Bottom Feeding 5 gals in coco with MaxiBloom with no drain to waste.

So I have been just blasting water into 14" trays with no risers to water my 5 gal pots with maxibloom this run. Once a week I top water using 1/3 strength feed. I'm doing this with 4 different strains in coco/perlite and have noticed zero issues EXCEPT my pH of my runoff definitely climbs over time. Plants don't seem to care..

I feel like I wasted hundreds of dollars doing drain to waste before not only on fertilizer pissed out into the environment but also using more water than necessary, buying stupid fucking runoff trays with plumbing and other bullshit.

It's not a 1 off thing that this is working.. I feed at 1.3-1.4 EC (650-700 PPM TDS) and pH to 5.7-5.8.

ANyone else grow like this? No run to waste? Lots of systems run off a similar concept now it seems. GrowAce AirCube system, obviously the 10+ year old AutoPot system. Just seems like the grows requiring $500 4x8 runoff tables maybe just can't dial in their feed good enough to not require runoff??? Is there a reason this is working for me and not for others?

I think as long as you don't overfeed and keep pH within a reasonable range to compensate for climb you will be alright..... I start out with RO water too, so probably helps in not having a lot of mineral buildup.

calvin.m16 said:

So I have been just blasting water into 14" trays with no risers to water my 5 gal pots with maxibloom this run. Once a week I top water using 1/3 strength feed. I'm doing this with 4 different strains in coco/perlite and have noticed zero issues EXCEPT my pH of my runoff definitely climbs over time. Plants don't seem to care..

I feel like I wasted hundreds of dollars doing drain to waste before not only on fertilizer pissed out into the environment but also using more water than necessary, buying stupid fucking runoff trays with plumbing and other bullshit.

It's not a 1 off thing that this is working.. I feed at 1.3-1.4 EC (650-700 PPM TDS) and pH to 5.7-5.8.

ANyone else grow like this? No run to waste? Lots of systems run off a similar concept now it seems. GrowAce AirCube system, obviously the 10+ year old AutoPot system. Just seems like the grows requiring $500 4x8 runoff tables maybe just can't dial in their feed good enough to not require runoff??? Is there a reason this is working for me and not for others?

I think as long as you don't overfeed and keep pH within a reasonable range to compensate for climb you will be alright..... I start out with RO water too, so probably helps in not having a lot of mineral buildup.

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I try not to go crazy with runoff but dtw in general supercharged my growing. A couple of 30 dollar boot trays fill a 4x4 pretty well. I probably could cut back. But I like the automation aspect so I run a large res, set it and forget it. Runoff ensures stability in the root zone so I don't worry about it.

I had issues with my reservoir which stands for up to 72+ hours clouding up and pH was drifting upwards and going cloudy. This translated to my root zones which I resolved by using a little pool shock (calcium hypochlorite @ ~100 mg per/gallon) for ~1 ppm of chlorine and this issue went away, pH stayed stable and the clouding was gone, which has been an issue now for a month plus. There is some type of algae/bacteria that is probably consuming the ammonia in my maxi fertilizer and causing hydrogen release which would explain the pH increase. It's either an algae, bacteria or both. I will from now on run a sterile reservoir to prevent this. Other than that the no runoff has been great just need to feed plants based on how they look, keeping EC lower than you would with runoff and pH needs to be a little lower too 5.5-5.6 instead of 5.7-5.8 in coco.

Crazy how I never stop learning things. I was thinking maybe I was mixing in my nutrients after silica too soon but looking back on the last 3 years of running this formula I realized there's no way suddenly I am getting clouding where before it never happened, also doing a small mix in a 5 gal bucket bypassing the large reservoir I use resulted in the same issue so it seems like I'mg oing to be running some new RO lines and shocking the whole RO system with chlorine and installing new filters after. There is definitely some type of contaminant harboring in my RO system post-filter.

You’re definitely doing well with this. There is a dude on Reddit that grows with a system they call a “swamp”, where they literally flood the tent with a couple inches of standing water, and use fabric pots to wick up the water and keep the plants constantly watered - kind of like a SIP In theory. Somehow, humidity hasn’t been an issue, although the idea terrifies me.

MissinThe90’sStrains said:

You’re definitely doing well with this. There is a dude on Reddit that grows with a system they call a “swamp”, where they literally flood the tent with a couple inches of standing water, and use fabric pots to wick up the water and keep the plants constantly watered - kind of like a SIP In theory. Somehow, humidity hasn’t been an issue, although the idea terrifies me.

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Haha might be useful in an area/room where humidity being too low is an issue. If I did a swamp style grow my dehumidifiers would probably burn up. THey already run constantly. I have huge quest dehumidifiers that run very often as it is. Basement grow life.

I’m in a humid area too, so my dehumidifier gets a workout. When I flower, I park a second unit right outside the tent as an extra precaution. The joys of an open basement and large “lung room”.

I used to run coco/perlite with a recirculating reservoir using bato buckets, same way they do tomatoes in greenhouses. Everyone told me I had to do drain to waste, not recirculating but It worked well, I would have to flush salts every once in a while. I also ran it sterile with pool shock, changing the res once a week. My well water would rise in ph and drive me crazy so I had to use ro water, once the ph was lowered it would stay fairly stable. I bottom water with sips and mostly organic soil now, I find it easier and the growth about as fast. Interesting to do a sip with nutes in the res, it’s supposed to be a no-no but a lot of things are until you try them. I would make sure you have a way to drain the res fairly easily in case of salt build up, other than that no reason it won’t work.

calvin.m16 said:

So I have been just blasting water into 14" trays with no risers to water my 5 gal pots with maxibloom this run. Once a week I top water using 1/3 strength feed. I'm doing this with 4 different strains in coco/perlite and have noticed zero issues EXCEPT my pH of my runoff definitely climbs over time. Plants don't seem to care..

I feel like I wasted hundreds of dollars doing drain to waste before not only on fertilizer pissed out into the environment but also using more water than necessary, buying stupid fucking runoff trays with plumbing and other bullshit.

It's not a 1 off thing that this is working.. I feed at 1.3-1.4 EC (650-700 PPM TDS) and pH to 5.7-5.8.

ANyone else grow like this? No run to waste? Lots of systems run off a similar concept now it seems. GrowAce AirCube system, obviously the 10+ year old AutoPot system. Just seems like the grows requiring $500 4x8 runoff tables maybe just can't dial in their feed good enough to not require runoff??? Is there a reason this is working for me and not for others?

I think as long as you don't overfeed and keep pH within a reasonable range to compensate for climb you will be alright..... I start out with RO water too, so probably helps in not having a lot of mineral buildup.

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Click to expand...

I run 4 gallon SIP pots. I have no run off. I don't even have them on trays. I give them 1/2 tsp Maxibloom in 1/2 gallon tap water every 2 to 3 days determined by the humidity levels in the tent. If the RH drops below 50% I fertigate if it climbs above 60% I wait an extra day. Towards the end of the run I might top water with straight water and then vacuum out the reservoir a couple of times and then resume my normal feeding until chop.