Hey all,
Just got a couple of quick questions. Ive got my self some equipment to do a single dwc setup just as a hobby on the side for abit of fun and what not. Ive got a couple of questions which may be floating around but I have not come across as of yet.
When people start a seedling for hydro in rockwool, is the seedling later on removed from the rockwool then placed into the dwc or is the cube left there for the life of the plant.
Ive read that a big factor is temperature. Its approaching summer here and from what I know the suggested and recommended temps for a dwc are between 22 - 23c. If this is the case, would it be pointless to start a plant nearing the beginning of summer? Where I live(Sydney) the temperatures fluctuate. It could be 24c one day but the next week could be 35+c. I don't see an efficient method to provide light to the plant and maintain a suitable ambient temperature so the water does not get too hot. In short, should I skip the whole dwc for now? I don't intend to invest into a grow tent and expensive grow lights. I would have liked to use as much natural light as possible and I can build some sort of enclosure around the bucket to shield it if that would help.
When it comes time to changing the nutes, which(need confirmation) should be done weekly?, how do you go about this? Theres hundreds of videos of youtube of running dwc setups and what people do when setting up a dwc and nutes but no one shows changes. How do you manage the plant? Do the roots just sit there on the ground while you spend about 10 minutes setting up the nutes in the bucket? Do you rinse the roots before you put them back into the bucket? Or is the best option to mix the nutes in another bucket then empty out the old one and pour in the new solution or does the old bucket require sterilization between every nute change.
Will the fluid temps affect how the plant grows; in other words if the temps had dropped in the bucket for a period of time, does this tell the plant its time to go to sleep(dormancy) or is that affected by the tree structure and not the roots?
Another thing Ive read it that some people are strict on their ppms and nute quantities while others have had brilliant success simply by following ml:L of nutes to water at different cycles. How does one accomplish this? At what stage do you need what amount of nutes and how do you know how much to use between brands? I just bought some calmag and the label simply says .5ml per litre of water. Are all hydro nutes like this, just a general number or do they give a recommended dosage amount for each cycle.
I want to try do this as cheaply as possible. Use natural light and if I must, T5's, single air pump with a single air stone with the cheap nutes, PH strips, no ppm counter. The plant would be a lab rat for me, its all fun its all experimenting and ultimately it all comes down to weather the temperatures here can enable me to run or even consider running a dwc. I can try one during winter since our winters are mild, the plant can get day sun and indoor warmth at night but it would be cool if I could do something now.
I know there are about a million other questions I could ask but I'm confusing my self here just thinking of what to ask and then wording it up.
I'm down in Aus, everything here is more expensive than everywhere else. I only need a handful of clay balls and so far all places Ive contacted are trying to sell me 25L bags. Damnit I only need about 1 cup. I also only need one rockwool cube. Its not fun, all these hydro shops sell everything in bulk.
Just got a couple of quick questions. Ive got my self some equipment to do a single dwc setup just as a hobby on the side for abit of fun and what not. Ive got a couple of questions which may be floating around but I have not come across as of yet.
When people start a seedling for hydro in rockwool, is the seedling later on removed from the rockwool then placed into the dwc or is the cube left there for the life of the plant.
Ive read that a big factor is temperature. Its approaching summer here and from what I know the suggested and recommended temps for a dwc are between 22 - 23c. If this is the case, would it be pointless to start a plant nearing the beginning of summer? Where I live(Sydney) the temperatures fluctuate. It could be 24c one day but the next week could be 35+c. I don't see an efficient method to provide light to the plant and maintain a suitable ambient temperature so the water does not get too hot. In short, should I skip the whole dwc for now? I don't intend to invest into a grow tent and expensive grow lights. I would have liked to use as much natural light as possible and I can build some sort of enclosure around the bucket to shield it if that would help.
When it comes time to changing the nutes, which(need confirmation) should be done weekly?, how do you go about this? Theres hundreds of videos of youtube of running dwc setups and what people do when setting up a dwc and nutes but no one shows changes. How do you manage the plant? Do the roots just sit there on the ground while you spend about 10 minutes setting up the nutes in the bucket? Do you rinse the roots before you put them back into the bucket? Or is the best option to mix the nutes in another bucket then empty out the old one and pour in the new solution or does the old bucket require sterilization between every nute change.
Will the fluid temps affect how the plant grows; in other words if the temps had dropped in the bucket for a period of time, does this tell the plant its time to go to sleep(dormancy) or is that affected by the tree structure and not the roots?
Another thing Ive read it that some people are strict on their ppms and nute quantities while others have had brilliant success simply by following ml:L of nutes to water at different cycles. How does one accomplish this? At what stage do you need what amount of nutes and how do you know how much to use between brands? I just bought some calmag and the label simply says .5ml per litre of water. Are all hydro nutes like this, just a general number or do they give a recommended dosage amount for each cycle.
I want to try do this as cheaply as possible. Use natural light and if I must, T5's, single air pump with a single air stone with the cheap nutes, PH strips, no ppm counter. The plant would be a lab rat for me, its all fun its all experimenting and ultimately it all comes down to weather the temperatures here can enable me to run or even consider running a dwc. I can try one during winter since our winters are mild, the plant can get day sun and indoor warmth at night but it would be cool if I could do something now.
I know there are about a million other questions I could ask but I'm confusing my self here just thinking of what to ask and then wording it up.
I'm down in Aus, everything here is more expensive than everywhere else. I only need a handful of clay balls and so far all places Ive contacted are trying to sell me 25L bags. Damnit I only need about 1 cup. I also only need one rockwool cube. Its not fun, all these hydro shops sell everything in bulk.
