vermiculite and perlite- 1st try !!!

[Silver Balls]

What is the proper mixture of verm. and perlite in a net pot? Should it be ALL vermiculite ? From beginning at germination, what medium is best for bubbling 5 gallon buckets ? Thanx guys for the help !

[elcheapo]

Although lacking experience, I would recommend 100% Perlite.
I think Vermiculite can get a bit soggy.

[skunkydelight]

What is the proper mixture of verm. and perlite in a net pot? Should it be ALL vermiculite ? From beginning at germination, what medium is best for bubbling 5 gallon buckets ? Thanx guys for the help !

Hey Silver, welcome to Hydro...I think you are mis-understanding the concept of the DWC bucket. You want to use lava rock or hydrotone in your netpots as vermiculite and perlite will just fall through into your buckets = no good. If you want to use Vermiculite and Perlite, that would be more of a soillessgrow, which you can do in normal soil pots. Lava rocks can be purchased at Home Depot or Lowes or any other home improvement store, just make sure you wash them off very good with a hydrogen peroxide solution of 1-10 before you use them. Hydrotone can be bought from any growstore. Wash it off before use as well. The good thing about these two mediums is they don't effect the PH at all, which means there is no guess work to get your nutes right. Let me know if you have any other questions. A lot of questions can be answered and should be known before you start on your jouney into DWC. Read my entire threads and you should be good to go....
-sD

[Silver Balls]

Hey Skunky, from what I've recently learned, 5 gallon bubbling buckets should have the nute/water level approx. 1" from the bottom of the net pots. How will lava rock provide the roots with enough ntes and water? 100% lava rock and no verm. or perlite? Last night I bought a bag of lava rocks and I plan to use them-per your directions. For 6" net pots, I would guess using the small rocks out of the bag, verses larger sized. I still have Verm. and perlite, fresh bags just waitin'...... If you could point out a few details, that would be cool.....

[skunkydelight]

Hey Skunky, from what I've recently learned, 5 gallon bubbling buckets should have the nute/water level approx. 1" from the bottom of the net pots. How will lava rock provide the roots with enough ntes and water? 100% lava rock and no verm. or perlite? Last night I bought a bag of lava rocks and I plan to use them-per your directions. For 6" net pots, I would guess using the small rocks out of the bag, verses larger sized. I still have Verm. and perlite, fresh bags just waitin'...... If you could point out a few details, that would be cool.....

Silver, yes, store your V/P for another time or for future experiments.

As for your other question: you have a couple options here for when you are starting your clones in your 5gal buckets. I use 4" netpots but that is just me...with 6", you will need to make sure that the clone is very well rooted before you put in the system because there is more area to fill before the roots get to the water. Now, what you can do from then on, is either have a drip system, like buy a little pond pump from lowes or hd, and drip the nutes in the bucket up to the base of the clone/lava rocks until the roots have reached the water below the netpot [You don't want to drown it tho]. OR, you can just raise the water level in your bucket to a couple inches above the lava rock until the roots can grow down into the water. With the splashing action cause by the airstone, it will keep you lava rock moist and humid, the perfect conditions for growing healthy roots. You just have to be careful not to raise the level so much as to drown the clone. And always be lowering it if you decide to take that route. Let me know if there is anything else. Also, these may help some. http://growfaq.marijuana.com
-sD