Dj Ruiners feeble attempt at his first DWC grow...Jacks Classic only.

[djruiner]

I guess ill start from the beginning.....

After much debate on how i wanted to start my next grow i made up my mind to go with a DWC grow.
Knowing i cant buy decent soil anywhere near me...would run way to much to keep buying fox farms soil...$20-$30 for a single bag w/shipping...which would cover maybe two plants...it would be much cheaper for me to start a DWC system.

I wanted something different this grow.i started growing NFT on my first grow..about 14 years ago...and when i started growing again about 4 months ago i did my first soil grow....learned the hard way that cheap soil can fuck up a grow.

So now im gonna give DWC a shot and see how it goes.here is my specs for this round......


3 Gallon Res w/water level indicator
30 Gallon dual line air pump
2x 10" airstones
4x 3" net cups,hydroton,rockwool

Grow box-
stealth dresser about 2 1/2' x 4 1/2'
mylar walls
2x exhaust vents,
2x 104 cfm fans on each end of the exhaust vents
1x 4" desk fan inside box
1x 16" oscillating fan outside the box blowing behind it

Seeds-
Papaya,Bubblelicious,G-13 Haze

Lights-
will be using all CFL's start to finish

for veg...
4x 65w 6500k
2x 26w 6500k
1x 32w 2700k...for starting seeds the first 1-2 days after spout

for flower....
2x 32w 2700k
6 x 23w 2700k
1 26w 6500k

Ferts
now here is where it gets interesting.....since i never really got a direct answers on this, im gonna try it to let everyone
know if it works or not.....

Veg....
Jacks Classic All Purpose 20-20-20

Bloom...
Jacks Classic Bloom Booster 10-30-20

Additives
Advanced Hydroponics ph up/down...will be adjusting to around 5.4
Epsom salt 1 tablespoon per gallon

But for now....some pics of my current setup...ive got one plant in the dwc now...im also growing 2 fems in party cups right now that will be in the grow box with them.
I should be starting the new seeds in the next week or so...i want to give this thing a test run before i try any of my good seeds out.

 

[SmeLLyTreeZ]

Nice, I have the first seat! Sub'd and ready to see the progress!!

 

[crazytrain14]

what up bro ive got my seat. looking forward to seeing this grow. lemme know if you need any help. i finished my first dwc 2ish months ago.

 

[HippySmoke]

lets see how well your little dwc bucket works, been considering one like yours.

 

[djruiner]

well..not off to a good start...least as the shot glass bitch is concerned.im not sure what happened..ut im pretty sure its not gonna make it through the night...its on chronic life support as we speak.part of it might be the dwc...when i filled the res and put the plant in there...plenty of water was splashing up into the net pots...a day later nothing was splashing onto the pots...they was bone dry...i think that might have taken the plant out...no water getting to it at all.and im not sure if i screwed up the roots when i was washing the soil off the roots.any ideas on why after a day the water no longer reaches the net cups?...can i just water the hydroton around the net pots if it runs dry?.....i also started 2 new seeds in rockwool plugs...soaked them in plain water with a ph of 5.5...set them into a container with moistened perlite in the bottom...put a dome on it...got it in a warm dark place...hope i get more luck this way

 

[HippySmoke]

holy crap that is one dry angry plant! did the water evaporate or is there a leak in your res?

 

[djruiner]

holy crap that is one dry angry plant! did the water evaporate or is there a leak in your res?

no leaks at all...temps in the box are about 84-85...water temps around 70...i have no idea where all the water went.i covered each of the holes from the net pots...but i dont think that was it either...i dunno.i made another batch of solution ad filled it right up to the net pots last night...no plants in it...just wanted to see if it held water overnight...still got about 2 hours before the lights come back on tho

 

[HippySmoke]

Good idea, I am curious as to what happened now myself.

 

[crazytrain14]

man sorry to hear. stuff will iron itself out. try a plant from seed and i guarantee you will have better luck. you have to keep a close watch on the water levels in dwc. i learned the hardway....

later

 

[djruiner]

man sorry to hear. stuff will iron itself out. try a plant from seed and i guarantee you will have better luck. you have to keep a close watch on the water levels in dwc. i learned the hardway....

later

its not a loss really...was a tiny plant i was gonna chop anyways...was a tester plant...ive got 2 seeds germing in rockwool now to toss in there asap..so i can work all the kinks out before i toss good beans in there

 

[Weedler]

Subd!

Good stuff I germinated in rockwool... I placed them in 1" rockwool with conditioner after seed germinated in paper towel I placed tap root down into the rockwool and placed it into a glass cup. I placed it immediately under the light. Never had an issue getting them to come up. Good luck on these seeds I will be dropping in!

 

[djruiner]

Subd!

Good stuff I germinated in rockwool... I placed them in 1" rockwool with conditioner after seed germinated in paper towel I placed tap root down into the rockwool and placed it into a glass cup. I placed it immediately under the light. Never had an issue getting them to come up. Good luck on these seeds I will be dropping in!

thanks for stopping by man...just checked my new seeds...can see them about ready to pop up.gonna take the res out tomorrow and make sure all is still well in there..if not ill clean it out and make a new solution for it.ive got the dome ready to go for the box after they pop to get them under the light...just hope these take to the dwc system

 

[djruiner]

i chopped down the topped party cup bitch plant....was taking up way too much room anyways.now the tall girl has plenty of room and its getting a ton of light.should bring my temps down a bit also..its was bushy as hell and i know no air was getting through it.changed my lights up again....and im gonna start leaving the door off of it...got a 24" box fan behind it now pulling air out...and the temps in the res are still staying low...cold to the touch.forgot to stick my thermometer in there when i filled it the last time...but thats it for now...off to watch impending doom and white chapel live....woo hoo

 

[crazytrain14]

i chopped down the topped party cup bitch plant....was taking up way too much room anyways.now the tall girl has plenty of room and its getting a ton of light.should bring my temps down a bit also..its was bushy as hell and i know no air was getting through it.changed my lights up again....and im gonna start leaving the door off of it...got a 24" box fan behind it now pulling air out...and the temps in the res are still staying low...cold to the touch.forgot to stick my thermometer in there when i filled it the last time...but thats it for now...off to watch impending doom and white chapel live....woo hoo

you lucky bastard i love whitechapel. i saw em last christmas with trivium chimaira and dirge within. needless to say they were the best band there. inpending doom is good. i just found out they are a christian band. cool. let me know how the show was oh and what do you think of the new whitechapel cd. well not so new now but ya know what i mean

peace dude

 

[djruiner]

you lucky bastard i love whitechapel. i saw em last christmas with trivium chimaira and dirge within. needless to say they were the best band there. inpending doom is good. i just found out they are a christian band. cool. let me know how the show was oh and what do you think of the new whitechapel cd. well not so new now but ya know what i mean

peace dude

impending doom put on a better show the white chapel to me...and yeah he went off on a lil speech about "hate me for who i am..but i love all of you"...but i declare war blew them all out the water.i got the new white chapel about 6 months ago i think...being a rock/heavy metal radio station owner...i sometimes get things a lil faster...but its not too bad

 

[crazytrain14]

man thats sweet. i sell forklifts so i gotta buy my music haha well could download but i try and support the bands i like. i havent' ehard i declare war ill check em out

 

[djruiner]

got an update on the party cup girl...she is 2 weeks into flower almost...just got a triple shot of bloom nutes..will start molasses next feeding on it...woo hoo.still waiting on the other seeds in the rockwool to pop out...then ill be starting back up the dwc...damn i wish seeds germed faster..this is the part i hate most about growing....viva la clones!!!!!

 

[djruiner]

trying something new with the party girl....thats her new name btw...ive got 2 different batches of bloom nutes mixed up...one batch is 1/2 tsp of jacks bloom,1 tbls epsom salt.....second batch is 1/2 tsp AN's big bud,1 tbls molasses,1 tbls epsom salt.
both batches are ph'd at 6.5...since the soil is dry EVERY morning when i check them...ive been feeding them daily...im going to start checking the ph of the soil so i know when to flush it...which im sure its needing by now...has not had plain water since its first feeding.hope she starts making some sense nugs soon...ive got a good feeling about her..she is tall and skinny...but has been a good lil bitch so far...sad thing is..its 4 time bigger then my last 2 grows..she is about 2 1/2 foot now

 

[djruiner]

also....got a sprout on one of the two seeds ive got germing in the rockwool...has broke the surface yet..but can see it down in there about to shake the shell of...soon as tey both pop..in the box they go.....also...damn i use that word to much...and too many damn periods....but dammit...i like typing this way....gives me a break in between....ha
anyways...im gonna take the hood i makde for my last grow box...gonna mount it in the top of the dresser grow box...will have 4 cfl's in that...then im gonna run the 2 exhaust vents with the inline fans in it right into and out of the hood...also going to run 2 cfl's on each side of the plant/plants...so 4 lights up top...4 lights on the side.ill have the smaller desk fans blowing on the bottom lights....got my temps taking care of...back running in the low 80's lights on...low 70's lights off...so now i want to make sure im using as much energy from the lights as i can

 

[djruiner]

got a nice looking sprout out of one of the rockwool seeds...its now in the grow box still in the dome...great humidity in it still...popped another seeds into the other rockwool...back in with the water heater it goes.hope the sprout starts popping some roots out the bottom..im ready to get the dwc underway....might take some new pics tonight....really really stoned...ill see what i can do