Hi! I'm a brand new grower in Colorado posting my first journal for feedback and fun. I'm starting with a small DWC hydro setup that many may recognize (chosen because I'm not confident in my carpentry abilities), a 3ft grow cabinet with a wimpy LED light I'll be replacing with a Mars 46 reflector tomorrow. I'm starting out with a clone from a local dispensary - Pineapple Kush x Jack Flash - and I've already made a big mistake. I cleaned off all of the original soil from the original mini-pot, and there was rockwool underneath. The grow cabinet came with a different kind of grow plug, so I tried to remove the rockwool so I could wrap it in the other plug instead. That was a big mistake - there's no way to do that without ripping up the roots. I accidentally ripped out a pretty healthy root, so I'm starting at a disadvantage already. I added about 10ml of the RX Green Grow A and 10ml of Grow B - I didn't want to shock it while it's recovering from transplanting (and me mangling its roots). We'll see how it goes!
It did not like the transplant .what did you do? take it out of soil and place it in Dwc?GFP Sent from my SM-G600FY using Tapatalk
Yep, at the dispensary it was in soil and I'm moving it to DWC. I've just given it a pretty huge shock, especially since I damaged a root, so I have no idea if it will survive or not. I'm still learning. I'm out $15 if it fails, and I'll do a better job next time.
Hmm in that case...you live you learn. Consult before doing things if your unsure. As for the plant. it does hate you but it can also return to thriving plant . Soil to Dwc is tricky. I would carefully have washed the max amount of soil before propping it in there. and use hydroguard the whole time.as soil can come with many bacteria that plants in Dwc will not like.good luck keep us posted. GFP Sent from my SM-G600FY using Tapatalk
It's looking much better this morning! The leaves are starting to fan out again to soak up that sweet LED. I should get the Mars Reflectors today, to give it some much better light.
It's recovering from the shock of root damage pretty well, actually! I can see some growth in the fan leaves and the tip is starting to push out above the current node. I've got a wet washcloth hanging up on the door because my humidity is way too low - around 40%. The temp is about 80, so I'm hesitant to turn the vent fan off because I don't want it to get too hot. Are there any other easy ways to increase humidity?
Oh, and the Mars Reflector lights came in but they're about an inch too deep for the cabinet. I'm really enjoying this way more than I expected, though, so I'm going all in. I went ahead and got a 2x2x4 grow tent and another hydro system. I'll make the Cash Crop my veg chamber, and the tent my flowering chamber. I love this!
Root rot! I didn't have any Hydroguard when I moved it from soil to dwc, so I was honestly asking for it. My jug of Hydroguard doesn't come in the mail for a couple more days, so I did what I could in the moment: I moved the reservoir back down to the bottom of the cabinet to cool the temp down, and I cleaned out the basin and replaced the reservoir water with nice, pure distilled water. Hopefully that will kill the buggers and let my plant take off!
After doing some more research, I did two more things. First, I blocked off my empty basket holes to make sure absolutely no light was getting to the water. That water needs to be cool so the pythium fungi hate it. Second, I mixed up some water, a couple drops of clove and peppermint essential oils, and a drop of pure castille soap. I poured that into the roots, and the whole box smells like spicy peppermint now. :-D This morning, the roots are already looking whiter and the leaves have perked up in a big way! Hooray for natural remedies!
Hi! If you look at my latest pics above, I've got aluminum foil covering all of my unused holes, to make sure no light can reach the water at all. Make sure you're not letting any of your light heat your water up. I've seen others mention using frozen water bottles - just placing them in the grow tent on rotation to cool things down. I'm at about 81 degrees in the bright area above the foil, so I'm hoping it's a few degrees cooler in the reservoir.
Thanks for the response. I'm doing the freezing water botttle rotation. I'm just worried about leaving for a few days later on this month.
I don't, but I might if this grow continues going badly. The foil was a bad idea - my plant is showing symptoms of light burn now. I replaced it with black construction paper - we'll see how it goes.
your in for a battle my friend. the medium that you tried to transplant out of will be constantly soaked in DWC. and it has bactérias in it because it was in soil so that times 81 degrees in the resoivoir will only lead to PROBLEMS. do what ever you have to do to drop those temps..73f is the ideal temp by the way. and your gonna have to use hydroguard for the life of the plant ...even then ..you will still battle. good luck. GFP Sent from my SM-G600FY using Tapatalk
You're totally right, and it may be time for me to call this grow a failure. She's wilting pretty badly now. It was a great learning experience, though!
Okay, my new seedlings are having trouble again. If this grow doesn't work out, I'm going to switch to coco coir because it's apparently a lot more forgiving than DWC. I'd really love to save these though and figure out where I'm going wrong. Here's the story: 3 Blue Dream seeds germinated in peat starter plugs. Reservoir filled with distilled water, with some Hydroguard added because of my previous struggle with root rot. I positioned them incorrectly - pointy side down. After 2 days, they hadn't quite popped up above the surface yet, but one had a root growing down towards the water. I lowered the reservoir level to be about a 1/2" from the bottom of the net cups. After 4 days, two have broken the surface but they look very pathetic. I've been dripping water over the cups since I already lowered the water level and the other cups don't have roots beyond the starter plug yet. I've started the lights and they're developing a bit of green, but they seem really sad. I added a very light dose of nutrients this morning. Since I used distilled water, should I be supplementing with CalMag? I've been keeping the temperature pretty consistently at 70-73, but last night I forgot to change out the ice bottle and it got up to 82. It was just for a few hours, though. Any ideas what's going on?