RDWC on a Commercial scale
- Thread starter Jhef
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Caliverner
Well-Known Member
I always wonder the same thing guy at grow shop was like way easier to throw up trays with few hundred clones and still flip a huge crop with cubes flooding
Caliverner
Well-Known Member
With the Dwc would they be all together like connected that can be. Real pain 1 thing fucks up lol the plants go, or changing 2 300 buckets individual kinda a pain
Keesje
Well-Known Member
You don't see it because there are much simpler, cheaper, less faulty hydro systems.
Same reason you also hardly see low or high pressure aeroponics in commercial grows.
Too complicated, to expensive, too much devices that can break down, too much maintenance, too labour intensive.
And the yield will not be higher or better then if you use other hydro systems.
Same reason you also hardly see low or high pressure aeroponics in commercial grows.
Too complicated, to expensive, too much devices that can break down, too much maintenance, too labour intensive.
And the yield will not be higher or better then if you use other hydro systems.
There is a guy on here with a post about growing commercially with the current culture rdwc. Do a search for current culture dwc it should show up. We all kinda warned him not to do it, he proved us wrong til his 4th run when he lost a whole crop. Not knocking him he has clearly shown he has what it takes to pull it off, but still shows the risk of what can happen with one small mistake or mishap.
Not to mention most people with that set up end up vegging in their flower room, which is definitely not ideal. One week per cycle can end up making you lose a whole cycle in a year. With rdwc most are vegging in their flower rooms longer than that so the lost crops per year is even more substantial than that. So any total yield gained by running rdwc has to be compared against any lost time in the flower room.
The best application for rdwc is someone stuck at a low plant count that is trying to maximize yield with fewer plants. But you better be on your game and monitoring things very closely. Also if you can figure out how to veg in one room and flower in the other you can keep a better schedule for more crops per year.
Not to mention most people with that set up end up vegging in their flower room, which is definitely not ideal. One week per cycle can end up making you lose a whole cycle in a year. With rdwc most are vegging in their flower rooms longer than that so the lost crops per year is even more substantial than that. So any total yield gained by running rdwc has to be compared against any lost time in the flower room.
The best application for rdwc is someone stuck at a low plant count that is trying to maximize yield with fewer plants. But you better be on your game and monitoring things very closely. Also if you can figure out how to veg in one room and flower in the other you can keep a better schedule for more crops per year.
As bad as it sounds commercial growing is about money and should always consider total output in a year. If you veg for 30 days that means total cycle is 90+ days. 4 crops per year. If you veg in another room you can get in 6 crops per year or 5 crops per year if you wait one week to flip after moving to the flower room.
No matter how much yield you hit per flower room your not gonna be able to make up for two lost runs in a year.
I love dwc but when I started scaling up the cost associated with a run also started adding up, I can't afford to lose a whole crop, I have too much invested in it. Between coco nutes and electric I'd take a big loss if I did.
Again a very experienced gardener with a well thought out plan to veg in one room and flower in another that is limited by a low plant count limit could make it work very well. But I think it would also take a personality that likes to gamble or someone who can afford to take the loss and carry themselves to the next run to pull it off.
Not to mention I think the guy that did pull it off on that other post, isn't hitting any more per fixture than I am handwatering coco once a day.
No matter how much yield you hit per flower room your not gonna be able to make up for two lost runs in a year.
I love dwc but when I started scaling up the cost associated with a run also started adding up, I can't afford to lose a whole crop, I have too much invested in it. Between coco nutes and electric I'd take a big loss if I did.
Again a very experienced gardener with a well thought out plan to veg in one room and flower in another that is limited by a low plant count limit could make it work very well. But I think it would also take a personality that likes to gamble or someone who can afford to take the loss and carry themselves to the next run to pull it off.
Not to mention I think the guy that did pull it off on that other post, isn't hitting any more per fixture than I am handwatering coco once a day.
Keesje
Well-Known Member
Of course you make more money when you have more harvests per year.
But if your labor costs increase, it can also cost you money.
If the chance of damage to your plants increases, it can also cost you money.
If you turned the veg room into a grow room, you would earn (some) money.
If the area per plant in veg is much smaller than the area per plant in grow, it will certainly matter.
Of course you should never (with expensive plants such as cannabis) grow your cuttings in your grow room. But from a certain size on you can transfer them to your grow room and leave them for another week on 18/6.
The number of weeks you leave them in a 'nursery' will mainly depend on the strain and how much plant per square meter you ultimately want to grow.
That is why it is not possible to indicate what is always 'better'. You have to start calculating, as all commercial growers do.
But if your labor costs increase, it can also cost you money.
If the chance of damage to your plants increases, it can also cost you money.
If you turned the veg room into a grow room, you would earn (some) money.
If the area per plant in veg is much smaller than the area per plant in grow, it will certainly matter.
Of course you should never (with expensive plants such as cannabis) grow your cuttings in your grow room. But from a certain size on you can transfer them to your grow room and leave them for another week on 18/6.
The number of weeks you leave them in a 'nursery' will mainly depend on the strain and how much plant per square meter you ultimately want to grow.
That is why it is not possible to indicate what is always 'better'. You have to start calculating, as all commercial growers do.
thenasty1
Well-Known Member
rdwc makes sense if you are trying to grow giant trees and maintain a low-ish plant count, but its gets very cumbersome at scale. if numbers arent a concern, sog on flood tables is much more cost+labor efficient, with the added bonus of fewer potential points of mechanical failure
Jhef
Active Member
Nutes in coco?
Can you amend coco like soil and do a TLO coco?
Can you drip feed the coco and recycle the runoff I assume?
Also I if i didn't do TLO i could just feed GH in coco, correct?
Thanks!
You would need to add cal mag and then pH to 5.8 but yes GH is fine. I have no idea about organic mixtures and coco it might be possible. Most people running drip systems and coco are going drain to waste. That might sound like a lot of waste but you really don't need that much run off at all once you are dialed in. With a recirulating system you need a large rez to counter act pH imbalance and nutrient levels getting out of wack, and you have to occasionally dump the Rez which is quite a bit of nutrient solution. I'd say that's is nearly the same amount of waste or less to run drain to waste with little run off.
I currently use advanced nutrients sensi coco, yes it's expensive. I've used it for years because its so easy to use and produces good quality. But lately I have thought about switching to a dry fertilizer to save money.