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

[derek420colorado]

The main thing @Grim Reefer is that you get multiple airstones that diffuse the water enough so you don't break any roots. If you can get them, the large flat disc diffusers are probably the best as they have a large surface area and emit very tiny bubbles, that does two things it doesn't break any roots and the smaller the bubbles the easier it is for the roots to absorb the O2. I can't wait to see you crush some DWC max O2 style! I have been testing this theory for almost 10 years and it has not failed me yet. It is the key in my opinion to getting the biggest trees possible.

 

[derek420colorado]

@Grim Reefer

this is the kind I am talking about, the bubbles they make are sooo tiny it is like bathing those smaller feeder roots in a nice gentle bath of a million tiny bubbles, so you don't have to worry about breaking any roots this time you might want to check them out. They are pricy but worth it if you are worried about the water being too turbulent

 

[Grim Reefer]

Thanks man,
I was actually going to use them from the start but since Alien Hydro gave me all my equipment for free i never got round to buying them. Il be sure to use them this time round. Again thank you for all your help.

 

[derek420colorado]

No problem, the fact that you are asking me any questions at all makes me happy lol

 

[KushNFT]

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.

Aye bud, that pic was the roots of my Candy Kush.....just one plant. The big roots are probably right at the back of that pic.

Did you notice the sagging tray at the top of the pic? I think it takes a fairly heavy plant to make it bend like that!:smoking:

The NFT systems I use at the moment are GT205 (about £45 locally) and there are a couple of handy vids on YT showing how to set them up....



Hope that helps picture things?

My current journal is in the indoor growing section if you want to see what the top of the plants I have look like..... https://www.autoflower.org/threads/...alaya-orange-diesel-autos-in-nft.50783/page-7

 

[derek420colorado]

That is sweet! That is definitely the first time I have seen roots that are on par with mine, great job for sure!

 

[derek420colorado]

OK I totally get it now, I never realized that there was a tray sitting over the rez, and if it were me I would totally put an air stone in the rez. But again that is just me, you are doing a heck of a job for sure. What would you say the biggest problem with growing in NFT has been so far? I am going to try it out for sure, I want to do a side by side DWC and NFT comparison for sure. Cause based on the roots I am seeing it looks like it is comparable to what I have achieved in DWC so it is worth a shot for sure! Also I was trying to kind of eyeball it and if you look at my roots you will notice that they took on the shape of the bucket and so essentially my plant was root bound in a 5 gallon bucket lol So that lets me know that the potential is there for them to get even bigger! Your Dark Devils look super amazing @KushNFT I am on page 2 or 3 of your grow journal now and enjoying it immensely, again you are doing an amazing job! Here is some rep comin your way for turnin me on to somethin new

 

[KushNFT]

Thanks buddy, I'd love to find out why these NFT tables are not more popular with hobby growers elsewhere. It's pretty much all I've tried so far and this is my 3rd auto grow with them.....I'm certainly no expert!

Another reason I want to put an airstone in the res is to try getting airflow going over the NFT root zone in the tray. Not so much that I risk drying the roots but they way it is just now I can't see there being much airflow around the roots so I want to give it a try....maybe more air up there would help too if it's the air up there making it work so well?

Dunno if I posted these anywhere here....

That root mass was from an Auto Pink Grapefruit.

 

[derek420colorado]

I have a couple of the Grapefruit autos as well, and yeah man I would say that if you put some air in that rez it would do nothing but good, again I don't think you can have too much air to your roots. That is a heck of a root mass though for sure!

 

[clemmy61]

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 View attachment 561240 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

use a powerhead for aquariums they circulate the water super and they blow out copious amounts of tiny air bubbles. no need for water pump and air pump with stone