I have a PC Microgrow (http://forum.grasscity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1185972&d=1366425840) that I just can't seem to get a straight answer to. Everyone has an opinion, but no one seems to know for sure. Since I am doing a DWC grow, and my roots are now growing out the bottoms of the baskets, but some people say that I need to keep the baskets in the water with nutes, and others say that the baskets need to be an inch or two above the water. What's the right or best method?
I keep a 3" distance from the bottom of the basket to the top of the "soup" in my DWC. However, I use foggers to keep the roots moist. It is arguable that the foggers contribute anything after the roots hit the soup.
The roots are already in my "soup" so, I doubt the foggers would help but, since my reservoir is small (shoebox), I dont have the room to give 3 inches between basket bottom and water level.Will an inch work? Would it hurt to leave the baskets in the water the whole time since I'm aerating the water?
as long as the water isnt up on the stem it should be fine...however if you have rockwool planted in the baskets, it is debateable as rockwool will wick water all the way up to the stem...See More Buds video vol3 hydroponics, show the seedlings growing in rockwool sitting in a tray of oxygenated water...roots like crazy...however anyone ive spoken to says you dont want rockwool sitting in water...not sure if im helping here. maybe someone w/ more experience can set us both straight?
I had the rockwool sitting in the water and the plants were doing great, and the roots were growing like crazy. From what I've read, the rockwool can sit in the water as long as the roots are in the dark. The thing is, I've read a bunch of people's posts that say you should keep the roots and bottom of the baskets above the water and let the roots "find" the water. I switched from the cubes being in the water to them being above and I'll report back which way worked better. I'm still trying to figure out my nutes since Fox Farms Trio gave my plants bad nute burn, even at 3/4 strength, and I'm on week 3, so, after trimming a bunch of burned fan leaves, I'm hoping the plants respond happily.
if you leave a gap you usually get the roots hardening up and turning "stemmy", hair roots will die back and then that few inches gap becomes pointless. I keep mine topped right up and haven't had stem rot. having soaking wet rockwool around the stem is not a good idea, rockwool is shit anyway and its best avoided. if you don't have a large reservoir your better off having your basket in the water. the bigger the reservoir the more stable your PH and TDS will be and the more root room there will be. but if you feel your res is too small, maybe getting a bigger one might be in order?