cool, thanks for the info

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When true patriots become labeled as enemies than you can bury my corpse right beside lady liberty's.

One of the harder things to get use to in DWC is that air compresses... That means that roots or junk can smother a air stone partially or completely easily. Shoot for a agitation about 2x what you think you'll need cause, in 2 month half, is about what you'll have left. I don't think changing the res out more often will help either... Every 10 days, give or take a couple, works for most people. Again, good luck to your grow.

just checked the ph in the buckets, it was a little high around 7 so I put in some general Hydro PH down but I wasn't sure how much to use, so I'm waiting now to see how it tests in a few minutes. The roots aren't popping out of the net pot yet so I'm not too worried, and the water nute mix i've been using to top water is still good as far as ph goes. I really need to get a digital meter for ph and tds.

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When true patriots become labeled as enemies than you can bury my corpse right beside lady liberty's.

You'll be flying kinda blind til you do. pH is super critical to early root formation. Without meters, it will be hard to self-correct yourself, as you go.

I have the GH test kit... the dropper kind where you match the colors up, but its apparently not accurate enough. My local hydro shop finally got a ph pen I can afford so I'll be getting it in the next couple of weeks

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When true patriots become labeled as enemies than you can bury my corpse right beside lady liberty's.

took a while to adjust the ph, never done it before, had to add ph down a few times to get it to the desired level but I think I'm good now. The babies look good so far, debating on if I'm going to make one more bucket for the lone seedling I have left.

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When true patriots become labeled as enemies than you can bury my corpse right beside lady liberty's.

Just checked the ph again, have add some more UP stuff to it again, but I was surprised to see that I have roots just starting to come out on the bottom of one of the net pots. Its been about four days since I put them in there so hopefully in a few more days I will have roots coming out the bottom on all of them so I don't have to worry so much about top watering anymore.

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When true patriots become labeled as enemies than you can bury my corpse right beside lady liberty's.

I know how you feel operator, I have roots coming out of both of my jiffy pellet clones. It's been quite a while since i made the cuttings. the stalks were really kinda thick so I shouldn't be surprised I guess. thanks for the thread, keep up the good work...

no problem... just excited to see how this first attempt at dwc goes.

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When true patriots become labeled as enemies than you can bury my corpse right beside lady liberty's.

I will try hydro at some point, but to get me feet wet I wanted to go with the soil. but then you know where I'm coming from on that. soil is more forgiving. I'm also trying to get my timing down for a perpetual harvest. Once I do that I will try going hydro. there are some great DIY videos on youtube that show inexpensive ways for top feed and flood and drain systems.

so keep those pics coming...

I just cleaned the buckets for the first time... took about a half hour. I put new water and nutrient solution in and the ph was good again. I had to clean the air stones too cause there was some sediment built up on them. I also put my timer in today, going to run a 18/6 for veg to try and control temps and consumption. The only things I have on the timer is the exhaust fan and the lights... thinking maybe I should leave the exhaust on all the time, but I did it this way the last two times and it seemed to work out.

I woke up this morning and checked on them and there was one that was laying over pretty bad. I tied it up while I was in class and when I got home it was fine and I took the tie off, kinda strange. Also, I've been top watering for a week trying to get the roots started out the bottom of the net pots and there is only one plant who's roots are starting to come out the bottom. Should I be worried? I can't see any root on any of the three other plants but the plants look ok. I'm still waiting for the cash to get a ph pen, so I'm kinda stuck with the GH kit at the moment but I've been keeping up with it so far. I just hope that this try at DWC doesn't leave me with nothing to show.

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When true patriots become labeled as enemies than you can bury my corpse right beside lady liberty's.

operator, from what I've read it is not uncommon for some seedlings and clones to lay over like that. They say they sometimes grow to quickly and the stem needs to catch up. they say to do exactly what you did instinctively. great job...


as for the roots I am not sure what to say since I have no experience with hydro as of yet. I can say that I had some clones take about a month for the roots to show thru jiffy pellets. The foliage and stem were fine the whole time. I did spray them with a week nute solution but I say as long as they look healthy you should be fine. when the roots do show themselves I believe they will just jump into a new growth. can't wait to see some new pics when they do.... peace

hopefully they get going pretty soon... I'm kinda lost as to what I'm doing cause I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be watering from the top with nutrient or just plain water. Won't adding more nutrient water raise the ppm? Its not like I can even test the ppm right now anyway, but I know they need nutrients. I'll see what I can do I guess.

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When true patriots become labeled as enemies than you can bury my corpse right beside lady liberty's.

I don't think foliar feeding will raise the ppm unless it gets back into the res. anyway, the foliar feeding should be pretty week and so I don't think it would hurt. But, i am sort of a newbie, I just do a lot of studying....

Hopefully someone a little more experienced will read this thread and be able to answer it more fully.

peace......

its not foliar feeding... I'm watering the plants from the top cause the roots haven't made it into the res yet. Its like watering in soil, just not as much. I did foliar feed them once, nutrient was a little strong and they burned a little, maybe that is why they are taking so long.

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When true patriots become labeled as enemies than you can bury my corpse right beside lady liberty's.

Oh, now I see. duh, I feel a little dumb now, lol. Maybe you could put a small pump in the bucket hooked to a top feed drip that way your ppm doesn't get affected. not sure if that would help.

btw, did you get a chance to look at my latest picks? If so, what do you think?

I don't think I can fit a pump in the buckets, they are only two gallon each, probably should have gotten bigger.

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When true patriots become labeled as enemies than you can bury my corpse right beside lady liberty's.

I just built the same type of set up...I would have liked some 3.5 gal but I couldnt find them...so I settled on the duces.

It took about 4 days for the roots to hit the water...before then I just popped the lid off the bucket dunked my cup and top watered 1-2 times a day that way...worked fine for me.

I agree 100% with Zigzagman on the PH meter being critical to your grow.

I am using organic nutes and have noticed I have to adjust my ph 2 x's a day...I adjust the Ph when the lights come on and right before lights out...I ph down to 5.7-5.8 and let it climb back up to 6.3...So far so good.

Hang in their bro I wish you luck

CAM-

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— Mark Twain

"You've gotta be outta your mind not to smoke dope"
-Jack Herer

Thanks cam... I'm getting the digital meter next week for sure, just have to make it til then. I can't believe I didn't think of dunking a cup in the bucket and using that to top water...lol, now I feel stupid, I'm getting a cup now.

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When true patriots become labeled as enemies than you can bury my corpse right beside lady liberty's.

and I could have gotten the 3.5 gallon buckets at the hydro shop with the lids that had the built in net pots, but they were about three times as expensive as making it myself, couldn't justify spending the money on something that took me an hour to put together.

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When true patriots become labeled as enemies than you can bury my corpse right beside lady liberty's.