Hello Resident Experts.
I’ve been growing for a few years now and I’ve always grown in Coco Coir (Mother Earth Coir with Perilite) in 5 gallon cloth pots. I’ve a pretty good run with that. I started with Photos and moved over to Auto’s. I run Spider Farmer SF-1000 (6) lights and I use Canna Coco nutrients.
I want to try my hand at Hydro.
I’m building my setup instead of buying it premade. I’m going to start with one/two plants and learn a little on them.
Setup will be the following:
1-25 gallon tote with 2 plants in 6 inch grid pots
1-25 gallon reservoir with 800 gph pump.
Bubble in the reservoir and two in the grow tank.
Jack’s 321 nutrients.
Plants will be Gelato and Zkittlez Auto’s from ILGM.
The hardware seems pretty straight forward. I think I have that down and will learn from my mistakes.
My grow room is a 10x12 room built in the basement. Temps and humidity are very easily controlled with my dehumidifier and a/c. I also have two 6 inch exhaust fans with charcoal scrubbers that changes the air in the room constantly. I have 10 foot ceilings in the basement so there is a ton of room to grow.
I understand how to mix the nutrients and what all needs to be done there, initially.
But this is where I have the most concern.
1 - How do I know what nutrients need to be added when topping off the water?
2 - Do I have to change the water? How often? Why can’t I run the same water thru the entire grow?
3 - I think I need a Hydro Mentor?? Please??
I take criticism very well and I’m ready to learn the next evolution of my grow.
Hi @Bamarayne thats why you have to change out the water from time to time…we will top up the reservoir with mixed nutes as needed…but…we don’t know what the plant is actually using…and… we don’t want our nutrient solution getting off-balance…follow?..thers a topic you should check out @robert365 first time RDWC…Lots of good info there…I just finished up a run using a six pot RDWC…I will also let you know to expect much larger plants than you think as they grow like crazy in DWC…I would limit my totes ro one plant each with the net pot in the center. How often to change out the water varies from grower to grower…I eventually settled on 14day change-out…hope this helps…Good Growing…
Well I run General Hydroponics, so in your case, I literally don’t know Jack(s).
But some concepts are just universal.
You don’t. You can add a solution with the same ratio of nutrients as is in the system at the time, or add straight water, or some combination in between.
Yep. Because of Question #1. Eventually the balance of the solution will get out of whack, and will create all kinds of issues with pH, lockout, deficiencies, toxicity, yada yada yada.
A lot depends on the stage of the plant as to how it all goes down though. A weak mix for a young plant will have to be strengthened eventually, and that little plant won’t have used hardly any of that huge water supply. So dump it all, or doctor it up without creating some kind of lockout. On the other end of that, when they start drinking a gallon a day each, you just keep dumping in more full strength solution. But the plants don’t take in the nutrients equally, so every week or two, you’ll need a complete change out.
I will concur with Bubbala…I will also recommend keeping an accurate ledger…this is really important … so that you can look back at what is done and when…time flies when you’re growing…it helps to take photos regularly as well…consistency is important in DWC…ph 5.8…oh the joys of it all
Guess I missed this part…
If you’re going to run two different strains in the same nutrient solution, you may run into issues if their nutrient needs end up being too different. Maybe this isn’t as big of an issue with Jacks, I don’t know.
I dont understand how come yall cant measure your reservoir nutes ppms with tds/ec pen.
Depending on what stage the plants are at, we will say mid flower, target ppms would be 1000 to 1150 ppms. You cant measure the reservoirs ppms to ensure your plants are dialed in?
Ppm gets monitored daily… but…over time the solution will get out of whack due to the plant using different parts of the solution at differing rates…therfore when you drain and refill you are , in essence, resetting the solutions calibration…imo…I do know that some growers never ,according to reports, drain and replace…although I can’t even fathom growing in that fashion myself
As I say, I don’t know about Jacks, but with the common GH Flora series @Mosca , it’s a 3 part system. The EC (PPM) is an end result of the solution mixture that can be monitored for fluctuation, but is initially mixed according to volume of concentrate.
Taking a reading from the res just tells us if the plants are doing more eating or drinking, but says nothing about how our “blend” is actually being maintained.
Not so much guessing, as just constantly “steering” I guess. Again, maybe Jacks is different, no clue, but this is GH start points. Then it’s just customizing after that.
The part we are trying to do without is the guessing part…thats why you dump and refresh your reservoir every so often…the guessing stops and your back to pure unadulterated nute solution
I didn’t see any mention of a chiller. This is essential. I second having only one plant per tote but would suggest 3 or 4" net pots as they are more shallow, thus increasing rez capacity. Running autos in a setup that can grow trees (assuming you have adequate light), you would be better off with photoperiod over autos. You will have much more control with them.
As stated the ratio of nutrients will drift from nominal which is why you do a rez change periodically. The experts that know their plants and setup can run without rez changes but that would come later.
Jack’s is a good choice, plan on adding silica to the rez and something like Hydroguard for beneficial bacteria. I would also suggest running a modified 3-2-1 program with MKP (2-2-2-1.2) during flower transition. Then return to the 3-2-1 program.
I haven’t looked into then yet. My basement stays a cool 74°F in the hot Alabama summer, today was 99°, and our winters aren’t real winter.
So, based on that and my reservoir will be sitting on a cold concrete floor that it will help to keep the water within range.
I’m hopeful but not expecting it, so I’ll look into one.
