lazi
12-31-2006, 07:03 PM
I've been surfing a few sites re. growing in perlite, (legal crops,) and found it interesting. Typically they have a couple of inches of water at the bottom of the perlite and the plant takes what it needs and replacement liquid wicks up. Plenty of root aeration and no under/overwatering.
Might it be possible to create a 'noob-proof' system using 100% perlite?
One thing I came across was the possibility of salt buildup. The lucas formula has been proven for not only full grows without res changes but multiple grows as well. Safe to assume that any salt buildup using lf will be all the minerals in the same ratio to each other? iow, there can't be a buildup of one element without the buildup of the rest. The answer being to use enough lf and only enough.
Ddoc with his cage was using perlite and watered until he got a 10% runoff to flush the perlite. If there isn't too much salts to start with then no need to flush? The 3 Little Birds used containers with no drainage, they had enough experience to do it right. I have in mind a sort of float tube that shows how much liquid is at the bottom of the container. As long as it kept at an inch or 2, the medium is not going to dry out.
So, RO water goes in to keep a steady 2" of water at the bottom and a measured amount of lucas formula gets added at the relevant times to feed the plant.
Can see much trial and error getting the feedings right but is the theory sound? Not sure how much the Ph gets altered by using what is in effect a diluted lucas formula or how to correct if it has an adverse affect on yield.
Any thoughts?
Might it be possible to create a 'noob-proof' system using 100% perlite?
One thing I came across was the possibility of salt buildup. The lucas formula has been proven for not only full grows without res changes but multiple grows as well. Safe to assume that any salt buildup using lf will be all the minerals in the same ratio to each other? iow, there can't be a buildup of one element without the buildup of the rest. The answer being to use enough lf and only enough.
Ddoc with his cage was using perlite and watered until he got a 10% runoff to flush the perlite. If there isn't too much salts to start with then no need to flush? The 3 Little Birds used containers with no drainage, they had enough experience to do it right. I have in mind a sort of float tube that shows how much liquid is at the bottom of the container. As long as it kept at an inch or 2, the medium is not going to dry out.
So, RO water goes in to keep a steady 2" of water at the bottom and a measured amount of lucas formula gets added at the relevant times to feed the plant.
Can see much trial and error getting the feedings right but is the theory sound? Not sure how much the Ph gets altered by using what is in effect a diluted lucas formula or how to correct if it has an adverse affect on yield.
Any thoughts?