Closet 2.0: Dialed in. Back with more PAR T5's, Sannies Genetics, Earth Juice, ++

[AltarNation]

One word. Waterfarm lol.

Nah DWC is cool if you need any help let me know got a few DWC grows in my past.

KP is right though. If your going to do DWC make sure your rez is easy to change. Hence why I said waterfarm lol. At first it's not bad to do rez changes but once those girls grow up you wont be able to just take the plant out and change it as easy. Just make sure your rez is elevated to make changing it easy.

Okay, that makes sense, but might not be the best route for my closet since I have limited vertical space with the eve ceiling. In DWC the reservoir is one with the plant container, right? Maybe another hydro method would work better... to give the DWC container a decent mass and also have it elevated, I'm going to lose at least a couple feet of vertical, which can't really be afforded in this setup. Unless I'm confused and DWC does have a separate reservoir that doesn't have to be right under the plant...?

Sorry, I'm a hydro newb, forgive me if I'm getting my terms mixed up...

 

[AltarNation]

drip is a PIA for sog but worth it once its done right. side lighting is good for any setup, the reason fo the blue bulbs is like you said but even more so to use phototrophism to your advantage making them stretch up instead of out.

So are you saying that they will follow the blue bulbs primarily and stretch towards them? It might be worthwhile to put them in the top after all if that's the case, because right now the side-branches are reaching out like crazy and I don't really have a plan as far as scrog or support goes yet

 

[giggles26]

Okay, that makes sense, but might not be the best route for my closet since I have limited vertical space with the eve ceiling. In DWC the reservoir is one with the plant container, right? Maybe another hydro method would work better... to give the DWC container a decent mass and also have it elevated, I'm going to lose at least a couple feet of vertical, which can't really be afforded in this setup. Unless I'm confused and DWC does have a separate reservoir that doesn't have to be right under the plant...?

Sorry, I'm a hydro newb, forgive me if I'm getting my terms mixed up...

With DWC you have bucket,net and that's it, well as far as for height your wondering about. I mean really a waterfarm isn't all that tall. I think it's maybe 14" when if your doing a dwc system and using a 5 gallon bucket you are at the same height. My dwc setup goes as follows, 5 gallon bucket with 6" net pots with airstone in the bottom and my 256gph pump and a 50 gallon resaviour under a 400w hps.

I mean you don't have to do 5 gallon it's just how big of plant or res your wanting. DWC setups can be as complicated as you want or as simple as you want. I really wouldn't do no less than 3 gallons but that's just me. Really it's a toss up man if you don't have the height then yes DWC all the way just for the simplicity of it.

 

[polyarcturus]

With DWC you have bucket,net and that's it, well as far as for height your wondering about. I mean really a waterfarm isn't all that tall. I think it's maybe 14" when if your doing a dwc system and using a 5 gallon bucket you are at the same height. My dwc setup goes as follows, 5 gallon bucket with 6" net pots with airstone in the bottom and my 256gph pump and a 50 gallon resaviour under a 400w hps. I mean you don't have to do 5 gallon it's just how big of plant or res your wanting. DWC setups can be as complicated as you want or as simple as you want. I really wouldn't do no less than 3 gallons but that's just me. Really it's a toss up man if you don't have the height then yes DWC all the way just for the simplicity of it.

no offense he could do DWC or hempy, not that many either, but the grows ive seen they got the most stretch of all. i like DWC its a good way to grow but i think he would be best served it he did a simple flood and drain with trays or a semi simple drip system(the biggest PIA with drip is just (timing) @altar, now your getting it! yes thats exactly what i mean.

 

[kpmarine]

Okay, that makes sense, but might not be the best route for my closet since I have limited vertical space with the eve ceiling. In DWC the reservoir is one with the plant container, right? Maybe another hydro method would work better... to give the DWC container a decent mass and also have it elevated, I'm going to lose at least a couple feet of vertical, which can't really be afforded in this setup. Unless I'm confused and DWC does have a separate reservoir that doesn't have to be right under the plant...?

Sorry, I'm a hydro newb, forgive me if I'm getting my terms mixed up...

Honestly, you don't even need fancy pots. I've grown plants in modified red solo cups. Get one of those shallow wardrobe rubbermaids that fits in under your bed and cut a bunch of holes in the lid for cups, and then just cement a drain into one end. It's shallow and probably wouldn't be hard to work with. You could make a table with nothing more than a few 2"x4" boards. I've been rolling the idea around in my head of making a more rigid cover for one of these bins. Maybe putting a rubberized paint on a sheet of plywood so a lid full of plants is easier to work with,

 

[AltarNation]

Hmm... good ideas all around... I was sort of thinking that the reservoir and the bucket were the same thing in DWC, but I may have been thinking of a different setup.

So can I just set my reservoir up considerably higher than the grow buckets off to the side or something? Is there any reason that wouldn't work? It would be a lot easier for me to get a res in if it didn't have to be under the lights.

 

[AltarNation]

Honestly, you don't even need fancy pots. I've grown plants in modified red solo cups. Get one of those shallow wardrobe rubbermaids that fits in under your bed and cut a bunch of holes in the lid for cups, and then just cement a drain into one end. It's shallow and probably wouldn't be hard to work with. You could make a table with nothing more than a few 2"x4" boards. I've been rolling the idea around in my head of making a more rigid cover for one of these bins. Maybe putting a rubberized paint on a sheet of plywood so a lid full of plants is easier to work with,

Shallow underbed wardrobe is an idea, but would there be enough room for all them roots? Seems like most ops I see are in deeper containers...

more pics in a min... my stems look fuckin' bad ass... must be all the extra weight the side-shoots are adding...

 

[AltarNation]

Here's more pics.

Poly, thanks for the tip on the blues, i swapped them to the top row.

 

[polyarcturus]

Hmm... good ideas all around... I was sort of thinking that the reservoir and the bucket were the same thing in DWC, but I may have been thinking of a different setup. So can I just set my reservoir up considerably higher than the grow buckets off to the side or something? Is there any reason that wouldn't work? It would be a lot easier for me to get a res in if it didn't have to be under the lights.

thats why i do drip to waste or rather only as much as the plants can use. my setup is .5gph pressure compensating dripper 5min 1x a day sun tue thurs. then 3min 2x a day every other day except Saturday, which i feed by hand compost tea(half strength water soluble nute in the res) also NOTE you will need a tee from your pump made of pvc then one side of the tee will go to your main line to your drippers the other side will have a SWING! check valve, faced so it prevents water from coming out that end. what this will do is prevent siphon and allow you to place your res higher.

 

[AltarNation]

thats why i do drip to waste or rather only as much as the plants can use. my setup is .5gph pressure compensating dripper 5min 1x a day sun tue thurs. then 3min 2x a day every other day excep saturday, which i feed by hand compost tea(half strength water soluble nute in the res) also NOTE you will need a tee from your pump made of pvc then one side of the tea will go to your main line to your drippers the other side will have a SWING! check valve, faced so it prevents water from coming out that end. what this will do is prevent siphon and allow you to place your res higher.

Sounds like a good setup... one question about dripping in general, is growth significantly slower than it would be in DWC where the nutes and water are constantly available?

I definitely do like the idea of only using as much water/nutes as the plant needs versus having to constantly dump reservoirs of water with nutes still in 'em...

30 containers worth of tubing for the drips seems a bit crazy, but I guess if I never have to move 'em once they're in place it's not so bad, haha.

 

[polyarcturus]

as i said i water every day some days 2x a day. took me a while to get it dialed in mostly battling a few problems and being stubborn with soil, but now, no, its comparable to DWC, as far as speed, really the upside though is you can have more plants, with DWC you have less bigger plants. its a trade off but if your running co2 more small plants is the way to go! namely being you can harvest faster ive had plant pull 2 oz in 6weeks in 1 gal pot b4 in my old setup with co2. hey il grab a few pics and throw em up here later, actually its not that bad as far as making adjustments as long as you plan for them ahead of time when your building

 

[AltarNation]

as i said i water every day some days 2x a day. took me a while to get it dialed in mostly battling a few problems and being stubborn with soil, but now, no, its comparable to DWC, as far as speed, really the upside though is you can have more plants, with DWC you have less bigger plants. its a trade off but if your running co2 more small plants is the way to go! namely being you can harvest faster ive had plant pull 2 oz in 6weeks in 1 gal pot b4 in my old setup with co2. hey il grab a few pics and throw em up here later, actually its not that bad as far as making adjustments as long as you plan for them ahead of time when your building

Yeah, I can see how DWC would maybe be better suited for fewer larger plants overall. I'm not runnin' CO2, so that's not a factor. Sure, feel free to share some shots of your drip setup, I'd like to see that.

 

[kpmarine]

no offense he could do DWC or hempy, not that many either, but the grows ive seen they got the most stretch of all. i like DWC its a good way to grow but i think he would be best served it he did a simple flood and drain with trays or a semi simple drip system(the biggest PIA with drip is just (timing) @altar, now your getting it! yes thats exactly what i mean.

If you saw DWC result in a bunch of stretch, someone was doing something wrong. I've been doing nothing but various forms of DWC for the last 9 months. Outdoor, indoor, recirc, and standalone; no stretch issues. Flood and drain is great, but DWC is alot more forgiving in my experience. It's pretty much the "set and forget" grow method. I can leave my plants for days without getting worried.

 

[AltarNation]

If you saw DWC result in a bunch of stretch, someone was doing something wrong. I've been doing nothing but various forms of DWC for the last 9 months. Outdoor, indoor, recirc, and standalone; no stretch issues. Flood and drain is great, but DWC is alot more forgiving in my experience. It's pretty much the "set and forget" grow method. I can leave my plants for days without getting worried.

My journal has turned into the official hydro-debate thread here... I like the idea of both DWC and drip feed options. Knowing me I'll stick with soil and water by hand, LOL.

 

[polyarcturus]

If you saw DWC result in a bunch of stretch, someone was doing something wrong. I've been doing nothing but various forms of DWC for the last 9 months. Outdoor, indoor, recirc, and standalone; no stretch issues. Flood and drain is great, but DWC is alot more forgiving in my experience. It's pretty much the "set and forget" grow method. I can leave my plants for days without getting worried.

oh for sure but DWC gets BIG! as far as the stretch goes... there is a lot that can go into that genetics, lighting, nutrition, and more. im just saying for the most part from what ive seen, DWC gets big and gets bushy. either way is cool with me dude i didnt mean to make a debate out of it, im just a soil guy who set up a drip because i could be more diverse with it. like your saying DWC is pretty much set and go.anways ill throw the pics up regardless(not trying to debate/clutter just give you options) so you can just see the system, i can delete them after for you because i dont know how big they will be since i have to use

 

[polyarcturus]

i keep seeing 2.0 and thinking it say Co2... lol. got ya.

 

[AltarNation]

i keep seeing 2.0 and thinking it say Co2... lol. got ya.

Oops, I can see how that's confusing, hahaha. No worries on the hydro discussion.. just pokin fun because everyones talkin bout hydro in a future grow instead of the pics I'm posting of my grow. LOL. We'll see who can keep their attention off the pics once the buds start.. lol

 

[polyarcturus]

yeah but the plant look good tho... not much to be said healthy bushy stout stems. i mean you got it, we liked the post enoung didnt we? jk but no for real shit looks good the setup is out of this world as far as T5 goes. i dont have any suggestions as far as making your plants better atm, just design advice oh and the blue bulbs advice i guess that was kinda relevant to the plants.

 

[AltarNation]

Yeah I'm just yankin your chain man Thanks for the compliments tho

 

[giggles26]

no offense he could do DWC or hempy, not that many either, but the grows ive seen they got the most stretch of all. i like DWC its a good way to grow but i think he would be best served it he did a simple flood and drain with trays or a semi simple drip system(the biggest PIA with drip is just (timing) @altar, now your getting it! yes thats exactly what i mean.

None taken man. I was stoned when I wrote all that and what I was trying to say was that he would be better doing dwc over waterfarm because of his space and couldn't do very many of them, but a simple flood and drain would work better in his space. lol