Water Level in DWC?

[JackdaWack]

No, you guys dont want your medium soaked in water, u want it some what damp, the point to having your water level below the net pot is so your medium has a constant dampness and not soaked, id your using rock wool or rapid rooters you want you medium to be somewhat damp. if the water level is above the net pots your medium will become to wet, when your roots grow down they go into the water, its not the point of the roots being soaked in water as much as it is your medium, if your medium is too wet your can get root rot and slow growth along with other problems such as over watering. you need air to get to your roots.

[JackdaWack]

On another note, dont be to surprised when u damage the roots of a plant its not going to be too happy, and when u switch from soil to hydro or dro to soil, its not going to be to happy either, u just got roots used to growing in soild and now u put it in a dwc type system.. not a very great idea, it will work under the correct conditions but if u have never grow hydro before its a bad idea to transplant from soil to hydro, your better off starting from scrath the first couple times as you have no idea what to do, if u thought that the ph for hydro was 6.8 you need to do alot more reading on hydro before you attempt it.

[Gart79]

6.4 is not a good hydro PH that's for soil....you need to shoot for 5.8 and having the PH off won't rot the roots that's probley a temperature issue....that is the most critical factor 60-70 any higher and you will slow growth and get root rot any lower and growth slows. CHILL YOUR RES!!!!!!!

Your right there! I just watched a few videos and read a few articles! In deep water we can take advantage of the natural ability of our beloved plants that like a low ph in order to dissuade nasty mould and germs. I have shifted my ph all the way down just above 5 (ph needs to be between 5 and 6 for hydroponics).
I donâ??t believe it is a temp problem as 16 litres of water would take longer to warm up than the time it took for things to go wrong (in the temp I had it in), although I can see why you would come to that conclusion. In practice though, both ph and water temp can affect a plants ability to absorb nutrients, and in my experience drooping is a sign of lack of o2 to the root zone. However, from what Iâ??ve read, any kind of stress on the plant can induce root rot (plants under stress are the first to go bad). My MAJOR suspicion is the fact Iâ??ve recently hacked apart my root system from my soil mix (not ideal, but hey, I just had to try out my new DWC!). When using soil, itâ??s not good to water for 24 hours, as it will likely induce root rot, so I thought maybe, wet and damaged roots in DWC may be taken that way.

Anyways, I chopped MOST of the roots and washed them in fresh tap water (it'll have a little chlorine in), washed the pebbles and the net pot. I lopped off quite a few juicy leaves. Now the plant is beginning to look a bit better, but nothing like that afterburner growth spurt!!!

By the way, on the subject of water level again, I simply followed the instructions on my DWC kit, and it says that the medium (clay pebbles initially soaked in 1/4 strength) are supposed to be submerged, to the point that the roots are under water in the deepwater solution. This is because the solution is highly aerated. I may experiment with this factor later though, as Iâ??m not a DWC pro.

[Gart79]

When using soil, itâ??s not good to water for 24 hours, as it will likely induce root rot, so I thought maybe, wet and damaged roots in DWC may be taken that way.
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I donâ??t think I made that too clear. I meant, when using soil and transplanting, itâ??s not good to water for 24 hr after that, since damaged roots that are wet are prone to root rot.

With ref to water temp, the colder the water, the more o2 that can be dissolved, so it is definitely something I'll be keeping my wary eyes on! DWC isnâ??t the kind of system you can put your feet up with, thatâ??s for sure! Cheers for the input.

[JackdaWack]

u dont seem to have a clue what your doing, the more u hack at your plant the more its going to stunt its growth and potetially die, the ph of 5.8 is for the abortion of nutrients. Your not going to see your plant get better for a couple days, these things dont happen overnight, Every one who grows dwc knows that u put the water level below the net pots for the reason being your medium should not be soaked in water, if it is, it will show signs of over water and lack of 02 to your roots... get it? I wouldnt follow the directions they gave you, try readins a dwc grow log theres multiple ones in here. The roots should be in the water, but not the netpots, take into concideration ppl do this for a reason, even if you dont understand it, it would be benificial for you to do it this way.

[Gart79]

u dont seem to have a clue what your doing, the more u hack at your plant the more its going to stunt its growth and potetially die, the ph of 5.8 is for the abortion of nutrients. Your not going to see your plant get better for a couple days, these things dont happen overnight, Every one who grows dwc knows that u put the water level below the net pots for the reason being your medium should not be soaked in water, if it is, it will show signs of over water and lack of 02 to your roots... get it? I wouldnt follow the directions they gave you, try readins a dwc grow log theres multiple ones in here. The roots should be in the water, but not the netpots, take into concideration ppl do this for a reason, even if you dont understand it, it would be benificial for you to do it this way.

Well, I respect your experience with DWC and your input is valuable and will definitely be taken on board, however, despite the fact their not always right, I've started this one by just following the instructions i.e. - I make my system look like the one in the drawing in the instructions.

With DWC, the water itself has o2 dissolved in it (thatâ??s the whole point in the bubbler right?), so that was the idea of roots in the water, at least thatâ??s my understanding.

Whilst I'm not totally brilliant with DWC, I do have considerable experience with growing though, and I can recognise problems with plants easily.

On the subject of the root hacking, my roots smelt rotten, they looked rotten, and they were rotten. The plant is better now (the leaves have picked right up!). I'm sure youâ??ve experienced a plant pick up quickly when exposed to high o2 at the root zone? Maybe it'll drop dead in 2 days.

I should actually say, I have the net pot JUST below the water, but the water wets a good proportion of the medium (in accordance with the diagram).

But seriously, at the end of the day, Iâ??m experimenting here. If I hear valuable information, itâ??s welcome and appreciated, and will be taken onboard. I will post, as to whether my plant dies or thrives. If it dies, Itâ??s a lesson learned isnâ??t it? I've not got my whole medium dunked under water, itâ??s just really the bottom of the net.

As for ph, ph between 5 and 6 is what I've read for hydroponics. I havenâ??t taken this info from one source either. There may be slight variation on this, but 5.5 are what many grow with.

[JackdaWack]

i dont mean to come of harsh or nuttin just makin sure the community understands what to do in the situation, if your roots are rotton there is no difference if you cut them there already gone, so it has helped in your case, i thought u were just hackin them up to fit in the pot, maybe it just worked out that way. But yeah the only problem with the net pots in the water is, that when starting from clone or seed and using a rapid rooter or rock wool, they retain alot fo water and being that they are sitting in the water they may be drentched 24/7 if the roots have no hit the aerated water and are still sitting in the rockwool or rapidrooter they will show signs of lack of oxygen becuase the medium is so wet it wont alow air in. all u need is the popping bubbles on the netpot and it keeps them nice and damp plus it premotes the roots to grow out and down, instead of making a giant cramped ball in the netpot

Bubblers are great for clonign to becuase the popping bubbles premote root growth.

[Opie Yutts]

You want your roots as dry as possible without hurting the plant. The plant loves to get oxygen through it's root system, and it's harder to do if the roots are covered in liquid. The best case scenario would be to keep lowering the nute level as the roots grow longer, but keep wetting the roots intermitently so they don't ever dry out completely. To protect from power outages, I aim to have a least a couple of inches of roots in the solution at all times. Otherwise I would aim to keep none of my roots in the solution. I have a way to vary the level of nutes as the plants grow, but I keep spraying the entire root system about every 10 minutes.

I hope that gives you some ideas.

[danlboy]

well my first hydro row is into week 9. I have a mini stealth cabinet that I bought from homegrown hydroponics which i had lots of trouble with as far as the actual purchase but I am very happy with whats going on as far as growth. It is DWC with a 6 gal sterilite resevoir which is not very deep, my roots have been pretty much underwater the whole time the airstones are bubbling 24/7, this is actually the first Ive heard that the roots should be moist and not soaking in the water. anyway... i have 2 females left from the original 6 plants and they are doing great. i am running out of room but have been tying my girls down as much as possible

[Cyclonite]

You want your roots as dry as possible without hurting the plant. The plant loves to get oxygen through it's root system, and it's harder to do if the roots are covered in liquid. The best case scenario would be to keep lowering the nute level as the roots grow longer, but keep wetting the roots intermitently so they don't ever dry out completely. To protect from power outages, I aim to have a least a couple of inches of roots in the solution at all times. Otherwise I would aim to keep none of my roots in the solution. I have a way to vary the level of nutes as the plants grow, but I keep spraying the entire root system about every 10 minutes.

I hope that gives you some ideas.

Thats not really DWC....thats more of aeroponics...which is great and thats a good idea of the sorta hybrid of the 2 because with aero if your power fails its bad news real fast.