My First Journal: GG#4 In DWC & Soil

You got some really good advice from Northern Hydro. I run individual buckets with (2) 2"x4" air stones per bucket. (2) buckets per 950gph pump. I change my buckets solution out once a week. The PH I alter as needed but I let it fluctuate between 5.9-5.2 before I correct it.

I find DWC to be less maintenance than coco. Check the PH and ppm once a day. Top it off when the sight tube indicates that it needs it and shut the tent up. I mix nutes once a week vs. every day.
 
SamSmith said:
You got some really good advice from Northern Hydro. I run individual buckets with (2) 2"x4" air stones per bucket. (2) buckets per 950gph pump. I change my buckets solution out once a week. The PH I alter as needed but I let it fluctuate between 5.9-5.2 before I correct it.

I find DWC to be less maintenance than coco. Check the PH and ppm once a day. Top it off when the sight tube indicates that it needs it and shut the tent up. I mix nutes once a week vs. every day.
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Thanks. I am doing nutes and res change once a week. I was checking my PH and PPM levels once an hour when I first started but now I am adapting to it, I am backing off a little but still checking at least daily. Once I get a full grow in, I'll have fun and start experimenting with different things but right now I just want to learn it. In soil I never had to PH or worry about PPM levels.
 
If you have the money and want to really watch all the parameters of your grow you can get one of these.
Those make more sense when you have a central reservoir.

There are some cheaper ones that I ran across but haven't used.

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With these types of monitoring systems you only open the tent up when they need something. You just mount the meter outside the grow space and check it at a glance. Once you have monitored a grow or two you see that they are way overkill. a quick check once a day and you are golden.
 
SamSmith said:
If you have the money and want to really watch all the parameters of your grow you can get one of these.
Those make more sense when you have a central reservoir.

There are some cheaper ones that I ran across but haven't used.

Wish - Shopping Made Fun

Shopping Made Fun. Join over 500 million others that have made their shopping more smart, fun, and rewarding.
www.wish.com

With these types of monitoring systems you only open the tent up when they need something. You just mount the meter outside the grow space and check it at a glance. Once you have monitored a grow or two you see that they are way overkill. a quick check once a day and you are golden.
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I am sure I will get something along those lines once this grow is over. I wanted to grab a single system setup for one run to see if I was going to even like it. So far so good. I have the 3x3 for a 4 bucket run but I am thinking to make it a 4x4 for the extra room.
 
I’ve noticed the same as I’m using Fox Farms but in soil. I hang my reservoir for gravity feeding and there is always organic material that settles out in the bottom without fail. I have to clean it out nearly every time. Subbed! Good luck!
 
SamSmith said:
A 4X4 with 4 buckets is what I use. Anything smaller would be pretty cramped.
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I have 9 in my 3x3 but this is for the first 2 weeks of flowering. Once they stretch out I move 5 into my closet.

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The Physicist said:
I’ve noticed the same as I’m using Fox Farms but in soil. I hang my reservoir for gravity feeding and there is always organic material that settles out in the bottom without fail. I have to clean it out nearly every time. Subbed! Good luck!
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Thank you for stopping in. I first grabbed Fox Farms when I first started growing. I got used to it and loved my results so I never switched it up. When I was reading to learn DWC, I seen that it could be used for hydroponics. I didn't think about the Big Bloom though and how it has that brownish color to it. It stains my roots for about 24 hours when I first change my res out but it goes away and the roots are back to their nice almost translucent color.
 
seeing brown roots would freak me out at first, major panic about root rot :eek: good to hear you continued using it, I have only good things to say so far using at half strength.
Its crazy to see the growth during veg from the DWC!
 
The Physicist said:
seeing brown roots would freak me out at first, major panic about root rot :eek: good to hear you continued using it, I have only good things to say so far using at half strength.
Its crazy to see the growth during veg from the DWC!
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It's like a tint but it's the same color as the water so you can tell. No slime or bad swell so I wasn't worried. But yea follow along...I got some great people in here following along and helping when needed too. Grateful for anyone who comes in. Like I said earlier....my DWC was a day behind all the plants in veg right now. Now she passed them and it isn't even close. Wish I had started doing DWC much earlier. I would suggest it to anyone. I also upload pictures of my other things growing as well but my focus is mainly on the GG#4's for right now. My next run I am doing a grow with just one strain instead of multi....a first for me.
 
Has anyone noticed a difference in flavor/smell/terp content with hydro vs soil? Seen various places pros to hydro is the growth rates but soil has a bit more flavor from the microbial environment
 
The Physicist said:
Has anyone noticed a difference in flavor/smell/terp content with hydro vs soil? Seen various places pros to hydro is the growth rates but soil has a bit more flavor from the microbial environment
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I was always under the impression that soil plants have better taste.
 
BubbleBucketz said:
It's like a tint but it's the same color as the water so you can tell. No slime or bad swell so I wasn't worried. But yea follow along...I got some great people in here following along and helping when needed too. Grateful for anyone who comes in. Like I said earlier....my DWC was a day behind all the plants in veg right now. Now she passed them and it isn't even close. Wish I had started doing DWC much earlier. I would suggest it to anyone. I also upload pictures of my other things growing as well but my focus is mainly on the GG#4's for right now. My next run I am doing a grow with just one strain instead of multi....a first for me.
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How difficult was it to get it balanced out at first? They look very nice.:thumb:
 
The Physicist said:
How difficult was it to get it balanced out at first? They look very nice.:thumb:
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I went from being able to drown a plant in soil to growing it directly in water......sooooooooooooo weird lol. I read a while up on it and planned it a little. I have soil down no problems but it wasn't too bad. I just followed what I read and applied it. A few people here gave me some tips as I was letting light in by the plastic netting cup as an example. I am still outside of my comfort zone on it but its the first grow this way. I am sure the next one will be much more relaxing.
 
Yes you definitely need to get that temp down . That’s the temp I obtain when I put the buckets on risers and it stunted my growth.
on the floor they usually sit at 63 degrees .. the plants don’t seem to mind the lower temps but definitely not the warmer temps ( in hydro) in soil, I have to use a riser so they don’t get cold feet . Wild eh ?
Good luck!
 

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Depends on the size of the reservoir and how much you need to drop it in temperature. A small 12 oz bottle will only do a few degrees on a 10 gallon reservoir if its circulating. And at that it will only last for an hour because of recirculating water.
 
The Physicist said:
Depends on the size of the reservoir and how much you need to drop it in temperature. A small 12 oz bottle will only do a few degrees on a 10 gallon reservoir if its circulating. And at that it will only last for an hour because of recirculating water.
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I was going to throw a 20 oz bottle into a 5 gallon bucket. My temps are between 71-75F. I know it's a little out of range but I also don't seem to be having any problems at the moment.



***edit*** those are water temps not tent temps.
 
That would certainly drop it several degrees and be there for quite awhile. It would probably get too cold in this case. Itd be better to rotate out smaller bottles, this would provide less of a temperature swing on the roots, but that is potentially a pain.
 
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