Catching the run off

[highgrower]

Im doing my first hempy and it is so simple - really the same as compost other than the watering every morning and not worring about wet/dry cycle.

[Kush Lover]

Nice idea with the roller trays, I wish I had enough room to have some in my tent but there are some good solutions in this thread which I think I might have to adopt.

 

Bit of a dinosaur here as in 2022 Im still using a turkey baster to remove run off.

 

If I am completely honest about coco, I don’t see what all the fuss is about unless Im missing something!!! I buy canna coco plus which is great in my opinion as no messing around rehydrating just fill the pots and start watering as normal. I even binned off the root stim a few grows back and it seems to be ok. Just need to make sure that you keep your ec and ph in check and away you go. From my experience less is more when it comes to nutes! 
 

I’ve seen a lot of people say about the hassle of ph’ing your water each feed but after a few runs this takes a matter of minutes.

 

The key advantage of coco for me is that if you run into any problems it’s easier to correct than in compost. Just flush it out and start again essentially. Sure no till would be the best option but with electric prices rising and my consumption increasing each grow efficiency is the key for me. Pretty much beat a gpw each crop and I’m a lazy ass grower!! My temps fluctuate as I’m in a an outbuilding and I water once a day.

 

There is some info about coco on here and  I think the acronym KISS really fits here. There really is no need to add perlite or anything to coco as this medium just does the business.

 

 

[mysticriver]

On 01/05/2022 at 7:02 PM, Darknight420710 said:

an emulsion tray for painting, absoloutely perfect

check it out bro

as per your idea

 

- I've had enough of it taking me a half hour to syringe out the run-off, twice-a-day

these are the biggest trays they do, they are ~500mm2

now just need to: have a way to level the pot from the slope 

                          put something under/alter the 2 'prong' feet so the tray can slide easily

                          drill some anchor points around the rim for training and,

                          make sure I have some offcuts knocking about for raising the trays in mid-flower, if req'd

oh and they were just over £4/ea from foolstation wit free deliver, which aint bad

 

 

mystic

[Whortleberry]

Wet vacs are handy, great for shifting your run off wherever it has collected.

 

Useful for emptying awkward reservoirs too.

 

@mysticriver would be a great match up with those trays for QOL  

 

 

[mysticriver]

19 hours ago, Whortleberry said:

QOL

what's that?

 

 

mystic

[Whortleberry]

Just now, mysticriver said:

what's that?

 

 

mystic

quality of life.

[mysticriver]

Just now, Whortleberry said:

quality of life.

ok. ive tested the trays - it takes seconds to scoop out a few jugs of run-off, as opposed to minutes syringing

they are massive and im having 2nd thoughts, thinking that they are too big and I won't be able to get in between them to water the back ladies

but if I can make them work, they'll save loads of time

and I know absolutely no-one has asked, but ive got a few minutes so ill explain why I went for these, instead of the smaller 11"

cos the 11" were half the size and twice the price 

and I felt that it was a £40 problem rather than an £80...

 

 

mystic

[Diddy]

I have a garland tray - The plants are sitting on upside down plant saucers sitting in the garland tray which allows me about 7 days of run off to collect if i wish. In reality I usually have it drained every 2 days....using a screwfix wet n dry vac. About £40 if memory serves. Takes about...10 secs to suck up the run off....because im fit fat it then takes 30 secs to empty that run off down my drain. Less than 2 mins every 2 or 3 days. Right up until mid flower you can literally just let that run off gather for a week...keeps the humidity up too early doors. 

Agree with remarks about coco and mixing up feed etc. When every ingredient is exactly the same then it is trivially easy to knock up a batch...again few mins. I personally knock up 100 ltrs leave it in my water but with a pump mixing it every few hours to keep it well mixed stop them salts building. All automated through another feeding pump on a timer, 1 min twice a day seems to hit the spot for this lot. Depending on strains that can be increased or indeed decreased. 

When your buzy/lazy like me then minimal intervention is the way forward a lot of the time. TBH the buggers do better when nobody is around  

[mysticriver]

On 28/05/2022 at 0:12 PM, Diddy said:

trivially easy to knock up a batch...again

I mix up a 25L bucket twice-a-day

like you say, its easy to add X amount of ml to the solution to get it where I want, same with the pH

garland tray is a good idea

id quote you again but the quote function only works once (for me)

 

 

 

[Herbal Kint]

When you have reservoir filled with nutes say 300L do you add water and nutes in between? Like keep it at 300L?

 

Also don't nutes settle down? Do you have use water mixer?

 

[Diddy]

1 hour ago, Herbal Kint said:

Also don't nutes settle down? Do you have use water mixer?

 

I use a 2nd pump sat in bottom of tank that turns the water over for couple of hours a day before each watering.

I don't tend to top up my water until in is <10% left....otherwise it would defeat the whole purpose of having a big res.

[Herbal Kint]

37 minutes ago, Diddy said:

I use a 2nd pump sat in bottom of tank that turns the water over for couple of hours a day before each watering.

I don't tend to top up my water until in is <10% left....otherwise it would defeat the whole purpose of having a big res.

Fair enough

 

What's the case if you have easy watering system that works on gravity? You leave pump on tank bottom 24/7h on?  I presume some low power pump would do?

[Diddy]

1 hour ago, Herbal Kint said:

I presume some low power pump would do?

I think something that is enough to create a bit of movement compared to volume of water. I personally just use a little one for the 100l that seems enough to keep everything in order. 

[OddNut]

18 hours ago, Herbal Kint said:

Fair enough

 

What's the case if you have easy watering system that works on gravity? You leave pump on tank bottom 24/7h on?  I presume some low power pump would do?

I have a fish tank style pump that’s tie wrapped to my main feed pump pointing to the top of my res. Can’t remember the power output. It keeps everything moving and I just top up when the water gets lower than the pump 

[CDF20]

On 28/05/2022 at 0:12 PM, Diddy said:

I have a garland tray - The plants are sitting on upside down plant saucers sitting in the garland tray which allows me about 7 days of run off to collect if i wish. In reality I usually have it drained every 2 days....

Thanks, mate. That's what I need for my veg tent... No run off collection and humidity issue solved. Genius