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The OBBT Grow Show!

rrog

Active member
Veteran
Good to hear from you FB-OG. I checked out those great new pics. Sweet sweet. They look really solid.
 
N

nine7oh

So bio's are looking great so far! Excellent growth compared to my other pure soil plants. I've been trying to stick to watering once a week, (water,water,feed) but recently, halfway though the week both buckets were completely dry... which means they sucked up 1.5 gallons from the res as well as any moisture in the soil in about 3 days! They both suddenly developed purple stems so I decided to feed early this week... but here is the reason for my post:

Do any of you OBBT'ers get some FUNKY smelling off gasing when you water?? It seriously smelled like barn mixed with fart. Definitely organic smell. I seriously thought it was coming from my air intake, so I ran outside to see what was up. Nothing outside, so I stuck my head near the bio bucket overflow and it was funky! It happened when I watered, so I figure the water was pushing out the air in the res... question is... why the smell? Could it have been microbes and such drying and dying is the res when it went dry for a few days?
 

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
Sounds like anaerobic activity. Fine particles settle and don't get air. I have one bucket that smells a bit that I might change out, but my plant's healthy.
 

FromdaBrush0G

New member
yeah that'll happen on the occasion, my buckets started smelling funky as well around the

first month. i would just ignore this since i did and my plants are still looking crisp. the smell

goes away after a while and will return just a randomly.
 
N

nine7oh

bio follow up

bio follow up

Hey, so it looks like this thread has pretty much slowed down... but I'll give my final report for anyone reading though this in the future.

I jumped at the idea of bio buckets very quickly, I had heard of 'Earth boxes' for high density urban gardening for tomatoes and such and the bios follow the same idea: a big res under some soil which is ph controlled by microorganisms. I pretty much copied Lady and rrog in setup. Lady's soil mix and rrog's bucket style.

So here are my final thoughts and how I'm approaching the round 2 buckets!

I was stoked to rip apart the root ball and see how my ladies had grown. As you can see below, the roots were very dense though the reservoir and actually increase quite a bit once they hit the water half of the bucket.
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Compared to the pure soil plants these bios really took off, I'm guessing, when they reach the reservoir. I really see the advantage when you go to water. With my soil plants all the run off is waste. However, with the bios the reservoir can hold 2+ gallons of fertilized water and I have literally seen it drink all that water in one night cycle, its nuts. So far:
  • Plants explode when they reach the reservoir, silimar to hydro.
  • No drain to waste, or very little through the overflow tube = more nutes being used up.

But I did have some problems crop up. It was an odd string of events that individually didn't make sense at the time. I did a dry spell, where I let the reservoir go dry for almost a week. Then I went to water and it all began: First I got a pretty funky smell from bios after watering, typically the soil and whatnot smells earthy and good. I didn't think much of it, then a couple of weeks later about 2/3 of the way though bloom BOTH bios, same day, shit hit the fan. The leaves rapidly developed necrosis over a 3 day span. First day I flushed 2 gallons each, then upwards of 3 gallons per bio for the next 3 days as it kept getting worse!! I've personally never had a plant dying so quickly AND flushing didn't seem to help much. Run off was 6.0, off of 6.8-7 which I shoot for.

I don't know what exactly happened, it looks like massive nute lock outs of all kinds. After 3 days of flushing the runoff started to return to 7ish and the plants lived on till harvest, minus pretty much all of their fan leaves. Here is my best guess at what happened. But its only a guess:
IF I did achieve a good population of bacteria/fungus they should have controlled the PH. When I initiated the 'dry spell' the microorganisms probably ground to a halt like Lady was talking about in an earlier post. I wasn't ph adjusting the nutes when I fed because the microorganisms were doing it for me... so without them that first feed back probably nuked them with acidic water.

I did notice some root rot around the edges of the bucket, so I'm wondering if the funky smell was from the decomposing roots. The dry spell may have killed the roots on the edges, which rotted and then produced all sorts of problems when I filled the bucket back up to having water all the time. Another thing, I needed a lot more air to combat any bad anaerobic activity going on, such as the root rot around the perimeter of the bucket. I had a 4'' air stone in one and a 6'' in the other, which is laughable in hindsight.​

Other than that small mis-hap, the plants grew really well. I've done both soil and hydro in the past and it really was a unique experience combining the two. But here is the real reason it rocks:
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picture.php


The one on the left is a bio bucket. The right is straight soil. Same strain, pretty much the same feeding schedule, similar medium volume and pretty much the same age. I'd say Bio won! If your looking to only do a few plants, but make them count... this method is pretty awesome, and fun.

picture.php


That being said, I have 2 more ladys in bio bucket 2.0 and here are the improvements I made to my design. I'd take them into consideration if your just starting... in hind sight I wish I would have done this the first time.

Way more air flow! On the above bios I have a 2 port air pump feeding them oxygen. Before I had one port doing both. Also, on these I have 3 6'' air stones in a triangle to get air all around the base. Honestly, I'd get those flat, round air stones that cover the entire bottom of the bucket. I found those after making my round 2 buckets unfortunately. Put the air line in though the top. I thought it would be cool to feed it into the overflow pipe, but really it just lets over flow water to run down it and make a mess everywhere.

I did a 30% reservoir/70% soil and a 50%/50% bucket to compare the two and the 50/50 seemed better considering it could hold multiple gallons in the reservoir. Especially important when feeding, it holds all of that nute rich water instead of draining out!​

Hope this helps out anyone looking to do the OBBT. I've got the round 2 buckets going, so we'll see how the revisions play out. Now onto the next project, mini aquaponic trial system to combine with OBBT in the future?!
 

rrog

Active member
Veteran
Great rundown Nine7. I have the same proportions of water layer / medium layer as you're describing. And lots of air.

My runoff has been high in pH and causing lockout. Seems to be coming around as I take baby steps to correct pH.

I've also got low K based on a soil test kit.

Coco is a lot more finicky that I had ever thought. This would be great if there were some other big chunky material that would wick and hold water.

My runoff has smelled great.
 
That persistant kanker sore returns.

That persistant kanker sore returns.

Just a legend at this point. Was she real. Watch the next Myth Busters to find out...
It's on you and R2Overgrow now. Carry on.


Was I real? Was I real?! Just a legend!?
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You've got a lotta nerve man. All I did was, with no warning, dissappear without a trace for a teensy-weensy little couple of years or so. I mean come on! What's so weird about that!?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
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Ahhh, oh dear. Yea, sorry about that guys. In reality though, I've got no right to bust your guys' chops whatsoever. You cats have kept things rolling amazingly well. Oxygenated soil grows are all over the place now, at least in comparison to when I got started on ICmag. I've really been bowled over tonight. I haven't so much as lurked, logged in, or even looked at ICmag for more than two years. It was just too painful. I didn't want to read it if I couldn't participate in it anymore. Now suddenly being a part of the grow community is not only possible for me, but looking like the best opportunity to do so I've ever had. I'm logging back on in anticipation of posting new content and just reading two years' worth of organic back-log has been amazing.

We all know that, as cannabis cultivators, one of the toughest parts of what we do is location, location, location. My old grow room was the shit, I loved it, but it was not located in the best of places. To be honest it wasn't equipped that well either, it was just a great room. I had to get away from it very suddenly for reasons that cannot and should not be explained here. I took an 11 month sabbatical from growing and cannabis in general. I worked some things out in my relationships and did a lot of soul searching. "What's really important to me?" Etc.

At the end of it though I decided that I still love gardening and I definitely still love cannabis.

So! I've been away from the community for a while, but that doesn't mean I've been totally stationary in developing my grow technique. I am still very much a supporter of the Bio Box concept and my root-zone solution of choice is still the venerable OBBT. I have drastically simplified my chosen execution of the OBBT. I now use simple buckets with just one hole drilled in them. An air pump, hose, air stone, Hydroponic-grade 1/2" grommets and elbow barbs along with a bit of nylon reinforced hose make up the whole rest of the system. Simple, elegant, cheap, easy to build and easy to use. I still think they are among the best growing solutions that exist for the performance-oriented organic gardener.

That's a nice change and everything, but what exactly have I been getting up to lately? Well, after a lot of poodling around I'm finally back on it with a very serious grow-rig. It is a collaborative effort between myself and one other gardener: "He Who Must Not Be Named"; the owner of the space and the genetics we will be using. He has run his own decent grow-rig for a long time, but it was always cramped and plagued with heat issues. Recently we got together and totally stripped his grow-room down to the bone and then re-built it from the ground up. I designed the new configuration myself and we built it together. The final product is a dual-chamber box-room-thing that allows for simultaneous vegging and flowering. We employed some innovative techniques and I sourced some slightly unusual materials to get it built. We're totally in love with the results. Hopefully you guys will dig it too.

So we've got some major shit going down on the Bio Box front here very soon. We've just put the finishing touches on the room itself and are now ramping up the plants and their containers to fill the room with bud! I will soon be starting a new thread to mark the beginning of a BRAND NEW GROW DIARY!

My fingers are crossed that I will be able to start the diary inside the next 7 days. However I don't own the space so He Who Must Not Be Named gets the final say. So no photos or anything right now, but I promise that there's a truckload of it well on the way. Just to wet your appetites here's a quick run-down of the HIGHLIGHTS:

-100% organically derived nutrient program
-Super-intense T5HO lighting for veg
-Swearing!
-Blistering HPS lamps for flower
-Simpler, sleeker, better OBBTs
-High-tech Copper Hydroxide root control
-Holistic, naturally-derived hormone and enzyme treatments
-More swearing!
-No more freaky Cytokinin sex-control shit
-An all-star cast of SEVEN premium cannabis varieties
-Super-robust, zero-maintenance drip tables
-Fucking clones? What!?
-Sticky, icky, danky organic nuggets!


So hold on to your bonnets motherfuckers! If you thought I was cooking up some crazy shit before just wait till you get a taste of my newly honed organic gardening prowess. Get ready to scrape your brains off the ceiling cus I'm gonna blow your minds!


...

Hah, yea right. Even my brief glimpse at all the new development in the grow forums has made it clear that you guys seriously raised the bar. Hopefully I can still keep up with you crazy kids.

Seriously though. I feel the love. I don't care if you don't remember me, not important, you at least remember what I was trying to achieve. Way more than good enough for me.
thank%20you.gif
 

RipVanWeed

Member
Hey LadyL,

What a blast from the past, good to see you back. I admit I was surprised to see my old setup used as an OBBT example.

While I don't rock OBBT's anymore, they sure taught me alot.

I had to simplify my system and quit fucking with things to get even results.

Really looking forward to following your progress and readin your bombastic posts.

Respect,
 
Wey-hey! The gang's all here! Or at least a few of you buggers.

Hey LadyL,

What a blast from the past, good to see you back. I admit I was surprised to see my old setup used as an OBBT example.

While I don't rock OBBT's anymore, they sure taught me alot.

I had to simplify my system and quit fucking with things to get even results.

Really looking forward to following your progress and readin your bombastic posts.

Respect,

I certainly can't blame you for ditching the OBBT. I will say it now and I will be saying it many more times afterwards:

My past rendition of the OBBT was deeply flawed!

Hot mediums are out!

The hot, heavily pre-loaded style of medium that I used to run was far more trouble than it was worth. The real advantages it offers are slim to none. The hot medium contributed a lot of unneeded unpredictability to the OBBT format.

My current methodology is much simpler than the shit I used to run. This is mostly due to me no longer being influenced by user DrunkenMessiah. He is a great guy with some cool ideas, but he tends to make shit WAY too complicated. I no longer dabble in weird fringe shit like sex control, foliar feeding, concentrated hormones or a lot of the crap that I used to promote.

I now hold the K.I.S.S. axiom much closer to my heart than I did before. This means that the new rig will be a lot less experimental, as in hardly at all. I now use less than 10 nutrient sources from sprouting to harvest. Still oxygenated, still all-organic, just way less complicated and way more predictable than before.

I could talk about it all night, but I think it will be best to just wait and let you guys see what I'm up to. Teach through example and all that shit.

Its gonna be a great ride, thanks for all the love!
 

pearlemae

May your race always be in your favor
Veteran
Hey Lady L... KISS works, when I started to use this method I liked the idea of an oxygenated roots zone and as I don't have an ozone injector to oxygenate the water I'm using an air pump pushing 3 p.s.i. As for all the different teas, dips, foliar sprays etc. Never did use any of them.
Mainly I feel its in the medium, I'm using fine and chunky coco, with ewc,vermiculite,perlite,kelp,guano, lime ,and blood meal. With a large helping of mycos. It's not a hot mix, very loose and fluffy good for both oxygen in the medium, and root growth. The only ferts I use is during bud and its a mild vegan fert .
I think that one day I'll redo the buckets, I think that it would be eaiser to have the water tube go down an inside corner and in the the lava rock, rather than through the side, that would make it easier to fit more buckets like 4 rather than two.
Anyway the method is sound and the simpler the easier, I'm looking forward to see what your up to next.
 

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
It was about this time of year I left southern Michigan and headed back to southern cal. About 100* difference at the time.
Most of my stuff goes in the ground at some point. The pots are smaller for convenience. For these reasons, I've pretty much have abandoned the use of mechanically pumped air. Larger pots, to me, are to experiment and learn with. Sacrificial lambs.
I did have good luck with a aerated 5 gallon lidded bucket at the bottom of a 32 gallon trash can which supported 3 plants. A trial that someday will bear repeating. I'd like to do an underground version.
Mad Lib gave a nice write up on using oil absorbent of DE instead of pearlite. It may work well with your system. I'm using it in 1/2" columns coming up through the medium rather than mixing it in. The medium is 100% vermicompost which is quickly turning to ewc due to a good number of included worms. I'm also using Smartpots inside 5 gallon buckets. They seem to be working as well that way.
Now you have me thinking again of ways to bastardize your system and adapting it to what I'm doing. Looking for maximum ewc while still getting oxygen and wicking action.
Anyways, so much for the gibberish. Welcome back and I'm looking forward to your presentation.
 
Disreguard certain statements.

Disreguard certain statements.

Hey Lady L... KISS works,

Preach it brothah!

...I'm using an air pump pushing 3 p.s.i. As for all the different teas, dips, foliar sprays etc. Never did use any of them.

He speaketh the word a' the Lawd!

Mainly I feel its in the medium, I'm using fine and chunky coco, with ewc,vermiculite,perlite,kelp,guano, lime ,and blood meal. With a large helping of mycos. It's not a hot mix, very loose and fluffy good for both oxygen in the medium, and root growth ...
Anyway the method is sound and the simpler the easier...

Can I get a halleluiah!?

:sasmokin:
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:angelshug::abduct::sasmokin:

Erm. Yes well. I am very happy that at least one cat around here is has been thinking what I've been thinking about this whole bio box thingy.

It was about this time of year I left southern Michigan and headed back to southern cal. About 100* difference at the time.

Damn man. I would have to enjoy giving and receiving pain to live in SoCal. Real sadomasochist stuff that'd be. Some parts of living there I'm sure I'd love to bits, more than anywhere else in the world perhaps. Others, parts of living there, well...

Love hearing about your own 'bastardizations' of my already quite illegitimately born grow-methods that I put on display back then. Very cool to hear where you've gone with it right at the end. EWC is where it at.

It gets warm here. Thank goodness not that warm.

Most of my stuff goes in the ground at some point ... I did have good luck with a aerated 5 gallon lidded bucket at the bottom of a 32 gallon trash can which supported 3 plants. A trial that someday will bear repeating. I'd like to do an underground version ... Now you have me thinking again of ways to bastardize your system and adapting it to what I'm doing. Looking for maximum ewc while still getting oxygen and wicking action.
Anyways, so much for the gibberish...

Haha, "so much for the gibberish" indeed my friend. Could not have said it better myself.

Granted, I will proceed to try and do so anyway:

I was doing some things the wrong way.

Not that the entire method was 'wrong' just that it came from a style that was developed for a grow-space that doesn't exist anymore. It was way too anachronistic, focused on the little things, high-maintenance, etc.

I most likely would've plowed on with similar methods for some time. I might have done OK in terms of per-watt or whatever lame substitute for achievement that only looks good when accepted within the scope of how well the grower had overcome their self-imposed limitations.

Well fuck that! That kind of thing is fun when everyone is doing it on purpose like with the 16oz beer cup challenge. However passing that sort-of thing off as bragging rights for a flagship grow is pants-on-head retarded. Nothing to write home about nor really doing justice to the organic platform I so highly tout.

I absolutely love having come back to ICmag and seeing all the organic love. Having huge chunks of the old guard around is great and the warm welcome has melted my foul-mouthed little soul. However there is just one little sour patch for me which is made obvious by the ranty bile I just tried to pass off for paragraphs. I wasn't completely happy with how the 'ole grow-show panned out. And I don't just mean the shitty cliff-hanger ending. Suffice to say, the whole thing was even more of a potentially destructive experiment than I had enthusiastically set off to make it. I really like that certain parts of it's spectacular nature attracted a few fans who where good-natured enough to tinker along with me. That many of them have now gone their own way to grow as gardeners is even better. However I really don't like that the resulting grow with all of it's clumsy fabrication, hot nutrient recipes, weird foliar treatments and related flim-flam became something of an example for 'how to do' a soil-based organic hydro grow.

It isn't that I think the "Grow Show" thread was terrible and should be wiped out. It was a very interesting stepping stone, but, in retrospect, that really is what its been for me. A step is a way bigger path than I may have recognized at the time. It snakes away from me in all directions, I will never find the end, and I love it, Et cetera.

The result is that I have certain archival feelings about this thread.

So here's the deal: I've got two fucking years' worth of upkeep to do on the information in this thread. If you know me at all you know that ain't gonna happen. A task I'd much prefer is to simply re-write some kind of diary-based guide on bio box and OBBTs in particular.

I believe the best course of action to reach this end is to lock this thread and start another. I'll be pestering Organic Hydro Mods to see they'd be kind enough to do this for me. Perhaps Mr. Wags has some memory of me that would compare favorably to a re-occurring ulcer.

So out of respect, you could all refrain from posting until lock-down...


...or pop in here right at the end to permanently vandalize the thread with some maniacal post. That would be a lot more fun actually.
:party:

Peace you wonderful bitches!

-LadyLargely

 

h.h.

Active member
Veteran
Occasionally there are sightings. Usually documented with blurred photographs of a half naked woman streaking through the UP.
 
OBBT 2012?

OBBT 2012?

LL,

It has truly been awhile. I am still an obbt'er and still get great results no matter what.

I am ANXIOUSLY awaiting this new regime, for I am starting a new grow in the next week and REALLY would like to try the new style.

THROW IT UP WOULD YOU????!!!!

I figure you can FEEL my humor in it.

mj
 

rrog

Active member
Veteran
I thought I'd pop in as well. Say "hi" and all. While I don't pump air any longer, this sub-forum really got it all going for me back in the day. I'm all about the natural organic soil so thanks!
 

pearlemae

May your race always be in your favor
Veteran
Still doing OBBT and probably will stay with it. Seems to work very well for me. Totally organic, makes sweet smoke. Just finished toking a QP of what the box produces. Have G13 under the 12/12 now.
rrog nice to hear from you.
 
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