Good evening everyone!
This is my first post here, been lurking and learning a lot for some time now. I have grown in soil multiple times in the past but am ready to try my hand at DWC hydro.
To this end here is the setup I have decided to go with;
4ftx4ftx7ft grow tent.
600w vivosun HID lighting with digital dimmable ballast and air cooled hood.
6" 440 cfm extractor fan with variable speed control and carbon scrubber, venting out through a roof vent.
6" 240 cfm intake fan with variable speed controller, pulling from the front room for co2.
2 DWC bubbler setups, 5 gal each with independent airpumps/airstones.
Using rock wool and clay pellets as the medium.
Ordered some of the famous gold leaf seeds as well. I am only planning on growing 2 at a time with this setup, scroging and using LST techniques.
Does this sound like a decent setup? I have poured hours and hours of research into the needed components and feel that this should be a solid setup to venture into DWC. If it ends up not being for me, no big loss! We have a 30’ x 100’ Walpini style greenhouse where I do all my soil growing, plus I can use this grow setup for my many herbs and veggies (self sufficient homestead).
Thank you for any feedback, and I will be posting photos once I get the setup going.
Well, let me say welcome to ILGM. I have a commercial greenhouse similar in size to yours. Been selling to WF’s Market for years.
You have a perfect plan. I have almost the exact type setpu for my 4x4 tent. I tried a 400 watt, and found it adequate, but wanting a bit more intensity. I purchased a 600 watt MH/HPS dimable system with air cooled hood.
I use a portable AC in room to draw into tent. It also includes a dehumidifier that always keeps me in a moderate to good rang for RH.
You also need a small, but efficient oscillating fan (for air movement).
I think your choice to grow 2 plants and SCROG is an excellent idea. You should be able to produce quite a nice harvest. I love it when I find a grower that would rather grow less plants bigger with plenty of air space, providing a healthy environment for the plants.
Can’t wait to hang out with you through this grow. I might have some OGKush fems I can try a SCROG with.
Later, lw
p.s. What nutrients are you planning to use? Don’t buy into the idea that more additives are better. Best to find a good solid line, get a couple of successful grows using only the most fundamental additives, only when necessary as you would in your greenhouse. i.e. K.I.S.f
Yes, welcome my name is " Will " if ever I can help, I will.
I grow in soil so I’m limited to what I can help you with.
So anyway welcome to our world and keep it green…
Thank you Lakewood and Will!
For nutes I am simply using General Hydroponics Flora Series and Botanicare Hydroguard Bacillus Root Inoculant. Wanted to use a premixed nute set to get the hang of ppm before going crazy with a bunch of differing nutes. I am all about quality over quantity, I only grow for my wife and I, not for cash cropping. I have an oscillating fan that I will be running for air movement, pointing towards the light until my babies get going.
Where I live temps vary wildly between day and night, and even day by day! While I live in the southwest USA and it is considered a high desert, the shape of the mountains around us and the valley we are in creates its own microclimate. Temps inside are kept around 68f so I am hoping to be able to control temps in the grow room via intake/exhaust variable speeds. My real concern is the rh; we tend to stay around 15-20% here but I am thinking that with the DWC it will help keep the rh up within the tent itself. It is going to be a fun challenge keeping the temp and rh optimal at the same time within the tent
All the items to setup the grow room are arriving over the next week, 2 day shipping my butt Amazon… Once they have I will be posting photos of the setup. Seeds are in route as well, but anticipating a month or more for those to be safe. At that time I will start the grow journal!
Sounds like a well thought out plan.
You nutrients. You don’t want to many…gets confusing and that’s where things can go wrong.
I look forward to seeing your new setup.
So the tent, light, exhaust and intake fan are up! The last picture has the DWC buckets I will be growing in, they will only be empty for a couple more days!
Received my babies today and dropped 2 into a glass of water for the 24 hour period. The rock wool is rinsed out and currently soaking in a PH 4.5 solution for 12 hours, I will check the PH at that time and adjust as necessary. The reason for soaking it in such a low PH bath is to wash out and counter the natural (well as natural as molten spun rock is) 7.5-8ph of the rock wool. Tested my home water with a PPM pen, and I absolutely have to use distilled or reverse osmosis water! Straight from tap PH is 7.2 and PPM is 417, can you say hard water?!?!
Checked on the floating seeds this morning and 1 already has a 1/5" tap root! Once I disturbed the water it sank like a rock. The other looks to be getting close to sprouting its tap root, going to let that one soak a little longer. The rooted one has been moved into the rock wool and placed under a propagation tray. The PH of the rock wool came out to a perfect 5.6 after leaving it in a low PH solution all night. This has all happened within 16 hours of dropping seeds into water.
So both seedlings are now germinating in the rock wool! I have a quick question though, I sitting at a stable 73F and 57-60% humidity. I had read somewhere about not want humidity to be over 50% at this time, and read else where that it is fine… Lol. Do you think this rh should be OK?
My humidity was at 60% during germination and all worked out fine. When I started veg, my humidity was around 40%, which I believe is too low for veg.
Lower humidity, as I have heard, is best for flowering stage. Now that my plants are huge, and I am entering the third week of flowering, I need to bring my humidity down with a dehumidifier. (I’m also considering a portable room A/C unit to use through winter. Temps here are expected to hit the 90’s again by the end of the week, with ~90% humidity outdoors. With those conditions, I can’t rely on the Central A/C to keep the temp and humidity down.)
Our highs have been in the 50s lol. Works good for my grow room with HID lighting at least. Humidity has been my struggle so far inside the tent itself, holding right around 31% RH with both bubblers running to get a feel for temp/humidity. Our RH usually stays around 22% here so I am going to need a humidifier for veg, the 30ish % for flower should work good though for resin production. I did get my propagator stabalized at 62% though withh a temp of 80F.
Edit: spelling! Typing outside where it is 27F currently, fingers bounce around a bit lol.
Ahh the joys of learning to grow hydroponically! The first seed to sprout came out strong until the top bent over, pointing towards the grow medium lol. After researching it, I have came to the conclusion that I was a little aggressive with watering the rock wool! The leaves and stem are a beautiful healthy color, and no dryness or brittleness at all. I am leaning towards over watering due to this, and the fact that leaves look “plump” for the lack of a better description. I have faith it will recover!
Had to start another seed however, #2 never fully developed. The seed split down the side but taproot never truly emerged from it. Acted like it was stuck inside the shell? No big deal! Coming over from soil growing to hydro has been a learning experience, but an awesome one none the less
So #1 is recovering nicely. The stem has straightened itself out and the first set of true leaves are really popping out now! The amount of water in the plant is still a little high, getting very slight down curling on the true leaves, so I will continue monitoring moisture levels of the rock wool before I water it again. #3 is almost sprouting, I can see the top of the plant pushing against the rock wool cover on it, almost there little guy!
Well this is a sad update! As I was moving my thermometer in the tent it slipped and fell right on #1 . Bent the stem right over to a 90 degree angle but didn’t break the skin at all. I splinted it with a toothpick and scotch tape, hoping it will recover! As for #3 it now has a 2" taproot growing out of the rock wool but have yet to see it pop from the top. The root is a nice and healthy color at least!
. Bent the stem right over to a 90 degree angle but didn’t break the skin at all. I splinted it with a toothpick and scotch tape, hoping it will recover! As for