a ppk for a 6 plant limit

[Oysters]

...she started showing signs of general pissed offedness...huge and angry.

Little Shop of Horrors...FEED ME!

 

[The breed]

nice

 

[Mr Blah]

Holly shit!!!!
I can't wait to get mine all set and kill it like you guys are.

 

[Snook]

Disaster, Will Robinson! So, lesson learned here: you can outgrow your ppk site. I was wondering how long I could go in a seven gallon pot. Now I know. So today, after she started showing signs of general pissed offedness, I transplanted her into a 15 gallon tub of the same manufacturer and shape. Just a scaled up version. Shaved the root ball on all sides except the top, and we're back in business. We'll see if she turns around. This is what happens when you neglect a plant for months at a time. They get huge and angry.

(For reference, that big kid under there is 5'9" 225 lbs)

That's some plant 8tor.. how may I ask did you get that bitch out of the 'tub' to trim the roots?? seems the support 'fencing' would make that very difficult.
You two have a tripod winch set-up for such happenings??

 

[delta9nxs]

That's some plant 8tor.. how may I ask did you get that bitch out of the 'tub' to trim the roots?? seems the support 'fencing' would make that very difficult.
You two have a tripod winch set-up for such happenings??

we use a chain hoist like for swapping motors in a car.

 

[av8or]

This here is the latest ppk hoist. It says I'll lift 20 tons but I've personally watched D9 pick up a 28 ton Plushberry so I'd say every indoor ppk grower should have one. Surely makes things easier on the back.

 

[av8or]

For real-life applications, I just have two people grab the base of the trunk (no longer a stem when it's bigger than your forearm) and use leverage leaning off their elbows in a seated position as if you were sitting in a chair. Use your ass weight to leverage your forearms to pop the plant out. It's actually pretty easy. As for the cage, I left everything in place and accepted a momentary bend in the laterals as I popped the plant up. She doesn't seem to care about that. I've seen videos of Subcool blasting his rooms with compressed air to bend his plants up and this was way less invasive than that.

With the weather warming up quickly this season, I'm half tempted to toss her outside in a couple weeks instead of flowering her inside now. Decisions decisions. She'll need to recover before I do any more transplanting though.

 

[Snook]

Sucha delema.

 

[Oysters]

...drilled 4 small holes about an inch and a half down the wick, I did tape some screen across those holes but thinking the screen isn't necessary. Just harvested those plants and GD! the few roots that started down, stopped down the tail piece maybe an inch below the holes, from there down, turface and maybe 3-5 hair sized roots that never did make it to the bottom. granted it has only been done once...

Did it work again?

My 3" tailpiece was packed at the end of my grow and would like to give this a try if it's working for you.

 

[Snook]

Did it work again?

My 3" tailpiece was packed at the end of my grow and would like to give this a try if it's working for you.

Here you go O. As you can see there is no root 'dick' hanging off the bottom of the root ball (3 gallons of turface). This one had only 2 holes drilled about 2" down from the bottom of the PPK, this one had some roots reach the bottom of the wick (very few) and that slugy looking piece (pic) was taken from about where the holes are/were. The next to harvest PPK has 4 (as I remember) holes drilled as far up the wick as possible. I will tell you about it in the next few days but all in all, "I" have nothing to loose by drilling what I'll call air pruning holes in the tailpiece and will continue the practice. Its cheap and 2 for 2 with little roots, I'm encouraged.

 

[gmanwho]

nice roots snook!! been having some clogging issues myself. last build i put 2 1/4in holes in the bottom of the ppk buckets near the tail piece. gonna try another 2or 4 holes on the tail piece like you did.

some clog faster then others. still trying to pin point why. i mean i know roots, or small turface sediment is most likely the cause. but when you have a room of 20 clones/buckets all the same age. turface thats been reused a couple times, and all the buckets are the same design, then you get that 2 or 3 that are a problem.

then the other bucket next to it you could flood for 10 mins an it would not over flow. but this problem one overflows in a minute an 30 seconds. im like hummmmmmmm..

bsafe

 

[Oysters]

Here you go O.

Thanks for the update. Hope the third time is also the charm...look forward to the news.

This does look a nice easy solution to clogging. I also had drilled holes in the top pot, so I was getting pretty good drainage but it definitely took longer and longer as the end drew near. One of those holes did have a root growing through it but three did not.

 

[RamCTD1027]

Feel free to mock my amazing drawing skills.

Pictured is a diagram showing the flow operation. At least I hope it does. Mix your nutes in the typical bulk/stock tank but ensure that it's elevated as DHF suggested. I use a Goodyear or continental rubber hose to go from the stock tank to each line of ppk sites. From there you put a threaded male 1/2" hose barb in it with a 1/2" pvc threaded cap attached. Drill a hole in the cap and pop a 1/4" vinyl tube in. From there, Daisy chain each bucket site with the same 1/4" tube. You can use the quick disconnect push fittings to T the 1/4" feed line coming.off the Goodyear hose to plum the successive three bucket sites or you can T the Goodyear hose. That's up to the builder. I use the Goodyear hose because I'm dealing with larger plants and a lot of them so they demand a large flow of water. Smaller systems can get by with just the 1/4" tubing throughout. We have a couple 8 plant rooms that don't use hose and instead only use 1/4" tube. Anything 12 sites and above seem more suited for a larger diameter feed line, hence the hose.

Did that clear things up?

How's it going av8or?

How are you making out with this revision of the system? I just tore my room completely down for spring cleaning and it's now time to rebuild. Before tear down, I had 1.5" PVC manifolds running around the perimeter of the room, one for feed and one for drain. I do notice the shortcoming of that design with uneven air gaps due to sloping floors. I am leaning towards rebuilding the system with individual plant modules pictured here. I plan to use Goodyear/Continental hose for the feed lines, however, I am curious how you are interconnecting the three buckets together. You mention 1/4" vinyl tubing. Are you drilling undersized holes and jamming the hose in for a compression type radial seal like we do with the goodyear? Is this vinyl hose available at Home Depot/Lowes? What diameter undersized hole are you drilling for the seal?

Thanks for all the help! I hope all is well!

 

[av8or]

Hey Ram, thanks for checking in. I'm noticing that the manifold setups (one big pump with multiple ppk sites) is really handy in smaller rooms or with only a few sites. The bigger systems are seemingly easier to maintain in the "3 bucket" system. If you have, like you mentioned, am uneven floor then a single float bucket will cause you trouble. If you have a level surface, then one float bucket for the room will work along with a two bucket system for each plant site. Pump and plant buckets. I have another 12 plant room going up in a couple months. I will use one float bucket and to level the floor I'm just going to shim each of the 12 plant sites using plywood cut outs for the bottom of the plant bucket. That room will likely have my first attempt at DE's in there instead of vertical bulbs...at least until the second service gets installed this summer and I can do both. It's more of a both/and situation instead of an either/or.

You may want to reconsider using the Goodyear hose unless you have to for flow reasons. How many plants are you plumbing into this next system? The Goodyear works great but it's harder to install than the vinyl tubing and it's nowhere near as flexible. I use 1/4" ID tubing with a 3/8" OD. It's HydroFlow brand. Can't get it at home depot or any other shop like that. Online or at very select hydro shops in the Willamette Valley, apparently. I moved recently so now it's a 5 hour drive to buy this stuff...so I stock up when I'm in town. But yes, drill a smaller hole, 5/16" is what I use (using a step bit).

I should mention the 12 plant room I'm starting right now is 20x50' so the easy choice is to shim each plant site. This is easily done with plywood while a small amount of water is in the system. Use the water as your level and shim each site till the system is level. Keep in mind that everytime you elevate a plant bucket, the water level in a different ppk site will also change. Having a 1/4"-1/2" difference won't bother your results one bit. Having a couple inch disparity will.

I posted an architectural quality sketch of the three bucket system some pages back. I'll see if I still have it on the phone somewhere.

As for pvc manifolds, I'm using a 2400 gph Mag drive in a 12 plant veg room right now. I have 1" pvc T off the pump outlet and pressurize back against itself in a ring. I use slip T's and a reducer to get a 1/2" threaded hose barb connected in it. The jam the 1/2" vinyl hose on it to the halo. Works great. No issues whatsoever. All those plants are in a smaller, 16x12' room though.

I think I covered everything. Let me know if you have any more questions!

 

[av8or]

Here's that professional engineering schematic I paid millions to have drawn up.

That Plushberry is fun to look at, too.

 

[Sqydro]

everyone killing it with these PPKs still so redic to see, there was talk of a PPK gif or vid in one of the threads ive searched high n low for it, anyone point me in the right direction so i can further my understanding of these wonderfully wierd creations tyty

 

[McKush]

Sqydro the picture in the post right above yours #1558 demonstrates how the system works. Its a single plant approach w 1 site a control bucket and res bucket. Some of our systems run multiple sites from just 1 set of control n res buckets. Larger systems may have dedicated control n res per plant site. Function the same. See my ppk linkorama for a listing of ppk threads.

 

[Sqydro]

Sqydro the picture in the post right above yours #1558 demonstrates how the system works. Its a single plant approach w 1 site a control bucket and res bucket. Some of our systems run multiple sites from just 1 set of control n res buckets. Larger systems may have dedicated control n res per plant site. Function the same. See my ppk linkorama for a listing of ppk threads.

much appreciated mate

so as i see it in that very proffesional schematic, theres a feed res with nutes mixed to PPMs and PH u desire, this then feeds into a control bucket which has float valve for auto top offs as plants feed, then what comes through the tailpipe is recyled and mixed and pulsed back throught the top? seems to good to be true if so no PH messurement etc?

 

[av8or]

much appreciated mate

so as i see it in that very proffesional schematic, theres a feed res with nutes mixed to PPMs and PH u desire, this then feeds into a control bucket which has float valve for auto top offs as plants feed, then what comes through the tailpipe is recyled and mixed and pulsed back throught the top? seems to good to be true if so no PH messurement etc?

Yes, you got the flow correct. It's that easy. As for not measuring PH, I've been running a 12 plant flower room since November without flushing the water, checking PPM or PH at all. I don't even have measuring equipment over there to check it! No issues other than my plants being too big to trim fast enough for the next one to come down. That being said, I'm NOT recommending that you don't check your water. You should. I am familiar enough with the system now that I just watch the plants. If you have everything dialed, there shouldn't be a need to monitor nutes closely. Let that be a benchmark for how dialed your system and room are.

 

[down2grow]

Just finished this reading this awesome thread. When I get back to growing it will definitely be a PPK design of some sort!

av8or,

With the three bucket design are you still using the float valve leveler(food container with a hole)?

Delta,

Earlier in the thread you mentioned that you were going to help someone build a PPK set up with a horizontal scrog and DE bulbs. How did that set up do? Were they still able to achieve 1-2 pound plants?

D2G