DownUnderDog
Active Member
Hello all, I haven't grown for a good +10 years. I had quite a few dwc and flood and drain grows under my belt but technology has changed a fair bit.
I've got myself a 3m x 1.5m tent, and enough lights from Grow Lights Australia to cover the area.
I'm essentially going to set up a hybrid dwc/flood and drain system. I loved DWC and I like the idea of RDWC but all that plumbing and my lazyness don't go well together. F&D I also loved, but I hated dealing with expanded clay/perlite.
Before RDWC was a thing, I set up a controller to drain my dwc into a main resivour and refill it 3 times a day.
So in this setup, I'm going to experiment a little with 8 dwc containers joined to a control bucket. A few times a day, the system will be pumped out into a main res and filled back up again.
But the main reason I wanted to post today, was to show how I plan on eliminating loose media. I've made a rockwool block holder which I think many could adapt to dwc buckets. I went with the larger blocks to allow a wider base and more structure for the plant to grow it's roots around. Eventually id like to try a SOG and if that was the case I might make a design for the smaller blocks so I can create a bit of a flood table.
I cut some sections of 90mm storm water pvc pipe, then slit it down the middle and used a heat gun to unroll it and flatten it between two bits of ply.
I designed a stencil to keep on hand if I ever needed to make more.
I cut out the PVC with a band saw and jigsaw, and also built a block sized frame to bend the PVC over. The design has a couple of cross braces to keep it all square/strong and hopefully allow the plant to 'grab' onto the structure a little to prevent it falling through under weight.
I bend the two hangers first with the heat gun, using some more ply to assist.
I bend both hangers down at 90, then turn the holder upside down to finish off the bends
I cut a square hole in my lid, which I find easier and neater than a round one. And slip the holder in. Because of the way it's designed, it can be compressed (both hangers push inward towards each other) so the hole doesn't have to be exact. I used the square ply bending block to mark and cut out the hole with a box cutter. I found it easy to use a steel rule to make a deep score along the line, then push the blade right through carefully, then poke it through the other side (so it's point is facing you) and it follows the scored line very nicely.
I'm pretty happy with this. It's very stable in the lid and it feels like it'll support a fully grown plant and allows me to cut square/straight lines rather than circles. I imagine clean up will be a lot easier because I can rip these off the root ball and chuck them in a bucket of bleach. I'm looking forward to seeing how they go and hopefully never have to deal with expanded clay, perlite, or coco between grows.
I'm a couple of weeks away from being able to put some plants in, but I've got some 'vanilla frosting' seeds from HSC I'm looking forward to growing out.
Hope these block holders work!
I've got myself a 3m x 1.5m tent, and enough lights from Grow Lights Australia to cover the area.
I'm essentially going to set up a hybrid dwc/flood and drain system. I loved DWC and I like the idea of RDWC but all that plumbing and my lazyness don't go well together. F&D I also loved, but I hated dealing with expanded clay/perlite.
Before RDWC was a thing, I set up a controller to drain my dwc into a main resivour and refill it 3 times a day.
So in this setup, I'm going to experiment a little with 8 dwc containers joined to a control bucket. A few times a day, the system will be pumped out into a main res and filled back up again.
But the main reason I wanted to post today, was to show how I plan on eliminating loose media. I've made a rockwool block holder which I think many could adapt to dwc buckets. I went with the larger blocks to allow a wider base and more structure for the plant to grow it's roots around. Eventually id like to try a SOG and if that was the case I might make a design for the smaller blocks so I can create a bit of a flood table.
I cut some sections of 90mm storm water pvc pipe, then slit it down the middle and used a heat gun to unroll it and flatten it between two bits of ply.
I designed a stencil to keep on hand if I ever needed to make more.
I cut out the PVC with a band saw and jigsaw, and also built a block sized frame to bend the PVC over. The design has a couple of cross braces to keep it all square/strong and hopefully allow the plant to 'grab' onto the structure a little to prevent it falling through under weight.
I bend the two hangers first with the heat gun, using some more ply to assist.
I bend both hangers down at 90, then turn the holder upside down to finish off the bends
I cut a square hole in my lid, which I find easier and neater than a round one. And slip the holder in. Because of the way it's designed, it can be compressed (both hangers push inward towards each other) so the hole doesn't have to be exact. I used the square ply bending block to mark and cut out the hole with a box cutter. I found it easy to use a steel rule to make a deep score along the line, then push the blade right through carefully, then poke it through the other side (so it's point is facing you) and it follows the scored line very nicely.
I'm pretty happy with this. It's very stable in the lid and it feels like it'll support a fully grown plant and allows me to cut square/straight lines rather than circles. I imagine clean up will be a lot easier because I can rip these off the root ball and chuck them in a bucket of bleach. I'm looking forward to seeing how they go and hopefully never have to deal with expanded clay, perlite, or coco between grows.
I'm a couple of weeks away from being able to put some plants in, but I've got some 'vanilla frosting' seeds from HSC I'm looking forward to growing out.
Hope these block holders work!
