So times are changing for me. I own a business and manually feeding daily is consuming my free time. I really like the idea of going automated. I do understand that there is still work for me to do with an automated system but it will be a lot less. I’m hoping people can give me their insight on this subject. Originally I was thinking of sticking emitters in rock wool cubes. The man at the local shop said that’s a great idea but I won’t be producing as good of tasting flower. So what about coco slabs? Or even fabric bags with coco and drip lines. Please let me hear yalls ideas and see what and how your doing things.
There are people around here that have done automated watering systems, but having that system also manage pH would take some pretty creative thinking.
I had a system I loved in coco with fabric pots.
I used a system alot like hydrolock . Just didn’t order their kit. Same pump but got my own emitters. And then a 12$ 35 gal trash can from Menards. Could go about 7-10 days depending on how many plants and what stage they are in.
If pH on the low end it was fine to go away and return home to a near empty res and plants looking fine.
If had to go bigger res, there is also devices to auto pH while you are away. But they can be 3-400$
Thanks bunches. Could you maybe give me a list of what you got? And the ph auto dose is something I already have. It seems like that automated feed would make for faster growing plants as well!? Seems like they love schedule
It was real primitive since I had a couple days to set up before a vacation. I Don’t have an exact detailed list on hand but it was basically
1/2 inch irrigation line running down the center of tent. With a cap on end
Then used 1/4 in Barb’s to stab in to it and connect 1/4 hosing that would run to a pot with emitter on other end. And then a stake that would pinch the tubing to hold in place.
Then on the inlet side of pump was more 1/2 inch irrigation line running into the trash can.
Pump was connected to an auto pilot timer. I liked that brand over Titan since I could do down to the second. Vs nearest minute on Titan.
With this timer u can set 8 on off cycles in a day. So instead of flooding the whole day worth of feeding at once . I’d space out into 8 smaller cycles.
If I had time and wasn’t rushed , I would have used a manifold like that hydrolock kit or added shut offs to each plant , so if I harvested one I could shut that line off and only water the remaining plants . Or if doing less plants next run, could also shut those lines off.
If have any more questions, I should be able to find the parts from my Amazon cart previous orders
I love the Hydrolock System I’m running. Coco slabs rehydrated with Jack’s in 3 gallons mesh bags. Like mentioned before you do still have to manage pH
Only reason I didn’t do the hydro lock at time was lack of time and pot size. If wanted to do smaller pots than what had at time then those cones would be too big .
Yes you can use your auto dosing system. Most people dont bc of price and it is much quicker to check pH real quick than the normal routine with out auto watering. but you already own so by all means incorporate that in
I don’t personally have an auto pH system. Every couple days I drop some pH down to get to about 5.7… I let it ride till around 5.9 and drop it again
I have the 10-in collars that fit just fine in my 3 gallon rain science mesh bags. They fit very comfortably in 5 gallon but the company also offers 6 inch collars now
I’m doing this: 480 gph pump in a 29 gallon tote, 1/2" line into the flower space, 1/4" lines to each 3 gallon pot. 2 minutes twice a day at 32 oz each for 1/2 gallon per day. Jack’s 3-2-1.
If rez is large enough it will hold PH fairly well. Gotta check it every couple of days but that’s all.
Ive seen pools with this sort of thing there filter is controlled by a programmable controller box it does the ph and it does the chlorine that goes in to the pool you have them do three things adjusting ph up or down and checking ph thats wat these pools do
It seems to me that the easiest no-touch systems are R/DWC, at least mine is.
I have a ~30g RDWC with four plants in a 5x5 with a Diablo Scorpion, and a homemade far-red fixture. There’s a chiller (rez → chiller → rez), and I have a Milwaukee pH controller feeding 10:1 dilute of ph up or down (depending on growth phase). Auto-top-off with filtered water (I have tap water with a chlorine/chloramine filter). Environmental controller keeping VPD between 1.2-1.5 (that’s high, because of CO2, without CO2
In my last grow, I was ~1000-1200 ppm CO2 so you may need to adjust nutes less often than I did, but 2-3x/week I’d have to add more nutes to keep the PPM/EC up.
