up again, unless you hit the reset button, then it would go about 3 rounds, then f'up again. After trying a bunch of things and talking to tech support, it was defective, returned it and haven't replaced it, no need for it in my aero cloner, just run it 24x7 for 10 days or so and good to go. Let me know how yours goes, I figured they'd be fine, seem to have a bit of a name. Bad luck I'm hoping. I was eyeing the one with the adjustable timers when I replace it, if I remember right, it has knobs for separate daytime and nighttime settings and wanted the flexibility of trying different settings.