Drainage

[duckbert]

Hi ppl,

 

Done some bush growing b4 but finally got to the point where I had to give indoors a go.

 

So there I am in a cupboard and I realise that I need to have something to drain the nutrients coming out of the pot, as the cupboard will soon rot.

 

So I got a pot tray from K-Mart, but I can see this will just be a problem because the nutrient wont go anywhere and I will have to lift the plant up to drain it out.

 

I am still at the seedling stage so lifting isn't a problem now, but what are the best drainage solutions for a cupboard?

[Luke Skywalker]

Well, it depends on how you'd want to grow... You could have a run-to-waste system with an elevated reservoir and the plants would be drained out through piping to a drain or another holding tank to be dumped at a later date... You could also have a recirc system, in which case you'll have to raise the plants a bit, (to allow for gravity and the size of the reservoir below) but you'd have no problems with drainage, as it's all recycled.

 

Systems in cupboards are usually self contained systems which need to be manually refilled and emptied to manage over time. I run a recirc system in a cupboard, you can check out my system in my various grow threads below...

 

Hope that helps...

[Tom]

The water in the tray will only be a problem until the root system gets to the bottom of the pot, then you will be able to see with ease when the plant needs water as the water in the tray will be taken up by the plant.

[Pure]

Hi ppl,

 

Done some bush growing b4 but finally got to the point where I had to give indoors a go.

 

So there I am in a cupboard and I realise that I need to have something to drain the nutrients coming out of the pot, as the cupboard will soon rot.

 

So I got a pot tray from K-Mart, but I can see this will just be a problem because the nutrient wont go anywhere and I will have to lift the plant up to drain it out.

 

I am still at the seedling stage so lifting isn't a problem now, but what are the best drainage solutions for a cupboard?

 

In my original setup I had this problem I just syphned the water down the drain in the bathroom through a 8mm hose to begin with and that worked fine but I ended up putting a drainage hole in the tray elevated it a bit and had it dump it's excess ino a bucket which I had to remeber to empty everyother day ( I missed it once and there was a hell of a mess

Edited July 10, 2004 by Pure

[duckbert]

Thanks ppl, ill give it a go!

[F420]

or another thing to try is the system that I use in a cupboard.

 

its just a flood and drain system with 2 plastic stacker crates on top of each other,

the bottom hold the nutrient, and the top one holds the medium and plants,

It has a drain in the bottom of the top stacker and a stick looking thing which is how you stop the top box overflowing, it can only get to the top of this stalk before it drains back.

 

about 5 grows using this method have been good,

Im a outdoors grower that was forced inside to grow.

 

All I do to empty the bottom one out is in my first unit is a wet/dry vacuum like a vax etc. Just make sure to put fresh water through it after using it or ya mrs will kill ya when it dies.

 

Or in my other unit which is near a drain, well I just made a hole in the bottom box and used a rubber grommet to hold a 13 mm fitting, and on the end of this is just a normal hose fitting(tap), so I just stick the hose down the drain and turn the tap on, once its drained just put 25 litres of plain water through it again and then empty this out also.

 

Now just refill the nutrients etc and leave.

A 50 Litre res last about 2 months if left alone,

But As I believe in changing the nutrients and flushing between changes, it gets changed every 2 weeks.

 

or just use self watering pots, that way you cant overwater and spill water everywhere.

 

Line the bottom of the cupboard with plastic, panda is best.