DWC Startup

[JazzCat]

Greetings all from the land of OZ.
New member & first post.
I've completed numerous outdoor grows - first one in 1977-78 (no that's not a typo
Outdoor not an option now. I'm starting a DWC grow as my 1st indoor/high tech grow.
Guess that makes me a newbie. Its kinda funny/ironic.
My rig is:
Up cycled IKEA wardrobe - 4 sq ft floor & plenty of headroom - 5 1/2 feet + for light height.
Canna carbon filter thru a 190 ft3 min inline fan & a 37 ft3 min computer fan (for starting).
5 gallon bucket, 2 airstones thru a twin outlet air pump with plenty of grunt.
Canna Aqua nutrients.HydroEdge Root Inocculant
24W CFL for seedling, 75W CFL for early veg & VS 450 LED for everything after.
1 Blue Dream fem photo.

Now for the free entertainment:
Seedling @ 10 days old, 3" light height & top feeding 25% strength nutrients via syringe.Started at around half that(12%) for the first few days. So far so good
No roots showing yet but I figure she'll be ready for the cauldron pretty soon.And a light upgrade.

I unboxed the 75W CFL & stood staring at in astonishment. It's a big bulb. I mean like comically big.
Can anyone advise me as to a starting height for this over a seedling?

I'm using tap water. The tap water here is renowned as being among the 'softest' in the world.
Typical EC analysis (from supplier's website) is 0.06 to 0.1 . That's pretty damn low & gets me thinking I'll likely need to add Cal/Mag at some point.
Advice on this would be welcome

Peace, Love, Stay safe & sane.

[Willyd]

welcome to the family! set up is looking good one quick thing i noticed that little girl is stretching on you, might want to move your light closer

[alltatup]

Agreed!!

[gbauto]

I still have a few of those big CFL's from my earlier attempts.
I'm not familiar with your led fixture and couldn't find any info on it.
4 sq ft of canopy will require approx 120-200 true watts used.
The amount will be dependent on how efficient the diodes in your fixture are at converting watts of electricity into photons of light.
A single 3000k QB panel on a 120 watt driver would CRUSH that space.

[RagWeedDWC]

Welcome to the DWC side, our closets are similar. I have not used your nutrients and started all my autogrows under the same light just different distances (32" seedlings).
Currently I'm using Future Harvest at half strength, but you will want to use Cal Mag at near or at the recommended dosage. I had a rocket start using Cal Mag at half along with my nutrients.
Looks like you have a good running start, I did not see you mention the type seed, but for our size closets you can grow some pretty good tumble weeds.

[JazzCat]

Hi RagWeed,
Thanks for your input. Still top feeding by hand @ 25% basic nutrients & she's moving forward nicely.
Move to bubbler is very close - maybe on the weekend.
Thinking starting point for soup around 33% with Cal Mag @ same concentration.
I'd appreciate your thoughts on this.
Cheers.

[RagWeedDWC]

I would use cal mag at a stronger ratio, I had to learn that the heard way. My AH grow demonstrated that when I split the two plants. One an I continued to feed at reduced levels of Cal Mag, and the other I started at 4/6 and moved up to full strength. It shows.

[JazzCat]

Hey RW, sorry I didn't read your initial post thoroughly - my bad. I may have been slightly inebriated.
Definitely moving her into the bubbler Sunday.
Bottom roots will be very close to breaking out going on seedling height & there's roots coming out the side of the rockwool.
I'll be setting the waterline a little above the bottom of the net cup in order to tease the roots out.This appears to be a good strategy based on research & makes sense to me. Nutrients & Cal Mag at half to start. Also HydroEdge innoculant. Currently still hand feeding at 1/4 nutrients & she's doing fine.
PS 'tumble weeds' is pretty funny. Exactly what I'm aiming for.














""""""?y funny

[JazzCat]

Many thanks to everyone for your input.
I've dropped the CFL to 2". With the 75W I guess i can start at 4" & see where it goes from there.
The Vipar 450 pulls 200W from the wall so should be a good fit.
It's a Blue Dream fem photo from ILGM.
I'll update when she goes into the bubbler.
Cheers all.

[dphipps1020]

Honestly, you could probably skip the in between light and go straight to your LED. Seedlings should be fine and welcome the full spectrum lighting as long as you keep it the right distance. I use (2x) 45W (90W total from the wall) LEDs for my seedlings and clones and it works great. Then I jump to the bigger lights, straight to a 375W MH/HPS or a 315 CMH light. I actually have seedlings under my 315 CMH light that I started under it and are doing just fine. Really depends on what you want to do but you could be using your LEDs now if you really wanted to. Just my thoughts. Welcome and happy growing!

[JazzCat]

Hi dphipps & thanks.
It's only because I have zero experience with LEDs that I'm a bit wary of going early with it.
The height parameters suggested by the manufacturer are pretty wide.
I figure if I grow her out a little more that will give me some leeway when dialling in LED height.
In unfamiliar territory so baby steps for now.
Lots of helpful peeps here. I'm in a good place.
Cheers all.

[JazzCat]

Greetings all,
Update on my DWC startup for anybody interested. Plan was to put her in the cauldron Sunday.
Saturday morning there were roots coming out the bottom. Had to move soon & fast!
Setup complete Saturday evening. Details available on previous posts ( I'm still new here).
Initial pH 5.8. I'm using a Bluelab pen calibrated / stored & maintained correctly.
Sunday morning 15 hours later pH had gone to 7.4 - 5. Only panicked a little - the entire system is brand new & therefore subject to initial fluctuations so I believe.
I've slowly coaxed the pH down to a point where it appears to be stabilising - 5.9 as I sit here writing.
Another reading tomorrow morning ( It's Monday night here) should show me where things are at.
Plant looks happy & new growth is happening like I never saw in soil.

Always appreciate any relevant advice / input.

Keep on rocking in the free world.

[SoOrbudgal]

First off I don't grow DWC i'm an old dirt farmer like you were But that's what I hear with DWC makes sense roots grow faster so plant does too. I find it interesting but careful...someone once said not to put foil around the base in DWC. I'm not sure why though?? I don't want to freak you out about it but another DWC person will say something about it i'm sure.

[JazzCat]

Dirt farming was dirt simple. Hard to mess it up. Sure we got seeds in our buds but it smoked up just fine.
The foil is to keep light out of the tank but I'll keep my ears open just in case.

[RagWeedDWC]

Keeps things from growing around the base, but I'm guilty of not doing it. I grew in dirt for years, will never go back to it. I'm completely sold on DWC.

[SoOrbudgal]

JazzCat I think it had something about mold forming on the stones? Green slime? Now a days I rarely have seeds in the weed I grow but do get a random bag seed from dispensary so go figure?? I'm doing one bag seed now with the other fem only seeds I buy now a days. Got to keep my skills up for sexing the plants, been a while since I seen a male plant LOL

[JazzCat]

Gotta keep a close eye on the random seed plants for sure. Sinsemilla was unheard of in Australia until the 1980's.
Med cannabis is only available here as oil. You can't get high on it. Cannabis laws in my state are pretty tough.
Cultivation for personal use can attract 1 year jail & a hefty fine on top. As an otherwise law abiding shmuck I don't want to get caught up in that machinery.

[SoOrbudgal]

JazzCat oh heck no to all that...i'm too old for that crap. I'm legal here in Oregon.

[JazzCat]

Howdy all.
3 weeks now & and she's going bananas. I wouldn't have believed growth like this was possible but I'm witnessing it.
The photo doesn't do it justice.
I'm going to have to work some bonsai / voodoo pretty soon.
Sativa dominant Blue Dream & my max height is around 30" - less if I can.
Relevant advice welcome & and appreciated.
Done loads of outdoor runs - first time indoor DWC.