5 gallon bucket dwc ... Successful?
- Thread starter arkandsaw
- Start date
Rancho Cucamonga
Active Member
Definitely a question I would of posted soon as I'm looking to go this route. Thread rated.
arkandsaw
Active Member
Thanks Joker. Yeah, I got all of that. I just wanted some personal opinion from people that have grown with this system.
dangledo
Well-Known Member
you do have to keep on top of your ppm and ph as big plants in dwc can drink a gallon+ a day. i mix half tap and half ro water. it buffers the ph so you dont have any major ph drift. the biggest problem you will find with dwc is the slime. some people have easier time with a sterile resi, some people prefer teas. i use tea and have never had a major slime issue.
bigger the container, the easier it is to control ppm and ph, imo.
bigger the container, the easier it is to control ppm and ph, imo.
TMG Genetics
New Member
I've grown dwc. It makes good size plants and yields, but, the downside is having to lift the plant out of the bucket all the time. It's not a problem really until the plant starts getting big, then it is a royal pain in the ass. If you have never grown this way before and want to try some real easy "hydro" I'd try hempy. I've done soil, dwc and hempy indoors and I'll neve grow in soil or dwc again indoors.
This is 5 gallon buckets of straight perlite (hempy style).
This is 5 gallon buckets of straight perlite (hempy style).
dangledo
Well-Known Member
" the downside is having to lift the plant out of the bucket all the time. It's not a problem really until the plant starts getting big, then it is a royal pain in the ass. "
I agree, that was my biggest issue. I added a 1/2 inch shut off valve to the bottom of my bucket(12 gallon trash can), and it has never been easier. I just use a half inch hose and empty her out. add back from the top. just a quick fill up in a cup to check the ppm and ph. its taken alot of the work out of changing out, as i dont have to lift a single bucket.
I agree, that was my biggest issue. I added a 1/2 inch shut off valve to the bottom of my bucket(12 gallon trash can), and it has never been easier. I just use a half inch hose and empty her out. add back from the top. just a quick fill up in a cup to check the ppm and ph. its taken alot of the work out of changing out, as i dont have to lift a single bucket.
arkandsaw
Active Member
Good idea dangledo! I think thats the route I'm going to go! I didn't add this earlier but I did try dwc in a big rubbermaid container and the slime/algae was crazy! As soon as the slime started in and started growing, the pH swings were uncontrolable! I just dumped the shit out and went with soil. So the slime algae is bad with this system too? If so, thats unfortunate!
arkandsaw
Active Member
What is growing "hempy"?
I've grown dwc. It makes good size plants and yields, but, the downside is having to lift the plant out of the bucket all the time. It's not a problem really until the plant starts getting big, then it is a royal pain in the ass. If you have never grown this way before and want to try some real easy "hydro" I'd try hempy. I've done soil, dwc and hempy indoors and I'll neve grow in soil or dwc again indoors.
This is 5 gallon buckets of straight perlite (hempy style).
carlo kro
Well-Known Member
Dwc is quite good. But it requires the most work doing 1 will be fine but doing anyfink over 6 is like a shift at your job.
I built my own so i made 2 and its made my life so much easier. Your prob finkn how.
Well.. I change the solution every week so when its change ova time i mix nutes in the ova bucket then jus switch the plant over.
I suggest you watch a few vids on you tube before you try it
I built my own so i made 2 and its made my life so much easier. Your prob finkn how.
Well.. I change the solution every week so when its change ova time i mix nutes in the ova bucket then jus switch the plant over.
I suggest you watch a few vids on you tube before you try it
upabove
Well-Known Member
After years of growing DWC I've made a lot of modifications to the DWC. But one of the most important things I've learned is this: in flower if you let the bucket go completely empty the plant actually likes it and explodes afterwards. I always kept the 5g dwc topped off and on point. Sometimes I would fill it to the brim even where it was bubbling into the hydroton basket. But now things have changed. atleast 3 times during flowering I'm able to blow into my "drain tube" and all I hear is air, no bubbling nutrients.
After that discovery, I purchased an ebb & flood table and use that! Now I just use all my 5g buckets to sit my square white pots in until there ready to go into the ebb & flood.
After that discovery, I purchased an ebb & flood table and use that! Now I just use all my 5g buckets to sit my square white pots in until there ready to go into the ebb & flood.
dangledo
Well-Known Member
great white is a really good product. when started young will prevent any slime issues. if using a big system brewing '' teas'', is a good idea to keep slime away. using half tap water and half ro water will buffer your ph and prevent any wild ph swings.
blacksun
New Member
Kind of...perlite, coco, hydroton, lava rocks, a newer product called "mapito" which is rockwool cube chunks and foam mixed, combinations of them all.....yeah, lots of possibilities.
Check my sig out!
blacksun
New Member
That was a little off topic...
On topic, DWC is awesome too!
It's much easier to deal with as a recirculating system though, in my opinion.
Here's an example of RDWC (recirculating dwc) from the DWC board itself:
https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/497270-how-rdwc-ucdwc-diy-advanced.html
On topic, DWC is awesome too!
It's much easier to deal with as a recirculating system though, in my opinion.
Here's an example of RDWC (recirculating dwc) from the DWC board itself:
https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/497270-how-rdwc-ucdwc-diy-advanced.html
hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
Other than saying to build it yourself I say go for it. My first DWC - homebuilt, red lava medium. Dug up a flowering clone rooted in soil to check for those frigging nets they put around peat pucks that do NOT degrade and ultimately doom the bud, cleared the net away and replanted. Immediately thought of the DWC I had just built. Dug it up again - right then - and bathed the roots in warm water until they were clean and white. A few drops of Dawn helped (DROPS if you copy!!!!!) and then put in a homemade "net pot" made from a plastic 4" planter with holes drilled in it and then filled around the roots with that red lava (pre-washed and rinsed a few times and ready to go). Sound Alabama enough? It never missed a beat.
Buy a damned good pH meter before you even build the DWC (trust me on this one) and a good PPM meter. Buy the calibration solutions with each. Learn to calibrate them. By the time tyou do that you will be ready to go on the link below and get going. GROW MONSTERS! I do!
https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/
hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
My next DWC was a Dinafem White Widow Auto. That girl went to 48" high, 52" wide, yielded 2.15 ounces of damned good bud, 3 grams of hash and was a beauty to behold. PPM never exceeded 400. Used AN Sensi Series Grow & Bloom both plus VooDoo Juice and B52. When I added the last 2 the damned roots went absolutely nuts. DO IT. Right now in DWC I have a White Skunk, a Dinafem Blue Widow, Ace Seeds Mazar i Sharifi, a clone from a soil grown G13 Labs OG13 (kickass fucking bud there I'll promise), an Auto AK, a White Cheese and the strangest marijuana plant I have ever seen. Sweet Seedss Fast Bud Auto that isn't an auto and looks like some science project gone bad. It's a twin of one grown in dirt but bigger. Never seen anything like it and its soil grown cuz sucked for high.
I'm new here but I have some experience with DWC.
I grow an Indica Dominant strain, on dirt I vegged 8 weeks and then budded them out for another 8 for about 1 pound per plant under one 1000 watt bulb per plant in 15 gallon fabric pots.
On the DWC system we started them in a 5 gal. bucket in veg. Vegged for 7 weeks and then moved into the budding room into a 20 gal garbage can. Every plant with it's own air stone in a self contained system with a shared drain hose on valve for easy flush.
Again with one, 1000 watt per plant our yields have grown to 1.5 pounds per plant and of course less fertilizer and work than with dirt.
The move to the 20 Gal was more out of paranoia because there were sooooo many roots still in veg i didn't see it getting through bud without becoming root bound but I'm going to stick with it because I ended up with a good healthy plant loaded with beautiful big buds and it was incredibly tidy and easy to work with in comparison to dirt.
I grow an Indica Dominant strain, on dirt I vegged 8 weeks and then budded them out for another 8 for about 1 pound per plant under one 1000 watt bulb per plant in 15 gallon fabric pots.
On the DWC system we started them in a 5 gal. bucket in veg. Vegged for 7 weeks and then moved into the budding room into a 20 gal garbage can. Every plant with it's own air stone in a self contained system with a shared drain hose on valve for easy flush.
Again with one, 1000 watt per plant our yields have grown to 1.5 pounds per plant and of course less fertilizer and work than with dirt.
The move to the 20 Gal was more out of paranoia because there were sooooo many roots still in veg i didn't see it getting through bud without becoming root bound but I'm going to stick with it because I ended up with a good healthy plant loaded with beautiful big buds and it was incredibly tidy and easy to work with in comparison to dirt.