Let’s do it Dutch style

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Lynch_Ironside

Lynch_Ironside

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Yeah, I copied you with the hydroton. I’ve got two huge totes full to the brim with this shit now lol the ph swings were insane dude and the hassle of washing it all, forget it. Never again.

I watched a few of that guys videos you had linked in your post. I like that guy, you just know he’s got a strath grow going haha

I read through your post before I built the system and tried to learn from that. I have the strainers in there. I actually filled the buckets with the perlite and nets already in there then washed the perlite like that letting the water drain till clear. I think I spent 3-4 hours washing the hydroton and it was still producing sediment, I washed the perlite in 10 min. These buckets came with the two 90’s that connect at the bottom. Hopefully no flooding, got my fingers crossed.

I think it’s gonna work out just fine. I have to stay on top of feedings and res changes. Between the ten plants and evaporation I’m going through around 5 gallons a day right now.

I’d be happy with a three pound harvest!
 
tobh

tobh

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i tried to be as thorough as possible with documenting things since I couldn't find shit anywhere in regards to cannabis in dutch buckets. glad that journal served as a resource for someone.

you also went with the right buckets so you should avoid a lot of the hassles I ran into later in the run. but like you said, you just have to stay on top of the res. the plants consume a lot, especially during the first six weeks of flowering. I was going through ~3 - 5 gallons a day at that point as well, and you've four times the number of plants so it won't surprise me one bit if you're going to be going through 10+ gallons a day here soon. Keep an eye on your EC and pH, and you'll be golden.

i think that's really the biggest benefit this style has over RDWC and other DWC style grows. The massive surface area introduced by the media encourages stupid root growth and subsequently, you end up seeing water consumption skyrocket, which translates to crazy growth. It falls on the grower to either stay on top of shit with multiple daily checks (I was checking/adjusting 2x a day at minimum mid flower) or automate as much as possible.

EDIT: with the one caveat being a larger RDWC is capable of running trees. last run I grew trees and 3 gallon buckets simply aren't meant to support that. dutch buckets are prime for a turn and burn op, not someone willing to burn time and fill a 4x4 tent with two plants lol

I ended up tearing the system down and will be using it outside at some point, and am working through getting the next round's configuration set up. Was going to go RDWC, but those plans got put on hold as one cannot easily tear down such a system and move plants if the opportunity arises. 10/10 I will run another dutch bucket system at some point though.

hopefully with you running a larger scale setup, it'll get more eyes on this technique and bring more people that are afraid of hydro into the fold. it's so damn easy as long as you're not fighting pH like crazy. sometimes back breaking when all the girls wanna do is sit on their asses and drink all day, but it's a labor of love at the end of the day.
 
Cashmeh

Cashmeh

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Growth looks good for the time. How long did it take you to root them clones again?

So I like the concept due to the aeration method. I have some issues with it but overall it seems it could be one of the most effective methods. If waterfalls turn the water, and perlite and Hydroton are porous, well the roots will would have the same dissolved O2 regardless of debth. Like my goal with Fallponics is get o2 at the bottom of my water column, or bottom of my roots also. Seems this method along the same lines.

What I don't like is that if the power or pump goes out for more than two hours your toast.. Perhaps 5? Same with aero. I also worry about the cost of Hydroton and it taking up space water could be using.

I basically boil my Hydroton in the tub lol.. Never had ph swings. You can rinse it till the waters near clear if you want. It also would kill all bacteria/fungi left on it given the water is chlorinated tap.

Anyways your growth is great for 8 days.. A+
 
Lynch_Ironside

Lynch_Ironside

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i tried to be as thorough as possible with documenting things since I couldn't find shit anywhere in regards to cannabis in dutch buckets. glad that journal served as a resource for someone.

you also went with the right buckets so you should avoid a lot of the hassles I ran into later in the run. but like you said, you just have to stay on top of the res. the plants consume a lot, especially during the first six weeks of flowering. I was going through ~3 - 5 gallons a day at that point as well, and you've four times the number of plants so it won't surprise me one bit if you're going to be going through 10+ gallons a day here soon. Keep an eye on your EC and pH, and you'll be golden.

i think that's really the biggest benefit this style has over RDWC and other DWC style grows. The massive surface area introduced by the media encourages stupid root growth and subsequently, you end up seeing water consumption skyrocket, which translates to crazy growth. It falls on the grower to either stay on top of shit with multiple daily checks (I was checking/adjusting 2x a day at minimum mid flower) or automate as much as possible.

EDIT: with the one caveat being a larger RDWC is capable of running trees. last run I grew trees and 3 gallon buckets simply aren't meant to support that. dutch buckets are prime for a turn and burn op, not someone willing to burn time and fill a 4x4 tent with two plants lol

I ended up tearing the system down and will be using it outside at some point, and am working through getting the next round's configuration set up. Was going to go RDWC, but those plans got put on hold as one cannot easily tear down such a system and move plants if the opportunity arises. 10/10 I will run another dutch bucket system at some point though.

hopefully with you running a larger scale setup, it'll get more eyes on this technique and bring more people that are afraid of hydro into the fold. it's so damn easy as long as you're not fighting pH like crazy. sometimes back breaking when all the girls wanna do is sit on their asses and drink all day, but it's a labor of love at the end of the day.
You would think more people would’ve tried this route. Maybe it’s a height restriction thing, who knows. Your journal was invaluable and I would’ve never even thought to grow using this setup had I not followed along through that grow. I tip my hat to you sir 🎩

like I said before I’ve been neglectful but I’m gonna get on top of it now. I have to see if I’m losing a lot of water dude to evaporation or consumption. I’m thinking if my ec is rising and the plants are looking good it’ll be more evaporation. I added 8 gallons today and have the ppm at 480 ph at 5.8. I’ll see tomorrow how much it drops. I think if I run this setup again I’ll get some lids anyway, don’t like that algae on top of the perlite.

I’m gonna have to limit my res checks to once a day. I went back to work recently and start pretty early so a morning check is out of the question.

I have my water cycles on once an hour for 15 min.
Can’t wait to see your next run👍 If this one turns out I plan on running all clones the next grow of the same strain. I used all my free seeds for this one in case it was a catastrophe.
Hopefully it gets some attention. At the very least anyone looking into the buckets has two journals to use as a resource now.
Sometimes it starts to feel like a part time job but even in those moments I remind myself this is the best part time job anyone could have!
 
tobh

tobh

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There are a handful of copies for charts like this, but this one is great for a quick visual check. There's a spreadsheet around too that goes into a bit more detail, but this is a quick "follow the path, apply the fix" reference I kept handy all last run.

PH and EC fluctuations in Hydroponics 768x576
 
Lynch_Ironside

Lynch_Ironside

391
93
Growth looks good for the time. How long did it take you to root them clones again?

So I like the concept due to the aeration method. I have some issues with it but overall it seems it could be one of the most effective methods. If waterfalls turn the water, and perlite and Hydroton are porous, well the roots will would have the same dissolved O2 regardless of debth. Like my goal with Fallponics is get o2 at the bottom of my water column, or bottom of my roots also. Seems this method along the same lines.

What I don't like is that if the power or pump goes out for more than two hours your toast.. Perhaps 5? Same with aero. I also worry about the cost of Hydroton and it taking up space water could be using.

I basically boil my Hydroton in the tub lol.. Never had ph swings. You can rinse it till the waters near clear if you want. It also would kill all bacteria/fungi left on it given the water is chlorinated tap.

Anyways your growth is great for 8 days.. A+
I think the clones rooted in a week but they sat in there much much longer. I think I was pushing 4 weeks on those clones before I transferred them. One of em closer to 5( this one took place of a mutant seedling that refused to grow more than one leaf). I pulled them from a flowering plant so they had to reveg.
So I had a number of issues when I first set it up. I popped all the seeds got them into rapid rooters and had planed on plugging them into the system but then had to make the switch to perlite so that took a few days, by this point I had air pruning going on with all my seedlings. Once I put them in I still had issues with ph stability. So that took about a week to iron out. I also used the water I had ready for the system that was a week old and about 2 weeks old by the time I finished what I had mixed. I found a bunch of sludge at the bottom so won’t be doing that again. But all that being said after I finally dialed in my water and all that we were at about 2 weeks of the plants being in the system. Now every day I was checking on them I would cycle the pump just to make sure everything was working. It worked great when I would run it manually but what I didn’t know was that the timer was broken. It would only work if you switched the timer off and had the power run full time. That set me at ease about the pump not running or having some power issue. Also, Each bucket holds about a half gallon in the bottom, and the perlite is always moist to the touch.
Oh and fuck hydroton. I rinsed it clear multiple times, soaked it in water ph’d to 3.5 for 4 days and still had sediment and ph swings. Using a few handfuls for net pots?, Sure no issue, using 110 liters noting but issues I promise you.
 
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Lynch_Ironside

Lynch_Ironside

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I can’t believe it…. So there I am checking my res and I see a fucking root that has made its way down the drain pipe. So then I look in the pipe and see that there are a few plants that have managed to navigate through two 90 degree elbows. Kinda concerning, I just flipped not that long ago and have quite a bit of time left til harvest. The drain pipe inside the buckets is about 5/8 if an inch.
ugh… I don’t think there’s an easy fix here. Maybe pull the plants and hack off the bottom third of the roots.
 
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FourPlants

FourPlants

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Ugh, such a bummer. I'm sure you will get some other input but hacking them roots back may be the best option.
 
jadins_journey

jadins_journey

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So this hydroton is a real pain in the ass. @tobh i think I remember you having a problem with your Dutch buckets and ph going up and had concluded that it was due to a bacteria or old buffers. Can’t remember. Anyway I’ve been having the same problems. I decided to let the system cycle for a few days in case there were any kinks to work out. As I let the system cycle I continually monitored ph and ppm. Now I know hydroton is inert and shouldn’t affect ph but I don’t give a wet shit what anyone says on this subject it most definitely does. I added close to 80ml of ph down over the course of a few days. At one point I even dropped it to 4.9, the next day it was 6.5. So I did some research and another farmer recommended in an old thread to soak the hydroton in ph 5 water for 3 days. So I went through the absolute hassle of removing all the hydroton, putting it in spare totes and soaking it, even running the ph to 3.5 in 36 hours it was above 6 again. Now add in the absolute fucking nightmare of washing this shit and the expense…. in my book it’s not worth the hassle. Now I’ve got 120L of hydroton that I’m not gonna use so that’s fun.

and yes I washed it thoroughly… I spent hours spraying this shit. And I still had silt running into the res, so I rinsed it again, still had silt, so I ran around 20 gallons through each bucket and let it drain. Then refilled the res with fresh water and let it run. I think I’m total including today I drained that res at least 5 times. By the time I was done the water was crystal clear I assure you. Washing hydroton in that volume is a fools errand.

Now as I’ve learned in the past to have a back up plan and I ordered some perlite a few days ago while the hydroton soaked. So after another increase in ph I decided to go with perlite instead. It took me about 20 minutes from opening the perlite to washing to setting the buckets back in. So not only was it about a 3rd of the price it takes about a 10th of the time to prepare for use.
running close to 500 L of hydroton currently. It's got it's pro's and con's, just got to figure a way around them
 
chemistry

chemistry

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Can't you just lift up your pot, then pull out and chop off the offending roots? You won't get many in that one spot, so you should be able to keep on top of it.
 
tobh

tobh

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oh no dude! fuck... that's the first sign that you're gonna start having flood events soon. when i first saw roots in the return line, i didn't think anything of it. about a week later, one site overflowed. There's no easy fix for this. What I started doing is exactly what you're thinking, pull the plants and trim the roots. that's no easy feat though and getting the plants back into the buckets after the fact is damn near impossible. i only did it once, in fact.

what i ended up doing was getting some fine tip scissors and trimming the roots in the individual bucket drains. the goal is to keep those drains clear enough to pass water. it's a fuckall situation though. probably a big reason others don't grow cannabis with this method, at least not with any kind of extended veg period. gotta be hyper vigilant now my man, you don't want to wake up and see 2"+ of water on the bottom of your tent because one or more of the buckets overflowed.
 
Cashmeh

Cashmeh

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Id pull the header pipe out, cut all the roots going to it, shove some more perlite up in that hole to discourage roots coming out, and put it all back how ya had it? I imagine its only 1% of your root structure, it will be ok as long as it doesnt get out of hand.
 
Cashmeh

Cashmeh

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You could also put a partition in each of your buckets. So like 1/2 inch away from the hole the wall goes all the way up, and perhaps drill a few holes in it. Anything honestly inside of the bucket blocking the hole would work as long as it was a bit away from the hole. Like id just slide a piece of plastic down in there about an inch away from the hole. Make sure it goes all the way down to the bottom. The gaps on the side wont matter, and it can have holes in it. Im assuming its the roots that lay on the bottom just chasing the river to its end. I dont think they will climb a dang wall in order to go out the hole. Its something I was going to do with my system if I start plugging, which seems like I might even using 3 inch lol. . .massive roots, and im sure you will get the same. Shit should start pushing your media out the top right instead of going into your return lines?
 
Mytwhyt

Mytwhyt

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Drill a dozen holes in the end of the fitting with the notch, Cut a piece of a paint bag filter, zip tie it around the holes.. Simple fix, but then leave it to a lazy man to take the easy way out... The way they're growing you could flower them now and be out in 2 months.. You shouldn't be too harsh on hydroton.. It just didn't show it's best side in this type of system.. I'd be lost without it.. I'll stay for the end to see how the perlite does..
 
Lynch_Ironside

Lynch_Ironside

391
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What’s up everybody, sorry for being mia, between work and getting a wicked chest flu I’ve had to dig deep to find enough motivation to check reservoirs…. Not much gas left in the tank for posting.
so with that said I haven’t done anything yet to solve this problem. @tobh ’s solution is the only one that seems viable. I have paint bags in every bucket, if the roots grew through one they’ll surely grow through two.
@Cashmeh yeah I see how in theory this may look good but keep in mind these roots already made their way up a 2” drain pipe.
I’m gonna pull the problem plants tonight when the lights come on. I plan on hacking off some roots and dropping them back in. Since they are sitting in these paint strainers I should be able to just pull the whole “bag” out of the bucket. Idk, we’ll see tonight. From what I could see there was only a few plants whose roots decided to go on a walkabout. Fingers crossed.
 
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tobh

tobh

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What’s up everybody, sorry for being mia, between work and getting a wicked chest flu I’ve had to dig deep to find enough motivation to check reservoirs…. Not much gas left in the tank for posting.
so with that said I haven’t done anything yet to solve this problem. @tobh ’s solution is the only one that seems viable. I have paint bags in every bucket, if the roots grew through one they’ll surely grow through two.
@Cashmeh yeah I see how in theory this may look good but keep in mind these roots already made their way up a 2” drain pipe.
I’m gonna pull the problem plants tonight when the lights come on. I plan on hacking off some roots and dropping them back in. Since they are sitting in these paint strainers I should be able to just pull the whole “bag” out of the bucket. Idk, we’ll see tonight. From what I could see there was only a few plants whose roots decided to go on a walkabout. Fingers crossed.
have fun with that bud. if you can just pull the problem buckets off the return line, and dig out as much root as you can from the drain pipe. ime pulling the whole rootball out with the paint bag led to an entire other issue of getting it back into the bucket. It's kinda stupid how heavy wet media is. Granted, I was also locked in due to the scrog net and i had trees, so your situation looks mildly more optimistic. I would still suggest try with one, if it turns into a clusterfuck, just attack the drain pipes and set reminders on your calendar for weekly maintenance.
 
Lynch_Ironside

Lynch_Ironside

391
93
have fun with that bud. if you can just pull the problem buckets off the return line, and dig out as much root as you can from the drain pipe. ime pulling the whole rootball out with the paint bag led to an entire other issue of getting it back into the bucket. It's kinda stupid how heavy wet media is. Granted, I was also locked in due to the scrog net and i had trees, so your situation looks mildly more optimistic. I would still suggest try with one, if it turns into a clusterfuck, just attack the drain pipes and set reminders on your calendar for weekly maintenance.
It wasn’t too bad, I did have to pull the net off which kinda sucked but pulling the plants was relatively easy. I cleared the drain pipes and pulled off any roots near the drain. It’s not a permanent fix but with any luck I won’t have to do it again.
the last one I pulled was by far the worst one, I’m shocked that one didn’t over flow on me.
 
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