Transplanting into DWC

hollaway said:

I have tried the water level at the net pot and I have tried the water level about 3-5 inches below the net pot. Usually start with 1/4 dose of nutes on the second set of true leaves. This plant has been in the net pot since the beginning of February.

Click to expand...

Well that's funky, looks like it's doing alright overall... was expecting to see a lot worse. But yeah, that is slow growth for 3+ weeks. I'm stumped.

The only thing I can suggest is maybe trying starter plugs next time. I didn't have good results starting in rockwool myself but at the same time I'm hesitant to blame slow growth on just using a regular rockwool starter cube if it isn't staying soaked. And then I'd expect to see a yellowed, sad looking thing - not a decent looking young plant. Can you think of any of the basic stuff that might not be ideal?

I start my seeds in rockwool in a propagation tray with dome under 4 23watt cfls. Then I have been moving them to the dwc in my 3x3 grow tent. It has a 400w metal halide with air cooled hood and it's about 3 feet from the tops of the plants. Do you think that move to the more intense light is stunting them?

Look up rosemans bubbleponics. You don't even need root, you don't need top feeding, you don't need a dripper. the bubbles from your airstone is all you ever need. I've never used anything but the splashing of the bubbles to keep my rockwool moist and i've never had an issue. There should never be a need for water pumps or top feeding in DWC

Yeah I missed that you were top feeding. If you have been doing that frequently, it might slow things up. I'd bet if you really let the hydroton get mostly dry except for the bottom layer and cut out top feeding you would see roots start to seek out the bottom.

SableZen said:

Well that's funky, looks like it's doing alright overall... was expecting to see a lot worse. But yeah, that is slow growth for 3+ weeks. I'm stumped.

The only thing I can suggest is maybe trying starter plugs next time. I didn't have good results starting in rockwool myself but at the same time I'm hesitant to blame slow growth on just using a regular rockwool starter cube if it isn't staying soaked. And then I'd expect to see a yellowed, sad looking thing - not a decent looking young plant. Can you think of any of the basic stuff that might not be ideal?

Click to expand...

That plant in the dwc currently is an automatic strain shouldn't it be starting to flower ? lol although this is the first auto I've attempted to grow I'm fairly certain something is wrong here. This can't be as difficult as I'm making it haha

hollaway said:

That plant in the dwc currently is an automatic strain shouldn't it be starting to flower ? lol although this is the first auto I've attempted to grow I'm fairly certain something is wrong here. This can't be as difficult as I'm making it haha

Click to expand...

I'm not really familiar with autos to be honest (no first hand experience growing any). I'll bump your thread though in case anyone else might have some feedback.

SableZen said:

I'm not really familiar with autos to be honest (no first hand experience growing any). I'll bump your thread though in case anyone else might have some feedback.

Click to expand...

Do you think that the move from the cfls to the mh could be stunting them?

Or possibly under feeding ?

I never used to give a plant that size anything but ph'ed water in dwc.

hollaway said:

Or possibly under feeding ?

Do you think that the move from the cfls to the mh could be stunting them?

Click to expand...

It doesn't look lacking as far as nutrients goes... doesn't look like it's been burned either...

Maybe as far as the lighting but... 3' away I don't think would bother them much if at all.

Do you have decent ventilation?

SableZen said:

It doesn't look lacking as far as nutrients goes... doesn't look like it's been burned either...

Maybe as far as the lighting but... 3' away I don't think would bother them much if at all.

Do you have decent ventilation?

Click to expand...

running a 6" 440cfm inline fan pulling through the hood and out of the tent. I have that fan on a dimmer basically turned all the way down as my tent is only 3x3. My tent is in the basement so it gets pretty cold so I've got my inline fan on a timer as well to keep some heat in the tent. Half hour on half hour off every hour.

FWIW, maybe I missed part of this read, but you may just have a runt/dud plant. Not sure if you started from seed (sounds like clone, perhaps), but some plants just don't transition well. That's why I always germinate, clone, pre-veg more plants than I intend to move into flower. I usually have about 20 - 30% more than necessary and choose the top performers to move into flower. I occasionally keep a couple of the next best ones (that didn't make the cut) for a little while in case one or two don't transition well from one type of hydro/medium and/or lighting type to another. I've had a lot of success with germinating seeds in rapid rooters. For clones, I take them from my Turbo Klone bare root right into hydroton. I have a small layer of ph'd hyrdroton and lay the roots on that layer, then add more ph'd hyrdroton right up to the surface of the net pot. I like to cut very long stemmed clones for this reason. Within a few days, they extra stem will start putting out additional roots and the plant explodes.

hollaway said:

running a 6" 440cfm inline fan pulling through the hood and out of the tent. I have that fan on a dimmer basically turned all the way down as my tent is only 3x3. My tent is in the basement so it gets pretty cold so I've got my inline fan on a timer as well to keep some heat in the tent. Half hour on half hour off every hour.

Click to expand...

If you are up to paying for the electric and want to give it another week - could try running your light 24/7 or at least put a heat lamp in there to run 24/7 while your main light stays on your regular veg schedule (just to keep temps from fluctuating too low). If that turns out to be the problem, would probably be worth investing in a space heater for the basement.

SableZen said:

If you are up to paying for the electric and want to give it another week - could try running your light 24/7 or at least put a heat lamp in there to run 24/7 while your main light stays on your regular veg schedule (just to keep temps from fluctuating too low). If that turns out to be the problem, would probably be worth investing in a space heater for the basement.

Click to expand...

I've got a space heater down there as well haha my temps are a high of 83 low of 65 but they usually hover around 72-78. My humidity is pretty low so I've got a humidifier in the tent running 24/7 but it still stays between 20-40%

Well if anyone cares, I transplanted my seedling from the tray to my dwc and have the water level just touching the bottom of the net pot ph between 5.7 and 6.0. I also got another air pump(one 4watt pump for each bucket) and 2 - 6" fine bubble airstones from petsmart in each bucket. I'm gonna take the advice I got and drop the water level about 1/2" every couple days. I guess we'll see what happens. I would just like to thank everyone who commented on my thread with advice. I'll keep you guys posted with any progress.

You shouldn't need to drop your water level every few days. Your water level should be set at a point where the bubbles keep the rockwool cube at the suitable level of saturation. If you water level is too high, the rockwool cube will retain no oxygen and the plant will drown. If the water level is too low, the rockwool cube will not be wet enough and the plant will die through dehydration.

tip top toker said:

You shouldn't need to drop your water level every few days. Your water level should be set at a point where the bubbles keep the rockwool cube at the suitable level of saturation. If you water level is too high, the rockwool cube will retain no oxygen and the plant will drown. If the water level is too low, the rockwool cube will not be wet enough and the plant will die through dehydration.

Click to expand...

The water is just touching the bottom of the 6" net pot right now and I have about a 2-3" layer of hydroton in the bottom and the rockwool on top of that. Looking at the rockwool from up top it is just moist not saturated. You think I should just leave the water there until some roots show?

All i can really say is that it is a learning curve based on trial and error. Moist sounds good.

Don't top feed if you didn't stop top feeding already. Letting them seek out the water a bit isn't always a bad thing.

I just wanna put this thread to rest and possibly help out someone who is having these same issues with not being able to get the roots to hit water. I've determined the problem to be my tap water. It is fairly hard water so my plants were getting too much calcium and therefore locking out magnesium and stunting the growth. I have since switched to RO water + cal-mag and within 2 days I've got roots coming through the netpot. Gonna give a mild dose of Epsom salt to try to raise the magnesium and see if I can save these girls!