Livingsoildwc's - Living Soil - Deep Water Culture - Experiment Grow Journal - 2015

L

livingsoildwc

New Member
Blessings 420Magazine :high-five:

Strain: My 3rd gen SpaceQueen/Kush (not sure about the pedigree)(strains will most likely change throughout this journal)

Warning wall of text incoming! :reading420magazine:

I am not sure if anybody has ever tried a Living Soil DWC system, but there is a serious lack of information about the subject online, so I decided (after consulting with StonerThor :bongrip: ) that I'm going to keep a journal of my Living Soil Deep Water Culture system here on :420:.

Please feel free to share your thoughts/advice/experience about DWC and Living Soil here, I am looking for feedback, hopefully the fruits are good and the world will be a better place.

I will be using this thread as reference and knowledge-base for my experiment.

Quite a few growers have told me that I'm wasting my time, ph levels will bounce and eventual salt build up in my soil will do more harm than good.

The System:
20l Bucket (I think that is about 5gal)
Air pump for aeration in the reservoir (bucket)
One pot for the plant, I am using a 5l pot at the moment
1 Aquarium heater 15w or 30w, I am using a 30w at the moment (reservoir temp control)
Your favorite soil mix and your dopest dope plant

Plants: Plant grows in the veg room until the roots appear at the bottom or until the growers is happy with the size of the plant. When the plant goes into flowering the pot is placed into the bucket and the roots start growing down into the water reservoir.

Reservoir: I use living water from my freshwater planted aquarium (tests were below 10ppm ec) and keep it aerated, growers can also use rain water or clean river/spring/borehole water, providing the ph is not above 8 or below 6, ideally 6.8-7.0. (These are guidelines for myself)

Don't use chlorinated water, this is harmful to our Living Soil.

I added some hydro fertilizer from a grow-shop (partA, partB, mpk) in the reservoir, the pot never sees this fertilizer, only when the roots are taking it up into the pot. (I am not sure about the negative effects this has on Living Soil) I change the reservoir once a week and whenever the pot starts getting dry i water from the top.

Veg: When the pot is in veg, every other watering I feed worm juice tea, or worm castings tea, or comfrey tea, or dandelion juice or biobizz grow.

Flowering: I top dress with my supersoil and add more worms, sprinkle some dolomite lime and rockdust on top of the pot. I am feeding aloe juice, or dandelion juice or biobizz (grow/bloom) (every other watering)

Soil: The idea is that growers will be able to use their favorite soil mix with this system, providing there is enough aeration.

I am using my own living super soil, it is a bit older than a year now, soil was tilled before, but this system will be no-till. Originally I started my mix with 1/3 mountain soil (high altitude), 1/3 coco peat and a 3rd worm castings, added dolomite lime, volcanic rock dust and inoculated with Mycorrhiza. Just feeding the worms/soil at this point, adding cannabis leaves, aloe vera (leftovers after I make a juice) and dandelions (leftovers after I make a juice).

So far this works like any other passive DWC system, just instead of clay pebbles I am using my living soil.

I will take some pictures when the lady wakes up.

Big Question on my mind.
Should I be using hydro fertilizers from the grow shop in my reservoir?

Please let me know what u think about a Living Soil DWC system. :420:
 
Re: Livingsoildwc's Living Soil Deep Water Culture (DWC) Experiment Grow Journal - 20

Sorry about the horizontal pics :ganjamon:
Week 2 flowering, 25 days from flip.
She is all natural never had chemical pestiside, only one chamomile oil foliar spray when she was in veg.
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Re: Livingsoildwc's Living Soil Deep Water Culture (DWC) Experiment Grow Journal - 20

I've been doing DWC for a while and anytime there was soil used for cuttings then the clone put into DWC root rot followed. I use soilless mix to root cuttings for DWC and no problems.

Nice gimmick but I see no advantage. Do all that organic stuff to veg the plant then run hydro nutes to flower. :hmmmm:

25 days from flip=3 and a half weeks flowering to me and most growers. Just like day 1 for a plant is the day it shows above the dirt and not the day the first true leaves emerge like I've seen stated elsewhere.

I've seen all sorts of ways to grow pot. Some I've tried but I wouldn't bother with this myself.

Nothing wrong with experimenting tho. I've done plenty and will likely do plenty more.

Big Question on my mind.
Should I be using hydro fertilizers from the grow shop in my reservoir?
Click to expand...

That will work but in keeping with the organic veg why not get organic hydro nutes?

Good luck and good growing.

L8r
 
Re: Livingsoildwc's Living Soil Deep Water Culture (DWC) Experiment Grow Journal - 20

OldMedUser said:
I've been doing DWC for a while and anytime there was soil used for cuttings then the clone put into DWC root rot followed. I use soilless mix to root cuttings for DWC and no problems.

Nice gimmick but I see no advantage. Do all that organic stuff to veg the plant then run hydro nutes to flower. :hmmmm:

25 days from flip=3 and a half weeks flowering to me and most growers. Just like day 1 for a plant is the day it shows above the dirt and not the day the first true leaves emerge like I've seen stated elsewhere.

I've seen all sorts of ways to grow pot. Some I've tried but I wouldn't bother with this myself.

Nothing wrong with experimenting tho. I've done plenty and will likely do plenty more.



That will work but in keeping with the organic veg why not get organic hydro nutes?

Good luck and good growing.

L8r
Click to expand...

Thanks for your feedback I appreciate it!

About the root rot, clones go into a normal pot until the roots have filled the pot and are starting to peek out the bottom.
So far I don't see any root rot, it is a bit difficult taking pics of the root-ball by myself but I will get a pic uploaded soon.

I am using cycled aquarium water (living water) for my reservoir, the idea is that the good microbes will defeat the root rot in this Living Soil DWC.

So far the plant is loving the system, I am keeping a eye on the rootball.

Thanks for your advice, I have cut the "bottled" nutes and will just feed biobizz and other organics.

I am wondering what is the norm for DWC yield on 400w HPS?
 
Re: Livingsoildwc's - Living Soil - Deep Water Culture - Experiment Grow Journal - 20

Lots of variables affect the yield in DWC under a 400. I've got 8oz of finely trimmed bud with 5oz of sugar trim with a single plant ScroG and 4 - 5oz is the norm for a free standing well topped plant. Both of those have been vegged and trained for at least 2-3 months before flipping tho. I will usually use 2 x 400W if there is lots of area to cover as I rarely have just one tub alone without another plant or 2 in pots like I have now in my current grow journal..

I've found I get 50 - 100% more bud from DWC than I do from using clones from the same mother and the same nutes in 5gal pot of ProMix and I've done 2 side by side grows to see how that come out.

L8r
 
Re: Livingsoildwc's - Living Soil - Deep Water Culture - Experiment Grow Journal - 20

Thanks OldMedUser, nice DWC yields! This is the first DWC I have run so I am hoping for a decent yield. I will try get a bigger bush in for the next run.
Here is a pic of the rootball.

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Re: Livingsoildwc's - Living Soil - Deep Water Culture - Experiment Grow Journal - 20

The roots are looking excellent! Nice clean water in the pail too.

I prefer tubs so I don't have to monitor the levels near as much. With a 20L pail allowing for the head space lost by the net pot you're left with about 12 to 15L of actual liquid in there if you're lucky. A large plant can go thru 3 - 4L/day if growing as rapidly as they can in good conditions. The shorter tubs I use hold 35L topped up and the taller ones that take the same size lids hold 50L.

I've often had a dozen plants in one tub when doing experiments and such. Ran one with 30 plants once to winnow out hermies from a bunch of seeds a guy gifted me. Was successful at breeding some of the non-hermie ones and getting lots of seeds that later grew out with a very high ratio of females at over 80%. Afghani Kush. Great yields but not good medicine for me.

L8r
 
Re: Livingsoildwc's - Living Soil - Deep Water Culture - Experiment Grow Journal - 20

Thanks a lot for your input OldMedUser, I see that she is starting to drink a lot of water at moment, thanks for the advice, I am definatly going to try get more volume in my res, will be looking at using tubs in the future.

I'll update with some pics soon! Take it EZ

:volcano-smiley:
 
Re: Livingsoildwc's - Living Soil - Deep Water Culture - Experiment Grow Journal - 20

Day 42
Roots still looking good, here are some bud pics.

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Re: Livingsoildwc's - Living Soil - Deep Water Culture - Experiment Grow Journal - 20

Here is some Living Soil DWC fruit, I will update with dried bud pics and some pics of the next lady in the Living Soil DWC system. :peacetwo:
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Re: Livingsoildwc's - Living Soil - Deep Water Culture - Experiment Grow Journal - 20

Hope all is well in your world.

Is this grow still alive?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read our Photo Gallery Tutorial.

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.

:Namaste:
 
Re: Livingsoildwc's - Living Soil - Deep Water Culture - Experiment Grow Journal - 20

Hi sorry got a bit lost after the chop :bigtoke:

Here is a pic of a cured SpaceKush nug.

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The smoke was really excellent, a good combination of Spacequeen and BlueberryKush I feel.

Very stoned bud, definitely switched the lights on and made everything a little bit more electric and entertaining. Good bud.

Goes to show a living soil dwc system can be done.

I will drill a lot more holes in the bottom of my pot for the roots to grow through on my next livingsoildwc run.

Keep the peace!
:peace::rollit:
 
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