Most "Stoner Friendly" setup when access to garden 1-2 times a week. +4000w

[ZenBanana]

Hey everyone, nice to meet ya.

I got 1 grow under my belt in soil with +2000w and made lots of newbie mistakes but learned more and more towards the end.

I'm looking for a setup which could maintain itself without visiting 3-5 days as I moved further away from where I grow.

I'm sorry to disappoint you but I got no access to camera yet so I'll just try to explain what I'm workin with.

I got 2 flowering rooms on which both I'm thinking of hanging 3, 600w as I had temp problems last grow with 4, 600w in there. I didn't have good ventilation which I have now, biggest blower I could find with a smell remover all ventilated outside the room, ventilation is already hooked nicely to ceiling. I'll take proper measurements tomorrow. But basically I could fit like 6-8 lamps in one room if I didn't have temp problems.

Then I got vegetative room and clone area. Planning to DIY ez-cloners if I can do it. Heh.

I'm going to grow few trees on soil but otherwise I'm planning to move on hydro or coco. Which kind of hydro setup you guys suggest, that can go off without changing nutes or adding water for 3-5 days. I already have aeroflow system with 12 places.

DWC seems stoner friendly and cheap enough for first step to hydro. If I just use res big enough, they can grow for 3-5 days without huge drop on nute or water levels? Or I need to make some kind of reservoir system?

So 3-4 600w on each flower room, how to come up with good yield when you can only visit garden once or twice a week?

Should I SOG perpetually, grow bushes, scrog?

I got my seeds ready, waiting for the setup to finish.

About the strains.

Haze Special
Northern Light Special
Shaman
P.P.P
Skunk No 1
White Rhino

Any heads up?

Peace.

 

[FirstTracks]

Things happen fast in DWC.....imho, too fast to be away 3-5 days at a time, especially without much experience.

Think about doing bushes in E&F /recirculating DWC buckets. Your growth will be almost as fast, with less opportunity for disease due to the water movement. You can use an auto topper attached to your r/o unit or water supply that can keep your rez topped off while you're gone.

 

[ZenBanana]

FirstTracks: Hey man. Thanks for the comment. I've been drooling over recirculating DWC bucket system, building it just seems hard.

E&F table seems really simple to do, and you're right about the diseases, don't want none.

I've been looking some stadium systems too but using small buckets mean I need to water often.

How about a DWC system with 200 litres container and 6-8 plants on it/lamp. Would nutes/water last for 3 days minimium?

Inspire me people.

 

[smokadepep]

only problem with dwc, minus the fact it uses the most water , is root rot from warm nutrient solution, if youre going to run a dwc make sure you make your res light reflective with some tape or paint, and make sure during flower that the nutes are aerated and cool, if youre going to run a recirculating dwc, try to keep the controller and main res out of the room

 

[HIDEyourBUD]

DWC isn't out of the question at all. In fact, it's one of the safer methods to use for extended times away from your grow. In case of power outage, a DWC system will keep your plants alive for a day or 2 without them all being dead when you find the breaker blown. My system can run by itself for a week at a time. In fact, I'm on a 5day vacation now.
Multiple safety's is key to any successful hydro system.

Air Distribution:
You will need to heavily oxygenate the water. I've grown in DWC outside with reservoir temps approaching 90deg with no ill effects by simply having mega air flow into the water. Use garden variety soaker hose in place of air stones. I loop them into a circle at the base of the bucket and use a "T" fitting to connect the 2 ends to an incoming air line.
Use an air pump at each end of a section of garden hose to distribute air around your grow area. Using two pumps will give your girls a chance if one dies while you are away. Drip line barbs work great for connecting the bucket to the distribution hose. Adding a small valve directly after you come out of the 3/4" hose will allow you to disconnect buckets without pressure loss in the distribution hose. Run your air line out through a hole in the lid to remove the chance of your system siphoning all your water back through your air pumps if the power goes out.

Water Distribution
Reservoir -
Use a premixed reservoir of nutrient solution to feed your system for long periods. A large plastic trash can or two will do nicely. Using air to keep your reservoir mixed up. The reservoirs should be on a separate air pump from your buckets.
Controler bucket-
It is critical that all of your buckets are on the same level as your controller bucket or you may need a mop. The reservoir feeds into this bucket through a float valve set to fill to the same height you want all the other buckets to fill to.
Just in case the girls drink your reservoir dry, I suggest installing another float valve in your controller bucket that will connect your system to a full time source of clean water. Set up this float valve to open when the water level gets about half way down the bucket (which would indicate your reservoir is no longer supplying water to the higher mounted float valve.)
I use 1/2" black tube to feed all the plant buckets from the controller bucket. BTW, most 1/2" grommets available at hydroshops use an 11/16" drill bit for optimum fit. Grommets at the bottom of each bucket will allow water to freely flow between the controller bucket and the plant buckets. Use a lot of valves so you can connect and disconnect each bucket without spilling water.

Growing method
You will not want to use SCROG unless you can be on-site for at least 3 days a week during the initial 12/12 stretch period. This is due to the amount of manipulation that must be done during this period. I love using tomato cages which lets me do a sort of cross between trees and SCROG.

Time for a nap,

 

[00420]

for your 1st hike into hydro id stay away from hydroton unless you have a water chiller. you all ready have a heat issue hot water=death. winter is coming up but when lights are on it get's warm no matter how you set it up.

i would go with A drip system with perlite or coco ( or mix the 2 )
here's my colisum full of 100% perlite i used to leave this for 1 week at a time & have left it up to 2 weeks (with a top off) ph was a lil off when i got back but not much


here's a drip bucket setup with hydroton 1k & 600's both made my water to hot so now i use perlite in them too and only have to water 4 time's a day unlike hydroton at 15 mins every hr, with hydroton i could not leave for a day ph was off everytime with perlite again i could leave for a week with no prob's

 

[ZenBanana]

00420: Heya, you got a link to your stadium go with drippers? Liked to take a look. Could you explain how I make a drip system? Thanks for the heads up with hydroton, changed my plans pretty much.

As for the stadium system, NorthernFarmers stadium system looks really simple and easy to DIY, just need to figure out how drip system would work on this one.

Thanks for the warnings with hydro, probably not the best solution for me. I'm gonna give 1 light to my Aeroflow system though.

 

[yamaha_1fan]

E&F tables are pretty stoner proof. Scrog or Sog. Flood a few times a day, more tolerant of higher rez temps, simple to setup, pretty bullet proof. No controller buckets, etc.

 

[ZenBanana]

Hoping to go shopping tomorrow. Got some seeds already germinating so time to get busy.

Been reading some and I believe that a simple Ebb&Flow is what works best for me at this point. I have still lots to learn from soil too, so I will get my hands dirty on that one too. I'm just going to use pots big enough so I don't have to worry about soil drying out if I'm gone for 3 days.

I got 2 rooms where I'm planning to put ~2000w each. One for hydro, one for soil. Got veg room also. As I'm starting from seeds I'm just going to stick as many plants as "possible" under my lights and work my magic. Probably going to move perpetual SOG after I got some sexy MILF's [ Mothers I'd Like to Flower ] to take punch of clones from.

Like said, going to shop for hydro equipments tomorrow and still need some last minute advice. As for my E&F system, I'm planning to use 2, 600w lights. I'm hoping I'd find a table big enough so I don't have make 2 setups. Going to get as big res as I can. Bigger res = Less swings on pH and nutes, right? Do I put airstones in res or is it unnecessesary? Probably going to put, as I have my mind at ease that my water keeps getting mixed up a little. Somehow the thought of still water scares me. Don't ask.

My shoplist for E&F system is like this.

Get a big-ass table for 2, 600w light. If I can't find one, then I just buy 2 smaller ones.

Get a big-ass res. Or two if I need to make one setup for each light. Don't want to run both tables on 1 res, not stoner simple enough for me at this point.

Get a pump, or two if needed. I don't want to run any troubles with my pump so it's safer to buy a bigger pump than you think you might need?

+ Necessary tubing.

I'm walking on the right path with this one?

I already have my Aeroflow 12 system waiting to get started. That gets 600w also. So the picture I have in mind for my hydro room is:

E&F system - 1200w
Aeroflow 12 - 600w

Any heads-up?

By the way. Was reading grow bible and it said that when growing cannabis on hydro, you shouldn't go with full strenght introductions as nutes have, more like 1/3 of the strenght. It's like this with all nute brands? I got AHH myself and I'll probably start with 1/2 strenght of whatever they are suggesting at each growstage. Should I go even less? Naturally I will observe myself how my ladies react to what they are drinking but I'm just looking for some good rule of thumbs.

 

[yamaha_1fan]

Each strain is different when it comes to nutes. Get a good PH and PPM pen.

Ebb and Flo tables vary in size up to 4x8 so you should get something that works. I use two reses per table and have them linked to each other





My pump is "T"ed so when it turns on, some water goes to the table, some goes to the other rez. Then I have a valve after the T that I can close. I close it when mixing nutes or adjusting PH. Comes in very handy.

An air pump isnt going to move alot of water but you can add it, it wont hurt. I use them.

 

[Whatever]

Don't get a big ass table but more smaller ones, like 2 3 x 3's instead of 1 3 x 6, as they're easier to get to drain better. An air pump is not critical in E&F but I'd go with one if you have the bucks. Use open lines, no air stones, and go for at least .4 liters per air per minute per gallon. My experience is anything less than that doesn't do much to raise the Dissolved Oxygen. I like Alita air pumps.

Yes an oversized res is advised but once you get things dialed in better you can go through a good portion of the res without topping off and pH and EC will be very stable. You'll need the extra solution volume cause later in flower they get real thirsty.

I did not actually run E&F but cycle fed, 4x @ 30 minutes each per light cycle, using 1/2" then 1/8" Rainbird irrigation lines. It allowed me to use 1 110 gal res to take care of 8 3 x 3 tables. Same would be true for drip I guess. If I ran true E&F (Flood and Drain) I would have needed significantly more res volume...which I did not have the room for.

 

[ZenBanana]

yamaha_1fan, hey man and thanks for all the help. I got myself a good combo pen. How often you guys calibrate it?

Whatever, hey man. Yea I definately should go with couple of smaller ones. 2 unique E&F setups with their own reses enables me to go perpetual easier. Once I got good clones that is.

As for medium I was thinking of hydroton and I'm gonna use netpots so I'm able to move plants around a bit before roots get tangled too bad. Any better ideas?

 

[imnotcrazy]

Fresh out the bag Hydroton (00420 already mentioned) is going to have your rez(s) stabilizing @ 7-7.5 PH for the first few WEEKS. Until you hit a nutrient strength that will neutralize this effect of new Hydroton.

As far as nute strength goes, start low and let the plants show you when they want more, until you get comfortable with the strains you are running.

Container-wise, I prefer non-net pot style. As long as the pot has holes in the bottom that Hydroton doesn't block, they will fill to the height you set for Flood times.

 

[ZenBanana]

imnotcrazy, hey. Are you saying that even if I set my PH to 5.8, hydroton will swing it back to 7.0? That's not cool.

Should I start soaking my hydroton now? As it will be +1 week before they go to E&F. Or should I just use some other media?

 

[DEDHEDFRED]

As Yamaha has told yas ZB.......Ebb and Flow tables done right with large enough rez`s to keep ph and ppm`s from fluctuating from week to week are probably one of the most maintenance free system there is.......Go look at his thread.........I run ebb and flow buckets and go to my grows once a week...........It`s all a matter of dialage and knowing what it takes to run the system till you get back to do the routine lil things ta keep things runnin like a well oiled machine.......A 4x6 area will work for 1200 watts @50 watts per sq. ft. so if you buy 2-3x3 tables you`ll have a lil room to shimmy down 1 side and work your plants when they need trimming and shaping for the canopy.......Bigger the rez the better.......I use the 150 gal. Rubbermaid stock tanks like Yamaha showed yas for mixing nutes and R/O water storage but my rez`s are 325 gal. pest control tanks ........Never any ph or ppm fluctuations with minimum top offs to keep things rollin.......... Good luck and take care...............DHF.......... ..........

 

[imnotcrazy]

Even soaking @ 5.0 they will cause it to rise... you will have to set the PH of a soak several times and stir the mix. Or do several washes and rinse away all the dust that accumulates in the water between soaks...

 

[ZenBanana]

DEDHEDFRED, hey man! I'm going to go with 2 tables and 2 big reses, I got the space.

imnotcrazy, big thanks for the heads up. I'll take care of that problem before I put plants in the medium.