Minimalist hydroponics

Anyone ever experiment with trying to use the least amount of water and fertilizers to obtain the best results possible?

Pictures and information on the grow would be appreciated.

I guess I kind of do this. I use a single dry nute formula and as little of it as possible. I read the res ppm's and adjust according to how much they are feeding. I prefer my half empty res PPM's to be about 200 less than originally put in. Slightly underfeeding is better than overfeeding any day of the week in my opinion.

For the least amount of water Hempy Buckets would seem to be a choice ,as for fertilizer amount that question is directly related to what strain your growing , some strains kick ass using 400 ppm or less while others prefer 1,000 ppm or higher , ive got a blue widdow strain that wont yeild shit with anything less than 1,000 ppm durring the 1st 4 weeks of bud & i raise 100 ppm a week from week 5 thru 8 where the last week their getting 1,400 ppm & eating 200 to 300 ppm per day , im sure you could get by with 100 ppm the entire grow if you used zero ppm water to start with but would it be enough for the plants to achieve max yeild is anybodys guess.

Nobody is gonna be able to give you any usefull info other than their best guess based on their grow , the problem with giving you a straight answer lies within there being too many variables which affect growth rates & yeilds , strain , water hardness , grow medium , room condition ect all have their own affect on how much your plants can consume .

There's no way for me to rephrase this question, so I am at your mercies.....

I am looking for experimentations using the least amount of water and nutes possible. I am not looking for advice, but folks who have done this.
It'd be kind of neat to see some one who grew a plant by merely misting the roots with a spray bottle now and then, for example.... I don't even know if this would be possible...

Using the most stringently conservatively stingy watering and feeding regimen possible but still ending up with good results.

For instance if someone grew the strain Buckeye buds, In a plain glass of water and ended up with good results, to kindly pass on that information...(realistically this won't happen, but , hopefully you see what I am asking for...)

I also know that experimentations will be limited due to current laws prohibiting growing.....

Ah I understand now. Only thing I could think of is to check out the micro/stealth/cab forums here. Some of those people grow decent shit in practically nothing.

BenFranklin said:

There's no way for me to rephrase this question, so I am at your mercies.....

I am looking for experimentations using the least amount of water and nutes possible. I am not looking for advice, but folks who have done this.
It'd be kind of neat to see some one who grew a plant by merely misting the roots with a spray bottle now and then, for example.... I don't even know if this would be possible...

Using the most stringently conservatively stingy watering and feeding regimen possible but still ending up with good results.

For instance if someone grew the strain Buckeye buds, In a plain glass of water and ended up with good results, to kindly pass on that information...(realistically this won't happen, but , hopefully you see what I am asking for...)

I also know that experimentations will be limited due to current laws prohibiting growing.....

Click to expand...

I have to agree with Bucees here as well. BEing a former 'microe' grower, I can say that growing small plants is the best way to be stingy on the quantity of nutrients and water you can use for a successful harvest. A plant will always vary in strengths needed for optimal feed depending on the strain like PanHead said, but don't expect much if you are trying to get away with minimal feed with decent size plants.

To put it in perspective, if you are trying to grow on a budget with little to no resources for nutrients, I have found that miracle Grow 'Bloom Boosters' and "Tomato Feed' are cheap basic sources of NPK and other micros necessary to grow cannabis. If budget is not a concern, then I would suggest meeting your plants needs in feeding regime, and keeping up with the appropriate amount of PPM for your plants stage of growth.

The plant needs as much water as it needs, to use less water would cause under watering, to use less mutes would result in under feeding.

I used dwc buckets. I filled them with the water and mutes they needed. They drank the buckets dry then I refilled.

I'm a bit lost as to the purpose of the thread tbh. Plants need what they need. If you use too much, they will tell you, if you use too little, they will tell you. Half the battle of growing is learning what your plants need.

I use 4 gallons of water to feed 16 plants

Aeroponic setup, 5gal bucket as res feeding 1/2 inch pvc lines into 6" PVC pipe chambers that my netpots sit in, drain gravity feeds back into res.

Least amount of water would be the Hempy buckets.....because they go dry then you refill as opposed to dumping or changing out anything.....at first you have to water them everyday until the roots reach the rez, until then there is a little runoff daily but its pretty minimal.

@Dirty Jerz - That's EXACTLY what I mean! Do you feel you could go with even less water than that? Say 3? Then maybe get them down to 2.....

@twostroke I use 5 gal dwc myself, when I start seeds I fill the water up until I see water has filled the net pot half way. I feed my airline through a drilled hole in the bottom of the net pot(6 Inch net pot)when I fill with rocks the rocks are able to stop the air stone from sinking to the bottom of the bucket. I then sow the seeds directly. The rocks stay wet enough to sprout the seeds, the airstone bubbles the water vigorously enough , that any evaporation is countered by the air stone spraying water at the surface.

oh Iget it now the dwc's drink them dry like the hempys do like tip top said? Sorry man I'm really new to hydro.

BenFranklin said:

@Dirty Jerz - That's EXACTLY what I mean! Do you feel you could go with even less water than that? Say 3? Then maybe get them down to 2.....

@twostroke I use 5 gal dwc myself, when I start seeds I fill the water up until I see water has filled the net pot half way. I feed my airline through a drilled hole in the bottom of the net pot(6 Inch net pot)when I fill with rocks the rocks are able to stop the air stone from sinking to the bottom of the bucket. I then sow the seeds directly. The rocks stay wet enough to sprout the seeds, the airstone bubbles the water vigorously enough , that any evaporation is countered by the air stone spraying water at the surface.

Click to expand...

The least I can go with is three gallons, this is enough to spray and keep enough water coming into the res that the pump dont bottom out in my resume, I run 4 because it keeps my res temp between 65-68, 3 brings it to about 68-71, similar to how a radiator works on a car, more water circulation = cooler temps.

I also change my res out every 7 days to prevent nutrients locking out, so this 4 gallons feeds my 16 plants for 7 days.

@twostrokenut, yeh man, when I DWC in 5 gals, I let the plants tell me when they want water by watching their leaves wilt a little. Usually they will start to wilt when the water is 2 inches within the bottom of the bucket. Which gave me the whole "minimalist idea" to begin with.

Oh snap a dwc is simply a Hempy with a bubbler....learned something

For a longtime I ran those little 3 gal. General Hydro buckets, I lost everything in a flood.. So I rebuilt, with the thought, "hey, I don't need all that Fanciness, just 5gal buckets and airstones with 4inch net pots and hydroton."

Lol! Then I bought an ez cloner.... And am converting to aero slowly...... I was horrible at cloning until ez-cloner, now I get it...... And at the same time learned about aeroponics and extreme ease of use.

i grew in aquaponics. the only ferts i added were fish food and you never have to change the res so you only add back exactly what the plant uses and a little lost to evaporation and that was it. very cost effective.

A few years ago I asked a knowledgeable guy about fishtank growing... I didn't even question it when he said it was un feasible.