Setting up dtw coco 2.5x5 tent

[medidedicated]

Couple of setup tweaks. Nice power strip realized could hold all nearpow timers. It was a mess dealing with and even must of bumped one into turning off and almost killing my veg plants.

I started checking all tents everyday but this will help a lot and should be off the ground anyway. No extention cords needed.

I went ahead and got the fridgidaire drain hose and got the dehuey setup to drain in runoff bucket. It can move a little as needed to access tents.

 

[medidedicated]

Would make a new thread but im like right there already lol after two months.

Well Im setting up a 3x5x6 veg tent right now and wow. Vivosun 1150gph pump 40ft from basement 8 ft lift to travel out the back door.

Thats for runoff 25 gal reservoir. I just realized Im good to just copy my bathtub refill process thats still golden. Done it a thousand times since I found out to do that.

So ill refill a 25 gal reservoir from the tub just add another 20ft tubing 60ft total cut to size I have couplers. 800gph pump to pump from there to basement to refill.

It should work unless I need the 1150gph pump. Hell yea now that I looked it up its 10ft lift vs 11 so its similar. Realized Im just traveling horizontally for a bit then gravity will do the rest.

Edit to be clear I tested the runoff reservoir setup to empty it, it works to my amazement if that works then the fertilizer refill will work too. It was slow but it works.

Easier than lugging under 5 gal at a time running back and forth and probably spill it. I like to multi task.

 

[medidedicated]

Also found freshly made coco can sit in tub with lid in basement cool settings like a bag of ready to use coco or root riot.

It took like 5 months to start seeing a tiny bit of mold which I just picked out and bought a spray bottle of h2o2 built in sprayer. Just spray a little and mix, spray and put lid back on.

It can last well.. 5 months this last batch. Knowing that Ill just make extra when I make more coco not trying so hard to have left overs.

Very minimal effort keeping it fresh and moist. Like 2-3 months before I saw tiny bit of mold and would do the mentioned like once a month.

 

[medidedicated]

So I would otherwise walk up down stairs 10 times to fill 23 gallons and dump 23 gallons plus wait for it to fill up each time I load the fresh water 4.8 gallons at a time in bucket.

Maybe more trips as you cant fill it all the way the bucket will spill lugging it around.

Now I just unroll tubing up the stairs and back down. Power pump on. Wait for it to empty and power off. Up the stairs to roll up the tubing back down the stairs and set it on top of reservoir.

To fill I place bucket in tub, remove tubing and start filling, unroll hose down stairs to reservoir. Up the stairs and power on pump. Down the stairs and watch it.

Up the stairs to power off and empty bucket to avoid any more water flow. Down the stairs and roll up the tubing back into bucket upstairs for next use.

I can weigh up pool shock, start mixing solution, talk to people on RIU, whatever, while in progress. Avoiding dumping back to city water as thats pretty much poisining the water and can get a fine for that.

 

[medidedicated]

Relocated!

 

[medidedicated]

Wondering how tf to get in? Well. I mean without it being a pain that is.

 

[medidedicated]

Well I just filled the reservoir with the tub like described. Pumps maybe too fast lol. Put a bal vavle to dial flow. Hard to bleed the tubing and roll it up while going up stairs.

All in all 23 mins aint bad, I take like 13-15 mins filling up my 60gal.

About to run the system tonight hands off.

 

[KnowMsayin' Mane]

why do you need pool shock for coco?

all you need is a balanced solution at 2.5-3.0mS and ph 6.0-6.5.

then you turn on the pump and let it drip until you get 10-25% runoff.
discard this runoff, it's only good for your yard

At field capacity your substrate will be around 75% WC (water content)
Let it dry out to 50% WC until watering again.

the runoff will always measure higher in EC, this is normal because we aim around 3.5-4.5mS for veg growth and 5-6mS for generative growth

pH climbing a few points in the runoff is also a sign of healthy rootzone
If runoff pH is lower than feed ph, there may be salt accumulations due to excessive drybacks that acidify the rootzone

peak nutrient absorbtion will be around pH 7 in the medium, with a redox potential of 400-450mV
red chelated iron (eddha) and other chelated micro's will be strongly advised to be able to reach these numbers

 

[medidedicated]

Why ph the runoff? No shock will rot the reservoir and slime. Plants use chlorine too. Grow room is 75-85F daily. I wouldnt let it dry back like that, that ruined my last grow which was on accident.

And what you mean mS? I go by ec only and I wouldnt go higher than 2.5ec which is already high. .5 ec tap and someone said its loaded with junk.

I feed 8x a day its high frequency 1 gallon. My reservoirs are pretty clean and havent cleaned them out in months.

 

[medidedicated]

Runoff should only be a few points higher no more than .5ec IME. Its just whats kept everything looking so good.

 

[medidedicated]

Heres a 4x a day clone same plant I basically treated it like you said. I had to go to problems section to find I forgot to test runoff and just mimick the successful practice I do.

It stopped burning. I think our practices are just too different. I just follow what I think of as universal practice. Its very simple but then theres other things people do and just wont work for me and dont see to often on here.

More so one against the other but I usually see the universal way win. Idk why some mfg’s “crop steer” and provide droughts in coco.. That kills my plants every time.

I say universal because my practices are inline with what you see people suggest to new dtw coco growers, every one almost does the same thing.

 

[KnowMsayin' Mane]

I never said to ph the runoff
Just not to reuse it

0.5mS tap is not "full of junk"
It just contains some bicarbonates, which make it hard (calcium and maybe magnesium)
Depending on you location you can also have some sodium and chloride (beneficial in moderate quantities) and sulfur

Actually it is just free minerals. The bicarbonates only need some acidification to free the calcium (and magnesium if your water contains some) in the solution

Yes mS (millisiemens) is just the unit of measurement for EC (electroconductivity)

Nice grow
Now I can see why you need to water eight times a day. They are rootbound as fuck.
They won't like the dryback you're right

ps: not sure plants use chlorine, but they use choride (different)

 

[KnowMsayin' Mane]

Heres a 4x a day clone same plant I basically treated it like you said. I had to go to problems section to find I forgot to test runoff and just mimick the successful practice I do.

It stopped burning. I think our practices are just too different. I just follow what I think of as universal practice. Its very simple but then theres other things people do and just wont work for me and dont see to often on here.

More so one against the other but I usually see the universal way win. Idk why some mfg’s “crop steer” and provide droughts in coco.. That kills my plants every time.

I say universal because my practices are inline with what you see people suggest to new dtw coco growers, every one almost does the same thing.

Exact

Crop steering will only work when there is substantial amount of media to buffer the water content fluctuations

With your method you better feed several times threw the day

 

[medidedicated]

Yea I mean ph test runoff, its going to read random and tells nothing from what Ive followed on here. Ive had dry back in 3 gallon pots before too.

I might of let it dry too much that one time, I hope they dont mean that severely or else Im even less sure why they suggest that.

But this thread goes over why its not good to have that much coco to begin with. You lose a good few substantial benefits when using too big a pot.

I used 3 gallon for 2.5x2.5 7ft tall tent space and 1 gallon, the 1 gal was just as good maybe even better. Im trying 1 gal for 3x3x6 plant just to give an idea of what 1 gal could do.

I thought the same about my water but had someone whos seen/grown thousands of plants. They say its got things that can create a guessing game when problems arise.

Im no chemist nor ever learned to read a mulders chart but try to learn from people that do. I just am winging it. Going by feel and what Ive learned and experienced. Ive been lucky so far.

 

[medidedicated]

Oh and feeding a 3 gal 4x aday vs 1 gal 8x a day, the 3 gallon are water feens. I could never run this many 3 gal Id go threw 60 gal a day or so.

 

[medidedicated]

Anyone want to help me use this bad boy? The instructions are hmm. Use with plain water and run the whole system or does it mean with fertilizer?! Ugh.

Does it mean DWC? What about dtw coco? One to two hrs.. With dtw coco can I just let it run through for 3 days or would you do as quick as possible like a day?

 

[medidedicated]

I got the answer on this on my plant problem thread “leaf damage? dtw coco” so Im all good. Basically just hand water with water and kleen to just some runoff.

Try it out and see if I can run it through my lines when the reservoir is low. It shouldnt mess with the cation sites even with just water and kleen.

Try it on one clone and not the others. Test it out dont just go crazy with it.

 

[medidedicated]

Well, 13 days it lasted and dumped for 17 min and spent 34 mins filling the reservoir 25 gal. Pool shock every 3 days as thats the fastest I seen it expire but warmer temps prompt that.

Id hate to replenish a rotten res after I just filled it ya know?

Bleeding the tubing when filling the res was much easier disconnecting it at the pump upstairs. Then roll it up bleeding it into the res.

Keep it high up when rolling back up will bleed it. So doing on a weekend would be best its slightly longer than my flower res refill.

Turns out I can trim the tubing to res quite a bit like 3 ft maybe 4 ft. I didnt unroll it straight, didnt know some loops would comprimise so much length.

Crap for the life of me cant remember if 34 mins includes adding fertilizer just not ph’ed. I was told want to allow equilibrium before ph’ing as it drifts at first. Stuff still disolving. 30-60mins.

You know what I do remember taking my time ec’ing it to get accurate timing so I actually think so.

 

[medidedicated]

I havent seen anyone mention they use a water filter for dtw coco. Like a water filter to filter out debree. Any suggestions? Does it work? Its just hard not to get particles in the reservoir.

 

[curious2garden]

I havent seen anyone mention they use a water filter for dtw coco. Like a water filter to filter out debree. Any suggestions? Does it work? Its just hard not to get particles in the reservoir.

I put my Floraflex 2 gallon pots inside felted pots. That keeps all the extra coco that may come out in the felted bag.