First RDWC Grow - Taking the Deep Water Culture Plunge

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SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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PS - I'm no help on the nutrients, I run General Hydro.
Thank you Steam, Cash, Moe, and Aquaman for chiming in and offering to help!

So Moe, I am curious about the General Hydro nutrients. I am not tied to Humboldts Secret but I bought their starter pack and used it on my last soll grow and liked it alot, very easy to use. However, I cannot get the company to give a proper response on how to use their products in a hydro setting and so perhaps I need to reconsider using their line. I figure if GH is good enough for an expert, it should be good enough for me so I may go ahead and order the GH line up. Do you have any recommendations on their formulas?

I was looking and they have the Flora series, BioThrive, Flora Nova in the liquid formulas.

I was also wondering about their additives and if I should pick any of those up. It looks like they have a companion formula that does the same thing as the Humboldts Secret line in their additives.

Thanks again!!!
 
Moe.Red

Moe.Red

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These are my bottles of unicorn piss.

The reason is this: These nutes are widely available, properly chelated, separated as I like them to be customize the recipe, non-organic and not premium priced.

All basic nutes work fine in dirt, in Hydro, you need to have the right stuff to get the performance you want. GH has always been able to provide that. I buy it in quantity and put them in the 2.5 gal drink dispensers you see and use the beakers you also see. I find it incredibly easy to rifle shoot the EC target you are looking for in less than 5 minutes. Consistently. I also have it set up where I can dump the entire system with the flick of a switch, and refill with RO and start over completely in no time at all.


I suppose Panda Piss or maybe Panther Piss could improve my grow by 1- 2%, but it could also take it in the other direction.
 
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Moe.Red

Moe.Red

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Also, Liquid CoolBloom and Diamond Nectar are not needed. I'm not even sure they do much for my grows, probably won't purchase again once gone.

And you want some sort of Silica too for PH buffering and the plants need it anyhow. Mine is in a little mason jar there you can see in the background.

Any PH Up/Down is fine. Can even use stuff in your kitchen, I just like the repeatability of the stuff you buy in the bottles.
 
SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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Thanks guys for all that great info. I've been very busy and have not kept up on anything here at the Farm lately but in the meantime, I have been looking at various nutrient lines. I am wondering iuf ya'all have heard of this line?


They claim organic in a hydro set up and they have a snazzy nutrient calculator that would be super helpful in mixing the nutes. Curious as to what you think if this?

I still have some time to decide and get something ordered but I need to get with the program soon!

I picked up 3 snips of the new strain Apples and Bananas from @ImpulsiveGrower (Thanks so much Bro!) and one of them will go in the hydro set up, one is going in my greenhouse for the 2022 outdoor grow, and the other temporarily in a spare shower stall. Had a bit of an ordeal getting the snips thanks to the ever dependable USPS. IG sent the snips priority mail and it took them a week to get to me! Dirty buggers anyway. Anyhow, the snips survived, but barely. I was ready when they got here and immediately got them in my cloner, 300 ppm @ 5.8 ph. They were very weak and all three layed on the cloner lid. It took them a week, but they are all standing up fairly well and Iooked this morning and two of the three, which have a node down inside the cloner, are both putting down roots from the node itself! Woohooo 💚

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My wife had to get in on the action and asked me to clone one of her plants. That's what I call true love. 💚💚💚🍎🍌💚💚💚
 
Buzzzz

Buzzzz

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Greetings Cultivators!

I have 3 full grows under my belt indoors in soil but now am opening a new chapter and taking the plunge into RDWC. I have been impressed with folks growing this way and so I decided to give it a shot but I have to admit, I feel like I am starting all over again....twice even....I am also going to be running 3 plants in my outdoor greenhouse this summer and that will also be a first for me. WTF am iI doing? 😁

So starting over but with a bit of knowledge about this beautiful plant, here is my setup.

I will most likely be running a clone that I am getting from @ImpulsiveGrower, probably the 🍎and🍌 by CLTVD.
Will be running live bacteria
MarsHydro TSW 2000 LED
Spider Farmer 3x3 with SF carbon filter and inline fan
PA Hydroponics Single Plant Fallponics Hydro System
HM Digital Hydro Master EC/PPM-PH-Temp res monitor
HydroGuard
Humboldts Secret Nutrients (the following formulas)
-Base A and B
-Golden Tree
-Tree Trunk
-Cal/Mag/Iron
-Sweet and Sticky
-Flower Stacker
-Enzymes

RO water
clay rocks
misc fans

I guess I am not quite sure exactly how to get started, especially with mixing the nutrients, so I am hoping to find one of the experts here at the farm who might be willing to guide me along the way. Humboldts Secret says they are good for any growing media including hydro. It was easy peasy with soil, just followed the chart below. Not so sure how to do this with hydro so that is where I feel I am needing the most guidance.

I am going to do some reading and trying to see if I can get a bit more up to speed. I've got some time before the clone arrives and I still need to fix one small leak in the system that is making me a bit crazy right now....but I will get it soon.

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Please excuse my ignorance,it's been a long time since I have grown hydro but why are there 2 containers? I made a lid and put them in one big reservoir,pumps and all when I used to grow hydroponics and ran a drip or bubbler, this must be better?
 
SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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Please excuse my ignorance,it's been a long time since I have grown hydro but why are there 2 containers? I made a lid and put them in one big reservoir,pumps and all when I used to grow hydroponics and ran a drip or bubbler, this must be better?
No problem bro, I'm still learning too!

One bucket in the tent with the plant site, and one outside the tent serves as a reservoir. The way I understand it, it's easier to control the ph swings the more water in your system. I think there will be around 10 -12 gallons, going to measure that, the buckets are 8 gallon but not near full. I will be diving in head first very soon and document the grow here, good or bad. I am sure I will learn a lot and I am also very thankful the heavy weights like @Aqua Man and @Moe.Red have chimed in and offering up their expertise that hopefully will keep my from stumbling too much! Thanks guys!
 
Buzzzz

Buzzzz

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Yeah General Hydroponics not General Organics, they have multiple lines. You do not want organics in a RDWC.

No problem bro, I'm still learning too!

One bucket in the tent with the plant site, and one outside the tent serves as a reservoir. The way I understand it, it's easier to control the ph swings the more water in your system. I think there will be around 10 -12 gallons, going to measure that, the buckets are 8 gallon but not near full. I will be diving in head first very soon and document the grow here, good or bad. I am sure I will learn a lot and I am also very thankful the heavy weights like @Aqua Man and @Moe.Red have chimed in and offering up their expertise that hopefully will keep my from stumbling too much! Thanks guys!
Thx, so it recirculates and you do all your changes outside the grow? You can check ph etc in the outside reservoir?
 
SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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I'm getting close to getting the RDWC up and running. Special thanks to Impulsive Grower for the Apples and Bananas snips. All 3 have rooted out in the cloner and the two that are going in soil are now in solo cups. The last snip is still in the cloner and I'm wondering how she is looking??? I changed out the water yesterday and put in fresh nutes at about 375 ppm and 5.8ph. Seems to me to be doing well but I really don't have a clue about how these should look. I'm surprised it's such a large root ball and not throwing out longer shoots.

Also of note is that these snips survived a week long journey to me because of the ineptitude of the USPS. They were very weak when they arrived but now seem to fully recovered and from what I can tell they are doing as good as can be expected or better.

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I have made 3 successful clones prior plus these 3 new ones but I have never prepped one for a hydro setup. I'm guessing I need to let this one go for a while to get those roots some considerable length.
 
SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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So what do you guys think @Moe.Red @Aqua Man ? Getting close to putting this gal in the RDWC system? I'm not quite sure how all the logistics go with getting a clone into a RDWC system and the net pot basket. I think the roots are looking better since I changed out the water and nutes and they seem to be growing faster too.

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Moe.Red

Moe.Red

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Yes you are ready.

I don't recall your RDWC setup, does it used these net pots or something else?

In my system I would remove the neoprene and netpot and put these in the correct size pot for my system then fill in with hydroton or coco. Make sure the roots are exposed below the net pot and you are good to go.
 
SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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263
I don't recall your RDWC setup, does it used these net pots or something else?
Thanks Moe.
The system I am using has a larger net pot that does not have the bottom cut off like these. I think they are like 8" across or something like that. I am surprised that they are ready because I figured the roots needed to be much longer.

So would I get this in the net pot and keep it low in the pot and pile the hydroton around it to hold it in place and leave the hydroton level low, then add more as the plant grows? As well, keep the water level higher up into the net pot while the roots are still very short? then lower the water level once the roots are down sufficiently?

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Moe.Red

Moe.Red

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313
Thanks Moe.
The system I am using has a larger net pot that does not have the bottom cut off like these. I think they are like 8" across or something like that. I am surprised that they are ready because I figured the roots needed to be much longer.

So would I get this in the net pot and keep it low in the pot and pile the hydroton around it to hold it in place and leave the hydroton level low, then add more as the plant grows? As well, keep the water level higher up into the net pot while the roots are still very short? then lower the water level once the roots are down sufficiently?

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Yes, but I would also drop the water level in that bucket if you can. Slightly below the net pot is where you want the water level.

So you will need to gently work those roots into the bottom of the net pot so they are sticking out a little best you can. I can tell these are clones, if you had seeds and had a tap root you might even need to cut out a hole in the bottom of the net pot to allow it to pass. By the time I get done, the main root will be as much as an inch in diameter, and you don't want to choke it with tiny holes. In your case, probably not necessary this go round.
 
SweetLeafGrow

SweetLeafGrow

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263
Today the RDWC begins in earnest....yay! But I'm nervous as hell 😬

The plant is a clone I got from @ImpulsiveGrower as a snip and I rooted her out in my clone bucket. The strain is Apples and Bananas.

Measured out the water for the system after I adjusted the 3" lines to bring the water level in the system down, totalled about 8.5 gallons. Using RO water and decided on Advanced Nutrients Sensi Grow/Bloom starter pack. Love that Advanced Nutrients is Cannabis specific and they have a 24/7 help line and I have used it and the help is great. Their nutrient calculator helped me get the res where I want it to be with the nutrients.

So the water is about 1/2" below the bottom of the net pots, there are air stones in the res and the plant site and the fallponics is circulating everything as it should.

Here is the clone in the cloner and a close look at the roots after taking it out.

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I gently placed the roots on the bottom of the basket and put the hydroton gently around the main stem. I am guessing I will need to prune off those lower branches and leaves but should I do that now or wait until I bring more hydroton in to fill the basket? How does everything look so far?

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