water levels??

Hello !!
yes another newbie question.I have a DWC system ready to go..(5gal buckets ) I'm a little confused on starting the new plants In the net pots.from what I have read and seen It always looks like the water level Is a couple inches below the net pots with the bubbles keeping everything wet, now....the other day when i bought my net pots,pump etc. at the hydro store the sales guy said he attaches the airstone to the bottom of the net pot for an extra shot of oxygen,and that I should have the water level half way up the net pot? does this seem correct or did I/We have a misunderstanding? I told him I was green with this type of rig,maybe I'm supposed to start with the water level high until roots start showing? I'm confused...
My plants are 6"-10" tall and In soil. any advice on the best way to get these started? do I want the roots in the middle of the pot or closer to the bottom,I'm using hydroton.
sorry I know...this Is propably so simple I just don't know where to start my babies...

If you want your plants to grow slowly - by all means listen to your hydro shop guy!

Next time, switch the plants over to soil (if you ever have to do it again) much sooner. Its a lot easier when the plants are small and you dont have many roots to deal with. Here is what I did for the soil to DWC transplant. The morning of the transplant I have them a heavy watering with a little extra Superthrive then I normally use. Superthrive is optional... if you dont have it or you use some other vitamin/supplement - go a head and use a little of that. If you dont have anything - again dont worry about it. I laid out a cookie sheet and worked next to the sink. I carefully got the plant out of its current pot and start GENTLY shaking away as much soil as I could. Once I couldn't get any further with that... I turned on the sink with some cold water and then used the sprayer to wash all the soil off of the roots. You want to do this part with as little stress on the plant as possible... so be careful not to tear roots off... etc. I then put them in the net pots and filled them in with my media. In my case I was using Coco croutons. Then I put them in the bin, hand watered and let the bubbles do their work!

You want to make sure you have everything laid out before you start... think through what your going to do and get it done asap so there is little impact to your baby.

As far as water level - keep it below the net pot. You want your roots searching for the water, so you dont want them in the water yet. You should have enough bubble action from your airstone and pump combo to make the bubbles shoot up little bursts of water at least 2-3 inches. My current setup they go up about 4-5 inches easily. All you want watering your root zone for now is those little bursts of water. If you check your rootzone and the media is overly wet... get your water level down. If they are dry - raise it up a little. An inch below your net pots normally works perfect. No extra airstones needed.

I've found smaller bubbles work much better and actually make those little burts of water jump higher. So if the air stones you chose only produce big bubbles, you might want to look around for some different ones.

Good luck!

Hello RIU friends, Dux thanks for starting this thread. I subscribed to this thread because I'm new and want to be able to ask questions about my grow I want to start. DivinePower thanks for the info about using soil until your babies get roots, then transplant to DWC. I have ask about what to use when transplanting the rooted plant to DWC. I see you put the rooted plant straight in the net pot with (in my case) hydroton rocks. You don't use rockwool or some medium like that to put the rooted plant in first. I was concerned about the water level too. So the water need to be 2-3" below the net pots and roots because you want the roots to search for water. Helpful info! Hey Dux maybe we could grow our babies together. I'm germinating my girls now (day 1).

Dux,

It all depends on what ya want. Divine is correct in slow grow if water is too high. I cant help you with the soil part as I am not a "dirt bag" grins. I dont know the "standard" when it comes to DWC in 5 gallon buckets but Ill share my setup with you. I use 5 gallons with a 5 or 6 inch net pot. I mark my buckets at the 3 gallon mark. Thats where I keep refilling it too. This puts almost 2 inches under my net pots but close enough to keep the rocks moist. The roots will feel the moisture and come searching for the water. If you have smaller net pots then raise the water up a bit. I have heard of folks who raise water up into the net pot but only for beginning growth. This is not the case for you.

Good luck!

Everbody does it a little different, i take clones that have roots coming out of the rockwool i cloned in and stick em in my hydroton rocks then i raise the waterright up to the bottom of the rockwool cube so it is touching the water. it is going to live like this anyways right. if you have good bubble action they will get all the air they need through the water. I use the big netpots that are the same size as a 5 gal bucket so the water iscovering almost all the rocks. my clones are about 12-14 days old when they go in and just explode for the first 2 weeks because of all the extra air i think.i have also removed the rockwool from the clone (carefully) and put them right in the rocks and brought the water right up to where they were in the rockwool ,again with lots of bubbles they just go nuts.before my clones go in they have got 2 feedings of nutes at 400 ppm and when they first hit the bucket they get 600 ppm.I use big clones like this, so i get big plants like that. I do take the wrapper off before i stick em in.Works for me

I dont know exacly. it belongs to many other factors such as the kind of plant, sunlight,.. U should go back to the shop and ask them.

Thanks for the help !! I really do appreciate all i can get,I have made some adjustments and am ready to move from soil to the buckets(6) hopefully all goes well.I will try to get some photo's of my grow area and plants,I'm kinda really slow with computer/photo's but i'll try....

Lookin forward to the pics!

Yeah, everyone seems to have a little variation when it comes to DWC. I have tried Divine's method of bringing the water level up to the net pots and didn't like the results. This was on my white widow grow, I am growing a few new strains so maybe it will be different. I really like that 2 or 3 inch "zone" of really mosit misty area between my water level and my net pots.

hey there...one more newbie with questions.
whats the ideal water temp in a DWC 5-gal setup?
thanks

68 degrees, over 72 will cause problems

thanks wiseguy!

caregivers said:

I have heard of folks who raise water up into the net pot but only for beginning growth. This is not the case for you.

Click to expand...

hey thank you so much caregivers -- this is definitely the case for me, and i was thinking about doing this too especially since i believe ill be birthing my baby girls right there in the net pots... i dont know yet.

This is my girls at 4 and 5 weeks of flowering in DWC using Dutch master Gold A&B and thats it under 600 w HPS let me know what u think

lookin good!

How can you keep the water temp in a bucket under 72? If the bucket is the only res?

ice bottles

okay my buckets stay at about 75 degrees average and i have no problems. When the plants are new you want the water about 1 inch max from the bottom of the net pot. Once you have roots in the water, back off and allow about 2 inches from the net pot. If your buckets are getting over 75 then id say use some ice in plastic bottles. I use cfls in a closet and i never have had to chill my res.

I think there needs to be some air between net pot and water and bubbles supply a young plant with what it needs,

make a control bucket and get a water chiller

mntman1971 said:

How can you keep the water temp in a bucket under 72? If the bucket is the only res?

Click to expand...

Thanks fellas...maybe make a controller with a cooler?