DWC questions

Hey guys,
Been outdoor growing for many years and decided to try DWC.
I ordered one Alfred bucket kit to get used to it.
Been reading all kinds of info but I have a few questions that have conflicting or no answers.

-How high should the water be at seedling stage ?
-How high should it be afterwards ?
-How often do you check PH, EC, TDS, temp ?
-Best EC and TDS levels and water temp ?
-How often do you change water/nuts ?
-How often do you clean/sterilize bucket ?
-Can you have too much bubbles ?

-I dont put seedlings in big netpots, you will hate life as they grow down through the bottoms of the pots. Find a way to grow them out for a few weeks and transfer them into the netpots once the roots will reach out of the bottom into the water. If you dont do this, you will have to top feed them and pay much closer attention to them while the roots grow down.
-1-2" from the bottom of the pot.
-At least daily. The more often you check it the more you know about what's going on.
-water temp needs to be 65-70F. There is no "best" ec. That's determined by what your plants want and the stage of your grow cycle.
-1-2 weeks. I top off with the same nutrient solution and change the water when they've drank the full system volume.
-I only sterilize everything between grow cycles.
-Not really, but they dont do anything better after a certain point. You need 15 liters per MINUTE per site of air.

Thanks fragile,

-As the roots get longer, do I keep the water level the same (1-2" from the bottom of the pot) ?
-What about ppm levels for different grow stages ?

A lesson it took me 4+ grows to figure out:

Assuming you start seedlings in some type of starter cube...

If the water level is too high the starter cubes will get soaked and stay that way= root rot

One of the precautions I use now is to double the net pots with a layer of stones in between

hth

dirtdan said:

Thanks fragile,

-As the roots get longer, do I keep the water level the same (1-2" from the bottom of the pot) ?
-What about ppm levels for different grow stages ?

Click to expand...

yeah same level whole way through.
I start my plants in a cloner for the first few weeks. Seeds start in trays for a few days and get pulled up and put in the cloner until roots are developed. Once they come out of the cloner I start around 0.5 EC and slowly work my way up as it starts to drop.

Thanks guys !!
Now I'm just waiting for the seed to crack.
fragile, awesome setup you have...

dirtdan said:

Thanks guys !!
Now I'm just waiting for the seed to crack.
fragile, awesome setup you have...

Fragile back at it. DIY RDWC with the things.

Rinsing the system out with fresh water tonight so figured I would share the process some this time. Goal is to transplant tonight. Build of the veg system is in the link in my signature. This is my 5x5 veg tent, will share progress of the flower setup as I start prepping it here in the next...

www.rollitup.org

Click to expand...

Hey dan.. i don't think it was mentioned above or how much you have read up on DWC.. just 2 warnings from me (only been doing DWC bout a year and still learning non-stop) First thing is.. changes happen fast so if you see signs of cal deficiency or anything don't just think it will fix itself cause a day later your plant will look like it's been beaten with an ugly stick

Second.. constant and correct PH seems to be more important than anything (took me almost a year to figure that one out..) i used to just get close enough and ended up chasing problems that i was creating myself. I used to use the drop to check PH problem is with drops you kind of get an idea =/- .5 or so.. I ended up buying a apera PH60 pen off amazon and it was easily my best investment in growing.

Just my .02.. good luck!

dirtdan said:

Hey guys,
Been outdoor growing for many years and decided to try DWC.
I ordered one Alfred bucket kit to get used to it.
Been reading all kinds of info but I have a few questions that have conflicting or no answers.

-How high should the water be at seedling stage ?
-How high should it be afterwards ?
-How often do you check PH, EC, TDS, temp ?
-Best EC and TDS levels and water temp ?
-How often do you change water/nuts ?
-How often do you clean/sterilize bucket ?
-Can you have too much bubbles ?

Click to expand...

Hi dude,..

Water should jost be skimming the bottom of the Rockwool cube etc.. It should stay at this height throughout ..obs. It will go down but depending on the L size and dimensions of your DWC pot providing the roots can still swim freely and can easily take in oxidised water and nuits..will depend how often to top up...

Checks are done daily for me..I dont bother with ec tds or ppm, i read my plants health visually.. Although i will explore that avenue one day..i change nuits either when shes drank the pot dry, if over fed then a series of phd flushes then refill with half strength nuits.. And fill and drain the pot twice with just phd plain water in under 10 mins to clean the roots before adding eah next stage of the nutrient cycle if that makes sense..?.. I find this helps prevent chem burn and mild shock as no imbalanced nuits are left hanging around in the root mass..

i just clean with mild dish washing liquid an warm water rince then thats it until harvest.. If all elements stay in check it wont be a problem..and no not too many bubbles big bubbles are shit and rapid big bubbles can destroy roots.. Millions of fine bubbles is where its at.

Also try and stay within PH 5.8 to 5.9.... also dont let the res get too warm this can reek havoc


Hope that helps - STELTHY