Fascinated by Krusty’s Freedom Buckets (KFB) style at old Overgrow I wanted to summarize a bit this grow technique. Krusty has posted articles about his buckets first at cannabisworld.com.
I went to all historical discussions (some of them pretty chaotic and info spread to multiple pages) and I’m sharing the most important facts about the technique. I haven’t tried it myself, but I’d like to identify and gather crucial factors that made this technique so successful. Krusty has quoted yields of 3.5 lbs per 1,000 watt light.
Motto:
It is more important to teach people how to grow properly with a stress-free
environment then to suggest products and/or techniques to aid the stressful
situation. - Krusty
Krusty Bucket System (KBS)
Key ingredients:
- Stress-free technique keeping all values (pH, temps) relatively stable
- Plants grown into “tree” bushes in recirculating NFT (nutrient film technique)
- Lamps hung vertically (no reflector), MH for added spectrum
- At least five lamps so each tree has at least 3 sides of light shining on it
- Extreme amount of air pumped to the buckets
Bucket construction
Krusty is using 5 gallon buckets fed by 1/4" drip irrigation and aired by 1/4" air line connected to Thomas compressor. In the bottom there is hole drilled for 3/4" yellow return “drain” line. The inner bucket sits on a 1 gallon pot (or water plant bucket), upside down, that has holes threaded with air-line soaker hose. This 1/4" soaker hose on the very bottom of the bucket is used to create extreme bubbles and aerate solution. Inner bucket is filled with lava rock.
Choosing the right size
Krusty experimented a lot with size of buckets, first using 3 gallons and later arrived at 5 gallons per bucket. “more tends to be better, since the more water/nutrient mass you have the easier it is to maintain temps/ph/ppm”.
Inner bucket is kept raised by inserting 1 gallon bucket upside-down (red bucket in the illustration - see gallery below). “Use the 1 gallon container and put it upside down. Drilling holes in it never made a difference to me 
just make sure that you drill the holes near the lip of the container (upside down remember) and push the 1/4 " soaker hose through that”.
He recommends reservoir with at least 15 gallons capacity: “I would for sure try and use 20 gallons…I don’t like using only 5 gallons in any system. But for sure 15 gallons works”.
This system looks like DWC but it is not! From Krusty’s notes: “Don’t get more then say 1-2 inches of nutrients at the bottom of each bucket. You don’t want DWC at the bottom of the buckets so make sure either you got the reservoir in ground or the buckets raised.”
Connecting lines in loops
He connects all buckets with feed lines and drain lines in a loop to balance them: “Feed line … should be in a complete loop so it equally pushes nutrients to each bucket then you won’t get build up in one bucket more then other.”
Important is to have equal pressure (and volume) in feeding lines so each bucket is fed equally. And that is the reason why both feeding and draining lines are looped:
I will run one direct line from pump/reservoir/ballast room into the grow room, then as soon as the green line 3/4" is say 2 feet into room I will put a T on it. Then from that T the greenline 3/4" hose is in a complete LOOP, as in it will go near as many buckets as possible and I try and keep the spaghetti lines all at even lengths…
Now the reason for this is to equal out the nutrient levels in the bottom of the 5 gallon buckets. Also I do the same thing with the return 3/4" lines too, but I don’t bring them back to a T, I bring them back to the reservoir, so yes two return lines to reservoir.
By looping both the feed and return lines I find consistent equal levels in the buckets, and this means a lot…you would be surprised!
Pumping extreme air
Massive amount of air pumped by Thomas air pump creates “froth” in the bottom. Larger amount of air will create better froth and maybe better production. The idea is to add air to the roots. He claims that this type of pump can supply 10 - 15 buckets.
He stresses out that amount of air pumped is the key: “There is no such thing as too much air. I fully think the air stimulates the roots which stimulates the growth and maximizes the yields/bud sizes.”
Guys using the little Hagen fish air pumps with the air stones…you ain’t getting it. That is not enough air. To equal the soaker hose you would need at least 10 of those air stones and more like 3 or 4 Hagen pumps to make it right. You need the commercial larger pump and soaker hose or else your results ain’t going to happen
Why Nutrient Film Technique
He distinguishes his NFT system from DWC (deep water culture) and calls it superior:
I personally HATE DWC…I made up a system similar to DWC back like 8 years ago and I saw a lot of problems with it. You must keep the majority of the fluids AWAY from the lights/heat of the room. If you have the buckets same level as the reservoir then your buckets will have about 6-10" of fluids/nutrients in them, that’s totally wrong. What I do is add a cradle under each bucket if this is the case, like if you can’t drill out your concrete. Hell, even when I have drilled out the concrete I still use the cradles. The cradles are made up of 2"x4". Basically you have the 2-2"x4" at the bottom on edge (making 3 1/2 “) then you cross brace the top of them with 2 more 2"x4” on flat… making 5" of height. If you have more then 2 inches of fluids in the bottom of your buckets then you have too much. You want the soaker line to froth the fluids, so that it creates a lot of bubbles and is like aeroponics. If you have 10 inches of water/nutrients in the bottom of the bucket you’re working with DWC and trust me…DWC has no comparison to Aeroponics. Aeroponics or NFT is by far the most advanced and perfect system, because the plants get to choose what it wants. If it wants air there is air all around the roots. If it wants nutrients then it is ALWAYS filmed with nutrients. So you want your system to go 24/7. Plants need both nutrients and air to the roots 24/7.
Little tip about Temperatures
He talks about importancy of solution temperatures, Krusty uses chiller to cool out reservoir. “Make sure your reservoir temperature is below 75°F. 68-72°F is where you want it.” and adds tip about raising temperatures during night: "When the lights are off you should try and keep temp higher. Add a fish tank heater and keep the reservoir temp at 75°F when lights are OFF…then around 72°F is perfect when lights are ON. You might want to even turn the heater off like 30-45 minutes before the lights turn on. I know this sounds like a pain in the ass but trust me. It’s a little secret among us heavier growers to keep the roots warmer during lights off. "
GH Nutrients and PPM
Krusty is pretty loyal to General Hydroponics and uses their complete line: “General Hydroponics is the best…i suggest trying ANYTHING that GH puts there name on. They are the only outfit I know that actually tries to work with growers for plant specific nutes.” His ppm ranges from 1200 - 1400. “Just keep to the directions on the side of the GH bottles, I would end up with say 1200”
Flushing every week
For best quality of final product he also flushes whole system regularly every week: “I like to feed for about 5 days straight then 2 days of water. This tends to prolong the aging process and lengthens the time before the buds ripen/die/fully mature. I have tried to NOT flush this often and I always end up with shitty crops so you keep on it and flush once a week. The water you flush with should have proper PH and temp, you want at least 12 hours of flushing with say less then 200 ppm water going through system.”
Vertical Lighting
Krusty is big believer of vertical hanging. He doesn’t trust any reflections from wall and suggests that the most usable light (60%) is lost when hanging lamp horizontally.
Unshaded light diagram
He also argues against use of shades as they capture the heat and kill the bulb over the time.
Shaded light diagram
Combining MH with HPS
To use this system efficiently more lamps is needed (so each plant is “covered” from different sides). “I personally think 4- 600 HPS watters and a single 1000 MH in the middle is kinda the smallest you want to go with this system The minimum room size would be 10’ X 10’ by 7’ tall.” He places metal halide in the middle and slightly above the canopy to spread light to whole room. HPS are elevated so the top of the bulb is the same height as the top of the plants until they are about 7 feet tall (including the bucket), “then i will lower the HPS so they are hitting the top 2/3rds”. He claims that using MH in combination with HPS prolongs the flowering phase producing larger buds.
Environment control
Krusty recommends following air humidity/temperatures:
Humidity 70% I find. When lights are on I like the temp to be 85°F and no less then 78°F when lights are off. It is OK to run at 90°F just make sure there is no more then a 10 degree difference between lights on and off… same with humidity… Don’t allow huge jumps in either… This will stress out the plants… They will spend more energy trying to adjust to the environment then they will spend growing and producing.
More reading about Krusty Freedom Buckets
Corrections, comments and additions are welcomed!
