DWC - Question for the Deep Water Culture guys!

[herby]

Ok so ive been doing a bit more research into the DWC method and it seems like a really good way to grow. Theres a few things im still not sure about so im hoping some gurus can shed some light.

 

What size pot do you go for ? Ive seen some video tutorials about this and some say 3" pot and some say 6" pot, that seems a little bit small ? ( im talking about the pot that sits on the lid not the pot that holds the water / solution )

 

Do you still have to have some kind of soil or mix in the pot to give the plant some structure? like in the photo below can you go for say 80% of clay pebbles or hydrocorn / hydroton and then soil on top of it ? or would you just go 100% clay pebbles? and maybe put the seedling in a block of rockwool and put it on top of the pebbles? If so will the upper stems / roots have enough strength to hold the plant up? Would you need stakes in there?

 

How much of the pot is submerged? do you keep everything submerged except for the soil ( if you use it ) as shown in the pic below? or do you keep lowering the water level as the roots grow so when your first starting out they are not soaked in water strait away?

 

hope someone can shed some light on this for me

 

[nici]

What size pot do you go for ? Ive seen some video tutorials about this and some say 3" pot and some say 6" pot, that seems a little bit small ? ( im talking about the pot that sits on the lid not the pot that holds the water / solution ) - Personal preferance but 3" is big enough and tends to let the roots hit the water faster

 

Do you still have to have some kind of soil or mix in the pot to give the plant some structure? like in the photo below can you go for say 80% of clay pebbles or hydrocorn / hydroton and then soil on top of it ? or would you just go 100% clay pebbles? and maybe put the seedling in a block of rockwool and put it on top of the pebbles? If so will the upper stems / roots have enough strength to hold the plant up? Would you need stakes in there? - sprout the seed in rockwool then plant in 100% clay.  Anything else will stay too wet and will increase your chances of rot

 

How much of the pot is submerged? do you keep everything submerged except for the soil ( if you use it ) as shown in the pic below? or do you keep lowering the water level as the roots grow so when your first starting out they are not soaked in water strait away? - The net pots should never be submerged!  For the first week or 2 have the water touching the net pot then when the roots break through move the waterline 2" below the net pot

 

 

Hope that helps a bit.

[Naycha]

There is no reason not to have the netpot sitting in the water.

 

https://cannabis.community.forums.ozstoners.com/topic/28217-having-a-proper-go-at-dwc/

 

Naycha

[herby]

Thanks for the info guys! will deffinatley take it into account and have a read of that page too! Hope i can get it sussed out before i need to transfer them over

[herby]

There is no reason not to have the netpot sitting in the water.

 

https://cannabis.community.forums.ozstoners.com/topic/28217-having-a-proper-go-at-dwc/

 

Naycha

 

There is no reason not to have the netpot sitting in the water.

 

https://cannabis.community.forums.ozstoners.com/topic/28217-having-a-proper-go-at-dwc/

 

Naycha

 

Btw naycha i noticed your running it recirculated with water pump, Its this really needed in dwc setups? do you have to have the water circulating or can you just have the roots sitting in the solution in the bucket with an air pump and air stone?

[Naycha]

Btw naycha i noticed your running it recirculated with water pump, Its this really needed in dwc setups? do you have to have the water circulating or can you just have the roots sitting in the solution in the bucket with an air pump and air stone?

 

Recirc is not essential.

 

Naycha

[bufo marinus]

There is no reason not to have the netpot sitting in the water.

 

https://cannabis.community.forums.ozstoners.com/topic/28217-having-a-proper-go-at-dwc/

 

Naycha

 

mmmm not good advice for noobs though, very easy to overwater and end up with droopy leaf

You'll get the best results when you can lengthen the air gap between the net pot and the water

[Naycha]

I have never had overwatering in dwc with the airstone running and find that the air gap creates thick structural roots that are inefficient at uptaking nutrients. If you are overwatering in dwc there is a big problem with dissolved oxygen.

 

Naycha

[bufo marinus]

That's not quite right either Naycha. I'm sure you've had dwc success but there's more than one way to get things done usually.

You can grow in deep water without airstones too, as long as the air gap is maintained. Vege growers have been growing veges like this for years, no air stones, outdoors, this isn't a method just used by cannabis growers

I've seen plenty of grows on here where people struggle with overwatering because they've stuck the net pots in the nutrient solution.  Best advice, don't do it. Simple.

 

Maybe ask Chato, he's the deep water champ here.

[herby]

hmmm will do my research into the air gap thing i guess, cant hurt to have air stones AND a small air gap can it ?

 

Another question for you guys, How much of the nute solution do the plants ussualy drink when they get big? one of the hydro shops i went to said that they will drink the entire solution in 48 hours ( 30L+ ) and others have said they never run out and only change it every 20 days or so to keep it clean? ...

I can see it getting VERY expensive to be making 30+l of solution every 2 days...

 

Also still a little confused here about using a reservoir in the system... If you have 3 plants in 20L buckets then does that mean you need say a 45L reservoir ( taking of 5L per plant to compensate for netpot length ) mix all the nutes and 45l worth of water in the reservoir then open the valve and let it flow into the main plant buckets? or do you mix the nutes / water seperatly for each plant in each bucket first and then just fill the reservoir with normal water and let it top up the plant buckets as needed? will topping up with normal water change the ppm / ph levels?

 

Edited March 8, 2014 by herby