Watering table

[just starting]

I just got done with my 4X8 watering table. I did this because I got tired of watering plants one at a time. It is completely sealed and in two days it will be ready to go. I do lay down plastic just to make things a lot cleaner to clean up after each grow. I just pull up the plastic lay down new plastic and I am ready for the next grow. I use pots with good size holes in the bottom with coffee filters inside to keep the soil in and yet will still absorb the water from the bottom up. All you do is dump whatever amount of water you need like a 5-gallon bucket and watch how the plants absorb it and then make the necessary adjustments. I will post pictures of everything that I do just in case someone wants to try it. You can make smaller tables like 2X4 and have different plants in each one to compare how they do without having to label the pots. I have two HPS lights and will hang another 1500-watt LED in between the HPS lights. The small tables can be used in closets as well to keep your floors clean. Right now they are in small pots but will get transferred to three-gallon pots two weeks before I switch them to flower soon. This is probably old school for a lot of you experience growers but hey I am old dude. lol

 

[scottreid1966]

I use pots with good size holes in the bottom with coffee filters inside to keep the soil in and yet will still absorb the water from the bottom up.
I can understand and appreciate the concept of watering, but from what I have learned from Emilya and her watering tecnique, it may cause root-rot.

will hang another 1500-watt LED

Not a pro here but 100 watt LED per plant, 300 watt per 3 in flower is what I have seen others do in general. Some do like the extra wattage but a 1500 LED seems like a bit of over-kill. Like your tray idea. I made a 2x4 out of sheet metal with no bottoms under my put. Good luck with your grow.

 

[just starting]

There will be 15 plants on the table 10 purple haze and 5 California dreams. My two HPS lights that I am using for this grow are 600 watts each. The true wattage of a 1500-watt LED is more than likely only around 450 watts give or take some. So, the total wattage is around 1650 or so. Not that much over the 100 watts per plant.

 

[HappyHazmat88]

I just got done with my 4X8 watering table. I did this because I got tired of watering plants one at a time. It is completely sealed and in two days it will be ready to go. I do lay down plastic just to make things a lot cleaner to clean up after each grow. I just pull up the plastic lay down new plastic and I am ready for the next grow. I use pots with good size holes in the bottom with coffee filters inside to keep the soil in and yet will still absorb the water from the bottom up. All you do is dump whatever amount of water you need like a 5-gallon bucket and watch how the plants absorb it and then make the necessary adjustments. I will post pictures of everything that I do just in case someone wants to try it. You can make smaller tables like 2X4 and have different plants in each one to compare how they do without having to label the pots. I have two HPS lights and will hang another 1500-watt LED in between the HPS lights. The small tables can be used in closets as well to keep your floors clean. Right now they are in small pots but will get transferred to three-gallon pots two weeks before I switch them to flower soon. This is probably old school for a lot of you experience growers but hey I am old dude. lol

Good morning nice craftsmanship from what I see... Is the table just for catching runoff? And are you considering putting in a "drain plug" for easy water clean up? Sorry I've done some building myself and this sparked interest ....got my carpentry feelers all activated.

 

[Melville Hobbes]

So kind of like a manual flood-and-drain setup?

 

[Bob Loblaw]

IMO those 2 tiny nails hammered into the end grain won't hold squat, anything hammered or screwed into end grain ain't gonna hold squat. I can explain why or how... Take a toothpick or nail or screw and a roll of toilet paper, now stick the toothpick into the side of the toilet paper = lots of resistance and kinda hard to push in right, now take that same toothpick and push it into the end of the roll = careful that it don't fall out the other side = no resistance now right.
Lumber is exactly the same as that roll of toilet paper meaning ain't nothing you can do to make it work like that, you need to change your approach. End grain is end grain = nothing more than a bunch of hollow tubes that will not grip a darn thing.

You could cut a 2x2 in half diagonally then glue or screw that into the corner to brace it enough to hold. Or just use a full 2x2 for a corner brace. Of course you can always go buy some metal braces.

If I where a betting man I would bet I could pull those nails out quite easily buy hand no tools involved. In fact if you lean on that endboard it will fall off all on its own.

Just trying to save you some headaches.

The bottom you have the same issue, it would have been better nailed from the bottom up to avoid end grain.

 

[just starting]

Yes, like a flood and drain set. And yes, they will hold more than squat I have made these before and have had them for years. This is not my first BBQ at doing this. They can easily hold 15 plants or more depending on how big you want them to be. Those screws hold just fine. I am not running Niagara Falls through it just five gallons of water roughly. With the plastic down over it to keep it clean and easy for the next grow. The white is rubber sealant. you put your pots on the table and dump the water onto the table and the pots with holes in them will absorb the water from the bottom up. It seems to take the plants longer to absorb the water, but it also seems that you don't have to water them as much. It takes the plants quite a while to absorb the water.

 

[SmokingWings]

All you do is dump whatever amount of water you need like a 5-gallon bucket and watch how the plants absorb it and then make the necessary adjustments.

You are bottom watering. I can't tell for sure if you are just leaving the pots in the sink in the table but it sounds like it when you mention "You can make smaller tables like 2X4 and have different plants in each one to compare how they do without having to label the pots.". And sounds like it some more when you wrote "The small tables can be used in closets as well to keep your floors clean.".

I use pots with good size holes in the bottom with coffee filters inside to keep the soil in and yet will still absorb the water from the bottom up.

I also use similar styles of nursery and landscaping pots. The only time some soil comes out the holes is when filling the pots before transplanting. The holes are designed that size to allow quick drainage if the soil in the pots becomes waterlogged from over-watering or from heavy steady rain fall.

The only time I bottom water is when the plants are outside and in small pots with no more than 2 gallons of soil and often smaller.

 

[Phytoplankton]

Some do like the extra wattage but a 1500 LED seems like a bit of over-kill.

The true wattage of a 1500-watt LED is more than likely only around 450 watts give or take some.

The OP doesn't list the brand of the LED light, but my bet is that the 1500 Watt light probably draws around 150 watts. I have a couple older Bestva 2000W that only draw 285W, and at the time, they were considered very powerful.

 

[scottreid1966]

The OP doesn't list the brand of the LED light, but my bet is that the 1500 Watt light probably draws around 150 watts. I have a couple older Bestva 2000W that only draw 285W, and at the time, they were considered very powerful.

My 2 vivosuns are vs-1000 but are actually 100 watts. I am trying to support our 420magazine sponsors and looking into the mars series for my mother/cloning space and new flowering room. DAMN! Customer service must be having difficulties, been 2 days, no answer.

 

[just starting]

Guys enjoy yourselves I'm just throwing different things out there that I have done, and it works for me. This was the reason I left 420 magazine in the first place know one wants to try things just critisize. So I'm gone for good this time.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Hmm I did not realize that some people do not come here for advice. I was truly trying to help, guess I best think twice about advising someone on something I think I can help with.

As far a trying or not trying things goes I'm pretty sure I'm up there somewhere.

I too do not take advice very well, but I hope that I do at least think about what advice was offered to me.

As far as bottom feeding goes I believe that if it was a good thing more people would be doing it.

When it comes to speed working (watering all my plants at once) I'ma gonna come in last every time. I've 3 plants on the go now, I'm pretty sure that most can water 50 plants before I get my 3 done and that's just fine by me.

One last observation if I may, you'll want to be sure your table is on the level or some will go thirsty.

 

[SmokingWings]

Hmm I did not realize that some people do not come here for advice. I was truly trying to help, guess I best think twice about advising someone on something I think I can help with.

That is true and sometimes we find out later that we were looking at the introduction to the thread 'our way' and not the way the 'original poster or thread starter' was.

 

[HappyHazmat88]

Hey don't leave due to others bro..... Just block the people you don't want to hear from that's what I do....I actually have about 10 ignored/blocked lol this journal is for you....no one else... So don't let criticism detour you from doing what you do.

 

[Emilya Green]

@just starting, Hi.

Please don't take this as criticism. You are just starting after all, so it is expected that you will make some mistakes... we all did when just starting. The advice that I offer here is just that, advice... it is not criticism of either you or your grow method.

The coffee filter in the bottom. Most soils will not fall out of your bottom holes, especially when wet. I am afraid that the filter will block some of the water and will tend to keep the bad stuff that builds up in your soil in there, instead of it flowing out of the bottom. Salt especially will build up in that container, and it will be difficult if not impossible to flush out any buildups of salts or excess nutes with that filter in place. Try a container without the filter and see how neatly your soil stays in the container.

Kudos on the fancy watering table, and with a lot of plants bottom watering works very well. It doesn't work so well with Cannabis because our plant is a weed. That means it has a special set of roots, that are called spreader roots, that grow in the very top of the container, in the top 3 or 4 inches. In a bottom watering system, this important set of roots will atrophy, not ever being able to process the water and nutes that would flow down through them in a top watering situation. Although water will eventually wick up to these spreader roots, not nearly as much water will, and very soon if the water table is allowed to go dry, these top roots will go dry also. If you keep water in the tray, this will keep the bottom roots wet all of the time, and they will have no choice but to protect themselves from the constant water, and you risk root rot because of it and decreased water uptake when the lower roots shut down because of all the water.

So, sorry to diss your plan, but again, I like to think of what I have said here as advice, not criticism. Thank you for showing off your system and In your defense, done correctly, bottom watering can work after a fashion. Unfortunately, it will never work as well as traditional top watering... it can't... because you are only using half of the root system and most importantly you are not pulling any oxygen into the rootball with the suction created by topwatering. Get mad and leave if you will, but please consider that this advice was given with love and respect to you as a fellow grower. I am not criticising, I am trying to help. I could have ignored your thread, especially with you taking offense to the advice you are getting, but I thought it better to try to explain why what you are trying to do is not going to work as well as you are thinking. Have a great day, and at least I feel good knowing that I tried to help.

 

[scottreid1966]

@just starting, Hi.

Please don't take this as criticism. You are just starting after all, so it is expected that you will make some mistakes... we all did when just starting. The advice that I offer here is just that, advice... it is not criticism of either you or your grow method.

The coffee filter in the bottom. Most soils will not fall out of your bottom holes, especially when wet. I am afraid that the filter will block some of the water and will tend to keep the bad stuff that builds up in your soil in there, instead of it flowing out of the bottom. Salt especially will build up in that container, and it will be difficult if not impossible to flush out any buildups of salts or excess nutes with that filter in place. Try a container without the filter and see how neatly your soil stays in the container.

Kudos on the fancy watering table, and with a lot of plants bottom watering works very well. It doesn't work so well with Cannabis because our plant is a weed. That means it has a special set of roots, that are called spreader roots, that grow in the very top of the container, in the top 3 or 4 inches. In a bottom watering system, this important set of roots will atrophy, not ever being able to process the water and nutes that would flow down through them in a top watering situation. Although water will eventually wick up to these spreader roots, not nearly as much water will, and very soon if the water table is allowed to go dry, these top roots will go dry also. If you keep water in the tray, this will keep the bottom roots wet all of the time, and they will have no choice but to protect themselves from the constant water, and you risk root rot because of it and decreased water uptake when the lower roots shut down because of all the water.

So, sorry to diss your plan, but again, I like to think of what I have said here as advice, not criticism. Thank you for showing off your system and In your defense, done correctly, bottom watering can work after a fashion. Unfortunately, it will never work as well as traditional top watering... it can't... because you are only using half of the root system and most importantly you are not pulling any oxygen into the rootball with the suction created by topwatering. Get mad and leave if you will, but please consider that this advice was given with love and respect to you as a fellow grower. I am not criticising, I am trying to help. I could have ignored your thread, especially with you taking offense to the advice you are getting, but I thought it better to try to explain why what you are trying to do is not going to work as well as you are thinking. Have a great day, and at least I feel good knowing that I tried to help.

I've read your article, Emily and said the same thing a few days ago. Words of wisdom

 

[just starting]

I've read your article, Emily and said the same thing a few days ago. Words of wisdom

Well, I will take your advice and turn my watering table into a greenhouse using PVC pipes to keep it light. It is not finished yet I still have to block some areas. I plan on running hoses from a 10-gallon drinking jug to each plant with shut off valves. My plants are out growing my closets but the outside night temps where I am located here in New Mexico are still cold (25-45 degrees) So I am going to try and let the lights heat the Green house during its 18 hour veg run and then set a timer for my little heater to go on until the HPS lights return back on. I have 10 purple haze plants that are nearing the 2ft mark and things are getting cramped in the closets. Here are pictures of what I have done so far. Plus it is light enough that I can take it outside when the time comes.