Diameter of pipes?

[Sith]

I'm new to this forum and have a few questions regarding a grow I'm planning to start within a few days. Sorry if my english is a bit off when it comes to the terms, but I'm doing my best. I live in Europe.

I've been growing in soil before, so I'm not a complete newbie, even that it was for just under a year.
Now I'm planning to start a quite large grow in hydro. I'm envisioning a vertical grow in pvc-pipes, or some other suitable material. I've seen a video on youtube DIY Indoor Vertical Hydroponics System - The HydroVert 80 Spot System Build - YouTube
I'm thinking of a similar system, just that I want the pipe to be continuus, with bends to make it go back and forwards from top to end if you can understand what I mean.

But I wonder what would be a suitable diameter for the pipe. I'm going to grow Jack Herer, White widow and some other medium sized plants.
I can imagine that the pipe in the veg room would be a bit larger in diameter than the pipe in the bloom room..
I will move the clones to the bloom room as soon as they have set roots.

So, what would be a suitable diameter for the pipes in both rooms?
I also wonder what would be a suitable distance between the holes in the pipe for the net pots, and how large the holes should be.

I would really appreciate some informed answers to these questions as I will start the grow within a week or so. Any info on this from people with personal experience on this would be great, I would also welcome links to resources on the subject.

 

[Bassman59]

I don't know for sure, but it seems to me I've seen mention of 2" & 3" pipe being the most common. Bigger is better I think for more root mass and easier water flow. Go too small and you'll possibly be subject to bad flow clogging up the pipe by root mass.

 

[Sith]

Thank you for your answer, have read your reply earlier, but haven't really had time to post some more..
I've been growing some in soil before, but I'm really new to hydroponics, I guess I can get my answer if i just browse this forum enough time, but I just haven't got the time, and it's a quite specific question with regards to the setup I'm thinking of, I have another question in relation to my first.

I thought of this system with pipes but got the idea that because I want to fill the flowering room gradually, I want to harvest every two weeks or so, the plants will be of different sizes, and therefore will need different amounts of water. I therefore concluded (wrongfully?) that this system wasn't suited for my needs. My question is if I'm wrong about this. I guess I will need to put something in the pipes to get the water to the level it reaches the net pots, and the result I think, is that the roots will always be covered with water (flowing). Is it ok to always let the roots be covered in water, or is it necessary to let them dry out sometimes? If they need to be dried out sometimes I think they will need to be this different amounts of time because they are of different size?
An alternative I was thinking about was to find net pots deep enough to reach the water that will be flowing on the bottom of the pipes..

Can I use this system with my setup I'm planning, or can it be revised to fit my needs?
(I'm already thinking of the above system of pipes, but instead of flooding them with water add a system of drip watering to it, so I have the pipes only for transporting the excess water back to the reservoir.)

I would be really thankful for good input on this. I realize I'm a new member on this forum, and so far I haven't contributed with any knowledge on my own (although very limited), but I'm planning on a setup for a grow room, and when I've got it up and running and have had some experience I plan to contribute with some of my own experiences.

I'm sorry If my post is not that easy to read (I'm both a bit drunk now, and I'm also from Europe (not England)..
But I value any informed input..

 

[Bassman59]

I really can't say. I have no experience with this technique. Just observations by reading others' journals.

 

[GreatLife4All]

First - Welcome to

I'm new to this forum and have a few questions regarding a grow I'm planning to start within a few days. Sorry if my english is a bit off when it comes to the terms, but I'm doing my best. I live in Europe.

Don't worry about bad english... we here at can translate

I'm thinking of a similar system, just that I want the pipe to be continuus, with bends to make it go back and forwards from top to end if you can understand what I mean.

This design is called "Nutrient Film Technique" and there are many videos and instructional documents all over this site and the web. That term placed into the search bar here and [Bing; Google; etc] will yield hours of reading and watching.

All in all - NFT is a very good system for growing weed... likely one of the best.

The problem with connecting everything into one pipe is that of nutrient usage. Let's assume that all the plants want / need nutrients. If you pump directly from the reservoir to the top of the system and allow the water to drain through all the plants - the first plant takes nutes, the second takes nutes, and etc... until someone doesn't get to eat. The net effect is that the plants will, over time, get smaller the further away from the water source they are.

That is why this system has been broken down into sections - each section is fed nutrient solution from the reservoir... individually feeding the plants is optimal - and the system I linked to below does just that. But breaking a system down into multiple pipes with a smaller number of plants per pipe will minimize this size difference.

But I wonder what would be a suitable diameter for the pipe. I'm going to grow Jack Herer, White widow and some other medium sized plants.

It really does depend on how large you want to get the plants. You stated that you want medium sized plants - but the system in the video is really designed for very small plants used in a sea of green type grow. A medium sized plant will require approximately 4 square foot per plant (approximately 1.3 sq meters).

Here is another NFT type of system that is, IMO, more suited to your desire for plant size: 4inch PVC Aero/NFT 4x5 SCROG - 1200 Watts

I can imagine that the pipe in the veg room would be a bit larger in diameter than the pipe in the bloom room..
I will move the clones to the bloom room as soon as they have set roots.

I would think just the opposite - the plants have larger roots during bloom than they do during veg. Just my opinion though...

So, what would be a suitable diameter for the pipes in both rooms?
I also wonder what would be a suitable distance between the holes in the pipe for the net pots, and how large the holes should be.

For medium sized plants, I would definitely go with a 4" pipe - a lot more room for roots to grow.

I thought of this system with pipes but got the idea that because I want to fill the flowering room gradually, I want to harvest every two weeks or so, the plants will be of different sizes, and therefore will need different amounts of water.

Doesn't matter how much each individual plant needs in water. I would be more worried about the strength of the nutrient solution. As plants mature - they can handle higher nutrient loads and benefit. When they are young, you can get nutrient burn. So you either run the system cool (lower nutrient PPM) to prevent burning the younger plants (and thus sacrifice yield on the older plants) - or you run the system hot and risk burning the younger plants... which reduces yield.

And running an NFT system - you definitely need to flush for a week or so. This is not possible if you have plants maturing at different times in the same system.

I therefore concluded (wrongfully?) that this system wasn't suited for my needs. My question is if I'm wrong about this. I guess I will need to put something in the pipes to get the water to the level it reaches the net pots, and the result I think, is that the roots will always be covered with water (flowing). Is it ok to always let the roots be covered in water, or is it necessary to let them dry out sometimes?

This system, along with DWC, are both designed to keep the roots in the nutrient solution at all times. Some people will use an interval timer and adopt a 1 minute on 4 minutes off (or some such) routine. But most just leave it on 24hrs a day.

As long as the nutrient solution is properly aerated - the roots can site in water 24/7. Lose aeration in your solution and things go downhill very, very fast. A good rule of thumb is that you want 1/3 of the roots out of the solution and 2/3s in - the roots can get lots of oxygen and nutrient solution this way. As long as you don't vary the level of water in the pipes - the roots will set themselves up this way naturally.

An alternative I was thinking about was to find net pots deep enough to reach the water that will be flowing on the bottom of the pipes..

You don't need to worry about this - the roots will quickly grow down into the solution... and down the pipe. In fact, I would be worried about moving the plants because the roots in these systems can go all the way to the next plant in line...

Hope that this helps and on your grow!

 

[Sith]

This design is called "Nutrient Film Technique" and there are many videos and instructional documents all over this site and the web. That term placed into the search bar here and [Bing; Google; etc] will yield hours of reading and watching.

All in all - NFT is a very good system for growing weed... likely one of the best.

The problem with connecting everything into one pipe is that of nutrient usage. Let's assume that all the plants want / need nutrients. If you pump directly from the reservoir to the top of the system and allow the water to drain through all the plants - the first plant takes nutes, the second takes nutes, and etc... until someone doesn't get to eat. The net effect is that the plants will, over time, get smaller the further away from the water source they are.

That is why this system has been broken down into sections - each section is fed nutrient solution from the reservoir... individually feeding the plants is optimal - and the system I linked to below does just that. But breaking a system down into multiple pipes with a smaller number of plants per pipe will minimize this size difference.

Thank you for your input. I'm considering individual drip watering to each plant instead of water flowing in the pipes, that should be more optimal with different sized plants, shouldn't it?

It really does depend on how large you want to get the plants. You stated that you want medium sized plants - but the system in the video is really designed for very small plants used in a sea of green type grow. A medium sized plant will require approximately 4 square foot per plant (approximately 1.3 sq meters).

Here is another NFT type of system that is, IMO, more suited to your desire for plant size: 4inch PVC Aero/NFT 4x5 SCROG - 1200 Watts

The size of the plants are really unimportant to me as long as they don't get too big and get too close to the lamps.
What I'm looking for is a good horisontal system (lack of space, would get too close to the lamps if vertical) in the veg room and a vertical system in the bloom room.
And of course added to that SOG, perhaps SCROG.

I would think just the opposite - the plants have larger roots during bloom than they do during veg. Just my opinion though...

I thought that because the vegging plants will be older than the blooming plants they would get larger roots..

Doesn't matter how much each individual plant needs in water. I would be more worried about the strength of the nutrient solution. As plants mature - they can handle higher nutrient loads and benefit. When they are young, you can get nutrient burn. So you either run the system cool (lower nutrient PPM) to prevent burning the younger plants (and thus sacrifice yield on the older plants) - or you run the system hot and risk burning the younger plants... which reduces yield.

And running an NFT system - you definitely need to flush for a week or so. This is not possible if you have plants maturing at different times in the same system.

Thanks for the information, hadn't taken that into consideration. But with individual drip watering to each plant that could be overcome, don't you think?
Just a little more expensive than just buying pipes..

This system, along with DWC, are both designed to keep the roots in the nutrient solution at all times. Some people will use an interval timer and adopt a 1 minute on 4 minutes off (or some such) routine. But most just leave it on 24hrs a day.

As long as the nutrient solution is properly aerated - the roots can site in water 24/7. Lose aeration in your solution and things go downhill very, very fast. A good rule of thumb is that you want 1/3 of the roots out of the solution and 2/3s in - the roots can get lots of oxygen and nutrient solution this way. As long as you don't vary the level of water in the pipes - the roots will set themselves up this way naturally.

You don't need to worry about this - the roots will quickly grow down into the solution... and down the pipe. In fact, I would be worried about moving the plants because the roots in these systems can go all the way to the next plant in line...

Shouldn't I have to think about the roots reaching down into the solution? When I move clones into this system, they will not have enough long roots to reach the solution in the beginning, wouldn't that be a problem? I'm thinking of moving the clones into the bloom room as soon as they has rooted, because lack of space in the veg room. So the roots should not have grown outside the net pots.. To be sure, it seems the best solution is to have the water level high enough to reach the net pots and have the roots submerged in the solution at all times. As you wrote, it's not a problem as long as the solution is aerated at all times..

Or instead, as I said earlier, have the system with individual drip watering along the pipe..

Hope that this helps and on your grow!

Thanks! I hope It goes well!