Experienced input wanted-coco in recirculation or flood to waste systems

[sterling-archer]

I am really struggling to see any benefit at all to recirculating this wilma system now UNLESS someone more experienced has a reason not to. 

 

I am worried about having enough nutes anyway as i am running a 150l rez at 100l hopefully or 120 at a push for 4 in scrog. Its a 8 pot running 4.

 

So i thought should i just keep my 40l external rez topped up and mount the pump in it, see how it goes and water to waste like I am now. 

 

The only issue in this is if i have it backwards and its more efficient to run the rez and change weekly over flood and waste. 

 

I really need someone whos been there to give me their input as which ever way is most efficient i will do

 

Thanks on advance 

Sterl 

[sterling-archer]

Another factor to consider is currently i have no ability to cool water and can only heat it. Does that immediately raise a high risk of water temps in a 1.2 with 600w with the res below? 

[joba]

@sterling-archer

 

hi bud,

 

i am a wilma guy myself and a massive fan,since i started with wilmas it feels like a retirement

no more watering every day as i did before hand watering coco,also my back thanked me too.

 

i have a 70l with 4 pots and 600w light and no issues,as long as you have your extraction dialed in you safe.

I go 60/40 gold label mix and as long as your roots don't go into a resevoir  you are sweet even in the summer -bud rot over 24C can appear and you need a chiller(some people drill holes so the roots can go in,my shop sells matts so it stops roots going inside.I had few times roots foing in and the plants were massive -so i would reckommend this in cooler months,during summer use matts if you drill those holes)

 

i top up every 3 days-chcek EC don't bother with pH anymore

 

one issue with wilmas is vegging-humidity especially so I do veg in small tent under 250w in pure coco and than just flower in wilmas,leave the watering first week only twice a day so the medium isn't too heavy and roots can fully establish into their final pots

 

hope this helsp

[joba]

wilam benefits summarry,my experience

 

feed little and often,bigger plants compare to hand watering-usually average 5 oz per plant

 

no need to attend every day ,every 3-4 days is enough

 

saves on nutes big time especially half way through out flowering -your EC goes up as plants want more water towrds the end

 

 

disadvantages

 

-the height of the wilma,if you have smaller head space you might have a problem

 

vegging-don't see much point in wilmas,humidity issues and its easier especilly going from seed to do it by hand

 

 

[joba]

can't edit( for some reason) so here we go

 

@sterling-archer

 

no need to drain the tank completely every week,i only drain them last week before the  chop when i do the flush

(i only flower in wilma -this way you can have a cycle going 4 in 4 out )

[Leafneck]

Yes alot of what jobo said is worth taking in. 

 

Im pretty sure it was you I was chatting to about wilmas around 2 3 weeks ago? 

I said while vegging I only feed once every 24 hours so the roots go searching and you told me to try keeping the coco saturated.. Well I tried vegging with 2 feeds a day and I'm now flowering with 4 feeds a day and the growth is explosive!! 

 

Can you imagine me going in there doing this by hand?  wilmas are a great bit of kit! 

 

I for one enjoy the fact I only have to fill my res up once a week and I can litterally leave them alone! I work away 5 days a week some weeks so I'd be screwed without. 

 

 I manually have to discard of the remaining res water with buckets and a jug at the end of the week before adding 160l of fresh nutes so I'm sure flood to waste would be my only benifit but I'm being lazy enough not having to manually feed them so it's the least I could do

 

You in flower yet mate? 

[sterling-archer]

5 hours ago, joba said:

wilam benefits summarry,my experience

 

feed little and often,bigger plants compare to hand watering-usually average 5 oz per plant

 

no need to attend every day ,every 3-4 days is enough

 

saves on nutes big time especially half way through out flowering -your EC goes up as plants want more water towrds the end

 

 

disadvantages

 

-the height of the wilma,if you have smaller head space you might have a problem

 

vegging-don't see much point in wilmas,humidity issues and its easier especilly going from seed to do it by hand

 

 

 

 

Thanks

 

I hope the larger res runs ok on less for me pump wise if you are managing on 70,if i could run near that I would be over the moon. I've even considered filling the bottom space with something to lower its capacity and keep height. Ill try 75l and see

 

I am very curious how not emptying it works bud too, does it not cause issues with left over nutes?

 

I was planning to fill fresh weekly per advice id had. Drop as much as possible first then keep pumping and diluting until the bottom water is ok to build up on.

 

Id been told leave it alone without top ups so like i said im curious if it affects you at all?

Edited April 29, 2020 by sterling-archer

[sterling-archer]

5 hours ago, joba said:

Repost

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by sterling-archer

[sterling-archer]

5 hours ago, Leafneck said:

Yes alot of what jobo said is worth taking in. 

 

Im pretty sure it was you I was chatting to about wilmas around 2 3 weeks ago? 

I said while vegging I only feed once every 24 hours so the roots go searching and you told me to try keeping the coco saturated.. Well I tried vegging with 2 feeds a day and I'm now flowering with 4 feeds a day and the growth is explosive!! 

 

Can you imagine me going in there doing this by hand?  wilmas are a great bit of kit! 

 

I for one enjoy the fact I only have to fill my res up once a week and I can litterally leave them alone! I work away 5 days a week some weeks so I'd be screwed without. 

 

 I manually have to discard of the remaining res water with buckets and a jug at the end of the week before adding 160l of fresh nutes so I'm sure flood to waste would be my only benifit but I'm being lazy enough not having to manually feed them so it's the least I could do

 

You in flower yet mate? 

It sure was bud  Im really glad my research yielded a good result for you as it was not my own experience at the time. 

 

And it is amazing isnt it, auto feeding rocks   

 

I am still vegging as i topped twice and need the recovery time. Another week or two and its flower time  I think ive lowered the light too much too as there compact and need to spread out in search a bit so I'll heighten it tonight. There not in final pot yet so i have to be careful not adding height. 

 

I am not sure when to flip to be fair in a scrog

 

There is a huge difference between a support net and real scrog it seems but ive yet to find a guide that nails on when to flip without been too long 

[joba]

2 hours ago, sterling-archer said:

 

 

I am very curious how not emptying it works bud too, does it not cause issues with left over nutes?

 

I was planning to fill fresh weekly per advice id had. Drop as much as possible first then keep pumping and diluting until the bottom water is ok to build up on.

 

Id been told leave it alone without top ups so like i said im curious if it affects you at all?

 i keep my EC 1.6-2.2 max and flush for last 7 days that's where i empty pretty much 65l and top up 65 plain water-would have to use sponge to clean it up and it isn't easy especially when plants week away from chop ...ideally you shoukd take the lid off but that's not realistic really is it...

 

i top up every 3 days when late in flower,keep eye on EC but i do pre-mix my food in 10l buckets so 1 bucket is usually full strengh but the 2nd is half strengh or late in flower plain water with cal mag in it(soft water here)

 

usually 1st 3 weeks no issues but later from week 5 the EC goes up as they are telling you they want more water(the ladies)than food- this is way better than wolloping full load each time as you do when hand watering coco

[joba]

also note this

 

even if you emptied and dried the reservoir when flushing with plain water of EC 0 like mine your EC after 2 feeds would be 0.2

i normally refill another 20l after 3 days anyway so it is negliceble as some nutes sre in the mix-medium and some peeps here have plain tap water 0.2 EC anyway as it is(hard water areas)

 

bud is very clean and smooth

 

and one more

 

don't over use PK mix boosters use half strengh in wilmas otherwise your EC will shoot up overnight from 2 to maybe 2.6

[sterling-archer]

13 minutes ago, joba said:

 i keep my EC 1.6-2.2 max and flush for last 7 days that's where i empty pretty much 65l and top up 65 plain water-would have to use sponge to clean it up and it isn't easy especially when plants week away from chop ...ideally you shoukd take the lid off but that's not realistic really is it...

 

i top up every 3 days when late in flower,keep eye on EC but i do pre-mix my food in 10l buckets so 1 bucket is usually full strengh but the 2nd is half strengh or late in flower plain water with cal mag in it(soft water here)

 

usually 1st 3 weeks no issues but later from week 5 the EC goes up as they are telling you they want more water(the ladies)than food- this is way better than wolloping full load each time as you do when hand watering coco

 

 

Thanks, All makes sense

 

So if i fill the res and the ec rises during the week would you use water and calmag only on it until it hits your max allowed ec bud? Soft water here too. Or is it a question of when it is, so for example if its early in flower you would top up half nutes maybe to ensure a reduction but not too much. And if it was later and a higher spike cal mag water only to get it down. 

 

Sounds like when the ec helps alot for keeping an eye on nutes 

[joba]

@sterling-archer

 

yes,it is always better to put something rathe than nothing as you can see EC which is only electric conductivity which is only how much is in there not what exactly

 

imagine having a magic want which would tell you which nutes to top up....

 

also try to go one stay in the tray as when from seeds and all different it is a bit of a battle,some drink more some less and diffrent drinking patterns.

some hungrier,some thirstier

 

try to do your mix in 10l buckets it is much better that way,maybe 1 full strengh and seconfd half or quater of A&B or just as said calmag

messure pH and EC and once you get a vibe of it,especially going same cutting again and again than you will not even need to messure up to week 6,you will get the 'vibe'

[joba]

Magic wand

 

and one strain per tray

 

can't edit and fucked up keybord

[sterling-archer]

17 minutes ago, joba said:

@sterling-archer

 

yes,it is always better to put something rathe than nothing as you can see EC which is only electric conductivity which is only how much is in there not what exactly

 

imagine having a magic want which would tell you which nutes to top up....

 

also try to go one stay in the tray as when from seeds and all different it is a bit of a battle,some drink more some less and diffrent drinking patterns.

some hungrier,some thirstier

 

try to do your mix in 10l buckets it is much better that way,maybe 1 full strengh and seconfd half or quater of A&B or just as said calmag

messure pH and EC and once you get a vibe of it,especially going same cutting again and again than you will not even need to messure up to week 6,you will get the 'vibe'

 

 

Maybe one day someone will invent a meter pen that measures specifics ey

 

And i am all same strain yeah so should feed as similar as possible. It's a cali strain im doing. 

 

Just gotta get in the groove now by the sounds of it

 

Thanks again bud, if i am ahead of the curve  i can minimise or stop all together any issues so it all helps 

 

Im feeding to waste all veg so hopefully managing a smaller res bucket helps me sus the nutes out and ec etc

 

Sterl

Edited April 29, 2020 by sterling-archer