Soilless mix vs DWC

The biggest difference is that DWC is less of a pain in the ass.

churchhaze said:

The biggest difference is that DWC is less of a pain in the ass.

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So u think dwc is easier if i was doing four plants ?

I think DWC is a pain in the ass so I switched to dirt. I just don't have time to babysit DWC. With soil I can leave for long weekends and everything is cool when I get back. I'm a shitty DWC grower so my soil yields always have been better than my DWC yields.

churchhaze said:

The biggest difference is that DWC is less of a pain in the ass.

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Completely agree. I went from soil and then coco, watering every day or two, to dwc, where i filled up a res once a week or even 2 weeks. Easiest way to grow for sure.

If you are having to babysit your dwc then you have something wrong in your setup, or you've been fooled into going along with the "this is a science i must poke it every hour" crowd.

My experience with dwc over soilless is faster growth, bigger roots, better yield, less work.

Depends on your growing situation. My room is in the basement where I don't have any drains. Walking or pumping waste water upstairs would be a pain in the ass.

To the OP, difference in growth is minimal, and probably comes down to the growers skill with either type of grow. Both systems, when well implemented, provide instantly available nutrients and lots of air to the roots.

Nitegazer said:

Depends on your growing situation. My room is in the basement where I don't have any drains. Walking or pumping waste water upstairs would be a pain in the ass.

To the OP, difference in growth is minimal, and probably comes down to the growers skill with either type of grow. Both systems, when well implemented, provide instantly available nutrients and lots of air to the roots.

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I had about a saucepan of wastewater a week. I opted to let my girls drink their water instead of putting it down the drain.

There is a learning curve to DWC which is ironic considering how simple a bucket and air stone is. Root rot and slime caused by light leaks, heat, putting the wrong shit in your res (organics), and not using bennies or sterilizers is the biggest issue. Rapid ph fluctuation is another common problem and can be caused by just about anything not being dialed in... because of this it is a prerequisite to have a ph pen (and calibrate frequently) or ph drops before fucking with DWC. There are a few things you really have to stay on your game with, but if you can keep them in check you shouldn't have problems... and it's really not hard or expensive.

no light leaks 100% dark or algae will form in about 24 hours.
temps - keep the water below 72* some say 68 is the ideal for DWC... too cold and you could slow growth too warm and roots can get mushy and microbes (slime) do better.
oxygen - air bubbles or a water pump shooting up like a fountain (aka flooming)
ph when everything is perfect should have a gentle upward swing around 5.6 - 6.2 and adjust back down when ph drifts higher. In reality, just try to keep the shit around 5.8
ppm should be kept pretty low... 600 - 800 for a full grown plant in mid bloom is typical. you want to dial in that sweet spot where the water/nutrient concentration stays the same as the plant drinks and eats. too much P and too high ppm are the most common problems I see or read about in this area.
Bennies - you need to run beneficial microbes like aquashield, pondzyme, heisenberg tea in DWC to suppress slime blooms and stimulate/fortify roots and some help with nutrient uptake. Some people use h2o2 or bleach, but that only works for prevention and can burn root hairs. I have never used sterilizers like that but some people say it slows root growth.
Organics - avoid them, use salt and mineral based nutes and foliar spray organics if you have to.

that's about it... not that hard but there is a learning curve; just things you find out from fucking up and having to fix it. the supposed benefit of DWC is faster growth which means plants get bigger in veg and flower which means bigger yield... it is a good method to scrog trees. I also consider the ability to change/fix nute/ph related issues instantly a benefit. I think both promix and dwc would both be pretty easy and low maintenance once you get dialed in. I started with DWC and tried coco hempy buckets a couple cycles... I wasn't impressed and in the end it ended up being more work for less yield because I was used to one thing and then completely changed to something different.

Good information, but not entirely accurate or essential. For example the whole sterilization thing. There is no requirement to run beneficial microbes. Pfft, i never even washed things with water let alone fancy chemicals.

As i say though, it's good information none the less, i just happened to grow in a KISS method and never had issues as a result.

fair enough if you don't have issues with brown slime / algae, for some people they can just keep the water dark and cold and never have issues... but there is a 300 page thread of DWC growers (including me) that do have issues and need something for pathogen control. I think a lot of it has to do with where you live and the microbial ecosystem or whatever in your local environment.

as far as kiss... pond-zyme is $15 at petco and petsmart and treats thousands of gallons of water. all you have to do is sprinkle a dash every few days. throw in a pinch when you check ph... easy.

Hydroburn said:

fair enough if you don't have issues with brown slime / algae, for some people they can just keep the water dark and cold and never have issues... but there is a 300 page thread of DWC growers (including me) that do have issues and need something for pathogen control. I think a lot of it has to do with where you live and the microbial ecosystem or whatever in your local environment.

as far as kiss... pond-zyme is $15 at petco and petsmart and treats thousands of gallons of water. all you have to do is sprinkle a dash every few days. throw in a pinch when you check ph... easy.

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Indeed. Its certainly to each their own. I just wrapped some buckets in aluminium tape and never gave anything another thought. Never once even considered checking red temp. Never had an issue other than one bout of springtails.

I've never checked res temp once either. I've even grown with translucent bins and the algae was annoying, but not fatal. Once taped up, no algae.

tip top toker said:

Indeed. Its certainly to each their own. I just wrapped some buckets in aluminium tape and never gave anything another thought. Never once even considered checking red temp. Never had an issue other than one bout of springtails.

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my ph pen tells me the temp.

If you wanna mess with PH and ppms by all means go DWC. Otherwise your other option would be soiless/coco and use a drip system like Blumats