[stikky budz]

All this talk of having your drippers on for a minute or 3, 3 or 4 times daily need to be clarrified a bit i think. I know im not the only one wanting to know because i've seen the question asked several times in various coco threads and no-ones ever given a definate answer yet.

Personally,,,, i've got a segmental timer which only allows me 15 mins minimum at a time.

I've got it set to come on twice daily for 15 mins.
The plants are in 10 litre pots,,,,, with 2 x 2 litre per hour drippers in each pot..... therefore getting 1 litre each drip cycle/watering.......2 litres total per day. I based my drip setting on how much water they were needing in the same size pots when i was hand watering. They were then needing 3 - 4 litres every 3 days,,,,so i'm probably giving them double that now.
I couldn't tell you the %run off each watering,,,but i estimate 20% +.
The plants look great so i assume i'm doing right

So,,,, THE question(S) is/are,,, How much exactly are you dripping through your plants each watering, how often.....and in what medium? ( slabs,,,or what size pots? )

Bump.
I want to see what other people are doing as well. I'm in the thought process in designing a new room and the info Sticky Budz is looking for is an important part of the process. I've heard that the more often you feed them the better the yeild as well as that you cannot over water. These 2 princlpes seem like they are the whole resaon coco is so great so they should be taken advantage of.

My current grow is soil watering every third day, give or take feeding every other watering. I am happy with the quality but looking to improve to an automated set up in coco watering multiple times a day drain to waste.

Also, what size res do you use and how long does it last? Pump gph? going to how many plants? Ph range?

Thanks

[stikky budz]

Also, what size res do you use and how long does it last? Pump gph? going to how many plants? Ph range?

At the moment...
I'm on a 30 litre resevoir,,,,feeding 5 plants in those big pots... 2litres a day each, so in theory thats 3 days between res fills.
My pump is 630 litres per hour (approx 139 British Gallons @ 4.54 litres / gallon)
I've also got a spare pump = 2500 litres per hour.

Ph 5.8 - 6.0

I'm working towards a 100 litre res feeding 16 to 25 plants 1 litre per day in 4 litre pots. ( 1 square meter area ) I hope to have 1 litre per hour drippers by then and increase my waterings to 3 or 4 times daily. (15 mins each time)

[gaiusmarius]

this is not a question that can be answered flat. each stage of the plants life needs different amounts of water. then there is the size of your pot, or the volume of coco. in slabs with cubes on them you will get run off quickly. specially early on with small plants. they will increase their uptake and you will have to increase the pump time as they grow.

then like you said there are different drippers with different flow rates, these are also influenced by the pump size. so when you consider all that together you will see that a flow rate per minute alone will not tell you much.

the rule is simple. you need to make sure you have the right pump for your dripper system and a good inline filter.

once the coco is evenly soaked you have to find out how long t takes your pump to make some run off, then you set the pump to do that 2 or 3 or 4 times a day. after a few days you will notice the run off drying up, then it's time to increase the length of time the pump runs each time a bit. you keep adjusting it till they are fully grown when the water use stays the same. ideally speaking you need a digital timer which will allow you to set it to the minute.

[stikky budz]

gaiusmarius : Yeah, i fully understand and appreciate what you're saying, but it would be interesting to know precise amounts that were being used,,,,if people know them. I guarantee this question is going to be asked,,a lot.

you need to make sure you have the right pump for your dripper system and a good inline filter

How do you work out the pump size you need?,,,,,,,and the inline filter would only be needed if it was a recirculating system,,,right?

Digital timers : Does anyone know where i can get a good one in the UK ??? The only ones i've seen,( B 'n Q ) without going to a hydro shop and probably paying double what i need to, have 1 minute settings but say "can be set up to 20 times per week ".
Now,,, 3 times a day, 7 days a week would be 21 times,,,,, and so i've yet to buy one. Has anyone got one of these timers and can tell me more about the settings?? 20 seems an odd number to me.

Thanx

[gaiusmarius]

normally you program it for 3 times a day, making sure that it's for every day of the week. most timers you can do this. when selecting the day keep pressing till all 7 days are lit up then that program will automatically repeat it's self every day at that time. shouldn't be difficult to set it that way.

the reason i don't recommend which pump is because i don't know which dripper system you want to use. so the best thing is to ask the people who sell you the drippers what kind of pump you need.

i did post some pics of the basic dripper equipment i use including the pump on my coco slab with drippers thread.

[Fonda Trichs]

I have 16 gals of canna coco in 8 pots, and I have measuring marks on both my resovoir and waste tanks tp easily observe what's going on. The plants are so small that I doubt they are sucking up much, so I would expect similar results with no plants in the pots. This provides a good baseline.

At this point my resovoir is going down about 1 gallon per day, 10 minutes of drip separated by 3 hours during 18 hrs of daylight. I assume this 1/16 ratio is a good starting point. I will increase drip time as the plant starts using more and the runoff starts to decrease. I'm running about 25% runoff at the moment.

[stikky budz]

Fonda Trichs : So you're watering 5 or 6 times a day?

and is that a recirculating system?

Originally Posted by Fonda Trichs

Why does that coco look dry? Right after I water, the entire mass of coco sucks it up evenly. Or am I not seeing things right?

[Fonda Trichs]

yes, I'm watering 5 times a day, during the daylight hours, and none during the 6 hour dark period.

yes, that's dry coco sprinkled on top. just a thin layer to cover the rockwool. it takes a couple of days before new coco on top gets wet from the wicking below. unless the dripper are dripper right on top of it.

I will probably water by hand at the end of this week to make sure everything is drenched.

Coco is little like peat moss in that (at least the canna coco) it resists water at first, until it gets wet, then it soaks it up and holds it well.