Hello all! This is my first journal on AFN and I am really looking forward to this run. As always, comments, advice, and considerations are always appreciated as we are all constantly learning.
Okay, here we go. I've been growing for about a year and a half now and have only grown in soil. I got tired of all the nute mixing, pH'ing, and watering, and always seemed to never have enough time in the day. I have moved over to the organic soil side of things and have had some help from @pop22 in making some soil. This will be the first run with this mix. To mitigate hand-watering, I looked into many growing styles. I was very intrigued by the Octopots, but couldn't justify spending the money on them (I'm a broke med student). So I set out to make my own. Here's the jist:
I bought these tubs specifically due to their size, strong lids and build. I used a soldering iron to melt holes in the lids big enough for a net pot to fit into. These will serve as individual plant water reservoirs. The tubs are interconnected and all watered from a separate small bucket that has a float valve. This keeps the water level constant in every tub. The small watering bucket is fed via a 5 gal bucket outside the tent. I have a 6 pot setup in a 4x4 tent, but with the sizes of the tubs, I could pack up to 16 of these tubs in there if I ever wanted to give sea of green a go.
This is an older pic and not completely assembled, and I have since swapped in all fabric pots. I cut a hole in the bottom of all pots so that the net cup hangs through and into the tub. I did an experimental autos run with this setup and was surprised at the amount of roots that grew into the tubs. This really works out as a soil/hydro hybrid.
This is an experimental run to see how this soil mix works. I'm trying to be as much "water only" as I can and only supplement with teas and top dressing. My soil mix is as follows:
Soil: Base Mix, Equal Parts
OF that I had to fill the last 2 pots. We'll see how that goes.
Previously I have focused on growing mostly freebies or cheap seeds that I had gotten, so I could play around with my style and setup without feeling like I'm not doing justice. This run I'm digging into the good stuff! Last run I mixed up a couple of seeds and didn't know which was which, but not this time! I made everyone their own name tags so I know who's who. I'll try not to burn down the tent with this fire!
And here's all the babies in their final homes. Seeds were placed directly into pots, in coco pellets on 5/1.
I already know that I want to reorganize this setup. I want to move the water inlets and tubing to the back of the tubs and against the wall to keep the tubing out of my way. I also want to have it so each tub has its own shut-off valve, since I need to let the plants get established a bit before turning on the water.
For lights, I have 2x QB96's on the right side of the tent, each powered by an HLG-185. On the left side of the tent I have an HLG 350R.
Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! Feel free to follow along, I'm sure it will be at least entertaining if not interesting. Questions, comments, and concerns are always welcome. Much love!
Okay, here we go. I've been growing for about a year and a half now and have only grown in soil. I got tired of all the nute mixing, pH'ing, and watering, and always seemed to never have enough time in the day. I have moved over to the organic soil side of things and have had some help from @pop22 in making some soil. This will be the first run with this mix. To mitigate hand-watering, I looked into many growing styles. I was very intrigued by the Octopots, but couldn't justify spending the money on them (I'm a broke med student). So I set out to make my own. Here's the jist:
I bought these tubs specifically due to their size, strong lids and build. I used a soldering iron to melt holes in the lids big enough for a net pot to fit into. These will serve as individual plant water reservoirs. The tubs are interconnected and all watered from a separate small bucket that has a float valve. This keeps the water level constant in every tub. The small watering bucket is fed via a 5 gal bucket outside the tent. I have a 6 pot setup in a 4x4 tent, but with the sizes of the tubs, I could pack up to 16 of these tubs in there if I ever wanted to give sea of green a go.
This is an older pic and not completely assembled, and I have since swapped in all fabric pots. I cut a hole in the bottom of all pots so that the net cup hangs through and into the tub. I did an experimental autos run with this setup and was surprised at the amount of roots that grew into the tubs. This really works out as a soil/hydro hybrid.
This is an experimental run to see how this soil mix works. I'm trying to be as much "water only" as I can and only supplement with teas and top dressing. My soil mix is as follows:
Soil: Base Mix, Equal Parts
- 1/3 Coco coir
- 1/3 Organic potting soil
- 1/3 Organic composted cow manure
- 60% Earthworm castings
- 20% boxed soil nutrients (I used Dr. Earth's Home-Grown and Flower Girl)
- 10% lime
- 10% Epsom salt
OF that I had to fill the last 2 pots. We'll see how that goes.Previously I have focused on growing mostly freebies or cheap seeds that I had gotten, so I could play around with my style and setup without feeling like I'm not doing justice. This run I'm digging into the good stuff! Last run I mixed up a couple of seeds and didn't know which was which, but not this time! I made everyone their own name tags so I know who's who. I'll try not to burn down the tent with this fire!
And here's all the babies in their final homes. Seeds were placed directly into pots, in coco pellets on 5/1.
I already know that I want to reorganize this setup. I want to move the water inlets and tubing to the back of the tubs and against the wall to keep the tubing out of my way. I also want to have it so each tub has its own shut-off valve, since I need to let the plants get established a bit before turning on the water.
For lights, I have 2x QB96's on the right side of the tent, each powered by an HLG-185. On the left side of the tent I have an HLG 350R.
Thanks for stopping by and taking a look! Feel free to follow along, I'm sure it will be at least entertaining if not interesting. Questions, comments, and concerns are always welcome. Much love!
. I had hopes that she was just taking her time but she's since gotten brown. I'll pop another this weekend to replace her 
