RamCTD1027
Member
In the upper left hand corner of your picture, I see two (maybe 3) red hoses into PVC....did you just drill holes with a step drill and jam the hose into the PVC? That is exactly what I'm interested in.
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a ppk for a 6 plant limit
- Thread starter delta9nxs
- Start date
In the upper left hand corner of your picture, I see two (maybe 3) red hoses into PVC....did you just drill holes with a step drill and jam the hose into the PVC? That is exactly what I'm interested in.
it's actually very easy to move them. it's just that you would have to change your set up slightly and transition to transplanting rooted clones into the main grow containers earlier and veg in them instead of the dwc set up. when you get to flip they will already be well established.
i ran perpetual for many years. my wife and i moved huge plants into flower from the dedicated veg room. typically 3.5-4 feet in all dimensions.
ram, this is my old flower room. the connections at the pipes were made by drilling and tapping the pipe. it's too much trouble. it's far easier and faster to buy T's with a 1/2" threaded port for the hose barbs.
- The PPK is too boring
- My plants are too big to move
- I've got way too much weed to trim in any reasonable amount of time.
I'm about to just give up. These 1st world problems are starting to pile up.
you did what? without telling me! no pics! no thread! nothing! i'm sending guido and the boys over!
- The PPK is too boring
- My plants are too big to move
- I've got way too much weed to trim in any reasonable amount of time.
I'm about to just give up. These 1st world problems are starting to pile up.
i cannot thank you all enough for believing in this very un-conventional device. it takes courage to commit time and resources to something un-tried.
you have all made a huge difference in our lives. thank you!
Ttystikk
Member
Lol, yeah, yeah... I'm only moving from veg to bloom.
How early do I need to transplant? This is encouraging. As it is, I transplant into 4" cups and then into netpot bucket lids. Subbing the PPK in could work, space permitting...
- The PPK is too boring
- My plants are too big to move
- I've got way too much weed to trim in any reasonable amount of time.
I'm about to just give up. These 1st world problems are starting to pile up.
Oh! Another one! Wise guys, eh?!
I appreciate all of your effort- it's clear you've gone to plenty of it. So these do okay for vertical grows, right?
gregor_mendel
Active member
Brilliant!
Brilliant!
After seeing this pic, I tried that connection with some fittings I have. I prefer this connection to that of the barbs, because it seems just as watertight, but much easier to disconnect. I have to cut the hose to remove it from the barbs, which wastes hose and is unnecessarily dangerous.
I am part way through a build, and will use this connection on the rest of the system.
Brilliant!
After seeing this pic, I tried that connection with some fittings I have. I prefer this connection to that of the barbs, because it seems just as watertight, but much easier to disconnect. I have to cut the hose to remove it from the barbs, which wastes hose and is unnecessarily dangerous.
I am part way through a build, and will use this connection on the rest of the system.
Lol, yeah, yeah... I'm only moving from veg to bloom.
How early do I need to transplant? This is encouraging. As it is, I transplant into 4" cups and then into netpot bucket lids. Subbing the PPK in could work, space permitting...
Oh! Another one! Wise guys, eh?!
I appreciate all of your effort- it's clear you've gone to plenty of it. So these do okay for vertical grows, right?
i would transplant from the 4"cups directly into the final grow container.
a lot of folks are using vertical lighting but we've got flat scrog artist and microgrowers too.
it would even be possible to sog with a ppk bed. i can see a bed with a de bulb over it producing really well.
Ttystikk
Member
Straightforward enough, I just need to time it so I have space for the containers. Thanks, gonna keep planning here.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=292102&page=36
i like to start them in something like this. as soon as visible roots appear at the sidewall they are moved, still in these containers, to a power vegging area that has 600 ppm solution and hid lighting.
once they are heavily rooted and hardened off they can be transplanted to the final container, still in the power vegging area, and grown to size for the flip.
so i had a cloning area, a power vegging area, and the flower room all running perpetual with plants a week apart.
i took two cuttings per week and threw one away every week.
they would stay in the cloner approx 2 weeks, the power vegging area in these same containers for approx 2 weeks, and then vegging 6-7 weeks to get 2+ lb plants regularly.
some folks here are vegging approx 4 weeks to get 2 pounders using more powerful lighting than i had in my old place.
the really large plants are being vegged 7-8 weeks. 3+ plants.
so i took some of the pumice from my friends pile that he had screened over aluminum window screen and washed.
i checked it for air filled porosity and got approx 40%, which is a lot. possibly too much.
i then dried it completely by cooking it at 350f for 3 hours in a pyrex dish.
it was put into a 20 oz clear soft drink bottle with a 1/8" hole drilled in the top and another in the bottom.
put into a pan of water 1/4" deep top down. and left for several days.
slowly but surely the water rose until at approx 3 days, it was at the top.
this was 7". it possibly would have gone more but was looking dry on top of the top pieces and did not continue to wet them.
so we have a minimum capillary rise capability of 7". this equals prepared turface with an air filled porosity of approx 35%.
i also weighed the dry material before the capillarity test and got 165 grams for the 18 oz sample used.
upon the finish of the test i weighed it full of water and got 335 grams so it held slightly more than it's own weight in water, which is about equal to prepared turface. but one thing to remember is that turface has a much greater bulk density and therefore would still hold more total water per volume.
how much is plant available in either case is another test.
the bulk density of turface is about 35 lbs per cu ft and pumice is about 25 lbs per cu ft so five gals of dry prepared pumice should weigh approx 12.921 lbs and filled with water should weigh approx 26 lbs.
a five gal container of turface will weigh about 46.72 lbs wet.
pumice is easier on the back for sure!
turface has a cation exchange capacity of approx 32 meq/l while pumice has 72 meq/l. coco by comparison has a 70% plus cec and we know this can cause initial issues as it is satisfied so it's possible pumice has cec issues too but no one is reporting it.
if so a good soak in jack's at around ec 2 should fix it.
i checked it for air filled porosity and got approx 40%, which is a lot. possibly too much.
i then dried it completely by cooking it at 350f for 3 hours in a pyrex dish.
it was put into a 20 oz clear soft drink bottle with a 1/8" hole drilled in the top and another in the bottom.
put into a pan of water 1/4" deep top down. and left for several days.
slowly but surely the water rose until at approx 3 days, it was at the top.
this was 7". it possibly would have gone more but was looking dry on top of the top pieces and did not continue to wet them.
so we have a minimum capillary rise capability of 7". this equals prepared turface with an air filled porosity of approx 35%.
i also weighed the dry material before the capillarity test and got 165 grams for the 18 oz sample used.
upon the finish of the test i weighed it full of water and got 335 grams so it held slightly more than it's own weight in water, which is about equal to prepared turface. but one thing to remember is that turface has a much greater bulk density and therefore would still hold more total water per volume.
how much is plant available in either case is another test.
the bulk density of turface is about 35 lbs per cu ft and pumice is about 25 lbs per cu ft so five gals of dry prepared pumice should weigh approx 12.921 lbs and filled with water should weigh approx 26 lbs.
a five gal container of turface will weigh about 46.72 lbs wet.
pumice is easier on the back for sure!
turface has a cation exchange capacity of approx 32 meq/l while pumice has 72 meq/l. coco by comparison has a 70% plus cec and we know this can cause initial issues as it is satisfied so it's possible pumice has cec issues too but no one is reporting it.
if so a good soak in jack's at around ec 2 should fix it.
Miraculous Meds
Well-known member
Great work on the pumice testing d9. thank u for ur efforts and sharing ur findings. Is pumice a landscape rock?
yes, and it's used in a lot of industrial applications in powder form. it's added to concrete to lighten it.
the deposits for it in the us are in oregon, cali, arizona and new mexico so if you live in one of these places it's probably readily available at landscaping places.
i don't know where you would find it elsewhere. in Tn i couldn't get it.
but this is just another choice of medium for the ppk. i think people should look for what is available locally.
i think perlite amended with coco fiber would work also and now almost everyone is within range of a grow store.
possibly red lava rock (scoria) if you get particles under 3/8". i bought a big pile of larger size rocks once and tried to break it up with a sledge hammer and all i got was sore.
it would need amending with coco fiber as well.
and i have a very reliable report that someone here has pulled off a successful grow using hydroton. i think it would need amending too to drive down the air filled porosity and increase capillarity.
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/nursery-weeds/presentations/nw_ag_phys.pdf
this is a nice little presentation. it discusses pumice but, more importantly, it also discusses particle size distribution and the perched water table.
it will help new folks understand the ppk.
the overall mechanical properties of a medium are more important than the composition of the substances individually. as long as they are not toxic.
this is a nice little presentation. it discusses pumice but, more importantly, it also discusses particle size distribution and the perched water table.
it will help new folks understand the ppk.
the overall mechanical properties of a medium are more important than the composition of the substances individually. as long as they are not toxic.
im happier than ever to have started using PPK, cant thank YOU enough for bringing this style of grow to the attention of this community!!
I am forced into flat gardening for the time being so i run these in scrog, but still yield greater than the many other methods i have done in the past 20+ years.
To do a full grow, that'd be allot of baking and a big dish.
good morning! i don't bake the stuff for growing. i just baked a small sample for testing to make sure it was absolutely dry. although 3-4 hours at 165f would be a great de-louser!
