Hey everyone and thanks in advance for the help. I plan on starting up a 4x4x6.6 grow tent using a DWC I want to grow between 6-12 plants at a time most likely 8 Auto flower but I may switch 2 femenized photo after a few grows.
DWC specs
with 6x 5 gallon buckets, 8in air stones, rockwhool (for seedlings🌱), hydrotone, rockwhool to hold hydrotone and this air pump
Active Aqua Commercial Air Pump, 12 Outlets, 112W, 110 L/min From amazon sorry could only post 2 link limited by the site
I will be getting this tent
I advice against DWC’s on first grow. Use it only if there is no other options.
What’s seaweed extract? If it’s organic than it has no place in DWC.
Including PH/TDS/EC meter in your setup is mandatory. Also RO filter is optional, but I prefer to use it, making sure there is no unwanted ingredients in my solution. You need to prevent light from going into the buckets. You need to keep the temperature of solution between 18-20 C. You need to research this platform and books related to cannabis hydroponics. Best of luck!
@Ddbbcc, that set up will rock and roll . I have been using cheap king plus 1000 watt LED lights for a couple years now and my harvests are putting my buddy to shame with his $1500 kind LEDs. It’s the love man. More than anything. Anyone can read a book and follow simple instructions and basic mathematical equations and grow decent bud if they got good seeds. The difference lies in two things. The knowledge that you can imitate, but never duplicate mother nature. And the love. True love and admiration for your plants.there are a million studies showing plants that were constantly argued and hatefull words screamed around growing poorly and even dying . And plants that have been touched, talked sweet too, given names, played peaceful, and even rock music too thriving twice as good as plants that were just given all the correct waterings, feedngs, and so forth. Good luck. Happy growing. That set up will do awesome with good ventilation. Start nutes off half strength, and increase if particular strain can take it. They are all different. You will see. Any help I can give just letme know.
Set up your tent, light and ventilation. Sprout 10 bag seeds and plant them in 3 gallon pots of soil. After the bag seeds have gotten their second set of true leaves set the timer to 12 on 12 off.
Flower out the bag seed which will allow you to go through the whole process and then tweak your setup before you grow the good genetics. One of the important skills you have to learn is patience.
The light you posted says it draws 418 watts. The difference between the 600 watt hps and the Amazon light is 182 watts. That’s less than 2 100 watt light bulbs.
If you are going to run a 6" fan in a 4’ x 4’ the heat from the light should be manageable. If you locate the ballast outside the tent it will help a lot with any unwanted heat build up in the tent.
Absolutely. You can get biobizz or something similar and have a nice grow. Just don’t fiddle with additional nutrients on your first grow, I’ve seen so many pioneers adding all kinds of shit on watering, deliberately poisoning their plants and getting little to no yields. My advice - don’t add any additional nutrients into the soil on your first grow unless you’ve been advised to do so by someone with experience.
Don’t think in terms of which is better “deal”. I’m not saying one is better than the other. Just that soil is bit more forgiving when you make a mistake. A hydro mistake can kill your entire crop much faster than soil grown mistakes will.
IMO It’s important for you as a new grower to take a crop from seed to harvest before jumping in with both feet. Cannabis is easy to grow and even easier for new enthusiastic grower to screw up. Take the time to learn the plant and how to keep it happy in any medium before you spend money.
I did my first grow under Fluorescent lights in cheap store bought soil.
After about a dozen harvests in soil I jumped on DWC bandwagon back when Highgrade got the community buzzing about his DWC grows. Turned out great but a little to great for my style. One Rosetta Stone lady in a 5 gallon DWC bucket took up 1/2 my 5’ x 5’ garden before it finished flowering. I like to run upwards of 10 different strains and one plant just can’t occupy that much real estate in my system.
Well, you can always shorten the veg for sativa-dominant strains. I once got Lowryder #1 getting more than 4 feet high back on my first DWC grow under crap fluorescent lights Was the lack of lighting, that.
I can’t wait to combine my RDWC with top bin COB’s and see how fast the veg would be.
If you want to start out with super soil type mix lots of growers seem to get good results with Foxfarm’s Happy Frog.
I did Vic High’s Super Soil mix for about 18 months before I switched to a basic potting soil with no added nutes.
I’m experimenting currently, but I think I found a mix I can live with. It’s cheap store bought potting soil amended with a good compost, worm castings, coco coir and perlite. When watering I add Alaska grow or bloom formulas as needed as well as some of Roots organic brand Ancient Amber and Extreme Serene. Also use some Dyna Grow’s Pro Tekt.
You have been given some good advice, However, if you really want to try hydro instead of soil, you could try something like Hempy buckets. Its about the simplest growing technique out there.
I put two small clones in some cheapo, too small, diy hempy buckets filled with just washed perlite, and the dam things are doing great. They are not even in my tent. I put them in the bath tub they have way too little light, no temp control and only get fed haphazardly when I notice them drooping.
You will still need a good PH/EC meter to mix nutes and water properly. but hempy buckets are stupid simple and cheap.
If you use a simple, one part nute like Mega Crop, its even easier. I find the only thing extra I need is some Cal Mag.
Was the lack of lighting, that.