Easy Mother Setup

[gunjaponic]

Whats the lowest maintainence / easiest / best Mother setup.

 

I curently use Flood and drain with expanded clay for my grow, but I thought there would be an easier setup for a mother.

[pipeman]

I asked same question of wc not long ago and he said 150mm pots of perlite and vermiculite sitting in kitty litter tray of water. when water in tray dries up, fill again. connect trays though pipes at bottom like bubblers. you could even buy an autopot valve and stick in one of the trays and connect to res so the trays re water automatically. pipes with waterproof grommets available at hydro shops.

[gunjaponic]

So, is there any sort of `wick' or anything in this system , or does the perlite and vermiculite just kinda soak up the water ?

[Luke Skywalker]

Yup, perlite has a moderate wicking capacity, and it increases with a vermiculite component. I don't like vermiculite much myself, except for possibly the ultra-super-chunky form, (like 2cm chunks, good stuff that) which I use in seed raising.

 

Check out my latest sig grow, and you'll see I'm currently growing mothers in a similar way to what pipe described. I'm using the small float-valve which comes with the Aquamiser, and I'm using 175mm pots filled with super-coarse perlite. (waterworld brand). The water is fed through a 4mm line, via gravity, and is released into the tray the pots sit in (a foam esky lid, bloody perfect. ) when the water level drops below 2cm or so. The "res" is a 2.25l bottle, although I feel I'll likely use a larger container in the near future. Using a small container means I have to refill it every couple days, and that's alright, but not ideal. I'd rather have a 20l container with a steady supply.

 

The idea of an autopot setup is perfect IMO. The autopot allows a certain amount of water into the base of the pot, and will not let any more into the base until the water in there is gone. So the plants aren't left with wet feet constantly, and they have a wet/almost dry cycle.

 

Anyway, If you're looking to keep mothers, I'd go with an autopot or similar wicking system. These are too simple to run, and maintain, to ignore.

[gunjaponic]

What is an `Aquamiser' ?

 

Can I please see some pics or diagrams of the float setup and tray ?

 

Luke, did you use a strait perlite mix for your mothers ?

 

Could you please explain an `autopot' setup.

 

Thanyou

Gunjaponic

[Gazza2001au]

i used this on a clone my bros mate gave me it was NL i say this system worked just as good as a $200 one did.... very cheap ;-) this was going back about 2 1/2 years ago

[pipeman]

diagram to help explain things better. hope you like my artwork

[Chev]

This might help you out with the aquamiser: Aquamiser

[Luke Skywalker]

Pipe and chev have shown you the autopot and aquamiser, and here's a link to the autopot australia website.... Autopot site...

 

The tray system I described simply uses the small float valve which is part of the aquamiser system, sitting in the base of a foam esky lid. And drawing water into the tray in the same way as it does in the Aquamiser. You should be able to see it from that site above.

 

I used a mixture of super coarse perlite and super coarse vermiculite for my last batch of seedlings, with a base layer in the 80mm pots of about 10-15mm of pure super coarse perlite. I almost exlclusively use perlite as my preferred medium, although I do also use expanded clay sometimes.

[Tom]

Yeah, the Aquamiser is the way to go for starting clones, it hasn't been around long but it has proven itself to a few experienced growers on this site.