Mini PPK system with pics of setup

[Rocketman64]

Don't ya love those folgers containers? I use those things for all kinds of stuff! Your build looks just like what I envisioned when I got interested in indoor growing. I finally realized I only really needed space for one or two plants so I scaled it back a bit.

 

[Rocketman64]

I did check those under bed storage tubs but I decided on this one because it was opaque and wouldn't let algae grow as easy. I do like the lower profile so maybe I'll just cut the tubs I have to 7 or so inches. Eventually, I'll need more headroom because one of my main goals is to get a 100% Sativa plant going. I really miss the sativas from back in the day. The weed these days just seems to have such a 'muddy' buzz to it. I really enjoy the high of good sativa- clean, crisp, no hangover from coming down. All I have to do is find a strain worthy of my efforts. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

 

[federal-inmate]

you can always primer it and paint it black I've done it before or cover it with reflectix or prodex

 

[Rocketman64]

dirt secret

dirt secret

I've been keeping my other grow under raps because I wanted to make sure I had something to show before I opened my mouth. This is far from scientific but....
I germinated two seeds of two different strains from the same dutch grower on the same day. Both seeds popped within 12 hours of each other. I knew I wanted to try PPK growing so I decided to put one in the mini PPK and one in my traditional organic soil- only with a twist. Knowing I wouldn't be able to tend to these plants for three days out the week, I had to come up with a way for the organic grow to be hands-free like the PPK. I decided on a passive wicking system.
The planter sits over a small bucket filled with nutrient water. The planter has a 6" wick made of rolled up microfiber towel. 3" of the wick is in the pot and 3" is in the nutrient solution. The soil itself is the same organic mixture I use on my outdoor grows- my own compost, ground pumice and a little peat. Lighting and light schedule for these plants is identical.
Well, I guess I have to admit the organic grow is blowing away the PPK at this point. Obviously, with two different strains it's far from a fair comparison but the results thus far are undeniable. The passive wick system is keeping the perched water table out of the planter and the soil is perfectly moist. I have never top watered this plant from day one. I give it a foliar spray of plain water once a week.
The only other big difference in the way these have been handled is the organic grow has been undergoing brutal training from day one. I've been pinning this thing down hard-core since it had the first set of leaves. The results are amazing- it keeps spitting out new shoots damn near every day.
I trained the Shackzilla in the PPK in the beginning but it didn't seem to respond very well so I let it be. The training stunted the plant and to this day has not grown very tall at all.
So, what does this prove? Not a damn thing!! Just thought I would share my other plant with the ICM folks.

One on the left is Killing Fields- on the right is Shackzilla. Both were tiny little plants and both had me wondering if they would make it. These were taken on Oct. 19.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/attachment.php?attachmentid=246811
Two pics of the Killing Fields as of Dec.7.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/attachment.php?attachmentid=246501
One pic of Shackzilla from a couple days ago.

Hats off to ******'s Seeds- two fem seeds, two germinations and two healthy plants, worth every penny. BTW, both were planted in the same size planter, both with MicroKote lining.
Take it for what it's worth, I found it to be a fun and interesting experiment (if you want to call it that) in how two different methods of growing perform. I'm happy with both.

 

[Rocketman64]

fail

fail

I had to ditch the mini PPK for the Shackzilla plant as of 12/18/13. Literally overnight the plant just tanked, not sure why. Everything went limp almost to the point of death. Checked everything I knew how to check- PPm, PH, temps, pump flow, drainage times, etc... Everything checked out great, dumped batch of nutrient solution and started over. Gave it another 36 hours to show some signs of improvement and didn't get it, the girl continued to spiral downhill. Can't for the life of me figure out what the hell happened.
I yanked it from the planter and cleaned off the root ball for examination. I was surprised to see how healthy the root zone looked, lots of nice, super-fine roots fairly well distributed. All the roots were soft and pliable, didn't find any that had hardened.
After seeing the roots looking okay I decided to throw it in a pot of soil and leave it alone for a couple days. The very next day she perked right up and began to show signs of thrive. There's been some vegetative destruction as some of the lower branches and leaves just gave up and died. The canopy of the plant is standing up now and appears to be a nicer lighter green color.
We'll see how she holds up in the soil as she enters into the second week of flower. This should be interesting, curious to see how delayed the flowering process is as a result of the major stress.

 

[Garhart]

Hats off for your efforts.Thank you so much for what you have documented. I have no way of knowing what the 'average' grow is, but I am pretty sure it looks a lot more like this than many of the large multi light grows.

 

[Rocketman64]

Thanks for your interest Gar, appreciate the comments. I haven't given up on this thing yet, still have a big interest in the PPK system. After my first failure and lots of reading I decided the problem with the setup was drainage and watering intervals. I get the feeling the media wasn't draining fast enough and the watering intervals were too short. This is evident by the curving under of the leaves indicating too much watering. I think my nute concentrations were spot-on so I won't change that. PH and temp of the solution also will be tweaked for my next go. I'm going to make some updates to this system and try again.

 

[leadbyexample52]

Volunteers for the ppk army always welcomed Love to see the info uglydog and sweet pics rocketman it's nice to see something start so small in the ppk I have just been taking em out the cloner with thease long roots.... keep up the good work

 

[leadbyexample52]

Shoot....sorry bro.... I got root rot because my tail pieces were to small... it helps if there like 3inches rather than 1 and a half... fast drain time is key....but u don't have to flood if you don't want...you can just pulse feed more often so it stays wet it's worked great for me.. on another note I like to slowly steer the ppm up to about 1000 when there in full flower but if their smaller 600 to 700 is probley cool....I'm glad to here you still want to rock the ppk don't give up were all rooting for ya

 

[Rocketman64]

Here's the same Shackzilla plant almost six months later in late stages of bloom. This has been flowering since Jan 17. Notice the damn thing is still spitting out new blooms. Some of the trichs have gone amber but for the most part, it still looks like it needs a week or two. The main stem on this thing is just huge. I'm guessing it has a good ounce and a half worth of bud, maybe more. This should be some good smoke.

 

[leadbyexample52]

Nice looks frosty