Ppk

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

DrFever

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2012
Messages
830
Reaction score
32
I have been pondering doing something like this for a little while think its time to actually get off my you know what and make me couple of these to my understanding growth rates and yields are just incredible

View attachment ppk.pdf
 
PPK Theory
Introducing “Hydraulic Redistribution”.
In the beginning of this thread with plant or ppk #1, I maintained a strict “no top watering” policy after
the first two weeks and I grew a decent plant. It produced 7 1/8 oz of dry bud. I guess I just wanted to
see if I could do it with this new device. With each successive plant, however, I began top watering
various amounts and frequencies to see if it would have a profound effect upon growth. What I found was
that a small amount of top watering produced a better plant. The first plant had the lowest yield of any
ppk to date. All subsequent plants have yielded more. What I found was that a very small amount of
water applied several times a week to the top of the medium improved growth. I am not talking about
enough water to supply the plant, but just enough to moisten the top. The plants were still getting the
bulk (90% plus) of their water from sub-irrigation.
I had no clear explanation of why this was occurring, only that it was. I also wondered about the necessity
of continuing this practice throughout the life of the plant. I have continued it to date at all stages of
growth just because I didn't understand the mechanism.
I now think I know why and for how long.
 
so in reality there are 3 res's The lower bucket acts as a res for each individual plant. There is also a main res that is drawn off of to feed the pulse feeding flow of nutes. He uses one more res to keep the main res topped off with by a float valve.

So three types of res's. A main res a top off res and a individual plant res.
and what is great about this style as we will get into is there is never root disease , gnats or other issues

Basically it is a large shallow pot placed upon a collection bucket. The pot has turface in it. The turface is so that you do not get fungas nats and what not. It last pretty much for ever. It is expensive depending on where you live because of trucking. You can run any wicking type media that has about 30% air pourosity.

The upper pot has wicks that drop down into the lower collection pot. This is to help if your pump goes down and to set the height of the perched water table. The lower pot drains back into your main res. This is just pumped back to the plants on a timer. A key point here is the level of the water in the collection bucket. You want the perched water table to be at the very bottom of the upper pot. You will have to play with the height till you find the sweet spot for your media to get the perched water table at the correct spot.

They use a weak nut mix and don't worry about the flush. It is generally about 1.0-1.1 EC. Most use Jacks 5-12-26 and calcium nitrate.

Basically the PPK is about getting the media at the perfect balance. Which means getting the perched water table low enough to not stunt the plants from a to wet of a media. Complete air exchange in the media by flooding the media when you water in one big watering to fill all the voids with the nute mixed water. Watering several times a day to bring in fresh air and balance the media's PH and nute balance.

View attachment user427053_pic1290532_1406090600_thumb.jpg

View attachment user427053_pic1290530_1406090600.jpg

View attachment user427053_pic1291703_1406254849 (1).jpg
 
Looks like you got it dialed in. You`re over my head with this, but I grow in soil. My last grow, and this one, only get watered from the bottom. Do give them an occasional small drink from the topside. Keeps the top couple inches of soil dry, which is supposed to eliminate soil knats. Can`t say if it works or not, as I`ve never had a bug in my grow room. On my 6th grow in 3 years.
 
It's a flood/drain system combined with a wick fed system. The two work synergistically to create an ideal root zone environment. The flood/drain part of the system insures that not only is the nutrient solution in the root zone regularly refreshed (preventing salt build up and deficiency), but also that high levels of oxygen are maintained. No different from any other flood/drain system. However the drain portion of the flood/drain setup on a ppk has two functions. One obviously to act as a drain for the flood cycle, but it also acts as a wick. Often referred to as the "tailpiece". The wicks primary function in the ppk, is to remove the perched water table (PWT) that would otherwise be generated after each flood cycle. By removing the PWT you end up with much more of the root zone in the ideal oxygen range. This in turn simulates greater root growth from your plants, resulting in faster vegging, and ultimately larger yields . So technically the ppk is hybrid between a flood/drain and wick hydro systems .

View attachment DSC_0005.jpg

View attachment DSC_0009.jpg

View attachment DSC_0013.jpg

View attachment DSC_0024.jpg

View attachment DSC_0037 (640x425).jpg

View attachment DSC_0034 (640x425).jpg
 
tricked out manifolds Throw in auto topping off by using a bulk res to keep the same level of water connected to a ro float valve in the control res, (res that holds the pump, and where the return drains from under each planter come back to)
Pretty slick really once you get everything dialed in then you just sit there and watch her run till u gotta fill the bulk res again. The bigger the bulk res the longer u go on vacation

View attachment 9-6-14 (1).jpg

View attachment 9-6-14 (2).jpg

View attachment 9-6-14 (3).jpg

View attachment 9-6-14 (4).jpg

View attachment 9-6-14 (6).jpg

View attachment 9-6-14 (9).jpg
 
DrFever,
You da man. Outstanding looking grow rooms.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top