Grow Mediums Greetings, CoConuts. I come in peace.And, inquiry...

Great method,K :) I decided on the flood tray because I may want to do a SoG arrangement down the line. Also, anything that reduces reaching and lifting while reaching makes me feel my age, rather than 80 lolol
As always, I have more questions....
What kind of feed cycles should I been honing in for a starting point? I expect, using truu's drip ring prototype, that the ring puts out quite a bit of liquid in a short time? Am I looking at seconds evey few hours, or minutes?
Should I plan on needing to feed lower ppm nutes, compared to soil? I'd like to keep the scorched earth doctrine out of Waxiville, at all costs! lol

My setup will be this, I think:
cooler/rez outside of tent, 1/2" tubing from pump into tent, connecting to 8 port manifold (each 1/4" out from manifold is adjustable for output). 1/4" spaghetti tubes to truu type drip rings. Plants in 1.5-2 gal pots, Roots cocopalm medium. Pots sit in flood tray, with homemade 10" high table, slightly angled to front/right side, with drain at that corner, and a 5 gallon short tray to catch DTW. I'll empty short tray when tending, or as I'm prone to do, sitting and talking with the Girls for protracted periods of philosophically meaningless flirtation :)
I'll be using a CAP ART-DNE cycle timer for the water management.

Sound like a good place to start? Any gotchas that I'm missing?

Y'all rock! Thank you for helping a coconoob hit his stride, Peeps :) "AFN smoke out"
 
Let's see waxi. I can't give you an exact amount of water I pump every time. But I'll give you what I'm using and how long my res last.

I'm doing 4 feedings a day every 6 hours for 1 min with 8 plants. My 17 gal res last me 4 days and on res change, day 5, I flush with remaining nutrients in res that pump can't suck up. So you're looking at roughly 15-16 gal for 4 days with 16 feedings for 8 plants. I'm using 3 holes in my drip rings, not 4.

They drip a good amount. But for 1 gal pots it takes about 1 min for runoff to come out. A lot of times when they drink heavy 1 min isn't long enough but I do it anyways, and then flush them good at the next res change.

Feeding times are all up to you, and you'll need to experiment to find the sweet spot. If you look at my current grow you'll see my drip times at the earlier stages of plants life. I've been on my current one for about a month.
 
Righteous info, truu! I'm going to be running photoperiods, for a start. I should only be watering during "day", right? I think I will do a test run through, once the contraptions are put together, to get my runoff point, and set from that.
Thanks much, Brother!
 
I feed twice during day and twice at night. So from my experience they seem to love it.

You could time your feedings to about 30 min before lights on and off and they'll love that too.
 
Ronin thats a cool dripper bro but i dont get how it works lol do u connect to lines to each half?

Waxi that setup's slick! Cant wait to see it in action bro.
 
CoCo Question(s) of the day....
So, I'm fretting over the right sized pots for this endeavor. I see a lot of coco growers use 1 gal. I'm only growing for 2-3 foot plants, so is what size would be good? I covet y'alls thoughts on the matter :)

And, am I right to think that installing my water distribution manifold in the middle, with equal lengths of 1/4" going to each, will help to balance the outputs? I know I can adjust the flow on the manifold, but does it matter if the 1/4" runs are close to the same length?

Just one more.. for today, please? lolol

The diameter of my drip rings, based on the truu coco manufacturing standard... :)
Do I want to make the diameter close to the mid-circle diameter of whatever pot I'm using? Or, is it better to have the ring closer to the main stem?...closer to the outside of the pot?

You know... someone is going to google "drip feed systems", and find this thread... Might as well ask the questions out loud. There are some great growers here, and I'm grateful for all the advise and support!
some love
 
I don't know shit about drippers. This is awesome to read!

Thanks y'all.
 
Hey waxi...good questions.

Your pot size depends on how you plan on feeding. Do you want to water multiple times a day, or are you planning on watering once a day or every other? I suggest 1 gal pots if you want to do multiple feedings a day. They will help the roots get started faster, and you can start feeding them lots, a lot sooner than bigger pots. 1 gal will give you tremendous growth if used right. As far as I can tell, the size of plant in a 1 gal pot has no limits. My plants are 5' tall with a 1.5 month veg time, and with serious height training. Of course strain comes in to play, but 2-3' in a 1 gal is NO problem.

My manifold sits to the side of my plants. All my lines are different lengths, and the pressure is the same at each pot. If you are having pressure problems, IMO its not the length of the lines, its your pump being to small.

For my drip rings, I shoot to be mid way between the outside of my pots and my plant stalk. So say your pot diameter is 6", your ring would be 3". When you water with a drip ring your watering footprint in coco will be like an upside down cone, that bit of info will help you determine what you need.


P.s. I recommend a short veg time with photoperiods, if you plan on using a system like mine. 2-3' plant is easy with a month veg.
Take care bro :Sharing One:
 
Brother truu, YOU are an AFN Star! This info is like gold to me, my friend :)
I figured I would veg for 3.5-4 weeks, straight to 12/12. Sounds like 1 gal will more than do it, as I'm planning on 3-4 feedings a day. I'm going to have to hit a hydro store this weekend, as 4x4 drain trays-online- are hella-expensive, or conveniently "out of stock"... I might even put a 1x4 lip on my homemade stand and put some 6 or 8 mil plastic over it.. $100 for an oversized drip tray.... oy!
As always, Brother, Eternal thanks! :Sharing One::hug:
 
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