[astartes]

You certainly can bottom feed in coco, with one simply caveat. Once a week, get in there and do a heavy top watering to flush the salts that accumulate. If this can't be accomplished in your set up, then I'd move away from bottom feeding.

a.

I wouldn't know. Never had powdery mildew.

Originally Posted by Scrappy-doo

Well there's some respectable people giving their opinions which differ from mine so I'm not going to pick a fight. With all due respect I simply disagree.

I don't see any difference in feeding from the top and then letting the plants bottom feed sucking back up all the juices that came out, or just letting them suck up the juices from the bottom to begin with. Any salts that are in the runoff are going to get reabsorbed into the meduim as the plant drinks, which should cause this toxic salt buildup, but I have yet to see it in my garden.

With regards to blumats, most people I've seen using them in coco do so without runoff, so the salts should in theory accumulate and cause mayhem to the plants, but miraculously this is not the case, even in setups I've seen where drip clean is not being used.

I don't know... it's just my opinion. To each their own.

Bro.....Not giving you an opinion........I`m stating fact.....and as far as Blumats are concerned , lower ppm`s across the board are recommended since the plants are fed constantly... but....shit runs downhill.......ask any plumber....

Wick nutrient filled juice from the bottom up , and there`s no way for it to get flushed back down out of said rootzone resulting in residual salt buildup guaranteed.....unless yas run dripclean @ 1 ml per gal for insurance ,or without top feed 1/2 strength flushes.........that said.....

Blumats don`t allow the soaking and drying out of the medium that perpetuates residual salt buildup in the upper rootzone that timed feeds will if the timed feeds don`t overlap and keep rootzones constantly moist like blumats can and do once dialed......but.....

Less is more and lower ppm`s across the board rules the day.....

Peace....DHF..........

[Incognegro]

Originally Posted by Buddaluva

Im wanting to do a bottom feed grow so i dont have to move my plants when i water

I have some smart pots that i want to use for it

Can i fill my smart pots up with coco and bottom feed with it ? Like have my smart pot sitting in a saucer and let it leach up when i water ?

Also can i use just coco instead of mixing it with perlight since its gonna be leaching up instead of draining out ?

Thanks in advance fellas

I've done several grows bottom feeding... no probs... just make sure that every so often, give them straight water to avoid salt build ups (i fed straight water 1 time a week)

For the straight water I WOULD advise top feeding, but again I did bottom as well with no ill effects/build up/ burn etc.

Another helpful thing in my opinion, is to feed them slightly lower concentrations to help deter build up as well... i did, and didn't ..only thing I noticed was slightly less yield.... now who wants that?

Lastly, if bottom feeding, flush the shit outta them before harvest...

[jayjayfrank]

a DHF post?

/thread

[RetroGrow]

Originally Posted by Scrappy-doo

I don't see any difference in feeding from the top and then letting the plants bottom feed sucking back up all the juices that came out, or just letting them suck up the juices from the bottom to begin with. Any salts that are in the runoff are going to get reabsorbed into the meduim as the plant drinks, which should cause this toxic salt buildup, but I have yet to see it in my garden.

Same here. Done it that way many times with no problem. The plants suck it up in a couple of hours with no ill effects. Salt buildup is a result of over feeding, as some of us tend to do. I have done it myself, but learned my lesson. 800 PPMs works for me in a system that is being fed daily.

[Incognegro]

Damn 800? Sheesh, some of my girls would cringe at a ppm that low! lol
I agree though, i believe salt build ups come from a combo of overfeeding and not enough watering... if you over feed, but there's heavy runoff, if the plant is using it there won't be, or at least very little build up...but now if the nutes are just sitting there in the pot and not get absorbed...therein lies the problem... but what do i know I'm just a grower

[RetroGrow]

Originally Posted by Incognegro

Damn 800? Sheesh, some of my girls would cringe at a ppm that low! lol

Not if they were getting it every day! It's the K.I.S.S. method. There's a thread on it.

I have done it, did my last two or three coir grows by flooding my trays and letting the girls wick it up. As has been mentioned, keep concentrations low, a weekly or so watering-only session where it's given from the top of the media helps prevent buildup. But then, maybe I can't really talk about salt buildup because I've never achieved it, even by bottom-feeding.

Sure helped my back and my time management, that's for sure. Doing sea of green, 1-2gal pots, 16/tray = a qualified metric shit-ton of time spent watering/feeding each pot by hand. Haven't jumped onto the blumat train yet, nor timed drippers, but if I *do* fire up the indoor spaces this winter I want a life, so some sort of automation is a must.

I use Heads coco recipe so my ppm's are only around 650.