guys review my processes so far... I'm having a hard time

I'm getting ready for my third try with seeds in dwc, first two ended badly for diverse reasons, I got 100% germination rate but things seem to go downhill after 10ish days.
you guys tell me if I'm going something wrong

- I put my rockwool cubes in phed filtered water (5.8 to 6) with 1 drop superthrive in the entire bowl of water

- I put my seeds directly into the cubes

- I have a 26w grow cfl just above the grow dome

- once seeds germ, I remove the dome and put the cubes about 1.5 inches away from the cfl (heat doesn't seem to be a problem)

- As soon as I see a root come out the bottom of the cube, put that in net pot with hydroton in my dwc bin, phed to 5.5 - 6.1 if possible

- at this stage they have a 250w mh about 16 inches away

- water temp is cold between 62 and 68 at all times

- no nutes in the bin until the seedling is 3 weeks old


I've never even gotten to the point of having to add nutes, my (expensive) seeds have all died on me for various reasons,

so guys does my plan have any glaring problems?

ok since you have not grown successful buds yet, I would say put DWC aside, keep one plant going maybe if you really want to go this route, but personally, I failed my first go at growing, (was growing in soil using commercial nutes) since then I started to grow organic weed with my own supersoil and you cannot fail, YOU CANNOT FAIL if you follow simple instructions from subcool in the subsection of the organic section on RIU. You will smoke the best dank ever onlly you will not get as much as you would with DWC (that is debatable...) but right now its sounds like you have never gotten anything. Try supersoil. Good luck buddy

Yea i vote supersoil as well...DWC is great only if you can get it going properly. But you can pull just as big a yield off plants properly vegged in supersoil and the buds taste better IMO. And like said above, you can't fuck up plants in supersoil unless you get an insect swarm or mold or something of that nature

Endur0xX said:

ok since you have not grown successful buds yet, I would say put DWC aside, keep one plant going maybe if you really want to go this route, but personally, I failed my first go at growing, (was growing in soil using commercial nutes) since then I started to grow organic weed with my own supersoil and you cannot fail, YOU CANNOT FAIL if you follow simple instructions from subcool in the subsection of the organic section on RIU. You will smoke the best dank ever onlly you will not get as much as you would with DWC (that is debatable...) but right now its sounds like you have never gotten anything. Try supersoil. Good luck buddy

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Thanks for the advice, but I've invested a bunch for a chiller and air pumps, and water pumps, and tubing, and isolation, and hydro nutes, plus it's a closet grow so I can't have a garbage bin full of soil on my porch :\

jesburger said:

Thanks for the advice, but I've invested a bunch for a chiller and air pumps, and water pumps, and tubing, and isolation, and hydro nutes, plus it's a closet grow so I can't have a garbage bin full of soil on my porch :\

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wow....i would have definitely not have started in DWC as a first time grower since it is one of the most unforgiving hydro setups....biggest mistake right there. pH can swing a whole point in hours if not kept in check and you have to get a feel for nutrients....id say you probably should have had at least a very small amount of nutrients for the first 3 weeks, not just plain water...

cc08150 said:

wow....i would have definitely not have started in DWC as a first time grower since it is one of the most unforgiving hydro setups....biggest mistake right there. pH can swing a whole point in hours if not kept in check and you have to get a feel for nutrients....id say you probably should have had at least a very small amount of nutrients for the first 3 weeks, not just plain water...

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should I be adding nutes even if the cotyledons are still green?

I'd always have a LITTLE nutrient solution in the rez .....like 1/4 or 1/5 what the manufacturer says....at that early of stage of seedling. then by week 3 or 4, you can slowly be bumping it up to half strength...then by week 2-3 flowering, full strength

Yea dwc is pretty tough stuff to get down with minimal experience. Don't know why wouldn't research your butt off before trying something that's rather difficult to complete.

a random screen name said:

Yea dwc is pretty tough stuff to get down with minimal experience. Don't know why wouldn't research your butt off before trying something that's rather difficult to complete.

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I researched my ass off, but theres nothing like experience to make you think of things you havent thought of before
you guys make it sound like I'm building a skyscrapper, if I don't get it this week I'll get it next week, no biggie

just trying to see if I'm doing something drasticly wrong
Imma add some 1/4 strength nutes to my 2nd failure in progress to see if it helps any

edit- it is done! I've added my nutes at about 1/5th stregth with some roots excelurator (half strength... cant hurt right?)

lets see if they recover, I had these babies at about 7.5ph for a few days (i only had strips, i just got my meter) I hope they make it

Jesburger, I'm right there with you, as I'm about to do my first grow DWC. I like the full control aspect of it. Like you I've researched te shit out of it but know there will be a learning curve. Don't let these guys discourage you.

not discouraging him, just trying to help. Sometimes its best to cut your lost sometimes its best to learn, sounds like he is patient enough, so I guess its time to learn.

jesburger said:

- no nutes in the bin until the seedling is 3 weeks old

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There's your problem. Try adding 100-150 ppm nootz around 7 days after sprouting.

Endur0xX said:

ok since you have not grown successful buds yet, I would say put DWC aside, keep one plant going maybe if you really want to go this route, but personally, I failed my first go at growing, (was growing in soil using commercial nutes) since then I started to grow organic weed with my own supersoil and you cannot fail, YOU CANNOT FAIL if you follow simple instructions from subcool in the subsection of the organic section on RIU. You will smoke the best dank ever onlly you will not get as much as you would with DWC (that is debatable...) but right now its sounds like you have never gotten anything. Try supersoil. Good luck buddy

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Some people could ruin an anvil with a rubber hammer. But generally speaking you are correct. People screw stuff up getting fancier and fancier with more "gee whiz" goodies and crap. Keep it frigging simple, have fun and grow pot! Go dirt! Besides, the quality of the smoke is far superior grown organically in good soil. Listen to this guy, he knows. He went, he saw and said screw that.

Malevolence said:

There's your problem. Try adding 100-150 ppm nootz around 7 days after sprouting.

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This is it I think. In soil you can get by with no nutes for weeks, but not hydro it seems. so my 2nd batch is gone for good. (I'm not too sad)
Third time is the charm!

kingsofstate said:

Jesburger, I'm right there with you, as I'm about to do my first grow DWC. I like the full control aspect of it. Like you I've researched te shit out of it but know there will be a learning curve. Don't let these guys discourage you.

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thanks bro, it wouldn't be so bad if you didn't have 5 different opinions on everything. here's hoping everything works out this time
rockwool is in the water as we speak

Right on...there is nothing to buffer your plants root system in DWC so you HAVE to have at least a small amount of nutrients...can't just get by on plain water unless you happened to live in a city where you have high ppm water. Soil buffers the roots, so you can get by for a much longer time with no nutrients, because the roots constantly stretch to find new nutrients.

cc08150 said:

Right on...there is nothing to buffer your plants root system in DWC so you HAVE to have at least a small amount of nutrients...can't just get by on plain water unless you happened to live in a city where you have high ppm water. Soil buffers the roots, so you can get by for a much longer time with no nutrients, because the roots constantly stretch to find new nutrients.

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yeah, I figured I was following soil advice for dwc (shame on you jorge cervantes grow bible for not being clear on this at all!)
I have about 150ppm water (filtered out the chlorine) now my bin is at around 280-300ppm (0.5), I figure it shouldn't be too strong when when I transplant in a week

so here is the new plan!

- sprout seeds in rockwool

- seeds are on tray close to 26w cfl above my fridge

- after about a week when root starts to stick out the bottom, transplant to net pot

- water about 65-68

- about 150ppm of nutes, (150ppm filtered tap water) and 250w mh about 16-20 inches away (in a cooltube) + half strength dose of roots excelurator


everything seem good?

berrrmps!!

So I had 4 diff strains in my dwc bin (attitude freebies), three of the seedlings died (for various reasons),

the toughest out of the bunch was delicious seeds la musa autoflower, which I'm not going to use, but I'm happy to see that it survived and that it seems I've finally got it right!

I've started over with 3 new super lemon haze in the rockwool, going to pick the best 2 and hope they make it this time

wish me luck guys