Dwc Slow Growth Wtf

Here's the skinny

Three five gal rezzes, 400watt hps, Ph between 5.5 and 6, air temp 74-68 water temp constant 64. Using dynagrow Grow nutrients recommended by local hydro store at recommended strength, 7-9-5. 12"long airstones in each rez bubbles aplenty. Good ventilation and air movement. Been about four weeks now and only 6" tall, but with three opposing leaf sets and two inch shoots from nodes. Stems r 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Definitely growing but seems slow to me. Using tap water, maybe chlorine? Any way to dissipate chlorine from water? Roots healthy, change water and clean rez twice a week no algae or slime. Water level just touching bottom of pots.

New to playing in water so be gentle. Getting digital Ph meter today. Light is three feet above plants in grow cabinet. Any suggestions and ideas welcome.

NOTE: ALL POSTINGS ARE FICTIONAL AND FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY

Not a hydro pro but I will try and help. Well first a ph meter is pretty important, you using ph strips right now? I kinda had issue like u when first starting also. Do you use something to cover media? I use netpot covers it seems to keep the media from completely drying out. Do you have roots sticking out the bottom of netpot yet?

Like I said I used to this have kinda issue also, I did 2 things. One I got the netpot covers and 2 I started putting a little submersible pump in the bottom of my buckets, run a line up and created a drip ring for my plants and I have not had the issue since. Matter of fact my veggers seem to grow almost as fast as the flower now.

Here is what the little pump would look like.

You can remove chlorine, just let the water sit out 24 hr or longer, I would go to the store and get RO water if you don't have a pH or EC device... to grow without them is like driving a car with a blindfold on, you may, or may not get where ur going...... but what will the car look like?

Roots are in the rez. Trying to avoid using pumps. I'm thinking that chlorine or choramine in the tap water is messing with nutrient uptake, I mean I can smell the chlorine in the tap water, can't be good right? Bubbling some water in a five gallon jug and will test Cl content. They look healthy just trying to speed growth to the Max possible. Can anyone offer insight into chlorine and its effects (affects?) on hydro growth?

Go with to water. You can get it for like 25¢ a calling at your local super market

Really need some pics to make an assessment here. But I started out growing in DWC. So I'll chime in.

First of all, don't worry about the chlorine unless you are trying to run beneficial bacteria. It will not hurt the plant but kills beneficials.

Secondly, how do you know your ph is between 5.5 and 6 if you do not have a meter?

Slow growth in DWC can usually be attributed to a few things:

Root rot, extremely common in DWC and a pain in the ass to fix. Try more oxygenation of the water (flumeing would be the best technique) and adding some sterilization products like DM Zone, chlorine or h202 as a last resort.

Bad PH. Self explanatory, usually you will see twisted leaves and slow growth.

Something wrong with your feedings, ie deficiency or toxicity.

get some pics up and I'll take a look at what you got.

Have air pump with dual outlets, not tiny but not huge. ordered Ph meter, obtained water filter. Using test strips to test Ph currently. Pics up soon.

Started some in soil, some in rockwool. No apparent difference there. Roots of oldest plants are near a foot long. Some of them are younger and have not dropped roots thru to rez yet so I keep the level in their rez a little higher. Don't think light penetration is an issue painted rez black with five coats. Will dub check.

thepaintedchef said:

Go with to water. You can get it for like 25¢ a calling at your local super market

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Went to local grocer, nothing less than. 99c a gallon. Where did u find it for a quarter?

I now have two dual diaphragm pumps rated for 100 gallon use. Posting images soon.

Also my mister bottle broke last week so I had not been misting, which I like to do early in the "day" to simulate dew. Got new bottle today so misting again

OK so as u can see I have plants of different ages here as well as some in soil. The largest ones are three to four weeks old. Lower fan leaves were blocking a lot of light so they got sliced, which seems to have stimulated growth at the nodes. I think they look healthy , am I just being impatient or are they smaller than they should be?

NOTE: ALL POSTS AND THEIR RESPECTIVE CONTENT ARE FICTIONAL AND ARE FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY

OK so there are three different age groups pictured. The most developed are about four wks old. The lower fan leaves were blocking each other and getting hand sized so they got clipped, which seems to have stimulated growth at the nodes. I think they look healthy but seems to me they should be a lot bigger by now. Am I just crazy, impatient, or are they a lot smaller than they should be? The babies in the middle just got transplanted and the others are about two wks old. The ones in soil are about four wks old so there is definitely a visible difference between the soil and hydro.

NOTE: ALL POSTS AND THEIR RESPECTIVE CONTENT ARE FICTIONAL AND SOLELY FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES

Oops sorry for repost

Roots are white and rezzes are clean, no slime or stink. Going to be covering tops of rezzes with foil (dull side up) to reflect light back up to lower nodes plus I figure it is a very easy material to shape around growing plants. I will be posting update soon.

PPM : what device do I need to measure it? Again I am new to this so be nice. Ppm is the concentration of nutes right? Parts per million. I'm no bonehead just want to make sure I'm doing everything right. Don't want to waste my time and money!

You need a TDS meter. I got one from my local hydro store for $20. It proved to me that brita tap filters dont do much. my water went from 150ppm to 105 with one.

2layz2p said:

You can remove chlorine, just let the water sit out 24 hr or longer, I would go to the store and get RO water if you don't have a pH or EC device... to grow without them is like driving a car with a blindfold on, you may, or may not get where ur going...... but what will the car look like?

Click to expand...

The only problem with this is that a lot of places seem to be going to chloramine which is nothing more than chlorine and ammonia combined but also it doesn't outgas like straight chlorine does, to remove chloramine use any filter that filters chlorine ( such as a hydrologic smallboy). It will remove the chlorine anyway and more than likely the ammonia if chloramine is used, as far as if this is whats causing your issue I don't have a clue. sounds like you're doing everything right.

wait, you said you're getting a ph meter but in the same post you said the ph is set at 5.5 to 6.0, how are you knowing this?

dyna gro nutrients will drop ph heavily (I'm talking down to around 4) so unless you're setting ph after adding nutrients this could be a problem.