New to hydro doing a dwc and need guidance please. Want to see these grow:/

[Bertstert]

Hello I’m just Starting out on a dwc with a pump filter and 360 sprayer inside. I was luckily enough to come across a lot of general
Hydroponic systems for NFT systems. There the rectangle reservoir with pumps and 4 x 4 PVC and all the piping with it. Although I have that I am trying a DWC with a pump filter and sprayer in a 5 gallon bucket. I had five AK-47 extreme seeds and only two sprouted but unfortunately the one fell out of the rapid router and died but the one is still going I am new to growing indoors and using nutrients. I have a full spectrum LED 400+w light which is 1200 from wht I heard. I built a hidden room in an addic And it’s 6 feet long. 5 feet high and 3 1/2 feet wide. But the ceiling is at a angle. I have had a slow beginning because I was away and my Plants stretched although I put an extra rapid router around it to help hold it and it has seem to work I have plenty of roots growing that seem healthy but I’ve had a slow start for some reason. It’s Been at least 2 1/2 to 3 weeks since it started sprouting and although it is starting to grow well now I am just curious as to how my plant looks and if it is healthy. I am completely new to doing this and want to succeed because I put a lot of time into it and I am here to see if you guys can help here are some pictures from the beginning until today. Unfortunately the light that I have put out a Lotta he in the small room and I have some fans to help blow the air out. But the temperature usually stays around 75 to 80 and the humidity is around 35 to 49. The pH is somewhere around 5-6.5. I also have a blue lab meter which I believe the readings are wrong. The pH seems to be close to what my drops are at. But the Parts per million were really high on my first water thi parts per million were really high on my first watering. They have stable now that I change the water and I used around half the dosage that online people say to use I am using the general Hydroponics flora series. Along with the stuff that comes in the box I also have Hydro guard and also have stuff that we got from when we got all the NFT systems. It is called age old Organics which I have not used I also have a thing of botanic care ZHO which I have not used if there is anyone out there willing to help me I would be more than happy to return the favor with a full and NFT System. Because I am very interested in keeping this going because I have a back problem which is broken in three places from snowboarding and I don’t want to take medication which are used to be addicted to and I have found that certain strands have help me feel better. Please if there is someone Out there willing to help me it would be much appreciated. Sorry for such a long message

 

[samarta]

I'm no expert!! But I grow using 6gal tote with a drip pump Only until roots are close to the water and then remove. Two large air stones for lots of bubbles with fresh res. changes every seven days. The temps of the water should be kept below 70 degrees, I shoot for 65. PH maintained at 5.4 however with lots of bubbles it will swim a little. My water is around 110 ppm and around 200 after adjusting ph because it is around 6.8 out of the tap. For new plants I up that ppm with my nutes to 4 to 500ppm after sprouts show for a couple weeks and then I adjust up over a couple weeks to a max of 12 to 1400 ppm. I wind that down late in flower. Some here will even do a mid grow flush of just ph-ed water to avoid build up of salts or whatever. My regular res. changes help with that and slime because sometimes that water temp will go up on you and you will get slime, root rot, and slow grow maybe even death. Oh yea, lights! Big subject! Depends on how big or restricted your area is and whether or not you will have a heat problem. My rule of thumb is as much full spectrum as you can during veg. for good illumination, and read hear about the ones that have close to your space and how they deal with it and what they use.

If you control temp, ph, ppm and change the res. with fresh water and nutes, your roots will stay nice and white and you will be pleased. Unless you are growing bag seeds and than all of your effort could be for Nothing. Learned that the hard way. For all of your effort, know something about your beans! Good luck!!

 

[samarta]

Actually it's a 10 gallon tote with 6 gallons of water. Nutes are another big subject and all of this can get real technical. I'm a simple person and use veg+bloom from hydroponic research. Follow the simple instructions and it does a great job IMO!

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Having the correct pH is critical when doing hydro. You need a good quality meter that will give you accurate readings. I generally liked to let mine drift from about 5.5 to about 6.0. When you get out of those ranges, the plant cannot uptake the food.

I also am having a bit of trouble understanding exactly what kind of system you are running? You say DWC in the title, mention NFT, but appear to be doing aero? These are 3 different types of hydro.

I am an old lady and I find it really hard to read long posts that don't have any paragraph breaks...so maybe, not so long a block of text, but something with paragraph breaks for this old lady?

 

[sopappy]

No way I'm reading all that. My nightmares will start up again.
I friggin' hate even thinking about hydro now

I remember THG telling me years ago when I went from soil to hydro that she had tried it and was happily back in soil. I should have listened.

Good luck but I can't stay

 

[Bertstert]

Well I’m in flower now I’m about I’d say a week or two into it and the plant is growing phenomenally. I’m sorry for the overlapping blabber that I talked about. My plan is very healthy I had a few problems during veg and it was only because of nutrient take up because of my ppm. Now that I’m in flower I’m starting to get a lot of tall shoots which I’m very happy about because I wanted to grow the plants sideways and pretty much do a lollipop style. I only use the arrow at first and then switched it just to a DWc with bubbles and nutes. It’s crazy that my first grow is going so well and I definitely have to give it to all the people who post on forums and can help people like me who are first time starters Be able to take on a more experienced type of grow. Pics will come soon.



(Lastly). My roots are very white and seem like they have no problem but the parts that are above the water or a little dark I don’t have any weird smells but I am concerned about the darkness like I said I will upload photos but it seems like the plant is very healthy and doesn’t have any problems my pH seems to be around 5 to 5.5 so I’m hoping things will be OK