Alright well i have been looking into growing for a cupple years now and desided that i was going to finally do it. Spent hours and hours reading forums and watching diff vids. but a few days ago i was going to load a bowl of some cheeeese and the bud pooped a seed. so i put it in a moist paper towe to see if it would sprout and it did by the next night. so i have ran around and ordered the basic stuff that i am going to need. nutes bucket, phup/down and tester, air stone and pump hydro medeum cfl lights and rockwool cubes. im going to try and do a diy light reflector but dont know what to use. will tin foil work for reflector? what if i painted something flat white? would that work or just be a waist of time? hope that this seed ends up being a female. so yea if you could answer them two qusetions that would be awsome or just give some advice. ill try and keep this updated. HAppySmokin
my advice... put the seed in soil. learn a bit from soil first. it is more forgiving. don't worry about rockwool. the best way to clone is with a turbo kloner. or you can make your own for a few buck cheaper than buying one. hydro is great i'm personally just getting into a dwc setup in my progressive grow. liking it and going to expand and make a larger dwc bucket for flower and use my current flower dwc for veg and have a progressive with hydro as well as soil. i'm not a pro but i'm learning just like you want to be doing. look at my posts and learn from my journey and have fun. cheers
buy a legit reflector. It pays for itself. Also cover the space in reflective mylar for efficiency. Good luck. Hydros great and easier for many than soil
The main reason for me choosing dwc was because of the output and how clean it is with little mess. dirt i would think would get all over and dirt dosent go well with carpet. i was going to buy a reflector but i cant find what i want for a decent price. i want ont that the light bulb mounts horizontallyy so i get the best efficiency from my bulbs. but i also want something that i can customize for what i need at that time ex. if i want multiple bulbls or just one. because im using cfl im not to worried about the heat being a problem. and plan to give my plants as much light as i can. i have 4 2700k 45w bulbs and am looking for a store that sells 6500k in the same range of wattage. i would like to use less wattage bulbs, just more of them so i can arrange the light for maximum coverage for my money.
Not sure if it's a fact but I'm pretty sure I read tin foil and mirrors absorb more light than they reflect. That's why most people use mylar or just plain white wall as a more beneficial reflector.
They have mylar tape and rolls for the walls it would probably be around the same price as using aluminum foil. But like ace said I would get a legit reflector. Are you using those lights all the way through and veg/flower?
yea thats the plan for this round anyways. im going to see how it works. i have read that if you have enough lighting that it works great, so now i shall find out.
If you use 4x 45 watt bulbs (or more of the smaller bulbs to get to an equivalent wattage) on one DWC plant, you should be fine. I've maintained a vegging plant in DWC under 46 watts of CFL. You would think that would be too weak, but it grew big, fast.
Buy a legit hood and when you can afford too step up to HID. When I first started I messed around with cfl's but you can't.compare the yield to HID. Now running 2 600w bulbs in my tent and I love it. DWC is awesome and my preferred method. Simple and straight forward. Plan ahead now though. How will you drain your bucket if/when needed? Where/how are you topping off? Sounds stupid with a seed but it's good to have that stuff figured out for when you are trying to man handle a 3ft plant with a basketball sized root ball. Good luck! Oh, and start saving money now, weed isn't addicting but growing it is and you will want to upgrade to better shit.
My advice is to read this: Marijuana BUDS for Less See More Buds (HQ) Best newb book ever and it's all pics bro! enjoy
Just started flowering my first dwc girl myself, the growth rate is incredible! Do yourself a favor now and buy an HID light. I got a 600w mh/hps cool tube with digital dimmable ballast, cool tube, reflector, both bulbs, an the adjustable hangers for $190 shipped off eBay and the Ipower ballast comes with a warranty. Well worth the extra money, by the time you buy a bunch of cfls, sockets, reflector, etc you'll have at least $50 in it for mediocre lighting. Your plant will grow bigger an 10x faster with a good light, and the new ballasts are more energy efficient than the only magnetic type. Get a ph/ppm meters from amazon for about $50 for both, no need to get a top of the line one either, they work just fine (until you drop your ph meter in the res like I did the other day lol). I've only grown in soil prior and am now sold on dwc. Get your environment dialed in right and she'll explode with growth. My journal is in my sig check out my set up and feel free to use any ideas there, it's what it's there for . GL! And in no way use tin foil for any type of reflective purpose it makes hot spots and will burn your plant guaranteed
I've lined plenty of rooms with tin foil with no problems. Just keep the girls dancing with good strong air flow. For what it's worth though just go with Mylar or flat white. And those eBay deals are awesome though the bulb is usually a cheap ass one. I use them then upgrade the bulb from my local hydro shop. Oh, and spend the money on the light yo-yo's. Chain is cheaper but the yo-yo's make raising and lowering your light safe and simple. Also are you legal to grow? Reason I ask is for smell control...do this right and that plant will STINK!
Yah the light I got came with yo yos very easy and durable! My next cycle or so I may upgrade to a better bulb, but the hps so far seems fine. The fact that the ballast has a warranty was a selling point for me also. Ballast is barely warm to the touch and very quiet....I hated my old magnetic noisy heat monster of a ballast
No, I wasn't saying don't use the one it comes with just that when it's time buy a better bulb. It's worth it
Mine came with Plantmax bulbs and I upgraded to Hortilux (I think those are the right names). Bulb cost about $100 and though pricey at the time I'm happy I bought it. I used the bulbs it came with until they started to flicker, about 5 months of use.
just a quick question. how big should the plant be when i put it in the 5gal dwc? i have a 8" pot and using a rock medium. my plant is still in the seedling stage.
What's up green, I put my plants in 5gallon buckets when they only had their first sets of leaves. From what I read there is no wrong or right time for that. The wait is normally on the light intensity and nutes. I've seen people say they give nutrients when the plant get's their third set of leaves, some people start sooner and some later