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IDIOT's GUIDE TO PPK

workman

New member
Hey guys I don't know about you but I would love to see a idiot's guide to PPK for all the guys like me who have found it very hard to sift through the threads and shows. I just can't wrap my mind around how exactly it works and then there are many variations. Should one pulse or not pulse hand feed or automate feedings for best result's etc,etc. I'm sure once I realize how it works it will seem super easy but as of right now I'm confused and I'm sure some others are in my boats as well.

So Delta, Zeke, Imaginary Friend,and those I missed if you have time help a stoner out.
 

high life 45

Seen your Member?
Veteran
Best growth results without a doubt, will be hooking your pump up to a cycle timer for multiple saturation pulses.

Dave the Newb is also looking for a simple how to, I believe D9 is going to answer all of this at some point in time.

A point in time that is hopefully in the near future.

The ppk is a top fed wicking recirculating hydro system.

Is there a specific question you have or are you just trying to understand the system as a whole?

Harvest Large
 

bloyd

Well-known member
Veteran
Would be nice. I was just checking out the PPK thread and it sucks with no pics.


Check out the wicked pulse thread. Great pics, everything you need to know. D9 has more than put in his time explaining and re-explaining every facet of the ppk in his threads.

I learned how to build a ppk when the thread was around 223 pages long. Read every page like a book I couldn't put down and consider it the best investment in time I have ever spent. You could filter d9's posts in his wicked pulse thread and get everything you need to know, with amazing pics (thanks mrs. d9) in a few hours. His documentation throughout the process is unparalleled on these boards. It's all there, put in a little time, if you have questions ask them in the ppk thread and somebody will be more than happy to assist.

You really do not need to understand the system to grow fantastic plants. I have built ppk's for 2 friends that have never grown a plant before and they have repeatedly turned out flawless harvest after flawless harvest. All they know how to do is input jacks/calc. nit at 1.2 and it has more than worked out for them as well as myself. They don't have any interest in learning the dynamics behind the system. There repeated successful harvests without a single failure is testament to them not needing to know why or how it works.

I have a hunch that there are many more people growing in these ppk's than we even know about, but they don't come forward for fear of losing an edge on competition. Truly any joe blow can grow fantastic plants in this system that d9 has thoroughly researched and designed and nobody would have a use for a hydro store if they did.
 

workman

New member
Bloyd thanks for the response unfortunately the picks are down in those threads and even if they weren't reading through 200 pages when I work fulltime/wife/kids/masturbation, etc, etc.
 

workman

New member
Best growth results without a doubt, will be hooking your pump up to a cycle timer for multiple saturation pulses.

Dave the Newb is also looking for a simple how to, I believe D9 is going to answer all of this at some point in time.

A point in time that is hopefully in the near future.

The ppk is a top fed wicking recirculating hydro system.

Is there a specific question you have or are you just trying to understand the system as a whole?

Harvest Large


Good to have you Highlife you were one of the people I was hoping would show up love checking out your grows/posts. Here are a few of my questions.


1. What does the bottom and top bucket's do and whats's inside of them.

2. What purpose do the tire valves serve and how many should be used.

3. Turdface only or a mix?


I have more but for right now this may help. Thanks again guy's.


2.
 
Good to have you Highlife you were one of the people I was hoping would show up love checking out your grows/posts. Here are a few of my questions.


1. What does the bottom and top bucket's do and whats's inside of them.

2. What purpose do the tire valves serve and how many should be used.

3. Turdface only or a mix?


I have more but for right now this may help. Thanks again guy's.


2.

1. The top bucket is just a plastic bucket with a tailpiece that holds growing medium that acts as a wick. The buckets are usually drilled out, I believe this is so it air prunes similar to a smart pot. The bottoms bucket is a reservoir, the wick pulls the nutrient solution from the bottom bucket.

2. The tire valves are used to connect the bottom bucket/res to a control bucket, this keeps the water level in all the buckets the same...

3. I don't think the growing medium matters, I'm using 70/30 coco/perlite....

You will notice that I didn't include pulsing in mine, that is because I want a method that is completely passive initially until I get eveything dialed in... Once that happens I will go to a pulse...

It took me less than twenty minutes to make my PPK bucket, control bucket and res...
 

high life 45

Seen your Member?
Veteran
Jonny rotten is on the mark,
I am no longer drilling out the top bucket and I dont think d9 is either.

Jonny is using a smart pot which I have also thought about.

I prefer to use Pushfittings which can be found at your local hardware chain. They are much easier to work with than tire valves imho.

I would definitely use a mix with rice hulls. I use floor dry, no cheap source of turface around me. 20lbs of diatomite(floordry) is $7.
 
Jonny rotten is on the mark,
I am no longer drilling out the top bucket and I dont think d9 is either.

Jonny is using a smart pot which I have also thought about.

I prefer to use Pushfittings which can be found at your local hardware chain. They are much easier to work with than tire valves imho.

I would definitely use a mix with rice hulls. I use floor dry, no cheap source of turface around me. 20lbs of diatomite(floordry) is $7.

Looks like I'm gonna need to read up on floor dry and floor dry vs coco...

As far as smart pots go, I had male plants that I killed that were in 3 gallon smart pots and others in 3gallon hempy buckets... After seeing the roots in both of them I decided to use smart pots, much better roots IMO...
 

workman

New member
1. The top bucket is just a plastic bucket with a tailpiece that holds growing medium that acts as a wick. The buckets are usually drilled out, I believe this is so it air prunes similar to a smart pot. The bottoms bucket is a reservoir, the wick pulls the nutrient solution from the bottom bucket.

How do you make a wick I noticed some guys had plastic tubes do those just hold your medium connecting the top bucket to the bottom bucket/res?

Thanks JR
 

high life 45

Seen your Member?
Veteran
Check out the wicked pulse thread. Great pics, everything you need to know. D9 has more than put in his time explaining and re-explaining every facet of the ppk in his threads.

I learned how to build a ppk when the thread was around 223 pages long. Read every page like a book I couldn't put down and consider it the best investment in time I have ever spent.
You could filter d9's posts in his wicked pulse thread and get everything you need to know, with amazing pics (thanks mrs. d9) in a few hours. His documentation throughout the process is unparalleled on these boards. It's all there, put in a little time, if you have questions ask them in the ppk thread and somebody will be more than happy to assist.

You really do not need to understand the system to grow fantastic plants. I have built ppk's for 2 friends that have never grown a plant before and they have repeatedly turned out flawless harvest after flawless harvest. All they know how to do is input jacks/calc. nit at 1.2 and it has more than worked out for them as well as myself. They don't have any interest in learning the dynamics behind the system. There repeated successful harvests without a single failure is testament to them not needing to know why or how it works.

I have a hunch that there are many more people growing in these ppk's than we even know about, but they don't come forward for fear of losing an edge on competition.
Truly any joe blow can grow fantastic plants in this system that d9 has thoroughly researched and designed and nobody would have a use for a hydro store if they did.

Yes to all the above.

If you dont have Jacks, you dont know jack.
Get some jacks it pays for itself quickly.

I laugh at how much I hear of people spending on hydro nutes, met a guy who spent 2k on a 12k grow and harvested less than I did off of 8.8k. His room was oversized, he thought my room was way too small,
But as our dear friend DHF repeatedly drills into our heads, make your entire room a giant air cooled reflector.
 

usda101

Active member
Sounds intresting , im going to research this method . Can anyone give some quick pros an cons ? And why it would be considered a coveted method by some ?
 
How do you make a wick I noticed some guys had plastic tubes do those just hold your medium connecting the top bucket to the bottom bucket/res?

Thanks JR

Go buy a 1.5" pvc drain tailpiece at Home Depot...

Drill 8 evenly spaced holes about 1-2" from the end of the tailpiece and insert and tighten 4 cable ties... Right above that, insert a 4" round piece of fiberglass screen to hold the wick medium from dumping into the bottom bucket...

Then drill a hole in the bottom of the top bucket (in the center)... And drill another hole in the lid of the bottom bucket that the tailpiece can fit through...

Drill the lid on the bottom bucket so water can drain down back down if it needs it...

For what it's worth, I use hole saws for the bigger holes and step bits for the smaller holes... I highly recommend them...

I'm sure I missed a bunch of stuff and you'll probably make some mistakes but keep going and test it out...
 
Sounds intresting , im going to research this method . Can anyone give some quick pros an cons ? And why it would be considered a coveted method by some ?

Do a search for Passive Plant Killer and read the first post, that should explain a lot... If you can find a con, please let me know...
 

high life 45

Seen your Member?
Veteran
The cons that I hear about most often are how boring it is......

Im still having LOTS of fun so dont worry..

Check the links in my sig if you need to see d9s or my ppk grow.

In fact I had the worst Root Aphid infestation on IC and the ppk is probably the only reason I was able to crop. I did not use anything chemmy or "nuclear"
 

workman

New member
Go buy a 1.5" pvc drain tailpiece at Home Depot...

Drill 8 evenly spaced holes about 1-2" from the end of the tailpiece and insert and tighten 4 cable ties... Right above that, insert a 4" round piece of fiberglass screen to hold the wick medium from dumping into the bottom bucket...

Then drill a hole in the bottom of the top bucket (in the center)... And drill another hole in the lid of the bottom bucket that the tailpiece can fit through...

Drill the lid on the bottom bucket so water can drain down back down if it needs it...

For what it's worth, I use hole saws for the bigger holes and step bits for the smaller holes... I highly recommend them...

I'm sure I missed a bunch of stuff and you'll probably make some mistakes but keep going and test it out...


How is the control bucket/res assembled?
 
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