MindSoup Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 TBF a lot of grows start to look a bit tatty towards the last half of flower, be that no till, hydro, or whatever other method, but withering sugar leaves is always a worry, a bigger bed would probably help with any sort of deficiency issues. If watering is a struggle then maybe setting up some Blumats would be an idea, you could grab one of their soil moisture meters (or an ecowitt) to help you dial it in to the sweet spot. For the vegging issue the best solution is to have 2 full cycle tents running alongside each other, so instead of a small veg tent and a big flower tent you have two medium sized ones, that way you can get as many harvests in/pull as much weight in the same amount of time. Like you say though if your not planning on a long term setup no till is a bit impractical, you can always empty the bed into a few manageable buckets for storage, but it won't do the soil any good long term. The real benefits of no till emerge after a few successive runs (if you get things right of course) so to reach the styles full potential you want the soil to always having something living in it. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazeytones Posted July 13, 2023 Author Share Posted July 13, 2023 It wasn't so much looking tatty was more the withering sugar leaves that was worrying me... I think probably down to bad watering. I have a blumat moisture meter but it was a bit hit and miss to be honest. The two separate spaces was my long term plan. Two 3x3 beds in a 1m2 space each. That was going to be my permanent set up and shouldn't have been a problem until this wiring issue which means I'm going to have to get a spark to have a look. I don't really want to give up on no till. If I'm honest it's one of the healthiest looking plants I've had during veg and pretty sure the issues have been down to watering. Just a bit paranoid that if I run into problems in the future it would be a nightmare to try and move two 3x3 beds to get work done. Saying that there shouldn't need to be any work done.... but that's what I thought this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSoup Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 (edited) Yeah it's definitely an issue having 2 huge pots of soil to hide if such a time comes, yet to find a practical solution to that one. Maybe Earthboxes? They're probably not available here but if you copied the idea it would be a pretty portable modular system, you could even wheel them from a veg tent to a flower tent. Edited July 13, 2023 by MindSoup 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazeytones Posted July 14, 2023 Author Share Posted July 14, 2023 Yeah the earth boxes look good but think your right and can't get them here. I've been thinking maybe a space for the 3x3 bed then a separate smaller space for a few pots in mpc that I could shut down when it gets cold so I'm not having to heat two rooms during the winter. This would shorten the time between cycles a bit. I'm still waiting on this plant drying then I'll have to move the pot to get the electrics sorted. I take it if I go for setting up the 3x3 I'd be OK moving the soil from the pot to the bed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSoup Posted July 15, 2023 Share Posted July 15, 2023 Yeah it's a shame. There's plenty of DIY sub irrigated planters out there though, if I had more space I'd definitely be playing around nwith making one. On 14/07/2023 at 9:17 AM, Hazeytones said: I take it if I go for setting up the 3x3 I'd be OK moving the soil from the pot to the bed? Yeah that'll be fine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazeytones Posted July 15, 2023 Author Share Posted July 15, 2023 Sweet, I'd hate to waste the 90lt of soil from the pot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepe Ramon Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 I've gone back to fabric pots after using the bed for 2 seasons. I find plants in pots are far more manageable, I can also treat each plant as an individual more readily and spacing is easier. The bed proved to be a bit hit and miss and I found it difficult to judge how much water I was using and subsequently how much feed to use if any. My bed was roughly 5x1 metres, now I use it as more of a compost pile but it's difficult to maintain due to the dryness here in Spain. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned The Head Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 On 14/07/2023 at 1:00 AM, Hazeytones said: I have a blumat moisture meter but it was a bit hit and miss to be honest. I had loads of issues with it myself. Mainly caused by moving it around within a small area thus causing more aeration / drainage and higher moisture readings that didn’t couple with the wider bed. I also found it is worth topping the meter up with water every now and then. In an ideal situation I’d like two in one bed just as a backup before I went making adjustments to the blumats. Is no-till worth it? I love it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazeytones Posted July 17, 2023 Author Share Posted July 17, 2023 Yeah I thought it was from moving about so tried to stay away from it best I could. I also topped it up aswell thinking that might have been the problem. I think going by the meter might have caused me the issues that I had with over/under watering. It's like anything new though just have to stick with it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned The Head Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 5 hours ago, Hazeytones said: It's like anything new though just have to stick with it. 100% mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazeytones Posted July 17, 2023 Author Share Posted July 17, 2023 Think when I get up and going again the blumats might be the way to go and try keep things more consistent. Would a gravity fed system work for 3x3 beds or would you need to go for the ones that run off the mains? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSoup Posted July 18, 2023 Share Posted July 18, 2023 (edited) Gravity fed would be fine yeah. Theres a brilliant video on setting them up by rolling green acres on YT. Also Build a Soil is using them in his new series, it appears to be his first time though, he's already made a few rookie mistakes. Edited July 18, 2023 by MindSoup 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreamer420 Posted July 18, 2023 Share Posted July 18, 2023 I’ve been thinking about trying this. What would you seasoned pros reckon would be the smallest size to bother trying with? I have a 70 by 70 tent, and was going to try linking 4-5 airpots together to make one large one that would then take the rough shape of a 70x70 tray. Heat mats underneath in a sand bed. is it worth tying that size? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Hotdogs Posted July 18, 2023 Share Posted July 18, 2023 That's similar to what I've done - I wouldn't use airpots again though if I was to do again, prob would get a big fabric one. My airpot construction is a bit bendy and it gradually loses material out the bottom too, making a mess. I think that size could work though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindSoup Posted July 18, 2023 Share Posted July 18, 2023 In theory 25L should be possible, but in reality I wouldn't want a bed any smaller than mine (45L), but really as big as you can make it is best. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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