Fed up with soil

[Eazytoke]

can you post some pics of the water pump and check valve mods wouldnt mind doing something like that to my ebb and grow.

I will as soon as I receive the valve. I'm hoping it arrives today. This is the one I tried first but it's spring loaded and the pump doesn't have enough power to activate it so hopefully the one CAP is sending me is the flapper style and works better.

http://www.amazon.com/SHURflo-340-001-In-Line-Check-Valve/dp/B000BGJWF2

Edit:

Here are the photos of the pump I added. You can see I drilled a couple of holes on the lid for zip ties that I used to attach a 90 deg fitting to the underside. It's nothing fancy but it's effective.

 

[haze4me]

thanks for the pics bro awesome job keep up the good work man.

 

[PetFlora]

I moved away from soil 2 years ago, but I am rethinking how to do it for my outdoor plants

1. Soil-less mix is critical for monitoring pH/ppms, and possibly less prone to bugs and salt build up.

2. Type of pot. Air Pots look to be the answer to non-hydro growing containers

 

[KrazyieFosho]

man things look great drop the bubble cloner and go aero im growing sum og and pulling 4-5 oz a plant thats dam good for og bout to build a rdwc system and do a side by side but ur plants look amazing.

 

[gmanwho]

i love my ebb & gro system. so versatile. when u get more space, try 2 clones per bucket, an each plant top a few times to have 6-8 colas.......... amazing yields. Been thinking of the floranova nutes too.

looks great.

B-safe

 

[Blaze215]

It's dried at this point and just needs some curing. Dry weight is 7.5 oz!

This is such a beautiful plant! I too am FED UP with soil.. hahaha. You can see a link to my LAST soil grow in my sig.

I am switching over to an E & F bucket system similar to what you have right now.

Here they are in the ebb and grow at 9 days of 12/12. They were 15" when I put them in and are now 22". The stretch isn't what I was expecting so far but they still have some time.

Do you think this could be because you went with the Maxi Bloom rather than staying with Floranova? Or perhaps it was because you were using a Waterfarm and now you have E&F buckets?

I have Flora Nova right now and it is what I was planning on using for my buckets in hydro.

What are you doing for reservoir management? Are you adding back nutes or topping off with just water?

Thanks,
215

 

[High Country]

I usually grow and clone the hydro way in an ebb/flow tray doing SOG.

But I don't mind trying different methods.

HOW ABOUT CLONING IN SOIL

WORKS JUST AS WELL AS ANY OTHER METHOD I HAVE TRIED

Don't give up on soil...farmers have been using it for quite some time.

 

[Eazytoke]

Do you think this could be because you went with the Maxi Bloom rather than staying with Floranova? Or perhaps it was because you were using a Waterfarm and now you have E&F buckets?

I have Flora Nova right now and it is what I was planning on using for my buckets in hydro.

What are you doing for reservoir management? Are you adding back nutes or topping off with just water?

Thanks,
215

I'm not sure exactly. I started out using Nova and then switched to Maxi so I doubt that is it but as I only used Nova on my first 1 or 2 res's I can't rule it out. My gut tells me that it's a combination of the waterfarm's continuous drip and the size of the plant (4 inches) when I put it into the waterfarm and flower. Someday I hope to solve the mystery!

As for the reservoir management I don't have anything set in stone yet. So far I only have to add back one time between changes and I've been just adding straight water. I start the res at about 25 gallons and run it down to about 15 or so then fill to 20. It's just enough to get me through to the change out at 7 days. They are starting to use more water now though so that may change. Basically, I'm winging it!

With that being said I've been having some reservoir issues the last week. I did my add back and a day later the res water was cloady, foamy and smelled a little weird. So I dumped it and made up a new mixture. 2.5 days later I had the same condition. I dumped it immediately and made a new batch making sure to clean the res real nice. It really didn't need it. No slim or build ups. I did add H2O2 to the new mixture right away. Usually I only add it mid week after the res has been used a bit because I use tap water straight from the tap.

So I don't know, it's another little mystery I have to figure out. I'll be posting up some pictures in a little bit.

 

[grassott]

I'm anti soil. All them bugs. All them plant issues. Soil's for outdoor farmers anyways.

HOW ABOUT CLONING IN VERMICULITE?

I don't blame you for wanting to try something new and changing with the times. If everyone was set in their ways we'd have no mobile phones today lol.

PS. Ever heard of hempy buckets? they rock. I get massive indoor yields from them under just a 400w hps, and I'm talking smashin up the 1 gram per watt when done correctly. It's the most simplest hydroponic method out there and believe me, I've researched this at length.

 

[Eazytoke]

Day 18 12/12

Day 18 12/12

It's day 18 of 12/12 and most everything is going ok with the exception of the reservoir issue I talked about in my previous post.

The plants are now 30 inches which is right in line with what I normally experience with this strain in my soil grows. I have a design flaw in my room with my lights so I was a little unsure how everything was going to react. My lights are mounted stationary to the ceiling so I can't raise or lower them. When growing in soil it is no problem because I can raise or lower the pots with stands and such. Well, with the ebb and grow buckets it's not so easy. I was thinking that my lights being so high when they were starting out was going to cause the girls to stretch a lot more but that wasn't the case. When it's all said and done they don't seem to have minded the lights up high at all. They just grew up to the lights like good little campers. I could use about 5-6 more inches in height but under the circumstances and a first run I'm happy with the result.

They have nice bud development going on though so from here forward is going to be exciting to watch. The color is good and they haven't had a moment of looking unhappy yet. <knock on wood>

I also received the check valve from CAP. It works perfect. It's also a spring loaded valve but a much weaker spring. The downfall is it's one more maintenance item to keep an eye on and carry spare parts for but I think it's worth it so I can leave things set up the way they are.

 

[grassott]

yup, very nice. you know what you're doing so I'm just gonna shut my mouth and enjoy watching your progress

 

[Eazytoke]

PS. Ever heard of hempy buckets? they rock. I get massive indoor yields from them under just a 400w hps, and I'm talking smashin up the 1 gram per watt when done correctly. It's the most simplest hydroponic method out there and believe me, I've researched this at length.

I did one hempy bucket a few years back for shits and giggles. It turned out very good but for what ever reason I wasn't ready to continue forward at that time. The reason I went with this system was because I was looking for something more automated that I didn't have to be as hands on everyday. So far it's mission success.

 

[supermanlives]

to each their own. i have tried every type of hydro. i preferr organic soil or mostly organic soil.no ph ,ec or water temps to deal with. quite easy with the right ingredients and a cement mixer. if i was growing 20k i would go back to hydro. either way enjoy your grow and harvests.

 

[rrog]

I've done straight chem hydro, then chem hydro with bennies in the res. That opened my eyes to a better way (for me). I then moved on to two grows with a bubbling soil. Which I liked better. Now I'm doing straight soil and having my best grow ever.

In my opinion, the farther we get from the way nature / evolution designed growing, the more problematic it gets. This has been the simplest, bug and pest free grow I've had. And I can be comfortable knowing I'm not buying bottled ferts.

Again, my opinion. I'm not expecting to convert anyone.

 

[Eazytoke]

No need to convert me. The other side of my room is soil, mostly organic. And I've been doing the soil thing for many years with great success and a few not so successful.

I'm finding the change to hydro to be a refreshing change. If for no other reason that it's just different and it's broke up the routine. For the short term at least I plan to do both.

 

[rrog]

You have some fantastic looking plants there EZ. Also, I very much like your setup. And I know exactly where you are coming from.The chemist in me loved hydro. No question I had a ball with it.

 

[gmanwho]

You had spoke of some issues with the reZ getting funky on you. Try putting an airstone in there. Floranova can get funky.

In the future if you feel like tweeking a little, during flower try swapping the rez at 5 days instead of 7days. maybe run just a little less in the rez if you feel you maybe wasting nutes because of changing the rez. like 20 gallons instead of 25 etc.

Straight water to the rez is the way to go IMO.

Try to take notice if you get growth bursts a day or 2 after a rez change. if you do, then try the 5day rez change. specific nutes in your nutrient solution may be depleted by day 5 or 7.

Also, that check valve, your right, another maintenance issue. But if it helps at the end of drain cycle to stop the constant repetitive pump on an off. trying to pump that last little bit, pump stops cause it hit the float switch,then to have the water return again that never made it to the rez. Vicious cycle.

I like top drip to, very explosive results. i have an additional room that will be finished in a few days that will be setup with top drip 24/7 throughout flower, an floranova nutes. experimented with a temporary setup last winter, an this year its gonna be dialed in better.


Plants look nice an healthy....

B-safe..

 

[Abja Roots]

I had one of those CAP systems before. There were various issues for me, but the biggest one is that the pots are just too small. Also, it doesn't have as much oxygen and water movement as your single DWC or an undercurrent system has. I would have gone with the 13 gallon Undercurrent system. I would never recommend that anyone buy this cap system, unless your plan is to do small plants.

As it is. I currently grow in 2 Gallon Smart Pots. I put between 9-12 on a 4x4 under 1kw. I use a mix of coco 75%/ perlite 25% and ebb and flow the table. In the bottom of each pot I put a 1" layer of perlite or hydroton pellets(since I have them laying around). I veg them out to 18-24", top them young, and because of the strain usually get a nice size plant. I usually get about 1 1/2 lbs/ 1kw.

I've used coco-tek pots, hard plastic pots, but I like the smart pots the most.

I grow the way I grow, because of the ease of maintenance on a larger scale. I've done a drip system, which worked great, but it's a lot to keep an eye on. It's much easier to see if everything is working when you only have to look at a few tables, rather than each and every single plant.

If I had a small grow, and could keep it cool. I would definitely rage a 13 gallon UC style system.

My friend used to grow in those waterfarms, and he would get huge trees. Like Christmas trees inside. He would keep the temp high in veg and initial flower, so that they would grow massive, then he would turn it down from week 2-3 on.

Just random thoughts. Thanks for sharing your DWC grow, as well as this one.

AR

 

[singularity]

i find it hard to accept soil is easier than hydro. less control, exhausting lag between cause/effect, and jesus! what soil doesnt have critters?!

then theres the production value. hydro is sprinkling sorrow on soil till its -20f below.

 

[rrog]

I couldn't disagree more, Single. This latest grow is all organic soil. No need for me to control because the plant is now in control. No need for cause / effect. That's hydro thinking. Not soil thinking.

Production value? No flushing, no concerns about nutrients that started as oil. It's natural. Not like in the 50s when scientists all thought they could do better than nature did.

I wouldn't go back to chem ferts for anything. Been there, done that, and for me, the organic soil is a complete leap forward for many reasons.