OK GC I always wanted to go DWC and Hydroponics but thought it was a lot of work and well soil is organic as much as you can did a couple organic grows worked well but yield was not plentifully but tasty soil grow with normal nuts was the best yield but taste was there but synthetic was wondering is it had TLC worth it is there a organic HYDRO I don't think so but I just don't know just started my first auto grow my 32 grow in soil but man always wondered see these kits and I know DIY is better tried a drip system for my plants in soil like a garden but failed any help would help my inspiration any for the future. Future grows got led got soon grow tent just need info.
I did a lot of research about the different types of systems even within DWC mainly to fit my lifestyle. I use a true bubble bucket set up, but started my plants with a diy top drip germination chamber. Ask me any questions you might have and I'll do my best to answer them.
tryed a top drip with soil lol my first one like gardens but couldn't get a schedule down top drip with just water and nuts never understand it DWC i under stand bubbler i guess but changing water is the thing is just sounds like work so how do i do it with the least amount of work i want to start with that.
Bucket DWC is pretty easy to get down if you take your time and get some good meters. I recommend the lucas formula with GH flora micro/bloom and calimagic. That's really about all you need. I would add florablend, rapid start, hydroguard, and dry koolbloom for finishing. I could grow with just those products. The only bummer with buckets is if you grow a large plant you have to top off the res daily. My current plant is eating over a gallon a day. It drinks the bucket down to a puddle every day. I probably pushed the size limit for a bucket and should have used a larger res. It's 4 weeks since flip.
People say soil is less work. Well, I have essentially no medium. I wash my gravel and reuse it. It's only $12 for a large enough bag to replace everything I have. My clone machine has neoprene holders. No medium there. All I have to worry about is water and nutrients. As long as I keep nutrients stocked I can keep growing. My local hydro store is a GH dealer so that's easy. It's $28 for a gallon of flora micro or flora bloom. That lasts about 2 years or so with a small scale home grow. That's your essential base NPK taken care of. Then you can concentrate on supplements. The other piece of advise I will give is too much air is better then just enough. With my large plants I've went through more then one airstone per grow. That large plant is running off of two and a 1050gph air pump by itself. Until I went to two stone with this plant I was having root problems. More air cured all of it. I would say at least 100gph per plant is minimum 150-200gph per plant is more comfortable to me.
I only grow hydro. I know soil bud is great but the plant in my picture would take at least a 10 gallon pot. That is going to be over a pound I know. It's taking up my entire 4x4 and touching the walls when it's sucked in by the fan. I nomally get 20-32oz's from it. It's as full as it's ever been with tops. You don't see many soil plants over a pound indoors. Hydro is where the yield is at.
Soil plants are on a trickle feed. The dirty secret is that a hydro plant and a soil plant live off of the exact same pure chemical nutrient uptake. Plants cannot uptake organically locked chemicals. They have to be processed first and broken down. The difference is that the soil plant has to wait until the soil microbes can process the nutrient to their pure forms before it can uptake them. The hydro plant simply sucks those exact same chemicals from the res as much as it wants. It also gets aerated and feeds at the same time always.
Get lots of droppers too. DWC makes you feel like you need a lab coat. And whatever you do be sure to follow the order of adding the nutes, or they can become chemically locked.
My order is ph down, flora micro, calimagic, flora bloom, flora blend, and budcandy. Micro is always supposed to go first. I only add ph down first because I have a recipe that come out 6.0 at the end consistently. 4 drops of down per 1/2 gallon. That's a typical veg mix for a nightly top off.
Check out these FAQ's on growweedeasy.com it helped me tons Deep Water Culture: Your Hydro Questions Answered! | Grow Weed Easy
Ive tried just about everything over the years and my take is this. For absolute best test and over all quality for me is natural organic soil, speed and yeild would be hydroponic. As far as systems a single 5 gallon dwc is the easiest and a great introduction to hydroponics. The most crucial part of dwc is the fact your roots stay submerged so your rez temps and adequate aeration is a must. Most of my personal operation is experiment and breeding. I have a flood and drain table, a 5 gal dwc, and three different soil mixes all going this run. The soils are to see which I like the best, my own mix, an amended ff as well as black magic. My own mix is a plant and water mix, no added nutes from clone to harvest, the only thing I add is black strap molasses during flowering. Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
I find anything above 5 weeks of veg imo would benefit greatly from a rdwc system just for the fact that you're not moving the plant, and is easier to fill up a tote then it is to fill the bucket with a plant in it/ ph check it. as for the drippers I find them redundant with dwc. raise the water level higher so that the bubbles coming up spray the bottom of the net pot. usually that water wicks up into the gravel requiring maybe 2 or 3 watering's at most before the roots are in the water.
That's is true, there are positives and negatives. It can take up a lot of room with all individual buckets, if I'm going to run a rez in not thinking dwc anyway. I'm going to top feed or flood and drain. Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
The better approach: I have to credit hotbunz. Haven't seen him on GC for a while but he taught me this trick. Let your clones go until the roots are at least 12" or so and thick. When you transplant them to the DWC bucket drill a hole in the bottom of the net pot and fish all of the largest roots down the hole. I drill a 5/8" hole. by the time the roots fill it up the gravel won't fall down the hole. You plant it like normal in the gravel but there's no waiting period for the plant to take off. They are usually happy day 1 and start growing like crazy instead of the week or more waiting period for roots to drop down into the bucket. You're welcome. I would consider this a pro class DWC tip. It can save lots of time on veg if you have a separate clone machine you can get going earlier the you need the buckets ready.