My latest Vert garden

digging

digging

Well-Known Member
Thanks for explaining your set up. Very nice set up indeed

I am going to follow your progress. I am wanting to run a undercurrent 8 bucket system, but I want to always have successful runs and when I saw this thread, I was impressed.

Thanks for sharing
 
LOFT

LOFT

Member
PKHydro said:
Sorry man, I'm not really the best one to answer that for you. I've never dealt with growing in tents and small spaces like that. My first grow I went big, 10,000w in a 21'×13' room. I've since remodeled the grow space and split my room into 2 with 5000w each.

I can see a few issues with wanting a vert scrog in there. 3 600w bulbs is a lot of heat in that small space. However if you could control the heat, stacking 2 in the middle would be best I think.

With only having the one space to grow in, I would think short veg times is a must. Otherwise your going to have long turn around times. Vegging 2 plants in soil up through a vertical scrog is going to take some time, if your in hydro you might be able to cut a week or two off total veg time, but it's still going to take a while.

If it was up to me, and I was in a small tent. I'd probably take a bunch of clones veg for 1 week and flip, SOG style.

Or maybe grow 4 medium sized plants in a perpetual style, so your cutting one down every 2 weeks. But that would require a small clone box or something so you can keep the perpetual going.

Just spit ballin here.
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Sorry i wasnt clear enough... what i meant was i own 3 x 600 watts as i used to run 8 in a room probably 12x12 but i sold most of them as i lost the space when i moved :(
pulling 12 - 20 oz is a big downsize from 100oz per harvest lol

I dont run the 3 lights in the tent only one

I have basically started all over again when i moved so no mother .... I currently have 2 plants from seed at the moment that are only 4 inches tall roughly at the minute so i need to get these up and take loads of clones for the "sog" as you mentioned

I do have other space i can use for clones and vegging so thats not an issue.. But flowering room is the tent for a while till i sort more space

I grow in a nft table
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nutriculture-GT205-NFT-System/dp/B008BHYMVC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1455133547&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=nft+table
Which i obviously need to change...

I have been looking at the wilma systems for the future as they seem to do well or even building and NFT table to suit my tent

Your system looks great!! i cant get my head around pump sizes and what not for the D. I . Y thing lol..
Im in awe when i see people and their "homemade" systems .... and yours is no exception mate
 
PKHydro

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
Some update pictures

This is Flower room A @ week 1. I watched a Remo video where he was pruning and lolipoping at week 1. It gave me the courage to chop a hell of a lot more than I used to. Took a bunch of the bottoms off, and thinned out the middle shoots that stretch out and don't really produce much.
20160211_152641.jpg

And flower room B @ 7 weeks, with some bud shots.20160211_152520.jpg IMG_20160209_155104.jpg IMG_20160211_172244.jpg IMG_20160211_172104.jpg
 
LOFT

LOFT

Member
Looks like your getting maximum flower power from these beautys mate
Sugar coated too!

I think you can be fairly brutal with lollipopping as the energy goes straight to the beast colas
 
digging

digging

Well-Known Member
I have another question please. How do you feel the way you are doing recirculating drain compares to an ebb and flow bucket grow system.

Thinking of using the new Sluckets (www.slucket.com)

Would your way of growing and a ebb and flow bucket system perform similarily ?

Deciding on a final growing system is where I am at right now, and seeing your set up is very inspiring and beneficial.

Thanks so much :)
 
PKHydro

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
verticalgrow said:
g'day PK,
do the drain pipes @ the bottom of buckets ever get blocked with roots?
thx for sharing, VG
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Yes they can if you don't manage them. To stop this, I took a hole saw (2" I believe, maybe a bit bigger) and cut a hole in the side of the buckets about 1.5" above the drain hole (too low and the water will overflow out if it, too high and your fingers won't be able to reach the drain) This allows me to stick my fingers into the buckets and move with the roots away from the drain holes. I then took a PVC cap and stuck it in the hole, sealing the light out of the root zone.

It's not something that is a constant battle, I've found that if you push them away from the drain hole a few times in the early weeks, the root mat forms a little mound and will stop growing down the drain.

Hope this makes sense, I'll put up a picture later today when I visit the garden, hopefully make it easier to understand what I'm trying to explain.
 
PKHydro

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
digging said:
I have another question please. How do you feel the way you are doing recirculating drain compares to an ebb and flow bucket grow system.

Thinking of using the new Sluckets (www.slucket.com)

Would your way of growing and a ebb and flow bucket system perform similarily ?

Deciding on a final growing system is where I am at right now, and seeing your set up is very inspiring and beneficial.

Thanks so much :)
Click to expand...
That's a nice looking system. So what does ebb and flow mean to you? I mean technically my top feed, recirculating system is a ebb and flow. The lights come on, the pump kicks in and water flows down through the lava rock and roots before draining out the bottom. I've just raised my buckets so the water does not pool in the bottom of the buckets, instead it just drain immediately back to the reservoir.

How are you thinking of using those buckets? Are you going to connect them all in series, or leave them on their own?

The way I see those, I can picture two setups, connect them all together and have them drain back into a reservoir (recirculating) or slap a valve on the buckets and use them as individual Dwc buckets.

I'd like to know more about how your thinking of running it.
 
digging

digging

Well-Known Member
When I refer to ebb and flow bucket system, I am referring to the Sentinel Ebb and flow bucket system.

In the Sentinel system when the lights are on every 3 hours water goes into the bucket system from the bottom and fills up all the buckets that are in series. Once the buckets are entirely full, the control box holds the water level in all the buckets for 15 minutes and after holding the water in all of the buckets then drains all the water back to the res and then three hours later does the whole procees of flooding, holding water level, and draining back to the res.

So I was wondering what advantages and benefits of a recirculating fill system from the top as you are doing it compared to regular ebb and flow buckets system please.
 
PKHydro

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
I see. Well with the amount of light I'm running, if my plants aren't getting water for 3 hours they'd be hurting bad. I've had a pump fail and it doesn't take long for them to start wilting. This would be a big concern for me. Also because my pumps running for the full 12 hours they have that much time to eat/drink and be merry. Flooding only 3 times in a 12 hour period doesn't give them a lot of opportunity to do that.

I would think an ebb and flow system would work better when there is a medium like rockwool involved so that it would absorb that moisture and not allow plants to dry out in between floods.
 
digging

digging

Well-Known Member
I keep re-reading this entire thread, and every time I come away further impressed. Your killing it. Congratulations.

The Slucket buckets I am looking at seem ideal to grow trees in. Whether it's top drip, recirculating the way you are or ebb and flow, what are your thoughts please ?

In your sytem you use two buckets an inner bucket that holds the net pot and hydraton, and then the outer bucket that the water drains down through. With the Sluckets do you feel that it would be ok to only have to fill up the 8 inch net pot with hydraton, and then the roots to hang down into the slucket bucket just as an undercurrent RDWC system does ?

Thanks for your continued help and sharing of your knowledge :)
 
PKHydro

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
digging said:
I keep re-reading this entire thread, and every time I come away further impressed. Your killing it. Congratulations.

The Slucket buckets I am looking at seem ideal to grow trees in. Whether it's top drip, recirculating the way you are or ebb and flow, what are your thoughts please ?

In your sytem you use two buckets an inner bucket that holds the net pot and hydraton, and then the outer bucket that the water drains down through. With the Sluckets do you feel that it would be ok to only have to fill up the 8 inch net pot with hydraton, and then the roots to hang down into the slucket bucket just as an undercurrent RDWC system does ?

Thanks for your continued help and sharing of your knowledge :)
Click to expand...
Sorry for the late replies.

Those Sluckets look nice to grow in. I'd be worried about doing and ebb and flow, depending on how intense your lighting is. My plants start to droop after about a half hour under the lights without getting any water. Plus I prefer to give them chance to eat and drink for the full 12 hours, not just for 15 mins or so 3-4 times a night.

I'd do the top drip (but I'm biased) And the 8" net pot should be fine. You have lots of room underneath for the roots.

Hookah79 said:
Awesome grow!!!Do you top your plants when vegging or do you just let em grow on their own?
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Thank you, I top once in veg. Then let them do their thing.
 
PKHydro

PKHydro

Well-Known Member
The girls are going to get the chop on day 63, that's this coming Sunday. Going to chop and hang the plants whole, for 5 days or so.
 
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