A 5 Litre Bottle Flood and Drain

[WeeGogs]

will a 5 litre bottle flood and drain system be ok, i will be flowering from start to finish as fast as possible, does anybody know if the bottles will get far too root bound.
something like in the picture.

 

[Niko Bellick]

Hmm, Are the plants still going to be in some sort of net pot set inside the 5 litre? how big are they in veg?

 

[Encomium]

I grew my plants from seed in 5x5 inch rockwool cubes (roughly 1.4 litres I think?) and they are now in late flowering with zero issues. Someone told me that due to the nature of hydro the size of the root container isn't bound by size as much as soil based plants. My plants are roughly 3.25 feet high (much larger size than a soil plant would be in the same size container).

 

[Clown Baby]

Are you going to do that out doors?
Baller, dude.

I don't know when you plan on starting them off, but you could probably support up to some 5 footers if you figure out a way to support them.
Either with a lotta hydroton in the buckets or with some kind of stakes or trellising

 

[WeeGogs]

I grew my plants from seed in 5x5 inch rockwool cubes (roughly 1.4 litres I think?) and they are now in late flowering with zero issues. Someone told me that due to the nature of hydro the size of the root container isn't bound by size as much as soil based plants. My plants are roughly 3.25 feet high (much larger size than a soil plant would be in the same size container).

do you think i would get away with 2 litre bottles, my supply tank could be a lot smaller,or i could have more bottles, if that would work i would be laughing, and what did you have your plants supported in, could i use small baskets and clay pebbles for the clones sitting in the two litre bottles, and i am building a wooden frame to support all the weight, and it will be inside not outside.
also i have a choice white plumbing or black, the black is only a little bit more expensive, but i think better light blockage for algae maybe.

 

[drgreentm]

i would stick with the 5 liter bottles, should work beautifully, i use 1 gal pots in my trays and even with a little veg time they have never been root bound, shit 5L is about 1.25 gal's so it should work cherry.

 

[Encomium]

do you think i would get away with 2 litre bottles, my supply tank could be a lot smaller,or i could have more bottles, if that would work i would be laughing, and what did you have your plants supported in, could i use small baskets and clay pebbles for the clones sitting in the two litre bottles, and i am building a wooden frame to support all the weight, and it will be inside not outside.
also i have a choice white plumbing or black, the black is only a little bit more expensive, but i think better light blockage for algae maybe.

Well the 2 litre bottles is more volume than the pots I grew mine in.

Basically I trimmed down a 6 x 6 inch rock wool slab to fit into the pots that were provided by the E & F system I had purchased (5 x 5 inc). The total volume of these 5x5's is roughly 1/2 of a 2 litre bottle if I were to judge just by looks.

Since I had to bend my girls a bit during flowering I ended up having to push the plant pot bases to the exterior edge of my growing trays and buttress them with half filled gallon jugs. The total height of one of my plants is just over 3 feet @ 3 feet 6 inches. Two other plants that were able to flower mostly under a 400 watt hps (versus the 250 for the other girl) I bent down a bit but they would both be 4-5 inches taller than the first plant I mentioned. Anyways, being my first time growing in general I freaked out thinking I'd need to transplant but someone told me (I think it was a mod with a red name?) that hydro pot sizes could be much smaller since roots don't have to actively search for nutrients. I personally won't go smaller than what I had (5x5 inch) and will likely just use the 6 inch untrimmed slabs for my next grow.

I'm unsure of the algae issue however black plumbing will get hotter than white plumbing will. If your babies are drained well enough then only the reservoir needs to be light tight right?

 

[WeeGogs]

i would stick with the 5 liter bottles, should work beautifully, i use 1 gal pots in my trays and even with a little veg time they have never been root bound, shit 5L is about 1.25 gal's so it should work cherry.

how much root space do your plants have in your 1 gallon pots, does it look like there is plenty of space, and do you think the 2 litre bottles would be too small or just enough, i am going to use 60 bottles, flowering clones from start, hope to get a fast 6 week turnover of smaller plants.

 

[drgreentm]

how much root space do your plants have in your 1 gallon pots, does it look like there is plenty of space, and do you think the 2 litre bottles would be too small or just enough, i am going to use 60 bottles, flowering clones from start, hope to get a fast 6 week turnover of smaller plants.

it really depends on the strain in my opinion (deep rooters or not), i can say i have been running white widow for a while now and the one gallon pots are never filled all the way with roots (here is a pic of a two week vegged WW and sitting at about week 5 of bloom), if flowering with zero veg you should be fine with the 2L bottles. there is a pic of some of my more recent zero veg plants you can see the pots are plenty big enough.

 

[WeeGogs]

it really depends on the strain in my opinion (deep rooters or not), i can say i have been running white widow for a while now and the one gallon pots are never filled all the way with roots (here is a pic of a two week vegged WW and sitting at about week 5 of bloom), if flowering with zero veg you should be fine with the 2L bottles. there is a pic of some of my more recent zero veg plants you can see the pots are plenty big enough.

excellent plants you have, nice grow room too, i am going to try the 2 litre bottle method rather than the five litre, thanks for the nice pics and the links, good job.
the 2 litre plastic bottles are only 10p each but the five litre are £1 each. ( 10p = 16c, £1 = $1.63 ) big difference.

 

[drgreentm]

excellent plants you have, nice grow room too, i am going to try the 2 litre bottle method rather than the five litre, thanks for the nice pics and the links, good job.
the 2 litre plastic bottles are only 10p each but the five litre are £1 each. ( 10p = 16c, £1 = $1.63 ) big difference.

cool man go for it i really like this idea, make sure you start a thread when you get it up and going i would like to watch lol.

 

[WeeGogs]

cool man go for it i really like this idea, make sure you start a thread when you get it up and going i would like to watch lol.

no problem. i am trusting you that the 2 litre bottles will be enough room to support the root systems.
i got told by the owner of website hydroponicsonline.com his name is GPSFrontier that i would need 5 litre, but he does not grow cannabis, only vegetables. so i am taking your word for it, thanks.
i will let you know how i get on.

 

[red.Ant]

I'd be very interested to see how this turns out for you WeeGogs, make sure you do a grow diary.

 

[drgreentm]

no problem. i am trusting you that the 2 litre bottles will be enough room to support the root systems.
i got told by the owner of website hydroponicsonline.com his name is GPSFrontier that i would need 5 litre, but he does not grow cannabis, only vegetables. so i am taking your word for it, thanks.
i will let you know how i get on.

yup i think you will be fine with zero veg (sog style) plants if you are going to want to, or think you will eventually be vegging, go with the 5L bottles just to cover your ass in the future. if not im sure you will be fine.