~Best quick and cheap Hydro set-up

HiOnHydro

Well-Known Member
So here's the thing... i have all the basic materials for a DWC... including a 2.5'x2.5'x4' grow box... my question is was it the cheapest and best way to get a DWC set=up up and going... i'm more looking for timelines of how long til i place the rockwool in my net pots... to when should i begin using my nutes... as well as how i want my rock wool to be set-up in the net pot...

Now i know this sounds a little rediculous to ask... but i have attempted a couple of times with this and not had any successful results and i am trying to find out where i am gonig wrong...

i am hoping to find a lot of different growers insights so i can really narrow down my problem.. the reson i named the thread as i did was because that is what my set-up is... good supplies but far from the best...

Thanks in advance for any of those who can help...
 

HiOnHydro

Well-Known Member
Not one person willing to give a bit of advice? dont have to give all the answers... any would be nice...
 

2cimdma

Well-Known Member
The cheapest way to set up DWC? 5 gallon bucket=3-5 dollars. 3-6"net=.75-3 dollars. air pump= 5 dollars for smallest at walmart. airstone=1-2 dollars. rock wool=depends what and how much you need. hydroton=depends on how much ya need. nutes=once again depends. lighting system=a couple hundered. beautiful weed in a few months=priceless. I put the seeds in rockwool straight from paper towel. I dont give them nuts for the first 2 weeks or so and when I do start its extremly little.
 

HiOnHydro

Well-Known Member
The cheapest way to set up DWC? 5 gallon bucket=3-5 dollars. 3-6"net=.75-3 dollars. air pump= 5 dollars for smallest at walmart. airstone=1-2 dollars. rock wool=depends what and how much you need. hydroton=depends on how much ya need. nutes=once again depends. lighting system=a couple hundered. beautiful weed in a few months=priceless. I put the seeds in rockwool straight from paper towel. I dont give them nuts for the first 2 weeks or so and when I do start its extremly little.
Thanks for the response... how long do you usually wait to put the rockwool in the bucket? because all i keep reading is put it in a 1/4" or so of water in a humidity until there is root developement... but how much root developement should there be before i put it on the hydrotron in the bucket?

And in the bucket how much of the hydrotron/rockwhool should be submerged under water?
 

Tronica

Well-Known Member
advice?

don't use rockwool on your first grow.

bubbleponics - DWC and ebb/flow gardens are the easiest hydro setups.
 

2cimdma

Well-Known Member
Tronica sounds like a place I use to live. Tonica.

Anyways I put the rockwool in buckets as soon I put the seed in the rockwool. I fill the bucket pretty high with water. The rockwool will stay damp. The air stones will make bubbles and when the bubble rise they pop at the surface. The popped bubbles spray the water on the hydroton. The hydroton gets wet which in turn dampens the rockwool. I dont worry to much about the humidity. I think that humidity rises through the hydroton and past the little weed. I dont know what you would use if not rock wool besides coco coir. I have never used coco coir so I dont know anything about that. For rock wool I use the little grow plug things that are round and about 1 1/2 inches tall. Then normaly I move then into the bigger blocks. But on some plants I have them in the little plugs that I started them in. Also I have a bucket with lid. In the lid I took a hole saw and cut (3) 3" holes in it and put in 3" nets. This is what I use to start my plants off in as well as clones. Once I can see the roots they get moved to a 6" net and their own bucket.
 

HiOnHydro

Well-Known Member
thanks for the post 2cimdma... +rep.
my final question is... i don't want my net pot/ hydrotron tin the water i want to let the bubbles do the work on getting the proper water and moisture?
 

2cimdma

Well-Known Member
Yep thats right. Most people will say you want to keep the water about 1" from the bottom of the net. Eventually it wont matter your roots will all be in the water. But I do myself tend to keep the water about an 1" from the bottom but I do it mainly for bug control issues. I was attacked by gnats so I use mosquito dunks and they work great. But if I let the water get to low in the res there will sometimes be gnats back in there. But when I keep the water about 1" off the net then it seems to be a lot more efficiant and it takes care of the gnats. Also I use 20ml H2O2(3%) per liter of water for protection against root rot. I add it about every 5 days or so.
 

winkdogg420

Well-Known Member
the faq on this site works way better than the search feature you should spend a few hours looking through then ask for very specific help . just asking about everything is lazy ..would you like us to stop by and grow it for you as well? the best way to learn is by doing , that way your doing it all by yourself so if you run into a problem you know how to fix it!

not trying to be rude but if you put in the time soon you will be helping out the next new guy ..

hope this helps

winkdogg
 

HiOnHydro

Well-Known Member
the faq on this site works way better than the search feature you should spend a few hours looking through then ask for very specific help . just asking about everything is lazy ..would you like us to stop by and grow it for you as well? the best way to learn is by doing , that way your doing it all by yourself so if you run into a problem you know how to fix it!

not trying to be rude but if you put in the time soon you will be helping out the next new guy ..

hope this helps

winkdogg
i have had a few unsuccessful attempts with my DWC grow so i was looking for peoples timelines and conditions to compare to what i was doing to find out where i went wrong... And i was able to find out a few areas i went wrong in...
I did the research first and then tried a few times myself... so i dont really think i m asking anyone to grow anything for me...
 

winkdogg420

Well-Known Member
i guess it was a little harsh and i appologize for that but i just see too many people trying to take the easyway out .. like i was saying i think you learn more by doing but if the answers you need were not coming to you through your trials then i guess ask away!

if i had more expierence in dwc i would try to help but im a soil guy i think i should master that before trying hydro:)



i have had a few unsuccessful attempts with my DWC grow so i was looking for peoples timelines and conditions to compare to what i was doing to find out where i went wrong... And i was able to find out a few areas i went wrong in...
I did the research first and then tried a few times myself... so i dont really think i m asking anyone to grow anything for me...
 

HiOnHydro

Well-Known Member
i guess it was a little harsh and i appologize for that but i just see too many people trying to take the easyway out .. like i was saying i think you learn more by doing but if the answers you need were not coming to you through your trials then i guess ask away!

if i had more expierence in dwc i would try to help but im a soil guy i think i should master that before trying hydro:)
I understand where you are coming from about taking the easy way out... but i have done my research but im missing the fine tuning...see soil has been my thing i have a couple good soil grows under my belt but i want to learn DWC... ive been try for a while 2 failed attempts and this attempt i was on i went from 3 to 1... so i was thinking of starting over...
 

winkdogg420

Well-Known Member
for now im sticking with soil but im going micro as soon as my big girls finish ! way more bud in way less space!http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=69713&pp=15
here is a link to drbudgreengenes check it out! a new way of thinking about pot plants!

up to 2grams per watt so far!


I understand where you are coming from about taking the easy way out... but i have done my research but im missing the fine tuning...see soil has been my thing i have a couple good soil grows under my belt but i want to learn DWC... ive been try for a while 2 failed attempts and this attempt i was on i went from 3 to 1... so i was thinking of starting over...
 

HiOnHydro

Well-Known Member
for now im sticking with soil but im going micro as soon as my big girls finish ! way more bud in way less space!http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=69713&pp=15
here is a link to drbudgreengenes check it out! a new way of thinking about pot plants!

up to 2grams per watt so far!
I actually just harvested my last soil plant today! so it freed up the space for more time devotion on learning DWC for now til the next batch of girls!
 

HiOnHydro

Well-Known Member
see i was hoping this thread could be used for people wanting to try and start up a cheap DWC grow with good results... because as i read into things about DWC i became more interested and had limited funding and all my research on materials seemed expensive... so i went to places like home depot wal-mart zellers to find the closest to what i found online but cheapest supplies i could just to get my feet a bit wet before i truly invest into attempting hydro rather than soil... anyways where i was getting at is i think this could help a lot of newbs to hyrdo, like myself, learn cheap and easy set-ups (or beginnners guides if you will) to get results so we would have something to invest into and build off of...
 
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