Rockwool in a 5 gallon bucket?

[OhCanada]

So I've been toying with this idea, and currently am trying it out on an AK47 I have under a 1000w. Anybody else try this? Seems like a great way to keep a large root system with hydroponics, and still have some safety if a pump fails. Basically just started the plant in a standard 4inx4in cube, then moved it to a bigger 5 gallon bucket, and let it veg longer. Did some measurements and realized I could fit 16 5 gallon buckets in a 4foot by 4foot tray, each plant having a ton of room to grow in, and still being able to keep the roots contained. Only problem I can see coming up is if overtime, the weight of the water/rockwool will become too much at the bottom of the bucket, so maybe I should try some an inch or two of the redrock, or cocoballs at the bottom under the rockwool? Just drilled some holes in the bottom to let the water recirculate back into the res. Can't snap a pic of the AK now because my light is off, but here's an afghani I have going in a smaller bucket, but same thing really, just smaller.




What do you guys think? I'm redoing my room and going with 4 4x4 trays, wanting to do 16 5 gallon buckets in each tray, equaling 64 plants total, using two resovoirs. Also already have a seperate veg room, so thats not really an issue.

 

[OhCanada]

Well the lights are back on, here is the AK47 I was talking about in the 5gal bucket, the potential just seems great, figuring I could fit 4 rows of 4 of these buckets in the tray I have pictured below (16 total plants per tray.)






Here is how I am currently growing, just a bunch of those small rockwool cubes filling the whole tray, I just don't like the ideas that all the roots are intertwined, considering I'm growing 4 different strains currently.

 

[Guest]

No problemo and will work fine. I have a friend that ran a few cycles in 3 gallon pots and hand watered once a day. They were actually double cropping meaning they had 2 sets of plants and would rotate them out every 12 hours. There was a small closet where they plants would get a dark cycle. They ran the lights 24/7 and double cropped due to lack of funds for more equipment at that time.

The setup, running rockwool in pots and feeding only once per day, worked great.

 

[theherbster]

You need to rethink your approach. 16-5 gallon buckets in a 4 x 4 tray? First they don't have enough room to take advantage of all of that 5 gallon bucket for growth. Second, you will go broke feeding that much nutes.

Do 4, maybe 5 plants in a 4 x 4 space and you can even do them in 3 gallon buckets, save a ton of nutes and get the same yield as your 16 you had planned (actually probably a lot more).

Remember, its not about number of plants, its about number of watts. Basically 10 plants and 2 plants are going to yield the same total under equal wattage!

 

[250wscrogger]

So true about wattage meaning yield. A proper 72 plant hydroton ebb/flow under 2 600s in a 3x6 table OR 4 plants in rubbermaid tub dwc's under a 3x6 scrog both have the potential to pull over 3lbs if grown properly. Its up to you how you do it but if you're going with 5 gal buckets under 1000w's it would be wise to run about 4 plants per 4x4 and just give them about a month of veg time and lst/scrog and get the same yield. A bigger plant will always give you bigger buds. If you really wanna go sog...you could always fit 64 6'' pots in a 4x4 and do hydroton ebb/flow.

 

[250wscrogger]

http://www.icmag.com/gallery/data/500/12245IMG_0191.JPG

5 gallon buckets in 4x4 tables under 1000w's...4 under the scrog 5 lst'ed. no need to cram 16 in a table when you get bushes like that

 

[OhCanada]

I've done 8 plants under 2000watts before and pulled 4lbs, but the veg time was rediculous. I do think I may be shooting for too many plants, but still would like to have at least 9 plants a tray, the room is going to be completely full, with 4 trays, 3200 total watts. I might as well turn this in to a build thread, heh. Changing to a different room as soon as I chop the current plants (less then a month.)

 

[theherbster]

That's a fine option too, but you shouldn't use 5 gal buckets then. With a short veg, you're probably going to need to put about 3.75 gallons per bucket of water and nutes X 16, that's a ton (no calculator handy) to change and lose each week.

You're strategy is flawed, you need to reconsider your bucket size.

 

[250wscrogger]

If you want 9 plants per tray...3 gallon pots with coco/chunky perilite with a 3'' layer of hydroton on the bottom would be a good setup. Hook up a drip system and have it flood to 10-15% runoff once a day.

 

[Guest]

Good point on the pot size but they will fit though but is overkill. When I ran hydro it was 6-9 plants per 3' x 3' tray and yielded about .8 to 1 lb per 600 with a limited veg time and used 4 slabs per tray. I totally hear you about the extended veg time when working with less but larger plants. I used to shoot for 1 plant per sq ft. 3 gal pots would work fine. Plants seem to use up all the available space you give em for roots. I like working with smaller plants indoors.