Buckets vs. Flood/drain

jake55

Active Member
I have been growing with 2 4x6 flood tables in SOG producing about + or - 1 lb/month. I am wanting to switch up my hydro growing style b/c the flood tables are high maintence. Looking for some info from bucket growers on yield and length of grow time on using 5 gal buckets with top feed setup. I am growing indoors so hieght is a factor (8ft ceiling). Flowering room is 12'x14' and veg. room 8x12. looking to maintain 1lb/month or more. throw it all at me or if you have a good grow journal. How many buckets to run. I use 1000w hps. I use two now but have 4. how many buckets per light. More looking for info on size plants get width wise. thanks for the help and if you got questions on flood/drain hit me up.
 

jake55

Active Member
Nutrient flux, ph flux, sick plants are harder to deal with, pest/disease problems affects mult/all plants. the list goes on. Im not saying its unbearable, just with buckets you can leave it for a week or two and not worry (with proper nutrient/enviroment controls...which i have).
 

jake55

Active Member
thanks, i will check it out. really all i am concerned with is yield and grow time (veg/flower). my plants can only get 5ft tall maybe 6ft max
 

drgreentm

Well-Known Member
how many plants you currently running in sog in each tray and what lights you got. you should be getting some dam good yields off those 4x6's 16 oz a harvest is pretty good though. personally i think the buckets would be more of a pain in the ass the the flood tables but thats just me sounds like you got a pretty kick ass setup.
 

jake55

Active Member
i want to grow larger plants, less bs. i will be running 24 buckets under 4 1000w lights but have never grown in buckets besides my mothers. and that is just an air stone. i ran 1 bucket with top feed and after 1 month of veg it outgrew the others by atleast 1/2 ft if not more and way more bushyer. i will be cloning once every two months instead of every two weeks. Im not sure on the grow time yet but thats what i predict. the tables are good but i want to slow down but maintain the same if not more yield. how long does it take to grow a 5ft plant from clone. my clones are 5" cuttings
 

drgreentm

Well-Known Member
mine are 5 inch cuttings when i take them as well do you are talking about 5 gal dwc buckets or top feed?? top feed works good for a buddy of mine i have a 5 gal dwc bucket going right now i vegged her for about 5 to 6 weeks and she is huge she makes me laugh but realistically i would never grow a crop of them sog is much more practical i use flood and drain as well
 

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jake55

Active Member
top feed is what i plan. i have a growing veteran friend that swears by it. He helped build the tennessee pot cave. how much you yield off that plant. very good looking sativa.
 

drgreentm

Well-Known Member
she is actually just 14 days in flower im not sure what she will yield if she yields nicley i might go for some bigger plants not quite her size but bigger than what im currently running my buddy who runs top feed is a vet as well been growing for like 30 years and he swears by top feed as well.
 

sparkafire

Well-Known Member
I am just switching from Table to Bucket right now I will run 3000W in a 7x7 room with CO2 and run perpetual every 2 weeks. 20 6.5 gal buckets 4 plants each harvesting 5 buckets every 2 weeks. We are expecting min 2 2.5 lbs per harvest based off my current 1 to 1.1/4 each now. Buckets are the way to go. Notice the air stones in the bottom of the buckets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHMf5k8Hpiw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/388778-kittys-commercial-grow-op-bigger.html
 
From the looks of the yellowed plant on 14 days of flower it looks real yellow. Usually that doesn't happen at least till further in the flowering period. Are you using CalMag? RO water? What kind of nutes? How long Veg? (Sorry for all the questions) but depending on veg time you should get more yield for the size grow and I run the same setup with two 1000's and two 4x4 tables and I get at least 3-3 1/2 lbs per 15-16 plants trellised.
 

BLOCKER

Active Member
im using a 6 bucket flood n drain and i will be going to flood trays.. sog.. less veg .. see the thing i hear with flood trays is to cover the trays so the pots are suspended which allows root growth into the tray.. but the key is the cover... so medium is only in the pots.. not sure if your covering your tables but those who do say they can't be beat

there is also nute/ph flux with buckets.. i can't see either being any different they are the same.. nothing a constant meter reading can't solve
 

drekoushranada

Well-Known Member
I been doing UC vertical grows with 600 waters and now I am going to give a horizontal 4x4 table 35 plant SOG a try. I was tired of the buckets. Plus I'm trying out the 1000w light. It should be some fun.
 
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