DWC Help

[Crunchypretzel]

Hey all..been lurking around the forums for a few years now but decided to finally join!

i have grown DWC twice now, and I seem to have the hardest time with my seedlings. If I throw them in the system too early then overwater and die. If I leave them out under a cfl they seem to dry up as I'm not watering them. I have read through the DWC guide here and searched the forums, but I'm still kind of confused.

If I do a top feed dwc system, should I put the seed in the rapid rooters, put it in the system and have the tube feeding in water constantly even though it hasn't sprouted? The lights will remain off till the seed has sprouted. I read this in the guide but I feel like this would lead to overwatering it?

Any help is appreciated!

[BuddMarsh]

Because the roots of the plant have a constant supply of O2 rich water they do not drown in the water. So a seed in a root starter and placed in a net pot with clay pebbles in topped feed DWC will be fine.

[thatguyfromglasgow]

Hello, I've always got my seedling rooted in a jiffy (small coco thing) picture included from here they can go in the net pot or into a grodan block let them root again then into the net pot. I put them in the system and hand water until I see roots hitting the water I've just started a grow please have a look at my page bro you will see what i'm doing

[Skippy]

Hello Crunchypretzel, normally what i do is soak my rapid rooters in water, then i squeeze them out so they are not soaking but not completely rung out either. I put the seed inside the hole, take a small piece of the rapid rooter material off the bottom of the rooter to place in the hole to cover up the seed. then i just leave them. i check on it once a day to make sure they have not dried out. sometimes you will need to wet them down a little to keep the rapid rooter from drying out. after a couple of days the seed will sprout. as soon as i see it sprouted i put them into my top feed system under low light. once they are in the system you should not worry about drowning them, as long as your system is working correctly. the highly oxygenated water will not drown your seedlings.

[DW2]

Howdy Crunchypretzel and welcome to the forum. I have grown five DWC grows and I am preparing to start number six. I germinate my seeds in an aluminum (disposable) loaf pan on a folded paper towel completely saturated in pH 5.5 water. The seeds sit in contact with, but, not covered by the water. I cover the pan with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and place it in a warm place. I can check on their progress by lifting the foil, the plastic wrap prevents them from drying out. After the seeds sprout, I transfer them to the rockwool cubes which have been soaking in 5.5 pH'ed water and had a little rooting gel placed in the 'seed hole'. With this method, I can see if the seed was viable or not, not having to guess what was going on in side of the cube (or plug as the case may be).
My DWC feeds the water to the bottom of the rockwool cube so as to avoid totally soaking the new developing roots.

[Crunchypretzel]

Hello Crunchypretzel, normally what i do is soak my rapid rooters in water, then i squeeze them out so they are not soaking but not completely rung out either. I put the seed inside the hole, take a small piece of the rapid rooter material off the bottom of the rooter to place in the hole to cover up the seed. then i just leave them. i check on it once a day to make sure they have not dried out. sometimes you will need to wet them down a little to keep the rapid rooter from drying out. after a couple of days the seed will sprout. as soon as i see it sprouted i put them into my top feed system under low light. once they are in the system you should not worry about drowning them, as long as your system is working correctly. the highly oxygenated water will not drown your seedlings.

Thanks for the advice! I don't seem to have a problem to get them to sprout it seems like I always kill them after. With your top feed do you just have the tube pointed at the bottom of the rapid rooter constantly supplying water or is it on a timer?

[Skippy]

constant. i have 2 different setups. one is a 1/2 feed line to a drip ring the other is a 1/8 line right up against the bottom of the rapid rooter. the pump in the res feeds 2 plants consistently i use a 185GPH water pump

[dontknownuttin]

Mine is on a timer set to run 15 min. every 6 hours 24/7. top fed using rockwool.

[NebulaHaze]

Lately what I've been doing is sprout seeds via the paper towel method, put them in Rapid Rioters and install in the system, but I turn off the top feed for the first few days and hand water them (you may need to water multiple times a day). As soon as they're actually growing I turn on the top feed full time. That's been working for me pretty well! Putting the top feed on a timer at first will also accomplish the same thing!

[Formernuke]

I'm glad you asked I'm setting up a top feed dwc system according to the tutorial myself.

Do I need to pre warm the sump water or using just tap temperature ok?

[DW2]

Just keep the temperature between 65° and 70° F. to help suppress algae growth.

[NebulaHaze]

Tap temperature is fine, if it doesn't feel hot or cold to you, the temperature is good!