Hear me out - crazy idea for maximum yields with dwc/aero and autoflowers

So from spending hour upon hour sifting through forums and Reddit , it’s come to my realization that for maximum yields with autoflowers , peeps are using Dwc .

it’s also been stated that aeroponics is around 33% faster than hydroponics , and 66% faster than soil

I have a brand new 8 bucket dwc system on its way , that is getting filled with speedrun seeds autos in a 4x4 tent .

Here lies my idea , what if I put rubber grommets through each bucket , with 1/2 inch pex , and two nozzles per bucket , and utilized aeroponics to speed up root growth to the water , by spraying the media directly till the roots have reached their final destination .

this sounds like a lot of work , but at the same time , if it gains you one week less of veg time , or an extra week worth of growth , it could mean the difference between so so yields vs massive yields with autos .

Idk if I’m to far out in left field on this one , but figured I’d ask yall - as I’m sure many of you have experiences with both ways , and may provide some kind of insight I’m overlooking .

pic of a Girl Scout cookie auto , 3 weeks into flower from fastbuds , “outdoors and hand watered 2-3 times daily in coco , with 3-4 weeks left , I have a feeling they’re gonna be insanely frosty !

I feel like saturating the medium with a constant stream will slow growth, not speed it up.

I havent done aeroponics or DWC, but it seems like aeroponics is less common because its a huge pain in the ass, but if you have the means and want to take the chance, I say go for it, and start a grow journal to document the journey.

Its called top feed dwc it will make your plant grow faster but only until it reaches the water.after that its a regular dwc

As long as its fully o2 water you will have no problems.i usually just drop a glass of nutes daily.

There is 2 types of airoponics low pressure just spraying and high pressure huge pump and fency sprayers clogs and breaks made for space growing.
Oh and fogponics...

Roots look better in airponics but i think its almost the same as dwc

Aero will give you fine root hairs but you need an atomizer...that will create a FOG LIKE mist that the suspended roots will grow in.
It's highly complex ...like laboratory grade complex.
But your roots will love it

Budget Aero works like the turbo kloner...
Where sprinkler heads spray the root zone
causing root growth to excel.
you will need a manifold to hold the sprinkler heads in place to get even spray action

DWC is the next best option...
You get the speed of growth an open root zone.
Keep it simple -- with an air stone, net pot, an medium...
You can use coco...just keep it slightly above the water line....if you don't, the air stone bubbles will sink the coco through the net pots into the bucket.
Big mess.

Just use hydroton aka lava rocks ...
You don't get as fine of a root zone with it....but it's easy to use.

If you try to mix DWC with Aero ...
You will create a big goofy ass wannabee science project-- don't do it.
But hey, it's your money

Only rhe roots that are not in the water will become fluffy any that are in the water look normal.probably because its transporting water, soo a half half would be a waste of time

The style of DWC i have is kinda aero untill the roots are long enough to be underwater, dont need to top feed really, as it the water level is correct, the net pots get splashed with tiny droplet from the bubbless bursting on the surface:

This vid might give you some ideas:

Thats a normal dwc just costs more.its a basic bucket airstone

I just don’t see any negative effect, aside from possible roots not chasing the water as fast as they normally would but then again it wouldn’t be an issue considering you’re spraying them for the beginning , then letting the dwc take over after . I have an ez clone 128 site , and I typically have a full blown set of roots in 7-8 days with fresh cuttings . I assume same would go for from seed . I’ve put small rockwool cubes in a dwc bucket with hydroton and had it take 2-3 weeks for the roots to reach down and touch the water . The big advantage of autos and starting from seed vs a clone , is there will be a long tap root that will hunt for food .
I may just do a single bucket with aero , and dwc side by side vs just a dwc bucket and see what results I have from same strain - same everything to guarantee a controlled “experiment”

if I’m right though , we could see a much heavier yield based off the fact that aero is much faster .
I even contemplated doing a circular manifold , 3/4 of the way up the bucket - with angled misting nozzles - so that the would be less likely to clog the mani, and would be using both aero and dwc through the entire grow .
The aero would promote horizontal root growth while the dwc would promote vertical.

I normally use my turbo kloner for seedlings...
Once they pass the shell removal ...I collar them with a neoprene cut in half. The roots take off while the leafs fill in....
Once my roots are Aero fed to full length...I transfer to a 10" net pot filled with coco

I use great white shark to powder the root zone
An top feed until roots break thru the bottom of the net pot. Then I let the dwc take over from there.

Once roots break...they fill the water nice an full.
Then the dwc does the rest.
I continue to top feed teas-- all the way thru flower.
While i feed synthetic in the dwc

This is how I start seedlings from dwc only

Trap Star said:

I normally use my turbo kloner for seedlings...
Once they pass the shell removal ...I collar them with a neoprene cut in half. The roots take off while the leafs fill in....
Once my roots are Aero fed to full length...I transfer to a 10" net pot filled with coco

I use great white shark to powder the root zone
An top feed until roots break thru the bottom of the net pot. Then I let the dwc take over from there.

Once roots break...they fill the water nice an full.
Then the dwc does the rest.
I continue to top feed teas-- all the way thru flower.
While i feed synthetic in the dwc

View attachment 5404875

Click to expand...

That looks like expolosive root growth, how old is the plant in that pic?

It's called high pressure aeroponics

futurebanjo said:

That looks like expolosive root growth, how old is the plant in that pic?

Click to expand...

It's about week 4 veg...
7 days of Aero root growth
14 days of 10" net pot coco root growth
7 days of dwc root growth

If you want to grow lots of cannabis, I think you're better off working on the other end of the plant.

Get your grow to the point where you have 1000µmol of light and the plant will figure out how to grow roots. I grow in DWC and run my autos at 80 DLI or so. I get them to 1kµmol as soon as possible , running 24/0 through veg and then 20/4 or 19/5 or whatever to maximize DLI. Photos I've been able to run a little higher in veg, maxing out at 1150µmol.

Research shows that yield increases as PPFD increases, no surprise because that's how plants make food.

Trap Star said:

I normally use my turbo kloner for seedlings...
Once they pass the shell removal ...I collar them with a neoprene cut in half. The roots take off while the leafs fill in....
Once my roots are Aero fed to full length...I transfer to a 10" net pot filled with coco

I use great white shark to powder the root zone
An top feed until roots break thru the bottom of the net pot. Then I let the dwc take over from there.

Once roots break...they fill the water nice an full.
Then the dwc does the rest.
I continue to top feed teas-- all the way thru flower.
While i feed synthetic in the dwc

View attachment 5404875

Click to expand...

24days just hydro 60w of light

You usually max your ppfd at 900-1200 (strain dependant)after that you need co2 or plant gezs light bleach

I love how yours looks in big net pots i might start using them.in tiny pota i just get one fat and a few tiny

This is what the 10" coco net pot looks like

And this is how the small netpot looks like XD

Trap Star said:

I normally use my turbo kloner for seedlings...
Once they pass the shell removal ...I collar them with a neoprene cut in half. The roots take off while the leafs fill in....
Once my roots are Aero fed to full length...I transfer to a 10" net pot filled with coco

I use great white shark to powder the root zone
An top feed until roots break thru the bottom of the net pot. Then I let the dwc take over from there.

Once roots break...they fill the water nice an full.
Then the dwc does the rest.
I continue to top feed teas-- all the way thru flower.
While i feed synthetic in the dwc

View attachment 5404875

Click to expand...

I am a myco nut . This year I’ve ran dynomyco , great white , orca , Bigfoot , as well as recharge .. my outdoor plants have never been happier “most of which are in coco “ and hand watered several times daily .

i just thought this was a really cool idea , if it doesn’t work as expected , no big deal and I’m out some pex , and a few grommets and nozzles - if it does grow significantly faster side by side , then I feel like I’m onto something .

I use them in dwc different brand but same shit.and they continue to reproduce in water balance ph and stop root rot(trichoderma)

amneziaHaze said:

I use them in dwc different brand but same shit.and they continue to reproduce in water balance ph and stop root rot(trichoderma)

Click to expand...

What size containers would be a fair comparison , auto pot vs my dwc/aero in 5 gallon buckets ?

I have a 4 site fabric pot autopot system I was going to run side by side vs a single Dwc aero bucket - I ll be running autoflowers , side by side same strain .