TheCapn's Ultimate Flowering Machine

TheCapn;1781912 said:

Here are the basics components you will need to build TheCapn's ultimate flowering machine.

$10. 27 gal tough box, aka tuff tote, available from home depot or lowes.
$5. 10" net pot designed to fit on 5 gallon bucket
$15. Small water pump
$17. 5.8 gal superoots air-pot
$10. 3' 1/2 hose, few misc PVC pic fittings for drip ring
$7. Gen Hydro water level indicator
?? High volume air pump, and 3-4 large air stones

Cut a 10" diameter hole for the 10" net pot:

Our final flowering container, with the netpot attached:

Cut a few access holes so you can situate air stones, service water pump, etc. I use 4" netpots for lids to keep light out. Speaking of light, you will need to paint the lid with a dark primer to block light, and then a lighter color so it doesn't attract heat:

Install your water level indicator, and put some white tape behind it so you can see water level in the blue hose easy:

Here is what it looks like all put together

The 10" netpot will hang down into the container, and be filled with hydroton. When you are getting ready to flower, you will attach the netpot to the air-pot, and your large plant will be transplanted into the 5.8 gal air-pot, full of grow-cubes (croutons).

Why does this system work so well? In the first week of flower, roots growing out the sides of the air-pot will get dry and be "air pruned", spawning new feeder roots to grow. Within a week, as we continue to top feed, roots will grow out the bottom into the hydroton, and then dangle into the highly oxygenated water, pulling in nutrients. Typically, if we are going to go DWC in flower, we have to do DWC in veg too. With this setup, we literally take our plant out of veg where we top feed it, and then stick it on the tote. Within a week, it becomes DWC.

Other advantages and why I like this setup (which are common to the simple hydro set up):
The system holds roughly 12 gallons before it touches the bottom of the 10" net pot. This allows you to leave the system for at least a week. Don't try DWC in a 5 gallon bucket, unless you are flowering out really small plants.

Lots of water surface area in this 27 gal tub, more so than a standard bucket. This gives more area for roots to spread out and get oxygen.

27 gal tub, has more contact with floor. For me, the grow room is in the basement, so the concrete floor helps cool the water. Also allows you to get into the tub from access holes, to check root health, air stones, etc. And admit it... there is a "fun factor" to being able to peek at our roots.

The low profile of the tub helps keep plants lower.

In my next post, I'll show you the double decker 4' x 5' SCROG net being made for this.

Click to expand...