GypsyBush, Thundercat, smoke and coke, doniawon, 2 Can, smartsoverambition, WhiteWilly and
Otacon. Thank you all for your comments i hope you all stick with me till the end.
Hi
holmes, I didnt like how the coli was supposed to run drain to waste, or the amount of perlite you had to use i helped convert one to a recirculating system with an external res and it worked much better.
OregonMeds and smoke and coke, the plants would survive for many days in the event of a pump failure, the tubes are flooded to the bottom of the net pots so there is quite a lot of water in each tube. The cost for everything excluding light and ballast was £500.
The adjustable collars are there because I like to experiment and they allow me to run the tubes full or empty, they dont need to be adjustable though because the best way to run the system is flooded to the bottom of the pots. This could be done with a dam which wasnt adjustable. The secret is to recirculate the nutrients quickly and then there will be plenty of DO due to the water surface to air contact. If you want to run it as an nft system then there would be no need for the collars.
Thanks
Hulk Nugs, I dont need mothers as the cuttings are taken from the plants in the vertical about two weeks into flower.
Hi
boonie and
beginningbotanist420, the res is quite small probably 10 gallon or something like. It is topped up automatically from the mains supply. If you couldnt do that then the res would have to be bigger.
sparat1k, yes I take off unwanted leaves and small weak shoots throughout the grow until about the 4th week of flower.
MCD
1, Not if you have enough Dissolved Oxygen (DO) in the system.
2, The cuttings are used in this grow were 3 weeks old grown in 1 inch rockwool blocks. I place them into the netpot and fill with hydroton. The water level in the tube touches the bottom of the net pot so there is no problem of them drying out.
3, 1 inch rockwool blocks.
4, The system is partially drained once a week and new nutrients added.
5, It is 62 inches external diameter and the same shape as the inside.
6, I always use a carbon filter to remove smells and so should you!. The fan at the bottom is to move the air around the grow. The intake is passive and I exchange the air in the room twice a minute whatever system I am using.
7, The best way to use 2x600w is to have one above the other, this vertical is designed to have another row so I can use 2 x 600w.
8, To maximise yield you have to surround the bulb, and the optimum internal size is 4ft so it would be multiples of those dimensions.
9, yes it would but it would also require a change in extraction and all the problems associated with heat build up. Remember that co2 is only any use when you cannot improve any other aspect of the grow.
10, The old nutrient solution should be drained no matter what system you use and new nutrients should be added. The reason for this is the plants use some of the available nutrients and leave others, over time if you dont replace the nutrients you would have a build up of the salts that the plants arent using. Your Ec meter would tell you that the ppm was correct but the nutrient solution would have high levels of the salts that the plants werent using so in effect you would starve your plants.
11, 4 rows 8 inch spacing.
12, Just an ordinary hole saw, the plants are vertical you could angle them by simply turning the pipe slightly.
13, A bypass allows you to control the amount of water that comes out of the pump. It is simply a tee with a valve, if you open the valve some of the output from the pump goes into the res instead of around the system.
14, growing them to fit the system you have put them in!.
15, 3 weeks as cuttings under fluros and one week in the system, normally i wouldnt veg in the system but on this occasion I did.
bloody hell next time try ask a few questions a week!!! lol.
jeffisdreaming, You could run 2x400w but they are very inefficient compared to the 600w. The smell is easily dealt with by using a good quality carbon filter which is rated higher than the extraction of your room. There is hardly any noise so that wouldnt be too much of a problem. but whether you should do it in an apartment in an urban environment or not would be up to how big your balls are! lol.
whoodi, You can use 600w or 1000 for trees, a good compromise is to have the 1000w as the centre bulb and the 600w on the outside.
Ok here we are at
week 4 of 12/12 and the system is running great.