drip system question

ok i am using a homemade drip system using rockwool as my grow medium. my question is how long do i run my timer to pump the water for the drip system? does it drip 24 hours a day? or how does it work? how often do i turn on the drip system to water my rock wool?

I have the same question. I'm on my first grow and using a drip system. I've been on this site before and had my head ripped off for asking a question that was already posted or in the FAQ. I've been cruising the site for 4 days and gotten some really good info. Everyone seems to be able to tell me what to do, but no one goes into any real detail as to the actual process'. Also to add to the question, when do I intoduce my seedlings to the drip system?

Ok you have a diy drip system.What size is it ,how big are the rockwool cubic,I'am guessing they are cubic.One thing how long dose it take for the rockwool to dry out.Than you can set up the timer.Give us a run down on what you got so we can help you better.Check out FAQ at the top of the page it has a ton of infor there. Peace

I wont tear off the head. How old are they and what are they in now?If you want help you got to give us some infor about your system and what you are doing to grow in it.Its hard to tell you something not knowing.Tell you anwser and it kills your plants that kind of thing. PEACE

four days old, in rockwool now. I have the simplest drip system I could come up with.
Thank you for any help.My babies are 2 inches tall and the tap root is just poking out of the bottom of my 1 x 1 rockwool cubes. Where do I go from here?

Transplant them into the next larger size rockwool cube to encourage early root development, then into whatever pots you are going to use in the drip system, when the roots break thru again. At that point they will be ready for your drip system. With rock wool in a drip system twice a day at 15 minutes should be sufficient depending on the size of your pump and the gph of the drippers. VV

Just a quick note make sure you check your dripper's everyday cause they clog easily my plants have almost died twice because of the drippers not feeding the plants

I left my drip on all the time. it should drip at a very slow rate and they do clog easily. Wrap some screen (window screening) around your water pump with a trash bag twist and you shouldn't get anymore clogs or just eliminate the whole drip and get a mister/fogger like I did.

I'm not saying that anyone else here is wrong it's just how I work mine. Now a lot of people believe the water is suppose to pour out of the hose, it is not good if this is happening. It should just drip at a nice slow pace.

The other advantage you can use is make sure the drip is under the growcube and on top of the hydroton so the drip is sandwiched, this will also get some more O2 to the root zone. And slowly wet the rockwool without soaking it. Wet rockwool can collapse and if you have seedlings in those cubes it could be fatal.

smokingslut said:

four days old, in rockwool now. I have the simplest drip system I could come up with.

Thank you for any help.My babies are 2 inches tall and the tap root is just poking out of the bottom of my 1 x 1 rockwool cubes. Where do I go from here?

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There is a simpler way to do that. How many plants are you planning on doing? How much room do you have? I like the system but you can do it simpler if that is what you are after. If you want just PM me and I'll help you out with something simple and cheap and it still works great. Also be careful never put water above electricity, an accident is bound to happen.

Dam good advice Gygax about the water over elect.. Never a good idea.

SHit Happens. And this is not how you want it to happen.


I have a question here though. I have no idea about this type of system. But why does he pump it from the lower tank to the higher one?? Why not just pump it from the lower to the drip tubes where you plants are from below?

That's a gravity feed system to increase the pressure for the drippers, so all of them work the same way. That pump would not provide similar pressure to all of the drippers. Clever, huh?

HTH

Why is that? Potroast? You only get so many pounds of head pressure per foot of rise. I do not understand why this system is more equal per drip section. I must not see something, or understand something here.

smokingslut said:

four days old, in rockwool now. I have the simplest drip system I could come up with.

Thank you for any help.My babies are 2 inches tall and the tap root is just poking out of the bottom of my 1 x 1 rockwool cubes. Where do I go from here?

Click to expand...

With this setup you can eliminate the drip feed tank and use the drain tank for both. Just use a pump to pump the water up to the drip emitter kit. Then put drainage holes on both sides of the "root chamber" and let gravity drain the water back into the same tank.

helloinsomnia said:

With this setup you can eliminate the drip feed tank and use the drain tank for both. Just use a pump to pump the water up to the drip emitter kit. Then put drainage holes on both sides of the "root chamber" and let gravity drain the water back into the same tank.

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Yes that would be simpiler and it would require less work. I would also eliminate that top bucket.

The system above I would say would be more useful when a pump was unavailable, so basically you just switch the buckets over and let gravity do the work.

on my setup i have 4x8 table 24 adjustable flow drippers that run on 3 mins. 20 mins off and i also have 6 sprayers underneath the cover that mist the roots at the same time,but I use hydroton, and have a big pump, any one try this

hello all

iam on a 4x4 table with 12- 2 gal pots on drip in a rock wool growing med.and a 20 gal resv. at this time i am runing my drip 15 mins on and 45 off. to get things going. when your pots get full and pick them up now u know how hevey thet are. at this point i cut back on the time until were just dry for the firsst 2ins and thats perfect no alg. on top and lots of water below. and you should be able to pick the pot up by now and tell by its wieht to how well they are being water. i just use the water spike and they do not get cloged up the roots grow out at the bottom of the pot not to worry alls fine

it just can't get any easyer

I would have just went flood and drain since you have pretty much everything else.Its more efficeint and easier to do and maintain

FilthyFletch said:

I would have just went flood and drain since you have pretty much everything else.Its more efficeint and easier to do and maintain

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u would think wouldnt u, but going this way i only have to use a 20 gal res. and that mean less water to manitan and less fer. u would usa a 40 gal. or more res. for this size of table much easyer to hold the ph in a 20 to, so i went with this set up for being easier more efficeint .

RDA,
I have almost the same exact set up as you. I have used it as a flood and drain, but WOW.. I had to mix 35 gallons and make sure I never went below 30 gallons. I am about to set it up again for my Flower cycle. I have been strongly thinking of making it into a drip system so I do not have to mix up so many gallons. Those nuts can get costly.

VooDoo juice alone per batch is about $40. Lucky, now I can buy VooDoo juice at about half the price.

Did you use it as a flood and drain first? And if so, which was the best?