Outdoor DWC!!

PumpedUpKicks

Well-Known Member
So, i had a few plants that i started under a T-5 and veg'd for about a month. I had the feeling they weren't gonna be huge producers, so i decided they'd be the perfect plants for an outdoor DWC experiment. I don't plan on using a chiller, so i buried the buckets to keep them cool. Only 3 inches sticks out. It got about 80 out today and the bucket temps stayed at 65 all day!

What should i do? I know if i let the temps get above 70, they'll just have all sorts of other problems, but if i let the temps stay at 65, will this be an issue? What does RIU think?
 

smokin away

Well-Known Member
Nice idea. I had some buckets I was going to use but I didn't want anyone to see them. Used buckets before but not with any equipment above ground. The plants did well in temps over 90 degrees. I just never considered the temperature of the bucket ever. I was more concerned with how much light they would receive. I wish I knew about DW because rain is real scarce this year.:hump:
 

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WayBaked

Active Member
noob here with something similar going on,
Whats DW?
sucks having to make water runs
Deep Water Culture (DWC) is a hydroponic method of plant production by means of suspending the plant roots in a solution of nutrient-rich, oxygenated water.
 

PumpedUpKicks

Well-Known Member
Yea, its a decent idea in theory, but I don't think the low temp is good for the plant. I am pretty sure ar 65 deg, the plant is locked out of certain nutrients. Hoping someone with some wisdom on the subject can correct me if I'm wrong...
 

WayBaked

Active Member
"Reservoir Temperature

The temperature of the nutrient solution should stay between 60-75 F (15-24 C). However, nutrient solution will hold much more oxygen at 60 F (15 C) than it will at 75 F (24 C). Never let the nutrient solution temperature climb above 85 F (29 C). Above 85 F (29 C), the solution holds little oxygen. Roots are easily damaged by temperatures 85 F (29 C) and above. Heat-damaged roots are very susceptible to rot, wilts, and fungus gnat attacks."

- Cervantes, Jorge. marijuana Horticulture The Indoor/Outdoor MEDICAL Grower's Bible. Van Patten Publishing, 2006. Print. (pg. 305-307)
 

PumpedUpKicks

Well-Known Member
Right on, tyvm. I guess ill leave it and see how they do until I have an issue. Ill keep posting pic updates every week or so if you wanna see the results. They arent big at all, but I already started giving them flowering nutes, so I can harvest them at the beginning of sept.
 

PumpedUpKicks

Well-Known Member
These two ladies are Critical Kush. Let's see how they like the NW summer :)

It's worth noting that i topped these once, so there should be a couple of main colas on each (if they survive). I'll try to update pretty often, but I have no idea what'll happen with these, so we'll see. Keeping my fingers crossed.
 

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smokin away

Well-Known Member
I was viewing a video on you-tube about DWC. In the video it stated that one could use bottles of water frozen in fridge to control water temp. I'm just assuming this but what if one could monitor water temperature in the bucket. Then place a bag of ice down a hole along side the bucket to control temps during hot weather. I've never even considered my bucket temperature. This may at least answer your question and hopefully supply an option. :bigjoint:
 

PumpedUpKicks

Well-Known Member
So, just to update you guys, i went balls-deep with my idea. I decided to move these two plants into a 10 site RDWC with 8 new clones. I dug a big trench and buried the entire system to keep it cool. It's kept the temps at roughly 68 during the day and about 65 at night. It's been perfect temps, but still having to stay on top of the bug situation. Here's a 2 week snapshot of the plants:

First day: 2013-07-24 15.07.01.jpg2013-07-24 15.08.15.jpg

End of Week 1: 2013-08-01 10.30.37.jpg2013-08-01 10.32.42.jpg

End of Week 2: 2013-08-08 16.53.56.jpg2013-08-08 16.52.34.jpg
 

PumpedUpKicks

Well-Known Member
Ty! So far, so good, but we will see if i can make it to the end of flower without any major issues. Keeping my fingers crossed.
 

Lemon king

Well-Known Member
nice results so far farmer!!

1> how are you changing the res? or are you letting it run dry? they look like 5 gall buckets with 10" net lids, which gives you only 2-3 gal actual res, soon if there not already they will drink all of that in one day!

2> i see temps arent much of an issue this run but if you do it again, im thinking wrapping an insulation product around the pots before they go in, (thinking along the lines of a cool box?) maybe this would lower temps enough to increase growth even more!

3> do you have a box around your air pump or is that it in the plastic bag?? if it is in the plastic bag i would take it out the pump needs air too and needs to be kept cool, hot pumps seem to pump in hot air...

great looking plants so far mate, it would be interesting next run to do a dwc vs planted straight in the dirt. i predict the dirt one would be bigger.

did you notice slow growth under the t5's? i found that lower light in dwc buckets does NOT take advantage of the point of using dwc.....

again nice plants keep the updates comming! i just hope the extra work compared to planting straight in the dirt pays off!!
 

ambedexteras

Well-Known Member
very nice man. the babies look awesome. DWC and scrog outdoor man
good thinking. my cousin has a DWC like 30 gallons and the plant is a monster
and in yrs of seeing ppl grow he was the first person i saw with a DWC outdoor.
but yours look really good man.

and damn that last shot. those clones fucking took off with growth huh?
 

Krabby

Active Member
Your garden is looking really good, trying RDWC for the first time myself, indoors, hoping to get similar results.
 

PumpedUpKicks

Well-Known Member
Your garden is looking really good, trying RDWC for the first time myself, indoors, hoping to get similar results.
This is my first time running flower in DWC, so if you wanna learn from my mistakes, just keep track of this thread! Haha. I hope you're using a beneficial bacteria product in your rez, the plants go ape-shit with that stuff!


very nice man. the babies look awesome. DWC and scrog outdoor man
good thinking. my cousin has a DWC like 30 gallons and the plant is a monster
and in yrs of seeing ppl grow he was the first person i saw with a DWC outdoor.
but yours look really good man.

and damn that last shot. those clones fucking took off with growth huh?
Yea, the clones grew from 5 inches to 5 feet in roughly 30 days...even i wasn't expecting that.


nice results so far farmer!!

1> how are you changing the res? or are you letting it run dry? they look like 5 gall buckets with 10" net lids, which gives you only 2-3 gal actual res, soon if there not already they will drink all of that in one day!

2> i see temps arent much of an issue this run but if you do it again, im thinking wrapping an insulation product around the pots before they go in, (thinking along the lines of a cool box?) maybe this would lower temps enough to increase growth even more!

3> do you have a box around your air pump or is that it in the plastic bag?? if it is in the plastic bag i would take it out the pump needs air too and needs to be kept cool, hot pumps seem to pump in hot air...

great looking plants so far mate, it would be interesting next run to do a dwc vs planted straight in the dirt. i predict the dirt one would be bigger.

did you notice slow growth under the t5's? i found that lower light in dwc buckets does NOT take advantage of the point of using dwc.....

again nice plants keep the updates comming! i just hope the extra work compared to planting straight in the dirt pays off!!
Firstly, ty! To answer your ?'s:

1. Every week, i've been pumping all of the water out, refilling it and running it for a bit, then pumping out again, so that i can start with fresh filtered water. I have a float valve in the control bucket that i ran a 1/4" water line to, so it constantly refills as they drink. I just go out and add nutes based on what the PPM reads. I've been having to add a TON of nutes tho. I went through an entire concentrate bottle of bloom nutes in 1 week...

2. I'm more worried about the temps being more on the cold side, than anything else. I bought an aquarium heater to make sure the temps don't dip below 62. I'd say the average temp is 66, which is pretty much perfect for growth.

3. The white 5 gallon bucket is the air pump housing. I drilled a bunch of 1" holes in a 5 gallon bucket and turned it upside down to protect the air pump from rain. I also lined the inside of the bucket with several layers of a very fine garden liner to keep dirt and other crud out of it. Seems to work just fine, but i will definitely put more planning into the air pump next time around. Seems like it was getting extremely hot when the plants weren't big enough to provide it with shade. It still didn't affect the water temps.

I don't think the plants would have done as well in the dirt. I could be wrong, but if the roots have unlimited resources and suitable temps, i don't see how dirt would even compare! I could be wrong tho, i don't have much experience growing...

The T5's were really slow, but i just wanted a low budget way to veg some mothers. I couldn't even run the ppm past 400 bc the lights weren't providing them with enough energy.
 
I'm feeling your grow! Very nice and your res temps are great, don't trip. Are all your girls Critical Kush? Nice strain to pick for an outdoor grow. Keep up the good work!
 

meetjoeblow

Well-Known Member
I've been thinking about doing this for years my situation just doesn't allow it. What was the final yield. And you should try neem oil for the bugs.
 
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