How to get clones well started in a DWC

cobshopgrow

Well-Known Member
Just transplanted some clones to the final DWC they should grow in.
Before they had quite bad conditions, small clone bubbler for too long, small box,not much controlled ph and ec and also suboptimal nutes etc. but they re well alive and grew quite big in that time.

They are now in their final DWC,
PH 5.5-6.5 (absolute max values), EC is 1.3X, Water temp 71 (21,X Celsius).
Nutes used Maxigrow at 1g each Liter (40g on 40L) with pure RO Water, plus 6g Calcium Sulfate and 5g Magnesium Sulfate.

3x3 Tent with 250W CXB3590 Cobs, 2x 400l/h pumps, 4 airdiscs airstones, one small 2w pump to circulate the maintenance reservoir (atm running nonstop), 50l max usable reservoir.

I want to do my clones something good, leaves are hanging a bit, anything i can do more then wait?
The leaves show some problems from the bad eviroment before, maybe someone have a hint what they are missing (they where on low EC before, max 0.8 in total).
I want to get them in good condition and then start 12/12
 

Attachments

Last edited:

Organic Miner

Well-Known Member
So what I did that seemed to payoff is to add a top drip to each basket that will run water through the grow media and over the roots until the roots hit the water. This worked much better than manually watering them sever times a day. Either redirect your circulation pump to pour over the top, or add some drip sprinkler tubing to each basket splice off your pump. Your just auto wateri from the top. I'll see if I can dig up some old photos.
 

cobshopgrow

Well-Known Member
thank you for the tip,that would be pretty easy to diy a topfeed just fear that this isnt the problem for this.
They have a quite well established root system allready as they where much too long in the clone bubbler, there are is about 7-10" roots allready below them.
2 cuts where skyrocketing, they where closest to the airstone in the middle.
2 are smaller (still same cut batch) they where futher away.
But both have more then a handfull of roots hanging in the water, i could raise the water level also, but there is plenty in water.

There are quite clear calcium defficencies to see, those are probably cauxsed by the cheap generic fertilizer i used in low doses in the clone bubbler beside also using mostly RO water there.
I really have to get a feeling for this.

(Edit)
They suffer, problem is getting worse i will try to upload a picture.

EC is going down very slow, PH is at 6.1 right now had to add a bit ph- (GH powder)
Even i used pure RO, so looks like i should avoid any carbonates in the water, or not mixing tap water in.
I added calcium sulfate and magnesium sulfate at start with the maxigrow (40g magigrow, ca. 6g calcium sulfate 5g magnesium sulfate on 40l)
This gave me a EC of almost 1.4 , i topped of a half gallon RO Water (less then 2l) that lowered it 0.03 points, Plants seem to consume, 24h later i am at slight above 1.3 now, maybe a tad too low.
 
Last edited:

Bechnutnascar

Active Member
Idk about dwc but i had them white spots before and found it was root rot but i was growing in soil and it was to cold at the bottom of my box at the time.
 

cobshopgrow

Well-Known Member
i fear youre right, but that was really quick, less then 24h and i have some it seems, brewing bennie tea allready and infected the dwc with myko and bacto bennies, seems to help.
Thanks guys, those white spots are ph fluctuations or ...root rot
 

WeedFreak78

Well-Known Member
Ec seems a little high, I'm around 1.3 in peak flower with most strains . I'd back it off to 1.0-1.1 for a week. Does your PH go up, down or stay stable over a couple days? It should slowly go up. If its dropping, your EC is probably too strong. Try keeping PH between 5.8 -6.0, up to 6.2 in mid flower.

Your water temps are on the high side of the acceptable range, could be a bacterial issue in the reservoir, or possibly low O2 levels in the water. Or both, warm water doesn't hold as much O2, which can lead to bacterial issues.
 

cobshopgrow

Well-Known Member
it is pretty clearly root rot, luckily i had some bennies arround i threw in and imediately brewed a tea.
They recover astonishingly well, they show allready new healthy root grow, thanks to the heisenberg tea probably.
I threated them allread yone time with a tea as prevention when they where in the cloner before.

Have to say they where really happy with the EC, the EC was droppin slowly ( i measure contiunisly), roughly 0.05 down in a day.
PH is very stable, easy to handle, almost no ph- or ph+ (in my case the tap water) needed.

Yeah, temp is a concern, but wont be able to get it below room temp anyway, think the compost tea way will work for me
 
Top