"TOP FEED OR NOT?"

[William and Sue Ashley]

I am going to put my 4 baby girls in their final resting bucket. 5 gal DWC....bubbleponics, should I also do a top feed or will my girls get everything they need just with the bubbles....?I want to keep as simple as I can for the first grow.....Let me know what you people think.....Thanks In Advance......

[Karlee]

Morning WSA

You need a schedule to follow you should introduce 1/4 strength nutrients , hydroguard every water change, and P.H 6.00 always!

[DW2]

Howdy William and Sue,
My DWC set up is a 'Bubbleponic' set up. It has a small water pump with a DIG 6 outlet distributor (drip irrigation supply) that delivers a constant supply of nutrient water to the roots through out the grow. The 'drip' line is at the bottom of the rooting plug or cube to promote downward growth of the roots. My six gallon reservoirs have tw0 4 inch air stones each to keep the water well aerated. This set up runs 24/7, only stopping each week to drain the old and fill up with fresh nutrient water. I check the pH (should be 6.0 +/- .5) and top off the reservoirs with plain pH'ed water at mid week.
My current grow is just going into their fifth week of bloom (12th week over all) and are consuming about 3/4 to 1 1/4 gallons per week, per plant. My grows take a little longer than most because I currently have only 220 watts of CFLs per planter, but it gets it done.

[William and Sue Ashley]

Thanks for the info brother DW2.........This really Cool....

[furrysparkle]

But what about when the roots get to the res water? Shouldn't you remove the water pump to save electricity thus making your grow cheaper?

[DW2]

I only turn the water pump off after the plants are well established if the roots or what ever clog up the feed lines. Having the roots moist helps the plant buy keeping them supple and flexible. It will not kill the plant if you turn off the pump. The Elemental water pump that I use is rated for 171 gph and uses 9.5 watts, 228 watts per day, or 6.84 Kwh a month. In my city, that's less than $2.50 a month to run the pump. furrysparkle, you are correct, "a penny saved is a penny earned"

[William and Sue Ashley]

DW2....thanks on your comment to furrysparkle....I have all the water pumps and I must say very inexpensive....I think I was trying to find the easy way out. I now am sold from your comments and GWE also does a top feed with the bubbleponics....Done Deall....Thanks again

[DW2]

I throw out any component that I cannot bake, boil, or sanitize (with bleach and hot water!). I replace the water pump, air stones (I usually use four - 4" stones during each grow), the drip line distributor, and all of the lines. I think that it is worth the extra cost to prevent contamination from prior grow problems.
I hope that y'all have great results with your growing experience.

[Pablo89]

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum and new to growing! I'm pretty confident that I have done the correct research and have put together a fairly solid growing plan with the priceless assistance of Grow Weed Easy! My question is this, Karlee has posted the nutrients table which I think is ace but are those quantities teaspoons or tablespoons?! Sorry if that seems a stupid question! Thanks in advance

[DW2]

Howdy Pablo89, The GH nutrient feed chart that I downloaded from their web site has the dry components listed in teaspoons (tsp) per gallon and the liquid components listed in milliliters (ml) per gallon. Usually table spoons (three teaspoons) is noted as Tbls and teaspoons as tsp. I hope that this helps You out.
Good luck on Your grow.

[Jason]

Here is another hydro feed chart from GH. It includes more nutrients and gives measurements in ml's per gallon which is easy when you use a pipette.

http://gh.growgh.com/docs/Feedcharts/GH_FloraSeries-REC_03216am.pdf

I use the Flora Series plus CalMg+.
Many people use half strength, particularly for sativa dominant strains. I use 100% strength and have had no problems on my first two grows with a 2 gallon Water Farm.

[furrysparkle]

They are teaspoon, tablespoon is abbreviated as tbsp