Morbid Angel
Well-Known Member
As the thread title suggests I am looking for the best, easiest, low maintenance system for growing while away from home. Here is the sitch:
My work has me away from home for a large majority of the time. Sometimes I am home every day, most times I am away during the business week and home on week ends. I have assistance when I am away. A person is here 24/7 that looks in on and waters / moves lights and adjusts temperature when I am gone. Thing is, I do all the 'work' when I get home and this person is not interested in doing any more than the bare minimum which is fine.
In the summer I grow outdoors using both ROLS (soil) and a Coco mix. The soil is built and does not need anything more than water and tea's. The Coco gets teas as well.
During the rest of the year I grow indoors using a blended soiless mix (coco 40%, perlite 55%, vermiculite 5%) and use hydroponic coco nutrients.
I have 2x 5 gallon pails full of water with air stones. I leave the nutrients ready to dump in and mix right before a feeding. Schedule looks like this: M/W/F/Sun/Tue/Thur/Sat....
I grow perpetual.
17 site clone machine
2x4 veg tent [250w-400w lights]
4x4 x7' flower tent [600-1200w lights]
I like to have about 9 (6-12) plants in flower at a time.
Currently I am running drain to waste with either 2,3 or 5 gallon fibre pots depending on how many plants I am running.
Manual feeding and collecting the run off is such a bitch right now I am just sick of it. My helper is not very fond of this process either.
I would like to make a switch to something more practical for my situation, if there is anything more practical to switch to.
I have been thinking about Flood and Drain (ebb/flow) or NFT.
DWC systems dont seem like they'd fit, perhaps I am wrong.
If my helper only had to add water and nutrient to a res once and awhile in my absence that would be so much better.
Do any of you have any suggestions regarding a better style or system? Maybe I have over looked another alternative.
Perhaps just running a drip system off a res to waste would be best.
My work has me away from home for a large majority of the time. Sometimes I am home every day, most times I am away during the business week and home on week ends. I have assistance when I am away. A person is here 24/7 that looks in on and waters / moves lights and adjusts temperature when I am gone. Thing is, I do all the 'work' when I get home and this person is not interested in doing any more than the bare minimum which is fine.
In the summer I grow outdoors using both ROLS (soil) and a Coco mix. The soil is built and does not need anything more than water and tea's. The Coco gets teas as well.
During the rest of the year I grow indoors using a blended soiless mix (coco 40%, perlite 55%, vermiculite 5%) and use hydroponic coco nutrients.
I have 2x 5 gallon pails full of water with air stones. I leave the nutrients ready to dump in and mix right before a feeding. Schedule looks like this: M/W/F/Sun/Tue/Thur/Sat....
I grow perpetual.
17 site clone machine
2x4 veg tent [250w-400w lights]
4x4 x7' flower tent [600-1200w lights]
I like to have about 9 (6-12) plants in flower at a time.
Currently I am running drain to waste with either 2,3 or 5 gallon fibre pots depending on how many plants I am running.
Manual feeding and collecting the run off is such a bitch right now I am just sick of it. My helper is not very fond of this process either.
I would like to make a switch to something more practical for my situation, if there is anything more practical to switch to.
I have been thinking about Flood and Drain (ebb/flow) or NFT.
DWC systems dont seem like they'd fit, perhaps I am wrong.
If my helper only had to add water and nutrient to a res once and awhile in my absence that would be so much better.
Do any of you have any suggestions regarding a better style or system? Maybe I have over looked another alternative.
Perhaps just running a drip system off a res to waste would be best.
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