DWC - Aerate those roots!

Deep Water Culture (DWC) is one of the simplest methods of growing hydroponically because there’s no timer to set and no chance of under or overwatering, as long as you don’t let the grow system run out of nutrient solution you can be pretty certain of a huge crop!

DWC Systems include an air pump and air stone which mix the nutrient and create a constant stream of bubbles. The roots hang down into these bubbles so they have unrestricted access to both oxygen and water, meaning plants can absorb what they need when they need it.  The water never becomes stagnant so there is almost zero possibility of root diseases such as Pythium. Growing bliss!

Oxygen is essential for root health, without it they can’t survive, give more of it and they thrive. Remember that we said roots hang into the bubbles? Without constant access to oxygen those submerged roots would rot and die – but when bubbles (by their very nature these are oxygen rich) are constantly provided to the root zone growth is incredible, DWC is known for producing some of the biggest yields in a single plant!

Growers using Deep Water Culture hydroponic systems also benefit from using less growing media, just a handful of pebbles are used per plant and their purpose is to hold the plant upright.  

Now onto which nutrients to choose for DWC hydroponics. High bubbling intensity can cause pH to change rapidly so here at Plant Magic we’ve develop a DWC nutrient specifically to be pH stable in the highly oxygenated environment of a DWC system.

Plant Magic DWC base nutrient contains all the trace elements as chelates to keep them soluble and available to the plant, it ensures exceptionally fast growth and huge crops.

In DWC systems such as the Oxypot the solution remains in the root chamber until either the grower remixes it manually or by using a timer, meaning that a pH stable nutrient is invaluable.