DWC vs. bubble lifter drip ring?????

Tomatoesonly

Well-Known Member
I was wondering if there were any logical reasons adding top drip using an airpump drip ring, like GH Waterfarm does, if that adds anything extra to the efficiency of the setup.
DWC... the water is hyper oxygenated, plenty of roots are submerged in the mixture, why would adding more water falling from the top, through the pot and into the solution be of any value?

I jumped back into a little DWC setup, and I forgot how unbelievably efficient they are. LIKE IMMEDIATELY things were hopping. It's not something you can just ignore. Also, there has been a ton of innovation in DWC setups I haven't seen, so I'm a bit overwhelmed if I wanna get super complicated.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
No value at all to having a drip ring with DWC. Just more things to break down and complicate the simplest form of hydro going.

I did close to 50 DWC grows in Rubbermaid tubs from '01 - 2020. Couple of air stones, a little tubing and air pump and you're good to go.

Once the plants are a foot tall the roots going thru the net pot are basically pipelines with no feeder tips so they don't absorb anything so why feed them?

Roots.jpg

:peace:
 

ProPheT 216

Well-Known Member
Their is no advantage if you do not take advantage of the difference in system operation. Dwc your soaking in a res. The plant has access to say a weeks worth of food when you refill, the plant eats more of one thing than another and nutrients can begin to lack without timely changes of the res. Also growers tend to up nutrient charge to try to get.more days out of the res of fix deficiency when the answer is simply feed more frequently not feed more ppm.

With a drip the plant gets a fresh fully loaded feed every time it drips if you drain to waste. You can scale back your ppms and know the plant is eat a full plate all day without overeating.

If your not drain to waste I see no benefit. I found Rockwool to be the solution to bridge the gap between dwc and drain to waste drip irrigation. A 8x8x8 rw cube only holds about ¾ of a gallon. Perfect for 1 to 2 average strength feeds a day. All the benefits of hydro, drain to waste, dwc, coco all in one.
 
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