Home.grower: home.made Flood & Drain w/Xtra Cheese PLZ!!

[home.grower]

Hello, and welcome.


I'm a little bored with soil growing, so to raise my interest level I'm about to commence simulating a mini Flood & Drain system, that I hope will take over the way I grow - For Now!



I've had a go at NFT a few times and Flood and Drain once in the past. NFT for me has never been a success. But I was new to growing back then. I've since done much reading and communicating with like minded people to realize a few general areas where I was going wrong. Feel like I'm writing a book!


I bought a large gravel tray a couple days ago to place one of my blooming ladies on to catch run off. As I sat and smoked I had a brain wave. The gravel tray appeared ideal for some kind of water culture. I went to look around the place to see what bits I already had suitable for implementing hydro and found that my need to spend a lot of money to set it up had quickly disappeared. I'm not going to waffle on too much here.


I'll do a photo step by step with a bit of info about the pics.

 

[home.grower]

Hardware:

1 Large Gravel Tray
4 Net Pots
16mm Supply Tube
25mm Supply Tube
16mm Tub Outlet
25mm Tub Outlet
2 Supply Filters
1 Supply Extension
1 Water Pump
1 Air Pump
Some tubing for Air Supply and a few tube connectors.

I may need a few more items, but this is where I start.

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The pic doesn't show everything. The net pots I had from previous hydro ops. Same for the Air pump, Air tubing & Connectors, Water Pump, and featured bucket. some stuff looks dirty, which is true, the used items haven't been washed since their last use yet, but it will be done.

 

[home.grower]

First thing was to drill the 30mm holes for the Tub Outlets. This caused me to have to go to the hardware store and buy some tools, but that isn't much of a problem as tools are always useful.

Unfortunately, the shop didn't have a 30mm bit, so I bought a 28mm and hoped for the best. I had to mess around a bit but the 28mm bit did the job, though I will get the right bit to ensure any other similar job I undertake will be done correctly and without extreme force.

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The Tub Outlets had to be forced in and it took creativity to tighten them in.

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[home.grower]

After assembling the Tub Outlets, tightening nuts and placing the filter and outlet extensions in their right holes, I made a hole for my Air Supply that will oxygenate the flood tray.

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Not the best quality pic!

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There is a little connector that joins two tubes holing the Air Supply line in place.

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The near finished assembly.

 

[home.grower]

Next I found a place to put the tray, a home in the garden. I then chopped the right lengths of Flood and Drain Tubing and attached them to the appropriate Outlet.

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I didn't make this in the exact order I'm typing it in. I put these tubes on before I drilled my air supply hole etc.

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Overall, it didn't take very long to construct. I shall be cutting some corriboard for the top tray with holes in for the net pots and also cutting a piece to keep the light out the bucket. I suppose I better switch it on and flood the place!

Stay tuned as I will soon be taking clones from my vegging cheese plants, rooting them and putting 4 clones onto this system and simultaneously I'll be doing a soil cheese grow to compare?!?!

 

[pccdrom]

yes, looks a very simple effective set up. i like it

 

[VictorVIcious]

That looks like an ingeneous set up. why didn't you just go all the way to dwc with it? Sorry for the stupid question but your pictures are too big to fit my screen so I can't really get a good look at it.VV

 

[home.grower]

That looks like an ingeneous set up. why didn't you just go all the way to dwc with it? Sorry for the stupid question but your pictures are too big to fit my screen so I can't really get a good look at it.VV

Hello and thanks VictorVIcious,

Well, when I get my lid(s) in place and made a few adjustments I should be able to run DWC style without any probs. I have a variety of fixtures and fittings around me that can let me do top/drip feed, as is flood and drain and with more consideration to air DWC. DWC was the objective with all respect, though the design is that of a flood and drain. There seems to be such a fine line. If I used misters and pots on top of the tray I could turn it into an aeroponic system. For now though, it will be just a simple flood and drain.

I may put another one together once I know how well it performs and may also try the mentioned methods.

cheers

 

[home.grower]

yes, looks a very simple effective set up. i like it

thanks mann!

 

[home.grower]

I've run the system and it has teething problems.

The pump I installed is a little powerful, even on slow mode, so it is getting replaced with a less powerful one. The bucket as a reservoir idea works, but my 10L isn't enough, will change it for a molded 25L storage container that the top tray may well be able to sit on which would be nice. And finally I need to cut some corriboard to size and place the holes for the pots. I'll then add an air stone to the new reservoir. With a little clean up the new system should be good to go. I will be taking 4 cuttings in a day or two and will be adding them to this system as soon as they are rooted. Simultaneously I will introduce 4 plants into the room in soil. They are the same strain. Difference is the potted plants would be near on 80 days in veg but the clones will be only just rooted. To save confusion the potted plants will be in the other thread found in my sig.

 

[pccdrom]

I've run the system and it has teething problems.

The pump I installed is a little powerful, even on slow mode, so it is getting replaced with a less powerful one. The bucket as a reservoir idea works, but my 10L isn't enough, will change it for a molded 25L storage container that the top tray may well be able to sit on which would be nice. And finally I need to cut some corriboard to size and place the holes for the pots. I'll then add an air stone to the new reservoir. With a little clean up the new system should be good to go. I will be taking 4 cuttings in a day or two and will be adding them to this system as soon as they are rooted. Simultaneously I will introduce 4 plants into the room in soil. They are the same strain. Difference is the potted plants would be near on 80 days in veg but the clones will be only just rooted. To save confusion the potted plants will be in the other thread found in my sig.

minor technical difficulties, aint nothing. sort thart out and get flooding & draining. Im very interested in how they will take off.

 

[LoudBlunts]

quick question...


why air tubing thru the flood tray as opposed to just having some air stones/bubblers in the res?

 

[home.grower]

quick question...


why air tubing thru the flood tray as opposed to just having some air stones/bubblers in the res?

well, no major reason. plant roots like oxygen. oxygenating the water in the reservoir and supplying air directly under the pots can't be such a bad thing. I've starved plant roots of oxygen (flooded) before and lost like 60 plant. had i oxygenated, they might have coped with the flood better.

I've just woke and am still in bed and can't figure if that just made any sense

 

[home.grower]

I went about getting a bigger container to use as a reservoir this afternoon. My local hardware store had the style container, but it was transparent. I ended up buying another bucket (15L) non the less.

I then went to a major high street hardware store as they advertised having the style and color I wanted on the net. Unfortunately they were sold out!

I returned with my bucket.

I changed the pump to one that I thought was less powerful, but it started splashing up the walls and all sorts when I linked it up and turned on. It was quite a stoner moment when my ablaze joint suddenly went out and wouldn't relight. I put the other pump back in line and ensured I did actually have it set to its minimum setting. I filled the 15L bucket after giving most items a scrub and it worked better than the first time .

I had a problem with the return feed not functioning properly due to air restrictions, so I simply cut 5" off the pipe and the return flow works sweet.

I ran the system for around 30 minutes. The pump started to make a weired noise as if it was running out of water. I checked it out but couldn't see a fault. I turned the pump off and let the system drain.

Due to the shape/design of the tray I'm using, the system does not fully drain. Hmmmmm! What I have done then is to pierce the air line that runs beneath the pot even more to keep the residual liquid well oxygenated when the system drains. If it affects the growth of the plants that go on it in a negative fashion then I shall just put the tray on a slant which should aid drainage.

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The above pic was taken before I put more piercings in the air line. I think play time is over and I must go check on the 6 in veg.

 

[home.grower]

quick question...


why air tubing thru the flood tray as opposed to just having some air stones/bubblers in the res?

I intend to do both. I have a 2nd air pump and sphere air stone for the reservoir somewhere.

 

[pccdrom]

quote "Due to the shape/design of the tray I'm using, the system does not fully drain. Hmmmmm! What I have done then is to pierce the air line that runs beneath the pot even more to keep the residual liquid well oxygenated when the system drains. If it affects the growth of the plants that go on it in a negative fashion then I shall just put the tray on a slant which should aid drainage" quote.

was thinking straight away put it on a slant, thats wot i did with the tray on my res

 

[home.grower]

I've just tended to the 6 cheeses I have in veg. They are coming on quite well. Out of the 6 I selected the bushiest 3 and took one clone from each. These 3 clones will be set straight to bloom once they are rooted. I'm merely experimenting with this flood & drain system until I know it works, so I decided to lose one of the plots offa the top tray.

Hopefully, within the next fortnight the clones should be rooted and ready for their net pots. Then the real show begins

 

[home.grower]

Seems like I'm waiting for paint to dry, but I'm actually watching the grass grow.

Made some mods in the bloom room. I finally got a replacement reservoir. Bigger than I wanted; 90L!. The flood table sits neatly on the half covered top. I have to screw the corriboard down to keep it in place. The pump tube was cut slightly do it sat nicely on the bottom of the rez. I added another pump to the rez to circulate the solution. There is an airstone in the rez. The rez is sweet and ready for work.

come on u clones!!

 

[home.grower]

Eleven days in the propagator and all 3 cheeses show me signs of roots. I think another few days will be quite enough in the incubator. I can't wait to get the show on the road

 

[home.grower]

This project has had to be killed in the early stages. Grow Room Politics has cause this particular grow not to occur. Tune in to my other thread where I bloom 6 BB.Cheeses under 1.2kW in soil/coco mix.