Best way for water runoff for indoor grow?

[DarionOzb]

Hi Guys Im a new grower and Ive recently been concerned about the bottom of my pots holding my cannabis plants. I dont have water trays under them, because in the youtube videos i watched when i was first starting out, didnt tell me i needed them.
But anyways Ive recently just been thinking it may be bad that the bottom of the pots are just sitting in technically "old" water and nutes?
I've been growing them for about 2 months now, and everything seems to be okay. But I am about to send them into Flower on December 1st, so I just wanted to know if I should do something about my them just sitting on the "floor" of then tent in "old" water and nutes?
Also since its been 2 months that theyve been in those pots, should i do a flush or something before I do my last week feed before switching my schedule to 12/12?
Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[farside05]

You can get some trays and pot risers that fit in them on Amazon or somewhere on the net. It gives you somewhere for the excess water to go and easier for clean up.

As far as "flushing". I don't do a full blown flush where you run 3x the pot volume of water through them, but I do what I call a "rinse and reset". Run about half the pots volume of water through them. So for example, a 5 gallon pot, run about 2.5 gallons of regular water at them. Three gallon pot, 1.5 gallons. You get the drift. Then do a gallon of your regular strength nutes. That should be sufficient to rinse out any unused nute build up and reset your media. I find it easiest to transport each plant to the bathtub to accomplish this since you'll have significant runoff. Wait 5 to 10 minutes afterwards for the excess water to drain then take them back to your grow space. They'll be quite wet when you're done and probably won't need watered for several days or up to a week if you're in a peat based mix or soil.

 

[Calvados]

I use the shower to water my plants, which basically means picking them up and putting them into the shower. I wait for the runoff to subside before putting them back in the tent. I also use trays to put the pots (5 gallon fabric) on. Probably a stupid way to do it, but it gives me a chance to closely inspect each plant. I keep a towel handy to mop up any water that spills onto the tent floor.

 

[PE636]

I have mine on makeshift stands 1.5 inches high, sitting in a big heavy duty plastic boot mat. I collect the runoff with a 14 gallon / 6 hp shop vac and wheel it outside every few days to dispose of. I didn't want all those nutes in my septic system.

 

[DarionOzb]

You can get some trays and pot risers that fit in them on Amazon or somewhere on the net. It gives you somewhere for the excess water to go and easier for clean up.

As far as "flushing". I don't do a full blown flush where you run 3x the pot volume of water through them, but I do what I call a "rinse and reset". Run about half the pots volume of water through them. So for example, a 5 gallon pot, run about 2.5 gallons of regular water at them. Three gallon pot, 1.5 gallons. You get the drift. Then do a gallon of your regular strength nutes. That should be sufficient to rinse out any unused nute build up and reset your media. I find it easiest to transport each plant to the bathtub to accomplish this since you'll have significant runoff. Wait 5 to 10 minutes afterwards for the excess water to drain then take them back to your grow space. They'll be quite wet when you're done and probably won't need watered for several days or up to a week if you're in a peat based mix or soil.

Hell yeah, I appreciate your insight! I'll go try and buy those materials if i can at a local store real quick, if not I'll amazon it.

Thanks!
-D

 

[TurboBucket]

Mine are on a stand in a flood tray, tray drains into the floor sump in my mechanical room. Everything gets pumped outside to the veggie garden from there.

Lots of folks use shop vacs or hand pumps rather than carrying plants around. If you grow in a scrog or use a horizontal trellis you can't move plants

 

[Elvin]

I bought a wire shelf from Menards along with some long lag bolts/nuts/fender washers. Then cut it to shape and the bolts made 8 legs that hold it up a couple of inches.
I move a lot of air with 6 inch fans in a 4x2 so I point the intake right at the floor so excess water evaporates in between waterings.
When I don't use fans (During veg I just leave the door unzipped for ventilation; saves money) I use one of those cheap Chinese knock-off pumps that you can buy for under $20 on eBay to remove the water and use a hose to the outside (or my bath-tub in the winter).

 

[MickFoster]

 

[DarionOzb]

Thats a badass setup !! I like how you have something the dirty water can go into!

 

[DarionOzb]

This should work for the time being right? As long as the water has a way to evaporate with my fans?

 

[Elvin]

This should work for the time being right? As long as the water has a way to evaporate with my fans?

If the water evaporates eventually it works. It will get dirty on the floor but that won't hurt a thing.

 

[nickeluring]

This should work for the time being right? As long as the water has a way to evaporate with my fans?

You will likely get a problem with too high humidity if you leave the runoff to evaporate. The plants won't like that in late flower.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Hi Guys Im a new grower and Ive recently been concerned about the bottom of my pots holding my cannabis plants. I dont have water trays under them, because in the youtube videos i watched when i was first starting out, didnt tell me i needed them.

Yeah, surprisingly, even the posters of YouTube videos sometimes assume people have a little bit of common sense, lol. Please don't hold it against them.

Grow cannabis, not mold!

 

[AdaminCO]

I got these rollers that have drainage bins from Amazon. Works like a charm.

I had to go with these when I uppotted though.

 

[Elvin]

You will likely get a problem with too high humidity if you leave the runoff to evaporate. The plants won't like that in late flower.

Yes, if you evaporate water you need to have plenty of air flow. I use 6 inch iPower fans (not the cheap plastic ones) on both intake and exhaust without a carbon filter to restrict (but I do use pots to turn down fan speed). This is a 7ft 4x2. No condensation on the walls (nor mold).
Table fans blowing on the water will just make a wet mess in your tent if you don't get rid of that evaporated water before it recondenses.
I've done this for the past three grows without issues, but then a little water/dirt on the floor does not bother me like some.

 

[Emilya Green]

I will never allow water to set in my tents. If I end up with runoff water in my trays, I use a turkey baster and I suck it out and into a bucket to remove from the grow room. As said above... I do what I can to avoid mold and mildew. This is why I never liked the water to 20% runoff method of keeping the soil clean. It is just too much work each watering to do it this way. I water just to the point of runoff and then I stop. When I need to flush, and I would do that every time I change nutes, like from veg to flower, I do like the others and carry the plant to the bathtub to get a 3x flush. Contrary to the advice above, this doesnt end you up with any more water in the soil than a proper watering would give you... so it takes no extra time to dry out and actually with cleansed soil and roots, you may find that your wet/dry cycle actually speeds up after a good flush.
The other advantage of watering just to the point of runoff is that in a good tent with a waterproof liner installed in the floor, you dont' need drip trays. A little bit of water that hits the floor will quickly be sucked back up into the container, especially smart pots... and it requires no cleanup.

 

[AdaminCO]

I will never allow water to set in my tents. If I end up with runoff water in my trays, I use a turkey baster and I suck it out and into a bucket to remove from the grow room. As said above... I do what I can to avoid mold and mildew. This is why I never liked the water to 20% runoff method of keeping the soil clean. It is just too much work each watering to do it this way. I water just to the point of runoff and then I stop. When I need to flush, and I would do that every time I change nutes, like from veg to flower, I do like the others and carry the plant to the bathtub to get a 3x flush. Contrary to the advice above, this doesnt end you up with any more water in the soil than a proper watering would give you... so it takes no extra time to dry out and actually with cleansed soil and roots, you may find that your wet/dry cycle actually speeds up after a good flush.
The other advantage of watering just to the point of runoff is that in a good tent with a waterproof liner installed in the floor, you dont' need drip trays. A little bit of water that hits the floor will quickly be sucked back up into the container, especially smart pots... and it requires no cleanup.

My issue is that there’s nothing but crappy subflooring wood under my reflective material. I needed the catch trays on the rollers to prevent even the smallest bit from getting on the floor.

After seeing the first few drops in the tray, I hit them with another quart, so that’s what my “runoff” usually consist of. Maybe 2-3 cups from a gallonish per plant. It’s a bit different in flower though. Not as much runoff as there is in VEG in my experience.

The 2 Afghans are a lot more thirsty than the 3 AKs. I thought about removing the rollers now that I don’t need them for height, but I’ve gotten used to the mobility. Lol!

I finally started the new journal for those clones from my last grow. The Afghans are trees now. I didn’t top them because I didn’t plan on keeping them. Going to experiment with a few things with these. Check it out when you get a chance. Your input’s always appreciated.

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

i did the same thing only i used milk crates under the drip tray and put a small blue recycling bin underneath , i use a 4x4 flood table tray and 5 milk crates , one in each corner and 1 in the middle , you lose 1 ft of height to the lights but a 7 ft tall tent still gives you lots of head room , and i can still scrogg if i want to .

 

[Davlyn]

Put each plant in a turkey tray and water. After a few minutes move the plant to a second turkey tray. Use the water drained from the first turkey tray to return to the plant. Don’t waste the nutrients. After a while they should be dry enough to move back to your grow room. Easy!

 

[Elvin]

Put each plant in a turkey tray and water. After a few minutes move the plant to a second turkey tray. Use the water drained from the first turkey tray to return to the plant. Don’t waste the nutrients. After a while they should be dry enough to move back to your grow room. Easy!

The idea behind runoff is so the soil does not accumulate salts. That way you don't need to worry about it accumulating and needing to flush.
Returning the nutes to the soil is not a good idea unless you plan on flushing.