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budculese

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i'm doing a soil-scrog grow . what kind of "rock, gravel " or "other kind" of bottom of bucket do people put at the very bottom of an 5 gal. bucket ? so what's at the bottom?and why?
 
ozzydiodude said:
perlite to create a space to store water in and give the roots fresh air space belw the soil.
how deep do you go with perlite?
 
Perlite here as well and I use bout 3" off the bottom of the buckets ( air holes at 1")(5gal bucket) then my soil mix on top of that.....Peace ~"
 
same here about 3 inches of perlite hole 2 inches off the bottom that way I have 2" of water resivor(?) and 1" of air space at all times
 
I use hydroton generously mixed with my soil.
 
River rock...its free or a buck or 2 for a 50lb bag. plus perlite always "falls out" the bottom holes for me so never found much use for bottom bucket covering at $5 a bag.
 
Like Gone2pot!, i used Hydroton, Worked great for my 1st grow.
 
I used some coarse crushed stone left over at a nearby job site. free.99! no im not condoning raiding job sites, this stuff was spilled in the parking lot (I swear!) :D

it was my first grow so I dont have anything to compare to, but IMO helped with drainage and made for good wet/dry cycles. It also helped keep dirt from flushing out IMO.
 
I do a lot of outside container gardening at my place since my soil is so bad. You would be surprised at the things you can use in the bottom of pots to aid in drainage. I never use perlite because it comes out the drainage holes. Save all those little mesh type bags that things like potatoes and onions come in, sometimes I get cherry tomatoes in a smaller bags. They use these type bags for a variety of products, not just veggies. I like to use things that have very little weight to them for my drainage layer. I fill these bags with things like empty medicine bottles tightly capped or styrofoam peanuts--makes for a great drainage layer.
 
I use broken pottery pieces or anything that I can find. I then layer a piece of weedblock over it to keep the soil out. I put holes at the very bottom side of the bucket for drainage. I don't like the idea of standing water at the bottom because it can stagnate.
 
In my experience the right soil with good drainage is fine by itself. I am a soil grower and I use nothing in the bottom of my pots other than maybe a couple of stones from the yard to cover the drain holes.
 

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