First Hydro Grow (DWC)

Ok guys, so I successfully have harvested 4 plants. I grew them in soil, and was very pleased by the end product. But, I’ve decided to try my hand at hydroponic growing.

I built my own 5 gallon DWC bucket. I also bought a pre made 5 gallon DWC bucket. Simply so I could compare, and decide whether to build more, or just buy more.

Last week, I transplanted a Blueberry female from soil, into my hydro setup. Here are some pictures of her freshly transplanted last week.

Today, I swapped out the water from the bucket. Giving fresh water, fresh nutrients, and cleaning everything. Last week when I transplanted the blueberry, I gave her week 4 nutrients (according to fox farm feeding schedule), but I cut the recommended dose in half. My ppm was at 600, pH at 5.8, and water temp at 69-71F.
So this week, I gave her the same week 4 nutrient dose, but the full dose! I pHed the water to 5.8, ppm was at 1400 (which is what fox farms says it should be at), and water temp was 69-71F. But, after an hour, I checked the ppm again. She must have been hungry, because my ppm went al the way down to 900! Here are pics from today.

While this blueberry has been growing in my home made DWC bucket, I had my pre made DWC doing a dry run, with his on plant, is that wate, nutes, pump, etc. So after this week of watching the Blueberry grow, I decided to transplant another girl into my unused DWC, since my dry run was going great! So today, while cleaning out water and replacing water in DWC buckets, I transplanted my female Pineapple Chunk from soil into the DWC bucket. Here are the pictures of me doing it.

Great roots already!!

And the final product! A happy girl getting her hydro on!

Here are the two girls together. I’ll keep updating and posting pictures for anyone interested in my first hydro grow! Grow on, blaze up!

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I check my pH in my buckets at least twice every day. I try to stay on top of them, since it’s easier to !@#$ them up now. But when I was looking at my roots that were hanging in the water, I noticed some brown gunk that was built up on some roots. I used my fingers to just scrape it off, it just kind of slid off. But I was wondering, is this signs of root rot starting? Or is it nutrients building up on the roots?

All roots are still pure white and look good. But this brown gunk has me worried that danger is looming. Any help?

That is generally the first sign of root rot forming, the bacteria is colonizing and grouping together. What is your water temps?

if ur worried flush with peroxide water.then add your nutes back and add beneficial microbes . suited to Hydroponics… then really watch you water temps ,65-70 F . ps in one of your picts your water looks murky white . WHY.???

My water temp stays at 69-71F, never over or under.
The water is murky from nutrients, I had just put them in.
I’m going to hydro store tomorrow for hydro guard, and I’ll get some advice from his as well.

When you say, flush with peroxide water, what exactly do you mean? Should I add peroxide to the water in there now? Or should I get rid of the water in my bucket currently, and replace with peroxide water?

Could you give me instructions possibly? This is my first hydro grow.

I’m watching your post…my new DWC roots have brown I hoped might be staining from Humboldt Golden Tree, water temps are 18C, 64F, atm, cooler than usual, cold weather passing thru.
All looks ok except that discoloration…sorry I peaked under the net pot now.

Ktreez420 yes you’d have to dump and flush then add 1 teaspoon per gal of 3%peroxide fiil up buckets to 1-2"of top of clay pellets. lots of bubbles, leave over night… then drain, then add very mild nutes and some sort of hydroponic microbes .piranha or great white . if you can lay hands on it id say A N 's microbial munch … you temps look great far as the water temp … far as hydro guard i personaly have never used it YET … the reason for flushing first is to lower any bad microbes then by adding peroxide to the water and raising water level is to kill ALL bacteria . this will kill good and bad … by reducing the nute s it’ll be easer for your plants to get what they need … and to get better . in short if the root system is compromised the cant handle heavy doses of nutes, the beneficial microbe’s the can establish them selves better when the system is clean …i had a very similar experience ,every thing was going well then i uped my nutes to 3/4 strength of recommended . and 4 days later plants no happy brown slime starting to form . placed some in a jar at 78 f for 24 hrs and yaa i got a rotten smell… …did what I’ve explained here and saved ma girls roots came back nice and healthy …in my case i have very hard water so i have to be very carful with the food if you have hard water . add less nutes then recommended!!! add slow… PS .if you see such a swing in ppm after adding nutes .double check ph . i use a lot of ph calibration fluid cause i check my pen 2 times a week . i test, then toss used fluid. i don’t reuse calibration fluid. . and now iam off to the land down under .my GR be back shortly

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How do you like Golden Tree so far? I love it. My plants are vegging really well and the plants look healthy as never before in my other grows. My SSH grow is really doing well so far ! Jerry

Thank you so much @hammer, I’ll do all of this once the lights come back on for today. The great white stuff you talked about, what is that exactly? What does it do?

I heard hydro guard was good for preventing things like this brown slime I’m getting. It makes sense though because I upped the nutes, and this is the first time seeing it, so I think that may have caused it? Either way, I’ll be flushing, putting in peroxide water, leaving over night, and then flushing again. And finally I’ll put in half strength nutes, correct pH, and watch closely!

When I go to my hydro store, is there any thing else I should get, or look into? I’m brand new to hydro, so any experienced guys with some input would be great!

lol…I am overwhelmed with chemical additives and all I know is I haven’t killed anything…growth wise, I really have nothing to compare Golden Tree with, being such a noob with this stuff, I just have all your recommendations! I am ready to go past the “sample size” of it, still some left for a few more weeks.

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LOL once you get your regular product line going it will be used far less since your ppm’s will factor and any additives will raise ppm it becomes a balancing game between what your plant actually needs and what you want to try and boost it with. You should find this thread quite useful since this is part of the reason I have been slowing down your desire to add things the same things which feed your plant also feed bacteria @ktreez420 your ladies are looking nice much of the bacteria which was building up on your roots was likely due to damage created when transplanting from soil where lots of bacteria is always present. Since bad bacteria grows fast in perfect conditions which we create in hydro you have 2 options run sterile H2o2 added every day pain in the ass since H2o2 never gets it all, or run good bacteria which will kill off any bad bacteria this good bacteria is present in soils so it happens whether you know it or not :wink: in hydro it needs to be added.
General Hydro has subculture-M and B B is for hydro AN has jungle juice and about 6 others they feed off decaying roots and break down nutrients nice thing is you can see results unlike in soil where roots are hidden.

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Here’s a pic from today, I’m in the process of flushing her, cleaning the bucket, replacing with peroxide water and putting her back into the bucket over night. Then tomorrow I’ll flush again, clean the bucket, and replace the water with low strength nutes, correct the pH and watch what happens. I’m not sure if I’ll make it out to the hydro store today, we have some flooding going on here!

yes the great white is a benifial microbes designed for hydro .but can be useful in soil … in hydro there is no microbes naturally existing so we add them … ive heard of hydro guard but have never used it . so cant give any advice their , But the ones to ask about it is Latewood or MacG or Garrigan62. one of those guys can probably tell you a lot more about …ive yet to see them Hemp Stumped on any thing :wink: iam just glad to be able to help in some small way . H

thanks Donaldj much better stated ,

Updated pictures of my first hydro grow, Blueberry

Her root growth is amazing, she’s only been in the bucket for 10 days now! Wow! My plants never grew like this in soil!

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Looks good . their coming healthy now .

Now I’m just debating on when to put her into flower! She’s 4 weeks old today, but I’m thinking of giving her another week or two. I want her to give me a high yield, so I’ll veg her for longer than normal.

how tall is the room ?adjusting for lite clearance

Just under 7’, and my light takes away a foot, so really about 6’. But also the bucket itself is at least a foot tall. What’re you thinking? Haha I know you’re thinking something or you wouldn’t ask about grow room height :thinking:

I think I already know what you’re thinking because I just thought about it. I’ll still need to keep an 18"-24" distance between lights and canopy. So really I don’t have much room left after adding that in!