Harvest a Pound Every Three Weeks!

1) I accept that I would need some sort of system to hold the plant so it doesnt fall over ScrOG seems one possible answer. I just have other issues with ScrOG. Once a ScrOG sets in you wont be able to lift the lid and look inside.

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I virtually never lift the lid to look inside. Just pull a net pot and look inside to check your spayers

2) You dont seem to use the net pots at all, they dont hold any medium, so why have them?

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It makes it easier to move the plants around. Also the net pot has a lip that keeps the plant from falling through the hole.

3) if you wernt going to take the plant out of the lid, could you just drill a finger width hole in the lid, and use some cut foam (say from a yoga mat) to hold the small clone in the hole instead of the pots that you have now?

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Yes, but you are better off with my system in the long run.

4) I assume after the roots are a certain length that they sit in the nutrient solution, bubbler style. I assume that the nutrient solution gets airated by the sprays. Would you possibly get a better growth by including an air bubbler and air stone as well ?

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No, the roots never set in water on any of my systems. By the time the roots are long enough to hang in the water on my cloner they get moved to the veg unit.

The dual container veg unit keeps all the roots in the top container and the water drains into the bottom.

The cycle timer is the key to my systems. The roots need the air time.

5) The one problem I have with Aeroponics and DWC bubblers is that you have to remove the lid to check (water/PH/ECM) levels and refil the bucket. I saw one professional system with a clear plastic hose up the side of the bucket from the base to see how much liquid is in there. Is there any reason that I couldnt do that and use a funnel on top to refil the bucket? Im fearing mold/fungus issues here.

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You will notice that all of my systems have a ball valve and garden hose adapter. Just put a cup under the spout and open the valve while the pump is running. Use the sample to test your PPM and PH. Too easy.

Make sure you cut an access hole in your res lid so you can check the water level and have and easy way of adding nutes and water.

6) If I do remove the lid and drag it from bucket to bucket, how tough are the roots. I hear about light causing them to rot, and stuff like that. I see pics of you exposing the roots to the air/light for photos so I assume that they are tough enough.

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The roots are tough as fuck dude. I handle them all the time and have never had any problems.

Root rot is a non issue with my system.

It takes a long time for algae to grow. Roots need to be in the dark to keep algae from growing. That's why you want to find a dark blue or black Ruffneck container.

I recommend Hygrozyme to control any algae and root rot. The stuff is amazing!

7) I am thinking of covering the top of the plastic bucket with Mylar or Foil or something to keep the heal and light out of the res. I hear that too much heat in the nutrient solution is bad.

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You want to keep your rez as cool as possible to avoid the funk. Warm water and nutrients are an issue to be addressed.

I've never had a problem with water temps because I use a cycle timer. My pumps are only on 1 minute and off for 5 minutes. This keeps the water nice and cool. Smaller pumps and large reservoirs also help keep the water temps down.

I am seeing 2 of these systems, one under a 400 MH and one under a 600 HPS. I guess I would have to have a CFL for cloning as the MH would blast them into stupidity. But I like the idea of not having to lift the lid all the time, and just drag the bucket from room to room and keep the plants in the bucket the whole time. I suspect I wouldnt want more than 4 plants per bucket (maybe 6) as I like to double top and get a big bush before I flower. I suck at cloning and I love the simplicity of cloning and then just leaving them in the same system for veging.

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You can run 7 plants. Put a hole in middle and run six holes in a circle around it.

A 600 would handle two of these systems side by side easy.

I would recommend an HO Fluorescent light system for your veg. Fls help keep the internode length down and are nice and cool. I use a small one for my clones and really like it. HO is the way to go instead of CFLs in my opinion.

With HO lights you don't have to replace the whole ballast when the light burns out. They also spread the light out more evenly unlike a single point light source.

Good luck bro!

Hey stinkbud.. love your setup.. I had done some hydro in dwc system before and got root rot.. it was the summer time.... Do you have anything in the rez to hold temp?
Your setup is so nice and easy that its making me want to go aero ... Is there any way you can show me what the roots look like right before you cut them?

Those plastic posts?... do they have those at the homedepot?

Thanks man.. +rep

Yet again with some excellant info stinkbud!! When this is all said and done, i'm feeling much more confident about the idea of hydro. What do you think about the idea of using your fence post systems, in conjunction with a stadium design, have 3-4 levels of them up each side, one res per side, lights in the middle. Use lines to support them, as they got bigger, and started to lean towards the lights. Just an idea, to possibly cut down on floor space, I'm kinda limited!

Hey stinkbud.. love your setup.. I had done some hydro in dwc system before and got root rot.. it was the summer time.... Do you have anything in the rez to hold temp?

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In the Summer I run an A/C unit so my flower room is always kept at 85. The water stays cold to the touch.

The key is the cycle timer. Only running the pump one minute every five minutes keeps the water cool.

Your setup is so nice and easy that its making me want to go aero ... Is there any way you can show me what the roots look like right before you cut them?

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Why? The roots are small and unempresive. All the growth goes into the buds with an Aero system. With all the O2 and nutes available there is no need for a large root ball.

Since the roots are not sitting in water they never get root rot.

Those plastic posts?... do they have those at the homedepot?

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Maybe, this time of year they put all lot of that stuff away for the winter.

I had to call around to find some last time and I only found 3 that weren't busted.

Worst case is you can always go online and have them sent to you. I've found some places online that have a good selection of PVC fence posts and end caps. Cheap too! Do a search...

Thundercat said:

Yet again with some excellant info stinkbud!! When this is all said and done, i'm feeling much more confident about the idea of hydro. What do you think about the idea of using your fence post systems, in conjunction with a stadium design, have 3-4 levels of them up each side, one res per side, lights in the middle. Use lines to support them, as they got bigger, and started to lean towards the lights. Just an idea, to possibly cut down on floor space, I'm kinda limited!

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You would need a larger pump so make sure you watch your water temps. Not a big deal if you keep your room cool.

You could attach a PVC pipe to the endcaps to drain into the res. Or the bottom of the fence post would work also. Make sure you put a screen on the drain to keep the roots from clogging the drain.

Good luck bro!

Thanks for all the, I was thinking about draining it out the bottom of the very end, I didn't think about the screen though, good catch. I figured I would need a bigger pump, since the top row would be up in the air. Glad to hear you think it should work.

StinkBud said:

In the Summer I run an A/C unit so my flower room is always kept at 85. The water stays cold to the touch.

The key is the cycle timer. Only running the pump one minute every five minutes keeps the water cool.

Why? The roots are small and unempresive. All the growth goes into the buds with an Aero system. With all the O2 and nutes available there is no need for a large root ball.

Since the roots are not sitting in water they never get root rot.

Maybe, this time of year they put all lot of that stuff away for the winter.

I had to call around to find some last time and I only found 3 that weren't busted.

Worst case is you can always go online and have them sent to you. I've found some places online that have a good selection of PVC fence posts and end caps. Cheap too! Do a search...

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OK well that answered the root mass question.. I would love to do aero ... but i like big plants... not an sog fan.... I am legal to grow 6 plants so this kinda wouldnt work.. thats why my question was about the root mass... I was thinking if it would hold up a 4 foot branchy tree... maybe building aero buckets for each plant... but i wanted to use only 1 pump... damn it all...

If you plumbed it right, you could use a single res, and pump for all plants even with 6 buckets. Have a mini aero sprayer set up in each bucket, maybe do a top and bottom bucket thing, like his veg chambers. I don't know that much about aero, but it seems like it could work.

genfranco said:

OK well that answered the root mass question.. I would love to do aero ... but i like big plants... not an sog fan.... I am legal to grow 6 plants so this kinda wouldnt work.. thats why my question was about the root mass... I was thinking if it would hold up a 4 foot branchy tree... maybe building aero buckets for each plant... but i wanted to use only 1 pump... damn it all...

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this is where im at too ...

I think i am going to have to invent a DWC/aero/bubbler hybrid system. I dont see why aero cant work with a bigger net pot and some sort of medium in it to hold the plant upright. I love the idea of cloning straight to aero without any stupid rockwool cubes or whatever.

I am thinking a tall thin circular plastic container with both an air bubbler and a water sprayer system, net pot on top with rocks in it, and using the foam over the top of the net just to keep light out.

... brain going into overdrive again !

LOL.. funny thing all are stuck at the same spot.. Im thinking it can be done with this type of pvc design no problem... my only issue is how much height room you loose considering the drainage... maybe using 2.5 gallon buckets... slightly tilted and then adding a drain hose (kinda like what old browndirtwarrior did for his bucket feeding system) then you could just drain it down... but this would have to be above the rez... which then defeats the purpose of big plants....ugh...

heh firstly there is big plants and there is BIG plants.

i dont want them any bigger than 4 foot tall, but i want them bushy wide
therefore i double top them and get 6 or so main colas.

right now im thinking a tall thin container with a pump with a long hose up to the sprays, leaving lots of room for the roots to not hit the water level.

i dont see the advantage of a wide resivoir, and i dont want to cramp the plants by putting them too close to each other, so one plant per pot

if i use a net pot then that will stop the plant falling into the container (straight down), but i still need something to stop it falling over, this is where im stuck.

i guess some sort of rail/bar 1 foot higher that i can tie it to would work, or string from the same support that the light hangs off, kinda like LST but holding it up not down.

the problem with one plant per container is maintaining the nutes, pain in the butt doing each one seperately, esp if its a small amount per container and has to be adjusted regularly.

EDIT : After reading Earls thread on the space shuttle hydro system, im thinking of aeroponics, with the roots going horizontal not vertical. This would save massive head space.

https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/38569-aeroponic-space-shuttle.html

DaveTheNewbie said:

heh firstly there is big plants and there is BIG plants.

i dont want them any bigger than 4 foot tall, but i want them bushy wide
therefore i double top them and get 6 or so main colas.

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If I where you I would build a fencepost system with only 6 holes. 3 per post. Space the holes far enough apart that you can grow the plants huge.

Then if you want big plants just veg them longer. The size of your plants is 100% dependent on the veg time.

The roots don't support the plants, the 3/4" PVC frame does. You just tie the plants to the frame with twist ties. Check out the photos.

You can even clone in the Aero/NFT fencepost system if you only wanted one system for everything.

You're making it harder than it needs to be. Remember KISS...

DaveTheNewbie said:

I think i am going to have to invent a DWC/aero/bubbler hybrid system. I dont see why aero cant work with a bigger net pot and some sort of medium in it to hold the plant upright.

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Imagine half of this frame (see attached photo) with the dual container system sitting in the middle.

Your plant support issues are solved.

Again... The plants are not supported by the net pots. You have to stop thinking like a soil grower. The plants are supported 100% by the frame.

It's not natural but then again nothing in my room is.

Have height issues? Rubbermaid makes different height Ruffneck containers. Go check out rubbermaid.com

It's fun as shit building these things!

If you really want the killer buds build my PVC fencepost system!

Do you use a humidity dome with your aero cloner?
If not, how many times a day do you need to mist your cuttings?

I currently use rapid rooter cubes, under a humidity dome, and mist them 2-3 times daily until roots apear, normaly 10-14 days.
Your way seems much easier but I did not see a Dome in your pics.

nice lookin clone chamber, do you ever have problems with algae since the walls are clear?

StinkBud said:

Imagine half of this frame (see attached photo) with the dual container system sitting in the middle.

Your plant support issues are solved.

Again... The plants are not supported by the net pots. You have to stop thinking like a soil grower. The plants are supported 100% by the frame.

It's not natural but then again nothing in my room is.

Have height issues? Rubbermaid makes different height Ruffneck containers. Go check out rubbermaid.com

It's fun as shit building these things!

If you really want the killer buds build my PVC fencepost system!

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I have to say that your pvc fence post system is nice... but like i said.. i want big plants... well at least 4 or 5 feet with lots of branches.... any ideas for that sorta thing...

Skinflute said:

Do you use a humidity dome with your aero cloner?
If not, how many times a day do you need to mist your cuttings?

I currently use rapid rooter cubes, under a humidity dome, and mist them 2-3 times daily until roots apear, normaly 10-14 days.
Your way seems much easier but I did not see a Dome in your pics.

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I never mist my cuttings. I just cut them and stick them in the cloner.

If you give them water they won't need to grow roots to get it.

My cuttings never wilt or yellow and they never die.

No need to use Rapid Rooter plugs.

My attitude towards the cuttings is "you want some water? grow some fuckin roots then bitch and you can have all you want".

Works everytime.

genfranco said:

I have to say that your pvc fence post system is nice... but like i said.. i want big plants... well at least 4 or 5 feet with lots of branches.... any ideas for that sorta thing...

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All you have to do is keep your 6 plants under 18/6 light for a couple of months. The plants will grow HUGE!

Keep topping them so you get a shit load of tops. You will have to tie each top to the PVC plant support. That's what I do now.

I'm growing some Skunk now that I started from seed. They are out of control BIG.

I bend down the tops and use twist ties to keep them down. It's working great and I didn't have to cut the tops after flowering started.

StinkBud said:

You're making it harder than it needs to be. Remember KISS...

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StinkBud said:

You have to stop thinking like a soil grower. The plants are supported 100% by the frame.

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StinkBud said:

It's not natural but then again nothing in my room is.

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StinkBud said:

It's fun as shit building these things!

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and here ends the lesson today folks

the only stumbling block with the full system that you use is that i cant drag it around from the veg tent to the flower tent. space is limited where i grow. i need to move them from A to B. You veg for 3 weeks so you can pull the net pot and drag it to the flower setup. if i veg/clone for 8 weeks will i be able to drag it in the net pot to the flower room? because thats the basis of my system. 8 weeks clone/veg and 8 weeks flower, 2 tents running at once. and very cramped.

Well, I'm convinced, I'm going to build one of the cloners today. I tried cloning once before and every one of them died. I think I had it too hot; I had them sitting on an amp and they all turned yellow and died.