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Mothers and DWC?

Y

yamaha_1fan

I have never done DWC before but I need to keep 5-6 mothers happy and want something simple and easy for them. I know there seems to be several variations of the DWC method.

Can some explain it a little more in detail? Do I just need to keep them in water and pump a bunch of air in to them? I want to use something like the chest below. I have a couple of storage bins that look just like that and are hard, thick plastic. I figure I could put 5-6 net pots through the lid, put some plumbing in and be golden. Besides hydroton in the net pots, do I need anything else?

Do the roots sit in the water? What about when they are young and the roots are small? Do you just keep it filled high enough to soak the bottoms of the pots?


 

Waytek

New member
I am also mothering 2 in DWC for the first time... I am using the black 5 gallon buckets w/ the net lids and hydroton but I keep getting mixed answers.... I am using the Lucas formula with GH nutes at 1/2 strength with my 2 babies... 1 has done OK but is starting to wilt a little, the other is almost dead.... I have the water level high... High enough to where you can just feel the moisture at the bottom of your finger when you poke it down as deep as the bottom of the starter plug.... I have great bubble action and tried lowering the water level to save the one that was dying but it did not help... the plug dried out and I went back to the higher water level. PH is at 6.0. I could post pics if it would help.... I would definately be grateful for any suggestions/feedback... Thanks!
 

big bang

Member
the only bad thing about keeping mothers in DWC is they grow so fast.. i have to trim mine back at least once a week even though i'm using 1/4 strength nutes and they're only under like 40w of CFL's.

anyways.. you pretty much just cut holes in the lid of any container and drop net pots in and that's basically it. put some kind of airstone in the bottom. when they're young, keep the water level high (up to the bottom of the net pots). once the roots have grown down into the water lower it about an inch. the roots just sit in the water, they're fine as long as it's aerated.

i keep 4 mothers and 6 vegging clones in a tiny 1 gallon container and they do great.
 
Hey guys, I keep my moms in a SWC (shallow water culture) with very low head height. Check out these pictures:


They are in a home made work bench, I generally keep the mothers around 8" above the Rubbermaid lid level. I've had mothers in there for years now and they seem to do well with proper maintenance. I keep the nute strenght very low and use a single 40w florescent light for the mother and clone SWC.
Keeping the plants compact:
  • Use neoprene collars rather than netpots and hydroton so you can lower clone into water over time.
  • Trimming roots to keep the plant at a set total length (including roots)
  • Trim lower branches away as you use for clones or as needed to reduce plant height
  • Trim all branches at the first node unless you need clones - reduces plant width
  • Keep plant in a single main column to enable lowering into water

When the plant is pushed down into the SWC the plant will produce roots out of the area freshly exposed to water. By trimming the bottom of the root mass to a certain length, you will find the procedure keeps the plant exactly the same size for long periods without the need to replace the plant.
I change the water about every week in the summer.
Lower temperatures in the winter will pretty much stop the growth and water changes are only needed every month or so. Watch out for algae.
If you need to produce more clones on a single mom, you can pull her out and throw her into a veg cabinet and replace her with one of the clones.
Good luck gentlemen,
HIDEyourBUD
 

Waytek

New member
Thanks HideYourBud for a most informative and descriptive response.... I learned a lot and appreciate it!
 
G

Guest

Mothers in dwc are sometimes not the best if you have to ever move as well :)
 
E

eLiguL

Waytek:

You may want to read over Lucas thread again. I took some quotes from it that might help with your situation.

"I suggest General Hydro nutes at

12" tall clones with well developed root systems
0grow-8micro-16bloom in milliliters per gallon as the mix for established

For smaller plants and newly rooted clones I suggest 0-5-10."

Half strength of his formula doesnt provide the proper nutes for your babies, or at least thats what I gather from reading his thread.
 
It's a weed man! Most strains can take a lot of abuse. As an example, my first hydro grow was on sponges using MG liquid fert and a hand full of soil thrown into the bottom of the res.
Don't starve, don't over feed, don't let the water run out. Only use a PH stabilizing nutrient such as Pure Blend Pro or FloraNova so you don't have to deal with drastic PH swings which WILL kill your plants.
Troubleshooting:
If your plants start to look like shit, replace the water and nutes and give them a little bit of light.
Good luck!
 

chosen

Active member
Veteran
I know that Toka.... from OG use to use it for mums sometimes. I love it... I even play with wicks from time to time when I'm not running aero.
 

smoke1sun

What Goes Around Comes Around. But Am I Comming Or
Veteran
Bignugget said:
I keep my moms in DWC but I run into the same problem stated above that they do grow rather quickly, I feed 1/8 strength and keep them under 60w of fluros and have had the same mom for upwards of a year with no troubles. I sectioned my res off with some screens so that water was still circulating but the roots of the moms stayed untangled.

HTH

Bignugget

Got some pics of your moms and the screen you use?
 

rastagrass

Member
i had a dwc system last year and kept my water about 1 inch when they were small and about 2-3 inches when they got bigger.
 
G

Guest

mothers in dwc are PERRFECT if you're running a perpetual SOG grow or something. Other than that you might not need hydro if you're only pulling a few cuts a month. I had a pair of 12" tall moms in dwc pumping out 25-50 clones every 2 weeks if i needed (which i never did). i personally love how moms grow in dwc........as soon as you cut off a clone you wait 3 days and you have 2-3 more to replace it. :)

like slips said though, moms in dwc can be tricky if you move to a point..........but really all you have to do is take a cut a month earlier and start it in soil so it has a few weeks to root and get a lil stronger.

i was using full strength lucas veg formula of 0-5-10 (grow-micro-bloom) with GH nutes. there was a bit too much nitrogen in that though........my rooting would take forever
 
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