Top fed coco water dispersion? Open end lines vs. drippers

[Cannabean]

Hi coco heads!!

I'm excited to try this medium out for the first time on my next cycle...

I currently top feed hydroton sog in 6"x6" 3liter pots through open ended 1/4" lines and I am unhappy with the water dispersions...meaning the water doesn't wet all of the rocks in each pot.

I would like to change to coco and continue to top feed.

How does everyone else top feed their coco? I use a top-feed manifold like Pico and his open-end top feeding seemed to work...

Will I run into issues cycle feeding each pot through open 1/4" lines?

Will the entire pot of coco get wet?

The hydro store guy suggested these thingys to help...






Has anyone used these or something similar?

Thanks!!!

 

[dunkydunk]

I have those exact same drippers, they are in a box on the shelf. No matter how good they look in theory, salt always builds up in the dripper cap and they plug up. When I was last using them, they were being used without the cap, just dribbling over like a water fountain. I have since made drip rings out of quick connect fittings. They have worked without a problem for over a year.

Open lines work fine for keeping the medium wet, provided the flow rate is low enough that it doesn't just run through. If the pots are very wide, more than one line may be needed.

 

[medical marvel]

simple basket / spike drippers are better than those.
as many people have found , getting even distribution can be tricky especially with small pumps.

Use tiny in line shut off valves ( home depot, sprinklers ) If you need them they work well.

 

[Bud Spleefman]

When I use any of the sprinkler type thingys they clog, and the button drippers require a massive sprinkler pump, so I use straight pipe to a "T" they sell all this stuff at Home Depot.

Oh, except my 275 gallon res, I got that off Craigslist!



Anyway, the "T's work well, irrigating both sides of the pot. The pump is a Danner 1800 GPH.

 

[Ember1]

What is attached to the side of the supply pump? Is that to throttle it back a bit?

 

[Bud Spleefman]

What is attached to the side of the supply pump? Is that to throttle it back a bit?

That is a sediment filter. It's supposed to run parrallel to the ground, it works off gravity. I need to flip it sideways tommorow.... I just hooked the setup up this week.. It's been working awesome, 24 plants, and no watering... I put 125 gallons in that res on Monday, and it's down to about 40 gallons now.... last run I had a similar setup, but no sediment filter, a smaller screen fit inside the irrigation lines got clogged every couple days.

I think there are more pics in my gallery, these are the ones related to the thread....

 

[medical marvel]

When I use any of the sprinkler type thingys they clog, and the button drippers require a massive sprinkler pump, so I use straight pipe to a "T" they sell all this stuff at Home Depot.

Oh, except my 275 gallon res, I got that off Craigslist!



Anyway, the "T's work well, irrigating both sides of the pot. The pump is a Danner 1800 GPH.

yeah if it's recirc system then filtering like crazy can help..it's good for DTW, as long as it's a clean nute mix, rather than one with humic acids etc.

 

[purpleberry]

Im just finishing a run with open 1/4" to each pot, It worked good enough, but i dont like how it only waters one spot down the middle. I want a drip ring of some kind, and was looking at the 1/4" soaker hose, Has anyone tried this? I think it may just clog with salts? Any other idea?

 

[cravedog]

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I have used a similar dripper to this one I have a little salt build up I change them out every 6 months they work great for me. They only cost a few bucks each. I run the whole House and Garden through them shooting powder drip clean ect.

 

[ganjaments]

was looking at the 1/4" soaker hose, Has anyone tried this? I think it may just clog with salts?

I know a few people who have had great results with this. I don't know what they do about salt buildup though. I suspect it is cheap enough to just replace every 6 months or whatever.

 

[dunkydunk]

Im just finishing a run with open 1/4" to each pot, It worked good enough, but i dont like how it only waters one spot down the middle. I want a drip ring of some kind, and was looking at the 1/4" soaker hose, Has anyone tried this? I think it may just clog with salts? Any other idea?

I tried the soaker hose, it needed more pressure than my pump could provide to work well in volume. So I stayed with the 1/4 inch drip rings I posted above.

Medical Marvel's "t" idea looks the like the quick and easy way.

 

[ganjaments]

dunkydunk - did you perforate that 1/4" tube yourself? What did you use?

 

[dunkydunk]

dunkydunk - did you perforate that 1/4" tube yourself? What did you use?

I used the punch that comes with drip systems like RainDrip. It's punched through both sides, top through the bottom. I put five holes in a ring that's maybe six inches across. I'd tried using a drill bit to make the holes, but the punch did a much cleaner job.

The tubing itself is that standard 1/4" black stuff that's all stiff and unwieldy, but it makes rings well. The best part is the quick disconnect, you can put the ring on easily no matter how big the plant is, and you can pop the feeder line out to move the plant if need be.

The 1/4" quick connect were about $4.00 each bought in bulk, they're John Guest brand, and the rings are snapped in place with two RainDrip stakes that are meant to hold that nasty 1/4" tubing.

 

[ZENARCADE]

Open tube always worked best for me in coco as well as hydroton. Drippers clog, build up salts, etc. In big containers I sometimes used two drip lines but in a 6x6" one is fine. I never had a problem with water just hitting one spot, it always seems to cascade through the nooks and crannies and soak right up. Just make sure you're running the right sized pump and right length of a watering cycle and the whole thing should get wet.

 

[Cannabean]

wow thanks for all the responses guys!!

Bud Spleefman: I thought about the t's myself but was still unsure if they would wet all of the coco, glad to hear they will work, thats probably what Ill end up doing. thank you!!

Purpleberry: thanks for the reply, you voiced my concern, a single stream of water will only wet a small area of the pot due to coco's great drainage. this is the problem I faced top feeding hydroton with open end lines.

Cravedog: glad to hear those will work for a few cycles...28 of them is only 10 bucks at my hydro store so replacing them isnt a concern. thanks!!

zenarcade: thanks for the reply. you said you used open end 1/4" lines in hydroton as well? I do that right now and feel the roots don't use the entire volume of root space I give them because the 1/4 open end doesn't wet all of the hydroton in the pot.

I flood for 30 seconds every 1.5 hours in 6x6" pots. My plants grow fine and seem large but they are wobbly as shit and really unsturdy because the roots dont seem to really grab onto the ton.

so with one 1/4" line per coco pot, how long do you water for and how often per day?

I already have a bunch of those 1/4" line stakes so Ill probably end up buying a pack of T's...two steady streams per pot sounds like itll work.

THanks for all the replys guys!!! Ill post in here with a few pics when I set it up in a few weeks.

 

[OnTheWater]

Top fed coco water dispersion? Open end lines vs. drippers

I use open end 1/4" line when top feeding coco. Haven't had an issue the only thing I've done was use 2 lines per pot when using anything larger then a 5gal.

If your pump is to powerful for your setup it will make a small path at first but at the same time it will cause it to puddle up on the top which in return soaks everything IME. The canna coco seems to soak up the water pretty good and spreads the moisture quickly.

You can always put a valve on a T in your line to reduce the pressure if your pump is more then what u need.

 

[Cannabean]

OnTheWater; thanks for the reply!

Two lines per pot if over 5gal...i use 1gal, sounds like one per pot will work fine!

Do you cut it with any perlite or hydroton? I have canna coco, just cant decide if I want to mix in some hydroton for better airation...

Thanks!


Anyone have experience with rockwool croutons? I am flowering out my mothers in 2gal pots of rockwool croutons on one of my tables. This table will be set up to the same feeding timer as the coco table I am planning. I need both tables to be able to be fed the same frequency per day (Im guessing once per day)

Does straight coco dry out equally fast as rockwool croutons? coco dries out quicker or slower?

 

[mdk ktm]

I use DIY drip rings. Just get a hole punch that is used for the drip emitters, figure out how big you want the ring, and then punch a hole in it every 2 inches or so. Then put a T on the end of the open line and connect your ring to both ends. And you have even watering for whatever medium you want.

 

[Guest 18340]

I use open end micro tubing (the next size smaller than 1/4" tubing) without issue. Coco wicks up nicely so by the time I get run off the top is evenly wet.
Like OTW pointed out, bigger pots may require more than one drip tube and watch your pump size.
The only clear pic of my drip tubes...

 

[OnTheWater]

Top fed coco water dispersion? Open end lines vs. drippers

OnTheWater; thanks for the reply!

Two lines per pot if over 5gal...i use 1gal, sounds like one per pot will work fine!

Do you cut it with any perlite or hydroton? I have canna coco, just cant decide if I want to mix in some hydroton for better airation...

Thanks!


Anyone have experience with rockwool croutons? I am flowering out my mothers in 2gal pots of rockwool croutons on one of my tables. This table will be set up to the same feeding timer as the coco table I am planning. I need both tables to be able to be fed the same frequency per day (Im guessing once per day)

Does straight coco dry out equally fast as rockwool croutons? coco dries out quicker or slower?

CB, I use straight canna coco. I don't mix it with anything, i tried using a perlite layer in the bottom to see how that will do. In the same room I made 1 row without the perlite bottom and that row seem to have better growth. To make it fair tho it could be due to the water just sitting in the perlite layer as I don't feed every day. I feed every other

Sorry but I have no experience with rockwool. Coco holds good moisture but lots of things contribute to how slow/fast it drys out.