First hydro grow, so far so good….

[Yupitschief]

First time growing flower. I decided to try hydro. I’m using GH flora series nutrient. PH to 6.

Thus far I’ve only used GH Flora series, nothing else. I am now considering some additional nutes, possibly Flora Liquid Bloom.

Would love some insight.

Both plants were supposed to be Blue Dream Auto-Flower, but looking closely the plants are different. So not 100% sure.
Flowers are in about week 7.

To me the flowers look fairly healthy but any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Justlovetogrow]

Outdoor dwc doesn’t that play havoc with res temps and such that’s pretty cool though outdoor hydro

 

[Yupitschief]

I definitely can be a concern. I’ve had to make adjustments to keep temp inline.
I only had issues when the dwc would be sitting directly in the sun all day. That would heat up.
but once I moved plants into a greenhouse it solves much of the issues I’ve had.

 

[Justlovetogrow]

So u don’t need chillers or heaters or anything sorry bout the questions just interested is all

 

[Yupitschief]

I’m not running either, a chiller or heater.
I’m guessing a chiller might help a bit. But so far I have had much of an issue and plants seem to be doing well.
I’ve noticed that as long as I have a good amount of air processing through the air stones I haven’t had an issue.

 

[Yupitschief]

I’m happy to answer any questions. I’m new at this so just learning as much as possible.

 

[Cashmeh]

I’m happy to answer any questions. I’m new at this so just learning as much as possible.

Oh your gonna answer some questions alright. See I am a little envious of what I just heard you say. I like that you built that and have a greenhouse plus its your first hydro? Sorry just saying, pretty impressive and im glad your here.

So how often is it in your greenhouse? Does your greenhouse have good air exchange and circullation? Got electric in there? If you check my profile you can see how a pump works in the tote for a nice current. Your dwc not rdwc right?

Last question, yet most useful imo, can I see a picture of those roots?

 

[Yupitschief]

Hey thank you for the kind words, I appreciate it!!!

To answer one question….This isn’t my first hydro grow, it is first hydro flower grow. During the pandemic like most people had a little extra time on my hands and I’ve always been intrigued thought I’d dig in and try it out. Tried my hand growing various hydro vegetables, leafy greens, tomatoes…easy to grow for the most part.

Long story short, my girlfriend got sick with cancer, and one of the things she found most helpful with chemo side effects is the flower. Being how expensive flower is I decided to try growing it.

One of the parts I enjoy most around hydro is designing and then actually building a system.

My current system in the greenhouse has both DWC and RDWC inside, and a plant growing in coco. (I’ll send some pics of my set up)
The coco plant has a drip irrigation I believe 1/2 gallon per hour.

The RDWC system has been an ongoing project for me. I’m trying to constantly improve it for better aeration and keeping the water temp down. At the moment it has 2 - 5 gallon buckets connected to a 25 gallon reservoir. There’s no buffer tank at the moment.
The RDWC system can scale up and I can and plan to add 4 more 5 gallon buckets….at least that’s how I designed it. I haven’t had time to build out fully yet, hopefully soon.

Keeping roots healthy and white has been challenging. I’m still learning so I still don’t have a solid understanding of plant growth. I want to learn more. From what I have learned when I see the roots starting to brown it’s likely caused from a lack the plants cannot uptake nuts because the water is too warm. Is that correct?
Is that why you’re asking to see pics of roots? It’s definitely an issue but I still have see good results with good harvest. Possibly just not as much yield as potential.

Long reply, sorry. Hope I answered questions. Also, I’ll post some updated pics soon.

 

[Cashmeh]

Brown roots are from being tinted from darker or heavier nutrient mixes. Now if they are slimy also, then you have root rot. If your water is clear in a cup, or not brown, yet your roots are, you have root rot. Its harder to keep them white in a live environment with warmer temps in my opinion. I keep my ppms very low, tinting usually occurs above 400ppm, from what I understand. So i stay under, yet my water temps are 73.5. I use microbes to combat the fungi growth on the roots, which works great.

I was curious to your system as I will build one one day. My plan is to bury the buckets, using the ground to keep them cool, plus it gives you more room up top. Also the lower your greenhouse is to the ground, and the wider it is, the easier it will be to cool due to surface area. The higher your walls, the harder it is to cool. Not that that matters to you, im just stoned and very intrigued.

I also didnt read your original post apparently or I would have offered advice.

Your leafs look to have some deficiency, with flora trio series you must use calmag. I generally add the same amount of calmag per gallon as I do flora micro.

To ensure your roots dont get root rot, you must use chemicals to kill the fungus and a chiller to minimize the fungi growth. Also known as running a sterile system.

If I were you, id add hydroguard. Then you know you wont have root issues. Just make sure to keep your res with a decent filter and clean too.

 

[Aqua Man]

Wow... id say pretty lucky so far of no enzymes, or bennies. Your not adding anything like pondzyme, hydrogaurd etc?

I'd say a matter of time but so far they are doing pretty dam well man.... especially first time and the conditions. I'd definitely look to add some bennies but your call.

How often are water changes for ya?

 

[Yupitschief]

Brown roots are from being tinted from darker or heavier nutrient mixes. Now if they are slimy also, then you have root rot. If your water is clear in a cup, or not brown, yet your roots are, you have root rot. Its harder to keep them white in a live environment with warmer temps in my opinion. I keep my ppms very low, tinting usually occurs above 400ppm, from what I understand. So i stay under, yet my water temps are 73.5. I use microbes to combat the fungi growth on the roots, which works great.

I was curious to your system as I will build one one day. My plan is to bury the buckets, using the ground to keep them cool, plus it gives you more room up top. Also the lower your greenhouse is to the ground, and the wider it is, the easier it will be to cool due to surface area. The higher your walls, the harder it is to cool. Not that that matters to you, im just stoned and very intrigued.

I also didnt read your original post apparently or I would have offered advice.

Your leafs look to have some deficiency, with flora trio series you must use calmag. I generally add the same amount of calmag per gallon as I do flora micro.

To ensure your roots dont get root rot, you must use chemicals to kill the fungus and a chiller to minimize the fungi growth. Also known as running a sterile system.

If I were you, id add hydroguard. Then you know you wont have root issues. Just make sure to keep your res with a decent filter and clean too.

Awesome advice! Thank you!

 

[Yupitschief]

Wow... id say pretty lucky so far of no enzymes, or bennies. Your not adding anything like pondzyme, hydrogaurd etc?

I'd say a matter of time but so far they are doing pretty dam well man.... especially first time and the conditions. I'd definitely look to add some bennies but your call.

How often are water changes for ya?

No hydrogaurd…etc. Until this point I had no idea about hydrogaurd or that it would possibly help. What are Bennies? Matter of time before what..?

Im trying to soak up and learn everything I can, I didn’t even realize I had a problem. First time growing is overwhelming with the amount of products on the market.

Can hydrogaurd be added for the first time later in the flowering stage? How about cal-mag?

I have been changing water weekly.

 

[Yupitschief]

Here’s some updates pics….is been a while

 

[Aqua Man]

No hydrogaurd…etc. Until this point I had no idea about hydrogaurd or that it would possibly help. What are Bennies? Matter of time before what..?

Im trying to soak up and learn everything I can, I didn’t even realize I had a problem. First time growing is overwhelming with the amount of products on the market.

Can hydrogaurd be added for the first time later in the flowering stage? How about cal-mag?

I have been changing water weekly.

Both can be.

 

[Aqua Man]

Here’s some updates pics….is been a while

Lmao it amazes me but he'll I'd say just keep on keeping on. If ya end up with root rot at some point w
You prob wanna look at some enzymes or bennies (beneficial bacteria)

 

[Cashmeh]

Lmao it amazes me but he'll I'd say just keep on keeping on. If ya end up with root rot at some point w
You prob wanna look at some enzymes or bennies (beneficial bacteria)

Do you think it's because it's outdoor hydro? Possible benefitial bacteria made it in? Only reason I ask is because idk how he is doing it lol..

 

[Aqua Man]

Do you think it's because it's outdoor hydro? Possible benefitial bacteria made it in? Only reason I ask is because idk how he is doing it lol..

I mean it could be but no way to know. It's working so can't dispute that.

 

[smokedareefer]

Wow... id say pretty lucky so far of no enzymes, or bennies. Your not adding anything like pondzyme, hydrogaurd etc?

I'd say a matter of time but so far they are doing pretty dam well man.... especially first time and the conditions. I'd definitely look to add some bennies but your call.

How often are water changes for ya?

I too thought it was only a matter of time but I've been growing rdwc since 2014 without bennies hydroguard nothing.

Maybe 20 runs using nothing but gh 3 part, calmag, ph up and ph down thats it nothing else.

 

[Aqua Man]

I too thought it was only a matter of time but I've been growing rdwc since 2014 without bennies hydroguard nothing.

Maybe 20 runs using nothing but gh 3 part, calmag, ph up and ph down thats it nothing else.

Nice