anomolies
Well-Known Member
I grow in coco outdoors half of the year, and lately with the heat it's a pain in the ass having to hand-water my plants everyday. I don't like pure hydro cus I prefer to be able to move my plants around or in case there's a pump failure my plants don't die.
I saw the hempy bucket coco thread and thought it was great, that I could water my plants less frequently and also save nutes. My plant roots would be happier and less prone to drying out too.
Then I wondered how I would make it automated, cus I was eventually going to ditch hand-watering all together, and came up with this.
But before you say that the hempy bucket doesn't need to be improved or complicated-- it isn't. I simply made it automated, still keeping the same principle.
I'm trying to keep the same principle, so please tell me if you guys see any flaws / deviance with this setup. I'm about to get some more tubing/connectors and buckets and hopefully not waste any money making this work.
There are still 3 minor problems I'm trying to work out, but when I do this setup is going to be really cool.
Check the simplicity:
-1 pump (396 GPH), might be too strong.
-5 gallon buckets
-1 inch diameter drain holes 2 inches above bottom of bucket. (2 holes instead of one)
The hole placement on the reservoir should be near the top, but if it will be run as ebb&flow the last reservoir connected to the first plant should have the hole placement near the bottom, so that all of the water levels out when the pump is off.
-3/4 inch couplings, 3/4 inch tubing. Rubber Grommets.
-3 gallon pots placed within the 5 gallon. (I think they're 3 gallons or 5 gallons, but anyway they have the same diameter and are 3-4 inches shorter in height)
All connected in a circle, the water flows using the concept that water wants to go down.
As I was setting this up I realized that it could also be run as an Ebb&Flow, however the difference is that it floods when you turn off the pump.
Three remaining problems:
1) The 1st problem here is that the bucket to the right of the green bucket has a much higher water level than the following buckets. I'm wondering if this will be fine or if I should just not put a plant in that bucket. I tried to limit the flow from the green bucket but didn't seem to work so well. Maybe I'll just put a plant in there and see how it does compared to the others.
2) 2nd problem is that the bucket with the pump sucks water too fast, which means that it runs half-dry and has the risk of running dry if reservoir level gets low. I figured out a solution to this by putting a semi-sealed container with holes in it for the pump to pressurize and drain some of the water back into the bucket, while still pumping water into the green.
However, I'm still trying to think of a less ghetto solution without having to lower the height of this bucket. (which would mean that I would need to buy a water table that costs $100). I plan on growing 7 foot trees which is another reason why I want to keep all the buckets as low to the floor as possible.
I guess easier solution would be just to get a weaker pump, but I don't feel like spending anymore money than I have to, lol.
Adjusting the rate of the pump also increases/decreases the water level in all the buckets.
The water level is supposed to just barely flood the bottom of the top container.
3) 3rd problem is that the roots might grow into a matt on the bottom of the top container. Don't know if this will be a problem in this setup, being the first of it's kind (I think?)
Could someone show me what hempy bucket roots look like on the bottom?
I'm wondering if I should scrap the top container altogether and just fill the bottom with hydroton then add coco. But then I'm worried that a lot of the coco will sink to the bottom and mix with the water.
However, the idea for having the seperate bucket and being able to remove the plant from the watering system was to make maintenance easier, and to convert it back to passive / hand-watered for whatever reason.
Let me know if you guys can think of anything. Thanks for reading!
Ignore the yellow crayola bucket, that is only temporary as I haven't drilled the necessary hole connecting the grey to the green bucket, and I ran out of tubing.
The green bucket is the "reservoir," but you can add as many reservoirs as you want, or any size. However you need to keep the total volume of water below a certain point so that the first reservoir doesn't overflow with water being constantly pumped into it. Or add additional outflow on the reservoir.
The hole placement on the reservoir should be near the top rather than the bottom. Or in the middle/bot on the last reservoir if it's ebb&flow
I saw the hempy bucket coco thread and thought it was great, that I could water my plants less frequently and also save nutes. My plant roots would be happier and less prone to drying out too.
Then I wondered how I would make it automated, cus I was eventually going to ditch hand-watering all together, and came up with this.
But before you say that the hempy bucket doesn't need to be improved or complicated-- it isn't. I simply made it automated, still keeping the same principle.
I'm trying to keep the same principle, so please tell me if you guys see any flaws / deviance with this setup. I'm about to get some more tubing/connectors and buckets and hopefully not waste any money making this work.
There are still 3 minor problems I'm trying to work out, but when I do this setup is going to be really cool.
Check the simplicity:
-1 pump (396 GPH), might be too strong.
-5 gallon buckets
-1 inch diameter drain holes 2 inches above bottom of bucket. (2 holes instead of one)
The hole placement on the reservoir should be near the top, but if it will be run as ebb&flow the last reservoir connected to the first plant should have the hole placement near the bottom, so that all of the water levels out when the pump is off.
-3/4 inch couplings, 3/4 inch tubing. Rubber Grommets.
-3 gallon pots placed within the 5 gallon. (I think they're 3 gallons or 5 gallons, but anyway they have the same diameter and are 3-4 inches shorter in height)
All connected in a circle, the water flows using the concept that water wants to go down.
As I was setting this up I realized that it could also be run as an Ebb&Flow, however the difference is that it floods when you turn off the pump.
Three remaining problems:
1) The 1st problem here is that the bucket to the right of the green bucket has a much higher water level than the following buckets. I'm wondering if this will be fine or if I should just not put a plant in that bucket. I tried to limit the flow from the green bucket but didn't seem to work so well. Maybe I'll just put a plant in there and see how it does compared to the others.
2) 2nd problem is that the bucket with the pump sucks water too fast, which means that it runs half-dry and has the risk of running dry if reservoir level gets low. I figured out a solution to this by putting a semi-sealed container with holes in it for the pump to pressurize and drain some of the water back into the bucket, while still pumping water into the green.
However, I'm still trying to think of a less ghetto solution without having to lower the height of this bucket. (which would mean that I would need to buy a water table that costs $100). I plan on growing 7 foot trees which is another reason why I want to keep all the buckets as low to the floor as possible.
I guess easier solution would be just to get a weaker pump, but I don't feel like spending anymore money than I have to, lol.
Adjusting the rate of the pump also increases/decreases the water level in all the buckets.
The water level is supposed to just barely flood the bottom of the top container.
3) 3rd problem is that the roots might grow into a matt on the bottom of the top container. Don't know if this will be a problem in this setup, being the first of it's kind (I think?)
Could someone show me what hempy bucket roots look like on the bottom?
I'm wondering if I should scrap the top container altogether and just fill the bottom with hydroton then add coco. But then I'm worried that a lot of the coco will sink to the bottom and mix with the water.
However, the idea for having the seperate bucket and being able to remove the plant from the watering system was to make maintenance easier, and to convert it back to passive / hand-watered for whatever reason.
Let me know if you guys can think of anything. Thanks for reading!
Ignore the yellow crayola bucket, that is only temporary as I haven't drilled the necessary hole connecting the grey to the green bucket, and I ran out of tubing.
The green bucket is the "reservoir," but you can add as many reservoirs as you want, or any size. However you need to keep the total volume of water below a certain point so that the first reservoir doesn't overflow with water being constantly pumped into it. Or add additional outflow on the reservoir.
The hole placement on the reservoir should be near the top rather than the bottom. Or in the middle/bot on the last reservoir if it's ebb&flow