hiiipower
- 281
- 93
I see this running DTW in coir, the roots start showing at the top covered in that glowing white hyphae. :)
Where do you source your coco chips from?
Doh!
I'm more than halfway through bloom, everything settled in and is going great, but I've simply run out of room on the top to add more mulch layers. The microorganisms just tear through each layer so quickly that I've added new layers every week. It fed the plants great, I even overfed the plants by putting too "hot" of a mulch layer on initially, leaves curled over terribly and twisting like nitrogen burn usually looks like. I'm 4" above the net pot, I had to shove thin pieces of plastic into the 10" net pot to build a "wall" around it to add additional layers. But I'm out of space. I can't add more layers, it'll just be a crazy mess. So unfortunately, I had to hit the plants with synthetics. I'll finish out the rest of bloom with just pure blend pro tea at the necessary Ec. Bummer, but I'll get it next time.
So the 10" net pot itself is simply not enough space for the size of plants I'm growing(1-2lbs). Next round I'm gonna take a 15g air pot, cut a whole in the bottom to slide the 10" net pot through, then cut the sides down to about 6" tall. This should give me room to add plenty of mulch on the top w/o running out of space. It will take the microorganisms longer to eat through all the extra compost and food, and I won't need to add so many layers to the point where I run out of space to do so. I know this will be verging on an octopot system. But where an octopot set up uses more soil than water, I'm trying to use more water than soil. Like I said before this way I can get hydro growth and true organic flavor.
I'm excited. This round I proved to myself that I could feed them sufficiently even at peak bloom via this method, I just have to make a few last adjustments, and I'm confident I can finish the next round using only this top feeding method. If I can figure out an "early veg/start tea" to use at the very beginning(rather than using pure blend pro tea for the first 5-6 wks veg until the roots grow up/into mulch layer to eat), then the whole growth cycle would be living organic.
I know it seems complicated but I'm trying to be so detailed to show exactly how this works. It's not labor intensive at all. Just a lot of thinking and tinkering going on right now, that's all. All I do is mix up a big batch of Cootz mix, then apply it 2" thick every 2 wks. There's no need to water it like I first thought, it stays moist if you raise the water in the dwc up high enough. Then a res change every 2-3wks. It's not nearly as labor intensive as a regular/synthetic hydroponic garden, and not much more than a regular organic soil garden. Plus the system can go unattended for 7-10 days. But the goal is organic meds with hydroponic growth, not just one or the other. A seed vegged in dwc will grow 2x or more as fast as it would in soil(I've watched it in my own room many times, without fault). I like to think it will contribute to final product as well. Since the metabolism of a hydroponic plant is so incredibly high, I think it improves the organics also. Just a theory so far, I'll have to wait till next round is over to find out the conclusion.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?