New Grower First Autoflower grow and first time DWC - HELP PLEASE!

[antiquties]

Hi BigMac, I'm doing a DWC grow right now. I'm in my 75th day with zero issues. My Res temp never goes above 19.5c (which is still a bit high) I generally target around 17c and room temp always around 23 c. Res temp is important, too high and you risk root rot which in turn leads to nute lockout and all sorts of problems. To help prevent root rot I add Aqua Shield to every feeding and if my res temp starts getting too warm I just drop a frozen water bottle in the res to cool it down.

What some people don't realize is that if your grow room temp is running high, the air pump is pumping that warm air into the water so if you could mount the air pump outside of the grow room it will help. In addition, make sure you have a reliable PH meter and a meter that reads PPM, TDS, EC ( I use the Truncheon by Blu Lab ) once you get use to the Truncheon meter feeding your plants is a cinch.

I also switched to Advanced Nutrients The Lucas Ratio 8ml Micro and 16ml Bloom all the way through the Veg cycle then I switch to their PH Perfect line Bloom part A & B. There's no need to PH with PH Perfect Nutes but I still check for peace of mind. Usually the first sign of trouble in a bubbleponics or DWC is either a Cal/Mag deficiency or PH problem.

 

[BigMac3000]

All I have is a 135 watt Blackstar. I get decent yields out of it, for me. I only grow one plant at a time and literally I am the only one that uses any of the finished product.

I keep my plants small though. While they are in veg stage I keep the fluorescent light literally an inch or two away. This stops stretch in it's tracks. Then after the growth spurt stops all upward growth is bud sites, which get bathed in LED.

I guess for me the hobby is more about experimenting and creating the best quality you can get, not the quantity. I just don't have the time to vaporize all the time anymore haha!

I have taught myself with the aid of a very helpful member of this forum, Bob Bitchin, how to make fem pollen and make seeds from fem plants. I love learning the botany side of it

My LED is only 125w so it aint far off yours. I'm tempted to scrog the 2 plants due to the fact the space i have to grow limits my plants in height and depth so it would probs boost my yield a fair bit. I suppose we'll see how well the plants do under the LED and if i'm not happy with it then i'll swuitch to 250w hps and sort out a fan or fans for the plants.

- - - Updated - - -

Hi BigMac, I'm doing a DWC grow right now. I'm in my 75th day with zero issues. My Res temp never goes above 19.5c (which is still a bit high) I generally target around 17c and room temp always around 23 c. Res temp is important, too high and you risk root rot which in turn leads to nute lockout and all sorts of problems. To help prevent root rot I add Aqua Shield to every feeding and if my res temp starts getting too warm I just drop a frozen water bottle in the res to cool it down.

What some people don't realize is that if your grow room temp is running high, the air pump is pumping that warm air into the water so if you could mount the air pump outside of the grow room it will help. In addition, make sure you have a reliable PH meter and a meter that reads PPM, TDS, EC ( I use the Truncheon by Blu Lab ) once you get use to the Truncheon meter feeding your plants is a cinch.

I also switched to Advanced Nutrients The Lucas Ratio 8ml Micro and 16ml Bloom all the way through the Veg cycle then I switch to their PH Perfect line Bloom part A & B. There's no need to PH with PH Perfect Nutes but I still check for peace of mind. Usually the first sign of trouble in a bubbleponics or DWC is either a Cal/Mag deficiency or PH problem.

Thanks for the advice man! Atm my pump is inside the tent but when i get some time i'll move some stuff around and arrange for it to be outside the tent if the res temps are getting too hot

I'm using the canna range for this grow and sorting out the PH and PPM has got a lot easier the more i read up and did it so im not gunna venture into PH perfect nutes just yet.



Update:

Changed the res for each plant today and switched them over to veg nutes (Canna Aqua Vega Part A + B)

Both res' are at a PH of 5.6 and a PPM of around 500.

I used (In order):

15L water
15ml rhizotonic
22ml of Part A veg nutes
22ml of Part B veg nutes

and then PH'd the res down to 5.6.

 

[nben]

Sounds good! If your water is anything like mine it will swing up a little. Ideal range, which I am sure you know, is 5.5-6.3. I just keep it somewhere in there. It's weird, you will have it all dialed in and it stays that way the day of the water change. Then the next morning it has went up again! I don't know what a little dark period does but something is definitely happening there. Especially when the dark period for autos is only 4 hours...

EDIT:

HERE is a link to my current LST in my Aerogarden. This is a plant that is going to be reversed to create pollen so it isn't a plant that will be producing any usable bud but interestingly they grow exactly as a typical female. The only difference is with treatment the pistils wither and a male flower emerges to replace it.

I know you aren't into this stuff as of now but it will allow you to see what the LST/SCROG will do to the plants as they grow.

 

[antiquties]

Nben - It's common for the PH to change as your plant(s) consume the nutrients. Same goes for PH-ing the water before adding the Nutes, that's why the PH is performed after the Nutes are added.

BigMac - I was told by an experienced grower here at AFN to shoot for a PH of 5.8. to 5.9 when growing in DWC or Bubbleponics. Also, invest in some Aqua Shield to protect the roots, you only have a few now however, if everything goes to plan you will have a massive amounts of roots in your buckets to protect. Similar to this

 

[BigMac3000]

Nben - It's common for the PH to change as your plant(s) consume the nutrients. Same goes for PH-ing the water before adding the Nutes, that's why the PH is performed after the Nutes are added.

BigMac - I was told by an experienced grower here at AFN to shoot for a PH of 5.8. to 5.9 when growing in DWC or Bubbleponics. Also, invest in some Aqua Shield to protect the roots, you only have a few now however, if everything goes to plan you will have a massive amounts of roots in your buckets to protect. Similar to this

View attachment 345453

Wow, that's frickin impressive man. I'm gunna re stock some stuff in the next few days and buy some bits and bobs because its payday So if i have the money ill have a look at the aqua shield and most likely invest.

Btw i switched over to the 250w HPS and added a fan in the tent but i've just checked my ppm and it has risen by about 100 in each res.. is this due to the amount of heat in the tent evaporating the water causing the nutes to be more concentrated or is it just that my plants are drinking more water than nutes?

Not too sure what it means when the ppm has risen :S

 

[antiquties]

100 ppm rise is nothing to worry about. The few roots you do have may be drinking the water and not taking any nutes. Just top off with plain PH'ed water, the ppm's should go back down . When you have a nice root system swimming in the bucket the ppm readings should level off. I've also noticed a slight difference in readings with the bubbles on and then off. It's good practice to check the ppm and the PH of the runoff as well.

 

[BigMac3000]

100 ppm rise is nothing to worry about. The few roots you do have may be drinking the water and not taking any nutes. Just top off with plain PH'ed water, the ppm's should go back down . When you have a nice root system swimming in the bucket the ppm readings should level off. I've also noticed a slight difference in readings with the bubbles on and then off. It's good practice to check the ppm and the PH of the runoff as well.

Yeah man, i've noticed i get slightly different readings with the bubbles on and off but i just thought nothing of it. Just checked the girls and ppm has risen slightly on the power flower again but it still looks healthy and happy apart from it's missing a fan leaf lol, i dont know why.. it's just not grew lol!


Update:

Day 16

Both plants have been on veg nutes for 2 days and seem to be doing fine. As always any help/advice is more than welcome

Power Flower:






Think Different:

 

[nben]

Roots are going great! Excellent! Just keep your eye on the temps with the HPS you should be a very happy camper soon!

 

[BigMac3000]

Roots are going great! Excellent! Just keep your eye on the temps with the HPS you should be a very happy camper soon!

Thanks man! I made a stoned mistake last night and forgot to switch the pump on after checking the ppm and it was left off over night lol but have no fear i can't see any problems from it, just simply forgot after a bong lol. I'm excited for the real rapid growth to start!

 

[nben]

The next time you're stoned and staring at your plants (don't lie everyone of us do it haha!) just imagine that the next week they will probably be twice as large... That's been my experience at least, they actually double in size every week. Considering the size of your plants it has already started.