NFT Help Needed

[jrobertson]

when you are doing ebb and flow, or flood and drain what is the normal flushing times? Once a month or? The plants look healthy and are growing like crazy, they average 9 to ten inches in height, I am doing this by hand. I use fresh ferts, flora nova green, as they have been in the veg stage since the 17th of january, and the ph 5-5,or 5-7, the leaves look good except one plant that has a couple of leaves that look as if they are starting to pucker a bit and they are the new growth. Any comments would be grately appreciated. thanks jr

 

[jrobertson]

I hope I put this in the right section.

 

[MJ20]

Some guys on here say they flush once every 10 days or more.Don't quote me on this (I can't find the thread) but SB talked about the system being able to go for a long time without flush.I kinda gather (from the post that I saw and can't find>again>i can't remember some of it) that he meant you can run it for atleast 15 days without flush

 

[Stoney Bud]

when you are doing ebb and flow, or flood and drain what is the normal flushing times? Once a month or?

It all depends on usage of your nutrient solution.

I design my units so that the nutrients are used fast enough not to require any flushing ever.

The key is if your nutes are more than 30 days old. If you add enough fresh nutrient solution to the reservoir to turn the entire batch around within 30 days, then flushing would be a waste of time and money.

However, if there is an appreciable amount of solution that grows older than 30 days, you should flush each 30 days and fill the entire reservoir with fresh solution.

I have two questions for you:

1. How many gallons does your reservoir hold?

2. How many gallons per/day do you add of fresh made nutrients?

 

[jrobertson]

hello SB and smoker 20, I water by hand with fresh nutes three times a day, each time i mix a gallon of ferts and ph the water to 5-6 or 5-7 the ppm runs about 840 at the highest, then discard the run off. Can't afford any different way right now. Plus power shortage. I have a 600 watt hps,sucker fan and ossilating fan,temp of 75 when lights on, temp od 62 when lights out.

 

[jrobertson]

hello sb and smoker 20, I water by hand and discard the return water, I'm using flora nova green 850 ppm, ph-d water 5-6, 5-7, I did flush with ph'd water the other day, then went back to feeding the girls, as the same as above, its just one plant thats doing this, the seeds were given to me by a friend. the ones I sent for just wouldn't grow for me. They are all a indica type plant. thanks for your quick replys, have a great day everyone...

 

[Stoney Bud]

hello sb and smoker 20, I water by hand and discard the return water...

In an Ebb and Flow system?

Do you have a picture of your system? Maybe you could describe it to me.

 

[jrobertson]

my system is very simple, to troughs lined with heavy white plastic, the troughs are six inches wide and 8' long, both are elevated so they drain slowly and completely into a run off tub. We put rockwool in the bottom of the troughs, the plants are placed first in the troughs then I add the rest of the rockwool. each plant has its own pot that they were started in. a tobacco plastic container with the bottom cut out so that the roots can grow down through the bottom of the pot and down the trough in the rockwool. Pretty prehistoric but it seems to work for us for the time being, maybe we will be able to improve one day.. thanks for your reply, but how often would you flush? I don't have a camera yet either.
jr

 

[can of ownage]

This sounds more like a NFT to me. ebb and flow is when u FLOOD ur whole grow chamber and then it DRAINS down into a reservior. what it sounds like ur doing is watering the top that way it just runs down and the plants can get to it but even at that if u dont have it going constantly idk what it really is.... but doing a manual NFT sounds tiring....if i were u id at least get a hamster or somthing and improvise a way to get electricity off of him running on the wheel to power a pump ( im just kidding). if its working for now i guess its ok but if u wanna do a ebb and flow ull need a whole new set of parts... at least i would think so..

 

[jrobertson]

when you flush for maintenance, how many times, one day or two days or three? the hamsters are on order.. bye

 

[Stoney Bud]

how often would you flush?

Now I know what you have. You've got an NFT, (Nutrient Flow Technique), system.

I use one for my veggy garden outside. I've never flushed it in it's life. I clean it out after each crop.

The extra cost of mixing more nutrients each time you feed could be offset with the purchase of a reservoir and a small pump and timer. You set the timer to pump a trickle of nutrient to the top of the system each couple of hours. Then you only have to add fresh nutrients to your reservoir as it gets used.

You'll find that an NFT system is a PITA to use for MJ, but good luck to you man.

 

[jrobertson]

the hamsters are busy and the girls are liken there company.