I recently started some Orange Goji seeds by @50State, courtesy of @Jetdro, and have been saying that I’d start my own thread instead of cluttering his, lol.
While I haven’t yet managed to come up with anything interesting to say by way of introduction, I do at least have some pics of my progress so far:
They’re growing fast and vigorous, just as Jet claimed they would. At this rate, I think I can reasonably anticipate transplanting them into fabric pots and starting up the flood and drain in the near future
I will also be using this thread to document other strains and projects as they progress, just so that I can have a single spot to keep updated rather than maintaining individual grow logs for each.
Off to a great start, look healthy as can be. I like the way you arrange them all the time, lol!
I suspect they shall love f/d and kick ass for you.
So, fabric pots in a flood n drain setup. What size pots you gonna use?
Gonna do straight coco for a medium like these Dixie’s ?
This is going to be a great run, sure hope you get 3 ladies or more!!!
IF I did not have my octopots, flood n drain would be my method of choice I think.
Please show how it all sets up and how you time everything, I would like to see that.
I’m actually thinking of trying 1gal fabric pots this time. I’ve tried 3gal and that worked well enough but wasn’t ideal. The 2gal pots worked really well in recent runs, but the Glue I had in the 1gal in the last run seemed to actually do better than the plants in 2gal right next to it. I’ve been repeatedly convinced that with coco, small pots and multiple feedings per day works best for the way I want to grow.
You’ve probably seen this old photo from me before. It’s a one-gallon pot that was fed every few hours (PPK style for those who know wtf that is, lol).
All of which is to say that I’m a firm believer that giving roots plenty of oxygen makes for healthy plants, and one way that’s simple and convenient for me to do that is to put them in small pots that basically require multiple waterings per day. Between vigorous plants drinking most of what’s available, and the mechanical aeration of a flood and drain cycle, the roots get fairly well oxygenated.
Plus, you and your Octopots have me convinced that bottom watering only, to create multiple root zones where the top half of the container remains relatively drier than the bottom due to capillary action only being able to draw the solution up to a limited height, is beneficial.
I think I can dial that in even better in a 1gal fabric pot, and the Glue that I tried it with seems to hint that I’m right. I hope so, lol. I guess we’ll see.
Welcome! I’ve got a lot to learn as well. I’m not as good as I pretend to be on TV, but I can usually fake it well enough to fill the jars with decent homegrown. I’m always trying out new things, and it doesn’t always work out, but I am enjoying the journey!
Been reading about ppk, it’s interesting but I’m not quite sure I get it…are you top or bottom feeding?
From what I’ve seen its a res with a pot on top, the res water gets pumped up to the top of coco then drains back down, but wouldn’t that just result in really overwet coco all the time? What’s the significance of the ‘tailpiece’?
Gotta love a good plan. Yup, air exchange is where it is at, capillary too. You have a good plan.
Cool thing is the plants your running will reward you big time if you get it all right. Just know, if they get what they want, they will flat ass grow beautifully. Has to be nice KNOWING you are not wasting your time growing these “unknown’s”
Prolly gonna pale compared to GealtoCookieZook 53 though!! LMAO!!!
You got this Howard, going to be an excellent show, glad you started up a thread for these.
Hope the OHGA is still around and kicking, she will run right with the OG’s ,
@50State’s OG is now “infamous”…maybe soon to be just famous!
To be clear, PPK is something I tried previously. I liked it and had a few great harvests, but I prefer Flood and Drain tbh.
The tailpiece serves two purposes: To drain the Perched Water Table from the main pot into a small volume of coco below the main pot, and to serve as a wick when needed (such as during the night cycle or in the event of pump failure).
Because of the tailpiece serving as a way to move the PWT to completely below the bottom of the pot, you can feed the plant as many times as you like without the main pot being overwatered. It actually works really well in practice (as those roots will testify), assuming that there is a sufficient “air gap” between the bottom of the pot and the surface of the reservoir to enable gravity to balance the capillary action of the medium.
Saturating the pot and then draining it well via the tail pipe displaces old air and draws in fresh air, and doesn’t leave the bottom roots sitting in that two inch high perched water table.
If it’s dialed in right, you will get maximum air- and water-holding ratios for your chosen medium.
I’m pretty high and exhausted, might be able to explain it better tomorrow.
Ok that makes sense, I thought you were running flood and drain and wondered if you had some sort of hybrid, bottom feeding ppk type setup going. I’m less confused now
But I am still confused about the tailpiece setup. I get most of it, but why is it any different from say a pot on a mesh rack that can drain freely? Also if it’s above the top of the res water then how can it help if a pump fails? Are roots allowed to go right down it into the water?
Sorry for bombarding you with questions, just trying to wrap my stoned mind around this haha
A wire rack will not allow the pot to drain fully, there will still be a perched water table at the bottom that is saturated with water. How high the perched water table is depends on the capillary action of your chosen media, and it doesn’t matter how wide the pot is. The tailpiece has a perched water table too, it just keeps it in a small diameter column below the main pot.
15+ years of growing and reading and I have literally never come across this concept until now, you think it would be talked about alot more… I’ve got some reading to do
I’m about to start some plants in coco. How do you start out your seedlings and any precharge in the coco? Any tips for the first week, after that I think I’ll be good! I’m running masterblend which is like jacks.
