how to change your water in dwc once your plants get taller than you?

I just broke the largest cola off my largest plant, 8 feet tall, very sad. Pisses me the fuck off that I couldnt even get to it in time to tape it in place before it broke completely off, completely harvesting and ruining about 3 ounces of weed.

This is not the first time ive had this problem. I don't use netting as I CANT, I have a perpetual harvest going meaning I move my plants from place to place and harvest 2 of them every month, netting would only make my life more difficult. I use bamboo sticks to prop them up and tie them to the stop of my tent, but that still doesn't solve the problem of how to actually change the damn water without it falling over when u lift it up.

How the hell am I supposed to not break my plant when i life it up? the second it gets unbalanced it topples over and breaks.

Maybe light yoyos to hoist it up and support it.

I man-handle 7 footers all the time. It could be strain dependent. I can usually tip my lanky sativas at a 45 degree angle, and pick them up enough to swap a bucket, and the stem can usually support the colas. I just broke one yesterday too! It was way in the back and I theorize it wasn't getting enough wind to toughen up the stalk. I guess you have to get creative when you push the limits. 7-8 footers indoors is just a handful. I am going to try some more fans.

Than god question

Are you vertical?

If not why are you growing 8 foot tall plants indoors?

I use unitized screens that secure to the bucket lids. I've noticed it keeps the plant mighty sturdy. And I can move the bucket around. Keeps my canopy even and as a result all the buds past the screen are like top colas.

I have more space going up than sideways. I might try the unitized screens but ill have to find a plan to build them

Ps - Banana and 70's, Yes I agree with both of those ideas too, I am using something similiar to light yoyos at the moment but its mainly just changing the damn water every few weeks that has become the problem. My tent is a 5x5x10 (might be taller honestly), I've utilized every inch of space but am just having the issues of changing water in buckets hahaha.

I think another reason why this plant in particular was more susceptible to breaking kind of what you mentioned, the stems are weak, probably due to the way I topped it ( I was experimenting with bushing out plants). Maybe the answer to my problems is a fan so they get stronger, along with private screens for each plant, but this one is going to take me a minute to find out, as I can't even seem to find plans for it, Anycance u can help with that first time?

You could get a Battery-Operated Liquid Transfer Pump from Amazon for less then $20.

Then you just slide the DWC top open a little and stick it.

i bought a hand transfer pump at harbor freight for like $6..it would be OK for a couple buckets..after that..get a powered pump. I like the light hanger idea, i saw a setup someone had using those. Each bucket/tote top had 3 chains..like a hanging basket..he would just slide the plant under a hook in his ceiling, attach the 3 chains to a light hanger and lift it up, then slide the bucket out, leave the plant hang as you do your maintenance.

Cool, Maybe ill stick to using light yoyos and suck to securing them, Question on the pumps, I always change the buckets, Like I will take new buckets, clean them out and sterilize them, fill them with filtered water and use my nutrients in that, then add new heisenberg tea, this way I can be sure tehy are completely clean each water change. Is this not necessary? Do I not need to be scrubbing out the buckets every few weeks? I have double the buckets I need, this way when one is in use, I can clean an extra one, fill it with water/nutes, and just replace the lid onto the new bucket and clean and reuse the old bucket next time.

This has just become a pain moving them but I think I have found a decent system now, instead of moving my plants, I just bring the buckets to them, it takes some crawling around, but nothing someone with love for his ladies wouldn't do, hahaha.

My biggest question why are you bothering to change out your trays?
When I was growing in dwc I would never change out the water during flower.I was pulling 1-2 pds every 2 weeks and never had any problems with my leaving the water in the tray.My biggest problem was keeping up on the demand of water they where taking in.
I used reverse osmosis water and general hydroponics nutes.My ph was always perfect in fact after about 6 months I actually quit testing my ph in my trays and just mixed up my solution and added it to the trays as needed to keep them full.Never lost any to root problems or ph problems.
I did always get the trays cooled down as much as I could when the lights went out.The solution temp was always colder then the room temp,and I always used room temp water.I purchased my water from a local grocery store that used reverse osmosis.My trays where hand made so i covered then in aluminum tape and that reflected the light back away from the tray not allowing the tray to heat up the solution.

Every 3 days, I fill the buckets with more RO water, they drink about 3.5 gallons each every 3-4 days. This is no problem and very easy to do.

I don't add any new nutes when I add RO water, except for a small amount of bene bacteria to give it a recharge.

The problem comes every 2 weeks. I change the buckets to a clean one each 2 weeks, along with fresh nutes + water change. This has always been the easiest option as I have extra buckets, I can fill up an extra with clean water/nutes, make sure its as sterile and clean as possible, and just change the plant onto the new bucket. This works great until the plant is bigger than me.

I know your plant doesn't take up all the nutes in the bucket, just the H2O + what ever nutrients it needed during that time, meaning there's a really concentrated amount of nutes left in the bucket once you are low on water. I feel like even if I used a pump to pump out the rest of the water @ the bottom of the bucket every 2 weeks instead of just changing it to a sterilized bucket with fresh nutes/water, there would be chance to leave nutes in the bucket and burn my plants, or leave a contaminant in there long enough to take hold and give me problems.

The easiest option for me has always been to just clean a second bucket, put fresh nutes/H2O in it, and change the plant to the new bucket. This way I know EXACTLY whats in the bucket, and EXACTLY how long it's been since I've changed it last, so I can be 100% confident that nothing brewing in there.

Are you sure its safe to not clean your bucket for 2.5 months during flowering? That seems like asking for trouble with DWC and against everything I've ever been taught? Even before I used Bene's the bud booster and others would leave nasty residues, it seems like it would just build up a bunch of nastiness by the end of 2.5 months, I mean, how do you even flush in a dirty bucket? lol, especially a 2.5 month old residue-caked bucket?

Thank you for your input. So far my solution has just been to support the plants well and move the buckets right next to where u want the plant so you only have to move it 1/2 a foot, this way there's much less of a chance of messing things up.

I might get a pump, do 1 nute change with the pump and change the bucket every other nute changing (every month instead of 2 weeks), this seems like a fair compromise, do you agree?

EDIT: Also, what type of pump do people use for this? The fountain pumps require to be submerged and can't have a tube attached, so it stops suction once it is not under water completely (which leaves about 2.5" left in the bucket, which is no good at all lol). Also, I believe sticking a pump under a 3' cake of roots would present its own problems as I'd probably still have to lift the plant, meaning I might as well just change the bucket lol.

Would this work? Or is there a cheaper option.
http://www.harborfreight.com/12-volt-marine-utility-pump-9576.html

My goal would be to stick one tube in the bucket I want to empty, and another tube in a empty bucket or even out my damn window lol, turn her on and let her go, is this the answer?

simple solution bro- cut a hole on the bottom side of the bucket, plug it and when is time for a res change unplug it and let it drain.
better yet dont grow 8 ft plants indoors

There are lots of ways you could do it. A Battery-Operated Liquid Transfer Pump is a stick like pump. Google it.

You could also hook two buckets together with a hoes. Then set the one with the plant 2or3" up on blocks. You could monitor,fill and drain from the second bucket. If you put z7 water treatment in the water. It would keep it all clean.

Recirculating dwc is where its at.

Even if only using one dwc res, also use a remote res or epicenter.

Floor drains are also nice, but if you cant make it work, a sump pump (or any submersible pump) and a garden hose.

I have an auto-top off with a shut off valve, and a remote res that recirculates. Shut the valve and recirc pump off, then stick the sump pump in and drain.

Then turn the auto top off valve on, and add nutrients when full. I also have a pressure tank for ro storage. Sounds fancy, but in the grand scheme of things it wasn't that much and takes a lot of time and effort away.

- Jiji

Jwreck - Please move on, you are of no help here. Asinine ideas coming from someone that talks alot and has nothing to say.

Duke, I was looking at those but they look extremely cheap. also no one has answered my question. How do you clean the buckets if you just transfer the water? You just leave your system uncleaned for the whole flowering process? If I'm going to buy a transfer pump I figured I'd go for one of the nicer plug-in style that I could run hoses from, that sounds like the best solution.

Thanks Jiji, but That seems like it would be much more of a problem than a solution for me atm, I'm looking for a simple solution to not having to move my plants.

Im adding a screen and going scrogg on my next grow, it will be privatized per plant this way I can control them yet give them optimal support. I also want to be able to get the most yield as possible and that has always been the answer for me. I've pretty much got it figured out, thanks guys/lady.

I drilled a hole in the side at the bottom, put a grommet and an elbow with a piece of tubing running up the side of bucket. And would drain or top off thru that tube. Made things a lot easier. But I still had problems with them getting top heavy and falling over. I just made the switch to ebb n flow buckets should make life a lot easier.

Like others said, I use a pump, this one to be exact: http://www.amazon.com/VicTsing®-Submersible-Aquarium-Powerhead-Hydroponic/dp/B00EWENKXO/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1438528338&sr=8-6&keywords=water+pump

I only work with a 5 gal bucket for a res, once I was at 3-4 ft plus another foot or so in roots when you lift it, I had to start using the pump to get the old water out and then just poured another 4 gal of new in. I cleaned completely every time in the veg stage but then said fuck-it in the flower stage because it wasn't plausible due to the size. If I saw some gook or some shit in the bottom or on the tubes I would just wipe it out. If you're growing medicine than I guess cleaning would be optimal but if not then I wouldn't waste my time to over sanitize and all that.

DWC Meds said:

Thanks Jiji, but That seems like it would be much more of a problem than a solution for me atm, I'm looking for a simple solution to not having to move my plants.

Click to expand...

Using a grommet and hose and a 5 gallon bucket as a remote res is pretty simple. But if your not into that, I have did it another way before.

I used a tote as a res with a 2 inch hole in the lid for testing nutrients and res level. I also used that inspection hole for refilling. I plugged the hole with a standard ez cloner neoprene. In the rez I put a cheap eco plus pump, and piped out a pvc line and attatched the end with a garden hose fitting. All for less than 20 dollars.

I just left the pump in there permanently.


- Jiji