RDWC Ongoing Hydro Grow

Ok, one might ask how often do I water and how much do I water as seedlings in hydro. Opinions are everywhere on this. So, I don’t know if this is the best way or not but it’s been working for me and this is my 4th hydro so again, knock on wood…lol.

I would like to hear how others germinate in hydro.

I hydrate my pete pellet 24 hrs. before I put the seeds in.
Be sure to stir and fluff up those pete pellets after they hydrate. They seem too compact after hydration. Or, use rapid rooters.

After gemination and the seed has broken ground through the pete pellet, I’ll place that in a pete pellet trey, and set that trey down inside of a germination kit with dome. I’ll also keep water inside the germination trey to keep the humidity up.

I’ll wait to water when I see the pellet start to dry up some, usually about 12-24 hrs. later.
I’ll then squirt 3-6 ml of water under the pellet and let it absorb through the bottom of the pellet, twice a day.

Nutes are not necessary during the first 2-3 weeks or until the cotyledon leaves start dying off.

Contrary to what I just said, I started adding nutes on day 4 because the cotyledon leaves seem to be in bad shape. They broke ground on the 6th and started feeding full strength Jack’s on the 10th. Still feeding 3 ml twice a day.

Water sparingly till you start to see roots coming out of the bottom of the pellet.

Then I place the pellet inside the netpot. Fill with hydroton. I’ll leave the pellet right at the top of the hydroton so I can see how wet they’re getting. After a week or two I’ll cover the pellets with more hydroton.

I’ll make a batch of Jack’s full strength and dunk the netpot down into the water just enough to get the pellet wet and back in the trey and dome for a day or two to make sure she’s adjusting ok. I’ll then mix up 22 gal worth of nutes and place the girls into their totes and then set them to auto…lol.

1-15-22
Day 9 since breaking ground.

So, today I made a batch of nutes and did the dunking thing. They’re one step closer to going into their forever home…lol

Here they are, ready to grow.

For those that don’t know what I’m working with, here you go.

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The pictures are from before my last grow. I think the only thing that’s changed is the poles for my fans and air pump. I think pretty much everything else is the same. It’s small but is grows us some big plants! At least big enough for us! :+1: :v: :sunglasses:

Little side note. I had a vivisun 6" exhaust fan and replaced it with an AC infinity. They are both just as loud on high setting. However, on medium to low, there is no comparison, the AC Infinity is not near as loud. :v: :sunglasses:

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Man…
I really wish I could share pic’s…
I’m pretty sure it’s on my side but not sure…
Lookin good , but I would love to share pics of what I have going on right now…
10 new girls out of 18 are doing super…
New batch of 18 and I lost 3 so far , everything else looks super…
I really need to get this figured out…
I’ll try to add a pic right now…
Let’s see…
Nope…
:v:t4: :sunglasses:

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I absolutely love the set up spy. The double chilled Techs :star_struck:… very informative my man love it! These two will be monsters I know it!

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I use a KISS method, soak rock wool cubes in water PH corrected to 5.5 with a dash of H2O2, give them a real good shake to remove excess water then sow the seed directly into the cubes.

As soon as they produce their first two real leaves, it’s into their forever home.

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Hey @StevOz welcome to our room. Thanks for sharing that. I have seen so many try to grow in rock wool cubes and get frustrated and quit.

Have you got a journal going? If so give me a tag if you will. Good luck with everything! :+1:t2::v::sunglasses:

I can only hope so. They say TW is a stretcher. I’m ready for it. :v::sunglasses:

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Not really running a journal as such, though I have a thread here about my current grow.

Also here is a thread on my first grow…

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That was me for a minute there. Ended up switching back to rockwool, it was user error that made me get grumpy with them.

At the end of the day I bet a lot of people forget to do the PH soak as mentioned, or the shake off/drain off the excess water. It’s easy to drown a seed in too much water or kill something with the rockwool in its natural ph (7-8). Unlike a lot of germ methods, all the care goes into preparing the medium and once it’s properly prepped, it’s fairly simple. I think it’s the perfect analog to coco - can’t just use unbuffered coco with tap water and expect good results.

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I would like to hear how others germinate in hydro

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Here’s my method. I use rockwool cubes with Jack’s nutrients clone mix. 15-6-17. 120 ppm, 500 US scale. I mix with a gallon of RO water and adjust to 5.8-6.0. I soak my cubes for an hour. I also add either a micos or Mammoth P solution. I set them on a paper towel. I don’t want them soaking wet. Then I put them in my dome with a heat mat. 78 degrees Fahrenheit. I germinate with the paper towel method. When the roots are over 1/4" I use a bamboo skewer to poke a small hole in the rockwool cube. Insert seed and pray. Lol. Keep moist with a spray bottle.

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Paper towel method in ziplock with a puff of magic. After tails formed, place 2" RW cubes on plate, run under tap to soak, pour off excess water, let sit half hr. Pour off any remaining water. Use tooth pick to open ho!e in cube. Place rooted seed tail down. Mush hole back together gently, tear corner piece off of cube and place over hole. Move p!ate under germ lights. Heat mat if needed. They live there until a couple sets of true leaves are out then into the system.

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I grew one yes it stretched a lot.

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I’ve seen several here that have had problems with them. I’ve never tried rock wool cubes. I’ve used pete plugs and rr’s. Thanks for shring that! :+1: :v: :sunglasses:

Hey brother, welcome to our room. Thanks for sharing that. :+1: Good luck and keep’em growin! :+1: :v: :sunglasses:

Thanks for sharing that @StonedCold13 :+1: :v:

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Happy cannaversary @TLC !

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Crap! I forgot to mention that as well

Ditto! :+1:t2::v::sunglasses:

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1-20-22
Day 14 since breaking ground.

Girls are growing nicely. I got a little heavy on the water one day since last post, but she seems to have recovered pretty well.

So, in 6 days, I dunked them twice in a batch of nutes. The second time I made a cover to go over the netpot but it was keeping the pellets too moist and within 6 hrs SC began drooping over and started to turn yellow.
I took the plate off so she could dry out and within 24hrs, she started getting her color back and standing up better.

I got them in their totes and now have the auto pilot set…. (Hopefully!)

Tap water PH=7.0, ppm’s=70

I mixed up a batch of nutes for 22 gal.
Armor Si - 1/4 tsp/gal
Part A - 3.69 gr/gal
Epson Salt - 1.2 gr/gal
Part B - 2.44 gr/gal
Hydroguard - 1/2 tsp/gal

After mixing nutes and letting it mix for 2 hrs, PH was 6.8 and ppm’s 960

I added 3 tbs of PH down to the reservoir. An hour later, It brought the PH down to 6.0.

This morning PH is 6.1 and ppm’s are 957

Now if I can keep temps within range, we might have some different smoke in about 4 months.

Strawberry Cough

Train Wreck

Have a great day. :+1:t2::v::sunglasses:

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There off to great start! Looking good buddy! Love the set up :heart_eyes::star_struck:

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Man that’s a clean setup, I love it. Plants looking really good and healthy.

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Your set up is cool TW is rocking rite along :+1:

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Whoop woop
And here we go :ok_hand:

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Very curious how the 1/10hp chiller does with 22gal. I have a ~35gal RDWC system and I struggle to keep nutes temp <75F, and I suspect 1/10 would work for me. (But only for now, 'cause I can expand to ~70gal, which would certainly require a 1/4hp)

How’s the chiller working out?

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Thanks brothers for the compliments. I can honestly say, I could not have done all of this without the great folks here. I am humbled.

@Jungle I think it’s (1/10 hp) rated for up to 40 gal, (I think). 70 gal, you’d be better off going with the 1/4 hp IMO.

My 1/10 has no problem keeping temps at 68. :+1:t2::v::sunglasses:

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