looking at a top feed rdwc system

[DieselDuds]

Hey guys. I'm looking into purchasing a rdwc system with top feed. How often do I top feed?

 

[Capulator]

until there are enough roots in the water to wick the water up and keep the medium moist. for me usually that is 2 weeks.

 

[DieselDuds]

Ok. So top feed systems are only for the first 2 weeks of the plant. Or until there's enough roots like you said. ? I can't top feed a mature plant or can I?

 

[ttystikk]

I've done it, there aren't that many benefits after the first few weeks. I'm fact, under some circumstances the plants won't push many roots into the water at all, limiting yield. Those conditions would be easy for an observant gardener to spot. I tried this with top dressed organic materials like earthworm compost. I got good results, but nothing I couldn't get with just using the RDWC as usual.

I solved this problem by building a separate vegetation area, complete with an RDWC system to train the young ones to drop roots into the bath before they're transferred to the bloom room and system.

 

[DieselDuds]

Oh ok ty

 

[ken dog]

I clone in an EZ cloner, and wait till my root tails get at least one foot long...sometimes two feet long.
then I cut a small hole in the bottom of my net pot, and stick the tail through the hole, directly into the nutrient solution.
I use hydroton.

here is a picture after 3 days

 

[DieselDuds]

Vary nice ken dog. Thank you for the tips and pictures . I'm vary new to hydroponics, it still weirds me out how you can over water a plant in soil but a plant can grow in water? Lol weird lol. I'm going to have to Google hydroton lol.

My friend was telling me about a nutrient solution that automaticly balances out the pH to 5.8? What is this solution

 

[ken dog]

lots of companies claim pH balance... Advanced Nutrients does.

I use Heavy 16 for ebb and flow, and Current Culture for RDWC ( recirculating deep water culture).

Current Culture is very pH balanced, but I would never throw away my pH pen... Heavy 16 uses Prime for pH down, but I still have to watch my pH.

I keep my pH between 5.8 and 6.2

 

[biker22]

Ok so I saw the thread and had two put my two cents in. Everyone's got there own way but this is my beliefs. I run The Hydro life 7.8 which is a recirculating shallow water setup.So there space between the basket and the water. Giving the roots alit more oxygen.Top feeding is nice. Keeps fresh nutrients running over my roots.Plus it helps with flushing. ( flip the pump on with straight ph water in the reservoir and all your roots are getting everything washed off. In veg when there babys. What better way to get your rooting hormones to the baby roots to make them strong and happy. I think its worth every penny.
As to timing that all depends on how much your ladys drink at different stages of there life. At first I run my timer pretty often but not for long periods of time. 1 min on 15-20 min off but after they touch the water I start to back off the time. when there in flower and have a good healthy root system then I switch to on for 2-3 mins off for hour to hour and a half. Im sure all strains like different times as everyone takes in diffrents amounts of water,nutrients and grow environment. This is what works best for me. Ive played with different times and this works awesome for me.

 

[ken dog]

flushing has nothing to do with cleaning the roots off...
flushing is using osmosis to take the higher nutrient
concentration from the plants, through the roots, and put it in the lower concentrations of the water.

this takes much more time than simply rinsing the roots off with fresh water... and it takes more than one change of water.

 

[biker22]

As im sure everyone knows by now, there are many ways to get what you want done, Done. Everyone on here has there own way to get things done and im sure for the most part, it all works. Some strains may like this but not like that. Whatever works for you and your babies, run with it.
As far as the flushing, Im sorry you took it as that's all I do, is One water change. I just didn't want to get into it step by step on how to flush your plants and your techniques/ schedule's. Cleaning the salts/nutrient build up off your roots/ grow medium is part of flushing and keeping a healthy root system, as it will build up over time. Yes I norm start my week long flush with a low concentrate and back it off from there,to where the last couple days are straight ph water. The top feeding just makes it easier for some of us to wash your growing medium. Thanks and grow on!

 

[ken dog]

thanks biker22, for clearing that up for us.:)

 

[woodsmaneh]

stay away from Advanced Nutrients, the lab analysis of their products contain far more heavy metals than anyone else, they use Plant Growth Regulators which are banned for human consumption, the company is morally bankrupt, #2 in the company Gino charged with diddling a 7 year old girl, state orders for them to quit claiming there products are EPA approved and developed with dept ag.

There are lots of great nutrient companies out there Advanced Nutrients is not one of them. By the way I was a big supporter of AN up till about a year ago, I kept hearing things so did some digging and have stopped using the products and taken them all out of the stores. I sold a ton of that shit and it is made me good money, but some things are just not worth it. IMHO

Just say NO to AN if for no other reason than you have children.

For more info check out my thread on Gino

https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/advanced-nutrient-gino-and-big-mike.58601/

Peace

 

[Jalisco Kid]

flushing has nothing to do with cleaning the roots off...
flushing is using osmosis to take the higher nutrient
concentration from the plants, through the roots, and put it in the lower concentrations of the water.

this takes much more time than simply rinsing the roots off with fresh water... and it takes more than one change of water.

i disagree with you. JK

 

[ken dog]

i disagree with you. JK

I don't want to spread misinformation, so what's wrong?

 

[Jalisco Kid]

Two people can disagree and neither be right or wrong. JK

I disagree with your premise on what water can do

 

[ken dog]

ok... that's cool

 

[biker22]

So I was surfing the web looking for answers on some tomato's today (No really tomato's, lol I got this site for my other questions) and found this code for a 8 bucket rswc setup for $950 (thl8).;) Thought id post it to save fellow growers alit cash,If there shopping for a built system. I typed it into the site and it does work. Hope this helps some people out.

 

[DieselDuds]

Hey guys I just got back from the hydro store. What I ended up making is a undercurrent system? Its only 3 buckets for now. Going to try with 2 glmrowibg buckets and see how hydro treats me. The pump and every graumet cost me about $70. For an 8 bucket system I'd say $150 or less. Its actually quite easy to setup. I have 1" tubing between the buckets and 3/4 at the end pulling water out and into my pump back into my control bucket.

 

[biker22]

Just alit tip on your diy bud.IMO Id go with a little bigger size then 1" or double the 1" up so there two 1" coming out of each bucket site. When your in the middle of flower cycle your probably going to have draining issues. If this does happen in the middle or end of flower if your lucky. Its going to be a bigger pain in the ass then its worth to keep the system from over flowing. Its just imo from my diy builds. Don't forget to have a shop vac handy just incase a leak does happen. :cigar: Hope the water treats you well. Pay attention to details and it will be fine tho.