Hey gang. I've been doing some research on growing lately, and with the minimal amount of space I have to grow in (36" h x 20" w x 24" l) and my thriftiness, I've decided on using a bubbleponic system. There's actually a really cool hydroponic shop in town and I've talked to the guy who owns it, and he's given me a lot of advice and information. But I still have a few questions. 1) I'm planning on using a rubbermaid tub, but I'm not sure which to use. The 18 gallon is close to the correct size, but I'm afraid it's just too damn tall. It would force me to use some kind of pump to get the water to the plants, which is an added expense. I also think it might be too complicated; I try to keep things simple and the added complexity might suck. Deep water culture seems to be the most efficient method, but to do that I would need to fill the bucket a whole bunch, which is a waste of nutrients. Am I worrying too much about the drip system? Or should I look for a rubbermaid container that isn't as tall? 2) The lid for either will be around 18"x13". How many plants could efficiently fit on top? I have six 4" buckets I've purchased already, but when I put them all on top they look too close together. Would five be better? Or even less? Thanks for any information you can give me.
Hey combatwombat, This can certainly be done but there are a lot of determining factors that still need to be considered. What type and wattage of light, what strain, growing technic, starting from seed or clone, veg time and a few others? I have seen grows on this site and I have personally seen grows with the lower profile rubbermaid containers 8.75" H. I have seen 2 plants per tub of C99 under a drafting desk with 2 x 250 HPS and a home made carbon filter in a garage! Awesome setup, no pics sorry, ventilation was key to this setup to remove the heat from the lights. I have seen a scrog on this site where a grower had 4 plants to a tub (they may have had the deeper reservoir). The garage setup was DWC (if you have a garden or house plants your nutes are not wasted) and was awesome! It can be done, his setup was all pieced together with things he bought at the local department store, ordered lights and nutes off the internet. Cheers, hope this helps a little, BillyBonzai
Derp, yeah I should've included some of that information, huh. I'm using CFLs, and the amount of wattage/lumens depends entirely on the number of plants I'm growing. For five, I'm shooting for 300w or so. Since this is just my first grow, I'm using some bagseed from some decent regs I had, so I honestly have no idea how it's going to react. Veg time I was going to play by ear. Yeah, I've seen some pretty amazing grows on the site with all kinds of setups. Surprisingly, though, when I searched for bubbleponic grows only a few came up. Is this because it's a crappy way to grow, or what? Are the bubble buckets with just a single plant per bucket that much better? Thanks!
Personally, I didn't see much difference if at all! Yeild was identical from when he used single buckets/single plants to using single tub/two plants. With the 2 X 250 W HPS he would yeild about 2 zips per plant with trim for butter and oil. It was enough to keep he and I in personal, I was forever grateful for the lessons he taught me as well! 2 plants per tub (clones mind you, clones are smaller and shorter for the most part than seed) were no problem, he would even have to tie them back occasionally as they would get too close to the light. CFL shouldn't be a prob though. There is no substitute for experience and no better time to get started than now. Like you said initially, don't complicate matters. Go with what you are comfortable with and know. Good luck, I guarantee if you keep reading as you go you will do just fine! There is enough information on this site to grow anything, anywhere! BillyBonzai
Yeah. There's a lot of chaff (goodness those grow journals are mostly chatter) but there's such a wealth of knowledge that I was thinking that. Hopefully I'll stumble across a decent rubbermaid bubble system I can study. Your Only two plants per tub? Is growing more than that a waste? There's a lot of conflicting evidence. The professional bubbleponic systems I've seen all employ something like six or eight net cups. Then again, some of them aren't necessarily built with growing marijuana in mind. Would I be overexerting myself using even five cups in single tub? If I buy a short tub, that would give me around two feet to grow. The only problem is it might not give the root systems enough room to develop. I've seen some amazing grows from five gallon buckets with incredibly dense root systems. Am I over concerning myself with bucket size? Sorry for the rambling, I think you guys understand why.
I believe the general rule of thumb is a 2' x 2' area per plant or 4 sq. ft. There are a number of current books about growing anything within a 1' x 1' space. It can be done as for your return and what is best, there really are too many determining factors at play here and I think the only way to solve them is try them for yourself. Wish I could be more helpful but my friend had a fair bit oof experience and studied his systems for a long time before trying them, he also had great results. I definitely think that 5 plants per tub is too many and after what I saw from his grows I wouldn't go more than 2. But it is your grow and you need to find what works for you. Start with 2 and if need be grow 3 or 4 next time round (I can almost guarantee this won't be your last grow). It really is the only way my friend, you just have to take off your boots and jump right in! You will find out what works best, ventilation and air movement are very important issues that often get overlooked and need consideration! Good luck, give it a whirl, as someone on here recently said, the stuff practically grows itself! Cheers, BillyBonzai
combatwombat, I am using an 18gal or so tub w/ a DYI bubbleponics setup.There's only about 3-4 gal in the tub at the most.A submersible pump is centered inside the tub where six hoses flow constantly to 6 (6in) net pots,inserted on the side,near the bottom of the pot..There's at least 12-14inches between the bottom of the pots and the water.I top feed clones for a while, then set them on the full time water drip.The tub should be completely lightproof so no yuckies grow inside.Also, air is a must.I would have at least an air pump for 100gal or so.I am running several smaller air pumps together.Constantly flowing, well aerated water kept in the dark will stay cleaner much longer.
My last grow was in a huge DIY rubbermaid bubble tub with 3 plants in a 2'x3' space under 400w HPS. I'm hard headed so I go and do my own thing instead of learning from others' mistakes but I do learn from my own. Knowing what I know now, I am gonna go back to the basics and run with 2- 5 gallon bubble buckets in a 2'x4' space (my first hydro grow was 5- 5 gal bubble buckets years back under the same 400w HPS in a much larger space). So, my advice would be to use a single 5 gallon container (bucket, tub, whatever) with a single plant (18 gal in that small space is pretty big). Everyone wants to grow a dozen plants in a shoe closet I know (I did it too on one of my first grows), but you don't really have room for more than 1 (assuming you use either a screen or branch tieing) because she's gonna get really bushy and buds will be competing for light from just 1 plant.