What do you do with waste water?

[firsttimeARE]

Im thinking of starting some DTW in coco and was wondering what to do with the waste/how much waste is there?

 

[Creature1969]

How much will depend on your setup. How many plants, pot size and how long you feed.

I average a quart per plant per day running a gallon through 4 gal buckets. 2 plants currently so only 1/2 gallon total daily. That goes to my bonsai Cypress and Redwood trees.

My last grow had about 1.5g/day that got dumped on a dying Juniper shrub in the yard 2x a week. That shrub is currently the greenest thing in my yard and also why I feed my bonsai with runoff now.

Just seems a waste to toss out nutes that could be used up elsewhere.

Curious to read what others do, especially larger grows.

 

[OrganicGorilla]

In the summer, I used to water my vegetable garden with it. Can always water hanging baskets and stuff too.

 

[firsttimeARE]

I plan on running 2 4x4 flood tables with 9 plants per in 3g pots.

From what ive been reading from clones ill be watering once every couple days until they get a good root mass going. Once a day starting 2nd week and twice a day starting 3rd week. Up to 5x a day after flower stretch.

Never grown coco not sure the % runoff to aim for and what each pot will take.

I plan on mixing a batch of nutes in a 55gal barrel for a whole week worth and setting the pump on a timer to feed. The run off will go into the 40gal reservoir for the flood table.

Was just wondering if that would be big enough to run 2 tables so I dotn have to buy another res.

Sounds like ill be OK if you get 1g/day from 4 plants. That would be about 5g/day for my 18. I dont want to be having to empty the run off constantly. Going this way for less maintenance.

Are my pot sizes too big? I only plan on vegging for a couple weeks as I dont want huge plants

 

[Creature1969]

I wish I had the space to run a setup like that. lol

I'm on my 4th go at coco. Growing autos and hand watering so differences abound. Keep in mind these are autos with 4-5 weeks veg time grown under COBs in a closet with 24 hours of light.

4gal buckets watered once daily averages me 4-6 foot plants, ~4 - 6oz on average.

1gal Folgers can gave me a 3 foot plant and 3.5oz but I needed to water 3-4x day to keep her happy. She didn't get much runoff through flower because I had to feed so often. Chunky buildup in the bottom at the end. Not real bad, but there.

The 4 gals I feed very lightly (50% Canna's light feed/+added calmag) and water to 25% runoff. Feed a gallon, get a quart back. Could be overkill but there's never any build up in the bottom of my pots. Every plant I've grown in these get huge for my space. Currently 2 4' auto's and one of them was topped.

If I were using automated watering, I'd personally grow in 1 gal pots. My next grow is going in both 2 and 3 gal to see if I can get 24 hours between feedings and run more, smaller plants.

It's been my personal experience just screwing around (yeah I like to experiment, maybe too much) that pot/plant size relation is different between soil and coco. That could just mean I'm better with coco than soil which is also true.

You might have to do the Goldilocks thing to figure what size suits you best.

 

[bran1981]

I run an auto setup with 2 gal pots and only have to water twice a day. They get about 5 foot after stretch and been averaging about 6 o's per plant.

 

[firsttimeARE]

Im scrogging so im looking at maxing out 2ft. tall.

I filled up 4 pots as im having doubts about how these will turn out and put the rest dwc. They surprisingly used a lot of medium. The pots im using are 3gal but the hydro guy said they looked more like 2gal.

Seems like i could get away with 1gals in the future.

I filled bottom two inches and top two with hydroton as I heard that helps drainage and reduces evaporation.

In the beginning should,I water just enough to get the medium around the plant wet or the whole pot?

Pots are about 9"-10" diameter

 

[firsttimeARE]

Another thing. I read people watering for 2 minutes but the max drippers I found were 10GPH. At only 2 minutes watering thats only a third of a gallon being delivered.

 

[whitebb2727]

Just don't dump it down the drain. Its getting to be a bigger problem and waste water plants are having to deal with it.

 

[firsttimeARE]

I know that.

I usually empty my dwc buckets onto my lawn outside

 

[whitebb2727]

I know that.

I usually empty my dwc buckets onto my lawn outside

It was a general statement.

People may not think about it.

The water plant here has big holding ponds with plants growing to help remove some of it.

 

[ANC]

I'm busy doing my first coco grow with no runoff (yes, sacrilege) We are in a drought though. I have a theory that it will be OK for the duration of a growing cycle. Shit will be hot as lava afterward.

 

[Creature1969]

I'm running auto's so it's seed straight into coco. I water (with rhizotinic) lightly just like a soil grow for the first 10+ days. As soon as I feel they need more than rhizo I go full flood daily.

Dunno about the timer but it sounds about right for 1 gallon pots. Takes almost a quart to see runoff from 1 gallon of straight coco in my experience.

@whitebb2727 I bet that's the final blow to legal indoor home grows in the US some day.

 

[Creature1969]

I'm busy doing my first coco grow with no runoff (yes, sacrilege) We are in a drought though. I have a theory that it will be OK for the duration of a growing cycle. Shit will be hot as lava afterward.

There's no runoff with the bottom fed autopots. People grow crazy plants with those.

 

[ANC]

I sometimes feel guilty when I throw unused fertilizer water on the lawn. The phosphates getting into the water table is not good.
When it gets to dams and rivers it causes algae blooms that suck all the oxygen out, killing the fish. Living next to a river does not help this feeling of guilt.

I normally feed with two buckets, one gets filled, then I would sink the whole pot or bag in it, wait for the air to come out, then transfer into bucket number 2 to drain. Would be nutz for the size of grow I am busy with, I would spend all day it there.

 

[whitebb2727]

I'm running auto's so it's seed straight into coco. I water (with rhizotinic) lightly just like a soil grow for the first 10+ days. As soon as I feel they need more than rhizo I go full flood daily.

Dunno about the timer but it sounds about right for 1 gallon pots. Takes almost a quart to see runoff from 1 gallon of straight coco in my experience.

@whitebb2727 I bet that's the final blow to legal indoor home grows in the US some day.

I would say you are right.

Its the reason I grow organic. I don't have to deal with the waste. I also have a small farm and its free.

 

[whitebb2727]

I will also say that cannabis being illegal has repercussions as well.

Look at the illegal cartel and guerrilla grows. Tbose guys go into the wild and dam up creeks and use poisons and what not. Its devastating.

 

[ANC]

I think running our grows using electricity is even more devastating.
The idea of farming taking place under lights and roof is ridiculous unless you also build the power plants next door.

 

[firsttimeARE]

It was a general statement.

People may not think about it.

The water plant here has big holding ponds with plants growing to help remove some of it.

High nitrogen and phosphorus creates algae blooms which starve the water of oxygen and leads to deadspots where everything aerobic dies.

This is a major problem all over the world.

 

[firsttimeARE]

I will also say that cannabis being illegal has repercussions as well.

Look at the illegal cartel and guerrilla grows. Tbose guys go into the wild and dam up creeks and use poisons and what not. Its devastating.

Read something on this recently in Cali they are finding illegal pesticides in rivers. Funny part is that illegal growing took place near there years prior. Scientists believe the soil acts as a filter and slowly releases the contaminants. Like a layer cake they said.