Grow Mediums Your opinion. 21L (5 gal) buckets is not enough?

[Groff]

Hello aqua people!

So it seems I'll be doing RDWC very soon. As you can see by my badge, I'm a DP guy and simply love their autos. Huge and tough little bitches those little beans turn out to be!

So I am torn between 21L (5 gal) buckets and 27L (7gal).

Everyone everywhere seems to do 5 gal, but what I see by the end of flowering are buckets packed full of roots where little space is left. So my reasoning is to use a bigger rez!

So keeping in mind that I'll be doing both auto/super-autos and possibly photo, do you thing the extra sized buckets will matter, or will it be a waste of nutes and water?

I know this has been discussed before, but autos have come a long way since some thread dates... I am leaning heavily towards 27L, but I am a sucker for slight overkill. I also hate wasting and I'm not rich. What you think?

:stylez rasta smoke:

 

[swampman]

Many of us Grow Autos in.1 gal ( 4 l ) or less some.a bit more
5 gal.for Autos is a Bit much and 7 gallon for such a short life span is alot of work
Photos yes maybe but autos dont need as.much

We have some.monster Micro Growers that bang out alot of Buds even.In 44oz

 

[Groff]

Many of us Grow Autos in.1 gal ( 4 l ) or less some.a bit more
5 gal.for Autos is a Bit much and 7 gallon for such a short life span is alot of work
Photos yes maybe but autos dont need as.much

We have some.monster Micro Growers that bang out alot of Buds even.In 44oz

Whaaat? Maybe I got you wrong, but how is it physically possible to have a 4L bucket and produce 1.2kg of bud? And how can 21L be overkill if many out there are growing monster roots that fill the bucket to the max?

 

[Soylent Green]

This discussion is held before and the some people said 5 is more than enough!
But I think 7 is ok too onley need to consider you will need more air and more nutes!

more nutes = more money!
more air = bigger pump = more noise!

Dwc is important that the nutes solution is stable and has the right values, the more the volume the easier!

I believe 7 gallon will work out just fine:karma Cloud: you can always put some bricks on the bottom to reduce the volume!

 

[Doulovebeef]

I know it's been several days since the last reply, but this is my first time around and I'm using 5 gal dwc and I gotta tell ya, the rdwc system I'm planning will have 15 gallon for each pot and another 15 gal for a control Rez. nute volume I've found stabilizes ph swings, stabilizes temp swigs, and I envision less tweaking in the end. I plan on a two pot system with a inline mag drive pump and a waterfall in the control Rez to help aeration.

 

[IndicaIVoz]

Heya Geoff, generally speaking, in relation to all plants there's only one root that matters when it comes to what size she decides to be. Soon as that tap root shows she's feeling bud it's one of its main jobs, it drops straight down she's feeling out her position in the world soon as she hits the Base, that's it she's worked out what she's got to play with....so,the deeper it is the bigger she gets,same with most plant species I belive.
I use 5gal buckets and do alright.if you can fill a 5 gal out in full.. we have a sayin, Pics or it didn't happen

 

[brokencage]

Hello aqua people!

So it seems I'll be doing RDWC very soon. As you can see by my badge, I'm a DP guy and simply love their autos. Huge and tough little bitches those little beans turn out to be!

So I am torn between 21L (5 gal) buckets and 27L (7gal).

Everyone everywhere seems to do 5 gal, but what I see by the end of flowering are buckets packed full of roots where little space is left. So my reasoning is to use a bigger rez!

So keeping in mind that I'll be doing both auto/super-autos and possibly photo, do you thing the extra sized buckets will matter, or will it be a waste of nutes and water?

I know this has been discussed before, but autos have come a long way since some thread dates... I am leaning heavily towards 27L, but I am a sucker for slight overkill. I also hate wasting and I'm not rich. What you think?

:stylez rasta smoke:

since you're doing RDWC then 5 gallon is plenty. Infact you could give yourself a little bit of headroom and use 3.5's as you don't need the Extra for res as you have one dedicated.

 

[Groff]

Heya Geoff, generally speaking, in relation to all plants there's only one root that matters when it comes to what size she decides to be. Soon as that tap root shows she's feeling bud it's one of its main jobs, it drops straight down she's feeling out her position in the world soon as she hits the Base, that's it she's worked out what she's got to play with....so,the deeper it is the bigger she gets,same with most plant species I belive.
I use 5gal buckets and do alright.if you can fill a 5 gal out in full.. we have a sayin, Pics or it didn't happen

Hey not fair! This is a 3 year old thread! I delete my pics for security reasons

But I contest your logic. You can't compare apples and oranges. Your theory is sound, but you can't compare pot size with medium vs medium-less

since you're doing RDWC then 5 gallon is plenty. Infact you could give yourself a little bit of headroom and use 3.5's as you don't need the Extra for res as you have one dedicated.

And hence comes forth the air gap vs full bucket debate. Jury is out on that one.

I will say this though. After a few years of highly successful RDWC, I went back to coco on the first go I yield more in a 16L fabric pot that in a 34L RDWC pot. Go figure... Anyway, genetics surely do play a part here. I am now in the process of isolating a photo-pheno.

 

[IndicaIVoz]

Hey not fair! This is a 3 year old thread! I delete my pics for security reasons

But I contest your logic. You can't compare apples and oranges. Your theory is sound, but you can't compare pot size with medium vs medium-less

Oh my mistake i didnt look at the age of the thread before posting i do apologise..
And absolutely you can compare medium to medium-less substrate,putting a plant in a hydro setup dosnt change the plant from being a plant it still retains all its plantly functions just the way it would in any other medium . I know hydro is pretty cool but its not sci-fi , each to there own though i fully respect your opinion and wish you all the best in your future growing !! after all that's what its about isn't it . All the best and sorry to resurrect an old thread.cheers.