New guys take on a DWC, with pics.

[PaulF]

I made it back. I had planned on updating this coming Thursday to keep with my weekly schedule but I thought people might like to see this.

What was waiting for me in my grow room FAR exceeded my greatest expecations.

My wife did a great job taking care of things for me, the tub with the tomatoes drank about 1/2 gallon of water per day. The one with the lettuce and the cukes drank far less. And I think this contributed to a big problem. One of the cukes looked very unhealthy and was quite limp. I lifted the plant out of the tub and found the roots very yellowed and generally unhealthy looking. I figured it was a nutrient issue but strangely all the other plants in that tub looked fine. Out of curiosity I checked the pH level, it was at 4.5!!!! Yikes. So I immediately decided to do a full nutrient change on both tubs. Before I started I checked the one with the tomatoes and it was still at 6.5. I can only guess that the constant addition of fresh water the pH stayed where it needed in one tub and was drastically altered in the other due to the needs of the plants in there, but that is a very amateur guess.

Long story longer, nutrients are now fresh in both tubs now but the one cuke plant is looking like it is not going to make it. I changed to the "Blooming and Ripening" schedule per the GH instructions. It is a shame about the sick plant though because it has a lot of nice thumb sized cukes on it. Live and learn I guess.

Before I get to this weeks pics I want to throw out a couple of things I have learned on this grow purely by accident.

1. The drains built into the tubs were beginners dumb luck on my part. I don't know how I would change out the nutrients without them. The plants and root systems are so big now that lifting the lids and temporarily setting them somewhere so I could pull the tubs out to drain them isn't feasible. Thank God I did that!

2. Having this downstairs with the closest water source upstairs is a HUGE pain in the butt. Each tub needs 17 gallons of nutrient solution. A 5 gallon bucket of nutrient solution is very heavy and easily spilled while going down the stairs. Do the math, it is a lot of trips back and forth.

3. Surplus MH lights rock. Despite what I read prior to doing this the warehouse style light DOES work. I was reading a thread in the lighting section of the forum where someone said that MH will give you tall stringy tomatoe plants. If that is the case then I guess my MH light must not be working right. Take a look at the pics below and tell me what you think.

Finally some pics!

This is what greeted me when I opened the door. I actually laughed out loud, I couldn't believe it! Now those are some bushy tomatoes. And from a warehouse light that isn't even wearing a grow style reflector, how cool is that?



My peppers have finally started to come on. They are looking very healthy.



Blossoms all over the tomatoes! Some have pollinated. But to be on the safe side I took a swab and hand pollinated every one I could find.



Look at the size of that stalk on the tomatoe! These are some HEALTHY plants!



An actual strawberry, there are 4 like this. About the size of raspberries right now, time will tell if they ripen and produce tasty fruit.



And as usual, I saved the best for last. How about those cukes? I am awed at how big these two are. I have another half dozen on the two other healthy plants that are thumb sized or a bit bigger. My first batch of pickles will be coming the next couple of weeks. I can't wait!



More to come next week.

[silkcom]

I guess i don't know, but I bet your cukes could come back now that u've fixed the nutrients. But man, those all look nice (if not a little cramped). Looks like you should eat some salads .

[GpsFrontier]

Hello PaulF,
Glad you made it back. Your plants look like they grew twice as big while you were gone. Ya your right your pH issue was probably due to all the added water if it wasn't pH adjusted first. But the larger plants will take up more nutrients faster as well, and that changes the mineral content of the water, and will affect the pH also. That happens faster with larger plants.

Having this downstairs with the closest water source upstairs is a HUGE pain in the butt. Each tub needs 17 gallons of nutrient solution. A 5 gallon bucket of nutrient solution is very heavy and easily spilled while going down the stairs. Do the math, it is a lot of trips back and forth.

I don't know if it's reasonable with your house layout, but it may be worth considering running a water line downstairs. You can get a splitter for the faucet under any sink, even behind the toilet. Or even just changing it from a single to a duel faucet. Then just run flexible 1/2 inch poly irrigation tubing downstairs either permanently, or temporarily and rolling it up like a garden hose when your done. You can get a couple hundred feet of tubing for about $20. And use a inline ball cock valve to open and close the water flow at the end of the tube. All and all, including quick connect fittings, faucet, and ball cock valve, you could probably do it for $30-$35. If your water source is a water filtration system, same basic idea, though you may need to use 1/4 inch poly tubing instead. And just connecting it using "T" connector spliced inline between the filter, and faucet.

[PaulF]

Another update!

Saturday of last weekend was a BAD day. On Friday I had checked in on my garden and thought the tomato plants looked a little droopy. I didn't worry about it too much though. I came back late Saturday morning and found total devastation! All 3 plants were totally limp and falling over. I couldn't believe it. After looking things over for a few minutes I realized I couldn't hear any bubbling at all from my air pump. I lifted the lid on my tote with the tomato plants and saw no bubbles at all. In fact the only thing I could see were roots, EVERYWHERE. I finally fished out the air stone and it was completely wrapped in tomato roots. It was really quite amazing. The root systems had become so enormous that they actually completely covered and then blocked the air stone from putting any oxygen into the nutrient solution, unreal!

This is what greeted me on Saturday morning. Obviously dying tomato plants!



So after getting pretty upset at what had happened I made a trip to my local hydro store. Even though I live in the sticks I have really good hydroponic outlet only about 15 minutes away. The guy there gave me some great advice. I bought a fresh supply of GH nutrients and came home and did a full nutrient flush and change. I also added another air pump and 2 more stones. Long story longer, my plants came back to life and are kicking butt once more. The moral of this story, THE MORE O2 THE BETTER. Big plants need big amounts of oxygen. I dodged a bullet on this one. My hydro closet is back up and healthy again!

Here is something pretty cool. A fully ripe strawberry. Not very big, about the size of a walnut. But dang, it sure is pretty!



My cukes are just amazing. Two more weeks and I will harvest everything I have and make some pickles, I have got 6 really nice cukes going right now. I am going to make a batch of bread and butter chips. I think they are going to rock.





And finally some of my many Roma tomatoes that are coming on. Thank God I saved these plants. These tomatoes are growing at an astonishing rate. I can't wait to pick fresh tomatoes, from my basement, and slap them on a homemade pizza. How delicious does that sound?

[Twilly]

I have had the same problem with my tomatoes, and a shot of Hydrogen Peroxide brings them back quick...

[PaulF]

Back for another update!

First and foremost, PICKLES!

With the few cukes that grew I made a small batch of bread and butter chips. They came out really great!

My small harvest after being washed and sliced.



And the two jars of pickles ready to eat. There are onions and peppers in there as well. This was a good recipe though, very yummy!



The strawberry plants are beautiful but not putting out a ton of fruit. But what I have been getting has been delicious.



The lettuce is pretty well done at this point. It was great and without a doubt the easiest thing of the whole experiment to grow. It took NO effort at all. But the real story is the tomatoes. I have literally dozens of tomatoes growing now. Most about walnut size. But I am fertilizing new blossoms about every other day. The 3 plants drink an astonishing amount of water every day. But all I have to do is add some every couple of days and they take care of themselves.

Here is a little bunch of plum tomatoes. The plants are covered with these.



And finally a shot to show just how massive these plants have gotten. My disaster of a few weeks ago is nothing but a memory now. As usual the pics just don't do this justice. It is quite impressive in person!