dealing with hempy bucket run off

[Zendo]

Wondering what people do for catching run off for hempy buckets.

I'm still working on dialing in watering just enough for very low amounts of run off, but...Also from time to time I'll want or need to flush..Having a standard under bucket tray is a pain in the arse I'm finding.

Any tips , tricks, or pictures of what others do would be great.

Peace

 

[OMountainMix]

you could do the tray and then drain the tray with a small pump or a syphon hose so you don't have to move it. i'm assuming that's why you don't like having the tray.

 

[Zendo]

you could do the tray and then drain the tray with a small pump or a syphon hose so you don't have to move it. i'm assuming that's why you don't like having the tray.

exactly why..

Having to pick up each one, move dripping bucket, then gently pick up tray while sloshing water all over self, floor, on way to sink..

using a small pump by hand from plant to plant with a hose going to a 5 gallon bucket would maybe work..

 

[OMountainMix]

make sure you have a nice covering on your floor, a thick, water proof plastic. and also, keep a stack of "crap towels" in your grow room for messes. i hit up the thrift store and bought a stack of towels for a dollar a piece and we keep them handy for quick clean up.

 

[onehitjake]

I've been toying with the idea of using half inch pvc with Uniseals.

Could also drill and thread in john guest fittings into a end cap of a short pvc tube in said Uniseal for tidy and easy to arrange drain lines. That would be more sturdy than threading a john guest fitting into a bucket.

 

[Tr33]

why not just have a 5 gal bucket with you in the grow room and empty the trays that way, then you do not have to walk all over the place. Easy Easy, a simple bucket is all you need.

 

[Zendo]

yeah, I would just need to go get new under trays that way.. all my local shop had was the clear thin plastic trays, and with any real amount of liquid in them they bend and twist, and dump the water..

There's a lot you don't think about when you are used to growing organic soil in smart pots with almost zero run off.

Thanks guys

 

[Japanfreakier]

I collect it, parts were about 5 bucks

 

[sundays child]

Pond liner on your floor. Suck up all your excess with a turkey baster.

 

[Kingsley Zissou]

good thread. This is the exact issue I didnt plan well for. I spilled countless gallons of water trying to move the run off by hand. Finally when it came time to put my scrog in, I needed to get water removal dialed in.

Forget all the turkey baster, syphon, tube stuff. Stick with the underwater trays and go get a two gallon shop vac for $19.99.

If you dont have a shop vac, already, they're great to have around just for whatever, so its a good investment regardless. Plus when you're sucking up water its a good time to give your grow area a once over with a little high power suction.

 

[Zendo]

good thread. This is the exact issue I didnt plan well for. I spilled countless gallons of water trying to move the run off by hand. Finally when it came time to put my scrog in, I needed to get water removal dialed in.

Forget all the turkey baster, syphon, tube stuff. Stick with the underwater trays and go get a two gallon shop vac for $19.99.

If you dont have a shop vac, already, they're great to have around just for whatever, so its a good investment regardless. Plus when you're sucking up water its a good time to give your grow area a once over with a little high power suction.

KZ- Funny you should say that..Last night I was talking to my wife about this, and she said, 'we're going to home depot, I know what you need'.

We got there, and they have these wet/dry shop vac's that attach to the top of a 5 gallon bucket perfectly, for $19.99.
They also had attachments for it that were 'micro', so you can get in very small spaces, ie, plant trays..

works perfect.. I got one that'll be a permanent wet , and one for permanent dry..



No more spilling, dripping, or other nonsense, and it's going to save me SO much time.

 

[PistilPete]

You'll get the hang of the hempys soon enough and you'll only have a few drops of run off after each watering/feeding.

 

[brettweir]

Yeah I was gonna say the same thing, PistilPete. Once you get it dialed in properly you won't get much runoff at all. I water my one hempy bucket every 2 days with a gallon of water and I get maybe an ounce of runoff. It's all relative to the size of your bucket and your vermiculte to perlite ratio. You'll figure it out over time. You're not wasting anything that way, either.

 

[Zendo]

From reading threads online, I kind of figured that would be the case about dialing in the runoff.

Right now I have a clone that is pretty small in a 3 gallon bucket, which I now know is too small for that container, but I am where I am. Right now I seem to dump in a 16oz cup's worth, and get about 1/2 that back in runoff..

Can't wait to get this dialed in, as my plant seems to have hit the rez, and is REALLY taking off compared to my soil grow. I think I may be converting over to a room of hempy, as this lucas is so easy it's a joke.

 

[OMountainMix]

Dude, we love hydro. I personally think the yields are better, although my hubby says that's not so, but not transplanting makes WAY less mess and is way less work. We got garden hose so we can run a syphon from the runoff for the a.c.'s to the bathroom to easily drain those. We have a pump ($50 from home depot) for easily draining the turbo gardens and ez cloners or putting nutes in from a large trash can. Glad you solved the problem.

 

[Zendo]

Dude, we love hydro. I personally think the yields are better, although my hubby says that's not so,

That's kind of what I'm testing here.. I've been growing in organic soil for a while now, and a friend kept pushing me to try hempy. My goal is to test ease of grow from start to finish, cost, time, and of course yield and taste.

 

[Rukind]

i used to grow with organic soil. i like hempy's a lot more. it is so easy.

i just use those aluminum turkey trays that you get in the cooking isle. and then use 11 liter mop buckets and just sit each one in a tray. i dont even move my plants. sometimes if im lazy the water will just sit in there and evaporate in a day or 2. other times i remove the run off with a turkey baster.

 

[KolorBlind]

I hear people all the time say that you can water without getting runoff if you are "good". Actually, you need runoff. Air is pulled down through the roots when the bucket drains. So a shot glass or small container would defeat the purpose of hempy, which is to allow more air to the roots than soil, and produce comparable results to hydro.

As to some input on the matter at hand, I screwed three 2x4s to the walls (back and sides) then stacked some up in the center to lay a wire shelf 6" off the ground. I then bought 4 litter pans and put them under the wire shelf. I water all my plants where they sit, and every week or 2 I drag out the litter pans and dump them in the toilet.

Of course this only works it you have a rigid cab or closet that you can screw boards into. For a tent or something it wouldnt work. but you are essentially making a support all the way around 3 walls for a wire laundry shelf to sit on. I bought a 12 foot long 20" deep wire shelf from Home Depot for about $15. I used a jigsaw to cut it to size, and now I have enough left over to make another one plus scrap. I rigged up a shelf for my clones and used the parts that came with it to mount it to the wall (wouldnt work with heavy plants) so I can lower the shelf as needed instead of propping all my damn clones up with something.

I feel this description might not make sense to others, so if you are truly interested send me a PM. It was cheap, and whether you are hempy or soil it is by FAR the easiest way to water on a budget. No hoses, pumps, lifting, moving, etc. My wife usually waters for me, so all I have to do is scoot the cat littler pans out and drain them. I usually only drag them out when the water is getting nasty, they have never actually came close to filling up on me due to evaporation.

KB

 

[KolorBlind]

Other ideas for trays to drain into if you dont have the height to add a raised wire shelf:

Cheap plastic saucers
Cat litter pans
Fridge drain pan (generally about 20" x 20" and 1.5" tall)
Washing machine drain pan (generally about 30" x 30" and 2" tall)
Small kiddie pool
Pond liners
Homemade cardboard tray lined with poly plastic sheeting

It all depends on your space. Obviously, with all of these suggestions you would be placing your plants in them and letting the water drain into the larger tray. You can then use a shopvac or small aquarium pump to get the water out. A 1gal shopvac for $20 from walmart should be in every growers closet or garage. Buy one ONLY for your grow cleanup and you will find a hundred uses for it. A clean space keeps moisture levels consistent, and gives bugs less of a reason to want to live there. Not to mention it looks a lot nicer.

KB

 

[Ember1]

I use flood trays and I built a stand for each, but you could use buckets under the tray to lift it up off the floor if you don't have the means to build the stand(s). There is slope to the trays and runoff runs down to a small catch under each tray(s) which is emptied when close to full.
If you don't have the ceiling height to work with, place the trays on the floor and use a wet/dry vac to suck up the runoff. Kiddie pools will work, too.

Before I used the trays, I had grommets in each bucket with clear tubing running from each directed into a single 5g bucket for the catch. The buckets were placed on a table.

It worked, but the tube would clog every so often, so a larger diameter tubing would be wise if going this route.