Thanks Jackyl - good thread - although I wouldn't be using a DWC I guess. It seems as though the air pump would be ok, without the airstone possibly, there is so little info on hydro out there.
Indoor Need Some Basic Hydro Help/Advice
- Thread starter TokinNuggs
- Start date
H
HomieHogleg
Guest
The system you describe, is Deep Water Culture, commonly known by the acronym DWC. You really need the airstone, for DWC to work properly, as it mists the roots, until they hit the nutrient solution. I have not heard of a successful organic DWC.
Best of luck to you bro.
HomieHogleg
Best of luck to you bro.
HomieHogleg
Thanks, obviously was confused by the acronyms - although Jackyl's link showed a guy doing it quite successfully - he had a lot of gunk to clean up each week, yet I couldn't really tell if he used an airstone. I'm still really against "synthetic" pot and there's got to be an organic-"based" hydro line that fits the bill out there - i.e. the
hydro trio (assuming that wouldn't create the mess GO's would, and I realize it's not truly organic, but it's "natural enough" for me I think).
The Squid
Spaced-out CephaloMOD
The link to the DWC Organic grow by SmashedbyHasshish proves that it will indeed work. Yes, he had a mess with roots at the end but he plainly stated that he never cleaned that reservoir or completely changed the water out ever. Which isn't recommended but was fun and funny to watch. Especially since it worked. haha
He harvested five ozs from two plants. I would say that is awesome work. I am pretty sure he had an airstone for sure.
I am going to make a run at DWC with the same nutes but with cleaning it every week or more and checking the ph more. But hey like I said Smashed did great. I understand that it isn't really recommended for organic and hydro but it works so I wanna try it along my reg grow soon.
He harvested five ozs from two plants. I would say that is awesome work. I am pretty sure he had an airstone for sure.
I am going to make a run at DWC with the same nutes but with cleaning it every week or more and checking the ph more. But hey like I said Smashed did great. I understand that it isn't really recommended for organic and hydro but it works so I wanna try it along my reg grow soon.
The Medicine Man
Head Hydro Honcho
What you need to remember is that plants can not uptake organic anything. Plants can only uptake inorganic ions for feed. If you are really hellbent on doing an organic based hydro, you can use a bottle nute like pure blend pro, or you can use a very high quality mineral salt like I do. With high quality salts you can run at lower EC levels and the finished product comes out smooth as anything. Evidently there are other caregivers who are talking about my medicine in high regards (which is a nice ego boost for sure) to patients that want me to work with them. Im getting a number of inquiries every week from patients.
I use a nearly all salt based program and aerated compost teas in hydro. I use Jack's Professional hydroponic and calcium nitrate, as well as ocean salts (sea salt from the store) for the 80+ minerals that a plant needs. If you're into experimenting... you could do a program based solely on ocean salts and compost teas. It'd work. I've grown in pure ocean salt before and the plants did amazing. My program hardly ever remains the same from grow to grow as I like to experiment a ton. Right now I use 75% Jacks, 25% sea salt and a 1 cup per 5gal of reservoir of compost tea. Using something that's immediately available to the plants isn't bad. I love organic gardening for sure and believe there's a place for it, as well as a place for salt based gardening.
If you do use the sea salt, I'd start at around 1.6-2.5 EC of sea salt (no typo... it's a high EC of sea salt) and see how it goes. If it needs more, give it more. Add maybe 30ml of compost tea to the 1gal res and I bet you'd see some great girls. If you do make a compost tea, I'd suggest the stuff from Progress Earth, and add some alfalfa meal for a little more N and triacontanol.
I use a nearly all salt based program and aerated compost teas in hydro. I use Jack's Professional hydroponic and calcium nitrate, as well as ocean salts (sea salt from the store) for the 80+ minerals that a plant needs. If you're into experimenting... you could do a program based solely on ocean salts and compost teas. It'd work. I've grown in pure ocean salt before and the plants did amazing. My program hardly ever remains the same from grow to grow as I like to experiment a ton. Right now I use 75% Jacks, 25% sea salt and a 1 cup per 5gal of reservoir of compost tea. Using something that's immediately available to the plants isn't bad. I love organic gardening for sure and believe there's a place for it, as well as a place for salt based gardening.
If you do use the sea salt, I'd start at around 1.6-2.5 EC of sea salt (no typo... it's a high EC of sea salt) and see how it goes. If it needs more, give it more. Add maybe 30ml of compost tea to the 1gal res and I bet you'd see some great girls. If you do make a compost tea, I'd suggest the stuff from Progress Earth, and add some alfalfa meal for a little more N and triacontanol.
Sounds interesting, although I'm hardly in a position to "experiment" right now, as I'm still learning and getting my system down...figuring out what works well and what doesn't in my area etc..., But I will definitely keep this in mind, as I do have a solid understanding of things now I think.
Yeah that's true, but this would be my first hydro run, and feel like I should keep it simple with something like the GH Flora trio possibly, and I can observe how things go and work first, then decide about the Gen Organics liquids.
Will watch out for your hydro grow Squid, very interested to see how it goes when the time comes.
The Squid
Spaced-out CephaloMOD
I totally trust your opinion Medicine Man. I had just seen where it ended up coming out good for him so I figured I'd run one with the gear I already had, but I am sure what you say is on point. Thanks man.
Well I transplanted the two week old, damaged Cream Caramel's into my DWC and got rid of all my soil components. I decided to keep it basic/simple and went with the Gen Hydro Flora trio.
I have no idea if these two will survive, but we'll see how they react, the older leaves were really damaged and my corrections weren't helping - no idea what was going on with my soil ph. I used distilled water instead of my filtered tap for now - not sure if I should stick with that throughout? (low PPM I'm sure)
Tangled roots = having to slide them through one of the net pot slits and put hydroton rocks over them and stand the plants up under the UFO LED. Roots looked healthy though - still a little bit of soil I couldn't wash out of them that concerns me slightly, and I'm not measuring EC/PPM, since I will change once a week and stick strictly to the GH schedule.
I'd rather screw these two plants up and learn, still have some more beans to pop if they don't make it, so any advice based on what I posted here would be incredibly helpful - especially the type of water and and if I'm mistaken about not measuring EC/PPM/TDS right now.
I decided to keep it basic/simple and went with the Gen Hydro Flora trio. I have no idea if these two will survive, but we'll see how they react, the older leaves were really damaged and my corrections weren't helping - no idea what was going on with my soil ph. I used distilled water instead of my filtered tap for now - not sure if I should stick with that throughout? (low PPM I'm sure)
Tangled roots = having to slide them through one of the net pot slits and put hydroton rocks over them and stand the plants up under the UFO LED. Roots looked healthy though - still a little bit of soil I couldn't wash out of them that concerns me slightly, and I'm not measuring EC/PPM, since I will change once a week and stick strictly to the GH schedule.
I'd rather screw these two plants up and learn, still have some more beans to pop if they don't make it, so any advice based on what I posted here would be incredibly helpful - especially the type of water and and if I'm mistaken about not measuring EC/PPM/TDS right now.
Well after a few hours the ph jumped up to 7.4, I see this is a problem with new DWC growers.
I got it down to 6, and I'll check again in the morning to see if it jumped again. I fed 2 tsb's of each nute solution (1 min 3 max for aggressive accord to schedule) to a gallon of distilled water. Everything is clean, no rockwool, just hydroton since roots were already established.
I am hesitant to add more nutes if that stabilizes things - but if that is the only way I can get it stabilized in the 5.8-6.0 range, will do so.
Not sure...
I got it down to 6, and I'll check again in the morning to see if it jumped again. I fed 2 tsb's of each nute solution (1 min 3 max for aggressive accord to schedule) to a gallon of distilled water. Everything is clean, no rockwool, just hydroton since roots were already established.
I am hesitant to add more nutes if that stabilizes things - but if that is the only way I can get it stabilized in the 5.8-6.0 range, will do so.
Not sure...
