TDub’s First Time Cloning and DWC

[T_Dub]

Good Day MP Growers,
If you’re here to learn how to clone or grow DWC properly, you’re in the wrong place. If you want to see the typical mistakes of a past soil/coco grower attempting to grow in DWC, then let me say “welcome to the sh*tshow”. I ENCOURAGE DIALOGUE AND GUIDANCE…..DONT BE SHY ABOUT JUMPING IN IF YOU SEE ME DOING SOMETHING WRONG. This is all for fun anyway. I explain my rationale in my journals for doing things, but it’s not always a good decision.

This journal will start off slowly and speed up once we are in DWC. So today is Day 1. Next update might be weekly.

My first plan is to get a mother plant for the clones. I believe I can clone off of a four week old plant, so if I can clone by the end of December that would be ideal. The goal is to transition into the tent after I harvest my current Durban Poison coco grow.

Im starting two seeds and planning to make three clones from each. The first seed is Seedsman Purple Ghost Candy. If I’m successful in growing this seed and cloning it, I plan to run this strain in both DWC buckets. The backup strain is one Seedsman Peyote Gorilla. I plan to clone three branches from her too. (Two spots are being used for cherry tomatoes too). The extra clones are there in case I kill off the first attempts at DWC.





The seeds are being started in a hydroponic machine and I plan to use this machine for clones too. I’ve seen some good examples on YouTube, so this should work great for cloning. The seeds (after soaking in RO water for 6 hours) are placed in a peat cone, then placed in a plastic sleeve that drops into the holes. Ppfd at 236. Ph at 5.9. Ppm at 650. Light is running 18 hours per day. Small domes are placed over the seeds to hold in moisture. For anyone looking at hydroponic machines, i strongly prefer the quality feel of the Aerogarden brand (Bounty model) that’s 50% off at Amazon right now. Aerogarden is going out of business and is selling off their machines for 50% off on Amazon.

DWC system showed up yesterday. Not bad for less than $40 per bucket including all equipment with their Black Friday deal. I have a backup air pump and I purchased better air stones. I plan to grow with GH Flora nutrients and I’ll probably use the Lukas formula (Micro and Bloom exclusively).

Thanks for reading…..next updates will be shorter.

Edit…..fixed typo and removed confusing line about Aerogarden.

 

[T_Dub]

It appears we already have a hook growing on my preferred strain…..Purple Ghost Candy seed is alive!! If I can keep her alive in this hydroponic station through December and clone her out, I’ll have a great start with one month old clones in my DWC.

 

[Thomas81]

Good luck mate, I’ve got a DWC setup in the cupboard was going to be my first dab in growing but was put off with comments from other people. I’m still going to give it a go at some point though.

 

[T_Dub]

Good luck mate, I’ve got a DWC setup in the cupboard was going to be my first dab in growing but was put off with comments from other people. I’m still going to give it a go at some point though.

Thank you Thomas! DWC certainly looks intimidating and I suspect it’s less forgiving of mistakes. This could get ugly….

 

[Thomas81]

Pulling a

 

[greenmobster440]

Looks like a science project.

I'm excited to see ya crank all this up.

 

[Hippie420]

Thank you Thomas! DWC certainly looks intimidating and I suspect it’s less forgiving of mistakes. This could get ugly….

'Tain't nothin' but a thing. Any dummy can do it. I'm living proof!

 

[T_Dub]

I have always wondered what’s going on below the soil as the seedlings sprout. Looks like the growth below the planting deck is around 4” while the plant itself is only 1”. Already hitting the water supply with her tap root.

 

[WeedHopper]

Good luck mate, I’ve got a DWC setup in the cupboard was going to be my first dab in growing but was put off with comments from other people. I’m still going to give it a go at some point though.

DWC is easy as long as you keep your solution temps cool and your pH is good.
Just remember in a DWC your pH needs to be around 5.5 to 5.8. no light leaks into your buckets and solution temps between 68 to 75,,and your good. The plants will react very quickly to what ever you do unlike they do in soil.
The warmer the solution temps the browner the roots and then you will start to have problems.

 

[T_Dub]

Here’s the Purple Ghost Candy as of December 10th. Back on the 1st it was just a hook peeking up through the media. So let’s say she’s 10 days old as of today. I think she’s growing faster with the hydroponics.

 

[Flower]

The Purple Ghost Candy is pretty nice smoke.
You must have thought so, too, considering you are going for a 2nd run.

 

[T_Dub]

The Purple Ghost Candy is pretty nice smoke.
You must have thought so, too, considering you are going for a 2nd run.

I did like it! It was my second favorite behind the Godfather OG. I’m just glad she germinated! Looking forward to pulling a few clones off of her.

 

[T_Dub]

Today the Purple Ghost Candy is 2 weeks old. I don’t think I’ve ever grown a plant this large at 2 weeks old (I’m going to look back and check). This hydroponics with 2 airstone really speeds up the growth. I have a few marks on the leaves that I’ll be researching later today. It is possble that I dripped mild nutrient solution on the leaves if that could cause the beige spots. I also think I need to add more CalMag to my RO water. Overall, she is growing very quickly and will hopefully be a good mother plant. I raised the LED to try to get a little more stretch too.

Here she is at 2 weeks since planted…..over 3 inches in the hydro garden.

This is going to be a good test run for my first DWC adventure on my next grow.

 

[T_Dub]

My lower leaves are looking terrible after I had mistakenly let my ph drop to 4.5. So this is the result of a ph fluctuation. My mistake and I’m glad I caught it now. I believe I failed to check ph after adding nutes to the reservoir last week and this is the result. I normally do check, so I was distracted and failed to finish my work. I’m slowly increasing ppm levels of nutrients and CalMag. I need to become more diligent with hydroponic monitoring and record-keeping.

Adjusted added RO to raise ph to 5.8 and adjusted ppm to 650. Hopefully she’s much happier now.

Root system on ~3inch seedling

 

[Hippie420]

I always check my PH every day. Any time I add something, I wait 15 minutes or so and check again. If it's up, I bring it down. If it's down, I bring it up, and then check again. It sounds like a pain, but it's not once you get used to it.
If it's off a tenth above or below, I might wait a day. Hopper's right when he says that 5.8 is the golden rule.

 

[John Kramer]

ppm to 650

too much for this tiny... poor little thing

 

[T_Dub]

too much for this tiny... poor little thing

Thanks for pointing that out. Just lowered it to 450ppm.