Hello again forum friends!
It might be a little while until I’m able to actually find the time, space, and resources to put this together, but I figure it’s best to start prepping and gathering knowledge now. I’ve only ever grown in soil and while there are a lot of things I like about it, at this point, after gaining some experience, there seem to be more negatives than positives IMHO compared to other potential options out there (although they do say the grass is always greener…). Naturally hydroponics is definitely something I’d like to pursue for these reasons (eliminates having to water plants and risks of under/over watering and FUNGUS GNATS, more automation, and also faster and more compact growth), plus I just find it fun to learn different techniques and I love building stuff DIY.
I mentioned in another post that I built a DIY aeroponic cloner last summer and it’s been one of the best investments I’ve ever made.
Here’s the protocol I used:
I had initially thought about trying to manipulate this design and use net pots with clay pebbles, which is more or less still what I’m trying to do, but it would probably be a big waste of time and money to go at it alone and wing it. And budget is my biggest factor–I mean, if I don’t feel I have the sufficient resources to create this build and pull it off successfully then I won’t pull the trigger on it yet, but it seems like if I’m doing DIY it should be relatively affordable.
(A quick aside related to that though: in another DWC/RDWC thread I saw someone mention that GOOD pH and ppm meters, which I don’t own and I know can cost in the range of several hundred dollars, are required to grow hydroponically. My pH and ppm meters are from that maker of throwaway garbage company Vivosun…they’ve been good enough for aeroponic cloning though, so shouldn’t they be sufficient here?)
If budget weren’t an consideration, I’d probably make my first system a 4-bucket RDWC system that I’d like to think would be a perfect fit for a 4x4 tent, but I happen to have an extra 27 gallon tote lying around and I’ve watched a few tutorials on Youtube where these have been used for DWC systems.
I found this fairly basic tutorial to be informative:
I’m probably looking to do pretty much the same thing. Originally I had been thinking about trying to cram four or even six plants into the tote, but that seems like it would end up doing more harm than good, and in another thread I believe it was @Myfriendis410 showed his massive single plant from a hydro grow and said that one plant was all that would fit in the tent. Hey, if I can get a massive yield then I’m fine with that. I’m just trying to prioritize space (as I’m sure most indoor growers do) and as I’ve seen DWC/RDWC systems that use much smaller totes I want to make sure I’m getting everything that I can out of my 27 gallon.
Another thing that my admittedly somewhat limited research has led me to believe would be a crucial component of this system would be to have some sort of resivoir so I can have this be a recirculating system from the get-go, or at least can easily be modified into one. I don’t like the idea of having to change the water/solution manually once I have a live plant in the system (I’ve broken many a clone this way), and if my one plant is going to get as massive as I’ve seen others achieve I’m definitely going to want to scrogg it. It’s here that I could probably use the most assistance, as there seems to be so much variation out there (or it at least appears that way to a noob like me).
Ideally I’d like to have the system set up in a 32"x32" tent, and then once it’s going have to do very little manipulation until harvest (aside from training plants, etc). The tote is 28" long, which makes me think this would be a perfect fit, but it’s possible the resulting plant would be too stifled in that small an area (and if I could, I’d still at least prefer to fit two plants in this system if it will mean higher overall yield).
I’ll lastly mention that with the exception of the cloner, I’ve been growing completely organically since I first began growing indoor last May (I use Dr. Earth dry fertilizers, although I’m interested in experimenting with other brands when I have the extra cash to spare). I’m not so concerned with staying organic for hydro growing, at least starting out as a complete novice. I’m currently watching Mr. Grow It’s podcast on DWC/RDWC and in addition to a lot of other useful information it discusses the added difficulties of using organic nutes with hydroponics…maybe once I get the basics down I can begin to experiment with this, but for now I’d prefer to keep things on the simpler side (it also seems pretty clear I won’t be using reverse osmosis water at this point based on the things they discussed, namely price tag). Link to that podcast is below:
As mentioned in the cloner protocol, I’ve been using the General Hydroponics micro/flora/bloom (1 mL each per gallon water) along with Rapid Start (1.1 mL per gallon) in pH 5.5 water and it’s worked like a dream for rooting clones. I planned on just using these for my first hydroponic grow as well, though the concentrations may be different.
@Myfriendis410 I saw you had a lot of valuable input on other hydroponic threads here, and you’ve been so helpful in my other posts
@HappyHydroGrower hey you said tag away!
@repins12 I hear you have a pretty badass DIY hydro build