A few things that I've learned about growing in coco with a drip systm DTW

[Arminius]

Hey other, thank you.

At the minute I'm not running a sealed room with Co2 but I will be in the very near future. Watering frequency does not depend on your lighting choice, whether that be, horizontal, or vertical. It really comes down to the size of your pots. Once my 6.5Ltr pot has roots coming out of the drain holes I start watering 3x per day and this continues right up until 21 days flower, at this point I increase the watering to 5x per day and they love it.

Play around with it until you find what works for you best, I'm sure you will see great results once everything is up and running. Best of luck with it pal, I hope it serves you well.

Peace,
HGO

Yeah, that... Get a cycle timer of some sort, and just tweak the dials until you never dry out, and feed to slight run off each time. Like HGO said, early on they need less, but later in flower I have fed as often as 8-10 times per day. Unless you are doing multi feeds in coco, you are better off in a bagged soil...

 

[Hundred Gram Oz]

in your DTW systems is the pump is in the res?

have you any one way valves installed after the res encase there is a leak and stop the res from emptying.

Hi Green, yes my pump is in the rez. I use a MJ1000 (1000LPH) pump per tray/6 plants/12 drippers.

I put an in-line tap into the feedline a few inches above the pump. Here's what the taps look like.



They let me set a flow rate, I'm using a pump for each lamp/tray. It only takes 5 mins. I cut the feed line around 6 inches above the pump, inserted a T-piece, run a few inches of pipe from the T-piece and inserted the tap as shown in the pics below.



Attach the pump to the end of the feed line and this is the result



Then it's just a simple little tweaking at the tap until there's enough pressure going to the drippers.


I hope that helps.

Peace,
HGO

 

[Hundred Gram Oz]

Heres my setup..

before flip, at 24" above coco:
View Image


yesterday on week 3 of flower after a light defoliation:
View Image

Killer looking setup R. You got some THICK stems, this should be a nice grow. What size are your pots and what ya growing in there? Keep us updated.

Yeah, that... Get a cycle timer of some sort, and just tweak the dials until you never dry out, and feed to slight run off each time. Like HGO said, early on they need less, but later in flower I have fed as often as 8-10 times per day. Unless you are doing multi feeds in coco, you are better off in a bagged soil...

^^^^ TRUE THAT. Hey man hows the multi-feeding working out for you?

Peace,
HGO

 

[Relentless]

hungred gram oz- whered ya get the valve? im running the same type and it just doesnt fit well inside the half inch manifold.. i taped the shit out of it but still leaks.

Im running 12 3gal smart pots.. got a 630gph pump w/ valve in the 1/2" manifold with 12 1/4" feeder lines going to each plant.. timer comes on at lights on at 7:30am, and again at 4pm.. lights off at 7:30pm of course... im on week 3 but im thinkin week 5 or so increasing the amount of feedings..

thanks!

 

[GreeeeN GRassss]

yes HGO your detailed posts are always helpful thats the pump ill be getting to ill be doing 6 plants.

when you say your setting your flow rate your opening and closing the inline tap?

is there any issues with flow to each dripper when the lines to the drippers are in sequence, one dripper getting more then another?

in my room its second story with a wooden floor so any leaks would go straight through the ceiling, that is why id be installing a one way valve in-between the pump and the first dripper line in your picture.

 

[Arminius]

^^^^ TRUE THAT. Hey man hows the multi-feeding working out for you?

Peace,
HGO

I miss the DTW coco from the last site, and will go back eventually. But I have my Ebb and Grow set to feed every hour, since I have seen the advantages.

 

[Hundred Gram Oz]

hungred gram oz- whered ya get the valve? im running the same type and it just doesnt fit well inside the half inch manifold.. i taped the shit out of it but still leaks.

Im running 12 3gal smart pots.. got a 630gph pump w/ valve in the 1/2" manifold with 12 1/4" feeder lines going to each plant.. timer comes on at lights on at 7:30am, and again at 4pm.. lights off at 7:30pm of course... im on week 3 but im thinkin week 5 or so increasing the amount of feedings..

thanks!

That is a strange one, I got my taps from my local hydro store. Maybe bring some of your pipe to your hydro store and see if they have taps that fit it. Have you tried to seal it with cable ties? Put them on real tight and then use a pair of pliers to get them sealed an extra few clicks, that should work man. You could also try to silicon them in and tighten with the cables.

That sounds good man, just be careful when upping your feeds with the bigger pots, it shouldn't be too much of a problem though if your roots are well developed.

yes HGO your detailed posts are always helpful thats the pump ill be getting to ill be doing 6 plants.

when you say your setting your flow rate your opening and closing the inline tap?

is there any issues with flow to each dripper when the lines to the drippers are in sequence, one dripper getting more then another?

in my room its second story with a wooden floor so any leaks would go straight through the ceiling, that is why id be installing a one way valve in-between the pump and the first dripper line in your picture.

Thanks man, no worries anytime. Yes I open or close my taps to adjust the flow to the drippers, you don't want it pissing out of the drippers but you want runoff from the pots within 60-120 seconds so adjust accordingly. There are no issues with the flow to each drippers, the water goes through the line too quick to notice any uneven flow, just measure out your spaghetti line in even parts and you will be fine.

If you're worried about a flood then maybe you should buy yourself a waste pump with a float valve, they have them on progrow, here's a description...

These pumps will move large amounts of water and come at a great price.
With self priming float switch. This means that you can use this pump in a reservoir and the pump will not be activated until the water in that reservoir reaches a level where the float switch is lifted. This makes this type of pump ideal in the waste tank of a run to waste system. When the waste water reaches a set level it will automatically activate the pump and pump away waste water.

They will stop any flooding but the pumps are expensive, I have my waste pumps to come on just after each feed, a cheap digital timer handles my 3 pumps.

I miss the DTW coco from the last site, and will go back eventually. But I have my Ebb and Grow set to feed every hour, since I have seen the advantages.

Cool man, what medium are you growing in? I'm thinking about doing a large sog run in hydroton for fun

Peace,
HGO

 

[Sqydro]

Hey OptimusPrime, go get yourself some courgated PVC or tin, the same stuff that is used for roofing. It's a great subsituate for a tray and might be superior. Here's the stuff that I'm talking about...

View Image​

You can also get PVC guttering and build yourself an effective waste system. I have a friend using this and it's working great for him, here's what his looks like with the guttering installed...

View Image​

Peace,
HGO

see with this mate would you need to have the running water covered in case of algae build up or is it not a issue?

 

[lr3]

great thread! i've been thinking about switching from hand watering coco to flood and drain with coco, but after reading this thread, it seems the next logical step would be to add feeds and DTW. Any thoughts in recirculating instead of draining to waste? Main issue I would see is bits of coco getting into the reservoir and clogging the feeds.

 

[Hundred Gram Oz]

see with this mate would you need to have the running water covered in case of algae build up or is it not a issue?

Hi, pal Do you mean the feed pipes or the rez? I get zero algae in the rez, I use wheelie bins for my reservoirs, I use them mainly for security, nobody bats an eyelid when they see a few wheelie bins being taken into a house. They also have good lids so no light gets into them and the lines are black so no algae growth

 

[Arminius]

@HGO: all the details are in my thread... lol
I know you are busy so I will save you the time wading through my thread ;-) I am using Hydroton, and Grow Stones, in 2 gal pots.

 

[Hundred Gram Oz]

Sorry man I've been offline a hell of a lot lately. I'll go check out your thread again now pal BTW how ya finding the hydroton/grow stone? Any increase in growth rates or bud quality?

Peace,
HGO

 

[Hundred Gram Oz]

great thread! i've been thinking about switching from hand watering coco to flood and drain with coco, but after reading this thread, it seems the next logical step would be to add feeds and DTW. Any thoughts in recirculating instead of draining to waste? Main issue I would see is bits of coco getting into the reservoir and clogging the feeds.

Hey man, thanks. I'm glad you like the thread. I don't recirculate at all, some like to do it that way but I find that the 'wasted nutes' aren't wasted at all come chop time. There are a few reasons why I don't like to recirculate. Number one is that I don't spread any root disease, if one plant gets hit with pythium it will spread to all plants with a recirculating system. Also with a DTW setup I know what my plants are eating (N-P-K), not so much so with a recirculating system.

Peace,
HGO

 

[lr3]

I don't recirculate at all, some like to do it that way but I find that the 'wasted nutes' aren't wasted at all come chop time. There are a few reasons why I don't like to recirculate. Number one is that I don't spread any root disease, if one plant gets hit with pythium it will spread to all plants with a recirculating system. Also with a DTW setup I know what my plants are eating (N-P-K), not so much so with a recirculating system.

Peace,
HGO

cool, having been growing in coco and hand watering, it had not occurred to me that draining to the reservoir would provide a vector for the spread of disease organisms/pests. that is a good enough reason to drain to waste. so far, the only things i have had to deal with are nats (treated with nematodes) and powdery mildew (treated very effectively with Potassium Bicarbonate). i just finished my second indoor grow in coco, prior to that i had grown in soil back in the 70's from colombian gold bagseed but consider myself a newbie for all intents and purposes--just getting back into it on a new level.

 

[Hundred Gram Oz]

cool, having been growing in coco and hand watering, it had not occurred to me that draining to the reservoir would provide a vector for the spread of disease organisms/pests. that is a good enough reason to drain to waste. so far, the only things i have had to deal with are nats (treated with nematodes) and powdery mildew (treated very effectively with Potassium Bicarbonate). i just finished my second indoor grow in coco, prior to that i had grown in soil back in the 70's from colombian gold bagseed but consider myself a newbie for all intents and purposes--just getting back into it on a new level.

Cool man, how did that Colombian Gold turn out?

Peace,
HGO

 

[Arminius]

Sorry man I've been offline a hell of a lot lately. I'll go check out your thread again now pal BTW how ya finding the hydroton/grow stone? Any increase in growth rates or bud quality?

Peace,
HGO

Growth rates are off the charts, but need more air exchanges for the 1 oz tops I was getting used to... Going CO2, rather than adding 5 more fans per room!

 

[lr3]

Cool man, how did that Colombian Gold turn out?

Peace,
HGO

pretty much schwag. grew one big plant indoors under a "grow lamp" (incandescent flood light). had a makeshift parabolic tin foil reflector (was tall as i was in a 5 gallon pot--but i was only 14 at the time). the outdoor plants all got cut by my dad before they flowered--so never really got to enjoy the fruits of my labor. wish i had some of that seed to play with now and do some crosses...

 

[lr3]

it be interesting to try columbian gold now and see how it compares to some of the high potency hybrid strains out now.

 

[Sqydro]

Hi, pal Do you mean the feed pipes or the rez? I get zero algae in the rez, I use wheelie bins for my reservoirs, I use them mainly for security, nobody bats an eyelid when they see a few wheelie bins being taken into a house. They also have good lids so no light gets into them and the lines are black so no algae growth

like the guttering and tray with water on it thought wed get algae? obv not mate wheelie bin logic is epic mate steeling that lol

 

[drpressure600]

. . Everything's looking very well Amigo, I see what your saying about coco, I'd never use anything else again, not a chance on this planet, Coco is the King. I'm using 15 liter pots also, excellent space the roots, far far better results.