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Broken Back = the need for automation
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Broken Back = the need for automation
Hey DGC,
I broke my back this past weekend mountain biking. Luckily, my injury is not as bad as it could have been. I can walk and move all my digits. I am just in terrible pain and this is causing me to not be able to move too much. I typically hand water my plants and now am realizing it could be some months before I can comfortably do that again. I am looking into some kind of automation. I am looking for recommendations for a guy out of work ballin’ on a budget. I have 2- 4×4 flower tents with 5 plants in each. And I use a 3×4 for veg and clones. For the 3×4 I think the Tray to Grow system may work. Currently use canna a/b and some additives, also alternate stash blend and recharge every other week, one feeding per week. I do have Grow Dots on hand as well. I was looking into Real Buckets although it could get pricey to outfit my grow set up. And how often do you think a 5 gallon res would hold up for with 5 plants attached? I probably should downscale although I am working on a breeding project and have been selecting through plants for a few years now, I do not want to lose my work. I can go to 4 plants per tent. What systems are you all using and which do you recommend? Thanks in advance! Peace.
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25 Replies
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I just purchased the spider farmer self watering system, they sale for a hundred bucks as I work on a budget too lol, I broke my back also and still struggle with watering, so now I’m going to try a run with coco and grow dots, my buddy did that and watered once a week with recharge so all you’d have to do is add water, hope that helps
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I’ll have to check these out. Thank you so much for the input. Price sounds right.
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The real buckets are pretty easy to use
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For a long timer I wanted to try real buckets but would need to setup a minimum of 8 buckets. Right now the cost may be too much for me not knowing when I’ll be back to work. Earthboxes are another system I’ve explored but again to buy 8 is almost $500
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I use beday vacation watering system
And 2 tanks one for veg one for flower
With air bubler inside
I only deal with them usually once a weak
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not familiar with this? Is beday the brand name or are we talking about a beday for a toilet on timers?
either way I appreciate you sharing.
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the two little white boxes on the wall …. its a watering system off amazon
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Oh ok I checked them out. The only thing that may be an issue for me is running nutes and salt build up in the drippers. Unless I go back to using grow dots, which I don’t mind other than I just spent $150 on a bunch of nutrients
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What’s up Rollin’ Fatty’s, super sorry to hear about your injury. Praying for your speedy recovery
and I a couple of questions? Where are you at? If you’re anywhere near Kansas City, I’d love to offer my help to come and help out and get your set up automated. If you live somewhere else (most likely the case) there might be a cool DGC fam member that would offer to help! I am currently using an automated drip irrigation system that I built for $75-100 in my 4×8 Flower Tent in 6 girls and could be expanded to run upto 14 I’d guess if I were to estimate. Once it was set up all I have to do is change my res maybe once a week (depending on the size of your res, I’m using a 32 gal drum barrel) the most expensive part was probably the drip halos that Im using but really weren’t too bad!
Also btw, I just started week 3 of flower and I got one of your Saltwater Taffy Breaths in there and it’s probably the biggest of the 6 girls so far and I think they’re almost done stretching!
Growers love
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Hey bud, thank you for the kind thoughts. Sounds like I’m off the bike until late fall or winter… total bummer.
Unfortunately I’m not close to Kansas City, I am about 40minutes north of Boston.
I just pulled down my Salt Water Taffy Breath grow a couple days prior to my accident. Lots of different expressions but most seem to hold the structure of the Odin’s breath, tall robust and sturdy, and buds look similar to the gelato 41. Nose was candy, rubber and permanent markers. But time will tell after they cure up. I truly appreciate you and everyone in the DGC that have been supportive.
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Damn that is a bummer! But on the bright side in sounds like you could have been a lot worse off with that type of injury! Good to hear you already have an expected time frame to get back on the bike again!
And yeah wish I was closer to Boston than I am, but I’m sure we might have some DGC members up there, who would love to help out a fellow DGC fam member! And please keep us updated on what system you go with! I’d love to send a small Venmo/PayPal over to help get you a part of the irrigation system going or something! I still remember you sending me some free gear to run when it was just starting out!
And awesome, I can’t wait to harvest time to come around! I’m just starting to see the first signs of real byd development on my Saltwater Taffy Breath!
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I appreciate the offer to help, I couldn’t morally take money but your a solid person for offering. I was able to get an Autopot Tray to grow system for veg. Flowering I’m torn between auto pots and real buckets. Both are gonna run me a bunch of loot and I’d rather go real buckets but 5 plants feeding off a 5 gallon bucket may require more labor than my back can handle. I heard Scotty is trying out larger reservoirs, maybe he will let me test one for him lol.
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You and I are in the same boat, weighting real buckets vs auto pots. With the DGC discount the real buckets are going to win my money I think.
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The auto pots have a float in every bucket more things to go wrong and clog, I like the air dome, but I appreciate Scotty more lol. I’d rather give him my money, only downside for me is a 5 gallon reservoir, which I would need two because I need to outfit 2 tents. Only reason res volume is an issue is because of my back and I’m told this injury could be a very long recovery … and being out of work is weighing heavy on my mind… let me know what you do I’d be interested to hear your feedback.
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My wife got me a 4 spout water timer for the basement so imma see how we do with that setup and some small sprayer heads.
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I use blumats. The only laborious part is keeping the res full.
They can take some tweaking to get right but when they work they’re amazing.
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I have often looked at these wondering as well. Do you use bottle nutes with these? I am woried about build up, where Real Buckets have the bigger line. The price is right though.
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I use plain water with living soil. I think you can run nutes though them but you would spend a lot more time cleaning as biofilm will start to grow. If you were running grow dots you could just run plain water.
Ps. I broke my back too, also not super seriously, and my advice is, do the stretches and excercises they give you. Stay fit and strong. Bad backs suck, but mine only really gives me grief if I sit around the house too much.
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Check out KIS organics podcast. They have a few episodes on Blumats.
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Thanks for the info. Hoping to get some real buckets w/ the larger res from Scotty. I’ll check out kis organics vids for sure. Also thanks for the tips on the back. I can’t wait to start stretching, stretching and biking have been a big routine of mine for a while, dr said not to stretch until the bone is healed. I feel so tight it’s terrible. Appreciate you and everyone that has been reaching out giving me advice. And the guys in the happy hour last night talking about different ways I can go about this grow situation.
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@rollin-fattys are you colorado bro? I can swing by and help out every once in awhile. I can’t imagine lifting anything with a broken back.
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Thanks for the offer, so many solid folks in the DGC! I’m just north of Boston.
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Thats way out of my range. Haha. Hope you find some help with your grow while you recover.
Cheers
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Wishing you a speedy recovery and bountiful harvests.
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Thank you!
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