I am going to attempt a DWC setup and do my best to do a perpetual grow. At this time we are only allowed 2 plants and as such it is not a big set up. 3x2 tent with a partition, small side for clones and veg. Big side for flower I am mostly concerned about the temperatures of the bucket / tent. I have been monitoring an empty tent with and empty dwc bucket to try and anticipate the climate changes. I've noticed that as the temps increase outside, this room doesn't cool as well as the rest of the rooms in my house. This has caused air temps upwards of 80 at times, fluctuating humidity and the bucket water temps have hit around 72° -73°. This is a bit concerning and I'm trying to figure out the most cost effective way to keep the room and buckets cool. I've seen ice bottles suggested, as well as water chillers and better air cooling in the room. Since I'm not able to run multiple flowering plants it doesn't seem to make sense to spend the money on a chiller. I was thinking of a small portable ac unit, since my windows would not accommodate a standard window ac unit (they open horizontally not vertically). Is it enough to keep it cooler in the room? I'd prefer to not have to worry about ice bottles or further plumbing and costs of a water chiller. Any input would be greatly appreciated. TYIA
Grow two plants at the same time, make sure they are the same strain. maybe scrape the DWC and go compost/top soil medium. DWC reservoir temps need to be @ 68 degrees or you get root rot.
A much longer time ago I tried soil and was not a fan of the bugs, it kinda seemed like no matter what, soil brought bugs. I also like to have a bit more control over what's going on, I found trying to regulate pH in soil, was a pain in the ass This is why I would like to do hydro. Is it not possible to keep the room cool enough?
Promix HP or coco is pretty much inert medium which makes it similar to hydro without all the fucking headaches. I grow in promix and only use General hydroponics maxi-bloom for the whole grow. (homeamade calmag if needed). I do 2 plants like you, flower in a 3x3. Take a peek, maybe get some ideas. Blueberry Cheese from seed | Grasscity Forums - The #1 Marijuana Community Online
I looked at pro mix, doesn't seem like a super costly switch to make especially since I can still use the nutrients I bought (fox farm and I have ag southern garden fungiside)
The inside tent temp would have to be 68 to 70 degrees F in order to do a DWC. I would still use blocks of ice. If so grow both plants in one tub. Bugs is not a issue. Pyrethrin is the big gun on insects. you can spray right up to harvesting. Pyrethrin DOESN'T leave a residue. Hydro is allot more technical then compost/top soil medium.
That's what's good about pro mix, you can use organic or salt based nutrients. Easy and straightforward.
Short answer unfortunately is no. Speaking from somebody who’s had almost the identical setup as you, the heat battle will be a losing one without a chiller. Water bottles and such all work, but if you want to grow dwc without changing frozen bottles out twice a day, don’t waste your time unless you have a chiller. Beneficial bacteria, or bleach/ H2O2 will help, but thing’s absolutely will get funky above 75° Not only is the outside air hot, but the water and air pumps generate a significant amount of heat. So much so in fact, I actually don’t grow at all from basically Memorial Day to Labor Day. The heat battle was always a losing one without sinking serious 4digit $$$$ into the room for 2 plants. You can try a DIY mini fridge chiller, but speaking from experience, spend the cash on a purpose built chiller. The headaches it saves is absolutely worth it.
@sweedright do you have any advice or resources I can research before jumping into promix? I've read some stuff about various issues that pop up. Mostly regarding ph or ppm being high. Water going in should be around 6.0, the plan so far would be to start with just PHed water, most likely some light cal mag as our tap is about 70 ppm. Then I read that in flower ec of the water should be around 1.2-1.5 and I plan on not introducing super strong nutes until I see any kind of need
I have no need to measure PH anymore and I never measured EC. Ph fluctuations are more a result of nutrient build up from improper runoff amount or feeding excessively. With maxi-bloom I use .75 tsp per gallon, that brings my PH down to around 6 so no need to measure. Cal mag supplimentatiojn during stretch is usually the only time I have to add anything other than the maxi bloom.
@sweedright That makes sense, I'll will keep that in mind once I confirm ph range and nutes. My starting pH is around 7.5 and I know FF bloom nutes do the same to lower the pH quite a bit. When you say "nutrient build up from improper runoff amount" what is the proper run off amount? As in how much should run off and what do you do with the run off, do you use a tray/ auto feeder that would catch the run off or does it go down the proverbial drain?
Drain to waste. You want about 10% runoff, so if using a 5 gallon pot, you'd want 64 oz runoff ideally.
Thanks for the replies everyone. I've made some adjustments to the tent, built a small table that the tent can sit on. It's high enough that a 3 gallon bucket sits under the table top. I ordered a 23" x 23" x 3" tray and plan on adding a drain with hose attachment to assist in draining the run off into a 3 gallon bucket. Gonna run them in 3 gallon net pots, and water them in the tray. This should allow a soak if needed and then to drain the waste, after a good initial watering with run off I don't want to move the plants if possible. I have a net to assist with limb support later in flower and that sounds like a pain if I have to move plants. I thought about sog/ scrog but I'm not sure if my timeline allows for that much growth but I will see once I get there. July 1st is go time! Gonna attempt a dream queen bag seed and see where it takes me. I'll post pics as I get a bit closer to launch.