Hey guys. Im planning on building a table for my main bit in my grow room. (view journal) I will be turning the 3 current 600w hps lights 90 degrees and adding 1 more 600w hps, so there will be 4 600s over the table, i will be using a screen. The table will be about L 5mtrs x W 1.5-2 mtrs my questions..... 1. should i cut down my buckets that i am currently useing and fill them with clay balls and put 8 under each light? 2. should i scrap the buckets and just fill the hole table with clay balls, and plant clones directly onto the table? with 8 clones under each light. 3. What are the pros and cons of using buckets/pots or filling the hole table with clay balls? 4. If i fill the hole table with balls what depth do i need the medium to be? optimum! was thinking about 5 inches, should it be deeper? 5. if i use the cut down buckets how deep should they be to grow a good sized plant on a screen. will be growing only big bud on the table.....and blue widow and blue hash will each have there own light on other side of the room grown in soil. Thanks
I grow six plants in each 30x30x9 inch table. Each table is under a 1000w HPS in 4x4 foot of floor area. I find the plants do better when their roots have the whole table to roam. At the end of the grow the whole table is a root ball. Each table takes 110L of hydroton. The main criticism of this technique is what to do in the case of one plant having problems. You can't take the plant out in its entirety. The best you can do is chop it down but then oyu have a dead root system combined with the rest. I'm at a point where my system is pretty well dialed in and very well maintained so I haven't had this problem, but I can imagine situations where this could take out your whole crop. In my experience, the odds of such an event are apparently rare and the benefits (increased yield) outweigh the chance of problems. I'm sure someone will think I'm a dumbass, but it's worked for me.
Cheers for your input!! good points, lets see what others have to say. for now im going with tray full of balls rather than buckets after your input. still another month to decide. thanks man
So not have any medium apart from that in the net pots? so roots are just wild in the tray and tray covered?
I uesed 1 gal gro bags cut down to the height of my table walls. I rooted the cuttings in small rockwool cubes, placed them in the bags and filled the bags with hydroton. After placing them in the table I surrounded the bags with a good layer of hydroton. This helped keep the bags upright and provided a nice dark moist environment for the roots that grew out of the drain holes in the bags. I ran two 3x4 ft. tables side by side under a 1k HPS on a light rail. I only vegged for a week after rooting so the plants where small, still I harvested a consistent 6 ozs. a month or 1/2 oz a clone per month.
thanks for you input guys, cops have my gear now...was just lining my tables too. maybe you can e-mail them and ask them to give it back because you want to see a show!
this gives you the the basics, ill be updating with what happens when it happens. NORML New Zealand: working for marijuana law reform