My First DWC Grow w/ Short Rider from Nirvana

a pH meter is a must, you can do it without a ppm meter

Ya I don't use a ppm meter and I only slightly burned my plants once, but you just have to get a feel for what your plants require. A pH meter, though, is absolutely necessary.

I thought your DIY or somewhere someone said the ph color chart check is fine for now. CAn I still use that? or do I have to get a ph meter?

Oh yeah the strips will be just fine.

K... well then goood... that means I should be able to SAVe these plants then...I AM THINKING POSITIVE!!! THEY WILL!

I am going to store today to get water pump, they only have 160 and 230 or 250 as the lowest size pumps.... I dont want to go under, so I will get slightly bigger one which is only 5 dollars more. I will also buy the neccessary accessories needed to hook it up to a 3 DWC container system.

PH is now being checked daily. As per ff nute schedule i added big bloom in. I only did 12 1/4 tsp just to be on safe side.

BTW I have dark brown color roots in some spots! thats bad! I know .... so what do I do? I am suppose to cut it and remove it correct?

Just to re confirm, water levels is suppose to be apx 2 inchs below net pots after roots have already established in the water?

smartguy345 said:

I thought your DIY or somewhere someone said the ph color chart check is fine for now. CAn I still use that? or do I have to get a ph meter?

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I said the TEST STRIPs are just fine, I used them on my first 5 grows.

You're the one that said you was looking to buy a combo ppm- pH meter and I agreed with you, but said the pH meter is more preferable..

No, someone was under assumption I was not checking my ph at all, not you roseman.. However today i purchased me the HAnna PH meter! YAY!!! I checked my faucet water which is 7.5-8.5 ph. I checked my current ph of my dwc, it was 6.6... it increased a little so I had dropped it down and my meter was readin 5.3-5.5 So that is hopefully not to terrible of a ph drop.

Well i went to the hydroponics store, and they dont have all the neccessary stuff needed for a drip line when using the pump. He said you can get results without, and for now I am just going to do without the water pump. When I showed the pic of the roots, yes they were quite undelevoped...however, giving it straight water then nutes... man I had a serious root growth burst! I mean more healthy roots then ever before!

PLants are doing GREAT! Thanks for all who have and still been helping. I sure do hope they autoflower, as I hate to have to make a flower room sooner then anticpated. I am really pleased how the plants came back to life better then ever! I look forward to them getting better, and hope this is last time they go thru that stress.

Will include pics when I get camera...

K ph was a little high again today, however I brought it back down... So far it is doing really really good. As far as the brown roots go, do I just remove that?

I ask because I have so much new roots, that I hate for it to effect them in any way. I really want to show you guys the pics of the roots as they are crazY! Temps were kind of high, but that could be perhaps cause i was checking water temps and ph with exposed to light=heat.

Anyways, so far so good, will keep you posted.

No cam, but ph is at 5.7 and still doing great... will keep posted. temps are 67 F

You're really on the right track now bro.

Oh yes it is... After purchasing my ph meter... I have been checking it like 2 - 3 times daily. Just to make sure it was accurate I checked it using 7.01 solution, and it read 7.1 so its good.

I notice the ph during veg. always goes up... I am thinking that the ph was too high at one point and as a result caused a lockout....Because these plants have roots that are crazy! Ph today was apx 5.8 I dropped it down to 5.3. Temps are 68 F for water. Current temps in grow are apx 68-78 so very ideal.

Everything is doing great now and I look forward to flushing out and addin nutes soon! I am wondering should I go with full strength this time or what? I did get a lil nute burn but not sure if that is from the big bloom...

When adding nutes, is it possible to add some later after I changed the water? For instances I only with 1/2 tsp per gallon when I change water, but then 2 days later add another 1/2 per gallon to see how they react? If i follow fox farms schedule using exact measurements my plants will get bad nute burn

Starting Nutes Post # 10395

- Drain and Replinish # 10395

PH is 5.8 after reading post by roseman, which I still neeed to read again sO i can understand fully about adding and changing water and nutes. Anyways, after reading the post, I decided not to change the ph... as it is in its ideal range... and ph goes up and down when plants eat the nutes...

Roots are looking great! I mean big difference... they are branching out like crazy! Will include pics when I get camera!

smartguy345 said:

Bump?

Seriously.... I thought I have more input on this by now...

Will the lead be a issue for the water?

As well is there anything I am missin in the equation, that I may need to add?

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To the best of my knowledge and experience in a Zinc Refinery lead (Pb) is not soluable in water but will disolve slightly in weak sulphuric acid over time.

Looks like your efforts will pay off in the long run, good luck with your first crop!

So after stunt growth, its been about 4.5 weeks, I will give i 1.5 weeks at least before considering to placing it in a flowering area to start flowering. I guess I should prepare for the worst, if it does not autoflower what should I do.. As I can not switch lights to 12/12 with my young plants which are too young to produce anything really..

Tomorrow I will be adding more water to res, along with nutes. I am going to start adding more untill I see it suffering from too much nutes. Plants are doing great, one is really bushy, other two kinda stretchy, and I am considering doing some training to help them out. Still not sure if they are all females though, looks like I will at least get 1 female though!

scribed.

gotta catch up on reading it though.

thanks for subscribing plants are doing really really good, I am tonight, going to change water and add nutes, I hope i can find my measurement sppons. Anyways I will be going off of the foxfarms schedule and may reduce nutes. Still concerned if I should go ahead and start 12/12 since it is not showing any signs of flowering, but that could of been due to stress... Temps and ph are within ideal range. new plants are doing great, although not related to the dwc, so I wont get into that. That can be seen in my other journal which obvisouly is still active. The journal is listed in my sig.

Really hope to provide pics tonight or tomorrow! still waitin on camera

Ok i added 2 tsp per gallon of big bloom rather then 1 tablespoon. I did one tsp per gallong of tiger bloom. although ff says more on there site, my plants are getting nute burn and its not even at full strength. so I want to be extra cautious. I have gradually worked up to where I am at now, and I hope that it wont be to bad. Ph is at 5.7 temps on water kinda high but they always are after changing will drop once lights turn off. Roots are looking great. It is starting to smell skunky..may have to add that carbon filter soon!

When I changed the water I really did a good flush making sure I got what was in the bottom and and anything on the walls building up.. I use a little bit of H202 solution to help, will include pics later.

Well today is apx 12 hours after water change. I think the plants love it! I noticed one grew a lil bit. Well next time I change water I will possibly follow full ff nute schedule. I think they are handling it well, the water is kinda grayish color from one of nutes solution, nevertheless, they are loving it and showing healthy signs...will post pics, someone was suppose to bring me camera yesterday never did.

So I went to check on my plants, and I noticed they looked overwatered again! My fault but I think the water levels were to high. I drained it out enough to where it was last time when it was doing great. To give you a idea It is about 4-5 inches away from bottom of net pot. Roots are pretty long about a foot long. I am going to check back on it to see if that helps. I also sprayed plain ph water to help... I check the ph it was at 6.1 and I dropped it to like 5.6.