First DWC grow

Hello all

This is my first post on RIU and I'm happy to be here!

I'm going to keep this thread as my personal grow journal, and to keep track of your feedback.
This is my very first attempt at a DWC grow! With that in mind, any comments or suggestions are very much appreciated!

This is where I'm at so far...

Germinated in paper towels (Is this REALLY the best way? I've had limited success, but I blame the seeds.)
When root was about .5", planted in pre-soaked rockwool cube. (First time using rockwool, but it took very well and I'll definitely be using it in the future.)
Now skip ahead about a week (today) and this is what I have...


I don't know if it was to early to transplant, it's a very small plant, but the roots are coming out the bottom so I figure it's time for some grow medium.
Rinsed, rinsed, and rinsed some more of my clay pebbles (What are they really called? My bag says "Hydroton" but that might just be their word for "round balls of clay") and put 1" on the bottom. Placed my rockwool cube on those, and filled the rest of the basket.
I gave it a good watering, let it drain, and set it up in my closet like this...


You may notice it's not IN the bucket. I'm going to wait until the roots have reached out of the netpot before going into all that. The leaves are looking healthy, no yellow, and I don't wanna mess with it to much at a time. I want to leave 2-3 days between major changes to let it adapt.

I'm slightly concerned about how the pebbles knocked it over a little bit but I have a feeling it will be OK.



So there we are. We have a 1.5" plant in rockwool, pebbles, under a hooded CFL, awaiting its bubble bath!

I hope this works!!!

Thank you for reading!

sub'd. Good Luck!

Skribed. Good stuff so far looks like u have done ur homework.

you can put it in the bucket now and just water it by hand or hook up a dripper,if the roots are exposed to light they will die,if its in the bucket with the air stones on it will create the humid air that the roots are looking for,once you have roots growing out of the net pot you dont have to water them from the top anymore. good luck

Hey subscribers!

I took snocat's advice and started my bubblebucket today.
Cut a hole in the lid, ph balanced my water and plopped her in. (I HOPE it's a her!)
I decided to put a clear water bottle over her to hold moisture and heat.



My questions:
Nutes: absolutely necessary or a gimmick to make money?
Bubbles: do they have to be on all the time or can I leave it on during the day and off at night? It is unexpectedly loud and I don't want my roommates annoyed by it, but I don't want rootrot or algae either.
Inner set of leaves: healthy growth rate but yellow-ISH. I've heard this can be a sign of a lot of things from to much/little nutrients (obviously at this point it would be to little) or to much water (how can you NOT over water in this system?) To early to tell?


Thanks everyone! Until next time...

The seed contains enough nutrients for the first week or two. After that you'll need to add a 1/4 of the recommended dosage and slowly work it up to full strength as the plant takes off and roots hit the water etc. Nutrients are a must! Your plant will die without them. You need to choose a line of nutrients or mix & match like some do. I personally am using General Hydroponics: Grow, Micro & Bloom I add Raw which is a sweetener as well as Canna's Rhizotonic & Bloom (Rhizotonic root hormoze during veg) (Canna Bloom promoted sugars during bloom only) I will more than likely try Canna's line on my next grow. I'm in week 5 from seed and just got to full strength. Bubbles need to be on 24/7. I never have much luck with a hood hard to tell from the pic you showed. Light hitting reservoir is bad and will cause algae until you fix the light leak just watch it. Your light looks a little close, she (hopefully) is still pretty young I have my T5's about 12" from the top of my girls.

Sam Greenman said:

Hey subscribers!

I took snocat's advice and started my bubblebucket today.
Cut a hole in the lid, ph balanced my water and plopped her in. (I HOPE it's a her!)
I decided to put a clear water bottle over her to hold moisture and heat.
Never heard of that View attachment 1186821
View attachment 1186820

My questions:
Nutes: absolutely necessary or a gimmick to make money?
Absolutely not no lie feed ur plants. Give them what they want rite from the start and push them hard. Get them where they want to be in veg so u can flip it up and push them harder in flower. Bubbles: do they have to be on all the time or can I leave it on during the day and off at night? It is unexpectedly loud and I don't want my roommates annoyed by it, but I don't want rootrot or algae either.
U dont need alot of bubbles. Maybe this myth was started by an over protective grower IDK. Im saying the point of the bubbles are so the water doesnt stagnate and to carry nutes to the plants roots! I alwayz went with the smallest cheapest pump per bucket and never failed. Just keep the pump on full time. So u dont experience rediculous PH swings. Too many bubbles will prolong ur REZ PH balance. Feeding ur REZ only helps the PH balancing process and allows everything to work together smoother and will only make it all come together faster. Inner set of leaves: healthy growth rate but yellow-ISH. I've heard this can be a sign of a lot of things from to much/little nutrients (obviously at this point it would be to little) or to much water (how can you NOT over water in this system?) To early to tell?
Maybe u should feed them View attachment 1186822

Thanks everyone! Until next time...

Click to expand...

No problem. Hope this all helps.

Weedler said:

The seed contains enough nutrients for the first week or two. After that you'll need to add a 1/4 of the recommended dosage and slowly work it up to full strength as the plant takes off and roots hit the water etc. Nutrients are a must! Your plant will die without them. You need to choose a line of nutrients or mix & match like some do. I personally am using General Hydroponics: Grow, Micro & Bloom I add Raw which is a sweetener as well as Canna's Rhizotonic & Bloom (Rhizotonic root hormoze during veg) (Canna Bloom promoted sugars during bloom only) I will more than likely try Canna's line on my next grow. I'm in week 5 from seed and just got to full strength. Bubbles need to be on 24/7. I never have much luck with a hood hard to tell from the pic you showed. Light hitting reservoir is bad and will cause algae until you fix the light leak just watch it. Your light looks a little close, she (hopefully) is still pretty young I have my T5's about 12" from the top of my girls.

Click to expand...

agreed except on one thing

I too run t5's Sunleaves pioneer VIII and I keep mine a matter of inches from the tops of my girls, once they come up and show the pre leaves I blast em with the t5 at about 1 maybe two inches max from the top, I do that the entire time they are under the t5

T5's have no where near the light intensity of an HID

So IM thinking my t5 light produces around 40k lumens total spread out over a larger area than a point source like an HID would which in itself makes that light less powerfull just spread more, that being said your 40k lumens is really 40k lumens divided evenly across the footprint of the light. mine is 2x4 so 8sqft which after all the math shit is significantly less than a MH or HPS of equivalent wattage.
then comes the square inverse law so if you divided that 40k lumens by the footprint of the light you get what about 5k lumens per sqft? of fluro light and then half that intensity because you are a foot away from the plants top... so about 2500 lumens per sqft if my math is right ?

Now I might be wrong but unless your seedling is one square foot in size then your lil seedling isnt even getting that much.. say your seedlings leaves have a total surface area of one inch then wouldnt they only be getting 1/12th of that 2500 lumens ????

correct me if Im wrong but I do believe thats how these fluros work since they are long tubes and not point sources of light
and ive always kept mine extremely close to even seedlings, as close as I can get it without it touching the plants, sometimes thats less than an inch away, I have yet to burn any of them, but I suppose that might have something to do with my ventallation, as its really way more than I need for the space I have.

She has made it through the first step, now I need to feed her.
The edges are turning yellow.
(I'd insert a pic but... I'll do that tomorrow.0

I'm going to look through threads now but I figure I'll ask while I'm here...
What are some inexpensive but decent results nutrients for veging? She needs them.

good luck with the grow!

Everything seems to be going well. Added a 2nd CLF, got my PH balanced... now this is happening.


Why are they yellowing on the edges, then turning brown towards the center?

Thats normal. the first set of leaves usually dry up and die after a couple of weeks.

It seems the leaves grow to full size, then shrivel up.

Any idea what causes this?


Any feedback is appreciated.

Sam Greenman said:

It seems the leaves grow to full size, then shrivel up.

Any idea what causes this?
View attachment 1215978

Any feedback is appreciated.

Click to expand...

sum strains do that as long as temps r like 22 to 24 humidity between 50-55% your gud to go my freind
maybe take the light away alittle heat can make them droop like that 2
p.s. she looks nice

I don't want or need her to be huge, this is just an experiment.
Still having the leaf dying problem, yellowing edges, then browning. PH is just right and PPM is about 950 so I'm not sure what's up. I don't have any fancy meters to tell me what EXACTLY it needs, but it's growing, so I'm not to to to worried.

I've been checking PH and water level every day, kinda babying it, figured there's no need. Left it alone for about 4-5 days, needed PH down and about a half gallon of water. It's starting to drink a lot.

It's sprouting its 5-6th set of leaves and getting a bit stinky for just one plant, so I'm thinking of going 12/12.

Not looking for high yield, just a successful grow.

Sam Greenman said:

I don't want or need her to be huge, this is just an experiment.
Still having the leaf dying problem, yellowing edges, then browning. PH is just right and PPM is about 950 so I'm not sure what's up. I don't have any fancy meters to tell me what EXACTLY it needs, but it's growing, so I'm not to to to worried.

I've been checking PH and water level every day, kinda babying it, figured there's no need. Left it alone for about 4-5 days, needed PH down and about a half gallon of water. It's starting to drink a lot.

It's sprouting its 5-6th set of leaves and getting a bit stinky for just one plant, so I'm thinking of going 12/12.

Not looking for high yield, just a successful grow.

View attachment 1232125

Click to expand...

No offense dude you are worrying too much ( i did the same shit at first ) I had the same issues with leaves. If you are using Reverse Osmosis water you may need to add some cal/mag. Most people will veg for 8 weeks then flower another 6-8 if its just a experiment then do what you must but yeah your plants dont look bad at all they show some deficiency but some Cal/mag might help that out.