1st-time grower, DWC hydro

[Geezis]

My first-ever grow attempt. Was gifted a “stealth” DWC hydroponic box kit, looking for any advice. Germinated a couple Jägg Kush seeds, placed into peat discs. Have a Mars Hydro 300W HI-LED lamp on them. Unsure of proper light distance I should be at, currently 24” above seedlings for 18 on, 6 off. Following vague directions that came with box, but any tips and advice is greatly appreciated.

Is this guy okay as-is, or should I be using hydroton or other medium? Installing top-feed in a couple days, currently nutrient-free water.

[gbauto]

Just make sure to hand water the net pots until you get some roots down into your rez. It helps if you can keep your rez temps below 75 degF, use some type of innoculant(hydroguard, GFF) to prevent pythium from infecting your roots. Your lamp outputs about 125W of light so it should be able to flower a 2 sq ft area. Try to keep your canopy around that size and you'll grow some decent flower.

[Geezis]

Thank you! I’ve been reading up on training techniques to shape the canopy for best results. Being in a box, I do need to control the size of these guys.

[Toker1]

I can get my mars 300w down to 6-8” from my canopy, but I would not recommend that at such a young stage. Is that soil in your DWC?

[Geezis]

I’m assuming you’ve used or are using a similar light. Being a noob, I have zero knowledge on what a quality light looks like, I just have to use what came with the kit for now. I’ve read that LED lights can cause burns on the plants if too close. Is that an issue with my Mars 300?

[Toker1]

It can happen with any light that is high powered enough. Best to start up higher up and slowly inch it down. Give it time before inching it down, sometimes with LED the burning won’t be apparent until several days after.

[Geezis]

Will do, thanks again. This site is great, so many helpful people!

[Geezis]

I can get my mars 300w down to 6-8” from my canopy, but I would not recommend that at such a young stage. Is that soil in your DWC?

All it is is one of those peat discs soaked in water for five minutes. I was thinking of getting a new rez lid and drilling bigger holes to fit bigger net pots.

[Toker1]

I don’t think it will all wash away. There will be some though. My concern would be with soil runoff dripping into the hydro reservoir. Hard to maintain proper PH this way.

[Geezis]

Thank you so much for the help. I’m alone in this world for this project, so this site is a godsend. So for this grow, do you suppose it would be smarter to skip the top-feed system in order to avoid too much peat in the rez? Or just check the PH daily? Weekly water changes should help, right?

[Toker1]

Here is the deal... hydro requires PH to fluctuate between 5.5-6.5. My soil manufacturer recommends 6.3-6.8. So it will just be a nightmare attempting to balance the two. I would try to stick with one or the other.
Option 1: I would just try a soil grow and skip the hydro this round.
Option 2: you could also let the plant grow out, then wash the soil out purposefully, then complete the grow hydroponically.

[Geezis]

That makes sense. I have noticed some of the peat crumbling into the rez on my last water change. The discs came with the “kit” and were part of the instructions. Chalk this up to me being a first-timer and Unique Hydroponics sending it to me to use in their box.

[Toker1]

No worries. Even the most seasoned growers on here started out making mistakes. It’s part of the learning curve of growing dank buds. I understand completely. Luckily you came to the right place for answers to these types of questions. 👍

[DW2]

Howdy Geezis, I just completed my eighth DWC grow and I would recommend that You first, replace the clear tubing with opaque black tubing and cover the net pots with foil or some other material, to completely block out any path for light to infiltrate into the reservoir (to prevent algae and root rot). Secondly, keep the water temperature between 60°F - 70°F, and the air temperature between 75°F - 85°F. Lastly, change the reservoir nutrient water every week and top off (between changes) with plain pH'ed water.
Good luck with Your grow.

[Geezis]

Thank you! I taped my entire rez with black duct tape, and plan on installing the top-feed lines under the rez lid, if possible. I will look for black tubing asap (never knew it existed, lol). Do you think it would matter with the air hose? I’m going to cover my rez lid with either silver duct tape or aluminum foil tomorrow.

[DW2]

Geezis, The black tubing can be found at a home/garden supply, just look at the drip irrigation section, there are all sorts of fun stuff, couplers valves, etc. I use a Dig six outlet manifold that evenly distribute the water flow (and it is adjustable at each line) to run the bottom feed lines to the net pots (the pump is submerged in the reservoir).

[Geezis]

Thank you everybody for the help. I really appreciate it!

[Geezis]

Planted two Jägg Kush seeds, seem to be doing fine. Then there’s THIS guy, floating in the rez. Where’d he come from? Can a seed have twins?

[Geezis]

Well anyhow, tasted good. Didn’t have room to plant him.