Self Contained Plant Care while on Holidays for an Al.B.Fuct inspired grow

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planetfonz

Active Member
hello!
i'm curious as to what methods people have used to care for their plants while being away for a week or 2?

in my part of the world i use tapwater, treated with seachem prime for aquariums. there is however a slight ph rise over several days.
under a single 400w hps, i have a flood drain set up in my flower tent, modelled along a smaller al.b.fuct perpetual grow, with clay ball media and 3 waterings per day on a half-strength FloraNova program.
due to it being winter here, theres no higher temps than 23-24c so i'm assuming i can drop it to 2 waterings per day. once around 3 hours after lights on and again 3 hours b4 lights off.
to add to this i have backup clones of my plants, AMS, blueberry, Jack Herer and big-bang just in case things go fucked so i'm not too concerned. but after recently defeating a few serious problems it would be awesome to have these current girls finish off their run successfully, as they are really starting to look like my best effort so far.
so any advice or any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
+rep and all that jazz
cheers
 
TheFaux

TheFaux

New Member
The pH fluctuation (if severe) is likely caused by carbonates in the tap water otherwise it's just plant getting nutrients. First thing you'd need to do is use r.o. or distilled water. Then you'd need to add a float valve to your res and rig some kind of passive reservoir or equivalent to top off with water only.
 
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planetfonz

Active Member
cheers for the replys !
yeah i considered a float valve but its a bit too serious for what i have going on atm. it is however a damn good idea, defintely something to work towards. a r.o distiler water contraption is also on the list but unfortunately it'll be done when back

looks like its friend time
 
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LiquidLumen

Active Member
I've actually thought about this before quite a bit, and I think I have come up with a simple solution for automating a soil grow. I personally use aeroponics, but there's so many variables involved with that system that I haven't been able to come up with a fool-proof way to get around all the potential failures (pump failure, sprayers clogging, and most importantly nute/tap water pH fluctuations) Anyways here's my idea for an automated soil grow:

1) Fill a reservoir with your desired nutrient or water solution and insert a submersible pump(s) that feeds a line to each plant, making sure each line is securely anchored. (You can provide multiple outlets from a single pump via a series of T-connections)

2) Once this is all set up, do a couple of test runs to determine how long you have to run the pump to deliver the desired amount of water to each plant. From what I've read you need about 200 mL per plant about every two days. This is the most important step, because if you don't get this right the whole system is pointless.

3.) Once you have determined the amount of time needed to supply your plants with their required amount of water/nutrient, simply program a timer to come on every two days for that specified amount of time, and you're good to go.

Now this assumes that you a) are accurately able to determine how much water your pump will put out in a given amount of time, b) that your pump is reliable and consistent enough to produce approximately the same amount of fluid for a given amount of run time, and c) you can find a timer that will operate your pump for the exact specified amount of time, and on specific days of the week. If these assumptions are met, I don't see any reason why this simple system couldn't work indefinitely. Finding the timer might be a problem, but one way to get around that is to figure out what your shortest timer intervals are- if it only runs is one minute intervals, then adjust your plumbing to deliver the specified amount of water in one minute. There are two main variables you can adjust to control your water flow out of your pump- 1) the number of outlets you have coming from your pump, and 2) the height your pump travels (in this case, you're not limited by the height of your plant buckets, you could make the pump run as high as you want, and simply dip it back down like a rainbow to meet your plants). With enough precision, you could work out a system to deliver the exact amount of water needed on a consistent schedule. Let me know what you guys think.
 
Don Gin and Ton

Don Gin and Ton

Well-Known Member
now thats ingenius with a digital timer instead of analogue thats easily achievable i wouldnt like to do it for more than a few days but theres no reason why you couldnt do it for a couple of weeks! +rep
 
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LiquidLumen

Active Member
Al B. Fuct

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
I use flood systems, but this arrangement will work with any watering system which employs a nute tank:

https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/6638-vacation-watering-system-flood-hydro.html



Ignore the dehumidifier (and my very old, kindergarten art...). My op needs a dehumidifier which produces about 10L/day of mineral-free water and as such, can get away with a ~15L plainwater tank in this top-up system. The pH of the condensate water from the dehumidifier is about 7.0, way too high for hydroponics, but if I have my choice of plants going dry or running the pH too high in my absence, I'd rather the pH ran too high until I could get back and monitor it than allow the plants to die from lackawater. If your op doesn't use a dehumidifier, just use a bigger plainwater tank.

The rez levels in flood systems drop quite a bit while the trays are being flooded. If there was only a float valve connecting the plainwater tank to the rez, each time the trays were flooded, the float valve would allow the plainwater tank to re-fill the rez up to the float level, while there's still quite a bit of water up in the trays. When the flood cycle ends and excess water fom the trays drains back to the rez, the rez would overflow.

A cheap, battery-operated digital lawn irrigation timer valve (get @ any garden shop) is fitted to the plainwater tank with plastic bulkhead fittings. The timer valve allows the rez to be topped up at any time of day except when the trays are flooding. This keeps the rez at a set level at all times while preventing overfilling the rez. This will work with multiple rez systems, jut use tee fittings to feed any additional rez tanks.

Note that this is a gravity fed system, so the plainwater tank bottom has to be above the top fill level of the rez.

Adjust the plainwater tank to pH5.8 and treat with H2O2 50% grade @ 1ml/L of tank volume (provided you are using inorganic nutes, which are compatible with H2O2). H2O2 breaks down to H, O & H2O after about 3-4 days in the rez, so treat your plainwater tank with H2O2 the very last thing before you go on holiday.
 
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LiquidLumen

Active Member
Nice work on your flood system...I like the dehumidifier idea to provide pure H20. Also, interesting point you raise about the pH... I wonder what your plants would look like after a week running at 7? I've never done it before, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be catastrophic, probably just moderate nute deficiency. With this maybe there is hope for an automated aero system. ++ rep
 
Al B. Fuct

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
In the case of running this sort of thing with water from a dehumidifier, it depends upon how long the plants are asked to cope with 7.0 water. Yes, diluting the 5.8 solution in the rez with 7.0 water from the dehumidifier will cause the rez pH to jump up. Just how far and how fast depends on the volumes involved. The result of high pH is indeed a nute lockout, but how much effect that has on the plants depends on exaclty how high the rez pH swings and for how long the plants are asked to cope with this suboptimal soup.

It's smarter to fill a large plainwater tank and adjust it to 5.8 than to depend on 7.0 water from a dehumidifier. I built mine the way I did simply because it was a quick solution for a 2 week absence.
 
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planetfonz

Active Member
Al B. Fuct said:
In the case of running this sort of thing with water from a dehumidifier, it depends upon how long the plants are asked to cope with 7.0 water. Yes, diluting the 5.8 solution in the rez with 7.0 water from the dehumidifier will cause the rez pH to jump up. Just how far and how fast depends on the volumes involved. The result of high pH is indeed a nute lockout, but how much effect that has on the plants depends on exaclty how high the rez pH swings and for how long the plants are asked to cope with this suboptimal soup.

It's smarter to fill a large plainwater tank and adjust it to 5.8 than to depend on 7.0 water from a dehumidifier. I built mine the way I did simply because it was a quick solution for a 2 week absence.
Click to expand...
i'm glad this post has continued. great replys there gents! and gday al, your views are welcome on a post of mine anytime.
well i ended up setting my watering schedule to 3 hours after lights on, and 3 hours before lights off.. i did a few tests to see if the pots n hydroton were still damp just before a watering, and they were.. it has seemed to have worked... my ladies have surged up with no sign of any issues. i made a large bucket up of p.h 5.0 water and had some one put a few litres into the system every 3 days or so.
i had a fresh water change just before going and cut the strength right down to around 1/3rd of recc. dosage.
after watching them grow every day, not viewing them for 11 days was a bit like missing a pet, but amazing once u see them again. major flower growth in a short amount of time..
jack herer for the win !!!
 
Al B. Fuct

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
planetfonz said:
i'm glad this post has continued. great replys there gents! and gday al, your views are welcome on a post of mine anytime.
Click to expand...
thanks. :)

well i ended up setting my watering schedule to 3 hours after lights on, and 3 hours before lights off..
Click to expand...
perfect. :)

i did a few tests to see if the pots n hydroton were still damp just before a watering, and they were.. it has seemed to have worked... my ladies have surged up with no sign of any issues.
Click to expand...
yep, that's the way. :)

i made a large bucket up of p.h 5.0 water and had some one put a few litres into the system every 3 days or so.
i had a fresh water change just before going and cut the strength right down to around 1/3rd of recc. dosage.
Click to expand...
5.0 is a bit too low.



You'll lock out just about everything but iron & manganese at 5.0.

after watching them grow every day, not viewing them for 11 days was a bit like missing a pet, but amazing once u see them again. major flower growth in a short amount of time..
jack herer for the win !!!
Click to expand...
Cannabis is an astonishingly fast growing plant particularly in optimal conditions. I can see the correlation with a pet! Upside is it won't pee on the sofa. :D
 
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planetfonz

Active Member
yo!
sorry i should have added that the ph rises to around 6.7-7.0 in a few days, so i figured 5.0 would bring it down slightly :D
in my water change just then, it was up to 7.3, happilly now back to 5.8
 
Al B. Fuct

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
pH jumping up like that can be indicative of a pathogen problem in the system (pythium, fusarium).

Us 50% grade H2O2* @ 1ml/L in the nutes every 3-4 days. Since it appears you have a significant infection in the system at the moment, do a one time treatment at 10ml/L then return to treating at 1ml/L every 3-4 days thereafter. Should stop the pH of the tank jumping up.

*if using inorganic nutes - H2O2 is not compatible with organics; it will break down the nutes and consume the H2O2 immediately. Organics and hydroponics just don't mix IMNSFHO.
 
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planetfonz

Active Member
Al B. Fuct said:
pH jumping up like that can be indicative of a pathogen problem in the system (pythium, fusarium).

Us 50% grade H2O2* @ 1ml/L in the nutes every 3-4 days. Since it appears you have a significant infection in the system at the moment, do a one time treatment at 10ml/L then return to treating at 1ml/L every 3-4 days thereafter. Should stop the pH of the tank jumping up.

*if using inorganic nutes - H2O2 is not compatible with organics; it will break down the nutes and consume the H2O2 immediately. Organics and hydroponics just don't mix IMNSFHO.
Click to expand...

verrrrry interesting! i have some 35% H2o2 left over from my dwc attempts earlier this year and had been holding off putting any in the res (for no real reason, barr saving it for when i was sure it was needed) so i'll go ahead and give it a whirl.
my nutes are GH floranova, soon to be changed to the GH 3-part Flora once these current ones run out.
 
Al B. Fuct

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
If you have 35% H2O2, use it at 1.7ml/L every 3-4 days. The once-off shock treatment should be at 17ml/L for 35%.
 
stonedloner

stonedloner

Active Member
LiquidLumen said:
I've actually thought about this before quite a bit, and I think I have come up with a simple solution for automating a soil grow. I personally use aeroponics, but there's so many variables involved with that system that I haven't been able to come up with a fool-proof way to get around all the potential failures (pump failure, sprayers clogging, and most importantly nute/tap water pH fluctuations) Anyways here's my idea for an automated soil grow:

1) Fill a reservoir with your desired nutrient or water solution and insert a submersible pump(s) that feeds a line to each plant, making sure each line is securely anchored. (You can provide multiple outlets from a single pump via a series of T-connections)

2) Once this is all set up, do a couple of test runs to determine how long you have to run the pump to deliver the desired amount of water to each plant. From what I've read you need about 200 mL per plant about every two days. This is the most important step, because if you don't get this right the whole system is pointless.

3.) Once you have determined the amount of time needed to supply your plants with their required amount of water/nutrient, simply program a timer to come on every two days for that specified amount of time, and you're good to go.

Now this assumes that you a) are accurately able to determine how much water your pump will put out in a given amount of time, b) that your pump is reliable and consistent enough to produce approximately the same amount of fluid for a given amount of run time, and c) you can find a timer that will operate your pump for the exact specified amount of time, and on specific days of the week. If these assumptions are met, I don't see any reason why this simple system couldn't work indefinitely. Finding the timer might be a problem, but one way to get around that is to figure out what your shortest timer intervals are- if it only runs is one minute intervals, then adjust your plumbing to deliver the specified amount of water in one minute. There are two main variables you can adjust to control your water flow out of your pump- 1) the number of outlets you have coming from your pump, and 2) the height your pump travels (in this case, you're not limited by the height of your plant buckets, you could make the pump run as high as you want, and simply dip it back down like a rainbow to meet your plants). With enough precision, you could work out a system to deliver the exact amount of water needed on a consistent schedule. Let me know what you guys think.
Click to expand...
.........your system idea works very well.....I set-up this exact same rig to care for 9 ladies, for 2wks! It was a period of extreme worry, and the certainty that I would come back to find them dead or dying was constant.
To my surprise, I came back to find some of the healthiest girls you could hope for, other than some slight stretching, due to the added lamp hieght!
 
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planetfonz

Active Member
Al B. Fuct said:
If you have 35% H2O2, use it at 1.7ml/L every 3-4 days. The once-off shock treatment should be at 17ml/L for 35%.
Click to expand...
ahh good shit, cheers for that. its done now and hopefully i am gifted with some stable ph levels . fingers are crossed

stonedloner said:
To my surprise, I came back to find some of the healthiest girls you could hope for, other than some slight stretching, due to the added lamp hieght!
Click to expand...
haha its a wonderful sight isn't it! i'm gonna go on more holidays now after such a good experience
 
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