interested in hydro/DWC

walky85 · Oct 27, 2015

the more i read about hydro esp DWC i really want to get into it but i have a few questions first just to make sure it will be right for me.

Firstly i work away for 2 weeks at a time so the hydro will have minimal help from my misses whilst im away. will any of these setups allow for that once established?

I will be growing outside as where i am i have more then enough sun but its also coming into wet season so would i have to put shade cloth or something similar over the setup to stop it over filling with water?

When the plant reaches maturity and has heaps of roots coming out of the net pots, will the plant be able to keep going season to season? doesnt get that cold for that long where i am either. and can you transplant them once they are like that or the is it bound to that net pot once like that

i think thats all the Q's i have for now..

cheers

dubG · Oct 27, 2015

I would think that for outdoors you'd need to cover your system with something. You don't want rainwater mixing with your fine tuned (ph/nutes) water plus you'll have electronics that shouldn't be left in the elements too.

In order to be able to survive 2 weeks once established you'll either want to use or large (10gallon?) Reservoir or look into Recirculating DWC (RDWC) and use multiple smaller reservoirs linked together.

Weed · Oct 27, 2015

You need the time to learn it without being away for 2 weeks before you try it and leave.

juanitos · Oct 27, 2015

yes any setup with a decent sized reservoir can go 2 weeks without complications.

your system should be sealed more or less, no need to build greenhouse / shade.
you can put small peice of plastic / tinfoil over the net cup (like dis http://i.imgur.com/oI2BWSt.jpg )
if you have separate reservoir(rdwc, dutch bucket), you should use a tote / trashcan with a lid (like dis http://i.imgur.com/S0Z5vdZ.jpg )

i think you would need to trim the roots every once in a while. i'm sure your plants go dormant for a little bit atleast?

Weed · Oct 27, 2015

juanitos said:
i think you would need to trim the roots every once in a while. i'm sure your plants go dormant for a little bit atleast?

Parts of QLD are tropical.
Outdoors DWC is hard to keep cool. Most people end up using a drip or NFT system.

juanitos · Oct 28, 2015

Heckle said:
Parts of QLD are tropical.

Outdoors DWC is hard to keep cool. Most people end up using a drip or NFT system.

seems like they would slow in july when it can reach 0c would be a good time to do a nice trim of foliage / roots.

to op. i have never grown a pepper plant perpetually so i really have no idea lol

Weed · Oct 28, 2015

juanitos said:
seems like they would slow in july when it can reach 0c

lol

walky85 · Oct 29, 2015

dubG said:
I would think that for outdoors you'd need to cover your system with something. You don't want rainwater mixing with your fine tuned (ph/nutes) water plus you'll have electronics that shouldn't be left in the elements too.

In order to be able to survive 2 weeks once established you'll either want to use or large (10gallon?) Reservoir or look into Recirculating DWC (RDWC) and use multiple smaller reservoirs linked together.

yeah sweet. i will look into something that has a separate res. i only want something small whilst i learn all the ins and outs

Heckle said:
You need the time to learn it without being away for 2 weeks before you try it and leave.

yeah i have 7 nightshifts left then i have a little over 2 months off so i hope to learn something then.

juanitos said:
yes any setup with a decent sized reservoir can go 2 weeks without complications.

your system should be sealed more or less, no need to build greenhouse / shade.
you can put small peice of plastic / tinfoil over the net cup (like dis http://i.imgur.com/oI2BWSt.jpg )
if you have separate reservoir(rdwc, dutch bucket), you should use a tote / trashcan with a lid (like dis http://i.imgur.com/S0Z5vdZ.jpg )

i think you would need to trim the roots every once in a while. i'm sure your plants go dormant for a little bit atleast?

yeah cool i will look at getting a big res for the system. everything i look at on youtube seems to be for weed though haha. im sure there is some stuff on there for chillis

walky85 said:
yeah sweet. i will look into something that has a separate res. i only want something small whilst i learn all the ins and outs

yeah i have 7 nightshifts left then i have a little over 2 months off so i hope to learn something then.

yeah cool i will look at getting a big res for the system. everything i look at on youtube seems to be for weed though haha. im sure there is some stuff on there for chillis

yeah i have only started as of last summer( 12 months ago) and during the winter the chillis stopped but it got bigger and heaps more leaves and branches. winter only lasts a month or 2

juanitos said:
seems like they would slow in july when it can reach 0c would be a good time to do a nice trim of foliage / roots.

to op. i have never grown a pepper plant perpetually so i really have no idea lol

Heckle said:
lol

oh man 0c i havent felt that since i lived in Canada. na we dont get that cold. under 10c is a cold snap. and we still get plenty of sun. still enough to sun bake on the beach

N8thaniel · Nov 2, 2015

ive done outdoor hydro chilli outdoors around bribie island

i recoMend you stay clear of DWC

what you want is like bioponics ie allow a colony of good bacteria to develop in the root zone so when the teMps get high pythium doest set in- to achieve this you need a bit of space for the airobic bacteria to live- think grow beds

also you want the reservoir to be as big as possible for stable PH and water temp- mind you night temps can get low so that will help you out

the one way i found easiest to do hydro outdoors in the QLD heat is pretty simple

i used a solar powered water pump and had grow beds full of hydroton-the neat thing about using a solar pump is that the hotter the day(the more sun) the faster they pump-and at night the beds will drain
have your water level pretty low in the beds so that evaporation is minimal and also the water doesnt heat up

like this perhaps bigger/ a few of them depends what size system you want
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Solar-Power-Fountain-Pool-Water-Pump-Garden-Sun-plants-watering-outdoor-S-/151700923465?hash=item2352146449:g:gOkAAOSw9N1VpmHU

keep ur res out of the heat(burry it if you can) and even consider using an IBC as a 2nd hand one will run you only 50 bucks
also important to use a nutrient line with PH buffers to keep ur PH in check0they r usaually orgnic(ish) which is good because u dont want anything that would kill ur bio colony

unfortunately i cant find a clear pic of my set up on this comp but here is what i got

ir u are interested i can explain it a bit more

in short DWC in QLD =SHIT

frosty · Nov 15, 2015

I did a gro log experimenting with drip, ebb and flo and dwc. Dwc was the most work and the least productive.

Not a pro just my experience