I don't like moving my plants around, but I use saucers also.
Basically I just use a plastic tube and let gravity do all the work. I have all the plants on a set of 5x2.5 picnic tables I got at K-Mart for like $20 each. Then I cut the legs down on the tables to start the plants at about 2 feet tall. This allows me to water the plants, let the runoff drain down into the saucer, where I have a 1/4" plastic tubing. I give the tube a little suck and the runoff drains away into a container I have beneath the table.
Hooray for physics.
I had been looking for one of those tube style squirt guns, still am, but I guess they aren't in big demand during the winter time.
It is definitely a bit more work than I'd like, but for the moment it does the job. 5x5 flood tables aren't cheap... or easy to ship...
In the future I would like to build a simple one out of 2-3mil plastic sheeting and 2x4's and place a drain in the center (tables are cut to drain to the center).
I usually work with 30% runoff (minimum) and I keep a close eye on my runoff uS/cm. I try to keep what is washing out within 20% of what I am adding. If I were using a 1000 uS/cm (1.0ec) then I will use as much runoff as required (one liter at a time) until the measured uS/cm is beneath 1200 (1.2ec).
Failing to get the proper amount of runoff, especially during early flowering as the nutrient levels are increased, has resulted in a lot of heartache for me personally. I'm at the point now where even though I am literally washing about 1/3 of my nutrients right down the drain I am fine with that because my harvest has increased exponentially. This is how I can justify it.
In the future I'd love to use a method, like Krunch, where I'm running as little runoff as possible, but for the time being copious amounts of runoff are working fine.
My ideal system will be a large flood tray that drains directly outdoors (leach style) and an automated drip system. All I'd need to do is keep the reservoir full. Right now I'm managing two 15 gallon rez's, and about 4 gallons of runoff with each watering. It takes me nearly an hour to water and drain, measure and record, my 9 plants with my current system.
Basically I just use a plastic tube and let gravity do all the work. I have all the plants on a set of 5x2.5 picnic tables I got at K-Mart for like $20 each. Then I cut the legs down on the tables to start the plants at about 2 feet tall. This allows me to water the plants, let the runoff drain down into the saucer, where I have a 1/4" plastic tubing. I give the tube a little suck and the runoff drains away into a container I have beneath the table.
Hooray for physics.
I had been looking for one of those tube style squirt guns, still am, but I guess they aren't in big demand during the winter time.
It is definitely a bit more work than I'd like, but for the moment it does the job. 5x5 flood tables aren't cheap... or easy to ship...
In the future I would like to build a simple one out of 2-3mil plastic sheeting and 2x4's and place a drain in the center (tables are cut to drain to the center).
I usually work with 30% runoff (minimum) and I keep a close eye on my runoff uS/cm. I try to keep what is washing out within 20% of what I am adding. If I were using a 1000 uS/cm (1.0ec) then I will use as much runoff as required (one liter at a time) until the measured uS/cm is beneath 1200 (1.2ec).
Failing to get the proper amount of runoff, especially during early flowering as the nutrient levels are increased, has resulted in a lot of heartache for me personally. I'm at the point now where even though I am literally washing about 1/3 of my nutrients right down the drain I am fine with that because my harvest has increased exponentially. This is how I can justify it.
In the future I'd love to use a method, like Krunch, where I'm running as little runoff as possible, but for the time being copious amounts of runoff are working fine.
My ideal system will be a large flood tray that drains directly outdoors (leach style) and an automated drip system. All I'd need to do is keep the reservoir full. Right now I'm managing two 15 gallon rez's, and about 4 gallons of runoff with each watering. It takes me nearly an hour to water and drain, measure and record, my 9 plants with my current system.
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