Bruce Bugbee Series - Nutrient Absorption Rate in DWC

Dr. Bruce Bugbee discusses the varying rates of nutrient absorption in hydroponics, emphasizing that nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and manganese are quickly absorbed by plants, while calcium is passively absorbed over time. Dr. Bugbee tells us what is recommended to manage nutrient levels and maintain a balanced solution to ensure optimal plant growth.
The Dr. Bruce Bugbee Series can be found on all of Athena's social media channels.
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About Dr. Bruce Bugbee:
Dr. Bruce Bugbee is an American scientist with a prestigious educational and research background with degrees from the University of Minnesota (Bachelor of Science), University of California, Davis (Master of Science), and Penn State University (Ph.D.). His work includes research into space farming with NASA to help develop regenerative life support systems. He and his students developed a dwarf variety of wheat that has been used in several studies on the Space Station, and he is currently working with NASA to study the use of fiber optics for growing plants in space.
After 34-years Dr, Bugbee is still located at Utah State University, where he is the Director of the Crop Physiology Laboratory. Athena is proud to be partnering with him in our pursuit of commitment; to never stop innovating. Innovation distinguishes a leader from a follower. Partnering with Dr. Bruce Bugbee at Utah State University allows Athena access to a team of research analysts running trials for various studies. Results to further develop better products and more consistent methods of cultivating the plant we all love.

[@theeflake]

Dr Bruce Bugbee has quickly become a modern hero to me. The knowledge he's passed on to us these last few years has been priceless.

[@roahe]

I agree could't of said it better myself. Many Jedi Master's, yet only few sit on the Council.

[@shaunseepersad4759]

Only 4 weeks left till we get the rest of the videos and finally can watch this entire series start to finish without waiting a week to get the next 5 minutes ❤️

[@easygrows2699]

Please Doctor Bugbee, more of these Videos on DWC. Thank you so much for your teachings, they are a blessing, still learning new things in every single Video i see from you, and that after two decades of Gardening and a decade of it being Cannabis in DWC.

[@anguilla1670]

Thanks for the education...again! Love this episode! I've been looking for this level of dwc/rdwc information forever

[@DJTHRILLER]

I can’t handle this music anymore jk 😆

[@teknacious]

Haha

[@kushismycologne3264]

Like button for all that grow in dwc/rdwc

[@ChadAF_YT]

Guys you don’t need fancy everything to do science. I’m dipping a couple of my individual flowers in h2o2 just because, in case I have bud rot/mold issues in the future, just to see how it affects trichomes/resin production after finish. You can try stuff too. All the room controllers come with data loggers now. I forgot to add thank you dr bugsbee for all the research you do for us and discuss with us on here!

[@meghrichedzW]

Thanks Mr Bugbee you save my Harvest 🏆 For the first Time i test 5 days with my 450W LED ON before Harvest i never had a weed like that, i test one Bud and 5 days After the lights on, it's not the same all my girls are black Purple pink green and shine and the terps are absolutely Amazing Wedding cake x Gelato33 x Tina Amazing strain full frosty 100% leaves are frosty Stay Safe Peace 🤙

[@leonjohnson1370]

The background music is awful for me to try and listen to you Dr. Bugbee. You don't need need any background noise in class. Great info.

[@christittle1131]

Man these videos really help thanks for all your hard work

[@francisjackson5613]

Great knowledge given but didn’t really answer the question with a straight answer just widen the question with another question how strong should the nutrient strength be then at what EC or ppms is sufficient and then how often to change out water when this solution will be unstable or out of balance?

[@KushMountains]

It’s because Bruce wants you to sign up for his schooling so you actually get the answer. Listen to his podcasts he gets in depth.

[@brian420pm]

I'm sure any DWC system can be fine tuned to find a workable range of balance/imbalance based on variables unique to each grow... EC, feed frequency, reservoir size, gph demand, etc. I could see this working with two reservoirs, one main one elevated and holds a week worth of nutrients, gravity feeds into a smaller container that you circulate to your plants. To refresh the smaller container you set a pump to drain it every 1 or 2 days... boom you got the freshest DWC I can imagine for the cost of a couple pumps and timers. Water your outdoor garden with the drain pump! hmm, my goodness that all sounds appealing ;) 🙏

[@marcelgroothuis1233]

thanks for the video, how does this affect reservoir changes?

[@barcaisbest10]

I’m wondering if the absorption in Dwc is so fast, would weekly res changes be counterproductive?

[@brian420pm]

Yeah apparently so, I often wondered about this and now we know that a week is way too long to wait, your plant growth will suffer.... more work, more automation, pick your poison. I feed a 2 x 4 with a 30 gallon res and mix once a week. 🙏

[@kushismycologne3264]

Next time can you speak about the dissolved oxygen-ec ratios.

[@michaelfann2289]

More videos, less music please!

[@toneg3768]

Can this understanding of nutrients be applied to soil?

[@user-hq8nm6pr8x]

no

[@melange78]

I have just realized that sativa dominants absorb less nutrients per root volume than indica dominants in soil or mixed soil and coco medium. Does this apply in DWC as well or is it different because the root volume isn't limited by the pot size?

[@smokerzchoise]

do you >> have

[@meghrichedzW]

For the best quality What IS the best soil? living soil, hydroponie dwc or coco? Thanks so

[@athenacultivation]

Rockwool, Hydrotron, Soil, Coco, DWC, Pro-Mix, Sunshine, Perlite. Many of these are personal presence. We usually recommend an inert media. Inert mediums are mediums without any nutrient value. This kind of reminds me of R/O water. We strip the water down of all its properties so we know exactly what’s in it. Inert mediums have no nutrient values. The reason why we recommend inert mediums is because we cultivate a high-value crop at scale, that is highly regulated and tested, where perfect balance in the root zone is crucial. It’s important to know exactly what’s in our root zone, inert mediums give you this ability.

[@gregorysheldon2462]

If I’m going to make oil from my cannabis do I need to dry and cure it first?

[@TG.34295]

🤘

[@wcrider]

So, What is the EC i should use in DWC with athena pro line ? Thx a lot.

[@darrenb763]

Following Athena's book is what I have been doing and I have had great success.

[@athenacultivation]

We recommend starting off with half strength nutrients in DWC systems.

[@stevenlee2202]

Does that mean that my coco is full of calmag and I dont need to keep adding it?

[@Est_76]

Does this apply to rdwc as well?

[@HotSpotStudios]

Of course

[@Rizik1986]

Using 5 gallon buckets with 6 inch netpots, i can get at max, 4 gallons in the bucket before the water is at the bottom of the netpot. The first few weeks from seed, it will hardly use much water or nutes. Just add water when it does go down. 2 weeks max, about when ur offically out of seedling and into veg, bump up, in the same water and bucket, to say 800 ppm from where ever its at now from around 400 at seedling. Just add water and watch the plant. Look for pistols if auto or flip light for flower if photo. I feed once more before flower, and same water and nutes, but add more to get around 1,200 ppm. Once you are offically in flower, maybe a few days in, mix in flower nutes, in the same bucket with same water. Ppm could be around 1,500 or more. By the end of flower, 1 final feed 2 weeks before flush, ppm 1,800 in same bucket with same water and nutes. Flush is the only time i dump a bucket. Never becomes unbalanced as its basically 5 or 6 feedings its entire cycle in 90 or so days. In my first ever 5 plants, ive harvested 3 lbs dry.

[@kushismycologne3264]

You do realise current culture h20 has a feeding chart right. Your Ppm/ec recommendations have no dissolved oxygen ratio. The ppm in rdwc depends on the DO value, the more do the less ppm. If you use 800 ppm 3rd week of veg you would fry your plants in the current culture system at that 30-35 DO

[@Rizik1986]

@kushismycologne3264 Well, that is 1 less mistake I will need to make to learn! I appreciate the feedback. I currently do dwc and figured most of it will translate to rdwc. I have air pump and air stones running in dwc and absolutely will when I start rdwc. I wanted to build "waterfall-ponics" for extra splashing but read that the undercurrent rdwc system is probably superior. Thanks again for the help! 🇺🇲🍀🙏

[@RookieBuds]

I only ever hear about DEEP water culture, maybe a dumb question but is there a such thing as SHALLOW water culture (SWC)? Just wondering why it's always specified as "deep"?

[@dannyarmata8878]

Kind of it's really old school they called it bubbleponics it just doesn't work good

[@MH-lb3vw]

"Deep" because all the roots are completely under the water surface ("deep")

[@tommerisia4565]

I suppose Nutrient film technique fits the bill?

[@sierrakilogulf]

NFT would essentially be what you're describing

[@regularSenseAppeal]

"if you irrigate with nutrient solution every time"... In DWC there is no irrigation! How to deal with this mismatch in rates is unclear. Most try to maintain a steady EC of say 1.2. This video suggest that it is impossible to keep nutrients balanced in the (R)DWC solution as any NPKMg dosed into the solution is rapidly absorbed and the slow nutes just build up in the solution over time. Most will use an A+B type nutrient, and can't just change ratios on the fly.

[@superkillr]

Wow, this throws alot of bro-science right in the trash. Very few people have the resources to find out if they are over feeding or under-feeding. It's absolutely possible a plant can look great, but be too "full" of an element to be "healthy". Based on this video, my dog would blow up from food intake. Kinda funny considering Athena is known to REALLLY push the PPM's. I bet they all have fat dogs with cardiovascular disease.

[@dannyarmata8878]

3 EC is really not a lot unless you don't know how to water properly and let it dry back way too much check the runoff of some healthy soil like ocean forest it'll probably be around 3EC

[@lnc5391]

you think that you got it , but really you haven't ... Watch again and listen to the final statement,"just put on the right feed and stick to the fucking program"... why ? because the scientist knows the shit they're cooking, and you just in a embarrassing way trying to hide your hate to athena and most certainly envide the pros that using it cause they harvest real diamonds , diamonds that actually win cannabis cups around the world and have the best results in laboratory tests

[@superkillr]

@@dannyarmata8878 Soil and synthetic share nothing when it comes to what Bugbee is saying.

[@anguilla1670]

I run .9-1 ec in rdwc. I couldnt imagine running 3 ec. I have a 35 gallon capacity system and simply top off with 5 gallon s of regular strength solution when necessary and do a complete change for each stage of growth. NOT quite the small doses Dr. Bugbee instructs us to do but I think its the same idea.

[@jasontran4525]

​@@dannyarmata8878 The ocean is actually crazy high. 50,000ec