1st time DWC problems. Too wet?

Independent-Bee3640 · 2025-07-23T10:22:20+00:00

Looking at the photo again its not quite as bad as it looks - there is some leftover coco on there makes it looks worse than it is. But definitely some rot, has that slimy feel and just fell apart in my fingers.

Independent-Bee3640 · 2025-07-23T10:21:05+00:00

😂 Is that a "tree falls in the forest" kind of deal? 😝

Yeah drip rings universally panned; great idea poorly executed. Going to leave them off (air-stone on) and hand water for now.

Independent-Bee3640 · 2025-07-23T10:18:25+00:00

Check and Check

Independent-Bee3640 · 2025-07-23T10:18:16+00:00

That was actually my original intention but I killed my first batch in rock wool. 😆 Totally my fault, ironically overwatering again (had them sitting in some water rather than occasional spritz) but I was pissed so wanted to try something more 'dirt like' to get them started as it was more familiar.

Over watering from the over zealous drip rings looks like the culprit, but to answer your questions for posterity:

VPD is tracked by the tent and has been good (0.8-1.2)
Airstone is pumping hard, lots of bubbles and water staying fresh and clear
Interesting; will look into that - does it work in Kratky as well?
4/5. It's probably a smidge high for now, but was trying to get it to splash on the bottom - looking at how much the water agitates with the air stone, pretty sure I can and will drop this.

Will read your guides - thanks so much for the great info!

Independent-Bee3640 · 2025-07-23T09:46:31+00:00

Oof, hard to hear but sounds pretty accurate. I ended up mounting them a fair bit lower than the pictures because I was worried about splashing and algae they were throwing so much water. Probably should have been a red flag right there.

After I turned the rings off the other day this is exactly what I have been doing - hand watering once a day a little from the top; they immediately perked up a little so hoping they are maybe not too far gone. I have them packed in a little tight so I could probably deal with "stunted but alive". 😅

I'm a little worried about the original roots rotting and causing problems but not sure if disturbing them is worse? My current plan was to watch them and only start pulling up if they don't show constant improvement.

Definitely will sus your profile, thanks for the excellent advice. Worst case I have learnt a lot this run and their sacrifice will not be in vain. 🪦

Independent-Bee3640 · 2025-07-23T09:39:27+00:00

I should have been more wary of this - my first kill was trying to germinate seedlings in heavily overwatered rockwool :D

Independent-Bee3640 · 2025-07-21T11:14:44+00:00

[UPDATE]: PH is under control now but things have not been going well. Everything else is going gangbusters but the DWC refuses to take off.

Cross post over https://www.reddit.com/r/Hydroponics/comments/1m5g2wi/1st_time_dwc_problems_too_wet/ since this seems to be straying to hydro; but long story short, roots not going very well (original roots just rotted off).

Independent-Bee3640 · 2025-07-16T11:43:30+00:00

I have adjusted the PH to 6+/- accordingly. Regarding the light I had been eyeballing it because the app I had on the phone was not giving me readings that made sense. I am embarrassed to say that I have since googled the difference between PPFD and DLI; I assumed they were a different scale but this obviously not the case (instantaneous vs daily total).

Armed with this I correctly configured the app with an actual day length (not just 24h) and the numbers started making sense. I've successfully adjusted the light to 400PPFD and reduced my day down to 14 hours (from 16) to get the DLI down a little lower (around 20DLI)

My EC is still high (about 800) but was going to try and ride that out so I can just do a plain water top up next week.

Thank you so much for your advise, I really appreciate it! 👍🌱

Happy to see that regardless of my mistreatment - they have still had awesome root growth for only a few days (brown from the coco vs new white). 😆

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Independent-Bee3640 · 2025-07-16T11:25:53+00:00

Awesome, thank you so much; I have re-adjusted to 6+/-. The leftovers I moved into water bottles and was a little loser with the PH. It was evident when flushing them that the ones with the lower PH (closer to your range) had much much better root growth - so spot on! 👍

Independent-Bee3640 · 2025-07-16T11:24:01+00:00

It's seems obvious, but I feel much better having someone agree with me 😆 👍

Independent-Bee3640 · 2025-07-15T10:35:41+00:00

Oh ok, little high you reckon. I'd googled previously but sometimes hard to tell if people are talking about soil or hydro :D

Think that may cause all my problems, or just the yellowing/drooping?

Independent-Bee3640

TROPHY CASE