First time DWC Journal and Questions

First time DWC grower.

My Setup:

small closet

3x3x7

10 gallon res
2 10 inch airstones
1 Walmart issue dual output air pump
4 42 watt cfl
4 26 watt cfl
too early for nutes.

Unknown seeds from bags of good stuff bought in the past.



Started out with 6 seeds, germed them in a paper towel on a plate atop my DVR for heat.

Suprisingly all 6 germinated. Placed them all into rockwool cubes wet them and waited.

On 11.11.09 4 out of 6 had sprouted out of the cubes. a day or two later, trying to help a seedling stand up I broke it, and two others just didnt make it. So now im down to 3. Although the one I broke does not appear to be dead or growing, it looks like a little white piece of root about an inch long. Its just the taproot.
(not expecting anything to happen from that one, but until it looks brown or dead ill keep watering it.)

Currently Each of the 3 girls* in the res all have roots an inch or two coming out of the bottom of the cubes.




My only question right now is:

How wet the rockwool cubes need to be at any given time.

The 2 air stones I have produce a good bit of bubbles in the res, the top of the water line there are bubbles and water splashing all over the bottoms of the cup. I know that is not a problem but Its so much that the cubes remain very wet.
Is that ok?


These are 7 days old from being put in the res, 10 from germination.

pic 1 and 2 - something wrong with this one. I think she has downs, but she will be ok!

pic 3 and 4 are of the the other 2

will take any questions comments or suggestions.

answers to my questions appreciated.

more pics to come.

Looks good, i would put some more hydroton around the rockwool to stop light getting into the reservoir through the holes in your net pots .As for the water issue,as long as the bottom of the cubes are getting wet from the air bubbles bursting in the water then you shouldnt have any probs.I am doing exactly what you are with AMS seeds,the hydroton will hold some of the moisture as well anyway,dont worry about the rockwool getting too wet,the water will simply drop back into the reservoir. I mist the under neath of my plants everyday with tap water as well,it just helps keep them cool cos im using 600 watt hps at about 18 inches from the top of the plants.The roots on my plants are about 15 inches long at the minute and are pure white in colour,the roots will simply grow downwards towards the reservoir.Just another thing as well to add,put the rock wool cubes on a small bed of hydroton pebbles in the bottom of the net pot,the roots wont have far to go then when they head down for water compared to having to work through loads of pebbles.Change water and nutrients every 3 weeks ,dont forget to check p.h levels every day as well.Good luck.Any probs just ask.

Read the link below.

Think positive maybe the 3 left are all females ! Make sure you have a fan gently blowing on them as it will toughen up their stems and make them stronger as well. Looking good mine were looking the same 3 wks ago now their all bushy and healthy just takes time..

Since the last post I have since done a few things.

First I bought another lid and recut holes only for the 3 remaining plants.
Felt no need to have a lid with 6 holes and only 3 being used.

It looks a lot nicer.

The roots in all 3 cups have grown long enough to just submerge themselves in the below water.

The roots are in the water and and they all have 4 leaves growing, So I gave them their first dose of nutes earlier today.

As you can see in the pictures I have gotten the net pots themselves covered, but have not light proofed the res yet. Will do so tomorrow.

Also in my first post of this journal I posted my dates incorrectly.
I stated that the cups were added to the res on 11.11.09

I actually put the cups in the res on 11.16.09

These pics are of the girls after one week (6/7 days) of being in the res.





Comments suggestions questions appreciated.

Your on your way just be patient ! If your using Stealth hydro nutes just use 1/2 one day wait 2 days and use the other half. Wait till they get another set of leaves first you don't want to over nute them.. Check out Rosemans tutorial he gives you a good time line on nutes...

ol hippy Your on your way just be patient ! If your using Stealth hydro nutes just use 1/2 one day wait 2 days and use the other half. Wait till they get another set of leaves first you don't want to over nute them.. Check out Rosemans tutorial he gives you a good time line on nutes...

Click to expand...

Yeah I spent many nights reading rosemans posts, and am taking it very easy on the nutes.

A new question now-

For some unkown reason there are always ladybugs in my laundry room, dunno why but they are.

So caught some and decided to throw a few in the grow closet.

Several hours have passed and they are still hanging around.

One of the lady bugs went straight for one of the plants and has settled down atop a leaf, and has yet to leave.

I read in several posts ladybugs are good in the grow area.

I just wanna make sure ladybugs are alright on the plants.


One more question

Light IS going to get into my res even if completely covered in aluminum tape.
Like when I add nutes/water, and when I do res water changes.

Is short periods of light hitting the roots and shining into the res ok? I geuss its gonna have to be.


This LB has been hanging out on this plant for about 6 hours now. I call her/it Martha!

it is ok if light gets in when ur checking ur stuff or adding nutrients. as long as its for as short of a time as possible.

get an aquarium thermometer and do your best to keep your res temp close to 68 F. other wise its looking good.

Looks like the light is penetrating your lid man, get some tape/paint and light proof it.


Good luck tho man, DWC is the shit.

dirtydaztrundell said:

put the rock wool cubes on a small bed of hydroton pebbles in the bottom of the net pot,the roots wont have far to go then when they head down for water compared to having to work through loads of pebbles.

Click to expand...

Working through those pebbles helps establish a strong root system. Makes a strong foundation for the plant to grow. I place enough hydroton in the cup so when you place the rock wool in it is about level with the top of the cup, then surround the cube with hydroton.

Yes ladybugs are a good thing from what I have read. They eat bugs, not plants. You should light-proof your res ASAP or it WILL cause problems. Everything looks good so far and I'll be around if you have more ?s

So I think I over nuted my girls, 2 of 3 the the plants look real bad.

Leaves curled up, turning yellow.

The other night after quite a few drinks I Thought it would be a good time to add nutes to my system. Big mistake.

I now have leaves curled upward and yellowing.

bad idea to mess with your plants while drunk, just gonna mess something up.


So i cleaned my res and added new water and a lil bit of nutes. Hoping the plants will regain health.

also found small amount of algae in my res while cleaning it. probably due to me waiting a week and a half before lightproofing. Wasnt much but it was there.

So any new guys reading this, I have 2 pointers for you.

1 Lightproof your res before the grow starts.

2 Dont mess with your plants while drunk, your gonna fuck something up.



pics later