DIY Recirculating DWC PVC Tube

Day 61, its time for harvest.

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Harvesting is alot of work but it can be also alot of fun. With enough blunts and well rested hands I was able to deleaf (remove fan leaves and leaves with no sugar) all 85 plants in 4 to 6 hours and removed plants, cups and roots in under 2 hours. The harvesting took all day and if I didn't have to take apart and fix the machine I could have had a one day turnover if I had clones ready. Growing weed is like football, its the turnovers that determines the game. The more turnovers the more weed. If I could get 5 1day turnovers I could get 5 harvests a year with a month and a half to spare with this machine a year. 6 1day turnovers is 6 harvests a year and thats a perfect timed grow season. My average is 12 harvests a year using multiflower rooms(3) and other machines. This year's goal is 16 harvest but it will probally be 12 again but I believe the poundage should be higher this year.
Here are pics of the plants deleafed.

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Final trim will be done once plants dry out and trim will be collected for hash production.
I am thinking of putting this 4 incher in next months POM.

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I love how compact they are - I'd vote for it for POM!

Nice to hear your method for breaking down the harvest - I usually dread trimming, but have been enjoying myself more as my plants get better - less junk to trim makes a much better day - it's nice shaping buds, but I hate trimming a million little leaves like I used to have with inferior strains.

All in all, I really like the way you have things set up - if I ever go back to hydro, I'll have to try a mini version.

-SB-1
 
That plant is 4 inches tall, the shortest plant I ever harvest by far. I love a good joke as much as anyone and a microgrower might love it(maybe?) so I'll use it for Feb.
I have her seperated so I can record what she weighs dried and trimmed.
I truly believe this can be a extremely efficient growing machine once I get all the kinks out of the system and get her truly dialed in. I'm really hoping to reach my goal on the next grow test.
I'm thinking of getting a trimpro.
I can't wait to start my next project, tree growing.
I wanna do a wick system. For some reason I wanna doit it all but I'm always limited by time and space. Growing is addictive.
Taking apart the machine was alot easier than expected. 2 hours for teardown, 3 if you count the blunt and volcano break, wow I'm baked.
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Now I know why you have been dubbed 420 poet.
Removing the silicon from the tubes took 2 blunts, 2 joints and 2 volcano bags. (It took all freakin day)
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I won't be able to recycle these 45 degree connectors, have to get new ones. It looks like I'll be able to recycle the rest.
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As of right now I am ahead of schedule but I have alot of other things that need to be taken care of first, I'll update when I get some progress going.:tokin:
 
Nice cage imitation. I like it. Nice buds too but I question why you call it a recirc dwc? Looks like it's more of a pipe NFT set up. The solution is pumped (recirculated) through the pipe 24/7 right? This creates a constant film (layer) of nutrient running across the root system right? If that's how it runs it's a fancy pipe lay out NFT (nutrient film technique) set up. Not to put the set up or grow down but A dwc (bubbler) doesn't recirc and usually utilizes a air stone in the reservoir. A recirc set up usually doesn't require a air stone because the waterfall effect of the recirculation effect pulls plenty of o2 into the reservoir as the solution splashes as it enters the reservoir.
One thing to look for is damning of the solutiion in the pipes as the root system grows. One will never be able to grow huge plants into a set up ;ike yours but it will grow a lot of small plants utilizing less light. + rep for ingenuity.
 
Good idea to start with I took it to a nother level by using 4" tees with a piece of pipie between them so there is a 1ft space center to center they are straight and side by side that way when they grow i can spread the lenghts a part for more room. I am filling them with hydrotons and pearlite mix . they will have the fill is going to be a 90 with a drain and fill fitting the other end has a cap with drain and fill for a over flo. there will be three set ups to start with and see what happens.
They will fill and drain 20 times a day for 4 minutes to be adjusted as needed.
no girls yet but soon

thanks for the idea

I smoke to you

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That is pretty respectable weight for a system that is still a concept, well done. It is very hard to decide which is worth the risk, losing roots or bigger buds. I may have a line on some new 6 " sq pipe with 45 and 90's. These may be your solution for the root dam issues as Racefan mentioned. I have run 5" pvc and had rot after 5 weeks of veg, the carbs when I went to flower super charged the rot and I had to tear down. The 6" boxed pvc does not seem to show the same issues in dam ups.

Now if you are interested in growing trees, I would suggest having a look at the new system I built for trees, it is the "Bombay Bloomer" (Undercurrent DWC Grow Journal) The system is made from 35gal insulated chutney barrels connected with 4" pvc. I have grown in the 45 gal pickle barrels and had 11 ft trees, 5 month veg, 9 weeks flower yielding 4.7 lb. The systems are pretty cheap to build as well.
 
I recently bought a bunch of bulkheads and containers and will be making a 1 plant tree grower after the second run with the diy tubes and the concept is based offed the undercurrent design. I would have started it already but I am finishing a ebbngro with some superlemon haze (super stretchy beasts). The simple design would make ya proud.
 
Clones have just been taken. I'm about 14 days for the next and last test grow. It will be a mixture of belladonna and five other strains. I have five wouldbe mums that need testing.
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I took 6 clippings from canabia powerskunk fem, 12 pineapple express fem, 6 canabia bigband fem, 17 sensistar(verified female), 13 canabia special fem ,and 51 belladonna.
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I also have a superlemonhaze fem mum but she's being teased in a different grow.
 
I'm the furthest thing from any kind of expert on anything other than the piping but the issue thats being mentioned about the dam ups, wouldnt a slight pitching of the piping stop that? With the pipe slightly pitched the roots will want to follow the water out. By keeping it level and adding dams arent you kinda creating the damning effect? If you pitched it 1/16th of an inch or less per foot (kinda tough to do less than a 1/16th but....) and used less damns that were lower would that not help with that? They would eventually end up in your res but if you are taking it apart every time... does that matter? Doing that you may not have to take it apart every time.... and would that not help out with the 1 day turn arounds?

I'm just spit balling this shit, I am a plumber so the piping naturally caught my attention but sorry for thinking aloud in your thread... Looks awesome though and I'm definitely impressed.

Good luck.
 
I thought the same thing when I was rebuilding the orbital satelite and added a slope or pitch to the rebuild The 2 bottom rows now have a insh to 2 inch slope and the two top rows have just the slightest pitch like having the bubble just touching the left side of the level. During the water test the beginning of the 2 bottom rows have low water level as of right now and the 2 top rows are fairly even. Putting the plant site holes up top is whats going to fix most of the problems. I am trying to shake out as manybugs out of the system as quickly as possible but I am trying a number of possbilties for improvement. Thank you for your voicing your opinian.
 
Pitch is very easy to calculate, for most application 1/8th of an inch per foot is sufficient, but a 1/4" is "code". Just measure the section you are working on, say a 2 foot section and 1 foot off the ceiling to the center of the pipe, the high side will be 12 inches, the low side will be 12 1/2 if you used a 1/4 inch per foot. Just make sure you can measure off something that is fairly plumb/straight so it wont screw you. You never want too much pitch on anything, it may look like its going to do good but you'll find that things will get left behind unless theres a constant flow. So dropping with fittings like 45's or 22.5's isnt ideal even though it may look it. Less is more with pitch especially seeing you are running on a timer (I think???) so there wont be flow 100% of the time, if it isnt on a timer you should be fine but if not anything besides fluid will dry up and get stuck to the pipe causing buildup when dropping fast with the above fittings.

Also, when you use a level say you are using a 9" torpedo level, where ever the bubble is, say it takes a 1/4 inch of lifting one side of it to make the bubble center up, that means you are running a 1/4" per 9", if you are using a 2 foot level, you would have a 1/4 inch per 2 feet, pretty easy stuff.

Sorry just FYI, you probably know this but someone else may not.

I wish you good luck man, I love this setup and some time probably not too soon but I will do something like this. You definitely got my wheels spinning with that setup....thank you.
 
Sup Whitey78. I found that pitch is not as easily caculated when there is a bend every 2 feet but I did the best I could with multiple levels. I wasn't really after exact measurements, I just wanted to experiment a bit with the last grow test and how the plants react in the different sections in the tubes. I am seeing that the plants closest to the damns are really taking off and the plants closest to the feed side growing slower. I think its the fast and low level of water effecting them but its the same with all the tubes and they lookin healthy. The pump is on 24/7 and only goes off for waterchanges.

Big Updates coming.
 
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