First time ever grower wants to do hydro ...
- Thread starter border&grower
- Start date
2WorldsFrog
Well-Known Member
It's 48"x48"x80". I've got a dual 315 cmh and the system feeds from the bottom up. So it's an RDWC, but reversed water flow.I built it that way so the water level in the buckets stays the same. I can get around 24ounces with a SCROG setup.How big is your tent @2WorldsFrog? ... Your buckets are setup quit compact!
border&grower
Member
... busy setting up my second (DIY) rdwc system
Till now very happy with my first one ... one week auto sprouts getting already third set of leaves since I'm germinate them straight into the rockwool cubes ... let's hope all stays stable
Till now very happy with my first one ... one week auto sprouts getting already third set of leaves since I'm germinate them straight into the rockwool cubes ... let's hope all stays stable
border&grower
Member
One out of four sprouts in my tent isn't developing any leaves or roots. This are autos. The rest is already developing their fourth leave. Can I just replace this by a fresh seed and germinate in the netpot. It's going to be behind the other ones but would this be an issue?
Jimski
Well-Known Member
If this is a Rdwc you will be giving nutes before it needs them as a seedling. I had a seedling missfire during the planting and relaunched a new seed. Then I had plants 3 weeks apart with different light and nutes requirments.
Did not work out for me
border&grower
Member
... how do you guys select your strains for cloning? Forever growing from seeds doesn't look very economical. Specifically the time to veg. How do you know you have a good strain to clone? I have read some guys even clone from there veg plants. I like to have some advice about cloning good strains.
2WorldsFrog
Well-Known Member
One strain at a time in a tent. You have to think about what will work for your grow style. Most strains have some info available somewhere. From seed, I'd grow out four at a time.
Almost every strain has phenotype variations, so I take cuttings of each plant before flipping to flower. Usually, 4-5 cuttings per plant will produce a couple good clones of each. So as the cuttings root and I get them into pots vegging, the original four plants are flowering. Throughout that process I watch each one and pay attention to their growth characteristics for things like node spacing, growth rate, and flower time. When they finish flowering, I sample each one for effects and make a decision based on everything each plant has to offer.
So now I have an exact clone of the plant I want to be a mother, mature enough to take cuttings from. So, you root some cuttings and you're off to the races. The biggest advantages for me are having even growth rates, canopy height, and nutrient requirements.
A separate grow space is required to do this, I do mine in a divided tent. The tent is 4'x3', with a reflective barrier to divide it. It gives me a 3'x3' space for moms, and a 1'x3' space with a shelf for cloning. It could probably be done in a smaller space; you would just have to train and maintain your moms for it. Repotting and managing the height makes it work.
Hope this helps.
Almost every strain has phenotype variations, so I take cuttings of each plant before flipping to flower. Usually, 4-5 cuttings per plant will produce a couple good clones of each. So as the cuttings root and I get them into pots vegging, the original four plants are flowering. Throughout that process I watch each one and pay attention to their growth characteristics for things like node spacing, growth rate, and flower time. When they finish flowering, I sample each one for effects and make a decision based on everything each plant has to offer.
So now I have an exact clone of the plant I want to be a mother, mature enough to take cuttings from. So, you root some cuttings and you're off to the races. The biggest advantages for me are having even growth rates, canopy height, and nutrient requirements.
A separate grow space is required to do this, I do mine in a divided tent. The tent is 4'x3', with a reflective barrier to divide it. It gives me a 3'x3' space for moms, and a 1'x3' space with a shelf for cloning. It could probably be done in a smaller space; you would just have to train and maintain your moms for it. Repotting and managing the height makes it work.
Hope this helps.
border&grower
Member
Getting more confi day by day ... reading the plants ... notice changes and react ... can't rely on those cheap water quality meters ... had to use my pen-meter to decide to do a full res change ... also the ppm and ph in the plant buckets are lower then in the res ... maybe the nuts dont circulate well through the system ... get the feeling they stick somewhere in the res/pump-filter ...
border&grower
Member
Roots start to touchdown ... Getting some nut burns on the tip of the leaves ... Had to do a complete res change and adjust the ph ... light set around 150 mol/m²d DLI according to the Photone app ...
Last edited:
2WorldsFrog
Well-Known Member
RDWC isn't the easiest thing to get the hang of, you'll get there though. Once the plants are a few more weeks old it gets a little easier to tell what's going on.
border&grower
Member
@2WorldsFrog @Jimski Thanks to get me this far with your kind advice! RDWC is at least to say challenging ... the least to say for indoor growing 
... my personal goal would be at least a little yield ... and then the next grows should be more easy to dial in ... It's still fun to see those babies grow from a tiny seed 
... my personal goal would be at least a little yield ... and then the next grows should be more easy to dial in ... It's still fun to see those babies grow from a tiny seed
Jimski
Well-Known Member
I also will restart my Rdwc but the dwc buckets were not working for me. I was much to busy with life. I have suspended my water system and am growing in soil in my tent. I am going to get a 4x4 x 80 but most importantly both front and rear doors as mu back issue does not allow me to bend and reach for more than a minute or 2.@2WorldsFrog @Jimski Thanks to get me this far with your kind advice! RDWC is at least to say challenging ... the least to say for indoor growing
Had 5 white widows pop and 4 have sprouted in fox farms soil.
I have a bit of property and have grown veggies and even fish in my pond. I decided to do hydro for the challenge but the other reason I am growing is the price of camnabis has gone stupid since the addition of adult use recreational. Prices have gone from $110 for top shelf medical to almost $300 for the same numbers. With my original setup I would have recovered my costs with one good grow of about 8-10 oz. Now I will need several grows to even out the costs.
I am not angry about this as some of my other hobbies cost way more money and as a technician and then manager of auto shops I have the standard 100k in tools boxes and equipment that just sits around till i need to fix something.
There is no reason for either of us to quit. At least we do not seem to be making the same mostakes over qnd over.
One of the things I have recently decided to do is learn much more about hydro nutrition including point by point differences in different nutrition mixes. A lot of top level growers are sending in samples of nutes to be tested for individual nute amounts such as N pk fe mg and all the other nutes in the mix and then documenting long term use and tracking the mixes through the grow. I have also decided that in hydro for me that my tap water is crap and I need and have purchased an ro filter that for now I just use in my humidifier.
Good luck with your grow and I still have you tagged for your journal. Anytime I can help I will do so.
border&grower
Member
@Jimski it's true ... RDWC is not cheap in equipment ... crazy prices over there for some pod 
... hope to hear soonof your experiences when you start again your RDWC!
Like the sweet smell of ganja when I open up the tent for inspection ... they are still small but they smell allready like I want to smoke them ... need to correct I didn't set my DLI on 150 but on 65 mol/m²d. Had checked the 24h instead of the 18h option in the Photone app.
... hope to hear soonof your experiences when you start again your RDWC!Like the sweet smell of ganja when I open up the tent for inspection
... they are still small but they smell allready like I want to smoke them ... need to correct I didn't set my DLI on 150 but on 65 mol/m²d. Had checked the 24h instead of the 18h option in the Photone app.
Jimski
Well-Known Member
Got my ro filter installed. 12 ppm 9.0 ph@Jimski it's true ... RDWC is not cheap in equipment ... crazy prices over there for some pod
Like the sweet smell of ganja when I open up the tent for inspection
These little girls seem to be stretching but might just be because they do not have 2 inches of pebbles on them just a 1/2 inch of dirt. Light set at 9000 lumens with no curling or burn in 3 hours. Converter says 179 ppfd which is where I started veg last run. Was 2 weeks farther along before light was this high.
Hollatchaboy
Well-Known Member
You gotta be careful using pH meter on ro water. It'll give inaccurate readings and it could fuck up the probe.
Jimski
Well-Known Member
Well the ro water from kroger is 9.0 and almost zero and the calibration fluid is 4 7and 10 so I think im good........
2WorldsFrog
Well-Known Member
I've heard that before, can't remember where or why that happens though.
I always use the ph meter after mixing the nutes, not much point to use it on plain water. PPM meter before nutes to see how pure the water is, sure, but I can't see why I'd need to know the ph before adding a bunch of stuff to it.
Always clean the probe after use though, always.
border&grower
Member
I was also considering to use ro water ... but then I saw the analyses report of my tapwater and was thinking the following
a) It's not economically to remove all those beneficial nuts to add them later with expensive additives ...
b) Wouldn't it be better to remove only the dangerous substances in the water and leave the good ones intact ...
If these grow will be damaged by my tapwater I would consider to go ro filter. For now I mix a part tap with demi water to keep my ec around .8
I can always adjust the mix according the need of my plants.
2WorldsFrog
Well-Known Member
The tap water where I am is highly chlorinated. It's necessary to let it sit in a bucket/tote/whatever I'm using before letting it touch the roots. Chlorine is not good for plants. I don't like it much either.
border&grower
Member
The water analyses here says a median of 20mg/l Cl. This means highly chlorinated and toxic for the roots. But the roots of my plants seem to grow just fine and fast
... puzzles me