RDWC

OneHitDone

Well-Known Member
You have mega transplant shock and way too intense of light for the condition these sad plants are in.
Going from soil/coco to dwc is always a bit risky unless your willing to have a bit of the media end up in your system.
The best method would be to gently remove the starts from the container and just let what naturally falls of the root ball come off. Then plant into your hydro stone media. You could run a fair amount of nutrient through the net pots from the top with them not in the system to flush through any loose media.
Not sure I'd be liking growstones but have not used them. Prefer Hydroton myself.

I would cut your nutrients in half and raise the lights as much as possible till you start seeing growth. You should only need top feed once a day till roots show (again, I have not used growstones)
A little Vitamin B such as SuperThrive seems to help in these situations as well.
Hopefully they turn around, sucks to have to scrap and start over
 

ChonBoi

Member
just let what naturally falls of the root ball come off
Thank you for joining in One hit. Taking the time out to help me is greatly appreciated! Yes I probably cleaned out more then I needed to and messed the roots up even more.

raise the lights as much as possible till you start seeing growth
The light can't get very much higher. Maybe a foot at most. I have read of using half the lights, would any of you suggest that?

I will drain out some and top it off with some fresh water to dilute the solution. Around what EC would you guys suggest for these poor gals?

Thank you for liking his post ttystikk. I value your stamp of approval.
 

ChonBoi

Member
They'll come out of it but it might take a long time
I shouldn't be too concerned about the white stem then? I was actually most concerned with that but then again I only have limited experience and don't recall ever coming across this before.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
You can try to save those plants, but it may be more efficient to start over with specimens that weren't abused. The exercise of nursing these back to health will be valuable but it will likely put your project back awhile.

From the pics I'm guessing you're planning to run a perpetual op?
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
I shouldn't be too concerned about the white stem then? I was actually most concerned with that but then again I only have limited experience and don't recall ever coming across this before.
I couldn't really see it. It's either mold or salt buildup. Spray with a mild alcohol solution and see if it helps.
 

ChonBoi

Member
You can try to save those plants, but it may be more efficient to start over with specimens that weren't abused. The exercise of nursing these back to health will be valuable but it will likely put your project back awhile.
Good point. I'll do as One hit suggested for now until I decide the fate them.
 

G.V

Well-Known Member
1 thing I always keep in mind about any Hydroponic system... As Above, so Below...

You are having problems with your roots. Either a lack or oxygen and they are drowning, or as already advised there is something wrong with the EC & PH balance.

I am quite new to RDWC / DWC but far from new to hydroponics. A difference I have already noticed is the severity of EC imbalance in RDWC / DWC on the roots.

In NFT for example you can see the EC up at 1.3 in the veg stages and a floating PH of 5.6-6.3, and although high it wont affect the roots as long as all else is healthy. In DWC / RDWC this will cause you some serious issues.

I have come to the conclusion that the roots being submerged means the solution is SO readily available the roots just don't need to even to try to get those Macro Nutrients from it. I think even most medium waters in the UK have enough of an EC to support partially healthy growth with no added nutrients.

I cant say for sure, but if that was my grow and I was inclined not to start again I would start with fresh water and a chemical based water treatment, in the UK I use Pyth-Off. If they haven't recovered in a week then I would be considering new clones.
 

OneHitDone

Well-Known Member
I shouldn't be too concerned about the white stem then? I was actually most concerned with that but then again I only have limited experience and don't recall ever coming across this before.
From what I can tell in the pic it just looks like the stems are becoming "woody" but may be missing something
Reduce light intensity the best you can, lower EC to .9-1.0, and I personally would go through and top every one of those plants at about 16-18" height just above a node and clean up the bottoms (lollipop)
Reducing the top mass will help take some stress off the already weak root system till they can reestablish :hump:
 

ChonBoi

Member
Can you get a closer pic of the "white" stuff?
Just this. IMG_0043.JPG I'll get some up tomorrow. It has been working its way up. Some plants have small sections appearing in the middle of the stem. I have been adding h2o2 here and there to the top feed. I was holding the lower stem when I was cleaning out the coco. I thought I may have damaged or irritated it enough for something to develop.
 
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ChonBoi

Member
I cant say for sure, but if that was my grow and I was inclined not to start again I would start with fresh water and a chemical based water treatment, in the UK I use Pyth-Off
Thank you G.V

I was and still am a little skeptical of tap with just a hose attachment carbon filter for hydroponics. I definitely am not trying to RO all that water. The reason why I went with it was because the city the grow is in brags of their tap water and doesn't use chloramine but I couldn't tell you for sure whats in it.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
The yellow light of HPS makes it hard to see things well enough for diagnosis.

The stems have some woodiness which is harmless. It also looks like the new growth is doing okay. How often are you top feeding the plants? Do any of them have any roots sticking out of the netpots?
 

ChonBoi

Member
The yellow light of HPS makes it hard to see things well enough for diagnosis.

The stems have some woodiness which is harmless. It also looks like the new growth is doing okay. How often are you top feeding the plants? Do any of them have any roots sticking out of the netpots?
Once when I transplanted Thursday night , twice on Friday and once a day since. It's getting some splashing from the bubbles underneath too. Other then the little bits here and there I tried to help through I haven't noticed any new roots out the pot.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Once when I transplanted Thursday night , twice on Friday and once a day since. It's getting some splashing from the bubbles underneath too. Other then the little bits here and there I tried to help through I haven't noticed any new roots out the pot.
You should be seeing something soon.
 

G.V

Well-Known Member
@ChonBoi I hope you dont mind me being blunt, but I think your time would be much better spent restarting this grow.

It sounds to me that you were given some bad advice from the start. With hydroponic growing you need to treat the entire grow from the very start like you would a new born baby, clean and sterile.

Dirt around hydro is a no no. Try to avoid rock wool if you can in DWC / RDWC as its just asking for a sogging block of shite covered in green moss. The only time I would suggest using rockwool is a 1 inch cube for fems or autos if you go that way.

H2o2 is not something I choose to use, it is a cleaning product not a grow additive. Although great in its own respect, I personally consider it a bad practice. Oxygen should be supplied via the system to the roots, and a sterile grow environment should be supplied to the roots by keeping things clean and keeping water below 20C. Unless you want to go the beneficial bacteria route, which again isn't something I personally find worth while, why make a job harder for the same results? If you want organic stick to soil.

I am by far no expert, but I will say get yourself an aeroponic propagator if you don't already have one. A week after your clones have rooted in there add about 15% of the recommended grow nutrients you intend to use in the RDWC to the aero prop with fresh water and let the clones sit in there for another few days. Don't let the EC go above 0.7 in the aero prop if you can help it as they will not thank for that.

Once they have a good 10 inches of clean white healthy root mass transfer into the RDWC system with Clay Pebbles only as they don't hold water and are much less likely to mold up. Use only plain water even though they have had a little nutrients, the transfer will shock the life out of them. After a few days to a week when the leaves start to reach up again change the water to the same strength you had in the aero prop and begin the grow regime.

GV.
 
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