First time DWC...question

This is my first grow in a couple years, so i thought i'd give hydroponics a shot. I was wondering when you move your rooted clone in the rockwool cube to the hydroton in the net pot, where should your water level in the bucket be until the roots make it thru the pot? I know once the roots have made it thru the pot you keep the water an inch or so below it. Correct me if im wrong, but would you want the water level to be right up to the bottom of the pot until the roots reach it? I almost have everything together to start and can't wait. I'll start a log and post my setup in the indoor/cabinet growing area. Thanks for any help or tips you can give!:rasta:

Just as soon as you see roots coming out of the rockwool or grow cube put them in hydroton.
keep the water up to the bottom of the net pots and lots of bubbles to splash. then drop the water down when the roots come out of the net pot.

Oh, welcome to hydro. look forward to see your grow log.

Thanks. Can't wait to try it. I have my buckets all ready, just need 1 more air pump, carbon filter is built, and getting GH flora series nutes in a couple days. I plan on 3 plants to start with, all 3 will be LST'd and fimmed. I had awesome success with scrog before, but want to get the hang of hydro first before using the ol' screen.

kind of lonely in the hydro section lately. if you have any more questions or problems I'm here. Good luck

Haha i noticed that, thanks tho im sure ill have more questions

reason for water level to be high in the begining is to keep hydroton moist for the roots to grow.You dont want to drown them,And you dont want dry hydroton either.

I actually recommend keeping water level up to net pots all the time. After a day or so water level will lower due to plant drinking it, and evaporation. You will need to top off every couple days with ph'd water, and make sure you neevr top off more than the original amount of solution. So if you use 6 gallon buckets; you use around 4 gallons of solution. You can top off with up to, but not more than 4 gallons. Doing this does 2 things; It helps to keep a build up of salts in the rez from happening, and saves you money on adding fresh solution all the time. Process of fresh solution should be done every 7-10 days.

More often than not In veg when plants are small you would use the longer 10 day solution schedule due to plant not feeding as much. In flower; You may have to change solution in 7 days or less. *

* In DWC plants tend to get big. Especially if you use a big HID (1000watts) In this case sometimes you will go through the 4 gallons of solution and 4 gallons of top off ph'd water in less than 7 days.

Good Luck.

Good to see you around Loc Nar. Peace

The beginning of DWC when roots aren't long and reaching deep into your bucket you need to be careful. I have had a plant die in a 24-36 hour window left unchecked due to the roots drying because the water level wasn't high enough. I was so mad at myself lol, for not adding more water. Once this happens, there is nothing you can do. I have found it is very hard to drown plants in DWC as long as you have an air pump and water isn't over flowing.... Anyways just a heads up/

I wish I started with hydro! I'm really hating soil at the moment. I even have all the equipment for 3- 3x4 flood and drain tables and a few other things as well. I'm SOOO regretting it right now! Why is everyone using soil? Is just because of this big organic movement? I don't get it, you use practically the same nutrients in both. To me hydro seems like it would make for a cleaner flush if that's the big deal.

People seem to have a "beef" with hydro because it's not "organic" and hydro requires chemicals. You can grow some amazing meds in soil organics, but hydro is faster and has a faster production rate. Depends on your goals....

Botanicare make organic hydro fert. they also make chemical synthetic fert. I think the synthetic stuff tends to work faster, while organic fert makes better quality although it's probably stinky. Soil growing makes for less guesswork. People screw up a soil grow because they either overdo or underdo the fert. Meaning they don't really know what they're doing. What's good about hydro is you can easily measure pH and ppm and make adjustments. In soil, you can't. But done right, soil can be easier than hydro, even though you have to clean up some potting soil. It's really a tradeoff. Understand how each one works and make your choice. They're both good methods provided you don't try to get too fancy and over-control your grow. In the end, you have to give good air exchange to both or you'll have problems.