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Pure Perlite Potential

S

Scoobs

Hey

Here is my setup!









I put it together last month out of parts I had lying around my house.

It is a bucket drip system with pure Perlite as the soiless medium.

Here they are at 2 weeks after startup.





I have been feeding them Floranova grow in RO/DI water, with some homemade cal/mag. Lighting is two 400w metal halides.

They seem to be doing really well. But I don't know what to watch out for problem wise, so if anybody else grows this way and wants to share, it would be appreciated.
 
T

tgpfarm

Member
I didn't think cal/mag was needed with the floranova. I am on my first grow, using FN in a DWC and I haven't needed to add any cal/mag.
 
SubArctic7

SubArctic7

New member
I could be mistaken but I believe the cal/mag is needed if your using RO/DI.

Question: Are you having to adjust the PH or is it stable in the mid 5.x with FloraNova Bloom + the water you are using? Reason I ask is because the DI I get is 8+ PH. Not sure if thats unusual or not. I've always used tap, but recently got some distiled water for my cuttings because my tap is so damn hard where I just moved to (ppm 640).

Recently bought the hard water GH Micro, will be the first time I've used it once these clones are ready to go.
 
T

tgpfarm

Member
Yeah I guess the cal/mag is needed with FN Bloom and RO water. I guess I am lucky with having ~6.8 PH and under 100 ppm tap water.
 
M

Murphle

Member
Yup, cal-mag is necessary evil w/ RO/DI H20.Not as much as a coco coir set up tho. Your tap H20 sounds good. Shouldn't be to hard to keep in check. Your ladies look lovely!! Keep up the good work. Strain? Also, Rez looking good aswell.
 
S

Scoobs

Blunt69 - Thanks man, I hope I can keep them in good shape.

TGPfarm - good luck on your grow man, I was thinking of going DWC but heard it was more picky with temps so went with perlite drip instead.

Subarctic - My PH meter is busted. So can't comment on PH other than the plants don't seem to like it when I add the Floranova without some Tap water (8.2) or Cal/Mag to PH up it a bit. I think someone said the PH of floranova is 4.6 or around there. I should probably quit Freeballing it and get some meters. :spank:

Murphle - 2/3 of the plants are OG, with a couple LEmon Kush and a few homemade strains. You said my rez looks good...Thanks, But how do I know when it looks bad?

I haven't drained my rez yet, don't know if I should or not or what to look for when it starts to go bad? Everything seems OK so far, I am planning on draining it when I go 12/12 and switch to Floranova Bloom. I attached a hose and valve to the main pump line that reaches a sewer cap, so it is really easy to drain the sump, jut don't know when I should do it, or if it is needed running RO/DI.
 
P

pezoholic

Member
Dude your tap water is tha SHIT...mine comes out at like 600ppm lol...must live in the mountains or have a well? I would use the tap water instead of RO or DI do to the cost and waste water with RO and also like some said, you would already have some calcium and other goodies in the tap water.

P.S. I would change/wash my resi AT LEAST every 10 days.
 
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stevewinthrop

Member
The pure perlite buckets are a lot like hempy buckets... Look up a hempy thread and there's all the info you need... It's like using extremely lightweight hydroton. And yes, cal-mag if you're going to be using ro water. Otherwise the water will suck any and all calcium and magnesium out of the plant itself.

Also, if there is no 'res' on the bottom of each bucket (ie, if the runoff/recirc line is less than 2 inches above the bottom of the bucket), you will need to run your system often. Perlite doesnt hold water as well as other mediums, it wicks water to the top where the expansive surface area of the perlite will evaporate off very quickly.

I suggest you give a hempy thread a look, it'll explain working with perlite a lot better. I'm not sure if it's the same thread here as it was on *****, but i'm sure it still covers all that.

-- steve
 
S

Scoobs

pezoholic - Yeah I'm in the mountains, my tap is really really hard, I would have a hard time using strictly tap, I would run out of PH down trying to get it in line. I use a 6 stage RO/DI unit under the sink that I ran to a float valve in the sump....IT also has a permeate pump to help conserve water, or it is supposed too anyway. I might go 50/50 with tap and RO/DI if I run into problems.

Steve - I looked at the hempy threads, I didn't see any recirculating systems using them but I am sure they can be added. I am using a continous flow always on recirculating system, with perlite as the soiless medium. Each bucket has a false bottom of 2-3" of air before the return to sump. It is a waterfall effect that I am after with the roots continously getting water and nutrients without being completely submerged like DWC. Maintaining an aerobic environment should keep the roots in good shape. I have also tried to cover all pipes and the rez with panda plastic to keep algae under control. I was under the impression that hempy buckets were more like soil grows without the peat and using more vermiculite and hydro nutes. I don't have to worry about the perlite drying out either....I use it like the plinko game on the price is right. It seems to work well so far.
 
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S

Scoobs

It totally is a dutch pot system!

And it supposedly can be converted into an aero system as well....might have to look into that after this grow.
 
one Q

one Q

Quality
Veteran
If sealed it can go Fog style if you want to get all state-of-the-art. Add a net and go Mediumless fog.
 
SubArctic7

SubArctic7

New member
You could probably dump it all in a large container and use one of those additives that dissolve roots along with water. Let it sit then drain, rinse, reuse. Thats just an idea, never done it and won't be doing it for mine as I'm only using hempy buckets once while sexing some White Russians. I've always been curious about the hempy buckets :D

Other than that, I'm planning on just dumping mine with my trash a few gallons at a time. Just pack it in plastic sacks put it in the sacks of normal trash and take it out when you hear the trash man coming down your street instead of taking it out the night before and letting it sit there for anyone to go through overnight. Will make sure I don't have anything identifying in the same sack of trash I put the waste perlite in of course.
 
S

Scoobs

3 weeks











I gave them a little light burn when I switched to 1kwHPS from two 400w MH. I should have transitioned it slower and not dropped it down so fast, I raised it a few inches since I noticed the burn. I have also been doing a little LST and added a net. Haven't dumped rez yet and still meter-less.....although planning on getting TDS meter to help.

I am not sure what I will do with the perlite, definitely going to re-use, probably will try and rinse with water in large rubbermaid or tub, I think the rootball will seperate from the perlite like soil does and the root pieces will drop to bottom. I might bleach it if it looks really bad, but don't want to do that if I don't have to, it would need to be rinsed out a few times afterwards because a strong base like bleach could really mess up my system.
 
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S

Scoobs

freeradical said:
Lookin great! You doing anything special for them to bush out like that?
Click to expand...

I topped them and did some LST, but this strain is bushier than the others. It was labelled OG a few years ago when I picked it up from a friend, who got it from another friend....etc....etc.....I don't know which cut it is or whther it is even OG at all, IT smokes really good and that is why I still have it. Grows good too with big chubby fan leaves.
 
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S

Scoobs

johnathanvpr said:
man, im lovin your setup. those babies are jumpin up quick too. so you said there is a false bottom? not sure what you mean?
Click to expand...

I used two 3 gallon buckets for each plant, the bottom bucket has the 3/4" pvc pipe coming out the bottom and is the main drain back to rez. The top bucket has the bottom cut out with aluminum screen (hot glued) holding the perlite and plant roots. The top bucket fits right inside the bottom when stacked leaving a nice air gap. I like this way the best because I can pull up any bucket leaving the drain behind and switch it with another bucket/plant. The air gap also gives it some extra oxygen and a place for the water too pool before flowing back to rez.

I tried using soil planters with a false bottoms that I had lying (coloured planters in the pics) around but it didn't work nearly as good as the two bucket system. The bottom was too fine and clogged causing problems so I had to drill bigger holes and was a pain in the ass during the intiial leak testing phase. I am phasing out those planters with buckets when I get more.
 
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