Rdwc Consistency: Does It Exist?

  • Thread starter timmur
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Can growing in RDWC be part of a reliable and consistent production system?


  • Total voters
    23
timmur

timmur

282
63
Whichever way you respond, please provide some explanation/detail. Anyone who answers "yes" provides me with some insight into using this grow method successfully and oddly enough those who answer no end up doing the same, unless they've discovered insurmountable obstacles to consistent results!
 
Midwestjay

Midwestjay

3,355
263
It's easy to get consistent results with the right environment. Just have to repeat what works, and keep everything sterile between grows. I like new air stones and hydroten. Long as you keep the nutes simple, not a lot of additives. It's no different then any other way of growing except keeping the rootzone cool. If you can keep the res temps under 70 you should be fine, and if you can't just run hydroguard and you'll keep prefect roots.

People make dwc out to be something hard, for me it's set it and forget it. Just watch ph and the plant and it'll tell you what ever you need to know.

To get consistent results all you have to do is keep consistent practices.
 
slimjimham

slimjimham

399
43
Yeah I've had some amazing harvests and some less than... Just got chillers to hopefully improve consistency. Temps prob were close to 75 usually hitting 78 or more at time. Roots seemed fine but thin and weak... Already after around a week or less they seem much thicker and much whiter (most noticeable on plants that just went into flower)

Hope the healthier roots bring bigger more consistent fruits!

I've been living in the 550-300 ppm range lately... What are you guys running? (500 scale)
 
Midwestjay

Midwestjay

3,355
263
Yeah I've had some amazing harvests and some less than... Just got chillers to hopefully improve consistency. Temps prob were close to 75 usually hitting 78 or more at time. Roots seemed fine but thin and weak... Already after around a week or less they seem much thicker and much whiter (most noticeable on plants that just went into flower)

Hope the healthier roots bring bigger more consistent fruits!

I've been living in the 550-300 ppm range lately... What are you guys running? (500 scale)
I usually end up in the 800 range depending on strain and nutes. I've been as high as 1500 before with flora nova and 4 monsters. But I mostly grow autos and currently running AN 3PART. I'm about 30 days old and 500ppm.

My res temp is 70+ but I run tons of air per bucket (around 500gph or 30 lpm) per bucket. And hydroguard is a life saver keeps perfect roots.
I'm not running recirculation at the moment just dwc.
 
Midwestjay

Midwestjay

3,355
263
Dinafem Og auto.
IMAG0139
1458682890271
 
Genesis

Genesis

128
43
Consistency in your cut (run the same several times - this is how you really dial a strain, way too many folks jump around). Mono crop some gals and learn what they like.

Consistency in environmental conditions via fans, proper calling, CO2 augmentation if you have that.

Consistency in nutrients along with pH and water temp. Water always under 70, let pH float from 5.5-6.0, if it is in there somewhere don't touch it.

and just like @stickyfing3rs said KISS - keep it simple stoner.
 
EventHorizan

EventHorizan

15,707
438
It's easy to get consistent results with the right environment. Just have to repeat what works, and keep everything sterile between grows. I like new air stones and hydroten. Long as you keep the nutes simple, not a lot of additives. It's no different then any other way of growing except keeping the rootzone cool. If you can keep the res temps under 70 you should be fine, and if you can't just run hydroguard and you'll keep prefect roots.

People make dwc out to be something hard, for me it's set it and forget it. Just watch ph and the plant and it'll tell you what ever you need to know.

To get consistent results all you have to do is keep consistent practices.
My brother! I find little traces of you all over the site.. but it's been a min!
 
RoeBuck

RoeBuck

152
43
Coming from outdoor and indoor soil growing RDWC was a bit of a learning curve but I'm finally getting things dialed in and results have improved with every grow. As others have already said, consistency is the key. A controlled environment with stable temps and RH, CO2, RO with UV sterilization and a sterile system are key, especially for beginners. Leave the bennies, if you want to go organic, until later on after you've mastered running sterile. Go easy on the nutes. I rarely get above 500 - 550 on the 500 scale. Run one strain at a time, rather than trying to mix strains. Cut back on your nutes, temps and CO2 and lower your water level near the end to simulate outdoor conditions at the end of the season. Run a sterilizing agent, whether it be UC Roots, bleach or pool shock, to keep things sterile. Use a chiller and keep your water temps below 70. So far my results are far exceeding anything I've grown before and now that I feel confident with this style of growing I don't see myself ever growing in soil again.
 
EventHorizan

EventHorizan

15,707
438
Coming from outdoor and indoor soil growing RDWC was a bit of a learning curve but I'm finally getting things dialed in and results have improved with every grow. As others have already said, consistency is the key. A controlled environment with stable temps and RH, CO2, RO with UV sterilization and a sterile system are key, especially for beginners. Leave the bennies, if you want to go organic, until later on after you've mastered running sterile. Go easy on the nutes. I rarely get above 500 - 550 on the 500 scale. Run one strain at a time, rather than trying to mix strains. Cut back on your nutes, temps and CO2 and lower your water level near the end to simulate outdoor conditions at the end of the season. Run a sterilizing agent, whether it be UC Roots, bleach or pool shock, to keep things sterile. Use a chiller and keep your water temps below 70. So far my results are far exceeding anything I've grown before and now that I feel confident with this style of growing I don't see myself ever growing in soil again.
You recommend using bleach over hydrogaurd?
 
RoeBuck

RoeBuck

152
43
You recommend using bleach over hydrogaurd?

It's working very well for me. Straight bleach is too concentrated to add it directly in my 50 gallon system. I mix 1 ml of bleach to 32 oz. of water, then add that to the system at the rate of 2 ml per gallon every 4th day. This gives me between .03 and .05 ppms chlorine in solution, right at the recommended rate for prevention. Higher rates are needed to kill established pathogens. UC Roots tested at .04 ppm. The active agent in UC Roots is hypochlorous acid which is what bleach turns into when added to water. I've never used Hydroguard so can't speak to it's effectiveness compared to bleach.
 
F

FooDoo

1,278
263
FooDoo, good to see you around. A lot of the stuff you posted about GH helped me tremendously..are you still using them?

Yea but I switched to their duo line. Easier with an A and B and the ratio they have on their bottle is spot on perfect..... just double strength to get users to run thru product faster. I took their 1-3 full bloom recommended dose which is 5ml a / 15ml b and simply cut it in half and use 2.5/7.5. Plus calimagic at recommended dose of 5ml per gallon. It's perfect. Sometimes I go up to 2.5/10 during peak budding since B has all the K in it
 

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