HOG's Ebb & Flow Bucket Garden - Indoor Grows - Hydro - International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums

Hooked-On-Grown · 07-26-2004, 02:02 AM

Hello everyone.........welcome to another adventure in growing!!

I was inspired to do this from seeing growerinshorts' journal of his bucket garden. He has this garden system HERE. The one shown on there homepage is the 12 bucket system. gishorts has this model, and says he is very happy with the results. After seeing those monster colas of his AK-47, I had to build my own bucket garden!!! Nice grow gishorts!!

The 12 bucket system with s/h to my house is $680.00!! A little too much for a system I have never used. After studying there diagram and gishorts grow and set-up.....I was sure I could build my own! So I broke it all down and decided what I had and what I needed to buy to complete the garden.

8- buckets....gishorts uses 2 gallon........I am using 5 gallon..$2.50 each
14- 1/2" barsbs--$3
14- 12" rubber gaskets--$3
50'- 1/2" poly tubing--$11
2- submersible pumps at 250gph rating--$32 each
1- pump for circulation at 150gph rating--$24
2- digital 7 day timers--$17 each
7- bags of lava rock--$21
7- net pots-- had on hand........
clay pebbles--have a ton of it!!.....
50 gallon res......free......
1- 1000w mH for veg.....got a couple of those.....
1- light mover.......I like this thing, glad I bought it!.....
Total with everything with a price is about $190 bucks. $500 bucks cheaper then what they wanted.

I bought the buckets and barbs and gaskets and the poly tubing.
I drilled a hole about 1/2 " or so from the bottom of the bucket on all 7 buckets and inserted the rubber gasket and 1/2 barb with barb facing out of the bucket....I also drilled holes in the bottom of the buckets with a 1/2" drill bit......

Click for Larger Image

Click for Larger Image

I then drilled 7 holes in the controller bucket same distance from bottom and about an 1" apart from each other across the bottom.
I inserted the 1/2" barbs and gaskets and lined them up where I wanted them.

Click for Larger Image

Hooked-On-Grown · 07-26-2004, 02:03 AM

I have a huge pot thats like 2' tall and is heated by propane. You can deep fry a turkey in oil in this sucker!!! Any how, I filled it up with water and got it boiling hot. I cut my poly tubing to length and then dipped them around in the hot water. If you have never worked with poly tubing, it comes in a 50' roll and when you remove the tape holding it together it pretty much stays flexed in a circle. So you dip them in the hot water to make them more plyable and bend straight a little easier. Heat the ends and then slide them onto the 1/2" barbs on both ends. Heating them makes them slide right on and when it cools forms a good bond.
Once all tubing was on buckets and controller bucket....I dumped hot water into the controller bucket and filled the bottom 3" of the buckets so the tubing was submersed in hot water. This makes them very plyable and allows you to get them set in there final position. Use the pump to suck the water out.

Click for Larger Image

Once in there position I placed one pump in the controller bucket and the other in the 50 gal res. The next one I build I will leave the 50 gal res standing up and go through the top. I experienced a little siphoning problem at first but fixed it. I have it on it's side with a hole cut in it. It works.

Click for Larger Image

I bought 2 digital timers. I have used these for years and they are very accurate. I set them to the same time and plugged one into controller bucket pump and the other on the res pump. I first played with the fill and drain time. Without any lava rock or clay pebbles it took about 10 minutes to fill and drain.

Click for Larger Image

Click for Larger Image

With lava rock and clay pebbles it took about 8 to fill and 8 to drain.

Click for Larger Image

So in two days of preping the new room and putting in the a/c and getting the room sealed, I did about 20 test runs. It was the same everytime. I would fill for 8 minutes. Let it sit for 14 minutes and then let it drain for 8 minutes. That is a total of 30 minutes watering time the same as when I flood my 8x4 E&F tables. So after several test runs I was confident the system would work. I took the plants out of the 4" pots they were in and put them in 5" net pots. Put the net pots in the buckets of clay pebbles and lava rocks......I forgot to mention I put one bag of lava rock in each bucket first....

Click for Larger Image

Hooked-On-Grown · 07-26-2004, 02:04 AM

I then filled the remainder of the way with clay pebbles. So with the net pots surrounded by the pebbles, I put them in so the water line comes right about an 1" or so above the bottom of the net pot. The rockwwol does not soak in the water, it wicks very nicely through the clay pebbles to get it wet.

Click for Larger Image

So after watching it fill and drain twice on its own today, all seems pretty good so far. I am using a 1000w mH for veg on a light mover.....

Click for Larger Image

These are the watering times I have come up with....
8am-8:08am fill......soak for 14 min.....8:22-am-8:30am..drain
the same at..
12noon
4pm
8pm
12 midnight
4am
For a toatal of 6 feedings. As of now I am going to leave the light on 24 hours. In a couple of days I will go to 18/6 and maybe adjust to 5 feedings a day.

Click for Larger Image

Click for Larger Image

If all goes good....I just took some Apollo-11 clones that I am dying to finally flower out. I will build an identical system and put it opposite this one and add another 1000watt mH.
This grow is with 7 Mazar and is a test run pretty much. I will probably grow these up and take a bunch of clones and then bud them out.

Pheww....that took awhile!! LOL!! Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do!!
Thats it for now....need to smoke a bowl and a cig!!!

BuzzBob · 07-26-2004, 02:46 AM

Wow!! That is just totally cool, HOG!

Will you be keeping a Grow Thread on these so we can see how it goes?

-BuzzBob

Hooked-On-Grown · 07-26-2004, 02:52 AM

yep yep.....just keep following this thread!!

Welcome......we gonna grow some trees!!

homegrownsweets · 07-26-2004, 03:23 AM

Nice tutorial Hog cant wat to see them grow Peace Homegrown

BuzzBob · 07-26-2004, 03:25 AM

Cool! I'm in for the haul... I'm a Big Tree Lover from way back!

btw: Did you find working with the grommets/barbed fittings a PITA? I know I did... And sometimes the Grommets tend to leak if not seated just right!

I may have found a suitable/similar alternative if you're interested... I don't want to garbage your thread, so just check my gallery. I've uploaded an image of the fitting, with a full description.

-BuzzBob

Hooked-On-Grown · 07-26-2004, 03:30 AM

I'll check it out. I'm all about new suggestions and ideas to better the sysytem. Two buckets leak a little if turned slightly....but it dries up fairly quick when done draining.

Thanks for the interest and the info. I'm sure we will improve a few things before its all done.

07-26-2004, 03:41 AM

niiiiiiiiiice...

Thanks for sharing... will follow this thread with great interest. Nothing like saving a few bucks and ending up with a better system than store bought.

InTrInSiC · 07-26-2004, 03:42 AM

Having tried some of your product I must say whatever you do should be taken as gospel, NICE work man...keep it up...

07-26-2004, 02:02 AM	#1
Hooked-On-Grown Banned Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: I'm in here.....somewhere... Posts: 2,158	HOG's Ebb & Flow Bucket Garden Hello everyone.........welcome to another adventure in growing!! I was inspired to do this from seeing growerinshorts' journal of his bucket garden. He has this garden system HERE. The one shown on there homepage is the 12 bucket system. gishorts has this model, and says he is very happy with the results. After seeing those monster colas of his AK-47, I had to build my own bucket garden!!! Nice grow gishorts!! The 12 bucket system with s/h to my house is $680.00!! A little too much for a system I have never used. After studying there diagram and gishorts grow and set-up.....I was sure I could build my own! So I broke it all down and decided what I had and what I needed to buy to complete the garden. 8- buckets....gishorts uses 2 gallon........I am using 5 gallon..$2.50 each 14- 1/2" barsbs--$3 14- 12" rubber gaskets--$3 50'- 1/2" poly tubing--$11 2- submersible pumps at 250gph rating--$32 each 1- pump for circulation at 150gph rating--$24 2- digital 7 day timers--$17 each 7- bags of lava rock--$21 7- net pots-- had on hand........ clay pebbles--have a ton of it!!..... 50 gallon res......free...... 1- 1000w mH for veg.....got a couple of those..... 1- light mover.......I like this thing, glad I bought it!..... Total with everything with a price is about $190 bucks. $500 bucks cheaper then what they wanted. I bought the buckets and barbs and gaskets and the poly tubing. I drilled a hole about 1/2 " or so from the bottom of the bucket on all 7 buckets and inserted the rubber gasket and 1/2 barb with barb facing out of the bucket....I also drilled holes in the bottom of the buckets with a 1/2" drill bit......Click for Larger Image Click for Larger Image I then drilled 7 holes in the controller bucket same distance from bottom and about an 1" apart from each other across the bottom. I inserted the 1/2" barbs and gaskets and lined them up where I wanted them. Click for Larger Image
	Quote

07-26-2004, 02:03 AM	#2
Hooked-On-Grown Banned Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: I'm in here.....somewhere... Posts: 2,158	I have a huge pot thats like 2' tall and is heated by propane. You can deep fry a turkey in oil in this sucker!!! Any how, I filled it up with water and got it boiling hot. I cut my poly tubing to length and then dipped them around in the hot water. If you have never worked with poly tubing, it comes in a 50' roll and when you remove the tape holding it together it pretty much stays flexed in a circle. So you dip them in the hot water to make them more plyable and bend straight a little easier. Heat the ends and then slide them onto the 1/2" barbs on both ends. Heating them makes them slide right on and when it cools forms a good bond. Once all tubing was on buckets and controller bucket....I dumped hot water into the controller bucket and filled the bottom 3" of the buckets so the tubing was submersed in hot water. This makes them very plyable and allows you to get them set in there final position. Use the pump to suck the water out. Click for Larger Image Once in there position I placed one pump in the controller bucket and the other in the 50 gal res. The next one I build I will leave the 50 gal res standing up and go through the top. I experienced a little siphoning problem at first but fixed it. I have it on it's side with a hole cut in it. It works. Click for Larger Image I bought 2 digital timers. I have used these for years and they are very accurate. I set them to the same time and plugged one into controller bucket pump and the other on the res pump. I first played with the fill and drain time. Without any lava rock or clay pebbles it took about 10 minutes to fill and drain. Click for Larger Image Click for Larger Image With lava rock and clay pebbles it took about 8 to fill and 8 to drain. Click for Larger Image So in two days of preping the new room and putting in the a/c and getting the room sealed, I did about 20 test runs. It was the same everytime. I would fill for 8 minutes. Let it sit for 14 minutes and then let it drain for 8 minutes. That is a total of 30 minutes watering time the same as when I flood my 8x4 E&F tables. So after several test runs I was confident the system would work. I took the plants out of the 4" pots they were in and put them in 5" net pots. Put the net pots in the buckets of clay pebbles and lava rocks......I forgot to mention I put one bag of lava rock in each bucket first.... Click for Larger Image
	Quote

07-26-2004, 02:04 AM	#3
Hooked-On-Grown Banned Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: I'm in here.....somewhere... Posts: 2,158	I then filled the remainder of the way with clay pebbles. So with the net pots surrounded by the pebbles, I put them in so the water line comes right about an 1" or so above the bottom of the net pot. The rockwwol does not soak in the water, it wicks very nicely through the clay pebbles to get it wet. Click for Larger Image So after watching it fill and drain twice on its own today, all seems pretty good so far. I am using a 1000w mH for veg on a light mover..... Click for Larger Image These are the watering times I have come up with.... 8am-8:08am fill......soak for 14 min.....8:22-am-8:30am..drain the same at.. 12noon 4pm 8pm 12 midnight 4am For a toatal of 6 feedings. As of now I am going to leave the light on 24 hours. In a couple of days I will go to 18/6 and maybe adjust to 5 feedings a day. Click for Larger Image Click for Larger Image If all goes good....I just took some Apollo-11 clones that I am dying to finally flower out. I will build an identical system and put it opposite this one and add another 1000watt mH. This grow is with 7 Mazar and is a test run pretty much. I will probably grow these up and take a bunch of clones and then bud them out. Pheww....that took awhile!! LOL!! Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do!! Thats it for now....need to smoke a bowl and a cig!!!
	Quote

07-26-2004, 02:46 AM	#4
BuzzBob aka Buzz'dBob Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: State of Misery Posts: 1,149	Wow!! That is just totally cool, HOG! Will you be keeping a Grow Thread on these so we can see how it goes? -BuzzBob
	Quote

07-26-2004, 02:52 AM	#5
Hooked-On-Grown Banned Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: I'm in here.....somewhere... Posts: 2,158	yep yep.....just keep following this thread!! Welcome......we gonna grow some trees!!
	Quote

07-26-2004, 03:23 AM	#6
homegrownsweets Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: East coast Posts: 479	Nice tutorial Hog cant wat to see them grow Peace Homegrown
	Quote

07-26-2004, 03:25 AM	#7
BuzzBob aka Buzz'dBob Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: State of Misery Posts: 1,149	Cool! I'm in for the haul... I'm a Big Tree Lover from way back! btw: Did you find working with the grommets/barbed fittings a PITA? I know I did... And sometimes the Grommets tend to leak if not seated just right! I may have found a suitable/similar alternative if you're interested... I don't want to garbage your thread, so just check my gallery. I've uploaded an image of the fitting, with a full description. -BuzzBob
	Quote

07-26-2004, 03:30 AM	#8
Hooked-On-Grown Banned Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: I'm in here.....somewhere... Posts: 2,158	I'll check it out. I'm all about new suggestions and ideas to better the sysytem. Two buckets leak a little if turned slightly....but it dries up fairly quick when done draining. Thanks for the interest and the info. I'm sure we will improve a few things before its all done.
	Quote

07-26-2004, 03:41 AM	#9
Guest Guest Posts: n/a	niiiiiiiiiice... Thanks for sharing... will follow this thread with great interest. Nothing like saving a few bucks and ending up with a better system than store bought.
	Quote

07-26-2004, 03:42 AM	#10
InTrInSiC New Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Wandering around Aimlessly Posts: 23	right on Having tried some of your product I must say whatever you do should be taken as gospel, NICE work man...keep it up...
	Quote