DIY 3 Gallon Rubbermaid DWC

Swale84 said:

Diggity- Quick question about my seedlings. They have now been in dirt for 2 weeks, although I am sure they have experienced some stunted growth. I was wondering when you transfer them from soil to the net pots. I am going to use your method of transfer. I'm just not sure if my seedlings are still too small. I am hoping they take off in my DWC setup. They haven't changed much since the last pictures i posted on my grow journal, if you want to check them out. I would just hate to ruin them, then have to start over from seeds. Thanks a lot +rep!

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I just transferred 6 babies into one of these tubs last night, all of them about 7 days old.

The method is easy...

You'll need to have your netpots, hydroton or whatever ready along with a bowl of water.

Just dig your finger down into the soil about 1-2" away from the sprout and loosen up the soil. Keep loosening it up until you can pull the plant out of the soil with minimum effort, as in, if you have anything more than slight resistance, loosen up the soil even more.

As soon as you have the plant free from the soil, swirl the roots around in that bowl of water to get as much soil off of the roots as possible.

Then just dangle a tiny bit of the roots through the bottom of the netpots and fill with hydroton being careful not to damage your babies. Throw 'em in the tub and you're ready to rock and roll.

Remember to use nutes at 1/4 strength until they get at least their 4th set of leaves and then bump them up to 1/2 strength.

Hope this helpls.

Diggity--Your help has been priceless! Just got my girls in their new home today. If you wanna check them out just click on my grow journal link! Appreciate all the help....hopefully they take off for me!

this is looking great! keep us updated

Diggity,
Nice work. What do you think about using this as a cloner and eventual veg box until they can flower in an ebb and flow?

I'm trying to decide on a method for my clones to sprout and grow while they wait to go to the flood table. I was thinking I could do the sprout with neoprene, when I have roots put them in the net pot with hydroton, and then when time to flower, take the net pot into the square pots which sit in my ebb n flow?

Thanks for sharing

Most impressive brother! how much dry harvest do you pull off each gal?

I tried rockwool and it sucks so your saying I can go straight from soil to hydro? I may consider that since I have a weak system working right now. Check out my threads and tell me what you thing Diggity.

nice im gonna be making a few of these soon when i get a chance

what bulbs r u gona be using?

Reading this thread from start to finish has made it very easy to understand the process, especially with all the pics. Thanks Diggity!

you think a 400 watt would be enough for a single tub with 5 plants?

n00604173 said:

you think a 400 watt would be enough for a single tub with 5 plants?

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400W what? CFL MH or HPS. I would go with the MH for veg in this bucket but if you plan to have some big plants your going to want about 5gal res per plant under a HPS. The bigger the res the larger the yeild as long as you use all the propper tools.

400w switchable. i'd use mh for veg and hps for flower. it's an 18 gallon res. what kind of nutes do you use?

n00604173 said:

400w switchable. i'd use mh for veg and hps for flower. it's an 18 gallon res. what kind of nutes do you use?

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I did use General Hydroponics years ago but now I'm using Tiger Bloom and Grow Big from Fox Farms. Be sure and add a micro nutrient. I use vegan tea. I might have pictures of everything I use somewhere. I'll be right back with pictures.

cool. thanks man

This is what I use along with Thrive Alive B1 in the Red bottle.

The root juice is just for clones.

If you use this in an AeroGarden your really going to have to dumb down the nute strength.

I prefer the organics of Fox Farm over the chemicals in the General Hydroponics.

diggitydank420 said:

Let the silicone cure for at least 24 hours just to be certain and you're done!

Just hook up your air tube to the outside and you're ready to bubble!

I would love to hear any feedback and/or suggestions for version 3

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hello sir,
i would like to build a system like this ,
but i really dont know why should i need a tube by the side of the box like yours...

you dont have to have that, it's just a water level indicator. lets you know how much water's in the tub w/o havin to open it up

n00604173 said:

you dont have to have that, it's just a water level indicator. lets you know how much water's in the tub w/o havin to open it up

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haha...i see..i have thought it a long time....

are you in hongkong? i've heard they've got gnarly tough marijuana laws over there

n00604173 said:

are you in hongkong? i've heard they've got gnarly tough marijuana laws over there

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yes,if you r busted..............