Grow Mediums Nebula Cheese + Alien RDWC Pro (55l pots)

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Questions:

1. How close to the bottom of the net pot do I fill the system?
Is the idea to have some clear space so the roots are hanging in mid air or is the idea to have the res very full?

2. If on zero EC water should I use Cal Mag from the off?
If so any ideas how much per litre?

3. See 2nd post back about CO2 and air pumps

4. Im running House & Garden nutrients. I have Aqua Flakes A & B, Root excelarator, Amino and Multizyme. So far Ive bought no flowering nutrient supplements, like Top Shooter and Bud XL. Any thoughts on the nutes Im using? I read somewhere using House & Garden Amino is not good in RDWC, any thoughts please???

5. Im not going in for bennies, so trying to have a clean hygienic system. Thats the plan at least.

All help, advice, opinion and comments VERY very welcome

 

[Groff]

Questions:

1. How close to the bottom of the net pot do I fill the system?
Is the idea to have some clear space so the roots are hanging in mid air or is the idea to have the res very full?

Much debate. The main thing is the roots hit the water and signal back it's found it. From there it's a "go" regardless. When dropping a seed, or early clone, you want the net pot substrate moist so the roots don't dry out, but once they hit water it's ok to lower the water level. I like leaving a little gap so the water bubbles wet a bit of the net pot.

2. If on zero EC water should I use Cal Mag from the off?
If so any ideas how much per litre?

Zero EC is basically RO. You'll definitely want to buffer the water with some silicon and cal mag. They dont mix easy, so drop in silicon and let mix well, then the cal mag. IIRC, 0.3 EC is good to go.

3. See 2nd post back about CO2 and air pumps

You definitely do NOT want C02 in your water, you want 02 (airpump). There is an emergency technique where you pump tanked C02 to kill a root aphid infestation... but not for growing. Oxygen content in water is primarily a function of temperature, the lower the temperature the higher the 02 content. The more oxygen, the better the health, disease prevention and nutrient absorption. The consensus is 19ºC is the best compromise.

4. Im running House & Garden nutrients. I have Aqua Flakes A & B, Root excelarator, Amino and Multizyme. So far Ive bought no flowering nutrient supplements, like Top Shooter and Bud XL. Any thoughts on the nutes Im using? I read somewhere using House & Garden Amino is not good in RDWC, any thoughts please???

Sorry, never used H&G. Canna, Metrop, Dutch Pro I can help with. But I would ask, if its good for DWC, why the heck not for RDWC? Surely some adaption to the schedule, but why shouldn't it work?

5. Im not going in for bennies, so trying to have a clean hygienic system. Thats the plan at least.

All help, advice, opinion and comments VERY very welcome

Again, to each his own! Much debate also. I prefer running bennies. Much easier to handle and also boosts production. Hopefully you'll never even need to think about this. Good base water, water temps, no light leaks, lots of oxygenation = gold!

 

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Thanks Groff-Miester.. Very much appreciate your replies :thumbs:

 

[Corgy]

You definitely do NOT want C02 in your water, you want 02 (airpump). There is an emergency technique where you pump tanked C02 to kill a root aphid infestation... but not for growing. Oxygen content in water is primarily a function of temperature, the lower the temperature the higher the 02 content. The more oxygen, the better the health, disease prevention and nutrient absorption. The consensus is 19ºC is the best compromise.

a quick question, why not CO2 in the water?

I have been led to believe that plants can absorb up to 25% of their CO2 through the roots, I could have been misled though.

 

[Groff]

a quick question, why not CO2 in the water?

I have been led to believe that plants can absorb up to 25% of their CO2 through the roots, I could have been misled though.

As far as I know, that is not the case. C02 is used by plants for photosynthesis which they take directly in from the air through the stomata. Roots don't photosynthesise, and increasing water C02 levels will saturate it reducing the dissolved oxygen content.

Only the green parts of the plant (chlorophyll) will uptake C02

 

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End of week 2 since I got the clones home
(bold = question, please help with an answer if you can)

Week 1 was spent in my clone aeroponic tank do dar under a T5. They did well in here, rooted like hell, in fact I think I let them get too comfy. When I transplanted into my Alien system some of the roots were 10 to 12" long.

Q. Is this too long? I think so, the 'King' was concerned.
Q. When is the best time to move from the cloner to the main system?
Q. Have I made it harder or slower for the clones to root out through the net pot and clay pebbles?

Ive switched off the T5 and turned on half my E-Pappilon lights. These are set at 600w and left high in the roof of my room. My thoughts are the lights will turn the heat up in the room, so half on now and let my plants get used to the light and increased heat. They had all this week like this.

Now Ive got all the lights on and lowered the lights down, still not in best position but lower and brighter so the ladies can get used to it again. Im trying my best not to create any stress if I can help it. I know they got stressed with the move into the Alien.

When the clones arrived they were in good shape. From what I could tell they showed little sign of upset and stress by going into my aeroponic cloner. This week has been a big week for my ladies, they have definitely had some stress this week. Its been a bit dodgy but all I could do was get them moved and let them settle. Finally a week after the move they have started to root again and I think turned the corner with the stress.

Im hoping next week things should get better after all the stress of moving.

EC 0.5 / 0.6
PH 5.7 / 5.8
Res temp 20c

Filtered zero EC water
House & Garden Aqua Flakes A & B - 4ml per 10 litres
House & Garden Multizyme - 4ml per 10 litres
Plant Magic Cal-Mag - 3ml per 10 litres
H2O2 - 4ml per 10 litres
PH up

Keep in mind these are not auto's and currently basking in 24 hours of light.
Q. What do you think to my feed schedule above?
I have no real idea about Cal-Mag, Im worried Im not using enough but dont want to over do it either.
Q. Can anyone share there opinion on my feeding schedule and Cal Mag use please?

You can see my aeroponic cloner on the floor. There are a few clones left over, so for now Im hanging on to them, just in case I kill everything

 

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Morning all, here is how I made up my feed and how the EC changed in the process.

My girls are showing signs of a problem on the leaves. I have some dried up leaves with gold speckled markings.
I will take pictures later, looks like some kind of deficiency or is this stress?

10 litre bucket of filtered water EC zero / PH 5.2
Cal Mag 3ml - EC 0.2
Aqua flakes A 4ml
Aqua flakes B 4ml - EC 0.4
Multizyme 4ml - EC 0.5
H2O2 4ml - EC 0.5
PH up to 5.5 - then later raised to PH 5.8

 

[Corgy]

You'll get on top of it........

What is the strength of the H2O2 you are using, and how do you determine the dose?

 

[Groff]

Damn true, you place looks like a proper alien probe room...

Transplant is always stressful. I for one would absolutely dithch the h202. You "sterilizes" the system, h202 does attack cells considerably, good or bad ones. From here on, you really should not do anything unless trouble arises. You can use bacteria and myco's at will as booster/preventatives (no need to actually brew tea).

Cheap stuff is, like mentioned, cheap powder of agro bacteria straight into the rez, or if you want to pay premium for the same stuff, buy Great White for example. These will NOT thrive like in soil, so every onther week its a good idea to drop some in.

Leaves are clawing down, sign of overfert. That is a BIG system, so take extra care to mix the nutrients in. In such a big system I would definitely buy a second continuous pH meter and put one on each end. On my 6 pot 34L, for every part of the mix I drop in, I let circulate at the very least 30mins to 1h. So it does take me quite a long time to hit th mark, but then the system is stable for weeks.

What is you FINAL EC?
Water temp?
Also, plan on doing some foliar spray?

 

[true]

Damn true, you place looks like a proper alien probe room...

Transplant is always stressful. I for one would absolutely dithch the h202. You "sterilizes" the system, h202 does attack cells considerably, good or bad ones. From here on, you really should not do anything unless trouble arises. You can use bacteria and myco's at will as booster/preventatives (no need to actually brew tea).

Cheap stuff is, like mentioned, cheap powder of agro bacteria straight into the rez, or if you want to pay premium for the same stuff, buy Great White for example. These will NOT thrive like in soil, so every onther week its a good idea to drop some in.

Leaves are clawing down, sign of overfert. That is a BIG system, so take extra care to mix the nutrients in. In such a big system I would definitely buy a second continuous pH meter and put one on each end. On my 6 pot 34L, for every part of the mix I drop in, I let circulate at the very least 30mins to 1h. So it does take me quite a long time to hit th mark, but then the system is stable for weeks.

What is you FINAL EC?
Water temp?
Also, plan on doing some foliar spray?

Hey Groff

Final EC was 0.5 but now gone up to 0.6.
Just been on the House & Garden website. They make a big point about mixing the nutes ESPECIALLY the A & B.
Ive mixed badly I think, when I filled the system I just chucked in A and then poured in B within seconds. H&G say allow A to mix real good before adding B.

Also they say no H2O2 if using Amino and Root excel, which I haven't used on this res fill.
So today Im going to dump the whole lot and start over. Ditch the h2o2 and use Root excel and amino.

What EC would you be aiming for once all settled?