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brogz
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First Hydro Grow Started

Well I've been planing to set up a batch of leaf lettuce for a few weeks and last night I finally took the first step. I phed my rockwool cubes and started a few seeds.

For the first run or 2 I'm planning on using a little tote and putting 3 small net pots in it. Just a simple little DWC. The next thing I plan on setting up is a Ebb and Flow system. I had a pump, reservoir, tray, and some rockwool cubes given to me. So I just have to figure out how to get that all set up and get some money for it but, I figured I'd share my plan with you guys see if anyone has any input.
I'll get some pictures up soon enough.

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Halfway
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Excellent! Enjoy the batch and keep notes. They really helped my learning curve.

Did you make the DWC's yourself? How about lighting?

Best of success!

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brogz
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Yes, I made the DWC out of a small tote with holes on the lid for the net pots.
As for the lights I'll just be using a Walmart grow light till I can afford a HO T5.
They are already cracked open and have little roots coming out I'm so excited to see them already going so fast. The package said 3-7 days before sprouts appear.

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Halfway
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Excellent. Cheap and productive is the way to go!!!!

TCHarris32
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Save your money on those grow lights. You can just get a 2' or 4' shop light and put in the 6500k bulbs for vegetative growth. When it comes time to flower I will switch out half the bulbs for the 3000k ish bulbs to give them a little more red light. I grew two cherry tomato plants, two black zebra tomato plants and a black cherry tomato plant with those shop lights. They did quite well.

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brogz
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Well I got one given to me. lol So I'm not going to complain.


This is the set up I have for my rockwool cubes to germinate and sprout until I can get them in the DWC. The water is ph'ed to 5.7 and has 2 small air stones underneath the cubes.

[url=https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/827/rockwool.jpg/][img]https://img827.imageshack.us/img827/2083/rockwool.th.jpg[/img][/url]



Here's where I plan to put my lettuce once they get big enough for me to put them in the net pots. I know it's small but, I want to start small until I get the hang of it and get everything finely tuned.

[url=https://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/36/dwcy.jpg/][img]https://img36.imageshack.us/img36/9828/dwcy.th.jpg[/img][/url]

One question for you veteran hydroponic vegetable growers.
How do you flush your veggies before you harvest?
Do you run a flushing agent every week, two, just before each harvest, or not at all?

TCHarris32
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You don't have to worry about flushing unless you plan on smoking your crop. ;(

TCHarris32
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You don't have to worry about flushing unless you plan on smoking your crop. ;(

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brogz
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That's sort of weird. I would've figured you'd be more worried about things your actually consuming not something your inhaling.

TCHarris32
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That's what I was thinking but after tons of research that's what I found out. I can tell you that my sungold cherry tomatoes were absolutely amazing straight off the vine with no flush.

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brogz
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Do you get bad salt build ups on the roots and reservoir? That was part of the reason I asked about flushing.

TCHarris32
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No salt buildups. I use ro'd water and botanicare nutes and some aquashield. I change it all out approx every two weeks. Top it off with nutrient solution every couple days.

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brogz
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Where do you get the RO water. I wish I had money to get my own RO filter but, thats not happening unless I win the lotto.

TCHarris32
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Meijer. $.29 per gallon. I believe it is a Culligan filtration DIY station.

hgs
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I rented my RO System for years, it was less than $20 a month! Just a thought...

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brogz
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hgs wrote:I rented my RO System for years, it was less than $20 a month! Just a thought...

Where did you rent it from?

Lately I've been having troubles keeping my ph down. I mixed my nutes two nights ago and phed it to 5.8 and I went down yesterday morning and the ph was 6.4. Any ideas on why it jumped so high over night?

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fintuckyfarms
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The only thing I can think of is are you using a 2 part or 3 part nutrient system? I purchased a two part then only used the grow but it needed both parts to stabalize the PH buffers. My PH kept rising till I used both parts. I did not read the whole post so I don't know which kind of nutes you are using. Good luck!

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brogz
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I'm using floranova and running it at ~300 ppm

CynthiaCollado
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I liked your idea TCHarris32 on using shop light for the grow lights. It looks like an easier less expensive way to achieve the same results.

I think when lights are sold as a "grow light" it gives many retailers an opportunity to increase the price because it is a "specialty item.

Thank you for a good suggestion! :lol:



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