Ebb & Flo Coco From Hand-watered Coco???

  • Thread starter dirtyshawa
  • Start date
  • Tagged users None
dirtyshawa

dirtyshawa

397
93
So, I'm about to move and I'm going to have a lot more space and alot higher plant limit. A few questions Farm...

Can I run two 4×8 flood tables in an 8×8 gorilla grow tent? If so, how. I have nothing but hand-watered coco experince.

How many 3 gallon smart parts can I fit on a 4×8 tray or a 4×4 ? Height is a non issue.

For some reason when I look at my tents it seems like I can fit 15 or 16 3 gallon pots in a 4×4 area, but I've never tried it. I veg plants well and from my personal experience 15 plants in my 4×8 tent is very crowded, let alone in a 4×4 space. Anyway, any insight would be really helpful.
 
motherlode

motherlode

@Rolln_J
Supporter
5,524
313
thats really strain dependent BUT

if you were gonna do 16 under a 1 k I would go with smaller pots - prolly #2s at most and smaller plants and less veg time - time is money and nobody I know makes money vegging

with the right strain you can transplant clones and flip within a week

top feed - open drip lines on octabubblers would be a much better setup than ebb/flow for coco
 
Last edited:
dirtyshawa

dirtyshawa

397
93
thats really strain dependent BUT

if you were gonna do 16 under a 1 k I would go with smaller pots - prolly #2s at most and smaller plants and less veg time - time is money and nobody I know makes money vegging

with the right strain you can transplant clones and flip within a week

top feed - open drip lines on octabubblers would be a much better setup than ebb/flow for coco
Thanks for your feedback. I definitely thought of running drippers, but the thing is I want to do a sog setup with a lot of plants. I have a vertical setup, running 1000w on a splittler (2×600) for every 4×8 space. I'm gonna run an 8×8 gorilla grow tent with the extension sog, but plants will be vegged to 24in. Currently, I can get to 24 inches from seed in 30-40 days of veg...nice size clones in 2 weeks. Let me show you my idea
Tmp 25454 20150307 011604902294799
Tmp 25454 20150307 011612 1157974636


If you look at the pics it seems like I can fit 16 pots in each 4×4 section of this 4×8...height is a non issue. Running 64 drip lines (16 pots×4) into a 8×8 tent seems seems like too much work and asking for trouble. I think I could just put 2-4×8 tables in that space and just flood all 64 plants at once. Like I said, I have no experience with ebb & flow setups...especially within grow tents. Can I fit 64 plants in a 8×8 tent or can I fit 16 plants a 4×4 area by the looks of it?

Ftr, I defoliate after week 4 and that creates a ton of space horizontally, so the walls wouldn't be that much of a hinderence after week 4.
 
motherlode

motherlode

@Rolln_J
Supporter
5,524
313
if you want to ebb and flow I would recommend hugo rockwool blocks or hydroton - personally I hate hydroton

ebb/flow in coco is likely to have issues unless maybe you use that chunky stuff

and you really dont need to veg them to 2 feet before you flip - total waste of time with that many plants
 
dirtyshawa

dirtyshawa

397
93
if you want to ebb and flow I would recommend hugo rockwool blocks or hydroton - personally I hate hydroton

ebb/flow in coco is likely to have issues unless maybe you use that chunky stuff

and you really dont need to veg them to 2 feet before you flip - total waste of time with that many plants
This is the goal...to achieve 1.5+ zips per plant. If I get roughly 3 zips per 3 gallon coco smartpot now without height being an issue and roughly 30-35 days veg from seed or 14 -17 days veg from clone, why do I need to switch to rockwool blocks or hydroton? Wouldn't I yield less with rockwool blocks and have smaller plants with hydroton. Also, I like that coco retains water in case I get behind in feeding. I already have the coco and a bunch of smartpots too, I really just need to buy the flood tables, reservoir, and pumps. I hate hydroton as well, rockwool too tbh. I have 3 tents, the 8x8 for flowering, the 4x8 above, and another 4x4, both of which will be used to veg clones and pop seeds, so that, I keep my plant count at 20 per 4x4 area (I just fitted 20 smartpots in half of the 4x8 above).

Those plants are done stretching in the pics above and will yield 1.5+ zips, I'm sure with about 1.5 ft of headroom leftover. The yield could be two zips if they took advantage of the extra 1.5 ft, but if they were in my gorilla grow tent with the extension they could be several feet taller and yield the 3 zips I typically get per 3 gallon...potentially ×20 per 4x4 area. Do you see where my thinking is?

Are you referring to coco bits clogging the drains, when you stated I was likely to have issues with coco in an ebb & flow setup?

It seems so straight forward after watching videos on the ebb & flow concept. I run canna's complete line, roots excelurator, drip clean, super thrive in early veg, cal mag through week 6 flower, and M.O.A.B for two weeks after pk 13/14, then I flush. I'm just basically bottom feeding (which I do by hand sometimes anyway) just on a table. My normal routine is just being automated is what I'm seeing...I add some air stones to the reservoir and I'm set right?...what could go wrong with coco in smartpots in flood and drain setup?
 
Last edited:
manofsteel

manofsteel

14
3
I would like to know also I'm planning a very similar grow I have a 10x17x8 space I want to put three 4x4 tables in the middle under three 1 k lights. I would like to do ebb n flow to
 
johnbailey

johnbailey

44
18
I'm currently running coco in 3 gallon smartpots in 3x6 ebb and flow trays and I'm getting amazing results. I've been using rockwool for 20 years but I gotta admit I really like the coco, and as far as the coco plugging up your drain it dosnt happen when using a fabric pot. I'm getting between 3-5 zips per plant depending on strain. This is with a 30 day veg from clone after clones have rooted. Give it a try. Just be sure to use plenty of cal mag and nitrogen during the first two weeks of flower.
 
S

Seed Buyer

665
63
I have grown ebb & flow with coco for years but you want to keep a couple things in mind. Coco leaches potassium and sodium so in theory they could build up to toxic levels in your rez looking out other minerals. With that said I would recommend dumping your rez every week. In order to avoid salt build up in the pot I would flush from the top by watering drain to waste once a week when you do the rez change. 3 gallons is a lot of coco and if your goal is to achieve 1.5 oz per plant you can achieve this with smaller pots. I would do 1.5 gal pots at a plant per square foot. However, hydro in tents doesn't leave you a lot of room for vertical growth. Why not drop the table lower and do a drain to waste?
 
Top Bottom