A Ridiculously Improvised DWC Hydro Setup. (Now a grow log!)

To summarize, I had too much free time, and then this came into my mind:

Old Hydroton+Old pot originally used for a basil plant, with cut slits+An old aerated brine shrimp hatching kit (with a modified bottle height)+Some electrical tape+A spare Bhut Jolokia seedling=A fully improvised deep water culture setup!

EDIT: Oops, I should have posted this in the Grow Tech section, sorry!

 

[mjdiamond83]

You're the MacGyver of hydroponics. That's a pretty cool little homemade setup! are you going to grow it out all the way with that? I just got started on my first DWC setup myself. It has lettuce, mustard greens, and swiss chard, growing in pint sized Budweiser cups that I cut slits in and put into a 1 gallon container I got at Lowe's for $1.50. It's aerated with a small used air pump.

 

[shigshwa]

You're the MacGyver of hydroponics. That's a pretty cool little homemade setup! are you going to grow it out all the way with that? I just got started on my first DWC setup myself. It has lettuce, mustard greens, and swiss chard, growing in pint sized Budweiser cups that I cut slits in and put into a 1 gallon container I got at Lowe's for $1.50. It's aerated with a small used air pump.

Interesting! And... I think it will sustain the plant for a while, but the roots can grow as large as they like, so I think its possible to grow like that all the way through.

 

[USATV]

Awesome DIY setup. Just a heads up, water chemistry changes fast with relatively small reservoirs, so watch out once those roots hit the water.

 

[busamadman]

Your soil plants look GORGEOUS!
With what do you feed them?

 

[shigshwa]

Your soil plants look GORGEOUS!
With what do you feed them?

Thanks! I keep it simple. I feed them my GH nutes, plus another Grow or Bloom nute, every 2 weeks, nothing much really.

Awesome DIY setup. Just a heads up, water chemistry changes fast with relatively small reservoirs, so watch out once those roots hit the water.

I'll keep that in mind. I notice that adding the same proportions of nutes to a smaller amount of water causes a bigger drop in pH.

 

[busamadman]

Amen to smaller reservoirs experiencing wilder pH changes. My current DWC only holds ~3 gallons of solution and can experience a pH rise of almost 1 full point (i.e. 5.2 --> 6.2) over 18 hours of "on" time. The plants don't really seem to care. I've found that as long as they consistently get the same conditions day in and day out, they adapt nicely. My last setup shared ~100 gallons and I could just let it go for over a week without having to even check pH and ppm levels. Over 7-10 days, it might only experience a pH rise of 0.3 - 0.4 or so.

The only disadvantage I've found is that with huge reservoirs, root disease can spiral out of control in a bigger way. I was able to eliminate it resolutely using a small UV lamp inline with the circulation pump, but the more complicated things get, the less advantageous it is for switching from simple techniques IMO. Your soil plants are a testament to that - any hydro/areo/DWC grower would be proud to have your results.

Question for you: assuming that you're starting with RO or DI water for your soil plants, how many ppm or eC is the soil plants being fed with the GH 2-part mixture? I'm experimenting with a top drip setup using a somewhat unorthodox medium (that actually has a decent CEC for nitrogen - rare in the world of aggregates). Like your pictures prove, simple is often better so that's the direction I decided to head.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[shigshwa]

Amen to smaller reservoirs experiencing wilder pH changes. My current DWC only holds ~3 gallons of solution and can experience a pH rise of almost 1 full point (i.e. 5.2 --> 6.2) over 18 hours of "on" time. The plants don't really seem to care. I've found that as long as they consistently get the same conditions day in and day out, they adapt nicely. My last setup shared ~100 gallons and I could just let it go for over a week without having to even check pH and ppm levels. Over 7-10 days, it might only experience a pH rise of 0.3 - 0.4 or so.

The only disadvantage I've found is that with huge reservoirs, root disease can spiral out of control in a bigger way. I was able to eliminate it resolutely using a small UV lamp inline with the circulation pump, but the more complicated things get, the less advantageous it is for switching from simple techniques IMO. Your soil plants are a testament to that - any hydro/areo/DWC grower would be proud to have your results.

Question for you: assuming that you're starting with RO or DI water for your soil plants, how many ppm or eC is the soil plants being fed with the GH 2-part mixture? I'm experimenting with a top drip setup using a somewhat unorthodox medium (that actually has a decent CEC for nitrogen - rare in the world of aggregates). Like your pictures prove, simple is often better so that's the direction I decided to head.

Thanks a bunch!

No idea as far as the ppm goes, I don't have a meter. For now, I'm mixing a 2:2:2 ratio for Grow, Bloom, and Micro. It'll be a 1:3:2 ratio when I start my bloom stage.

 

[busamadman]

No idea as far as the ppm goes, I don't have a meter. For now, I'm mixing a 2:2:2 ratio for Grow, Bloom, and Micro. It'll be a 1:3:2 ratio when I start my bloom stage.

Go soil! So much less complicated and high buffering capacity. Your plants speak for themselves.

Have you ever seen the movie "A Man Named Pearl" ?

( If you have netflix it's on demand: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/A_Man_Named_Pearl/70102771?trkid=438403 )

It's about a guy who has this incredible gift for gardening and how it affected him and his town. Great watch and I think you'll appreciate its message. We (read: I) get so caught up in the technical aspect sometimes that we lose sight of the fact that we can always do better by watching our plants then listening to them and responding accordingly; without referencing a book or, in this age, a website. Just going by observation and feeling.

Thanks!

 

[Matt50680]

I love DIY systems and ideas Shig, keep them coming. I actually read your post before I went to work last night and kept thinking about it all night long. I have a love for brussell sprouts (ewwwwwww, right?), califlower and broccoli, but can never seem to get it to grow in the soil in my garden, pests tend to eat it before I do (damn rabbits) or the bugs/worms get to it. Maybe in a controlled indoor environment I will get to eat some of my labor fruits. I actually started 3 Jersey Devil tomato seeds in rockwool last night before I went to work, we will see how they come up and maybe I will piece together a "folger's coffe container" system for them.

Keep the updated pics coming!!!

 

[shigshwa]

I love DIY systems and ideas Shig, keep them coming. I actually read your post before I went to work last night and kept thinking about it all night long. I have a love for brussell sprouts (ewwwwwww, right?), califlower and broccoli, but can never seem to get it to grow in the soil in my garden, pests tend to eat it before I do (damn rabbits) or the bugs/worms get to it. Maybe in a controlled indoor environment I will get to eat some of my labor fruits. I actually started 3 Jersey Devil tomato seeds in rockwool last night before I went to work, we will see how they come up and maybe I will piece together a "folger's coffe container" system for them.


Keep the updated pics coming!!!

Interesting! How my system came together was pretty miraculous. See, this seedling was actually starting to yellow from being kept in a plug, which starved it. I didn't have enough soil to pot it, so I look at my old basil pot filled with hydroton, and I had an idea! So after creating the pot setup, I had the problem of supplying nutrients to it. Immersing it would work, but the solution wouldn't be aerated, plus the nutrients would precipitate out of the solution and stay on the bottom. Watering the hydroton wouldn't be that great either, since it dries relatively quickly. So I tried to devise a DWC setup, when I noticed my old brine shrimp hatchery. I stared at it, then realized that the opening was narrow enough for the pot to sit on top of, and that it could keep the solution aerated and mixed (sloped surface leading to the aeration hole prevents sedimentation)! So after making it shorter, taping it all together, sealing it off, and adding the aluminum for extra light, it was complete!

 

[shigshwa]

It's been... one week 2 days? That's 9 days. I have some burning and distorted leaves on my old leaves, but the new leaves are fine. The roots are now happily hanging loose from the pot, some fuzzy, some long and slender.

 

[shigshwa]

It's been... 2 weeks? Anyways. Pruned some of the bottom leaves, those were very distorted. Otherwise, the plant is doing fine.

3 weeks of growth.

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

Scootin right along...

 

[scratchzilla]

Shigs, are you using a PH meter to moniter acidity/alkaline levels? And how are you adjusting your PH?

 

[shigshwa]

Shigs, are you using a PH meter to moniter acidity/alkaline levels? And how are you adjusting your PH?

Nope, a liquid pH test. I use pH up and down to change it. One gallon only requires 3-4 drops to get it in the right spot. The pH is 6 If I remember correctly. I would get a meter, but since I'm not really that large scale into hydro (yet), I don't see the need for it now.

Scootin right along...

Scootin.

 

[spongey600]

for my PH down my tap water is right around 8 so its takes 1ml/gal to get the ph just about right, just did a 3 gallon nute change on my DWC and 3 ML put the PH at 5.8

 

[shigshwa]

Interesting. I wish I had an RO system so that I don't have to use pH down as much..

 

[stc3248]

Nice...I have an old plastic mini aquarium just screaming to be sacrificed to a cause like this...hmmm

 

[shigshwa]

It's been 31 days. And now, like my soil plants, it's beginning to bloom! Compare this to around 55 days for my soil plants.