PS: Thanks for your time
You're welcome.
I could run the auto in the corner of the flower tent - again - it's for learning - not necessarily for yield at this point.
For running an auto in an already flowering space, I'm not 100% convinced that would be ideal. I'm not saying don't, or that it is impossible, however there are a few things to consider. First is lighting. That auto should get 18/6 all the way. You could maybe do 16/8, and some run 20/4, and even 24/0. I'm in the 18/6 camp, and honestly my lights are good enough that 16/8 would still provide enough DLI. I settled on 18/6 just to be on the safe side, even though pretty much anything after about 16.5 hours may be "wasted."
With going into a flowering space, and one that is 12/12, it wouldn't be great. That plant is going to be missing some light input, and may not do near as well. There also is intensity to consider, as the light will be farther away. It should work out alright, but it again isn't going to be great. I tend to run my lights in veg at 24" above the canopy, and anywhere from 30%-60%. Once I hit flower, I drop it to 18" and bump up to 80% for the first 2 weeks. After that I crank the light to 100%, and leave it at 18". The last 2 weeks, I cut the light to 80%, and drop it down to 12".
There is also canopy height/density to consider. You could put the plant on a stool or something to get it up closer, but then you'll be frying it with the higher intensity light. If you leave it lower, the canopy above could block light from it.
If you can manage those, then you're down to only giving it 12 hours of light. It will work, but it may stunt the growth a good bit.
Maybe I could start with a one bucket system - even DWC - just to get my feet wet.
I thought about the same thing initially. That turned into using a second 5gal bucket as a res per bucket. Long story short, I ended up where I'm at. DWC isn't bad. There are some things with running it that I'd personally rather not mess with. Not that they're big deals, but it's a hair more work than with a res. Plus if you're going to SCROG at all, then it gets even more tricky.
First is only having 5gal of space. That's for roots and water. As roots take up space, that's less room for water. That means you'll be mixing more, changing more often, and trying to lift a plant up off a bucket when it's in full flower. (Try doing that with the plant weaved into a SCROG.
So in trying to figure out a way to drain/fill a bucket without taking the lid off, that started the path to RDWC.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of folks around here that are killing it with DWC. For me, and I know how I am, RDWC gives me DWC, but an easier time managing the individual buckets and water.
And just so we're on the same page, I'm interested in moving to hydroponics because I'm think it will give better yields than soil or coco if we get the environment dialed-in right?
In a side by side, with all other things being equal, soil, coco, hydro in that order for smallest to biggest yield
potential. It's not going to be a miracle worker though, and we're talking a few percent difference, not turning a 1/4lb plant into 1/2lb or 3/4lb. However, hydro
will be a faster growth for veg, and plants will get a little bigger.
There is another option though. Dutch buckets. Some call them bato or hempy buckets. They've been used for decades with great success, and IIRC originated in Europe.
As I mentioned earlier, it's what my next auto run in my Lab tent will be running. What I've found thus far is that it's a really nice balance. It's still hydro, but more of a balance between DWC/RDWC, and something like promix or soil. A few of the nice things about soil/promix are retained, as are some of the nice things about DWC/RDWC.
For example, with RDWC/DWC, you need to be very observant of your water temps as they affect dissolved oxygen levels. So maintaining them at a stable temp with max holding capabilities for dissolved O2 is a priority, which means when the temps outside are up, you'll need to add a chiller to the setup. (Which is why I'm shutting down my RDWC over the summer, along with cutting back on consumption so the AC won't break the bank.) With a dutch bucket, that's not the case as the roots get O2 from the air like with soil.)
The short of it is that it's still hydro so you get that growth. You can still recirc the water, but you don't have to be overly worried about water temps. You don't have to worry about over watering, like you do with soil/promix, and managing a proper wet/dry cycle.
The way I've set mine up (for the single bucket I'm running now, and I'll do the same for the bigger setup) is where I can turn the pump on to water, but drain it out. Close one valve, open the other, let it drain out. Water changes are a breeze. You
do still need to pH your water, but that's just part of hydro and really not anything to fret over.
Notice I mentioned recirculating. You can also run them in a DTW setup, but that seems a bit of a waste of water to me. I prefer recirculating, and will be running about a 25gal res. I cycle the water every 3-4 hours when the plants are small, before the roots get to the water pocket at the bottom of the bucket. After that, I cut back to every 6 hours. I run the pump long enough to not just top off the water pocket in the bucket, but to actually flush the old out a good bit as well so things stay mixed up.
Anyway, just a little food for thought. If I were setting it up from scratch again, I would probably skip RDWC and go straight to dutch buckets. I don't hate it or regret it, but you know how it is when something really clicks for your style and time.
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