Hi all, As the post says still a first time grower here and am doing DWC for my first grow, now I let my seeds germ straight in little rock wool cubes and transplanted straight over to the large O2 pot (pot with clay balls and res at bottom with air stone) now I was never really told that I was meant to NEVER let the clay balls dry out and they have I have not covered the entire Peebles with water since day one just been watering the rock wool, had a look this morning and looks like 2 roots have made it down to the res - one has a tiny little bit of brown on the end of it... hopefully not root rot ------ should I keep wetting the clay with the mix from the top for a little while longer and soak them all and let it drain back down ? Sorry for a dumb question.
There's never a dumb question in my opinion. Pictures help out a lot. How long are your roots? I think the water in the bucket should just be touching the clay by idk 1/2" and the bubbles splash the clay at the same time. I beleave you do this until you get some more roots. Some people have a pump that wets the clay for a time then they remove it when the roots are long enough. I just recently put a clone in a bubble bucket and had the water level cover the roots and netcup until they were long enough to drop the water level. So basically as long as the roots are touching water should be good.
Okay thanks man roots are about 5cm long and that literally happened over night!! When I get home anwnhe lights come on in about 8 hours from now I'll post some pics... Okay so the water is not touching the balls but it is deff splashing on the bottom and nice and wet..
Actually they leaves are drooping a little man and one of the roots is a tiny bit brown on the tip I'll show you later bro
Be sure that the bottom of the rockwool doesn't stay wet. Often the cube is placed up, partially out of the hydroton so that it can adequately drain. Just adjust your water level so that the cube can drain. If it stays too wet then the roots inside it don't get enough O2 and the cube then becomes a harbor for pathogens. Also, are you using a disinfectant or beneficials? You'll need one or the other or rot will set in.
Thanks mike going to change the res tonight and wash with peroxicde and have to get me something like great white asap!
You really want to start it from the get go. Your nutrient solution is a soup for pathogens. Without one of these strategies in place your rez will quickly start brewing funk. Once pythium gets a foothold, it very difficult and costly to eliminate. There are ways to keep your rez sterile with DIY mixes of a certain type pool shock (which is like $5 and will make you probably 100 gallons), or less effectively with just 3% peroxide off the shelf. But, Hydroguard you'll only need 1 mL/gal only at each rez change - so, economically it goes a long way. It'll cost more to not get on this right away. Oh, and great white is more for soil or coco. Hydroguard's bacteria do well in DWC.