OUTDOOR HYDRO!!!

LORD BENIS · Oct 12, 2006

Hawdy Folks!
Well, after much anticipation I've finally moved into an awesome new house that will allow me a lot more freedom to grow. The move was pretty intense, we rented the biggest U-Haul they make. After getting settled in the first step was to put up my greenhouse. It's incredibly easy to set up and quite cheap to build/expand as well. So, without further ado:

Part I
Da House

You'll need:
-4ft. re bar
-10ft. PVC (I used 3/4")
-PVC crosses
-4x4 wood planks
-6 mil. plastic (I used 4 mil.)

So, first thing we do is find a nice flat spot that gets as much sun as possible. Don't worry if it's not completely flat or in direct sunlight, mine isn't. Keep in mind you can design the greenhouse to whatever dimensions you like, given you have the space, mine is 16x10.

Once you find your spot take your 4 ft. rebar and drive it into the ground half way, 2 ft. in and 2 ft. out.

Continue this process every 4 feet until you reach your desired length. Next, set the width (mine is 10 ft.) and drive in your rebar, again, every 4 feet. You should now have two straight lines of rebar sticking out of the ground. Simply slide your 10 ft. PVC over the rebar, bend down, and connect with the PVC crosses.

Be sure to buy a couple of extra 10 ft. PVC poles when you're at the store, you'll use them for the roof. Just cut them into 4 ft. sections and they should fit perfectly inside the PVC crosses to form the roof's "spine".

Now we just slide the plastic on the frame like a dress over a nice sexy ass....

.... and pin it down with the 4x4's.

Viola!
Did mine in under an hour and cost me about $75, not too shabby.

.... stay tuned, I install the bio-buckets next

bartender187 · Oct 12, 2006

pimpin'

nice setup benis, what are you goin run in there?

stealthpackage · Oct 13, 2006

That's a really nice set up you've got going there. Makes me want to build one in my backyard and grow some maters and cukes! There's no way it'd work in my climate, though, so I'll have to wait until Spring rolls around, which I may do. I'll be checkin this one out!

LORD BENIS · Oct 13, 2006

Part II
Da Buckets

First of all, I'd like to thank Big Toke for his awesome system and step by step instructions. I'm not gonna do a breakdown on the system as he has already done that better than I ever could. Check out his sticky over at the indoor hydro forum if you're interested in building one of these.

The res is a 13 gallon tub with a float valve attached to a 75 gallon rain barrel. I'm thinking about adding small gutters to the sides of my greenhouse. :chin:

I have anywhere from a 11-13 '' drop depending on water levels. Don't forget the fan!!!

My pump is a 2100 gph United inline/submersible pump run in-line to reduce heat.

I used garden hose for the feed line and garden hose valves for the control valves. The PVC is 1'', hose is 5/8''.

The buckets rest on 2x4's laid on cinder blocks and drain into an open return pipe with the help of small extention tubing.

I guess it's now time to burst everyone's bubble and tell you that I can't grow any pot in my buckets because I happen to live in a fascist dictatorship at the moment. Can anyone guess where it is??? However, the veggies will be crankin' out all year long if everything goes according to plan. And not to worry, my girls like to stay inside during the winter months. More on them later

The system stays around 70-80 F and growth rates are very fast. I've put castor, hyacinth, and brugmansia plants in and they all love it. I'm sowing lettuce and spinach seeds right after I post this. All fresh, organic produce here, E. Coli free.!

Guest · Oct 13, 2006

Fascist dictatorship I'm gonna guess your located in North Korea or the Inlaws, LOL I Like the simple yet effective green house design. You plan to enclose the ends? I'm with Stealth on growin veggies! have you been growing hydro veggies for a while? Any way cool setup!

LORD BENIS · Oct 13, 2006

I've got 3 zipper doors on the way, two for the doors and one for a vent on the roof. This is my first time growing anything hydroponically, wish me luck.

stevr59 · Oct 13, 2006

thank you so very much this is perfix as soon as i get a job i will start bulding me one they need to make this a sticky. i want to see how the hydro works so far i have had poor luck growing veggys funny i can grow mj with no proublem but tomatoes are kicking my butt.

LORD BENIS · Oct 13, 2006

Stevr59
Do you grow tomatoes hydroponically? I'm gonna start tomatoes in the bio-buckets this spring and was wondering what problems you've run across? I planted the lettuce seeds in rockwool yesterday so I'll keep everyone posted with their progress. They were pretty difficult to work with in rockwool, about the size of a pin head. Best way is to wet the rockwool and just kinda stab them down into it, they're diamond shaped and firm enough.

stevr59 · Oct 14, 2006

yes i grow tomatoes hydroponically and lettece all so use soil only proublem i am having is the flower fall off wich meqans no fruite and now all the leafs are browing and falling off
not shure if uts cuse of lack of light or some thing else

BudGood2006 · Oct 14, 2006

Hey man, looking good! I may just have to build me one of those greenhouses... :chin:

Right on for the thread! :woohoo:

The Dopest · Oct 14, 2006

nice!!!!

stevr59 · Oct 15, 2006

well i found one proublem i am having seems i got a bad case of spider mites luckys it just hitting my indoor tomatoes and other house plants has not got to my fav grow yet

ogrefugee · Oct 15, 2006

*golfclap*

lol, as i was looking at all your pictures i was thinking to myself "man the mites are going to love this one"

no offense of course, not many people can get rid of those ungodly demon spawn! good luck, it seems you have a budget so hopefully you can afford the nicer pesticides

stevr59 · Oct 15, 2006

lol budget thats so funny well for one i ain't got a job been out of work since july and cant aford toilet paper but i am making my own poisen hope it works lst winter thry got my ak47s and dam near kill the hole grow out of 10 plants 3 made it but they kept coming back intill i got the no-pest strip and that seems to keep them a way but i cant afrod the stip now so home my tobbco juice mixed with dish wahing liquide works

LORD BENIS · Oct 21, 2006

Yup,
Spider mites are the worst problem I've had to deal with, indoors anyway. They seem to leave my plants alone after about a week outside. I'm taking extreme measures with my new house, shock and awe style!

stevr59 · Oct 21, 2006

wel i won the battle but not the war yet my home made tobbco amd soap juice kiled em all for now but still trying to find out why my tomatoes are doing badly only thing i can think of is may be i am not flooded anought do it twice a day and just let it drain right back to the rez the clone i put in the bubbel was doing the same thing tips of the leafs would trun brown and then the hole leaft and soon after ward the tip of the steam and it work its way dowy till the hole stem was dead but since her roots hit the water she is doing a lot better now. cant waite till i get some money to build me a green house with a hydrosystem.

LORD BENIS · Oct 26, 2006

Right on Stevr,
I feel you about the budget. I came home today and my system was bone dry. Turns out that when I add nutrients to my res the filter catches some of the tiny particles and changes the flow rates causing one of my return drains to miss the return pipe. With time all the water in the system is spilled out, leaving the pump to run dry until I get home. Tomorrow I will fix this problem by simply following directions and running drain line all the way into the return pipe. Not really a big deal except that I believe I may have destroyed my $100 pump. I've done this before with a Mag Drive, come home and heard it running dry, plugged it in the next day and it was fine. This time when I got home I couldn't hear it running at all. Rather, I didn't hear the waterfall and it now seems dead like the Mag Drive. Guess we'll find out tomorrow. Oh well, that's what I get for trying to be diffrent. If it is indeed done for, I'll get another and keep everyone posted. I'm not gonna give up on this thread!

drummerlars · Oct 26, 2006

good thread lorn benis.

i was think of doing some veggies aswell for the back yard. I love good organsic produce aswell!!

And im a boi bucketeer aswell and its a great system!!!!!!! Period!

good luck

LORD BENIS · Oct 26, 2006

So here's what I'm using to hold the plastic on.

You gotta find a sweet spot on the frame because these little buggers like to fly off the slick PVC and plastic. They're working out pretty well, though.

Here's the begining of the doors and lettuce sprouts

and a sample of some of the critters we've got down here in Texas.....

Maybe a scorpion with wings?

stinkleaf · Oct 26, 2006

right on man i recently tried the whole out door hydro thing except i just used dwc buckets and i didnt light proof them so they ended up getting root rot but they got huge and i tried the greenhouse out of pvc.. and from experience if you plan on leaving it up all year the pvc will get really fragile and turn a blackish color and a slight wind would brake it but i love the set up you got going
heres what my little setup looked like

OUTDOOR HYDRO!!!

Member

Bakin in da Sun

Member

Member

Guest

Member

Active member

Member

Active member

Member

[THC] True Hippie Coonass

Active member

Official Tree Taster

Active member

Member

Active member

Member

Member

Member

Member