My OBBT Bucket Build

I'm hoping to try a new grow format. The OBBT. You can see it in action here: http://icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=130800
Discussed in great depth Here: http://icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=116431

I was hooked as soon as I read about it. It all starts with The Bucket.

Here are some images from my build. 5 gallon black pails with 1/2" PVC fittings.



I tried a few different fittings, and because if the curved sides of the bucket, the Uniseals worked best. Just take care to cut a clean accurate hole with a hole saw.

These are designed to be 2/5 water and lava rock on the bottom, 3/5 grow medium on top.



I debated the overflow a lot since I didn't want the pumped air to simply escape out the overflow. To solve this, the overflow has this tail inside the bucket. This is the overflow as seen from the inside of the bucket.

EDIT: The photos show the openings covered with landscape fabric to keep the roots out. I wasn't happy with the low flow rate through the fabric, so I removed the fabric screens. Now there's there's nothing. I'm considering wire screens.



The waste valve seems like overkill, but the Uniseal really holds the PVC in place tightly. So what the heck. Works like a champ. I can screw on a garden hose to a sump pump crock for waste.

nice

Good show Rrog. Good to see you got OBBT made up. Have you tested out your overflow yet to see how it works with keeping the bubblies in? Or you going to have the air stone above it. Anyway good job bro. I'll be joining you soon in my OBBT. Good luck

Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts.

Switch, the overflow is about 3/4" away from the side of the pail and about 1" off the bottom.

I have dual 3" x 4" barrel shaped airstones per 5 gal pail. Three OBBT pails altogether pushed by a dedicated 950 GPH air pump. She'll launch OK.

So there's a bunch of air being presented and it goes up. So in my opinion perfect.

Incidentally, regarding the water level indicator, you can see straight to the bottom of the barbed elbow. You can always see exactly. I'll be putting fabric on the top of the tube to keep stuff out.

Good stuff man. Can't wait to see what you can push out of your buckets. Anyway till the next update I'll be hiding in the corner.

BTW, if things goes as plan I'll have a prototype for that air hood thing i was talking about earlier. Maybe within a week or two.

GOOD LUCK!!!

nice man those uniseals are clean.... i still remember the trials and tribulations of installing fittings with silicone and hot glue guns... looked ugly when all was said and done... really clean setup and install man... OBBT is new to me; time to search and research

Thanks obt1c. I appreciate your help and comments earlier. The OBBT is organic ferts in coco with water & air bubbling underneath. What really separates it is the total immersion into benefitial microbes. The system is as much designed to support them as it is to support the plant. Very interesting, I think.

just coco or do you mix in composted soil as well? does it work via wicking action from the bottom? do you top off with just straight water? top fed? hand watered? looks interesting

Compost, yes. Wicking action, yes. The large amount of air bubbled in assists with the movement, but feeds the microbes primarily.

Straight water, yes. I'll be re-constituting RO/DI water with something like CalMag+ myself. Just "unceremoniously" poured on with a bucket, according to LadyLargely, one of the inventors. The res keeps things watered for quite a while, apparently. Top surface is 1" of Perlite to help slow evaporation.

I should mention that the system is heavy on the pro-biotic Foliar spraying as well as natural hormones. Amazing.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=116431 This is an in depth over view. It's extremely long tread but it's worth reading. It outlines the fundamental principles of the OBBT

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=130800
This one is a overview of one of the creators OBBTs in action as we speak

You really need to read through both threads to truly understand how everything is supposed to work. It's a hybrid system with both hydro and soil. Briefly going into it and how it works is the bottom 1/3 of an OBBT is covered with lava rocks, or what have you with air bubblers at the bottom. On the top is a mix compost / EC with coco with all the good to support your plant through the veg cycle. It's kind of like a wicking system because the water isn't suppose to ever touch the soil medium and the air bubbles send oxygen and moisture through the soil medium to support both the plant and all the active bacteria and fungi. You can make it as complicated or at easy going as you want it. If you look at LadyLargly's grow she is really pushing it to the very edge of it's capabilities and she style is pretty complicated. The best part about it is the fungi and the bacteria almost dead locks PH in place perfect for cannabis (if you read thru DMs thread you'll find out that he couldn't get the PH to move at all when he was growing tomatoes, which he needed it to be lower). So you can really make this system to only really have to look after you plants every week or so. Another thing that makes in really great is that most of the supplies that are needed can be gotten from lowes or home-de-pot

Got you by 60 seconds there, Switch

oh yeah; i got what it is... sorta like a bio bucket and a krusty bucket got together and had an organic hybrid baby... great summary btw

mix is sort of like the lc#1 soilless mix; do you let the mix compost for a week or two before using it or do you just mix it up and toss it in the buckets?

do the roots grow into the lava rocks?

opt1c said:

mix is sort of like the lc#1 soilless mix; do you let the mix compost for a week or two before using it or do you just mix it up and toss it in the buckets?

1 week

do the roots grow into the lava rocks?

Click to expand...

Yes they do. But apparently still allows sufficient bubbling.

You guys, holy shit, this is fucking amazing!

I seriously just shed a solitary tear of pure happiness.

rrog, SwitchAvenger, and hell, all of the rest of my organic gardening buddies who gathered around me in the early days, you guys are part of what makes life worth putting up with. Seeing you grasp the concept so well, and then pass it on to others like you are doing with opt1c here in this thread just warms my heart in a unique and powerful way. This is truly what I was hoping for when I first came to this community to share the fruits of my research, but I never dared to hope that it would catch on this fast or have such enthusiastic followers! You guys have been able to cut through the massive walls of text and all my blow-hard tendancies to find the spirit of the OBBTs. I feel you have a true connection to the powerful biology which drives this magnificent process.

I couldn't have hand-picked a better group of gardeners to pick up the OBBT torch. I'm slaving away to adapt the process to modern farming and greenhouses for 'legitimate' uses, but I always knew the OBBTs could be something special for cannabis cultivation. While the sacred herb no longer has a place in my life, it means too much to me for me to have just left it to obscurity. I wanted the best of both worlds. I wanted my gardening technique to produce beautiful cannabis without doing it personally. You guys have given that to me and I just can't tell you how happy it makes me.

Carry on my fellow green-thumbs. It is very clear to me that you don't need my help anymore. I always knew that the OBBT technique was something bigger than me, something bigger than any one of us. I couldn't keep it to myself. I've showed this technique to many gardening communities, legitimate and illigitimate alike, but you guys here on ICmag have been the only ones to give me the time of day based on my tiny amount of evidence. You gave me the benefit of the doubt, you believed in what I had to say based only on the merit of my words and that is truly special for me.

rrog:
Sir, you are a champion of organics. You have an eye for potential and a mind for biology the likes of which I have never seen on an anonymous forum. Your rendition of the OBBTs are just amazing. The fit and finish is at a professional level, it is clear that you have given all of this a lot of thought. Go fourth my brother, and experiment! I have merely planted a seed in the collective consciousness of this community, it is now up to you and people like you to see that it grows.

Good luck to you all and happy gardening!

-DM

Well hello DM! How cool of you to stop by.

I'm glad you approve of the setup. I haven't been this excited in a long time. Fresh coat of white paint on the walls in the micro-grow room, all the amendments exactly as specified. Even have my corn cob ash ready.

Bringing a new UV-B system online as well.

I hope I do close to the level that these other guys have. Gives me something to shoot for.

Thanks again for your kind words.

that is what this community is all about; if a week goes by where i don't learn something new on icmag i'll let u know

Well that was way cool for DM to stop by, wish you lots of luck bro.

Yeah i say you beat me to the punch there Rrog on that other post. I'm going to go hide in the corner again. Who know might be going out to HD tonight to pick up some bits and pieces. Good luck with everything hope that UV-b work out well

So Switch, Did you wind up part and piece-ing from HD?

About the ash. If I burn joshua tree or yucca, I get a very white and clean ash. Is this what you're shooting for with corn cobs?
BTW, this is all yard waste. I don't collect.