What is the point of an elevated runoff in coco?

Why doesn't everybody just put the smart pots/whatever pots in saucers and wet vac out the excess? Why waste vertical space and time building an elevated platform for the pots with a complicated catch system underneath?

Is excess water/nutes really bad in saucers if you let it sit for few hours or something?

I'm new sorry if this is obvious.

The point is to get rid of the build up of excess/unused nutrients.

Wattzzup said:

The point is to get rid of the build up or excess/unused nutrients.

Click to expand...

Right I appreciate that. Sorry if I wasn't clear. What I don't understand is why can't you just use saucers outside the pots to catch the runoff? Why this costly, space-restricting set-up I see all over this forum of guys creating a separate platform for the plants with a catch system underneath?

What difference does it make if it's in a simple 2 dollar saucer vs. dripping down into a catch tray?

There must be a reason guys do the latter and spend a hundred bucks and a few hours labor, not to mention accepting the vertical space loss. I just don't get it.

For me, it's about zero touch.
I feed coco up to 5 times a day.
Automated. Runoff is drained away. Zero touch.

Dehuhey.....gravity drain. Zero touch. No bucket duty.

TintEastwood said:

For me, it's about zero touch.
I feed coco up to 5 times a day.
Automated. Runoff is drained away. Zero touch.

Dehuhey.....gravity drain. Zero touch. No bucket duty.

Click to expand...

That makes sense. It's a lot of work to put the hoses in and get it drained, but then, zero work.

But Tint (gorgeous doggo btw) here is what i don't get...these hundreds if not thousands of guys on this forum who have an elevated platform for the pots, that drip into a 2 gallon bucket. That's what I'm asking. What is the point of that? Is it dangerous to the plants to just use saucers? If you use saucers, do the nutes somehow leach back into the roots through the pot somehow?

Surely there is a reason these guys use elevated platforms.

I understand why you do what you do with the drainage. But Everybody and their mother has no drainage hosing, they just waste a foot of space by having these big-ass platforms for their pots. Why? What am I missing?

When growing with added nutrients in the water, typically the drainage is 10-20%, and flushes are multiples of the pot size. Think about how much fluid that is to mop up even using a vac...

Airflow all around the pot is good to prevent problems.
Sitting in nutrient water may cause salt buildup and plant health issues.

"Plant Elevators are specially designed to help raise your fabric or plastic pot out of the bottom of a saucer. This elevates the pot out of potential excess water that gathers in the saucers. This can be crucial in preventing root rot, mold issues and helps extend the longevity of your fabric or plastic pot."

If you want a no drainage zero touch bottom feed. Better for soil than coco.

(I've never used them, they just seem cool)

TintEastwood said:

Airflow all around the pot is good to prevent problems.
Sitting in nutrient water may cause salt buildup and plant health issues.

"Plant Elevators are specially designed to help raise your fabric or plastic pot out of the bottom of a saucer. This elevates the pot out of potential excess water that gathers in the saucers. This can be crucial in preventing root rot, mold issues and helps extend the longevity of your fabric or plastic pot."

Click to expand...

ComfortCreator said:

When growing with added nutrients in the water, typically the drainage is 10-20%, and flushes are multiples of the pot size. Think about how much fluid that is to mop up even using a vac...

Click to expand...

Thanks men. That makes total sense. I don't know how to build a sleek platform and was hoping I didn't have to but obviously I should. Thank you.

They tray can be the biggest expense. The pvc is ezpz.
Just 1 example of thousands.

No wood.

Because some people are on timed drip systems and they don't want their plants sitting in runoff and the saucers overflow. Not everyone has time to hand water and vacuum up the runoff or their grows are too big to make it feasible.

I use blumats with coco so I don't have any runoff.

TintEastwood said:

If you want a no drainage zero touch bottom feed. Better for soil than coco.

(I've never used them, they just seem cool)

Octopot Hybrid Grow Systems

Octopot is your modern meets low-tech solution to growing any kind of plants. Yes, even that kind.

www.octopot.com

Click to expand...

SIP's are a great way to go. But they are also very easy to make. The octopot is just a small container with a hole on top. Not really worth $50 to a DIY'er like myself. I've been thinking of making some using a net pot, fabric pot, and 5 gallon bucket. Same concept. I already have the net pots, buckets, and fabric pots but if I went out and bought everything it would cost less than $10 a unit to make.

But what I'm also thinking about is using a capillary mat system and just setting fabric pots on top of that. There are many ways to simplify watering.

Ya'll are smart and specific.

Thank you gentlemen. I get it now.

I'll chime in with a different approach. My plants are in #5-tall pots that sit in saucers. I hand water everyday, just enough to bring my pots to 100% field capacity. I try for no more run-off than the catch saucer can hold. duh. So it doesn't over flow. Whatever run-off is left just gets soaked backup by the plants. In the past, I would fire up my bucket-top shop vac and suck up the water. The past year or so I have just left it there. I haven't seen a diff between the 2 methods.

Look at big AG. They do the bare minimum they can to get quality product with out trying to reinvent the wheel.

The older I get and grow the more I try to make it easier on myself. I often think people make growing weed so freaking difficult, when it really doesn't have to be.

So there, someone who goes against the grain.

I have done both, I'm currently using saucers because when I built the new room I didn't have money for trays. It's a ton of work trying to vacuum 44 saucers. I've also found that when I use saucers I get kinda lazy and don't get as much run off. Bud quality still turns out okay but I def prefer the tables so I can get more run off more often. If you go with no run off you have to be right on with your feeds or you end up burning your plants.

A couple thoughts:

Ive used the elevated tray systems in the past for multiple reasons...

Mainly is the run off problem everyone stated... Also though, Ive had grows in limited vertical spaces and have used the elevation to start or raise shorter plants to even out the canopy with a mother on lower elevations without moving the lights, just lower as they grow.

I've also used them inside a concrete floor basement grow, which temps are fine, but can get cold in the winter, so to stop that transfer of heat into the floor, and lowering the plants pot temps, I would build some insulation/elevation which can be as cheap as a wire cage to lift the plant, allow airflow, and even if you wanted to put a saucer under all to catch the runoff thats cool (for that set up, we had a sump pump and drain in the floor so didnt need to, the run off would drain and fans would dry in 5 minutes.

Then I started growing more organic where runoff wouldnt be an issue if you were watering a normal amount, but I still built a tray and the main reason was because it sucks leaning over the pots on the floors when you have a bad back, and if you have a ton of work to do that day, its unbearable for someone with back pain/issues.. So the elevated tables just keep things around waist/chest height and can have a healthier posture when working. There are some people who dont have height limits (reasonably) so the veritcal height loss doesnt matter much to them, I can see how it might for someone only growing like 1-4 smaller plants though.


Seems you got a little more info than you bargained for in this thread from everyone lol, Sorry.. Its a good observation and question though.

Someone definitely said it here I forget who, but people tend to make things so complicated with growing, half of which is caused by gimmicky marketers and broscience-y type shit... But I've noticed the same, as I get older and grow longer, things become easier and less work (evolution to organics being one example) and I've grown better plants now off less cash investment, but with more knowledge in organics and basic soil/plant science and have outgrown large ops that I had in my teens and 20s with large cash investments on the best products. So, interesting to see everyones styles and progression of growing. Cant wait to see where we're at in 10-20 years now that its legal and people are openly discussing their personal legal grows more and more.

NeWcS said:

I often think people make growing weed so freaking difficult, when it really doesn't have to be.

Click to expand...

You're not the only one.

NeWcS said:

I'll chime in with a different approach. My plants are in #5-tall pots that sit in saucers. I hand water everyday, just enough to bring my pots to 100% field capacity. I try for no more run-off than the catch saucer can hold. duh. So it doesn't over flow. Whatever run-off is left just gets soaked backup by the plants. In the past, I would fire up my bucket-top shop vac and suck up the water. The past year or so I have just left it there. I haven't seen a diff between the 2 methods.

Look at big AG. They do the bare minimum they can to get quality product with out trying to reinvent the wheel.

The older I get and grow the more I try to make it easier on myself. I often think people make growing weed so freaking difficult, when it really doesn't have to be.

So there, someone who goes against the grain.

Click to expand...

That's what I do sometimes aswell mate. The run off is only dangerous if the nutes were made wrong in the first place.
Think what a hempy bucket is. Same thing.

absolute moron said:

Why doesn't everybody just put the smart pots/whatever pots in saucers and wet vac out the excess? Why waste vertical space and time building an elevated platform for the pots with a complicated catch system underneath?

Is excess water/nutes really bad in saucers if you let it sit for few hours or something?

I'm new sorry if this is obvious.

Click to expand...

Hi OP, this is basically exactly how my setup works. I have a low tide flood table sitting on top of two rubber made storage tubs. They are pretty shallow, but quite wide 7-8 in deep and about 30 in x 15 in. They are not that big, but hold about 7 gal all the way full. The back tub has the lid on underneath the flood table to make the back of the table just slightly higher to help with water flow to the drain, and the front one has no lid and sits under the drain holes in the flood table. The pots sit right in the flood table and runoff drains down the channels in the flood table to the bin underneath. Every 2-3 days I use a wet vac to suck out the runoff, and every couple weeks I pull the runoff bin out and wash it just to make sure nothing is getting funky down there.

I agree that a lot of run to waste systems seem to complicated and this was set up to be as simple as possible.

Happy growing!