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Was inspired by mrdizzle dunking his balls in some hempy's. few member made some comments in his thread on how they modded there hempy. Tykaycha made suggestion to make the hempy little bit more like earthbox. Hopefully this will help others make theres.
You can make this easier and not have a wick and just stick perlite or hydroton in the bottom. (or your medium of choice) (hempy style)
Earth box has a res in the bottom with just water. can get the premade earthbox container screen,watering tube and lid for 30 bones from earthbox dot com if your not diy type.
These DIY buckets cost about $20.00 each.
The earth box is claimed to double your yield, and hempy's well look at dizzles thread.
I got some 6 footers in coco and am tired of dealing with runoff in saucers so whipped this together to test out.
Parts:
Rubber Maid totes 14gallon.53 litre is size I used. 7.50 at home de pot
Water Pots: 2.50 ea at home de pot (used for wick)
1.5' PVC Pipe .90 ea (preferrably hdpe piping)
Utility flags 2.99 for 10 (home de pot)
ebb and flow fittings not sure of cost had on hand. (few bucks at dro store)
4 pack of corks, 2.99 (found these at ACE/OSH)
Tools:
Drill
1/4" drill bit
Hole Saw (or proper step bit for driling ebb n flow)
Jig Saw
Round file or scalpel/razor blade (for cleaning up the burrs from drilling holes for roots)
I put 3 gallons of water in the container, Then measured. I needed the drain 2.5" up. Also ended up being 2.5" over for the center.
Marked where to drill for the drain
Installed the ebb and flow fitting for the drain
here is the waterpot, see the notch in the bottom. align that with the bottom of the rubbermaid container. (next pic) I put the waterpot down to 2.5 in height can use scissors for that. Sorry no pic of me cutting down the waterpot.
The water pot will be filled with rocks or perlite and serves as a wick.
nub in bottom of rubbermaid. water pot sits here.
put the waterpot in place and mark it, We are going cutout the bottom of the rubermaid slightly smaller than the waterpot. that way the waterpot helps to support the bottom of the rubbermaid.
here are the rubbermaids stacked
marked for cutting
drilled holes to help make cutting the bigger hole for the (wick) easier
then cut the hole. May be able to use snips if you do not have a jigsaw
cut out the hole. This is where the roots will wickup from the res using the perlite. Can use hydroton or some other medium of your choice.
water pot in place to server as a wick
top holes to hold pvc pipe and flag with cork. flag will lower as water level drops.
I cut the top so it will make the container stronger. (note: did not use in final pics, because my plants are already too larger to fit in the hole)
drill holes in the top rubbermaid to allow the roots to go into the res.
ok here is what is a pain in the ass. when you drill the holes there will be leftover nubs from drilling. Would be better to use a punch or countersink. Otherwise you have to follow up and clean up all the holes you drilled with a file or scalpel. Anyone have a better easier way please share.
could just put perlite.hydroton in the bottom and not use 2 containers. That is one of the differences between a earth box and hempy.
Earthbox has a plastic screen that sits abut 2-3" above the bottom of the container, That keeps the medium seperate from the res.
You could also probably put airstones in the res if you wanted to airate the res. May try that in the future. for now going to see how it works out.
here is the flag with cork. goes in the 1.5" pvc to show the water level in the bottom res.
here is the flag and cork in place without any water in res.
hole that holds the pvc that holds the flag cork
drill some holes in the bottom of the 1.5" pvc pipe. That will let water in but keep perlite or rocks out.
Design Note: I used a smaller diameter pipe at first. 1".
But there was a problem. The flag was too heavy for the small cork. Meaning the flag would sink when put into water. So I swapped to a larger tube and larger cork size. Now the cork supports the weight of the flag and shows the water level in the bottom res.
If I was to add air stones I would route the air stone lines through the pvc.
flag in
fill the wick and layer bottom with perlite
75% big chunky perlite 25% coco.
Transplant. This plant was in a 7 gallon container. Barely fits. Entire bottom of container is saturated in white fuzzy roots. Coco rules.
All set. Will post up my results in a few months. Tip or suggestions are appreciated. I cannot take credit for this, just took what others stated and put it into visuals.
Good growing!
You can make this easier and not have a wick and just stick perlite or hydroton in the bottom. (or your medium of choice) (hempy style)
Earth box has a res in the bottom with just water. can get the premade earthbox container screen,watering tube and lid for 30 bones from earthbox dot com if your not diy type.
These DIY buckets cost about $20.00 each.
The earth box is claimed to double your yield, and hempy's well look at dizzles thread.
I got some 6 footers in coco and am tired of dealing with runoff in saucers so whipped this together to test out.
Parts:
Rubber Maid totes 14gallon.53 litre is size I used. 7.50 at home de pot
Water Pots: 2.50 ea at home de pot (used for wick)
1.5' PVC Pipe .90 ea (preferrably hdpe piping)
Utility flags 2.99 for 10 (home de pot)
ebb and flow fittings not sure of cost had on hand. (few bucks at dro store)
4 pack of corks, 2.99 (found these at ACE/OSH)
Tools:
Drill
1/4" drill bit
Hole Saw (or proper step bit for driling ebb n flow)
Jig Saw
Round file or scalpel/razor blade (for cleaning up the burrs from drilling holes for roots)
I put 3 gallons of water in the container, Then measured. I needed the drain 2.5" up. Also ended up being 2.5" over for the center.
Marked where to drill for the drain

Installed the ebb and flow fitting for the drain

here is the waterpot, see the notch in the bottom. align that with the bottom of the rubbermaid container. (next pic) I put the waterpot down to 2.5 in height can use scissors for that. Sorry no pic of me cutting down the waterpot.
The water pot will be filled with rocks or perlite and serves as a wick.

nub in bottom of rubbermaid. water pot sits here.

put the waterpot in place and mark it, We are going cutout the bottom of the rubermaid slightly smaller than the waterpot. that way the waterpot helps to support the bottom of the rubbermaid.

here are the rubbermaids stacked

marked for cutting

drilled holes to help make cutting the bigger hole for the (wick) easier

then cut the hole. May be able to use snips if you do not have a jigsaw

cut out the hole. This is where the roots will wickup from the res using the perlite. Can use hydroton or some other medium of your choice.

water pot in place to server as a wick

top holes to hold pvc pipe and flag with cork. flag will lower as water level drops.

I cut the top so it will make the container stronger. (note: did not use in final pics, because my plants are already too larger to fit in the hole)
drill holes in the top rubbermaid to allow the roots to go into the res.
ok here is what is a pain in the ass. when you drill the holes there will be leftover nubs from drilling. Would be better to use a punch or countersink. Otherwise you have to follow up and clean up all the holes you drilled with a file or scalpel. Anyone have a better easier way please share.
could just put perlite.hydroton in the bottom and not use 2 containers. That is one of the differences between a earth box and hempy.
Earthbox has a plastic screen that sits abut 2-3" above the bottom of the container, That keeps the medium seperate from the res.
You could also probably put airstones in the res if you wanted to airate the res. May try that in the future. for now going to see how it works out.

here is the flag with cork. goes in the 1.5" pvc to show the water level in the bottom res.

here is the flag and cork in place without any water in res.

hole that holds the pvc that holds the flag cork

drill some holes in the bottom of the 1.5" pvc pipe. That will let water in but keep perlite or rocks out.
Design Note: I used a smaller diameter pipe at first. 1".
But there was a problem. The flag was too heavy for the small cork. Meaning the flag would sink when put into water. So I swapped to a larger tube and larger cork size. Now the cork supports the weight of the flag and shows the water level in the bottom res.
If I was to add air stones I would route the air stone lines through the pvc.

flag in

fill the wick and layer bottom with perlite

75% big chunky perlite 25% coco.

Transplant. This plant was in a 7 gallon container. Barely fits. Entire bottom of container is saturated in white fuzzy roots. Coco rules.


All set. Will post up my results in a few months. Tip or suggestions are appreciated. I cannot take credit for this, just took what others stated and put it into visuals.
Good growing!