400w hps dwc, 5 gallon buckets vs rubbermaid tote?

after years of growing outdoors we have decided that with all the thieves, pests and usual problem associated with growing outside its time to bring it indoors.
we went out last week and picked up a 400w hps system for cheap and are in the process of planning our hydro setup.
we have decided to go with deep water culture because of its ease of use and cheap cost to start. what we cant decide on is which would be better for our situation growing in multiple 5 gallon buckets or a tote with multiple net pots, i would like to do a sog style grow using clones with little or no veg time this makes me lean more so to the rubbermaid tote with multiple pots however ive heard doing this causes the roots to tangle and hurts yield. we have MANY 5 gallon buckets lying around though and am wondering if it would be better to just run multiple buckets? any dwc growers have input?

Tubs would be the way to go with sog method being able to fit multiple plants in one tub cuts down on space and equipment. Although im not using sog Im running with 3 plants per 15 gal tub in a 400 watt dwc set up if were to use sog could easily fit 6 plants per tub. Under a 400 watt light u could fit 3 maybe 4 tubs thats 18-24 plants.

Hey bro i grow dwc, I do it 12/12 from seed, i started 3 plants in a 5 gallon bucket, and now i have 2 left after 1 was male. i topped both plants, one is way bigger and one is smaller but they are the same age, both are 2 months and 2 weeks old, and are 4 and a half weeks form showing sex. look how big they are. also its not the roots mixing that matters its the bigger plant blocking light from the smaller you gotta worry about.

use your 5 gallons i would suggest. if you have lids you can make a whole by taking a net pot, or Cottage cheese/sour cream contaier , putting it against your lid, taking a sharpie and make a circle on the lid. then take a hole saw, or what i used, a steak knife(they cut easy) and cut a whole smaller then the circle you made. then fit your netpot, (i make my own) into the whole on the lid. if you have alot of 5 gallon buckets that would be best cause if your growing differnt strains in 1 rez they sometimes use different amounts of nutes

for doing sog i would use a tote. roots wont be an issue as long as you know you are starting with females. i would go to lowes or hd and get the black and yellow lidded strongboxes. much more sturdy, and lids are thicker.

they are all going to be the same strain, i have mastered cloning and can pump out 30 white widow clones every 2 week cycle. up until now i just sold the clones to friends or grew a few outdoors. i DO have tons of 5 gallon buckets lying around but my brother is a little reluctant to use them because some of them have drywall residue/paint, i figure i can scrub and clean them before use though.

knowing now that roots aren't a problem if they are the same strain/female i think we are going to go with totes... 5 totes are way easier to manage than 30 5 gallon buckets, anyone have any info on the yield i can expect by growing a couple in the 5 gals though? im not asking for specifics that would be retarded but do they generally yield better?

Totes all the way. much easier to deal with

The lesson I learned the first time was to use multiple buckets. makes it WAY better when one plant turns out bigger (raise the other one a couple inches!), and if you choose to scrog top your plants and dont set your screen till 2 wks into 12/12. the key indoor is to keep your tops as close to your light as possible. being able to move your plants helps a lot. its not hard to maintain 3 or 4 buckets which is all you will fit under the 400, and you only need to do complete res changes once a month or so.

just read your last comment, sorry. if your going to do a sog from clones of all the same strain than totes would work great! 30 plants haha good luck. Keep the light close or the stretch will kill you.

Totes rock..coolers seem nice too

If you prefer the SOG method, why not run a couple flood tables? And If you decide to do the multisite tote grow i wouldnt put more than one strain in a bucket. Different strains eat different levels of nutes and at different ec levels.

im using a 14 gal tote with 5 clones works sweet need more net pots ill try 8 buckets are good for single/ double plants that u plan to veg for a while to make then larger

If you are going to run multiple totes, consider an undecurrent dwc setup.

earth59x said:

anyone have any info on the yield i can expect by growing a couple in the 5 gals though? im not asking for specifics that would be retarded but do they generally yield better?

Click to expand...

No... as long as the container is big enough to hold the root ball and water the yield should be the same. The only benefit to a larger res is you can grow bigger root balls (bigger plants) and the nutrient solution is more stable as far as ph, temp, and nutrient balance. In a 5 gallon dwc bucket, you could scrog a single plant and produce over a pound because it will support roots the size of a basketball. With multiple plants in a tote, it depends on the volume of your res and the size of the root mass.