Vacation (3 days) question....

[D.C. Denali]

So, I'm going out of town for three full days here in the near future.

Plants will be in like week four or five by that time.

They're in seven gallon containers (rectangular and tall) of coco.

Three plants.

They currently seem to like an occasional break in watering, i.e. - might water once heavily(until run off) during the week, then only give them a liter every other day until next runoff watering.

They get a slightly modified 6/9 formula which hovers between 900 and 1200 ppm, the extra ppm's up from 6/9 is added bloom juice....

All that said, aside from adding drippers, blumats or any other system, is there much I can do beside freaking drench the shit out of them and hope they're ok for the trip?

Could I cut the 12/12 cycle back to 10/14, would they drink less?

Would I have to finish with 10/14 because bouncing back shortly to 12/12 might confuse the plants?

Fack.

D.C.

 

[OrganicBuds]

Maybe turn down the temps in the room? I wouldn't mess with the light schedule myself.

 

[D.C. Denali]

Already pinned at 72.5, like lights on and off... Since I'm vertical, what about raising the bulb a little too high, less photosynthesis = less consuming of water/ nutes? I know the rootball isn't as well established, like it doesn't fill the containers, I don't think....

Maybe a soak will do ok?

 

[Arminius]

A heavy soak may be your only option. Depending on the strain, you may be ok at this stage. Drippers and timers are baby shit though...

 

[D.C. Denali]

I agree. Thinking I might just go get another digital timer, the one's with eight settings per day, a small pump and some tubes and drip lines... Will make it so I don't have to go in there anymore to water too, which is desireable....

Is it too late to order up some blumats? I mean, I'm approaching the start of week four, I don't want to damage the root system installing the blumats *(they call for boring a hole in your medium, mine are deep, thus requiring blumat maxi's), but I also don't want to pay two times for a watering system as I plan on doing blumat's next round....

Fack.

 

[Femora]

I would get some plastic wrap (like... build-moist-barricade, dno the english word.. kinda thick plastic that can take some rough threatment without getting holes in it.)
And then cut like 1 m2 of it... build a wall from wood around each plant.. like 10-15 cm high, and staple the plastic on top of the wooden frame.
Depending on how big you make it.. it will fit different amount of water but 10-20 or even 30 liters is no problems!

Voilá! You now have a bottom-feeded device!

 

[Arminius]

I agree. Thinking I might just go get another digital timer, the one's with eight settings per day, a small pump and some tubes and drip lines... Will make it so I don't have to go in there anymore to water too, which is desireable....

Is it too late to order up some blumats? I mean, I'm approaching the start of week four, I don't want to damage the root system installing the blumats *(they call for boring a hole in your medium, mine are deep, thus requiring blumat maxi's), but I also don't want to pay two times for a watering system as I plan on doing blumat's next round....

Fack.

I would just go with drip lines and a good cycle timer, and you will never hand water again.
There is a bit of a learning curve with the blumats to my understanding, and some people have stopped using them. I will be trying some maxis soon, but I am on site to catch any runaways...

 

[Jamorg13]

This is the only reason I haven't jumped to coco. It seems like the only drawback is the such frequent waterings

 

[SecondAttempt]

Drippers on timers, or HEAVY HEAVY soak right before you leave. I left for 8 days at Christmas with a heavy soak but my room was cold and I had just transplanted from 5 inch square pots to 3 gallon smarties and was vegging. YMMV due to being a completely opposite situation, however if your pot isn't full of roots 7 gallons of coco can hold a helluva lot of water.

 

[D.C. Denali]

^This is what I'm thinking now too. I watered/fed with about .75 gallons per pot yesterday. They're still heavy today and look like they'll be good until tomorrow morning which is 48 hours. If I feed two gallons per, they might not like it right away, but over the vacation, I won't come back to something horrible, is my hope...

Definitely running blumats next run...

 

[SecondAttempt]

Blumats look cool, I thought about them at one point but then people started having issues. I went PPK instead, so happy right now.

 

[D.C. Denali]

Blumats look cool, I thought about them at one point but then people started having issues. I went PPK instead, so happy right now.

That ppk thing looks like more than I want to bite off for right now... If and when I have more space, I can see myself entertaining the idea.

However, I'll probably lean towards the more traditional pump and drip lines thing when I do get there, overall, just more simple....

That said, what issues are people having with the blumats?

 

[SecondAttempt]

PPKs aren't hard and the growth is like nothing else I've experienced, that being said there are many ways to skin a mule or whatever DHF says.

Blumats have 2 major reported problems... runaways, where they just hang open and drain the res/flood the room... and the complete opposite where they don't drip at all probably from clogs or air bubbles etc. Two extremes, neither interests me. Then again lots of people use them with success.

If you go with drip line and a pump (I'm just coming off that setup, works well, little to complain about) skip the drippers on the end of the lines because they can clog.

 

[Jeeyah]

Drippers will work great. I hate hand watering. You could also use a saucer or something similar and let it sit in an inch of water. It will not hurt your plants. Three days in 7 gallon pots you should be good. I use 1.7 gallon pots.

 

[D.C. Denali]

Thanks guys....

I already know about the cloggin drippers... Thinking for ultra simplicity, foregoing the timer and just plugging it in when I need to water, given the large amount of medium.....

 

[Femora]

I don't get it... Am I beeing ignored, or did my idea just seem uninteresting?

Why go for the issue with dialing bluemats when u can make it really simple with a bot-feed setup in 30 mins/20 USD to make sure that your plants survive 3 days?

All you'll need is some plastic and some pieces of wood/we..

 

[D.C. Denali]

I don't get it... Am I beeing ignored, or did my idea just seem uninteresting?

Why go for the issue with dialing bluemats when u can make it really simple with a bot-feed setup in 30 mins/20 USD to make sure that your plants survive 3 days?

All you'll need is some plastic and some pieces of wood/we..

Neither, sorry my friend.

The bottom feed idea is just something I'm so unfamiliar with, and don't have time to test. As I wrote back and thought through the situation, though I intended to respond, ended up not.

That said, I've presently not watered/fed in two days. The pots are still pretty heavy and the plants look phenominal.

I'm going away (from them) for another two days, leaving in a minute. Made the choice to not refeed before I leave this am (guess it's a trial run) and we shall see how they fair.

Life's strange, sometimes the simplest option (drench) isn't just the best option, it's the option the plants respond to best, unexpectedly.

Now, might you have some pictures of a bottom feed system?

Might be helpful for someone not running an insane amount of cocco, like me



D.C.

 

[Femora]

Heya! Happy to see that response. It all makes sense!

Here is a ICMAG thread showing a bot-feed.. https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=209848

And Ill make a small, (not so) nice pic in paint to kinda explain it..

The installation would include lifting up the plants once to get the plastic under the pot and then make the frame and staple the plastic to it, and this would guarantee the life of your ladies during your days away.

The water will spread allthrou the coco, and the media is loose enough to allow oxygen in there to keep the beauty from sufficating.

Just keep the waterlevel at a maximum of 1/4 of the pot-height
Preferably less, but that would depend on how often you can water them.

Hope it was useful and you got that bot-feed-thingy sorted out!
Have a great weekend!
Fem~

 

[875]

Heya! Happy to see that response. It all makes sense!

Here is a ICMAG thread showing a bot-feed.. https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=209848

And Ill make a small, (not so) nice pic in paint to kinda explain it..

View Image


The installation would include lifting up the plants once to get the plastic under the pot and then make the frame and staple the plastic to it, and this would guarantee the life of your ladies during your days away.

The water will spread allthrou the coco, and the media is loose enough to allow oxygen in there to keep the beauty from sufficating.

Just keep the waterlevel at a maximum of 1/4 of the pot-height
Preferably less, but that would depend on how often you can water them.

Hope it was useful and you got that bot-feed-thingy sorted out!
Have a great weekend!
Fem~

This works well for a cheap/last minute option. Went 8 days once.

 

[Avinash.miles]

A heavy soak may be your only option. Depending on the strain, you may be ok at this stage. Drippers and timers are baby shit though...

dont change ur light cycle.... just soak well.


my2c