passive plant killer

[delta9nxs]

I find it fascinating that it would be such difference between the first cutting and the second.
Just to clarify, when you say second round, you mean it's a cut from the first cut?

I just rooted 7 cuts from my first Blue City Diesel seedling and will be on the lookout for differences between these cuts and the ones that I take from them...

yes, it's the third plant total, starting with the seedling, cut one, and then cut two, all taken from the previous plant. i think from that point on they should all be about the same.

many times online you see someone grow from seed, remark that the plant was a low yielding strain, and decide not to grow it again. making a decision at that time is premature.

the blue city diesel sounds interesting. i've got a sour diesel 13 coming along now. can't wait.

 

[delta9nxs]

please explain what this is, what you were experiencing.

just saw this. when i was using the .170 id, 1/4" od drip line with t's it was severely restricting my pumps, forcing me to extend the pulse event time wise to get the volume of liquid i needed.

with the 1/4" id, 3/8"od tubing and the john guest fitting going into the 1/2" pvc there is not nearly as much back pressure penalty on the pump. there is always some of course and i'm sure that, in my veg system, running only four positions, that it is significant.

in the flower area, with 9 positions and the same size pump, it should take only slightly longer.

in veg i can deliver 32 oz's in 15 seconds to each plant. or one gal total.

 

[dgr]

delta,
Nice terminal block you have created there. I demand (please) you share details on the john guest fitting and how you are connecting it to the two long pieces.

Anyone considering putting together an index of any thread, take note of a "feature" of this forum software. If a user removes his account such that his posts disappear, the indexing becomes broken. You can see this in threads that show more pages than exist. If you search for a post then click on the result, it won't bring you to the proper post. You may have to back up one post or five pages to find what you were looking for. Is this foreshadowing? Who knows.

 

[bad gas]

hello everyone. bad gas checking in.
i read a thread recently which used lavender tea to kill mites. naturally, i haven't been able to try this. thread was on icmag.
lack of money has slowed down my grow-building process. that may not be entirely bad as it gives me time to fix my brain farts.
if you add up the cost of every item in a well set-up grow operation, it can be expensive. i started with nothing at the beginning of 2011. right now, i'm within $500 of system startup.
i'm building my ppk system with the latest mods. i'm experimenting with IF's pulse water pancake delivery concept. maybe something like a high-flow bidet. if i aimed the water upwards, whatever water is in midair at pump shutoff would slam down almost simultaneously onto the media. something he said one day resonated with me. something to play with while i build the rest of the grow.
i have some AK and some C99 for my first effort. i got feminized X-line seeds. until i prove that i can grow, no expensive seeds for me. then again, i may never need to buy expensive seeds. i've built 3 different cloning systems. i'll clone these and see what happens.
in closing, i'll make a confession: i once faithfully watered a container with mini-roses for over a year before someone told me that the roses were artificial. i'm the poster child of the ppk. if i can grow weed, anybody can.
stay safe and god bless you all.
i'll check back in a couple of weeks. i still can't chat.
bg

 

[dgr]

i once faithfully watered a container with mini-roses for over a year before someone told me that the roses were artificial.
bg

Can it get any better than that?

 

[zeke99]

in closing, i'll make a confession: i once faithfully watered a container with mini-roses for over a year before someone told me that the roses were artificial. i'm the poster child of the ppk. if i can grow weed, anybody can.
stay safe and god bless you all.

that is one of the funniest things i have ever heard.

laughing with you, not at you.

thanks for sharing.

 

[delta9nxs]

delta,
Nice terminal block you have created there. I demand (please) you share details on the john guest fitting and how you are connecting it to the two long pieces.

Anyone considering putting together an index of any thread, take note of a "feature" of this forum software. If a user removes his account such that his posts disappear, the indexing becomes broken. You can see this in threads that show more pages than exist. If you search for a post then click on the result, it won't bring you to the proper post. You may have to back up one post or five pages to find what you were looking for. Is this foreshadowing? Who knows.

hey, dgr! i've got to build some more and i'll take pics of it. i'll put it up as soon as possible

i really don't know how to approach this organization thing. i hadn't thought about an index disappearing. we need some way for new people to fast track building and operating.

 

[delta9nxs]

hello everyone. bad gas checking in.
i read a thread recently which used lavender tea to kill mites. naturally, i haven't been able to try this. thread was on icmag.
lack of money has slowed down my grow-building process. that may not be entirely bad as it gives me time to fix my brain farts.
if you add up the cost of every item in a well set-up grow operation, it can be expensive. i started with nothing at the beginning of 2011. right now, i'm within $500 of system startup.
i'm building my ppk system with the latest mods. i'm experimenting with IF's pulse water pancake delivery concept. maybe something like a high-flow bidet. if i aimed the water upwards, whatever water is in midair at pump shutoff would slam down almost simultaneously onto the media. something he said one day resonated with me. something to play with while i build the rest of the grow.
i have some AK and some C99 for my first effort. i got feminized X-line seeds. until i prove that i can grow, no expensive seeds for me. then again, i may never need to buy expensive seeds. i've built 3 different cloning systems. i'll clone these and see what happens.
in closing, i'll make a confession: i once faithfully watered a container with mini-roses for over a year before someone told me that the roses were artificial. i'm the poster child of the ppk. if i can grow weed, anybody can.
stay safe and god bless you all.
i'll check back in a couple of weeks. i still can't chat.
bg

hey, bg! my daughter was helping me water when i was sick and i caught her watering a stump where i had just cut a plant down.

a "high flow bidet"? whoopee! me first!

 

[zeke99]

delta9, in the pulse system, what prevents your pump bucket from overflowing?

 

[MedScientist]

In my Vert Bucket System... techniquely I could create a res by putting the wick in another plastic container cut to the desired height (in the bottom bucket). Any overflow would gravity back to my res for recirculation. My DIY grow bags should act similar to the Top bucket with air holes, even though they sit loosely in the upper bucket...? I allready use a more frequent pulse, 1 min on/ 6 minutes off, allthough I have not measured output. Other than that.... Media and Media Wick would be the only difference? Now with the frequent pulsing, I figured it would be constantly draining downward, so that is why I eliminated the res and media wick to guarantee it.

If you find some time, could you tell me how you would tweak my system for maximum results? Would you change from Perlite? Lets just assume for now that I dont want to start from scratch....

I am thinking I just need to take a wall down and combine my space to get light on 2 sides of the plants?

 

[Snook]

1-3.
4-6. showing the new terminal equipment for the pulse feed. installed on a plant. right side up over the pump bucket, and upside down showing the outlet holes.

this simple looking piece took me six months to figure out. works perfectly. even distribution with no back pressure penalty. i''l show construction detail later.

well, that's all folks!

Good pics... it looks like your gap is 6 inches, making the PWT almost nonexistant in the root zone... more a top fed device. or is it an optical illusion? These pics make it look like your gap is 6 inches. Optical illusion?

 

[delta9nxs]

delta9, in the pulse system, what prevents your pump bucket from overflowing?

the float valve in the control bucket establishes the operational level of all the containers.

 

[delta9nxs]

Good pics... it looks like your gap is 6 inches, making the PWT almost nonexistant in the root zone... more a top fed device. or is it an optical illusion? These pics make it look like your gap is 6 inches. Optical illusion?

the gap is 4". this leaves 7 inches of water in every container. it probably looks taller in the photos because i am using 5 gal buckets for the pump and control and 3.5 gal buckets for the plant reservoirs.

 

[zeke99]

the float valve in the control bucket establishes the operational level of all the containers.

good morning,

that's fucking awesome.

Thanks to your photos and explanations I can wrap my head around almost every aspect at this point. going down the road to pick up some float valves this morning...

I'm working on a turface mvp / super coarse perlite mix.

 

[delta9nxs]

Quotes by medscientist.

“In my Vert Bucket System... techniquely I could create a res by putting the wick in another plastic container cut to the desired height (in the bottom bucket). Any overflow would gravity back to my res for recirculation. My DIY grow bags should act similar to the Top bucket with air holes, even though they sit loosely in the upper bucket...? I allready use a more frequent pulse, 1 min on/ 6 minutes off, allthough I have not measured output. Other than that.... Media and Media Wick would be the only difference? Now with the frequent pulsing, I figured it would be constantly draining downward, so that is why I eliminated the res and media wick to guarantee it.

If you find some time, could you tell me how you would tweak my system for maximum results? Would you change from Perlite? Lets just assume for now that I dont want to start from scratch....

I am thinking I just need to take a wall down and combine my space to get light on 2 sides of the plants?”


Well, it's very hard to answer this as there are long explanations about theory and function.

Let's start with the cloth bags. I have thought about them and rejected the idea for this device because the bag is “breathing” over every inch of it's surface, in my opinion moderating or lessening the “plunger” effect we get with a rigid container. I feel it would allow a lot of air flow high up in the medium at the expense of air flow in the bottom of the media. Moisture content in the medium is on a gradient curve caused by gravity. More dense at the bottom, less dense at the top. Therefore more important at the bottom. The more moisture the less air. In a cloth bag the force imparted by the pulse event would actually be more dissipated by the gas escaping the sidewall high up in the container. Decreasing the gas exchange in the most important part of the container, the part where most problems originate. This is about maximizing the gas exchange in a bad part of the container.

With cloth containers it would be much more difficult to install a tube such as a tailpiece.

I feel the enclosed nature of the tailpiece is more inhibiting of root growth into the plant reservoir. With a cloth wick exposed to air in the “gap” space there will be a lot of root growing out of the wick laterally and into the solution. I feel that this is not desirable as I get leaf displays such as discoloration, spotting, and necrosis when I allow roots to grow into the solution. I'm not sure exactly what causes these displays but I know they disappear when a tailpiece is used.

The pulse should be timed to allow the excess liquid in the medium to flow out completely. This is when you have maximum air porosity. It should be in this state for most of the time between pulses. During this time the system comes to liquid equilibrium in all containers. Mine stays like this a few minutes and then a drip develops for about ten minutes. This shows that the sub-irrigation is supplying the plant for at least some of the time. I feel this is important for control of salt build-up and long term solution management. Pulsing once per hour. You need to measure your pulse volume to use it as a reference for corrections.

Perlite could be used as up to a 25% amendment to turface, DE, or coco. I don't like it alone.

Short of changing things over to a full ppk I don't think you would gain much by trying to improve what you are doing.

You know what kind of yields you are getting now. From looking at your pics I know that you would get large yield increases by switching over.

d9

 

[delta9nxs]

good morning,

that's fucking awesome.

Thanks to your photos and explanations I can wrap my head around almost every aspect at this point. going down the road to pick up some float valves this morning...

I'm working on a turface mvp / super coarse perlite mix.

hey, zeke, you only need one float valve. only the control bucket has a float valve. gravity keeps the levels the same in all containers.

 

[zeke99]

hey, zeke, you only need one float valve. only the control bucket has a float valve. gravity keeps the levels the same in all containers.

two rooms my good man, two rooms.

 

[MedScientist]

Short of changing things over to a full ppk I don't think you would gain much by trying to improve what you are doing.

You know what kind of yields you are getting now. From looking at your pics I know that you would get large yield increases by switching over.

d9

Thank you for taking the time, you make alot of sense. I WILL incorporate a full ppk (system?) into my Garden. I DO feel this grow was neccesary in my learning process overall. I have built TOTAL confidence in Jacks Hydro + Calcnit, a much better understanding of PWT, succesfully reintroduced mediums into my Garden without a bug manifestation (confidence).... and I believe more will be revealed with final weight, root autopsy, finished product..... etc!

Your confidence in the full ppk is inspiring, and I believe I can maximize my results by duplicating your efforts! Since that is your intentions... to help others.... darn, I couldnt find your quote (thread is too long), but it would have been perfect quoted here... Basically I am saying.... You have done a Fine Job! Thanks!!!

 

[ImaginaryFriend]

I have nothing in particular to say in this post.

With regard to the increased pulse volume, the results have been impressive. Borderline disturbing.

The rootzone is officially absurd. Post-pulse, the feed solution now just sits on the surface of the media. Forever. (By forever, i mean 30 plus seconds.) The root mass is just to dense and intertwined to allow water to pass through it.

This, of course, is not optimum. It is, however, instructive.

The next adjustment will be using a more coarse material as media. (That is, I'll be trying to catch up with D9 implemented changes. Presently, my pretty little girl is all that I'm working with.)

To me, the PPK is so simple and so obvious that I forget how much time and energy I invested in trying to get my brains around it's ideas. I've personally forgotten how apparently confusing this can appear. I freely use lots of different words to describe the same thing... "sump=tailpiece", etc., depending on the way that I'm thinking about how a particular dynamic effects the system.

But damn, it's easy.

There are some elements of function that, I think, have room for improvement.

But these future improvements are not necessary for today's success.

Stranger has an operational by-the-book build. Same hole locations in the media container... The whole deal. And his garden is out of control.

If:
(1) Your environmental factors are reasonably controlled;
(2) You don't fuck around with random nutes and start with Jacks;
(3) You build the current incarnation of the system...

Your plants will thrive.

Keeping them small enough will be the challenge!

 

[MedScientist]

I currently have a 2.5 Gallon recirc bucket system that I can fix res height (in all buckets in series) by the height of the closest buckets drain fitting that returns to the lower res. Do you see any flaws in maintaining res's this way, as long as the upper bucket is identical to yours? Pulse would be delivered from lower (Master) res.