Drainage

Hey guys and gals,

I am currently 5 weeks into first grow, topped one plant for a second time and waiting for a little more growth on the other 2 before topping again, and was going to attempt scrog. I just had the thought that once they are being trained through screen I wont be able to remove the runoff from saucers as the plants will be fed through the screen as they grow. I may not have funds to come to another solution for drainage until my next grow.

I am growing in coco and fabric pots that sit in saucers. I have to remove plants from tent in order to lift plants out of saucers so I can discard any run-off.,

My question is, should I just forget about scrog so I can remove plants to get rid of run-off, as it is bad to let the plants sit in this, and just continue with LST?

A solution I have thought of for when I have the money is to put blocks down in the corners and middle to rest some metal grid fencing off of the ground for pots to sit on. I would then place a tray underneath mesh to catch run-off and add a tap to one edge so I could remove the run-off. Tray would have to be slightly raised also to allow run-off to flow through tap. Would this be an adequate solution?

MickFoster said:

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Thanks for the pic and for showing me what can be done but does not really answer my question

Poobzilla said:

Thanks for the pic and for showing me what can be done but does not really answer my question

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You dont want the pots sitting in runoff

Boatguy said:

You dont want the pots sitting in runoff

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I know this, and have been discarding run-off, but will be an issue once scrog is under way as cannot remove pots as I have been doing up until now.

@MickFoster sort of answered your question. His solution is basically the same as the one you were asking about.
Main thing is to make sure your scrog net is high enough above the pots, and that there is enough room under there with the pots for maintenance.
It eats up your head space but makes everything easier

Here is a link for some diy self draining saucers https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/diy-self-draining-saucers/

Boatguy said:

@MickFoster sort of answered your question. His solution is basically the same as the one you were asking about.
Main thing is to make sure your scrog net is high enough above the pots, and that there is enough room under there with the pots for maintenance.
It eats up your head space but makes everything easier

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Boatguy said:

Here is a link for some diy self draining saucers https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/diy-self-draining-saucers/

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I appreciate the information but I have no funds to get any other sort of equipment cheap or expensive for at least another month, which I mentioned earlier. The later part of my post was a proposed solution and I am glad I have clarification on this point but does not answer the first which is, should I abandon the scrog, since I will not have the ability to remove pots (to discard run-off) without a whole lot of hassle once they have started growing through netting and just LST the plant until harvest?

Just don’t scrog them then ..., try other techniques like toppping and tying... I prefer myself to move plants around and not using screeens ...

323cheezy said:

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Just don’t scrog them then ..., try other techniques like toppping and tying... I prefer myself to move plants around and not using screeens ...

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I know I fucked up in overlooking this at the start. None of the guides I started with before I began the grow mentioned anything about making sure I had a proper drainage set up.
Mark it up as another thing learned for the next go around.

Do you have a vacuum? A shop vac would be better but you can suck out the runoff.

a2lute said:

Do you have a vacuum? A shop vac would be better but you can suck out the runoff.

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Yeah but not going to suck water through my dyson lol

You might consider hard plastic pots for your next grow.......they don't need to be elevated to drain properly.

Poobzilla said:

Yeah but not going to suck water through my dyson lol

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There's a trick to it grab a 5 gallon bucket or something else with a lid, smoke a hole in the lid big enough for the Dyson hose, duct tape it in, smoke another hole in the lid for a garden hose or whatever you can wrassle up. The second hose will suck up water but your Dyson will be fine, just keep an eye on the water level

On a side note buckethead shop vacs are like $30

a2lute said:

There's a trick to it grab a 5 gallon bucket or something else with a lid, smoke a hole in the lid big enough for the Dyson hose, duct tape it in, smoke another hole in the lid for a garden hose or whatever you can wrassle up. The second hose will suck up water but your Dyson will be fine, just keep an eye on the water level

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I will pass, I do not even tempt fate with cutting slightly wet grass with an electric lawn mower.
I am just going to have to deal with it.
Not got the cash right now to even try that janky sounding set up or buy a purpose built vac.

Alright, good luck man