My hydro is growing slower than my friend's soil

[TrojanMan]

This is my first try. I have a DWC setup with light nutes for seedlings. PH is fine. These are same strain and started the same time. Only thing i can thik of is i slight light leak in the tub because it was a little slippery in there. The plants look fine, just smaller. Could that be it? If so, if i seal the light leak, will that solve the problem?

[Zandor]

That depends on how wet the net pot is. In a DWC the idea is to have the bubbles in the water raise and pop raising the humidity and soaking everything under the lid. If you are NOT dripping water from the underside of the lid then you do not have enough air movement and are not making enough bubbles. There should be so many bubbles you cannot see the bottom of the bucket when you test it. Place a paper towel over the opening and see how long it takes for it to soak. The pattern it shows when it does soak the paper towel will tell you how well the bubble spread is covering the area.

[TrojanMan]

Won't that moisture also soak the seedstarting media arounr the stem and base roots. Also, if you have algea growing on your roots what can you do to get it off after the light leak is taken care of?

[Garden Knowm]

If you take care of the light leak the algea will die. If you have a serious algae problem you should consider adding Hydrogen Peroxide or air stones.

Dead plant matter of any kind in a resivoir is BAD... very very bad.. IT consumes oxygen.. yikes : (


smb

[Zandor]

Won't that moisture also soak the seedstarting media arounr the stem and base roots. Also, if you have algea growing on your roots what can you do to get it off after the light leak is taken care of?
I see you have found one on the reasons I don't like rockwool.

My friend is right the algi will die off and H²o² will take care of the rest.

Hey Garden Knowm do you remember how much you use, is it about 5-10 ml per gallon?

[Garden Knowm]

zandor no rock wool for you.... still my heart.... I have this friend.. he reminds me of you... here comes the punch line....

he is such a perfectionist that he bleaches his lava rocks every 6 months.. BLEACHES them.... what the f%$k!!!!

lol - and he hates the algea on rockwool drives him f-ing bonkers....

you da man... : )

yeah... I think you are right... 10ml per gallon - 3% hydrogen peroxide.. the over the counter stuff that cost about .99 cents a bottle...

You can add H peroxide every 3 days with out worry into a functioning resivoir in 75+ degree rooms.

One more thing... you can test this out... if you put an air stone directly under a plant in a hydro/aeroponic system... come harvest time its roots will be at least 5 times bigger than it's peers..... plants love air stones

[Zandor]

he is such a perfectionist that he bleaches his lava rocks every 6 months.. BLEACHES them.... what the f%$k!!!!
Why is that so funny? He is eliminating microorganisms in between grows that adhere to the pores rock.

I have a plastic cement mixer I drilled about 100 holes in for drainage to spin wash mine. I don't use bleach I just let the sun dry them out. lol

I bet he grow great pot too hu?

Take care my friend.

[TrojanMan]

Problem fixed. I am using bottled water now as well as having my suspected light leak fixed. I added a little h2o2 to be safe and they are doing great!

[LOC NAR1958]

Way to go, listen to those guys they will set you straight. You can stand there and watch mine grow by the minute, faster than the grass outside. Amazing I'll never go back to soil.

[Zandor]

Problem fixed. I am using bottled water now as well as having my suspected light leak fixed. I added a little h2o2 to be safe and they are doing great!Just one thing about using bottled water or RQ water. Yes it's the best water for your plants.

Just remember the RO process removes some minerials that the plant needs. Use CalMag plus to put back what the RO process takes out. FYI