After spending a couple of years growing in an ebb and flow tray, I decided to build my own Undercurrent system gettogro style. I just wanted to share my experiences of being a beginner in DWC and fixing root slime quickly and effectively as most people suggest it's a matter of time before it occurs.
In the spirit of his (gettogro) 6' wide trees, I decided to start with one tote as a prototype until I have a larger space to work in. I prepped my space, built my system and while it looked real nice, I tore this system down shortly after building it due to crappy leaky bulkhead fittings. Plus the new totes and their lids are much stronger and thank God for Uniseals.
Since this is my first time running DWC, I expected to run into some issues. I have these two guinea pigs as genetics that I cared less about for now. First up is an 60 Day lemon autoflower. I had some of these seeds leftover and the first time I grew it, I wasn't happy with how it went (heat issues). I figure if it turns out well I'll have given it my best shot once and for all and be done with it. The 2nd is a Northern Light Blue and I'm sure it will make a great Undercurrent candidate once some of the issues are worked out.
In goes the 60 Day lemon
2 Days later I notice this crazy bish oozing off of the roots. I instantly assumed it was due to the H&G Roots Excelurator that I was running. Regardless of using my chiller and temps as low as 70* my airstones were covered in fungus so I immediately drained everything, cleaned it out with bleach and just ran ph water for a day.
and what it should look like..
I honestly ran this stuff in my veg tray and fell in love with what it did for my roots. It seems everything I've read says it just causes issues in heavily aerated environments. Even at their DWC recommendations of .25ml/gal this caused my inline filter to look completely diseased.
I went right over to Heisenberg's Sticky (https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/361430-dwc-root-slime-cure-aka-2.html) and made some tea from a combination of Great White and Ancient Forest brewed for 24 hrs and this is the result 2 days later. Damage has been done and autoflowers are more prone to stunting, but even the brown rotting piece that I thought was going to fall off even has new white growth coming out of it!!
I kid you not, 3 days ago, I had to pull the roots through the net pot for them to reach the water, almost as if they were refusing to drop down. As of today they're happily growing and reaching down. Ultimately will this turn into a getto-tree? I highly doubt it, i'm not even expecting an ounce from this little girl, but that Northern Light Blue is creeping up on week 7 and looks prime now that I've got this resolved. Smoke on!
In the spirit of his (gettogro) 6' wide trees, I decided to start with one tote as a prototype until I have a larger space to work in. I prepped my space, built my system and while it looked real nice, I tore this system down shortly after building it due to crappy leaky bulkhead fittings. Plus the new totes and their lids are much stronger and thank God for Uniseals.
Since this is my first time running DWC, I expected to run into some issues. I have these two guinea pigs as genetics that I cared less about for now. First up is an 60 Day lemon autoflower. I had some of these seeds leftover and the first time I grew it, I wasn't happy with how it went (heat issues). I figure if it turns out well I'll have given it my best shot once and for all and be done with it. The 2nd is a Northern Light Blue and I'm sure it will make a great Undercurrent candidate once some of the issues are worked out.
In goes the 60 Day lemon
2 Days later I notice this crazy bish oozing off of the roots. I instantly assumed it was due to the H&G Roots Excelurator that I was running. Regardless of using my chiller and temps as low as 70* my airstones were covered in fungus so I immediately drained everything, cleaned it out with bleach and just ran ph water for a day.
and what it should look like..I honestly ran this stuff in my veg tray and fell in love with what it did for my roots. It seems everything I've read says it just causes issues in heavily aerated environments. Even at their DWC recommendations of .25ml/gal this caused my inline filter to look completely diseased.
I went right over to Heisenberg's Sticky (https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/361430-dwc-root-slime-cure-aka-2.html) and made some tea from a combination of Great White and Ancient Forest brewed for 24 hrs and this is the result 2 days later. Damage has been done and autoflowers are more prone to stunting, but even the brown rotting piece that I thought was going to fall off even has new white growth coming out of it!!
I kid you not, 3 days ago, I had to pull the roots through the net pot for them to reach the water, almost as if they were refusing to drop down. As of today they're happily growing and reaching down. Ultimately will this turn into a getto-tree? I highly doubt it, i'm not even expecting an ounce from this little girl, but that Northern Light Blue is creeping up on week 7 and looks prime now that I've got this resolved. Smoke on!
