please help, dont know if it'll work

well i wanted to start a sort-of journal but need help with hydro along the way. My dad made a "dwc" the other day, i think thats what its called. but i took some pictures and am going to describe how its supposed to work and i need some tips to help me out during the process of my plants growing. we just put seedlings in the hydroton filled cups yesterday 9-28-08

this is a pic of the blue box dwc


the bottom reservior is filled with idk how many gallons, maybe 3 or 4, of water of a ph level of 5.8 5.9ish and mixed with flora nova plant food.
the black cord is the water-pump's cord going inside one of the holes. the other hole is for the air-pump to run into the reservior


this is a pic of the inside of the top blue box, idk what to call it.
inside here, there is a hose leading from the water-pump through the top of the bottom blue box to the upper blue box through a hole. the end of that hose is clipped off and 6 smaller water hoses are led from the end of the hose. look at next pic


the 6 hoses are then ran inbetween the cups and the lid with a little insecion and led to each cup to either drip or constant water flow. after the water is pumped throgh the cups the water drains into the upper blue box and draned back into the reservior, and cycled over an over...


this is the entire grow room i have going on here and is just wanting help with the blue box setup if you will, but other tips towards the others will be fine. I have 4 4' flouresent bulbs and 2 cfls going. the flouresent are 2 daylight and 2 warm light as in the picture below. the orange corded cfl is a 150w and the yellow is a 100w.

these are the lights as described before ^^^

with the help of everyone please tell me whether i should be having constant waterflow over the plants or just dripping the cubes to stay moist?

also with the upper blue box does the cups need to be sitting in water or will the drippers take care of the roots getting water????

PLEASE HELPP!!

Ok, first off that isn't a DWC setup it's a drip system.. About the only question i can answer for you is about the feeding.. When the plants are young you can water for 15 minutes every 2 hours. As they get older you can feed more, and ONLY FEED when the lights are on! You should feed the hydroton and not the cubes. Keep the cubes moist bun not soaked. The roots will grow outta the cube looking for the nutrient in the Hydroton.. Hope this helps!

so, the rockwool isn't really what you gotta worry about?

also, how would wetting the hydroton(red rock) water the plants?

does it absorb water or something?

No, but you don't wanna overwater the plants when they are young.. You can hand water the cubes for a while till the roots come out. But don't soak the cubes, just keep them moist.. When the roots are out you water the hydroton so the roots will grow into it..

ahhh, see i didn't know that. so im going to hand water the 2'' cubes to keep the cubes moist then when the roots show through the rockwool i can start to use the drip system for 15 mins every 2 hrs?

also, i have the plants in 2'' cubes when do i switch to the 4? and when i do, do i hand water them still?

today, i am going to be spraying down my plants becuase apparently my babies in the soil have mites and shit like that. yesterday i sprayed them down to where they were soaked like the directions said and have had no problems...i have a product called fungicide, it kills mites,and other possible worries like fungus and stuff.

am i supposed to soak the plant to where they are dripping the chemicle off the leaves or will that harm my plants???

You should have used 1" cubes ideally. You will never transplant from here roots will grow through the rw and fill the net pot. You may want to switch to a solid wall pot with drain holes in the bottom to keep the root mass contained and allowing it to fully hydrate when you water via a top drip.

Or.......

To make this a DWC remove the lid wth the plants and install it on a rubbermaid tote that does not have holes.

Put three or four BIG airstones in it connected to an airpump sized to push four lge airstones via one or two small holes for air line out the lid.

Fill with water/nute soln so bottom half of net pots are submerged, turn on the air and voila.....DWC.

This might be less complex for you with the rw and the potential to overwater the seedlings. If the rw is soaked you prob need to gently squeeze out the excess or your plants could suffer or die as young as they are.

RW does not need to be watered every day at this stage so ONLY water the pebbles. You should only be able to squeeze a drop or two out of properly moistened rw-if you insist on sticking with drip then get some rapid rooters or starter plugs from the hydro shop. Do Not let those drip emitters spray freely over the rw.

good luck
OitW

what is rapid rooters and started plugs?

also before i really get started with this project...when the roots grow through the rw and rock and cup, are they fine just dangling there when the water isn't running on them or does it matter?

and come on people, all these views and no one helpin me out but 2 people

what is rapid rooters and started plugs?

Click to expand...

Rapid Rooters aka Starter Plugs-Rockwool substitute much harder to overwater and ph neutral.

when the roots grow through the rw and rock and cup, are they fine just dangling there when the water isn't running on them or does it matter?

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They should be fine-this is why i suggest solid side pots with top-drip. If they hang their and get too dry between watering it may slow growth----and fast vigorous growth is the main benefit of true DWC--not top drip (but don't get me wrong i top drip my mums and flood/drain in my flower room) But since DWC was your original intention just thought i would let you know. The big downside in DWC is a short power outage can cause major damage or cost you your crop.

Top Drip and solid sided pots will get you through a short power outage for sure

well i wasn't even thinking about that kind of stuff like the power outage and shit. so what do you think i could wrap around the sides of my cups so they would have solid walls?

and the rapid rooters and starter-plugs; i can get them at the hydro stores? such as general hydroponics...

The first time I grew I made the same exact type of system after seeing Stealth Hydros Version, and very similar to yours, but like the other guy said i put the lid with the plants directly over the resivoir with 4 big airstones in it. Like you I had basket pots and i feed them constantly with a drip emmitter at about 1 gallon per hour. I had great results, the only issue i had the first time was I didnt trim my plants and they were over crowded. And yes you can get rapid rooters at the grow shop

there you go----leave the submersible pump in the res but still fill with water and airstones and leave the drip lines run up tinto the net pot but instead of the micro spray at the end of the 1/4" tubing install a 1gph drip emitter (home depot or irrigation supply house) on the end and allow it to gently drip continuously through the hydroton pebbles so not to soak or even drip directly on the rw. as to wrapping the net pot--i dont know the bottom would need to be solid too with just a few drain holes. use the net pots and put the lid on a solid tub.

You have been growing soil??
Forgive me if you know this and/or already have this stuff
You need the following--no bullshit, to successfully do hydro:
TDS Meter
Ph Meter
35% or 50% h2o2---packaged as SuperOxyh2o2 in the hydro shops where i am.
High Quality 2 or 3 part Synthetic Nutes-Use what you like, I use Dutch Master Gold-Grow Formula for veg period---h2o2 will not work with organics.
Check out the stuff in Al B FaQt thread it will answer alot of hydro questions often times over and over again because people either don't bother to read up on hydro or they don't retain what they read. and of course don't be afraid to ask questions. good luck

Hey also check out get a harvest every 2 weeks thread. Alot of us here have modeled our ops after this and in my opinion perpetual crops are the way to go. wouldnt you rather wait 2 wweeks for your next batch of puff rather than 15. the thing to remember is it can be 4 plants or 400 only difference is in one extreme you harvest 1 plant eevery 2 weeks and the other harvests 100--still smoke every two weeks is very nice.

You are also going to need an HPS light for a flower area floros will not produce good thick, heavy, sticky nugs, nugs yes but the difference is like a moped and a ducati monster they both have two wheels but.........nuff said. The floros you have will be perfect to do your seedlings, clones and tightly pruned-even bonsai or pseudo bonsai mums. Happy reading......

so after i put the lid with the plants on it over the reservior with the pump, im supposed to fill up the reservior up to the bottom of the hydroton in the net pots??

Old in the Way said:

Hey also check out get a harvest every 2 weeks thread. Alot of us here have modeled our ops after this and in my opinion perpetual crops are the way to go. wouldnt you rather wait 2 wweeks for your next batch of puff rather than 15. the thing to remember is it can be 4 plants or 400 only difference is in one extreme you harvest 1 plant eevery 2 weeks and the other harvests 100--still smoke every two weeks is very nice.

You are also going to need an HPS light for a flower area floros will not produce good thick, heavy, sticky nugs, nugs yes but the difference is like a moped and a ducati monster they both have two wheels but.........nuff said. The floros you have will be perfect to do your seedlings, clones and tightly pruned-even bonsai or pseudo bonsai mums. Happy reading......

Click to expand...

well i'd like to get one as soon as i can, how many watts would it be good for 1 plant for now? i want to bud one of my soil plants soon enough here in the next month, then i am going to switch over to some high wattage....

i also have a 1/2 gal/hr drippers so i think i'll switch to those, i didn't think about using those. but anyways, is the lights you see in my setup well bright enough for my growroom?

Yes fill up res to at or just below your net pots--you must have air stones running.

Yes your floros are fine for seedlings, clones and veg growth as long as you can keep it 4-5 inches from the plants without generating too much heat.
400w HPS will do a 3x3 area
600w HPS- 4x4
1000w HPS- 5x5
Try for 40-50watts per square foot for your flower area---that will produce great buds. I guess you could even do a 250watt over a 2x2 DWC or drip set-up.
The bigger the lamp the more efficient it runs--dollars to lumens that is--on your light bill and at the hydro shop. also the 1/2 gph emitters sound good.

check out my grow journal link in this message.. I'm doing a DWC but sorta different, some might call it aeroponic, or bubbleponics. I keep the res water a few inches from the bottom of the pots so the bubbles breaking splashes droplets of nutrient onto the roots and pots..

ok, yesterday i sprayed my soil grown plants down with that garden safe fungicide, the leaves still look pretty horid and am wondering if the spray is supposed to kill the bugs fast and heal the plants or should i continue with the directions on the spray which says to spray til they drip off the leaves for a 2 week period(possibly 3). Take a look at my leaves below and please tell me if those are mites because if not, i need to be doing something different


anyone please try to help me with the above, almost everyone looks at my thread and ignores it....

Anyways, back to my bluebox dripper...Today i put 1/2gph drippers and am wondering if they need to be on constantly now? or when the roots start showing through the rockwool what should i set my timers on for and stuff..right now, there is distelled water in the reservior and the drippers are for 3 times a day for 15 mins. is that enough with dripping on the hydroton or not?
dripper #1 ^^^
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/regionaldragon/S6300590.jpg
dripper #3^^^, dripper #2 is like directly close and front of the camera, i have no plants in right now, the dripper was hard to get settled in at the moment, but will continue that later when roots in plants start to show.

dripper #4^^^

dripper #5^^^^^

dripper #6^^^

I am going to be starting another journal for my emily's garden, are ya'll are more than welcome to go to the website for it and help me out along the way....

come on people help me out

those bigger leaves you were showing up top are suffering from a PH problem.

i like the way your system is running though i may try something like it in the future