stu914 Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 I've finally got my new system up and running... The purpose of this build is to try and address issues that arise using different hydro methods...access, over/under watering, root rot, training etc... Ideas and equipment pinched from other systems, no special bits are needed for the build and as the tag suggests it's very much....a trial run... Equipment I already had the following. 1m x 1m flood and drain table. Maxijet 1000 pump. Mini re-circulating pump. Res heater. Feedlines and various fittings. Wilma 4" mesh pots, pebbles. Purchased 5ltr buckets with lids, wreath frames. The Build The buckets were drilled for drainage and a 4" hole cut in the lid. Attached the wreath frame around the lip of the buckets secured with a couple of screws, luckily they're pretty much a perfect fit..more by chance... Covered the lid with B/W plastic and cut holes for the wilma pot. Made and fitted a feed ring with two spouts using feed pipe and 'T' pieces on each bucket... ...which is fed from a manifold in the res...maxijet pump. ...and here's the finished beast... I started 6 Wedding Cake beans in rootit cubes, all germed and I gifted one to my grow bud leaving five to play with. Started in my pot-in-pot system in the trusty old washing up bowl, Wilma mesh pot and pebbles inside a solid pot, promotes roots. 21 days after breaking ground and with a good root mass they're ready to go in...24 days from sowing seed. They dropped nicely into the bucket lids and this is after 24 hours... This is a medium free system, there's only a cupful of pebbles in the wilma pots holding the plant upright, nothing else in the buckets. There'll be a mesh going over once they get top-heavy towards the end of flower. They are fed 15min on 45min off 24/7...roots can take up max oxygen and with no medium roots cannot be swamped or overwatered. Roots are never fully submerged which virtually removes the risk of root rot meaning res temps aren't that critical, mine sits at about 23c and warms the table which the pots stand on at the same time, room temps never go below 20c so pots can stay uninsulated. Each bucket can be removed and replaced on the table for any reason, especially training when I'll use the wreath rings to tie down the branches. Grouping them together until they fill the space means I only need one bank of lights to start and not two...saves a few quid. Makes moving them around on the table as they grow a breeze as well. Added bonus there are no rootballs to dispose of after the grow, even the cupful of pebbles can be re-used if you're really really tight. Questions and comments written in pencil on a £20 note are very welcome... This isn't a diary as such but I'll update as and when...cheers all... 33 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbillybob Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 (edited) looks good Stu mate, should pump out some big ole bushes. I cant wait to see it in action. is it basically an upscale of your veg system? im thinking, it would be awesome if you teed off the feed line, dropped a pipe under the net with an aero spinner, ......maybe needs less gap tho l..... Edited January 14, 2022 by badbillybob 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu914 Posted January 14, 2022 Author Share Posted January 14, 2022 Cheers Billy, Pretty pleased with how it's turned out, hopefully it will perform as I expect it to. I'm a great believer in top flow watering so you're right in principle it's a version of the veg system, not sure what you mean by a spinner, I'm assuming it would be on the base of the pot? If that's the case I would imagine roots would have a fine old time getting all tangled up down there. Feck you and your damned gap... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysticriver Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 17 hours ago, stu914 said: there are no rootballs to dispose of after the grow why is this good looking system bro if it works mystic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbillybob Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 13 hours ago, stu914 said: Cheers Billy, Pretty pleased with how it's turned out, hopefully it will perform as I expect it to. I'm a great believer in top flow watering so you're right in principle it's a version of the veg system, not sure what you mean by a spinner, I'm assuming it would be on the base of the pot? If that's the case I would imagine roots would have a fine old time getting all tangled up down there. Feck you and your damned gap... i suppose youre right with the roots, but you could maybe try one just at low net pot height, spraying downwards. justa thought. talking of thoughts, i saw this and i thought of you 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McHazy Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 Looks like a nice easy to throw together setup aye 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu914 Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 57 minutes ago, mysticriver said: why is this The roots are contained in the buckets and there is no medium (coco, compost, pebbles whatever) which means all that's left are the roots. Once harvested there're options, they can be composted, dried and crumbled into dust or just dumped as they are biodegradable. I chuck mine on the lawn and run the mower over them...all gone... 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu914 Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 Okey dokey...day 24 (27 from seed) and they're already 5+ nodes each so they went into 12/12 today. Not too concerned with training for yield this grow, more interested in how the system performs during flower. I'm stunned at the speed of growth so far and the plants are near perfect...a few stats... Res is steady at EC 1.1...Temps 23c (No ph adjustment needed with sensi nutes) Room temps and humidity are optimum. Overall things are looking very promising ...pics to follow. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QQ710 Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 It's a brilliant set up @stu914 You've created your own Rain system I love the flexibility - being able to move around and remove each plant from the table as and when needed. Looking forward to see how this grows. A question please Stu - how/why did you choose 15mins on - 45mins off for feed times? Good luck 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu914 Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 3 minutes ago, QQ710 said: how/why did you choose 15mins on - 45mins off for feed times? Hi bud, Really pleased with the system so far...hope it continues the same way...Feed times have come down to trial and error.... When they are really tiny with just a single tap root showing from the rootit cube then one 15min feed per 24 hours is enough. Within a week they are getting two or three x 15min every 24hr and as soon as I see several roots exiting the mesh pot, that goes up to 15 on and 45 off where it stays for the rest of the grow. People will say you are not supposed to water during lights out but if you think of DWC/RDWC and NFT they have continuous feeding/watering day and night. With this system a 45mins dry spell every hour gives the roots the opportunity to take up max oxygen, which is just as important as feed and water but not allowing them to dry out. Removes the risk of root rot to almost zero doing it this way. Cracking roots in your cloner btw... 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QQ710 Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 Hi @stu914 Many thanks for your very informative answer. Happy Sunday dude 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu914 Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 @QQ710 Yr welcome bud, have a good day... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu914 Posted January 17, 2022 Author Share Posted January 17, 2022 (edited) A day later and these are flying... Res is steady at 23c and 1.1 EC LED dimmed to 150 approx 60cm (24") above canopy Environment within perameters. 'til next time... Forgot to mention these suckers are 28 days from when the seed went in the cube, 25 days above ground. Edited January 17, 2022 by stu914 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu914 Posted January 23, 2022 Author Share Posted January 23, 2022 Almost one week later and everything is progressing nicely... The stretch is fairly even and quite minimal so far apart from one unruly bugger which just had to be tamed... Quick supercrop, tiedown and she's back in order... EC steady at 1.1 Temps 23c Room 21c and 24c Lights up to 230w Chuffed with the performance so far, nute strength is still only about 1/2 but they appear happy at that. Might try and push it a little at this week's res change as the lights have been increased. Humidity is a little low at 40% but they seem unaffected by it. 'til next time... 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbillybob Posted January 24, 2022 Share Posted January 24, 2022 any root pics mate? i might give this a try. ive still got my NFT tray drip rings from the last time i copied your other system 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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