First Indoor Grow

[Mr Putard]

From there is a simple matter to scrap away until you get a nice fit...

[Mr Putard]

From there it should be easy to quickly and painlessly scribe the holes in the other lids..hehe

 

Those net pots where 140 x 100 mm

Edited May 27, 2003 by Mr Putard

[Luke Skywalker]

What nutrient e.c. do you run bubblers at? I've seen some quoting no higher than 600ppm for veg, and 900 for flower, thats around .9 to 1.5 e.c. Is this right? And how do you construct your contoller buckets?

[Mr Putard]

lgm Luke Skywalker. See this link for the nutrient recipie I'll use... Lucas formula... don't have a ec or tds thingy... don't want one either...hehe yeah... should have the plants in the buckets in the next 2-3 days so stay tuned as I set my buckets up step by step...

 

http://www.ozstoners.com/420Australia/InvB...f=9&t=2168&st=0

[Luke Skywalker]

Gee, you must be really good at eyeing the plants needs then.... No e.c. meter with a bucket system? Isn't that asking for trouble? Although I suppose if you're regular with your changes and bring dosage up slowly....

 

Does anyone else have any advice on the e.c./t.d.s./ppm levels appropriate for a 15l bubbler? And one more thing, when the plant is first inserted, does the water level initially have to be slightly higher than the general growing level once the plants establish? I mean, when you start do you leave the level at a couple of centimeters above the bottom of the netpot, and then once roots start to grow into the water, drop it slowly to a couple of cm below the base of the netpot? I think I read this somewhere, but another source disagreed, and said that the system should be run at just below the netpot all the time.... Any advice will be greatly appreciated....

[white_cluster]

Gee, you must be really good at eyeing the plants needs then.... No e.c. meter with a bucket system?  Isn't that asking for trouble?  Although I suppose if you're regular with your changes and bring dosage up slowly....

 

Does anyone else have any advice on the e.c./t.d.s./ppm levels appropriate for a 15l bubbler?  And one more thing, when the plant is first inserted, does the water level initially have to be slightly higher than the general growing level once the plants establish?  I mean, when you start do you leave the level at a couple of centimeters above the bottom of the netpot, and then once roots start to grow into the water, drop it slowly to a couple of cm below the base of the netpot?  I think I read this somewhere, but another source disagreed, and said that the system should be run at just below the netpot all the time....  Any advice will be greatly appreciated....

I have been using bubblers for 3 years with no E.C. meter. I see E.C. meter as useless garbage. Its not hard to visit your plants every day and look at em and see if they are happy. If you can spot nute burn early it will be very little stress on the plants once corrected.

 

I run my buckets by starting with 1/6 strength water for one week, then go up to 1/3 strength the next week. And keep the nutes at 1/3rd strength until flushing. I've tried using more than 1/3 strength but it dont work in my garden as I grow a few strains and can't keep the nutes perfect for all.

 

I drain 1/3 the buckets and replace with new water every 2nd sunday, and whenever it needs topping up I use plain water. Good results. Its not asking for trouble at all, its money well saved.

 

As for the water level yeah thats how I do it. fill it a bit above the float valve when I start the clones. but roots only take about 3-4 days to reach the bottom of the pots. and usually that cm will evaporate or be used up, so no need to take the level down.

[Mr Putard]

Gee, you must be really good at eyeing the plants needs then.... No e.c. meter with a bucket system?  Isn't that asking for trouble?  Although I suppose if you're regular with your changes and bring dosage up slowly....

yeah. If you read that thing about the nutrient recipie I'm using you'll notice that only the highgrade recipie recommends getting a conductivity thingy...

 

no need for TDS with Lucas recipie.. unless really keen.

nutrients are changed every two weeks and are topped up with plain ph adjusted water.

 

ph is set to 5.2 - 5.8 and could fluctuate upwards..

 

when flushing with dwc, duration is shorter than drippers because there is no medium...

 

so flush for three to five days only.

 

And, dosn't matter what the size of your buckets are, the recipie is still the same, although if your bucket res is much smaller than main res and you find topping up gets out of hand then maybe half strength or full strength nutes might be the go for you.

 

And, until the roots are in the water, water level should be about 1.5cm under the roots and the bubbler should be wetting the roots.. you can put the roots in the water if you want.. when roots are in the water you can reduce levels to about 3-5 cm under the netpot. It doesn't really matter if the water levels drop in between topping up.

 

But I have a stocklands float valve.. I'll post some pic when I unwrap it..hehe

 

when clones or seedlings are ready, just put in buckets with full strength lucas formula.. no worries

[Mr Putard]

Oh well... they're looking so nice tonight I thought I'd share a bit... number one number two number three...

 

number one looks like its growing a bud..hehe...nah it's just been fimmed and trimmed..

 

number two had an undercut..hehe

 

number three is still feeling fried..phew..touch and go with that babie..

[Mr Putard]

Well.. finally... the gear has arrived which will allow me to complete the bucket setup....

 

grommets, tees straights, air hose, air hose tees, stocklands valve (automatic animal water bowl).

 

also got the 19mm and 13mm hose....

 

can you see the 13mm connector on the end of the float valve?

[Mr Putard]

Here's a closer view of a stocklands float valve... $28.50 from blah..hehe..

 

 

they assembled it for me.. and put two extra parts on so i could have a hose easily connected (13mm).

 

this is in the closed position..

 

very nicely done.