Passive Hydro + Super Soi - Blue Cheese

DANKSWAG

Well-Known Member
First I'd like thank what Ed Rosenthal has shared on passive hydroponics and what sub cool has contributed with his super soil recipe.

I think I've basically set the course for the lazy man's grow... or getting closer it seems for me at least.

My intention was to get the best of both worlds to get the plant to do all the work in watering and feeding itself.

I know it sounds a little lazy on my part, but hey I've always choose to work smart, not hard.

The passive hydroponic relies on a wicking system, keep in mind wicking is only as good and the medium for the wick and exposure it has to the reservoir. I use your standard cloth pot(s) now it serves multiple purposes. One air pruning of the roots which is very beneficial the second is the entirety of the bottom surface becomes the wick material for the roots to engage in capillarity action. Other benefits it allows a smaller cloth pot to be used after transplanting a established clone from my RED SOLO CUP, LET's HAVE A PARTY.... which holds a base organic soil take your pick. Mine...

Black Gold potting soil the one with the mater on it...tomato on it.

Once my baby starts rooting past the bottom of her 3 gallon home nested (laying on top of wet rocks not submersed into the water) in the my passive hydro water system - I simply lift her up, shake of the silica rocks clinging to those roots and place her into a 5 gallon cloth pot of super soil nesting that back into my passive hydro system. Simple and easy transplant very little shock if any expect for when the roots sticking out the bottom of the 3 gallon pot now come into contact with sub cool's super soil. A good kind of shock like a jolt of red bull!


My passive hydro system is built from what I learned from Ed Rosenthal, it my version of the system though which is a a 5 Gallon bucket with a 1/4 inch drain hole at the the halfway mark in the depth of the bucket. Fill your the bucket halfway full of clean silica rock (Grow Stone) up to the drainage hole. *** Fill it up to the drain hole with distilled water, rain water, spring water, or well water anything that is clean up 150 ppm. Most of these are right at or near 7.0 ph.

The reason this works is per Ed our lovely lady's roots have two layers... thus passive hydro has two layers soil on top water on the bottom with a wick in the middle.

These two root layers are divided in that the top third primarily absorbs nutrients... the bottom third are designed primary for water intake.
The cloth pots give a nice gap between the 5 gallon bucket and the root system, giving plenty of air in the root zone.

Water is a breeze since the 5 gallon bucket reservoir half way full of rock will hold approx 1 gallon H20 in the rocks pre-soaked and cleaned. Thus allowing for more time between watering. At least so far in veg, we shall see as I take this system to flower.

Lights... 120 Watt 3 watt 8 band Led with 2 x 24 CFL. Going into flower will use total of 4x 2700K 24watt CLFs as supplemental to lower branches.

Anywise I attached a few pics for you to see the result of this combination.

First one is Nine weeks after germination of a BlueCheese seed.
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This second is at 12 and half weeks, she grew like a weed and I had to build her a new home.
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This is recently after defoliation, I have removed most of the fan leaves allowing more light in.
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I have taken clones from her now and waiting to ensue they are viable.once clones are deemed viable will flower their mommy no room left once clones take off.

Besides I think I've proven this system is viable time to enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Therefore I think my venture is to prepare to implement what I have learned from nugbuckets about main lining. I'm willing to learn and put in time training for main line if that increases yields which ultimately results in less work hopefully, that's my goal work smart not hard.
 

Herb Man

Well-Known Member
Hmmm interesting.

But soil is so simple I can't see what could have me leave it.

Good luck anyways.
 

DANKSWAG

Well-Known Member
Hmmm interesting.

But soil is so simple I can't see what could have me leave it.

Good luck anyways.
Actually your not leaving it, your placing it in a cloth pot setting it on top of wet rocks. Best of both worlds... self watering self feeding... this is NOT and I repeat not a soil less grow. Thus the title passive hydro + super soil. It gives our lovely lady the best of both worlds, organic soil for which the top 1/3 of the plants roots reside (per Ed primarily designed for nutrient uptake), allowing the rest them (the lower 2/3 of roots per Ed whose primary function is uptake of water) to growth through the cloth into the water reservoir that is aerated by the silica rock and the 1/4 space between the cloth liner and the five gallon bucket.

Looks like I will need better pics of the setup to better demonstrate this method.
 

HDPursuit

Well-Known Member
OK, this sounds fairly interesting. How have thigs gone so far?
Nutes and water inti the reservior?
 

DANKSWAG

Well-Known Member
OK, this sounds fairly interesting. How have thigs gone so far?
Nutes and water inti the reservior?
After doing much research I decided that I would follow the advice of Ed Rosenthal and use passive hydroponics to take advantage of the of our lovely lady's root system.
Therefore all the feeding is done using what I've come to understand by the way of urban legend via super soil, a start to finish organic mixture special recipe of sub cool. Except for starts or clones they reside in a smaller cloth pot (filled with Black Gold potting soil the one with the mater on the bag) till they are established then transplanted into the 5 gallon cloth pot of super soil mix.

That's just more work, but f course you can add nutes to the water, but they aren't needed there and then if you do so you get into all the work required to maintain the reservoir to hold nutes, no need too all the needed nutes are in the soil already.

The reservoir simply holds the water one would hand water by, but instead of pouring onto of the soil, it resides underneath cloth pot that resides sitting on top of silica rocks and water filled the halfway mark of your five gallon bucket. You drill a drain hole above the wet rock line so the soil does not sit in water and rot the roots. The roots that grow through the cloth and into the silica rocks filled water and air pockets will thrive.

As one can see by the pics she grew very very well and I hardly did anything but watch her and talk to her.
 

Herb Man

Well-Known Member
After doing much research I decided that I would follow the advice of Ed Rosenthal and use passive hydroponics to take advantage of the of our lovely lady's root system.
Therefore all the feeding is done using what I've come to understand by the way of urban legend via super soil, a start to finish organic mixture special recipe of sub cool. Except for starts or clones they reside in a smaller cloth pot (filled with Black Gold potting soil the one with the mater on the bag) till they are established then transplanted into the 5 gallon cloth pot of super soil mix.

That's just more work, but f course you can add nutes to the water, but they aren't needed there and then if you do so you get into all the work required to maintain the reservoir to hold nutes, no need too all the needed nutes are in the soil already.

The reservoir simply holds the water one would hand water by, but instead of pouring onto of the soil, it resides underneath cloth pot that resides sitting on top of silica rocks and water filled the halfway mark of your five gallon bucket. You drill a drain hole above the wet rock line so the soil does not sit in water and rot the roots. The roots that grow through the cloth and into the silica rocks filled water and air pockets will thrive.

As one can see by the pics she grew very very well and I hardly did anything but watch her and talk to her.
I see.

This could be good with pics/diagrams demonstrating the above.

I like the idea of being able to go away for a few days mid grow.
 

DANKSWAG

Well-Known Member
This is my Blue Cheese sweetie 5 Weeks from Seed. She is still nested in her 3 gallon cloth pot filled black gold potting soil (the one with the mater on it).
As you can see I have a her cloth pot resting inside a 5 gallon bucket sitting on top of the water reservoir. The water line just comes to right below the surface area of the silica rocks which I have filled the 5 gallon bucket halfway with. The drainage hole is right about the top of rock surface. The entire bottom of the cloth pot acts as a wick as it provides uniform wicking throughout the soil.

This is shot is just prior to me transferring her to her larger 5 gallon cloth pot filled with super soil. The transfer was easy, lift cloth pot out of 5 gallon bucket, shake off the silica rocks that cling the roots that protruded from the bottom of the 3 gallon cloth pot into the water reservoir. Place the 5 gallon cloth pot of super soil in the reservoir then set the 3 gallon cloth pot with plant and roots dangling out the bottom into the 5 gallon cloth pot that now sits on the reservoir. Easy and as bout as shock free for the plant as can be, expect for the introduction to super soil.
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theconman

Member
Really interested in trying this myself. I'm still a little confused on everything going on. Some diagrams would definitely help clear things up. But correct me if I'm wrong but the plant is rooted in a 5 gallon fabric pot with regular soil in it. This is then submerged into a 5 gallon bucket with water and those silica rocks in it?

Also, is it easy to trim and crop using this system?
 

DANKSWAG

Well-Known Member
hey conman,

I'm glad your interested and take heart it really not all that complicated. Yes it is easy, you will have plenty of growth to trim and corp.

Yes except when I start my babies in solo cups, the entire plant remains through out the growth in a cloth pot. So I start my babies in solo cups filled with Black Gold potting soil. Then as they begin to develop I transplant to a 3 gallon cloth pot, same black gold soil. Then this is when I place the cloth pot into the passive hydro reservoir. Then when she is about 4 to 5 weeks, one last transfer from 3 gallon to 5 gallon cloth pot with super soil. It is as simple as lifting the 3 gallon cloth pot off the reservoir shaking silica rock of the roots dangling from the bottom that grew through the 3 gallon pot and simply placing the 3 gallon pot with roots dangling out the bottom into the 5 gallon cloth pot filled with super soil then placing that 5 gallon cloth pot back onto the reservoir. So my

The reservoir itself is a 5 gallon bucket that has a drainage hole drilled halfway between the top and bottom of bucket. Then fill it with cleaned silica rock, like this Grow Stone. That is fill the rock so the surface layer of the rock resides slightly above the bottom of the drainage hole.

I promise pictures to come, as I am making another passive hydro reservoir.


r
 
Looks like a very low-maintenance system. I'm interested in seeing how your blue cheese handles flowering in that setup? I'm especially a big fan of the large multiple gallon cloth pots as they appear to be a great medium and I've employed them in my own guerrilla technique. I'm excited to see how the supersoil mix I use (also based of Subcool's recipe) will do for the plants once their roots begin to extend that far into the pots I've created for my grow.

Any idea on when we could see an update on your cheese? Have you began to induce flowering yet? Would love to see some photos.
 

DANKSWAG

Well-Known Member
Hey thanks... it is working out good. Right now I am creating my own special "sweet" tea as I recently sent her into a 12/12 as of 3/31/12. So she is in her second week. I let her get a little taller then usual for I wanted to see exactly what kind of growth I could get from this system. If you think about it I am only using 2.5 gal (dry) of soil, for half my 5 gal bucket if filled with lava rocks and water. So get the picture almost 4 feet of growth for 2.5 gal of soil. The general rule of thumb is 1ft per gal. So it seems very robust.

I am just about to post some new pics on setting up the system with pics of this sweet lady to follow in various stages of flowering..

Since we are growing the same strain, curious to see how your guerrilla grow works out...
 
You can always follow my journal. I definitely intend to do some updating for it this week actually once I get up to my spot. Today however I plan on doing a nursery trip as I found a great wholesale nursery in my area yesterday however when I got there they were closed. But they have all that I will need to get even more cover and protection established in my location.

Good to know that the general rule of thumb is 1ft per gal as I have 7 gallon pots currently with the subcool mix you've discussed for your indoor. Hopefully I can expect up to 7ft or greater from these guys. Though I've noted the strain is indica dominant and will grow much bushier and outwards than up for the most part. However I've no concerns how tall my girls get as the area is very well shielded from sight, aside from the south side where the canopy is much sparser allowing for more light exposure during the day time. I still have concern for a particular evergreen on the southside of my plot and was planning on my next excursion with clippers and a machette to climb that evergreen and do some branch clear cutting on the way down the tree after I've climbed up it a good distance. Really want to ensure my girls get the maximum light potential they can up there.
 

DANKSWAG

Well-Known Member
Really interested in trying this myself. I'm still a little confused on everything going on. Some diagrams would definitely help clear things up. But correct me if I'm wrong but the plant is rooted in a 5 gallon fabric pot with regular soil in it. This is then submerged into a 5 gallon bucket with water and those silica rocks in it?

Also, is it easy to trim and crop using this system?
Okay this next section is dedicated to building the Passive Hydro 5 Gal watering system. Remember passive hydro relies on wicking action. If your not familiar with the principles of wicking you may want to review. It will be helpful in understanding how to maintain and utilize it to the fullest.

5 Gal hydro (black) bucket
1 1/2 inch gourmet
1 1/2 elbow (black)
1 6 1/2 inch long 1/2 dia water hose
3/4 hole drill
Bag of lava rocks
cloth pots 1 or 3 and 5 gal



Building the bucket, use a light proof hydro (black) to block light out.
Bucket should measure 13 1/2 inches from inside bottom to top of rim or close too.
Measure halfway (6 ¾ inches) from top of rim and mark clearly
Use 3/4 hole bit to drill hole centered on halfway mark.
Wet and insert gourmet and insert into 3/4 inch cut hole
Wet and insert 1/2 inch elbow
Attach 1/2 water hose to out fitting off elbow.
Fitting should be flush on the inside of the bucket with gourmet
Fill bucket with washed lava rock where top of rock surface just slightly above bottom of 1/2 drainage hole.
When filling bucket with water it should drain out just slightly below the surface of rocks
which should be level across the inside of the bucket.

The key here is that a cloth pot filled with soil will sit on top of these rocks the water line itself should not be in direct contact with the bottom of the cloth pot.
Once the surface of the rock layer is level and meets the requirements specified place your 5 gallon cloth pot half way filled with super soil into the reservoir system. The place your seedling that is 3 to 4 weeks established already in its own 1 gallon or 3 gallon cloth container into the 5 gallon container and fill in the space between the larger and smaller pot with same soil base in original container.

If your wicking system is properly established first by one watering from the top and keeping the reservoir full until root grow down into reservoir. Once into reservoir wicking action not as important for letting the soil go dry (heat up) is good for soil life.
Therefore when root grown into the rock water air filled reservoir the water options are varied from the wicking system going by keeping reservoir full. Or using it to allow for extended time away from watering and you can also set up a larger extended reservoir by using gravity feed and pump return of the 1/2 drain fitting.

I manually fill the reservoir at this point with a 1/2 tubing that is 6 1/2 inches which I place downward into an empty gallon container and I add water back into the system till I get some drainage.

Anywise here are pics for building the passive hydro bucket system.
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DANKSWAG

Well-Known Member
As promised I would update once I progressed to flowering this baby.
As some of you know in this project of mine I wanted to see the results of using a passive hydro with super soil. The idea self watering and self feeding.
My last pic updates we were at 12 weeks in veg pushing 4 feet from seed. Due to space constraints in my flowering closet and based on the growth observed I should be able to go to flower around six weeks into vef and not run into these space issues. Of which I’ve had to top the plant and use LST to keep upper branches from getting to close to my LED which cannot be raised higher.
This lady is 17 and half weeks old, of which the last 5 and half been raising clones to continue the strain and have spread out my cloning during those weeks to attempt to imitate stock for perpetual grow of some sort.
I have raised 12 baby girls of which some have been adopted. I’ve keep my first one which I took first week in March and then the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] one is about a week younger and the rest I took about 3 weeks ago. You can tell which is which by their size. I’ve topped the oldest three I have now for I will begin main line training on them. I am thinking the rest I may look into an outdoor adventure with.
Anywise it’s been about 6 weeks since I've updated with pics… I started flowering this mommy on 11 days ago on the first. So we are not even two weeks in, already see good flower developments on branches.

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DANKSWAG

Well-Known Member
Just a few quick shots of this blue cheese 13 days into flowering using the passive hydro with super soil... anticipation its making me wait....

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DANKSWAG

Well-Known Member
These here are six of her babies... of which were taking at various times in the later weeks of vegging..
I am going to work in my main lining skills with them and will probably start a new journal to record their journey in this process

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DANKSWAG

Well-Known Member
SUPER NICE! Are you using the brand name Grow bags or something else? btw, those girls are gorgeous!!!
I use aurora "roots pots" many many benefits and inexpensive due to being reusable by washing them.
You can find them just about anywhere ... even amazon ...from 1, 3, 5, 7. 10 and up to 25 or more I think in gallon sizes..

See this link http://thegrowroom.blogspot.com/2011/11/products-we-love-root-pots.html

Thanks for whistling at my girls, did you see their mama's flowers?
 
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