first dwc grow and plants look terrible help!

my ph is at 5.8 and did "general hydroponics" brand nutes and i have the water touching the first layer or two of hydroton in the net pots. the roots i put on the first couple layers of hydroton that are touching the water. i have 6 23w 6500k and 2 23w 2700k cfls that are about 9-12 inches away from the fan, i have a 12'' air stone from wally world in each of my totes.

plants are almost completely yellow and are wilting away is what it looks like...

i dont have a ppm reader so i dont know what it is.

any info will help! it looks like they only have about a couple days MAYBE and they will be dead.

You need a PPM meter dude get on that ASAP !!! if roots are touching the water then lower water maybe you might be over watering them .. I put my water level very close to the bottom of the net pot or just touching the bottom. Maybe some more bubbles one 12'' air stone seems like its not enough depending on the size of your tote . Also go really light on the nutes I use the same GH nutes and a couple other GH products and in early veg you want to go real light 1/4 strength on nutes maybe.

i only did 2 caps 2 caps and 1 cap full instead of tablespoons per gallon that they recommended...
ill try taking some water out so that the water is just barely touching the bottom of the net pots and ill find a ppm meter somewhere. any ideas where to get them? all the dro shops are like at least an hour away, would walmart or lowes or homedepot or even greeneries have them?

robertandrillo said:

i only did 2 caps 2 caps and 1 cap full instead of tablespoons per gallon that they recommended...
ill try taking some water out so that the water is just barely touching the bottom of the net pots and ill find a ppm meter somewhere. any ideas where to get them? all the dro shops are like at least an hour away, would walmart or lowes or homedepot or even greeneries have them?

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No just the grow shops or online. What I learned in DWC you need to focus on PPM, PH, Reservoir Temps and to make sure you are not getting any light into your reservoir I dont use totes I use 5 gal water coolers. Also whats the temp of your reservoir?

yeah meter is a must also When in doubt, Flush it out. Maybe just some phd water for a day or so would help It has honestly worked wonders in my times of need especially if they are young

NO PPM METER ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? thats you problem get your self a meter.

krisko said:

NO PPM METER ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? thats you problem get your self a meter.

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Yeah what he said! It's vital to ANY HYDRO grow. Get one dude post your PPM, PH and Reservoir temps here and then some of the experienced growers will help you diagnose your problem..

robertandrillo said:

i only did 2 caps 2 caps and 1 cap full instead of tablespoons per gallon that they recommended...
ill try taking some water out so that the water is just barely touching the bottom of the net pots and ill find a ppm meter somewhere. any ideas where to get them? all the dro shops are like at least an hour away, would walmart or lowes or homedepot or even greeneries have them?

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Sorry but this is not a game of horseshoes.

A cap is not a measuring device and that's teaspoons per gallon and not tablespoons.

With DWC/hydro/aero you need to be able to measure and record ph, ppm, res temp. amb temp, closet temp etc.

This type of growing is for those that won the science fairs back in grade school and wore a plastic shirt pocket pen holder with a mini slide rule.

In a nutshell it's revenge of the nerds.

Well said Larry

General hydro has a schedule for feeding and the correct amounts. I just picked up a PPM meter from HTG Supply and now know why my plants take so damn long to finish. Especially with hydro, your nutes have to be dead on accurate or you will fuck the pooch and your plants will not be happy. PPM meter and get a Ph meter as well.

jesus of Cannabis said:

General hydro has a schedule for feeding and the correct amounts. I just picked up a PPM meter from HTG Supply and now know why my plants take so damn long to finish. Especially with hydro, your nutes have to be dead on accurate or you will fuck the pooch and your plants will not be happy. PPM meter and get a Ph meter as well.

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Yes the nutrient calculator on general hydroponics web site is very helpful but even using that I would still go 1/4 strength on the nutes in early veg to prevent nutrient burn.

no offense Larry but i never wore any thing like you say lol. fix cars n landscape. But you are right having an iq higher than what we are working with helps...

Im not a geek either and I grow using DWC.

yeah a PPM meter is needed, but if you know how to measure, then over feeding shouldnt be an issue.

tho Im proud to be able to say I can grow killer in a lowes bucket. Im not willing to act like my doing so qualifies me for a membership in M.E.N.S.A

From what I can tell ( andI learn the hard way ) all you have to keep in the green are res temps, room temps, Ph and PPM. I just fail to see how anyone couldnt do that once they did a lil research. I think the main issues that plague DWC growers isnt lack of ability, but missing the target when it comes to gear. Meaning for some reason or another, be it budget , or just inexperience, they got a 4in fan, when they shoulda got a 6in, got to small an airstone or air pump, etc etc. just shit like that man.

me personally say if this is your first grow keep it simple. get a good measuring device or whatnot and use R/O water If you look up a feeding schedule and go by that you SHOULD be pretty good... I grew for ages without a PH pen or a PPM meter, using what I consider more technicially challenging methods than DWC ( N.F.T, Top feed, and Aeroponics ) and had no issues at all.

in fact Id say all of the issues I had with this DWC Ive got going on is simply to do with it being a bucket of standing water. stagnant water is NEVER a good thing. Now this isnt to say that I dont like DWC, or that Im even considering no longer growing this way, just that its diffrent in the fact that since every nasty dissease parasite etc etc LOVES standing water. so following the rules of temp, ppm, ph, etc are more demanding, In my opinion its like trying to get lemonade from BULLSHIT. But once you know the rules of DWC, and equip yourself with the right equipment, Id say this style of growing is by far the easiest method Ive tried thus far.

but yeah, get a ph pen and a ppm meter. If you cant afford a good ppm meter, then make sure you measure your nutes out perfectly and check your girls daily for any nute nurn/def issues.

no real way around a ph pen, or manual ph test kit... IMHO a ph pen or test kit is more important than a PPM pen cause You can have a very educated guess on PPM by following a feeding schedule, however there is no way to "guess" what your ph is.