This Be How Dirbag Do...

  • Thread starter Dirtbag
  • Start date
  • Tagged users None
PipeCarver

PipeCarver

Supporter
5,643
313
Man... $120 in Canada. I think I'll keep using my ball valve technique for now. lol. I'll grab one of those next cycle maybe.
under $20 Amazon .ca
1587326149873
 
PipeCarver

PipeCarver

Supporter
5,643
313
Not sure what the difference is, but that one is different. The one cemchris posted is this one;
I'm not sure what the difference is either but I'm cheap if you haven't already guessed that and I'll take 6 cheap rather than 1 expensive $120 + taxes yikes. I needed it to controll the exhaust fan in my seedling box 30 sec. on 20 min off on a loop.
 
cemchris

cemchris

Supporter
3,346
263
Not sure what the difference is, but that one is different. The one cemchris posted is this one;

I have those also. Don't like them. They dont do more then 3 on off cycles if i member right. but if you only ever need 3 then they work. Also had one of those fail after 4 months of use. Just make sure you get more than one like all timers.
 
Dirtbag

Dirtbag

Supporter
9,158
313
Man, this crop is lookin healthy. Funny since I've started doing the 70/30 base/bloom feeding the runoff EC has been dropping significantly between feeds. Its sure suckin up the nutes... Going in at 1.4 coming out 1.2-1.1 for today's first feed. Stems greened up big time too In the past 2 days since i started the blend. I think they like the added PK. Hate to say it as i poo poo'd it for so long now... But I think my buddy was bang on. Although, it's not like I'm using a bloom nute exclusively, it's really only making up 30% of the feed and will be tapered off end of week 3. I will taper back the grow nutes and reintroduce the soil bloom for week 8 on it's own at 350 ppm or so till the last week. Gonna just take all his recommendations and see what happens. I've always liked my buddies pot and consider him a far more advanced grower than I am... Thinkin I should take his lead. He was the guy who talked me into coco fabrics to start with... If My pot comes out as good as his I'll be a very happy guy.
20200419 182834
20200419 183248
20200419 183316
 
dire wolf

dire wolf

4,921
263
Hey dirtbag , wow i read you and chemchris were talking about breeder steve , brings back memories , i grew out a lot of his sweet tooth and pink grapefruit , havent heard his name in years ....
Is he still breeding ?
 
Dirtbag

Dirtbag

Supporter
9,158
313
Hey dirtbag , wow i read you and chemchris were talking about breeder steve , brings back memories , i grew out a lot of his sweet tooth and pink grapefruit , havent heard his name in years ....
Is he still breeding ?
I think so, but hes down in South America now. Or at least I think he still is.
His gear was super popular back in the day. Like I was saying the shiskaberry was probably some of the best pot I've ever had.
 
cemchris

cemchris

Supporter
3,346
263
Hey dirtbag , wow i read you and chemchris were talking about breeder steve , brings back memories , i grew out a lot of his sweet tooth and pink grapefruit , havent heard his name in years ....
Is he still breeding ?

He was out of the weed game for a while along with cannabis cowboy and some others doing the wine thing. I know he got back into it. Not sure if that includes the seed game.

Yeah I always loved SOL gear. Ran a lot of the OG Kush x Blue Satellites for a couple of years.
 
cemchris

cemchris

Supporter
3,346
263
Man, this crop is lookin healthy. Funny since I've started doing the 70/30 base/bloom feeding the runoff EC has been dropping significantly between feeds. Its sure suckin up the nutes... Going in at 1.4 coming out 1.2-1.1 for today's first feed. Stems greened up big time too In the past 2 days since i started the blend. I think they like the added PK. Hate to say it as i poo poo'd it for so long now... But I think my buddy was bang on. Although, it's not like I'm using a bloom nute exclusively, it's really only making up 30% of the feed and will be tapered off end of week 3. I will taper back the grow nutes and reintroduce the soil bloom for week 8 on it's own at 350 ppm or so till the last week. Gonna just take all his recommendations and see what happens. I've always liked my buddies pot and consider him a far more advanced grower than I am... Thinkin I should take his lead. He was the guy who talked me into coco fabrics to start with... If My pot comes out as good as his I'll be a very happy guy.View attachment 963888View attachment 963889View attachment 963887

Can't deny the results thats for sure!
 
needshelpguy

needshelpguy

691
93
Honestly I'm running it the same as I did rockwool pretty much. I keep a res of nutrient solution, right now set to 1.4ec 5.8ph, made up of 0.2 lakewater plus 0.1 calcium silicate, brought up to 1.1 ec with pbp grow and then 0.3 ec pbp soil/coco bloom added on top of that.

Irrigation comes on 3 times per light cycle, first time for 2 mins, second and third for 1 min. My light are on 3pm-9am, so right now they get fed at 4pm, 10pm, and 4 am.
I'll need to adjust obviously when I switch to 12/12 tomorrow. Any tips on how to transition the multiple feeds @cemchris? I'm thinking dial it back to two feeds, one two hrs after lights on, and one 4 hrs before lights out. But I'm not sure that theyll slow down the drinking that much...
Hey dirtbag been loving your grow, looking at setting up an automated multiple daily feeding system myself, do you feed to run off at every feeding? Also any tips appreciated, do I need to worry about overwatering if I down size my pot size from 27L to 7L
 
Dirtbag

Dirtbag

Supporter
9,158
313
Hey dirtbag been loving your grow, looking at setting up an automated multiple daily feeding system myself, do you feed to run off at every feeding? Also any tips appreciated, do I need to worry about overwatering if I down size my pot size from 27L to 7L

Thanks man. I try to water with a bit of runoff each irrigation. It takes a bit of tweaking the flow valve and timer but I'm managing pretty well at the moment.
Tips? That's a tough one, it's pretty basic plumbing from a pump, I use an eco pump 1000 I believe and it handles 16 plants ok. I'd personally stick to 1/4 lines and naked ends to avoid plugged drippers. And on @cemchris' recommendation I use the rainbird 1/2" 6 port manifolds. Be sure to install a reverse check valve or siphon break if your plants arent elevated above the height of the res, so you dont drain the whole res through your plants by accident.

As for overwatering, it's still a concern when plants are young in any substrate based system until the roots are established. Then its game on in coco. In small fabric pots you get a unique root structure, and the small volume of water being held allows you to use really small pots to grow really big plants by just feeding them numerous times during the light cycle with the coco being sucked half dry between irrigations.
 
Last edited:
needshelpguy

needshelpguy

691
93
Thanks man. I try to water with a bit of runoff each irrigation. It takes a bit of tweaking the flow valve and timer but I'm managing pretty well at the moment.
Tips? That's a tough one, it's pretty basic plumbing from a pump, I use an eco pump 1000 I believe and it handles 16 plants ok. I'd personally stick to 1/4 lines and naked ends to avoid plugged drippers. And on @cemchris' recommendation I use the rainbird 1/2" 6 port manifolds. Be sure to install a reverse check valve or siphon break if your plants arent elevated above the height of the res, so you dont drain the whole res through your plants by accident.

As for overwatering, it's still a concern when plants are young in any substrate based system until the roots are established. Then its game on in coco. In small fabric pots you get a unique root structure, and the small volume of water being held allows you to use really small pots to grow really big plants by just feeding them numerous times during the light cycle with the coco being sucked half dry between irrigations.
Thanks for your reply, what do you do with all the run off? I see you got them sitting on that corrugation does it all just run to one point?
 
Dirtbag

Dirtbag

Supporter
9,158
313
Thanks for your reply, what do you do with all the run off? I see you got them sitting on that corrugation does it all just run to one point?

I use 2x 29 liter totes to catch runoff and dump them out every other day or every few days. But there is usually only 1.5 - 2 gal or so in each one. The two benches on the left drain Into one tote and the two on the right drain Into another, helped by a small section of rain gutter at the end of the benches.
One of these days I plan to connect the runoff totes and put an AC condensate pump in there to pump the waste directly outside. But for now, it works.
 
needshelpguy

needshelpguy

691
93
I use 2x 29 liter totes to catch runoff and dump them out every other day or every few days. But there is usually only 1.5 - 2 gal or so in each one. The two benches on the left drain Into one tote and the two on the right drain Into another, helped by a small section of rain gutter at the end of the benches.
One of these days I plan to connect the runoff totes and put an AC condensate pump in there to pump the waste directly outside. But for now, it works.
Thanks man I've got some thinking to do hahah
 
IndicanDude

IndicanDude

11
13

I got that one last season. I grow in coco on a back patio. It made me realize the extreme value of low dose, frequent feeding throughout the day. Really jacked up the plants vitality. My theory is it not only gives the plants nutes all the time, it really helps aerate the medium. Definitely worth the cost if considering frequent, automated fertigating.
 
Dirtbag

Dirtbag

Supporter
9,158
313
I got that one last season. I grow in coco on a back patio. It made me realize the extreme value of low dose, frequent feeding throughout the day. Really jacked up the plants vitality. My theory is it not only gives the plants nutes all the time, it really helps aerate the medium. Definitely worth the cost if considering frequent, automated fertigating.
Couldnt agree more. The plants grow so fast they seem alive when you're in there, it's a bizzare thing to see. And I think they're blowing through more water than usual too, through an increased transpiration rate. That tells me they are strapping young lasses just crusing through the groceries lol.
What I'm using is a old titan controls timer I've had for years, cant remember if its atlas or zeus or whatever.. but its digital and let's me do up to 8 x 1 min interval on/off cycles. I just have to control how much they actually get using a ball valve on the supply line to the manifold.

Only downside is if I want more than the 1 min, it has to be double or triple the volume lol. I'd like a bit more precice control.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom