First Hydro Grow (DWC)

was thinking about the stretch of the plants …i always over grow my room haha. but once i know the strain’s parameters .height, width etc. i can then begin to maximize it . thru pruning . tying over, toping and so on

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I’m going to fim her tomorrow. That should help give me more time to veg her out in the tent before she grows too tall. Wide is fine, I’ve got plenty of room for that!

curious in one of your picts your using a dripper ring , may i ask why?

I had just transplanted from soil to the hydro bucket, so I bought the farm kit from GH and put it on to the bucket for each girls first couple days. I did this so the roots would stay wet but not be completely submerged already. I did it with the blueberry when I first transplanted her. Then moved it into the pineapple chunk when I transplanted her. Soon I’ll remove it entirely, and save it for the next transplant.

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Ok guys,
So today I fimmed my Blueberry. I checked pH as always, which was good at 5.8, temp is good at 20C, everything is good. Tomorrow I will do her 2nd reservoir change. Where I plan on adding full strength nutes. I started with week 4 dose, but 1/4 strength. Then up to half strength. Now I want to do full strength and really give her everything I can. Here’s pictures from today. I’ll add an update tomorrow when I do my res change.

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Ok guys,
Now maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself here, but I’m really loving growing with hydro. Some people say it’s harder, or more difficult, but to me it seems easier. Without soil I can make sure my pH is exactly what it should be, and can change out water immediately if need be. I’m beginning to switch from soil to hydro now because I have already seen how much faster and healthier a hydro grown plant can be.

So today I went to my hydro store and bought two more buckets, two more 6" net pots, a new double outlet air pump, two big cylindrical air stones, and some more air hose.

Before I did anything, I switched out the water for both the Blueberry and the Pineapple Chunk.

Spliff Seeds: Blueberry Feminised
pH 5.8
ppm 1200 (full strength week 4 nutrients, Fox Farm)
Water temp 21C

Barneys Farm: Pineapple Chunk
pH 5.8
ppm 900 (half strength week 4 nutrients, Fox Farm)
Water temp 20C

After getting these girls refreshed with new water and fresh nutes, I set up my new buckets I had just purchased. I decided to take Strain Hunters White Strawberry Skunk and transplant her into a bucket. Since I already have a journal for my first ever Fruit Flavor Strain grow, I thought it only made sense to transplant her with her sisters. The crazy thing though guys, ALL 3 WERE PLANTED ON THE SAME EXACT DAY!!! Look at the size differences. Blueberry was the first one into hydro, and it shows tremendously! This another reason why I want to transfer to hydro completely. With my other bucket, I’m contemplating which seedling to transfer first. It’s between a monster cropped Money Maker clone I have, a Mako Haze seedling, or a Chocolope Kush seedling. Now, eventually I plan on transferring them all, but I need to get more buckets and pumps for that. Hopefully later this week I can get the whole tent from soil to hydro, other than my Budzilla girls which are already way too big to transfer to hydro now.

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Today I transplanted another girl into a DWC bucket. I had a seedling that was ready to go into soil, so instead of putting her into a 1 gallon pot with soil, I decided to go right into the DWC bucket. The seedling is a Purple Paralysis strain. She had roots growing it from the rapid rooter plug she was in. I got her set up in her new home today!

Cream of the Crop: Purple Paralysis Feminised
pH 5.9
ppm 300 (week 1 nutrients, 1/3 strength, Fox Farms & Hydroguard)
Water temp 19C

She’s only two weeks old from the day I germinated her. I’m excited to see my first entire hydro grow from seed to harvest. All my other DWC buckets were plants that were already being grown in soil and I transplanted into the hydro bucket. This is my first plant that has never touched soil!

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Here are all the girls together.
First is Spliff Seeds: Blueberry

Barneys Farm: Pineapple Chunk

Strain Hunters: White Strawberry Skunk

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I am loving the progress my girls are showing…hooray for hydro!:sparkler::fireworks::tada:

Your plants look so healthy…the first of many harvests! Good times!

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Updated pictures of all the girls in my DWC buckets.

Spliff Seeds - Blueberry:

Barney’s Farm - Pineapple Chunk:

Strain Hunters - White Strawberry Skunk

Cream of the Crop - Purple Paralysis

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If you dont mind me asking ktreez about how much is it to get one or two DWC hydro buckets up and running. What’s the total of everything I would need to grow in DWC?

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I was looking at this earlier, this is a how-to / homemade two bucket system I found earlier today -hope it helps @Boney

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Thanks bro

That’s a great video, I watched in before I decided to build my own.
For me, here are the prices. If you’re running two buckets, just double my prices.
5 gallon food grade bucket - $8 (from my hydro store, I recommend buying online since it’s cheaper)
6" net pot - $3
Air hose 25 ft - $7
Air stone - $3
Air pump - $18 (the air pump will run 2 buckets)
Hydroton - $30 (I got a massive bag from my hydro store, probably won’t ever use it all lol)

And that’s basically all you need, other than nutrients, seeds, and lights!
If you’re curious on anything else let me know, I’d be glad to help.

Treez

So you built yours the same way as in the video ?

Yes, and no.

I found that for me, personally, I don’t need, or like the water level tubing that is added to the buckets.
After building my first two with the water levels, I stopped using them.

I simply clean my buckets, drill holes for hosing, and add an air stone.
And once you get an air pump, some hydroton, and hosing, you only need new buckets and net pots (which are really cheap) to keep adding to your tent!

I went from soil to hydro and couldn’t imagine ever going back!
Good luck my friend, and as always, ask away if you have questions.

Treez

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Do the net pots come with the lid with hole in center for net pot or is that a separate piece ? And thanks for the help man I appreciate it

What size hosing should you use for the air stone and how many GPH for the pump?

yes you can get a lid, fits 5 gal bucket and has a built in 6" mesh pot .all in one unit …1/4 inch soft vinyl tubing is the most common for air supply … air pumps come in many sizes …But if your only running 2-3 buckets… You mite save a few bucks and but one small small air pump per bucket … if your doing more 4------- you mite look into a larger volume pump and using a manifold to deliver your air supply far as air stones ,look at it this way what ever you use you want to make the water very fizzy .lots and lots of tiny bubbles. Hammer

Thanks for response. So the bigger the air stones the better?