So this is our first grow, we've been planing it for about a month. We're using a 15 gallon tub for our DWC reservoir. We have 6 net cups filled with perlite. The water level is about an inch above the bottom of the cups, so the bottom inch of the cup and perlite is submerged. Using and air pump with 4 bubble discs to aerate the water. We germinated the seeds in a glass of RO water for about 24 hours until the shells were cracked and the first little sign of a taproot was poking out. We then placed them root down about a half inch under the perlite. We're just waiting for them to sprout now. Any suggestions on how to improve our setup would be great. We've also got an air filter to help with the smell when it gets to that point. Almost forgot the most important part. We're using Galaxy God Bud seeds from www.bcseeds.com. They all sunk in the water within the 24 hours so it's looking good so far. We will update as it progresses. Again, any suggestions for a first timer would be very helpful. Pics are attached.
Hey hows it going.I been doing DWC a little while.Your going to love it.I get a card reader for my camera in a few days.Ill get some pics up of my set up.First get the water about an inch below the cups.Its better to start seeds in rockwool cube or something.They allways streach a little.Put in bottom of net pot then bury after streach.I put a drain in my bucket makes it easer to change water.Get an EC meter thats a must that and a way to test PH.Hey I got some BCBD Black going now.
So will my seeds not sprout properly because they're not in rockwool? I was too damn impatient and figured I would be able to just put them straight in the perlite. I just hope they sprout and work well enough without the rockwool. As far as germinating and waiting for them to sprout. I have read that I'm not supposed to put them under light until they have sprouted out of the soil. Is there any specific reason that they shouldn't have light until that point? Will it hurt my seeds if I have the lights on? This is my first grow and I've tried to learn as much as I could from these and other forums. Again, any help from anyone would be awesome. Feedback on my system, what ways to best optimize my system, anything you have to say I will be glad to hear.
We will be getting more light sometime next month hopefully. I figured they would be OK through veg with what we've got.
So things aren't going quite as well as we had hoped. But it is our first grow after all. We have had a couple sprout so far and it looks like a few more are about ready to push up out of the rockwool. Of the two that have sprouted one is looking quite nice, the other however doesn't appear to be doing so well. It's leaves don't seem to want to open up and it's stem is turning red. Pictures are attached.
You can't really see it in the pictures very well, but the stems of both of the sprouts are somewhat red/purple. I'm not sure if this is a genetic characteristic or if it is because I need to be giving them nutes at this point. Should I be giving them a low level nute solution already?
Looks like your pretty on top of everything. You didn't mention what nutes you were planning on using.. Purple stem is no prob, its a genetic thing. I believe some people give very low levels of bloom nutes to young seedlings, never done it myself, not a DWC guy either. Just be patient, they'll come around - Try and get the lights alot closer too
We're using PureBlend Pro Grow and Bloom. The lights are currently about two inches from the sprouts, I don't want to get them any closer for fear of heat stress.
Not much visible change yet. The leaves have grown slightly on the nicer looking one, and the leaves have opened up more on the deformed one. Sorry for the terrible pictures, my camera sucks for close-ups.
Some photos that are a bit better. More clear. The deformed one is very strange looking, It seems like it has 3 of the round leaves, I suppose one of them is just deformed and looks like two though. It seems to be opening up and the first true leaves are starting to grow a bit. How large should the first true leaves be before I start on a nute schedule, I figure I'll start at about half strength nutes to gage how much they will need. Any input would be great.
You got some yellowing on the leaf tips. I myself don't find that normal. do you have them in your system yet, if no how often you water. Also seen foil in 1 of your pics. I'd advise not to use that. I use CFL's also and your going to need more than that, it isn't enough for the plants. More to the point is, you won't be able to "direct" the lite on the plants the right way using only 2 lights.
Yeah, We're going to be getting some mylar sheeting to put on the walls to help with the reflection. Also we are going to get more lights this coming week hopefully. They're in the system now, just put them in today, but the roots aren't developed enough to actually be in the water so I've just been keeping the rockwool moist. Watering maybe once a day if it feels dry. I remember reading somewhere that it's best to let the rockwool dry out a bit before watering again. Thanks for the input, any more suggestions are welcome of course.
so you used perilite..hmm... generally you would use hydroton in that application, starting in a cube was good but having them open to light reaching them is bad, cover them up, algae will set in, Those cfl bulbs throw most thier light off the sides so you need to get creative and turn those lights, then get them about 5-6 inches from your ladies, Yes purple stems can be caused by genetics it can also be caused by stress, Do you know your ph as it is very important in dwc? the ro water should be good., Do not give them any nutes until they are bigger they dont need it. When you do start nutes about 2-3 weeks after the sprout start at 25% only, jumping to 50% will hurt your babies. Using 16/8 light schedulle helps the rotts develop once they are you can go 24 light during veg for tighter knodes... So I guess my suggestions are: turn the bulbs replace perilite with hydroton or lava rock no nutes cover the cubes light 18/6 IMHO... if you do this they will explode wih growth within a week.... Gluck buddy... welcome to GC
Right now I've actually got the lights facing pretty much directly at the sprouts, about 4 or 5 inches away, so I think we're good there. We were actually considering switching to hydroton, because the perlite is so messy. I haven't given any nutrients yet, so the ph of the water should just be the basic RO 5.5. Thank you for the lighting suggestion, I was wondering why the roots seemed to be so slow growing. As for what to cover the cubes with, should I just be cutting out a little paper plate with a big enough hole for the sprout to come through? Thank you so much for your guidance. Any other tips would be great.
I would just get some hydroton, dump the perilite, then make sure your cubes are low enough that the hydroton covers the cube, also 5.5 is a little low that may explain slow root growth 5.8 is optimal, and by the looks of your net pots light may be getting into tyou tub, that would also explain slow root growth, it will also lead to algae in your res.. Youve got the sides of the bulbs facing the plants or the ends of the bulbs? 75% of the light those bulbs give off comes off the sides not the end... A couple adjuments and youll have a nice grow....imo
I've got the bottom end facing them, so I guess what you're saying is that I should turn them so that the side of the bulb is shining on the plants. We will definitely be picking up some hydroton, hopefully on tuesday. Again, thank you so much for your tips, you've been extremely helpful. The plants are looking better after the dark period last night. The second set of leaves is starting to show up. As a temporary measure we have cut out some paper plates to block the light from getting through to the roots until we can get to the hydro shop and get some hydroton. We've also got two more sprouts very close to the leaves standing up. A couple pictures of the two that are already growing well. The deformed one is looking much more healthy, you can't really see it in the picture but the second leaves are starting to grow on that one too.
I know it's not really necessary to update so often, but I'm just so excited about our first grow. The second set of leaves grew quite a bit last night while we were sleeping. They are looking pretty good and healthy so far. About to turn the lights out for another 8 hour dark period, it definitely seems to be helping them to have the dark time. Anyway, a couple pictures of the ladies (hopefully ) it's sort of difficult to make out the second leaves coming in because they're all so close together still. Have any of you ever seen such a deformed seedling? It's been deformed from the very start, it took quite a while for the first leaves to open up, but it seems to be growing well now. Just funny looking.
hey... Im glad ur getting hydroton, do you see the holes in the netcups? try to block all the light from getting thru until you get the hydroton, you also now understand what i said about the lights.. good deal.. Dont worry about the deformed one it will grow out of it.. All is well... Once conditions are right they will shoot up... No worries man, thats what we do here in the city... welcome..
I figured that the deformed one would eventually grow out of it. We'll be getting the hydroton tomorrow, so that should definitely help. We'll get a pH kit too so that we can make sure that we are in the zone.