It was the most rudimentary bodge job I set up a few years ago to cover longer trips out at work. Not really recirculating (more recycled) and wasn't really used for more than a few days at a time. Basically just an autopot reservoir above the pot level and a drip ring setup. It would drain and collect in another reservoir below pot level.I've never seen a recirculating Coco grow. Only drain to waste with coco. I'm interested, if you have any photos of your setup?
Thanks mate I'm using a recirculation system with coco as medium.just depends on the nutrients used and type of system, how much buffering compounds are in the water used, the environment and the plants metabolism. For example, if its relatively dry, there's a lot of evaporation and the plants drinking more than it is eating (in a recirculating system, but I'm not sure what you are using) the ppm should increase and the ph will drop. I've had times where the PH will vary a bit each day depending in the plants uptake and environment, and times where the same nutrients have stayed relatively steady for a few days.
ppm will decrease as the plants use nutes but I think what Vin is saying is that in dry times, the plants will take up more water to hydrate ( plain H2O ) and filter out/leave behind the nutes in the remaining solution and medium, which will lead to an increase in concentration and ppm.Thanks mate I'm using a recirculation system with coco as medium.
I thought the ppm should decrease if the plants are using the nutes, not increase. Or do I have that wrong?
How does the water/nutes return to the reservoir? I can see a return tube from the saucer, but what moves the water?It's top feed which drains into the lower pots which the pot holding the medium sits in and then it kinda returns to the reservoir.
The only thing I'm not keen on is you tend to get some stagnant nite water sitting in the bottom of the pots so it means regular flushes of the system.
It's just gravity fed back into the reservoir.How does the water/nutes return to the reservoir? I can see a return tube from the saucer, but what moves the water?
Right okay yeah I get ya.ppm will decrease as the plants use nutes but I think what Vin is saying is that in dry times, the plants will take up more water to hydrate ( plain H2O ) and filter out/leave behind the nutes in the remaining solution and medium, which will lead to an increase in concentration and ppm.
Imho. Soil as an indoor medium is inefficient due to slow growth rates. It is a perfect outdoor medium. The debate about flowers tasting better when grown in soil, is very subjective. I steer clear of Coco( by itself )due to wasted nutrients in a dtw style grow, so recirculating makes better economic sense to me. Do you have any issues maintaining constant pH and ec levels with this setup?It's just gravity fed back into the reservoir.
I've got the pots sitting a little higher than the res to help the flow but it's not exactly a perfect set up coz you do have solution sitting in the bottom of the pots. Unfortunately gravity doesn't provide enough inertia vacuum to get all the waste solution all the way back into the res.
Frequent topping up of fresh solutions helps this.
I also programmed to fertigate 2 minutes out of every four hours.
This is likely a little more than the ladies like to drink but in my mind I've convinced myself that circulating the solution perhaps means the solution is being exchanged more often and may help avoid any solution becoming rank, stagnant and all round shithouse n slimey.
The return lines need to stay fairly level in order to achieve the flow back and since all our tents power/duct openings are around 100mm or more higher than the tent floors, it meant taking to my beloved gorilla tent with a Stanley knife to cut the opening which the return lines poke through to reach the rez.
It's good to be back in coco mate I'd forgotten how effective it is as a medium.
The growth is explosive compared to soil in my experience.
Not just that but it's the ability to fast tune the ec levels which after doing top feed dry amendments, this seems like it has an immediate response to the plants.
I run my res at a similar EC range. The large one flushes 4 times daily and after a full day its common for the EC to drop from 1.8 to 0.9-1.0 if they are hungry, especially during stretch is seems.Right okay yeah I get ya.
I frequently fertigate so I hope there aren't too many dry times apart from the little bit of h20 deprivation I do as a little experiment into drought stress but that aside I think careful feeding is the best coz I do find things can quickly get out of control with the building up of the salts. I generally stay around 1.5 - 1.8 EC perhaps up to 2.0 max and just take frequent readings in the rez.
That's what I have going through the feed lines and I find currently the waste solution EC is coming in at about 0.8 EC which if I were absolutely honest I don't truely know if that's about right but I can tell you that my ladies are fit, healthy and possibly religious coz they pray all fucking day lol
I run my res at a similar EC range. The large one flushes 4 times daily and after a full day its common for the EC to drop from 1.8 to 0.9-1.0 if they are hungry, especially during stretch is seems.
PH is trending high lately but pretty sure thats down to the water I'm using and not nute salt buildup. The plants are fine and healthy regardless.
Right okay yeah I get ya.ppm will decrease as the plants use nutes but I think what Vin is saying is that in dry times, the plants will take up more water to hydrate ( plain H2O ) and filter out/leave behind the nutes in the remaining solution and medium, which will lead to an increase in concentration and ppm.
Thanks alot for your input mate it's always reassuring when you hear of someone taking a similar path as yourself.I run my res at a similar EC range. The large one flushes 4 times daily and after a full day its common for the EC to drop from 1.8 to 0.9-1.0 if they are hungry, especially during stretch is seems.
PH is trending high lately but pretty sure thats down to the water I'm using and not nute salt buildup. The plants are fine and healthy regardless.
I reckon you're right mate I'm falling in love with coco all over again.Imho. Soil as an indoor medium is inefficient due to slow growth rates. It is a perfect outdoor medium. The debate about flowers tasting better when grown in soil, is very subjective. I steer clear of Coco( by itself )due to wasted nutrients in a dtw style grow, so recirculating makes better economic sense to me. Do you have any issues maintaining constant pH and ec levels with this setup?