bounty29's Conceptual Passive Coco System

[bounty29]

Two things that are sticking out to me are the lateral root growth and the strong side shoots from the nodes. I remember the last few SD IBL I grew out had strong side growth during veg. Everything is looking good, they didn't complain at all after feeding them all to a good amount of runoff and then putting them back in the res with fresh nutes. I had to guess at the PH down I needed to use as I'm without a PH meter, but looks like I got close enough.

 

[Mister Postman]

Good luck bounty... This shall work out well IMO..

Very similar in design/concept to those auto-pots I've used in the past... There is never really a drying out period with those either. The medium stays moist constantly, and the plants feed steadily.

edit: sorry bro didn't see the a-pots mentioned on page two.. I saw the beginning and posted right away without reading through.. Got me thinking about breaking out the auto pots again anyway though... Now that I'm on a coco kick lol.. I agree though a system like that/this would be great with the coco coir medium.

 

[bounty29]

Well if autopots keep the medium at a constant moisture level then I might look into them a little bit more. Why reinvent the wheel?

So you're on a coco kick huh? I've been thinking a lot about making an organic coco mix, I've wanted to do organics since I found this thread of yours...
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=56475

And since then I've fallen in love with coco and refuse to go back to soil until I've done everything I want to do with coco. I've done hand watering, recirculating drip, and hempy buckets, and not I'm trying this.

I haven't done huge runs with the differnt types, but I've used all of them for at least one full veg or flower cycle and with the amount of space I'm working with I've figured out what works and what doesn't for my situation. I'm very happy to have tried and evaluated things successfully, as it's greatly improved my growing. First hand experience is by far the best teacher if you are willing to put the time into it.

I really think there's a lot of potential in an organic coco mix, especially if you can get it to the point where it would only need one or two feedings , if any at all. I've been following several organic grow logs and thinking about different mixes. I'm trying to keep it very simple, and it wouldn't have the space to be implemented sooner than a few months down the road so I'm in no rush to figure it out.

Edit: Heh, I just found your coco grow thread. I'll definitely go through that, looks good.

 

[bounty29]

Went and checked on them tonight, everything looked good except I saw a very slight curling on one of the leaves. It's extremely slight and barely noticeable but I wanted to take note of it. From the looks of it it may just be because the plants are cramped for space, I definitely am not liking this design for veg, but I think it will do extremely well for flowering short single cola sog style. Here's the leaves...


Oh yeah, so I forgot to chop those roots off, I'll be doing that next time I go check on them.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

bounty, your system is brilliant.

I have thought about using a hummingbird feeder for a res...

I highly suggest checking out the Smart Valve, if not the whole Autopot setup.
It actually allows the water level to deplete all the way before allowing another 1" fill. It can be used in any tub or table, gravity feed only.

IMO, I would never trim roots off. The ones that seek the water seem to like it.

 

[zoolander]

Kick ass thread Bounty and this is the kinda stuff that makes growing so fun .

 

[weedpureweed]

I'd compare it to a hempy bucket before I compared it to an autopot. An autopot is basically a small automated ebb n flow setup. This maintains a constant level, which leads to a constant moisture, which is the best way to utilize coco.

some real roots for you.

I don't give a fuck what you would compare it to I was making my own comment. and my plants look better than yours ever will you joker.

 

[bounty29]

I guess I didn't realize this was a contest, sorry

Someone that is so quick to defend their plants, when they weren't even mentioned before, must be pretty insecure.

 

[weedpureweed]

no you were rude to my friend when you're shit isn't very hot in the first place so you can eat my arse.

 

[bounty29]

Can you show me where I said my shit was hot? Go play with your friend.

 

[bounty29]

As I said before... not great for vegging multiple plants. This one has taken over and is shading the others out. I'll definitely be putting this into use in flower though. No problems at all, growth is coming in fast and everything is healthy.

 

[maxima32]

looks good bounty. seems you got things dialed in. cant waite to see them in full flower. happy trails

 

[Haggis123]

Bounty, great little system and plants you got going there...

One thing that does make me laugh is, anytime anyone tries something a little out of the norm or a little experimental some knob-ends always come along and try and shoot their mouths off and create arguments.
If some people didn't think out of the box from time to time we would still be living in caves and dragging our wifes around by the hair.

 

[Tony Danza]

If some people didn't think out of the box from time to time we would still be living in caves and dragging our wifes around by the hair.

You see what you free thinkin bastards cost us!

But seriously, nice concept bounty.

I was thinking that if you were to see any DO problems (not saying you will), you could easily remedy that by snaking one of those flexible air wand things around the bases of the bottles and keep that 1" of water nice and frothy. Come to think of it, that might turbo charge the whole setup by creating a tiny swc zone for those water roots at the bottom, the shape of the bottle bottoms should allow for lots of bubble movement.

damn, just had a thought and it turned into an idea, I might have to try something like this now, someday.

On the topic of organic coco mixes, I have started screwing around with adding ewc to my coco in a couple different applications, and it seems to have some promise.

 

[bounty29]

Hey Tony Danza, the DO issue was my biggest worry. Adding in an airstone for a layer of SWC is not something I had considered, that could be interesting. Thanks for the input everyone!

 

[petemoss]

Bounty, your passive pots seem to be working just fine, judging by your healthy looking plants. Seems DO is enough despite warnings about root rot. DrBud used airstones to provide additional DO when he went on vacation. His bottles stood in several inches of water. He said that the air was needed because the standing water was high. Your pots sit in just one inch of water, so I guess DO is sufficient in your setup. Or maybe the air gap at the top of the perlite layer supplies the roots with air and oxygen? Dunno, but whatever the reason, it works! Good thinking!

 

[Mister Postman]

Still a very good idea bounty.. I mean it's much cheaper then the a-pots units, and you can pretty much costimize this to whatever sized plants you wanted to grow.. The older apot units I used came with 2- 10in round pots, and the 2 pot unit itself measures something like 24 x 12in. Your design/idea is more suitable for smaller spaces and running higher density sog runs.

I'm going to try something a lil different for me next run with the coco.. I always did one plant per container in the past, but with the coco I see the possiblity of running 3-5 cuts per 10gal rubbermaid bin without much issue. More space/oxygen for the roots= more plants per conatiner = more large dominant colas per alloted grow space. This next run I'm not growing fully organic either.. I'm going to be starting them off organically by transplanting the cuts into the coco with the plant success, and then start by feeding them pure blend orig. and kelp meal/alfalfa teas early on as I feel roots thrive/establish quicker with organics... Once those roots are good and established I'll start using the gh flora series along with the organic pure blend bloom as a supplement.

I had a lil difficulty with that first organic coco run.. it's wasn't smooth sailing that's for sure.. I think I would of done better feeding liquid organic nutes rather then amending the coco itself with dry organics, and running it as I would a regular organic soil run. coco seemed to drain, and dry out to quickly. People say you can't flush organics from soil, but in coco I think ya can. At least to greater extent then ya could with a peat based organic medium.... I'm sure I coulda got something better dialed in if i continued to work/experiment with it, but at this point and time though I need consistentcy more then anything esle.

Well if autopots keep the medium at a constant moisture level then I might look into them a little bit more. Why reinvent the wheel?

So you're on a coco kick huh? I've been thinking a lot about making an organic coco mix, I've wanted to do organics since I found this thread of yours...
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=56475

And since then I've fallen in love with coco and refuse to go back to soil until I've done everything I want to do with coco. I've done hand watering, recirculating drip, and hempy buckets, and not I'm trying this.

I haven't done huge runs with the differnt types, but I've used all of them for at least one full veg or flower cycle and with the amount of space I'm working with I've figured out what works and what doesn't for my situation. I'm very happy to have tried and evaluated things successfully, as it's greatly improved my growing. First hand experience is by far the best teacher if you are willing to put the time into it.

I really think there's a lot of potential in an organic coco mix, especially if you can get it to the point where it would only need one or two feedings , if any at all. I've been following several organic grow logs and thinking about different mixes. I'm trying to keep it very simple, and it wouldn't have the space to be implemented sooner than a few months down the road so I'm in no rush to figure it out.

Edit: Heh, I just found your coco grow thread. I'll definitely go through that, looks good.

 

[THoC]

Nice thread Bounty I love checking out everyones new refinments. Some good info.
good growing.

 

[so im forum]

 

[bounty29]

Well, I think the last time I gave them fresh nutes was on Sept 28, and they just finished off the bottle, I've definitely noticed an increased uptake in the past few days. I'll take some more detailed pics when I feed them and give them a fresh reservoir.