Outdoor dwc

[DWCgrower406]

Just popped a few zkittles autos to throw out in the greenhouse. I was gonna just throw them in some pots of dirt, which im not really experienced at. Always done dwc. Then i thought, why not do dwc? Power of light from the sun combined with power of dwc root system. Should be impressive. I already have power to my greenhouse running a fan, so no big deal to plug in a little air pump. My only concern is res temp. I know i can bury the bucket to get cooling from the ground, but is it enough? Anyone try this and know if res stays cool enough by being buried?greenhouse gets toasty, up to 90f

 

[70's natureboy]

I had the same plan but I didn't want to dig the big holes.

 

[DWCgrower406]

I had the same plan but I didn't want to dig the big holes.

Shouldnt be too bad, i have a post hole digger. Maybe ill try one hole and just fill a bucket with water, see what temp does throughout the day.

 

[70's natureboy]

I think they will drink a 5 gal bucket in 1 day. I was going to use a 30 gallon barrel. Maybe 15-20 would be enough or maybe 18 gallon totes.

 

[DWCgrower406]

I think they will drink a 5 gal bucket in 1 day. I was going to use a 30 gallon barrel. Maybe 15-20 would be enough or maybe 18 gallon totes.

It would indeed be the perfect method for growing monsters, but i was thinking much smaller. I would be doing it with a few zkittles autos i have. They do about 5oz at best indoors, maybe a half pound if done right outdoor. At peak they shouldnt drink more than 2 gal a day i would think. Another thing i could do is set up auto top off with float from my spigot outside. That would also help to cool it since it would be getting a slow trickle of 40 degree water. Normally i run ro, but my well water is 190ppm, totally fine.

 

[rkymtnman]

hempy buckets. i grow tomatoes in them outdoors.

 

[DWCgrower406]

hempy buckets. i grow tomatoes in them outdoors.

i never really knew what a hempy bucket was until looking just now. looks like pretty much a standard soiless growing method but with the added benefit of having a bit of reservoir at the bottom so they dont need fed as often. Does res temp apply the same way as dwc? like you'll get rot if you let it get too warm? or not as important? do you bury yours in the ground?

 

[rkymtnman]

i never really knew what a hempy bucket was until looking just now. looks like pretty much a standard soiless growing method but with the added benefit of having a bit of reservoir at the bottom so they dont need fed as often. Does res temp apply the same way as dwc? like you'll get rot if you let it get too warm? or not as important? do you bury yours in the ground?

exactly. ease of soil, feed like hydro.
i had no temp issues. my GH gets up to 100F sometimes. never got rot. not buried, just above ground.

 

[lilmafia513]

exactly. ease of soil, feed like hydro.
i had no temp issues. my GH gets up to 100F sometimes. never got rot. not buried, just above ground.

Glad to see your a fan of hempys, I made a few back in the day and did a few tutorials on them here somewhere....
Think that back in like 2010-2012????
Haven't done in years, but they were fun, I did tomatoes outdoors as well n them and had 7 ft. Monsters

 

[lilmafia513]

I've consider doing this with my waterfarm this year, and running a res from a buried hole, and use a chiller in the res. On a recirc. system....??? Would be cool to tie in a line from a rain barrel as well that would resupply your buried res till it hit a Max fill run off line out of the res...... Maybe to back up rain barrel....??? Now I'm stoned and getting creative and off track lol

 

[GanjaJack]

Just popped a few zkittles autos to throw out in the greenhouse. I was gonna just throw them in some pots of dirt, which im not really experienced at. Always done dwc. Then i thought, why not do dwc? Power of light from the sun combined with power of dwc root system. Should be impressive. I already have power to my greenhouse running a fan, so no big deal to plug in a little air pump. My only concern is res temp. I know i can bury the bucket to get cooling from the ground, but is it enough? Anyone try this and know if res stays cool enough by being buried?greenhouse gets toasty, up to 90f

Man, I been thinking about doing this but without a green house. bury my DWC buckets right in the ground, with a trench that runs tubing to my basement to keep it out of the sun and nice and cool.... pump my nutes up into the buckets and let them drain so basically turning my DWC into a semi-circulating ebb and flow sorta reinvent the wheel type of thing...

 

[GanjaJack]

I think they will drink a 5 gal bucket in 1 day. I was going to use a 30 gallon barrel. Maybe 15-20 would be enough or maybe 18 gallon totes.

My one plant, goes through a 5 gallon bucket every other day under a 1000w light. Right to the bottom. It usually gives me an inch to play with which stops it from drying out.

 

[Lordhooha]

My one plant, goes through a 5 gallon bucket every other day under a 1000w light. Right to the bottom. It usually gives me an inch to play with which stops it from drying out.

The plant you were asking about if it was ready is only drinking 5 gals every other day under a 1k light? Something is off. In my last 50 site rdwc they were attached to a 275 gallon ibc tote and each plant had a 50 gallon tote with 2" piping. Those plants would drink that entire system of water in a day or so. Luckily it had a float valve to top the res off as they drank or else they would go thirsty.