Coco question

Hmmm....this Drain-To-Waste forum has eluded me up until now. It's nice to see so many coco growers in one place I guess I do a manual drain-to-waste setup, since I water by hand.

Which brings me to my question. Down the road, I will have to be away for 4-5 days, if I can't get another trusted person to water for me, what's the best solution to make sure things don't go to pot (the bad kind in this case lol) When this time comes I should be very late in my grow, but don't know if I will be completed by then or if she'll still need a week or two. I'm just trying to plan ahead.

She will be in a 2 gallon smart pot. I was thinking maybe taking a gallon jug or two and poking a pin hole in the bottom so its slowly released over time? Or should I invest in a temporary drip setup? Or any other suggestions would be appreciated....

Dragon311 said:

Hmmm....this Drain-To-Waste forum has eluded me up until now. It's nice to see so many coco growers in one place I guess I do a manual drain-to-waste setup, since I water by hand.

Which brings me to my question. Down the road, I will have to be away for 4-5 days, if I can't get another trusted person to water for me, what's the best solution to make sure things don't go to pot (the bad kind in this case lol) When this time comes I should be very late in my grow, but don't know if I will be completed by then or if she'll still need a week or two. I'm just trying to plan ahead.

She will be in a 2 gallon smart pot. I was thinking maybe taking a gallon jug or two and poking a pin hole in the bottom so its slowly released over time? Or should I invest in a temporary drip setup? Or any other suggestions would be appreciated....

Click to expand...

Best way to set it up is automate it... Using drip line and a small pump and a timer you will need a res tank to.
my setup can go 14day with zero issue other than the run off tank over flowing! This issue is easy to correct.

then theres good old muphys law lol.... #2 smarts pots can go 1 day maybe 2days if your room isnt to hot.
before there dead. Hand water your sugars and organic additives and only run base nutes through your drip
lines.

Hmmm...I'm thinking that's more money than I want to spend for a one-time or rare occurrence where I am gone for that long.

Maybe I can take a cue from self-watering pots and after soaking her, put the smart-pot in a larger container that I can keep more water in so that it can take that up from the roots as it needs it over a couple days?

A small pump/dripper setup can be built for under $50 that includes a small reservoir, a small air pump with an air stone or two, a small 160gph pump, a simple timer, a bit of small tubing and a few drippers.

Being able to walk away for a few days at a time has never been a negative in any way other than I miss seeing the plants. You never know when life will throw you a curve and you have to jet out somewhere and get held up, not to mention, never needing to have anyone watch your grow for you, which is a plus that is also a high ranking cardinal rule.

I have not read anything positive about letting plants soak in runoff, the nutes can sour pretty quick in a stale environment and cause all kinds of nasty issues. I am on my first coco grow as well and have a lot to learn. Make you a little dripper setup and you will not be sorry you did.

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

Look, I wouldn't complain about an investment that allows you to leave for 5 days...that is a blessing, a bit of a risk as well. I would be most concerned with the ducting, timers, environmental control.....the real dealbreakers that overlooking will cost. Obviously, the dialing in process should get underway now so you can see long term reliability. My suggestion is just do a cute lil auto pump or drip line. I would be concerned about my PH more than most things as it is a manual adjusting. Keep the nutes BASIC.....no organics....only because they cause far more ph fluctuation. You might want to re-buffer your coco before you leave.