Stop roots traveling back down system- Simple fix

slinkysaurus

slinkysaurus

Well-Known Member
No matter what size of pots I use, I end up with my roots heading down the pipe that delivers water around the RDWC system. This causes blocks and encourages your system to green swamp-gunge up if it gets bad.

To combat this from happening I have tried everything over the years.
My solution is to get The roots, pull any roots out of the pipes until they are all back in the pots again. I’ll then take the tail end of the root/ leader and start wrapping it around the air stone. (This has to be done whilst in veg. DO NOT leave until flower. You’ll end up pot bound and circulating stops)
The leader end of the roots seem to want to stay in the pot now and not travel.

This happens with every RDWC system , if you veg for long enough. Roots travel. It’s a massive pain. Hope this helps out a few folk.
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
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You mean something like this?
 
nonamedman420

nonamedman420

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
That's not a bad idea.but I feel like putting copper into your nutrient solution is a bad idea
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general hydro sells one and it's used in hydro obviously with nutes and has great reviews. multiple mentions for it being good. people use a copper based paint to control spinout. greenhouses do iirc. try it. maybe with something you can afford to try with on. but i believe you'd see bad reviews of those products if this were the case.
 
nonamedman420

nonamedman420

Well-Known Member
i've seen ppl mention the mesh, which is why i repeated it. can't say i used it, but have seen grow with ppl using similar product successfully. but usually someone jumps in and does the typical "you're an idiot" and the idea gets lost in the shitshow.
 
Bernie420

Bernie420

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
That's not a bad idea.but I feel like putting copper into your nutrient solution is a bad idea
Click to expand...
Larry3215 said:
Cool idea using the copper. Im going to try a piece of copper wire in my NFT tote to see how it works.
Click to expand...
I tried a copper coil in my rez barrel once to make a part for my chiller set up. I had to buy a stainless steal wort chiller Instead. Long story short.
I would highly recommend that you do not use copper in your nutrient solution. Like smoking a pound of weed in one hit highly.

 
L

Larry3215

Well-Known Member
Bernie420 said:
I tried a copper coil in my rez barrel once to make a part for my chiller set up. I had to buy a stainless steal wort chiller Instead. Long story short.
I would highly recommend that you do not use copper in your nutrient solution. Like smoking a pound of weed in one hit highly.
Click to expand...
You are not the only one saying that. I did about an hours worth of Googling yesterday on this subject, and the majority say its bad - but - it looks to me like its mostly anecdotal evidence. I couldnt find a single case where someone did actual testing. Many of those saying its bad have not even tried it or their results could have been due to some other factor.

So - I am getting a copper test kit and Im going to do some actual measurements to see how this effects copper levels in the nute solution.

First, I have taken two water samples from my rez. One I am setting aside as a reference. I put a piece of copper wire in the second one, leaving part of the wire sticking out of the solution.

The test kit wont be here for another week or so. When it gets here I will test both samples and see if there is any difference in dissolved copper and how big that difference is. I will also see if there is any visual change in the wire where it is in the solution - discoloration, corrosion, etc.

If that test looks good, then I will place the copper in my tote to see how well it blocks the roots. If it doesnt stop the roots, then there is no point in using it.

Its also possible there may be some sort of electrical situation in the rez or tote that could cause some galvanic corrosion or 'battery effect' from dissimilar metals in the solution. I will monitor copper levels and the condition of the copper wire over time to see how that goes.

Should be an interesting result either way.

One thing I have not been able to find - does anyone know what the safe/unsafe levels of copper in the nute solution are as far as plant health?
 
Bernie420

Bernie420

Well-Known Member
My copper coil thing I made turned the tubing a blue green color and it turned all the water a blue green color. This was in a cloning bucket if that matters I dont think it does. Like I said I got a wort cooler from the beer making store for my cloning bucket and my large barrel that I had was kind of custom made so that the end of the tubes was well above the water line so that the hose clamps were not in he water as they kind of corrode to.

As far as keeping roots out of your drain hole dont painters have strainer bags that are as large as five gallon buckets; You could use bubble bags. Or you could try to shove a short piece of pvc pipe or something in you drain hole (if not a bottom drain) and zip tie/clamp some mesh on the end of the pipe you added. Strainer bags for pumps the sell in hydro stores tied around the added pipe.
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Bernie420 said:
My copper coil thing I made turned the tubing a blue green color and it turned all the water a blue green color. This was in a cloning bucket if that matters I dont think it does. Like I said I got a wort cooler from the beer making store for my cloning bucket and my large barrel that I had was kind of custom made so that the end of the tubes was well above the water line so that the hose clamps were not in he water as they kind of corrode to.

As far as keeping roots out of your drain hole dont painters have strainer bags that are as large as five gallon buckets; You could use bubble bags. Or you could try to shove a short piece of pvc pipe or something in you drain hole (if not a bottom drain) and zip tie/clamp some mesh on the end of the pipe you added. Strainer bags for pumps the sell in hydro stores tied around the added pipe.
Click to expand...
I thought this too, but roots penetrate even the smallest filter bags. Its crazy what they fit through. And the other issue is that doing a filter impedes water flow a lot.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Bernie420 said:
I tried a copper coil in my rez barrel once to make a part for my chiller set up. I had to buy a stainless steal wort chiller Instead. Long story short.
I would highly recommend that you do not use copper in your nutrient solution. Like smoking a pound of weed in one hit highly.
Click to expand...
Strange. I did exactly this for years and had zero problems. Keep pH above 6.0 and no problem!

Did you know that copper is a micronutrient?
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
slinkysaurus said:
No matter what size of pots I use, I end up with my roots heading down the pipe that delivers water around the RDWC system. This causes blocks and encourages your system to green swamp-gunge up if it gets bad.

To combat this from happening I have tried everything over the years.
My solution is to get The roots, pull any roots out of the pipes until they are all back in the pots again. I’ll then take the tail end of the root/ leader and start wrapping it around the air stone. (This has to be done whilst in veg. DO NOT leave until flower. You’ll end up pot bound and circulating stops)
The leader end of the roots seem to want to stay in the pot now and not travel.

This happens with every RDWC system , if you veg for long enough. Roots travel. It’s a massive pain. Hope this helps out a few folk.
Click to expand...
I used 27 gallon Tuffbox totes for my tubsites and I only had to pull roots out of the outlet holes maybe once or at most twice a run. It took seconds per tote, not a big deal.
 
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