Roots Combining In Multi-pot Dwc Bin

[Greengrower8]

I’ve only used individual buckets to grow using DWC, but as the number of buckets increases, the more of a pain in the ass they have become. I made a 6 basket dwc out of an 18gal storage bin. Baskets are 5” in diameter filled with hydroton. They are a a couple inches apart one way and maybe 4” apart the other way (3x2).
The roots from one basket are reaching over to another basket. There are a few that are doing this. They are not all the same strain.
Is this a problem? Trying to separate them will surely rip roots off. I originally intended on transplanting each basket into an individual bucket, but this won’t really be possible if all the roots grow together.

 

[GeneticGiant]

You're fine as long as the strains don't have a vastly different nutrient demand. Just make sure you have enough air stones running (and I mean like a fucking seltzer tablet being dropped in water) so you don't get root rot.

 

[London bud]

I’ve only used individual buckets to grow using DWC, but as the number of buckets increases, the more of a pain in the ass they have become. I made a 6 basket dwc out of an 18gal storage bin. Baskets are 5” in diameter filled with hydroton. They are a a couple inches apart one way and maybe 4” apart the other way (3x2).
The roots from one basket are reaching over to another basket. There are a few that are doing this. They are not all the same strain.
Is this a problem? Trying to separate them will surely rip roots off. I originally intended on transplanting each basket into an individual bucket, but this won’t really be possible if all the roots grow together.

Like geneticgiant said your safe as long as they don't have different demands. Weed plants are designed to be grown tightly packed in together naturally after all

 

[Greengrower8]

Groovy. I have 2 air lines from an 8 output pump that runs 380gph running into the bin. After an eye opening conversation with someone concerning air stones, I no longer use them. The air lines run straight into the water. It’s bubbling like a friggin witch’s cauldron. I’m all for adding more oxygen to the water. As they progress, more lines could be added.

 

[Greengrower8]

As these plants progress more and as I read more about using these bins, it seems I will have to move each basket to an individual bucket to flower. I have 2, 18gal bins with 6 plants each. They are vegging super fast this way with no pH swings, no headaches, way lower maintenance than individual buckets. But these plants will not have enough room once they go 12/12. I wanted to just move the whole bin into the flowering room, put a scrog net over em and be done. But it seems this will be selling these plants quite short of their potential compared to each being in their own individual buckets.

The problem is the original subject of this post - the roots are combining and growing together. How am I supposed to transplant them to individual buckets when the roots are all connnected? I will have to cut the roots apart to separate them. Is this ok to do? It’s mostly like one big strand of roots is reaching over to the roots of the basket beside it. It’s like this with practically all of them. So they could be fairly easily snipped apart. I just wanna do as little damage as possible.

 

[Greengrower8]

 

[Greengrower8]

Can I just clip these roots apart? Eventually I’ll have to move these to individual buckets. There won’t be room for them to flower. They have been vegging for about 3 weeks in these bins. I’m not sure how much longer I should keep them in there.

 

[Jack og]

Should be ok. I wouldn’t stress over roots getting huge, just means you are doing good. Next run go 6” net pots and reduce to 4 per bucket. Usually I start 6 and finish with say 2 per.
Just Scrog them

 

[Jack og]

Also top feed in veg to avaoid the roots getting out of control. They looking for food and they they keep traveling.
It’s why I top feed in dwc through veg and then stop at flower . Drip line

 

[Greengrower8]

Yea obviously I want the roots to get huge, but it won’t matter if I have to cut half of them off to separate them. I thought drip feeding was something reserved for soil, etc growing. Never thought of using it in dwc.

There are some advantages I’ve seen by using these bins: they take up a bit less room than individual buckets, they use fewer air lines (2 as opposed to 6 in my case), they seem to progress a bit faster this way, at least in veg, but that may be arbitrary. The biggest advantage I’ve seen is a fairly stable pH that I really haven’t had to adjust over 3 weeks. Although, I’ve read that subtle pH fluxing allows for a slew of different nutrients to be absorbed at their optimal levels.

Anyway, whenever they are ready to go to 12/12, I can transfer all of them to individual buckets or I could leave 2 of them per bin and let them flower there. The bins I’m using are about 18 gallons, which would leave about double the space for 2 plants as opposed to having them in their own 5gal buckets. I don’t know if this really matters or not, cuz I’ve vegged some monsters for 7 weeks in 5gal buckets and the roots had plenty of room (although they did take up at least half the bucket, by the end). I dunno if this would make for bigger, better plants or not. What I would expect is the bin reservoirs to maintain a more stable environment that will need less adjusting (and perhaps less top offs). I will probably end up doing a couple bins to try and compare this run. However, if they are a bitch to separate and transplant I will have to rethink using them.

Also, in reading, it seems a common problem with these bins is flushing/draining them. A cheap handheld water transfer pump makes this a cinch. I use it with my buckets once they get too big to move.