Beginner Dwc - Need Advice

[Tonythetiger]

Hey guys! So this is my first grow and I wanted to try out DWC. How am I doing? Do you see anything I can improve on?

The Set-up:

Legend OG clone

36” x 20” x 62” Vivosun Grow Tent

Viparspectra 450W LED Light

Apollo Horticulture 4” 190CFM In-line Duct Fan

20gal Tote

6” Net Pot

Vivosun Air Pump 950gph 32W 60L

8” Air Stones

Top Fin Power Head 30

6” Clip Fan

My Nutrients:

Veg + Bloom: Tap/Hard

Push Foliar Spray

+Life

Has anybody used these and has any special tricks?

It has been 9 days since I have placed my clone in the hydroton and so far this is how big she has grown. How is she looking?

PH:5.8-6.3

PPM: 280-300

If you need to know anything else just let me know. Thanks in advance!

 

[Polar510]

Try to get the PH stable as possible.
Also maybe next time try to center the plant a little better in the Net basket.
The reflective material underneath the plant IMO is completely unnecessary.

Also the water level I believe is supposed to just barely bubble up to the bottom of the basket as the roots will find it. Hope this helps goodluck!

 

[Tonythetiger]

Try to get the PH stable as possible.
Also maybe next time try to center the plant a little better in the Net basket.
The reflective material underneath the plant IMO is completely unnecessary.

Also the water level I believe is supposed to just barely bubble up to the bottom of the basket as the roots will find it. Hope this helps goodluck!

Thanks for responding so quick!
I try to keep it at 5.8 as frequent as possible.
I was pretty high planting initially and noticed the next day and didn’t want to move it in fear of ruining it.
I figured it would help with getting light to the lower branches but I will be pruning as I got and my SCROG should help with getting light to them.
Now that the roots decided to start blossoming out of the pot I try to keep the water lvl about 0.5” - 1” away from the net pot.

 

[Polar510]

No problem!
sounds like Your getting a handle on things.
Some Nutrients are more ph stable then others. Also take note of Your water temperature if it gets to high it can cause bad bacteria to grow in the bucket.
Maybe get some hydroguard to try and prevent this and to promote Beneficial Bacteria.
Im not sure about the other 2 products you have there but I know a few ppl on the farm here that use "life" and really like it.

 

[Tonythetiger]

No problem!
sounds like Your getting a handle on things.
Some Nutrients are more ph stable then others. Also take note of Your water temperature if it gets to high it can cause bad bacteria to grow in the bucket.
Maybe get some hydroguard to try and prevent this and to promote Beneficial Bacteria.

Yeah my base nutrient currently is Veg + Bloom Tap/hard and +life addon contain beneficial fungus for those reason.
I try to keep the water at about 70 F when it gets a little high I just throw a frozen water ball in there.

 

[Polar510]

Yeah that will def help.
Here ya go: https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/veg-bloom-1-part-powder-in-socal-tap.44489/

 

[Tonythetiger]

Yeah that will def help.
Here ya go: https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/veg-bloom-1-part-powder-in-socal-tap.44489/

Thanks a lot!! This helped me so much!

 

[Tonythetiger]

I realized the I didn’t touch my light at all and I have now placed my light at about 24” above my girl.

 

[Polar510]

Glad it helped You out.
Most questions have already been beaten to death on a thread here in the farm.
The forum search function will be a great source of info for You, as questions come up during the grow.
Also You can hit me up with any questions.
I grow in coco but have a few dwc harvest under my belt.

 

[Tonythetiger]

Glad it helped You out.
Most questions have already been beaten to death on a thread here in the farm.
The forum search function will be a great source of info for You, as questions come up during the grow.
Also You can hit me up with any questions.
I grow in coco but have a few dwc harvest under my belt.

In your opinion, do you think I should start plucking off the bigger fan leaves and start to top, or wait till she gets a little more big? These are how her roots look like right now:

 

[Polar510]

I would Wait until she looks 100% healthy and is getting new growth rapidly.

 

[dan1989]

You don't need to do any plucking man. Tuck don't pluck. Tuck them down, tuck them under, don't remove them in my opinion. Of course for every person who says don't pluck, you'll get another saying why not? So it's all opinion.

But if the single purpose of plucking is to stop the leaf blocking the light from the lower areas, won't tucking them do the same?

Regardless, defoliation is a complete waste of time. Unless you are removing all the fans in the last week of flower for whatever reason, all those bits of veg you cut off will grow back rapidly. After its spent a week or however much recovering from the stress and picked itself up again obviously.

 

[dan1989]

Oh and I wouldn't personally do the standard 6 nodes minimum and then top. That's BS. The plant is ready to top when it's flourishing. That could be 10 nodes. The plant should 'look' established. My two little Pure Kush plants are just about 6 nodes but the hell am I topping yet. In my experience, they get TOO bushy and squat. I'm going 10 nodes or say 8/12 inches tall this time.

If your plant is TOO short, you're wasting light, just like if your plant is too tall. The light can still penetrate a couple feet. If your plant only ends up 1 foot tall, that's a whole foot of useful light going to waste.

Make the height of your plant suit the power of your lights is pretty much the end game I look for. Still learning lol

 

[Shawnery]

I don't know if anyone said it but I would move your air pump out of your grow room unless you need the extra heat. Those things get pretty damn hot running 24/7.


Looks awesome!

Good luck!

I'm on my third go with rdwc and just barely got it all figured out this go.

 

[dan1989]

Yo @Tonythetiger are you growing legal cos that 'ace' tat on your ring finger is really baiting you out man

 

[Tonythetiger]

I would Wait until she looks 100% healthy and is getting new growth rapidly.

Thanks a lot man!

 

[Tonythetiger]

You don't need to do any plucking man. Tuck don't pluck. Tuck them down, tuck them under, don't remove them in my opinion. Of course for every person who says don't pluck, you'll get another saying why not? So it's all opinion.

But if the single purpose of plucking is to stop the leaf blocking the light from the lower areas, won't tucking them do the same?

Regardless, defoliation is a complete waste of time. Unless you are removing all the fans in the last week of flower for whatever reason, all those bits of veg you cut off will grow back rapidly. After its spent a week or however much recovering from the stress and picked itself up again obviously.

What do you mean by tucking?

 

[Tonythetiger]

Yo @Tonythetiger are you growing legal cos that 'ace' tat on your ring finger is really baiting you out man

Yeah man I am! Thanks to the green gods!

 

[Tonythetiger]

I don't know if anyone said it but I would move your air pump out of your grow room unless you need the extra heat. Those things get pretty damn hot running 24/7.


Looks awesome!

Good luck!

I'm on my third go with rdwc and just barely got it all figured out this go.

Mine surprisingly isn’t overheating at all it’s pretty set being suspended in the air like that plus I got some pretty decent air circulation going on. Thanks for the help! You’re more than welcome to come along for the ride. I most defiantly am going to need some help along the way lol.

 

[dan1989]

What do you mean by tucking?

Tucking, as in grab them and tuck them under another leaf or branch or whatever. The way I see it, pulling one leaf off won't make much difference to how much light your plant gets, won't really stress it out much etc. But you could strip half or more of the fan leaves off and I guarantee you that in no time at all it will all grow back. If your plants healthy.

I like to strip most of the fan leaves off in the last week before harvest. I see it as less baggage for it to sustain, gives the buds and sugar leaves a little more direct light. Probably stresses the hell out of her, but she's not gonna hermie in 5 days, and is likely stressed anyway as she's coming to the end of her life and nobody's even pollinated her.

That, and I would have slowly weaned her totally off of nutes and not watered at all for the last couple of days. (Coco Coir)