Grow Mediums A Must Read for All DWC Growers! Increase your Yields and Get more AIR!!!

[derek420colorado]

So it seems that there has been quite the explosion in interest when it comes to folks doing DWC(deep water culture) growing. I have been growing in DWC for close to 10 years now and the reason I have chosen to stay with that method is because it is the most effective way to deliver O2(oxygen) to the root zone. I was told a long time ago by a very experienced grower that "Cannabis loves, almost above anything else, air to their roots"

This has rang so very true to me and it is the cornerstone of my theory on how I grow top quality cannabis. If you take a look at my roots in this picture

this is how roots are supposed to look when they have been exposed to lots of air. It is kind of like what happens to a pro athletes muscles when they use steroids.

I have noticed that a lot of folks are doing DWC now but are not using enough air to maximize all the other environmental variables. I have never had an issue with "staining" of my roots and I believe that is because they are healthy enough to transplant the nutes to the plant immediately therefore the nutrients don't stay in the root as long and therefore won't stain it. I have also never had a problem with Slime or Root Rot, basically if you pump so much air into them it doesn't really allow for any bad stuff to go on in the root zone.

So if you are currently doing a DWC grow or you are thinking about doing one, make sure that you are giving them what they crave MORE AIR!

Also from what I have found there are several different ways that the air pump companies can "rate" their pumps, some use Gallons, some use Gallons Per Hour, some even use Wattage. But you want a pump based on its Liters Per Minute of air output, and as stated above 50LPM into a 5 gallon bucket with a couple of airstones should rock that root zone all the way out!

You can see what the trees that were hooked to these roots look like by checking out the grow in my sig, thanks everyone for listening and I hope that this helps and if you are doing DWC you have the correct amount of air. Happy Growing everyone

 

[dcat0921]

All I can say is I put my new pump in Friday afternoon and when I got home Sunday...48 hours later...my plant grew 3" in height and probably 8" in width.
This is my first DWC attempt but I would say that this theory holds some solid promise. I'll report back as my grow continues.

 

[KushNFT]

Pneumatophores are why I've stuck with NFT.....there's hardly anywhere for them to grow in DWC so we try to make up for it by bubbling the res.

That said I would like to try a bubbler in NFT as I tend to end up with as much roots in the res as on the table so I'm probably 50% DWC as it is.:smoking:

 

[derek420colorado]

Yeah I just can't get onboard with NFT because it seems like it restricts the amount of space that the roots can go. There are definitely some advantages to it for sure, like SOG techniques and things of that nature it is perfect, but I like to grow MONSTER trees. In Colorado you are allowed to grow 3 flowering and 3 vegging plants at any time, and the law does not say how big those plants can be. Therefore to stay within the guidelines I am trying to find the way to grow the biggest autos ever seen

 

[KushNFT]

Yeah I just can't get onboard with NFT because it seems like it restricts the amount of space that the roots can go.

This is under my NFT matting:

Once I run out of NFT space I've got DWC space as back up...the roots just grow off the end off the table.

Have you tried aeroponics? I hear that is even better for growth rates than NFT or DWC....one day I want to put all 3 systems side by side and do a comparison grow to find out which grows me bigger autos.

 

[derek420colorado]

I would love to see a picture of your whole setup, also is that the roots from just one plant or is that several plants roots growing together? I gotta say those roots look really good and healthy for sure, the only thing that I see as being a little odd is that I can't see any of the big main roots, you know the ones that look like dreadlocks. It may just be because they are closer to the netpot and I can't see them. But there sure are tons of the scilial roots that is for sure.

And yes I have tried aeroponics but the thing that I found is that the misters are really hard to maintain and the growth was nowhere near what I got in DWC, I will say that for cloning aeroponics works fantastic but as far as growing a full cycle I have to go with DWC. I have never tried NFT but it looks like your setup may be different from what I remember looking at in the past. All of the NFT systems I have seen it didn't look like the roots have any way to get down into the rez so I am a little confused as to how your roots just go off the end of the table and into the rez. Like I said I would love to see a picture of the whole setup to wrap my head around it lol One thing that does appeal to me about NFT is that it seems to be less space that is taken up.

 

[Grim Reefer]

Hi @derek420colorado

I like your theory but i have honestly already put this to the test. I used an 80lpm Hiblow airpump between two plants both in a separate 55L DWC pot. So that made 40lpm for each plant with one airstone in each bucket. I found that this was to much pressure as many of the small feeder roots were literally blown off and separated from the rootzone. I did however mamage to get the biggest plants i have ever grown in DWC but they didnt finish until week 16-17 and could have gone even longer, probably due to the feeder roots being blown off.

What i didnt try was putting extra air stones into each bucket to take away some of the pressure that was coming out of one single airstone so maybe this is the missing key for me to have more success. Have you noticed any root debris inside your buckets using this amount of pressure? I always found broken off roots stuck to the site of my DWC pot when using that much pressure on one plant.

I guess il have to try again using more air stones to divide the 40lpm pressure equally. Anyway thanks for the interesting read, il be trying out this theory in two weeks when i start some Mephisto SODK in DWC. Maybe you might tag along and have a look as i love talking about DWC.

 

[jtrain252]

I get debris but I also use pondYme so it dissolves and converts it

 

[derek420colorado]

Hi @derek420colorado

I like your theory but i have honestly already put this to the test. I used an 80lpm Hiblow airpump between two plants both in a separate 55L DWC pot. So that made 40lpm for each plant with one airstone in each bucket. I found that this was to much pressure as many of the small feeder roots were literally blown off and separated from the rootzone. I did however mamage to get the biggest plants i have ever grown in DWC but they didnt finish until week 16-17 and could have gone even longer, probably due to the feeder roots being blown off.

What i didnt try was putting extra air stones into each bucket to take away some of the pressure that was coming out of one single airstone so maybe this is the missing key for me to have more success. Have you noticed any root debris inside your buckets using this amount of pressure? I always found broken off roots stuck to the site of my DWC pot when using that much pressure on one plant.

I guess il have to try again using more air stones to divide the 40lpm pressure equally. Anyway thanks for the interesting read, il be trying out this theory in two weeks when i start some Mephisto SODK in DWC. Maybe you might tag along and have a look as i love talking about DWC.

Yes you are 100% correct you need to have at least a couple of airstones, and preferably ones that make really small bubbles, as I stated above the only drawback to this theory is what you stated that if the pressure is too high then it can break off the feeder roots. That is why it really isn't all that necessary to have that much air until you get some good root growth in there. I have never had a problem with root breakage but I have always had multiple airstones. Also @jtrain252 is totally correct, using some sort of enzyme will essentially digest the root debris and turn it right back into usable food. As far as the length of time, I think that may be more of a strain to strain type thing more than a root zone that is maxed out with air. I could be wrong but my AutoX's finished right on time.

 

[Grim Reefer]

Thanks for your reply, im well aware of enzyme products as i always use CANNA Zym. My point is thats not going to stop your plant from getting stunned when the feeder roots get blown off.

Anyway il put this theory to the test in about two weeks, thanks for sharing your information. Seems i had it right from the start just had to make some tweaks.