New cleaner system

[KonopCh]

Looking for new system, cleaner, for big yields. Right now I am feeding 3x per day 10L coco pots DTW. I want something that can I get away for 3-7 days on holiday twice per year and not controlling it every day. I just don't like "post harvest" anymore, drying pots, roots, mess everywhere, recharging coco blocks, soaking... Maybe try with hydroton balls? Never done it, but I guess first weeks you must manually water them. But then again, I don't want be scarry if bottom runoff is flooding when full.

Autopot not wanted. I tried them, but clogging and flooding is not funny.

Ebb, flood and drain, RDWC, Octopots, Nutriculture, Aquafarm, Gro tank, Wilma, Amazon... Anyone tried some of these, what are minuses and pluses? I am interested in Wilma, it's basically the same as my setup, you only recirculate drip feed again into hydroton balls.

 

[Failmore]

With a big enough res I could walk away for weeks in theory if I wanted.

I use tap water so I need to stabilize ph for a day or 2. But after that as long as my ec is in the correct range...plants eat and drink the same. So ec and ph are stable as the tank drops.

I only use 10 gallons. But if I had room for a larger tote i could walk away for several days.

 

[.Smoke]

Fully automatic feed/drainage Hempy system.

World Of Hempy

yeah I’m not a fan of the dust. It always makes me sick after breathing it. It mixes better when everything is wet also. I have to do this sorry Use your N-95 mask and you will never have to worry about the dust ever again!

www.rollitup.org

 

[myke]

Simple rdwc systems seam to work the best,4 plants in 5g and a 30g res could walk away for 5-7 days when still in veg.
Organic sips is another option.Just add straight water when you have time.

 

[Failmore]

I do this when I start to avoid manually watering

 

[.Smoke]

I do this when I start to avoid manually watering
View attachment 4989105

Nice.
I cut out the middle man when I built mine. Drop a seed in some rockwool and done.

 

[KonopCh]

I have the same as @Failmore but in coco.
Maybe I should look into clay pebbles, they're cleaner than coco right... But then, reservoir can last 7 days, but "runoff catcher" is harder to get more than 35L tank bellow tray. So empty it every couple days... I guess with clay pebbles even more often than with coco.

 

[HighThere]

I have the same as @Failmore but in coco.
Maybe I should look into clay pebbles, they're cleaner than coco right... But then, reservoir can last 7 days, but "runoff catcher" is harder to get more than 35L tank bellow tray. So empty it every couple days... I guess with clay pebbles even more often than with coco.

Hydroton is quite dusty and it's no easier to clean after a run. Imagine having to scrub 10,000 little coco puff sized clay balls. Been there, won't do it again.

 

[Failmore]

Hydroton is quite dusty and it's no easier to clean after a run. Imagine having to scrub 10,000 little coco puff sized clay balls. Been there, won't do it again.

Yeah going to agree with that. Hard to clean, I have not been re-using either cause fuck that hassle. After running for a month all the dust is gone. Just takes a while.

 

[rkymtnman]

i run 4 waterfarms auto-feed as drain to waste.

i've been away 14 days so far (twice) with no problems

 

[KonopCh]

Hmmmm... I am interested in NFT... is this the same thing as Ebb & flow?
If I understand right, it circulates and floods upper table, wich system as autopots. But plants must have roots at the bottom of the pots. So I guess it will best work with clay pebbles or perlite?

I don't want all those airstones, pumps... it's loud.

 

[ComputerSaysNo]

If I understand right, it circulates and floods upper table, wich system as autopots.

You have a pump fill the grow table with nutrient solution up to a certain level. Then it's drained right back to the reservoir. It depends on what medium you use how often you have to do that.

You can put pots on the table, or rockwool cubes, or fill the table with hydroton and grow the plants directly in it.

I wouldn't compare it to AutoPot, because that's a wick system and completely passive. If you didn't like them, maybe try a different wick system (capillary mats will probably play a role). It is passive (no pumps), it can run unmaintained for weeks, and is quite easy to dial in.

 

[KonopCh]

@ComputerSaysNo I guess first weeks you must manually water them if you choose perlite or hydroton, right? It hydroton really hard to clean? It can be dirty, roots doesn't go into balls, so who cares... or I am wrong? Right now I reusing coco, not messing with old roots, just plant new plant into them, and they grow just fine. And roots in coco are more dense than in pebbles I guess.

 

[GoatSoup]

The Stinkbud NTF is very clean and reasonably easy to run and clean up after. I'm using a SB 1.0 slightly modified with a 20 gal roughneck tote rez ( 10 gal rez) under a 12 gal tote for a rooting chamber. one small pump runs 1-5 min every 20 min. I just don't have room for a rail system plus the rails are a bitch to clean.

 

[ComputerSaysNo]

I guess first weeks you must manually water them if you choose perlite or hydroton, right? It hydroton really hard to clean? It can be dirty, roots doesn't go into balls, so who cares... or I am wrong? Right now I reusing coco, not messing with old roots, just plant new plant into them, and they grow just fine. And roots in coco are more dense than in pebbles I guess.

It is not clear to me if you ask me about ebb/flow now. I have no first hand experience with ebb/flow, but you never have to hand water in these setups. The watering schedule needs to be changed as the plants grow.

Since you're already reusing coco, you should have no problem with reusing hydroton. When you soak it in water, removing old roots is not a lot of work. If you use fresh hydroton instead, you have to clean that too from the dust, so reusing is not really that much more work.

Probably not optimal to leave old roots in the hydroton with ebb/flow, they will rot and dissolve and cause all sorts of issues down the line.

 

[KonopCh]

@Failmore and others... I think I will go with "Wilma system", but of course DIY way, because it's cheaper. Tray, pump, pots are around 100 bucks, Wilma is 200 bucks. I will use clay pebbles, but I want recirculate, not drain to waste. So, how do you start seedlings? How do you feed first days/weeks? How do you call those larger drip rings? I guess more surface is better for root development, than only "tube dripping".

 

[Failmore]

@Failmore and others... I think I will go with "Wilma system", but of course DIY way, because it's cheaper. Tray, pump, pots are around 100 bucks, Wilma is 200 bucks. I will use clay pebbles, but I want recirculate, not drain to waste. So, how do you start seedlings? How do you feed first days/weeks? How do you call those larger drip rings? I guess more surface is better for root development, than only "tube dripping".

They call them hydro halo water ring on Amazon.

I just cut a piece from a plastic cup and tape it to the ring so water funnels towards the seedling. I wait till I have a nice tap root and then just put it in the hydroton gently. My pump waters ever 30 min for 5 seconds or so. Light is on the low setting.

Light was on to hi that is why the little guy is burned there.

 

[Failmore]

I also bought some coco fiber lining for outside hanging plants. I cut it up and put it in the bottom and a added a few layers. I did this because in the past the roots just shot down and out the bottom. I wanted them to spread out. Mostly successful.

 

[myke]

Over the years here Ive seen a lot of un happy grows with the Wilma system.Not ideal for rdwc.