Great advice, especially on the noise. I want to run 8 in a custom build shed/structure so I'm worried about the vibration a little bit. A street runs on the other side of the wall. Time will tell but soil I find hard to get rid of. The water I can just dump down there drain
How to start large dwc
- Thread starter Beesbuds
- Start date
GODWORK
Well-Known Member
QUOTE="GODWORK, post: 9783320, member: 43848"]
Purple Dream...& Golden TriangleView attachment 2879632View attachment 2879635 View attachment 2879645.
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@Beesbuds What State Are You in & What are you feeding your plants
Purple Dream...& Golden TriangleView attachment 2879632View attachment 2879635 View attachment 2879645.
[/QUOTE]
@Beesbuds What State Are You in & What are you feeding your plants
Attachments
GODWORK
Well-Known Member
You Can See My Air pump...I ran thru at least10 different types of AIR STONES b4 settling on a style used...an The technique of HYPER Bubbling,
Basically a Root Jacuzzi
View attachment 5231860
Basically a Root Jacuzzi
View attachment 5231860
I was thinking I should get a bigger than needed air pump at least I can't turn it down and still get great results
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
I never start plants in large containers. That is kind of a waste IMO, other than you can veg them for a long, long time without doing a res change.. Probably all of veg actually, depending on how big the container is.. but, it's ridiculous to me when I see like 6 baby clones with hardly any roots sitting in like 50-60 gallons of solution, lol.
I usually use smaller DWC 3/5 gal buckets, a single tote, or even another baby RDWC system sometimes, until they are established enough to put in the final larger containers.
Having large net pots isn't really true bare roots DWC either. You want the smallest net pots you can use. I prefer 3-4 inch.
Trying to grow the plant in a gallon or more of hydroton in a huge ass net pot isn't what you want (if you want true DWC), you want a large root system hanging down in the water, with lots of oxygen. Not trying to grow in a pot sitting over a container of water. Thats not true "DWC" IMO.
The more bubbles you have popping, the more the upper root system gets misted, with finer droplets than even the best aero nozzles can produce. You get super charged growth that way. Don't listen to people that tell you waterfalls or one air stone in the control res is enough, you want a root jacuzzi like GW says.
I usually use smaller DWC 3/5 gal buckets, a single tote, or even another baby RDWC system sometimes, until they are established enough to put in the final larger containers.
Having large net pots isn't really true bare roots DWC either. You want the smallest net pots you can use. I prefer 3-4 inch.
Trying to grow the plant in a gallon or more of hydroton in a huge ass net pot isn't what you want (if you want true DWC), you want a large root system hanging down in the water, with lots of oxygen. Not trying to grow in a pot sitting over a container of water. Thats not true "DWC" IMO.
The more bubbles you have popping, the more the upper root system gets misted, with finer droplets than even the best aero nozzles can produce. You get super charged growth that way. Don't listen to people that tell you waterfalls or one air stone in the control res is enough, you want a root jacuzzi like GW says.
By switching from many, smaller totes to fewer, larger totes I believe that you will see an increase in the length of your grows, an increase in the quantity and quality of your crop, a decrease in the amount of labor needed to maintain your grow, an increase in the stability of TDS, and an increase in the stability of pH.
I'm not in the market for a new system but I have looked around a bit from time to time. PA Hydropnics looks pretty good as @Treesomewanted77 has recommended, and Current Culture and the folks at Super Closet look to have good offerings, as well. In the spirit of full disclosure, I bought a SuperPonics setup in 2017 and use their SuperPonics 12 XL, which holds 28 gallons of nutes, in a 2' x 4' tent.
These companies offer buckets in 5, 8, and 10 gallon sizes. I think it's correct to state that plant size will tend increase as bucket size increases and, based on my experience, I'd go with a larger-sized bucket rather than a smaller size.
How many plants? The 12XL has holes for 12 net pots which is, for me, eleven too many. My last few grows (I've only done five grows, one photo grow in 2017 and four auto grows since 2/2021) have consisted of two plants, one of which completely dominates the tent/res. Grows from now on will consist of one plant in the 8 sq ft space. If you're going to use one of the "large res" systems you might find that 4 buckets will do well for you in your 4' x 8'.
And that reminded me that The Bucket Company has pretty good products, too.
When it comes to res maintenance, there are different approaches (no surprise there). This site has a lot of interesting info. Check out this page on res maintenance. I've attached a paper by Bruce Bugbee on this topic, too. And you might want to check out this video from the folks at Jacks.
Greengrouch
Well-Known Member
just use a bigger container, with 4in netpots I fill to about 14 gallons res temps, ph ec stay stable. Wish they had these blue lid ones when I set mine up. Don’t mind the deficiencies I’m still dialing that in(going back to masterblend next time not digging the maxibloom
HART - 27 Gallon Heavy Duty Latching Plastic Storage Bin, Black Base/Blue Lid
https://www.walmart.com/ip/766219049
HART - 27 Gallon Heavy Duty Latching Plastic Storage Bin, Black Base/Blue Lid
https://www.walmart.com/ip/766219049
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Wow thanks for that Bugbee paper. Great and informative. I was thinking less is more in terms of plants. But I reckon 8x5 gal buckets would ideal. Gives room for error
Nice, how long you veg in that
Greengrouch
Well-Known Member
They’re autos, 23 days from sprout rn, they started flowering really early, I think may the root balls tangling might have triggered it like when auto roots fill out a pot.
I have no truck with a few small plants in a large res. The most I've ever put in my 35 gallon res (holds 28 gallons) is four plants but most of my grows have been two and future grows will be one plant. Seeds start in the Super Sprouter and then the RapidRooter goes into a net pot in the res.
As you state, the res will last a long time and, as you imply, there's no need to transplant. Sounds like a sound approach to me.
I've used 4" net pots for my grows but with the change from two plants to one plant, I'm going to a larger net pot. The photo below is from my current (two plant) grow. The grow is at day 89 above ground so it won't outgrow the net pot but a 5" net pot would help ensure that I don't run into problems if I wanted to grow larger plants. The plant in the photo is about 36" wide and is 54" tall.
Greengrouch
Well-Known Member
On a budget just starting I’d go with the stirponic setup from pahydro. Less than $300 for the 8 site so about the same you’d pay building from scratch.
"more room for error" - a good solution to that is the advice we used to give out when I was in the Army - "don't fuck up".
Eight plants in a 4' x 8' is only 4 sq ft per plant = not much.
Another attraction to fewer plants is that fewer plants = fewer canopies and fewer canopies makes it easier to light.
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
I kept splitting open 3.75" netcups when growing big plants, so I switched to 4", lol. Most people would never have a problem though, with 3-4" ones
rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
if he does rdwc, waterfalls are much better than airpump/stones IMO
Drop That Sound
Well-Known Member
I use lead free rubber soaker hose now days. 1/4, 3/8, and even up to 1/2" with my larger commercial size pumps.
It floats though, and suction cups don't suck enough, So I just drill a hole through the inside of the bulkheads or whatever to hold it all down. Even have melted the container with soldering iron before, and form a small loop into the bottom to act like an eye hook. Or use the more rigid plastic tubing to hold it down in multiple spots. Always coming up with new ideas for aeration designs..
My newest system I'm building, I'm gonna try encapsulating a metal weight into some instamorph thermoformable plastic, to make plasticky weights to hold my soaker hose grids down. That way it won't expose the solution to any metals, Like I see with many people using washers as weights...
I don't like stones, and refuse to buy them anymore.
I would show off my latest invention, but someone here will patent it and steal my idea, lol
It floats though, and suction cups don't suck enough, So I just drill a hole through the inside of the bulkheads or whatever to hold it all down. Even have melted the container with soldering iron before, and form a small loop into the bottom to act like an eye hook. Or use the more rigid plastic tubing to hold it down in multiple spots. Always coming up with new ideas for aeration designs..
My newest system I'm building, I'm gonna try encapsulating a metal weight into some instamorph thermoformable plastic, to make plasticky weights to hold my soaker hose grids down. That way it won't expose the solution to any metals, Like I see with many people using washers as weights...
I don't like stones, and refuse to buy them anymore.
I would show off my latest invention, but someone here will patent it and steal my idea, lol
rkymtnman
Well-Known Member
don't some fishing weights (lead) have plastic coatings? or plasti-dip them?