Width ~ VS ~ Depth Roots

I want to try something different. I want to grow in 4" PVC pipes about 24" long. The pipe would be filled with hydroton and be under a constant drip with a drain at the bottom. there is a reason I want to do this. I grow in a SOG style and once a clone is rooted good it gets put right in to budding and I seem to be wasting more room on pots and trays than I need to be. do you think I could do this in a 4" pipe or would I have to use 6". I really don't want to use 6" because it would be back to taking up to much space. I was thinking that the depth would help make up for the width.

it would look something like this. The top section is a 4" coupling glued in place so I would be able to hang them in a rack. the fitting at mid level would be an overflow just in case the bottom ever plugged up. and the fitting at the bottom would be the normal drain.

any advice or suggestions would be great. I need to be somewhat sure about this before I take my room apart to build this.

Interesting idea nonetheless. I'd imagine that there's a point of diminishing returns; i.e. there wouldn't be much difference between 24" of depth and 10" of depth because the roots just grow down until the hit bottom and spin out. The majority of the roots will be at the bottom by the end of the flowering cycle anyways. But there's only one way to know the optimum length and that's to try it.

One potential problem - if the roots clog your bottom drain, how are you going to fix it, and will you even notice it in time? You might consider putting some kind of grill/screen instead of a tube and just let it drip into an open reservoir, the roots will just air-prune which may be a benefit.

i just started a thread a few weeks ago on pretty much the same concept.. i was thinking of using very tall, but narrow pots instead of the normal five gallon paint buckets,, i was wondering basically the opposite of what the op is talking about.. would the extra depth make up for the lack of diamter? or does there have to be some kind of equal balance? will roots grow down as long as there is room?
and to the op, i would love to hear what you do and how it works out for you.. i love when people think outside of the box a lil..

BenderBob said:

I want to try something different. I want to grow in 4" PVC pipes about 24" long. The pipe would be filled with hydroton and be under a constant drip with a drain at the bottom. there is a reason I want to do this. I grow in a SOG style and once a clone is rooted good it gets put right in to budding and I seem to be wasting more room on pots and trays than I need to be. do you think I could do this in a 4" pipe or would I have to use 6". I really don't want to use 6" because it would be back to taking up to much space. I was thinking that the depth would help make up for the width.

it would look something like this. The top section is a 4" coupling glued in place so I would be able to hang them in a rack. the fitting at mid level would be an overflow just in case the bottom ever plugged up. and the fitting at the bottom would be the normal drain.

any advice or suggestions would be great. I need to be somewhat sure about this before I take my room apart to build this.

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I've been having this same idea but I won't be filling the pipe with hydroton and won't be dripping, I intend to use 6 inch pvc with 1/2inch pvc inside and spraying from the pot down with misters. I intend to have a horizontal pipe that will drain back in to the res , the horizontal pipe will have tee's in it and risers a certain distance apart. the netpot will sit right down in the riser. Basically what I'm setting out to do it have a system similar to these aero/nft pvc fence post units but with the upright riser of 24 inches my roots shouldn't touch a thing but air. I would have already started work on this but 6 inch pvc tee's run around 30 bux alone. 6 inch pvc anything isn't cheap so maybe someday.

use 4" rockwool blocks on a 1/2" matt. The height is all waste.

choempi said:

use 4" rockwool blocks on a 1/2" matt. The height is all waste.

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Why do you say that?

very intrested in this keep us posted

I have used this style in my own grows. It works quite well. Uses less water. Leading to less nutes. leading to saved money. The use of Hydroton in that mass of a quantity, IMO would be a waste of supplys. Ideally in your concept your just creating a Flood and Drain Tank...its just in a different shape and the drain is set to never close. Net pots or growbags would be best and just use a limited amount of Hydroton in the pots/bags. My thought behind this is that the roots grow down not out in the Hydro system and get carried through the tube as the current of the watter flows to the drain. You just need enough hydroton to anchor the 1.5" rockwool into the 3" net pots. They will be ok in these small pots just up to where the roots start to touch the sides of the tube thus time for transplanting into large 4" rockwool and placed into another Resevior to where the roots dont touch the bottom. I have not proven that the contact of roots to the plastic hinders its growth some way but thats a theory of mine that Im testing for in my next cycle. Ideally with a SOG concept and this tubualar hydroponic flood and drain setup you can get 35 specimens in a 24x24" setup.

They will need to be transplanted as the roots grow in length to a resevoir that is deeper than the roots will grow in the flowering stage. If you choose to modify your skematics to create a vertical grow system but then your not able to apply you SOG concept with the traditional SOG methods of horizonal screens.

5 24" tubes placed side by side with overflows into and from each other. This will allow you to bore 7 2.75" holes down the length of each tube. without getting anymore technical and wasting time and space on your thread. Ill leave you the option to PM me if you have any further questions. Ill contuniue to check back from time to time.

The problem with doing this vertically is that your going to be spending more for each individual tube per plant. Ideally its still a waste of space and supplies thus leading to waste of money. Money that could be used for additional supplement lighting in the trouble spots...more or better nutes...or perhaps overtime allow you try more advanced setups in the future. Good Luck...

Google heath robinson's vertical grow. Even if you don't do it exactly like his I'm sure it will help you plan your build.