DWC babies have grown up!

It has been almost three weeks now since the last post. I have only let the system run in peace, two weeks ago I added another 25 ml each of Gold Label A and B. My beans are showing some spots on the leaves which I think is a sign of too little nutrients. I realized I will not be able to guesstimate the amount of nutrients needed all the time so I ordered myself an EC meter from eBay. The EC meter is called HM Digital COM-80 and I got it for $40 and another $12 for shipping.

HM Digital COM-80 EC meter

This meter can measure the electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS) and the water temperature. It can measure EC in µS and mS, TDS in ppm and ppt. Fancy. I hope I don't have to care about all of this. I found a chart of different desired ppm levels for different plants so this is the only measurement I care about at the moment.

Measuring the ppm of the nutrient water

Deep Water Culture up and running

It's time to get the DWC system up and running! It has been long overdue considering my beans have been ready to go into the DWC system for over a week. However, I waited until my other seedlings were ready to go.


After almost two weeks since last picture

Much have happened in this box in two weeks. Two weeks ago I made this post.
Sadly the Buttercrunch lettuce did not sprout but everything else did.

No soil is going into the DWC system so the soil was carefully washed away from each plant. The plants were then "planted" into a net cup together with clay pellets which will hold the plant in place. In hindsight it might have been easier/better to try to grow the seedlings in rockwool instead of soil.

Deep Water Culture

I'm starting with a Deep Water Culture (DWC) system since it's fairly simple to get started with, I think. DWC is a hydroponic method of plant production by means of suspending the plant roots in a solution of nutrient-rich, oxygenated water.

My DWC system will consist of:

• Bucket (food grade)
• Air curtain
• Air pump
• Silicone air hose
• Net pots
• Clay pellets
• Nutrients
• Check valve

Unfortunately the only food grade bucket I could find was transparent. This is not good for a hydroponic system since it will not block off sunlight from the water and nutrients solution. This will cause algae to start growing inside the bucket. To avoid this I will also use spray paint to paint the outside of the bucket and the lid.

Parts for my DWC system